Brandon Lowe hit a three-run homer early and José Siri doubled and scored the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning in the Tampa Bay Rays’ 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night

England midfielder Ella Toone believes the Lionesses’ person-centred approach to the World Cup has prevented players from feeling “like robots” as they deal with the more difficult elements of travelling halfway around the world. Should the European champions advance from their July 22 Haiti opener all the way to the August 20th Sydney final, they will have spent nearly two months in tournament co-hosts Australia, with a nine-hour time difference and more than 10,000 miles between the Lionesses and loved ones at home. While England have quickly gotten down to business in their Queensland training sessions, they have also been permitted plenty of downtime including organised whale-watching and zoo trips or casual bonding with team-mates at the tranquil team hotel. Toone said: “We’re just normal people, aren’t we? And it’s hard to be away from home, and it’s sometimes hard to be on camp for such a long period of time, but that’s why we’ve got to make a home-away-from-home and I think that’s what we’ve done really well. “We’ve got a fantastic group of players who want the same goal, and yeah, I think we have to have that environment where we can feel like we’re at home, and we’re not just robots on camp and doing the same thing day in and day out. “It’s nice to have a bit of time off and spend time together as well, and get to see beautiful Australia as well, it definitely helps us feel like we’re not robots.” England manager Sarina Wiegman earlier in the week used the “robot” analogy when she spoke about how the holistic human approach taken by the Lionesses coaching and support staff was a deliberate choice, drawn partially from her own experience as a Netherlands international. The boss recalled moments where she found it difficult to balance the serious task of preparing for big competitions with the more fun side of travelling to take on the world with her team-mates. Toone was part of Wiegman’s squad for last summer’s Wembley triumph, and is eager to help any of the six Lionesses – Niamh Charles, Laura Coombs, Lauren James, Esme Morgan, Katie Robinson and Katie Zelem – for whom this World Cup will be their first major tournament. “Some days will be hard,” Toone added. “But you’ve got to speak to people, tell them how you’re feeling. But I think we’ve all been there, we’ve all had days where they’re all going to be a bit harder than other days. “We’re away from family for a long time which is hard, and obviously the time difference doesn’t help. You’ve definitely got to lean on the people around you, you’ve got to open up and understand that days are going to be tough but it’s how you deal with that and how you get on with it.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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Liverpool midfielder Fabinho has been left out of the squad travelling to their training camp in Germany after the club received an official bid for the player. The PA news agency understands a £40million offer for the Brazil international has been made by Al-Ittihad, one of four Saudi Arabian clubs owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund. Receipt of a “serious, official” offer prompted discussions within the club which resulted in a decision, taken in consultation with Fabinho, to withdraw the player from the squad which flew out on Saturday. Captain Jordan Henderson, who has also been the subject of speculation linking him to a reported £700,000-a-week offer from Al-Ettifaq – managed by former team-mate Steven Gerrard – has travelled with the squad as there has been no bid for him as yet. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Valencia head coach Ruben Baraja has said his club will fight back against “smears” after they were handed a five-game partial stadium closure and hefty fine following the racist abuse aimed at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior. Speaking at a press conference, Baraja stressed he was “absolutely against racism”, but echoed Valencia’s earlier claim that the sanction was “unfair and disproportionate”, and added: “I am not going to allow the Valencia CF fans and Mestalla to be smeared with labels that do not represent us. “Just as a player rightly fights back against insults and I support that with all my might, we as a club and a fanbase rebel against those who, during the days since the game, have accused us of being what we are not.” Vinicius threatened to leave the pitch in the second half of Sunday’s LaLiga match at the Mestalla after being subjected to alleged monkey chants from the crowd and Real Madrid, who said the incident constituted a “hate crime”, filed a complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office. In response, Valencia have been ordered to shut the Mario Kempes south stand, where the alleged abuse happened, for five matches and have also been fined 45,000 euros (£39,000) by the Spanish football federation (RFEF). Reacting to that sanction, Valencia said in a strongly worded statement on Tuesday evening: “Valencia CF wishes to show its total disagreement and indignation at the unfair and disproportionate penalty imposed by the competition committee on the club with the closure of the stand for five games. “Valencia CF wants to publicly denounce that in this resolution of the RFEF competition committee they show evidence that contradicts what the national police and LaLiga say. “In addition, this sanction is based on evidence that the club has not been able to see and without giving us a hearing. “Valencia CF has condemned, condemns and will condemn in the most energetic way any act of racism or violence. These behaviours have no place in football or in society and we will continue to act in the most forceful way to eradicate this scourge. “For this reason, Valencia CF is collaborating from the first minute with the police and all relevant authorities to clarify the events that occurred last Sunday. “In addition, it has applied the maximum possible sanction with the expulsion for life from our stadium to the fans that the police have identified for their racist behaviour. “For this reason we consider that penalising and depriving all the fans who were not involved in these unfortunate incidents from seeing their team is a totally disproportionate, unfair and unprecedented measure against which we will fight. “The fight against racism requires the real commitment of all the parties involved without using it as a pretext to incur serious injustices. “Valencia CF will appeal to the last instance the closure of the stand, a sanction that it considers totally unfair and one more offence in the latest disciplinary decisions that have been taken against the club. Valencia CF asks for the utmost respect and rigour for our institution and fans.” In announcing the punishment against Valencia, the RFEF said in a statement: “The competition committee has sanctioned Valencia CF with the partial closure of the Mestalla stadium for five matches, more specifically the Mario Kempes south stand, following the events that occurred during the league match between the local team and Real Madrid CF. “It is considered proven that, as reflected by the referee in his minutes, there were racist shouts at Vinicius, a Real Madrid CF player, during the aforementioned match, altering the normal course of the match and considering the infractions very serious.” LaLiga players and officials called for racism to be tackled in Spain in the wake of Sunday’s match. Before Tuesday night’s games between Real Valladolid and Barcelona, and Celta Vigo and Girona, players from both sides, as well as the match officials, stood behind banners which read ‘Racism, out of football’. LaLiga shared a pre-match clip from the Celta-Girona game on its official Twitter account with the hashtag #JUNTOSContraElRacismo (#TOGETHERagainstRacism). The footage also showed a supporter holding up a placard with ‘No Al Racismo’ (No to Racism) written on it. There were similar sentiments at the Valladolid-Barcelona game as fans showed their support for Brazil international Vinicius. Barcelona forward Raphinha removed his shirt when substituted to show a message which read: “As long as the colour of the skin is more important than the brightness of the eyes, there will be war.” Vinicius was not included in Real’s 23-man squad for Wednesday night’s LaLiga match against Rayo Vallecano at the Bernabeu. The forward’s red card against Valencia had been rescinded by the RFEF but the 22-year-old did not train on Tuesday, with Real coach Carlo Ancelotti saying the winger had some discomfort in his knee. Read More Jordi Alba to leave Barcelona at end of season Valencia appeal stadium closure for racist chants and demand ‘respect’ for fans Valencia stadium partially shut after racist chants at Vinicius Jr ‘Powerless’ La Liga calls for radical change after Vinicius Jr racist abuse Real Madrid file hate crime complaint after Vinicius targeted by racist abuse Commentator sparks outrage for criticising Vinicius reaction to facing racist abuse

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Gary Neville has urged Jurgen Klopp to move on after the Liverpool manager called for his side’s defeat at Tottenham to be replayed. The Reds saw Luis Diaz’s opening goal wrongly disallowed for offside, with the referees’ body PGMOL now releasing the audio of the major VAR error following a request from Liverpool. But Klopp says the audio conversation, with VAR lead Darren England and assistant Dan Cook failing to realise the on-field decision was onside, has not changed his thinking and believes the match should be played again. Liverpool also had two players sent off in the defeat, midfielder Curtis Jones and forward Diogo Jota, before conceding a 96th-minute winner in the 2-1 defeat. The result was Liverpool’s first defeat of the season. Liverpool responded strongly to the VAR controversy, vowing to “explore their options” in a statement that led to the PGMOL releasing the audio of the error to the public on Tuesday. However former Manchester United captain and Sky Sports pundit Neville believe Klopp has gone too far by calling for the game to be replayed, in what would be an unprecedented move for the Premier League. Reacting to Klopp’s comments on Twitter/X, Neville said: “Can’t believe how Liverpool have grabbed defeat from victory in their handling of this! They were wronged by a shocking mistake. End of! Neville, who was highly critical of the VAR process following Saturday’s match, added in a further post that Liverpool had escalated the situation by “mentioning integrity and exploring options”. “Now we’ve seen they want a replay!” Neville said. “That’s madness.” Klopp’s comments were also widely ridiculed by Tottenham fans, who joked that if Saturday’s Premier League match is replayed then the 2019 Champions League final should be too. In that game, Liverpool were awarded an early penalty for a controversial handball and went on to win the Madrid final 2-0. The former Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen, who played in the final, added: “Count me in!” Read More Jurgen Klopp calls for Liverpool’s match at Tottenham to be replayed over VAR blunder MP condemns TalkSport presenter Simon Jordan over Liverpool ‘victim culture’ comment PGMOL release audio and review findings after Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal for Liverpool

Sunday's transfer roundup includes news on Carlo Ancelotti's forward targets at Real Madrid, the race for Joshua Kimmich, Man Utd's David de Gea negotiations and more.

Richie Palacios homered, rookie Drew Rom and four relievers combined on a three-hitter and the St. Louis Cardinals beat Baltimore 1-0 to trim the Orioles’ lead in the AL East to two games

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Real Madrid club president Florentino Perez sent a letter to Barcelona midfielder Gavi wishing him the best after he suffered an ACL tear and meniscus damage in Spain's 3-1 win against Georgia on Sunday.