The six riders from the U.S. that will start the Tour de France on Saturday give the Americans perhaps their strongest contingent in the grand tour in years

Erik Ten Hag insists Manchester United are fighting together to try to turn their season around. The Red Devils have lost four of their first six matches, with Wednesday’s 4-3 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League following a 3-1 reversal against Brighton, leaving Ten Hag embattled little over a month into the new campaign. The Dutchman said: “It’s my second year. I know it’s not always only going up, you will have your gaps and you get stronger from it as long as you stay together, and that’s what we’re doing. “The dressing room, staff, all the staff, coaches, medical, everyone is united and at United you fight.” Stories of disgruntlement in the dressing room have begun to appear while the attitude of players has also been question. Ten Hag tried to paint a positive picture, saying: “I don’t know if it’s a leak but I know opinion, I know my players. Everyone can make suggestions, we are OK with it.” There have also been suggestions of unhappiness at the influence of Ten Hag’s agent, Kees Vos, and his Sports Entertainment Group on transfer dealings. When one or two are not doing their job, it's like a pack of cards. Erik Ten Hag on United's defence “It can’t be because we make very good agreements about it from the start, how we cooperate in that manner,” said Ten Hag. “For player decisions, transfers, it’s always 50-50, we both have a veto – the club, represented by John Murtough, and me. So there can never be a distraction.” United’s poor form has made Saturday’s trip to Burnley a high-pressure occasion, and they will again be without Jadon Sancho, who remains absent from the squad. “It depends on him,” said Ten Hag. “For the rest, we are preparing for Burnley and that’s our focus. He will not be in the squad.” United have not been helped by a multitude of injuries but could have Raphael Varane, Mason Mount, Sofyan Amrabat and Harry Maguire back for the clash at Turf Moor. Central to United’s problems has been a lack of defensive solidity, with 14 goals conceded in their last five games. Goalkeeper Andre Onana held his hands up after making a mistake for Bayern’s first goal but Ten Hag believes the problems are collective. “It’s about team and, as a team, we don’t have the results in this moment so then also individuals don’t bring the performance you expect, not only one player, there are more, including the manager,” he said. “I always tell my players we attack with 11 and we defend with 11. When one or two are not doing their job, it’s like a pack of cards, so that is not only one or two players.” Burnley picked up their first point on their return to the Premier League against Nottingham Forest last time out and Ten Hag is a fan of their style of play under Vincent Kompany. He said: “As always, it’s about how we play against Burnley. There’s no easy games, definitely not against Burnley. “We know how intense they play football, we know their approach. I like the approach from them, the adventure, high intensity and dynamic in their game, so we have to play our best.”

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Anthony Gordon’s second goal of the European Under-21 Championship secured a 1-0 win over Portugal and booked England’s place in the semi-finals for the first time since 2017. The Newcastle winger, operating as a central forward in Lee Carsley’s team, pounced 10 minutes before half-time to clinically finish a good passing move. Despite some late Portuguese pressure which saw Henrique Araujo’s effort rebound off the crossbar with goalkeeper James Trafford beaten, England – who have yet to concede a goal at the tournament – held on to set up a meeting with Israel, whom they beat 2-0 in the group phase, on Wednesday. The only downside on the night in the Shengelia Arena in Kutaisi, Georgia, was a booking for Norwich right-back Max Aarons which rules him out of the semi-final. Early exchanges saw Liverpool’s Curtis Jones guide a shot wide from just outside the penalty area and Wolves’ Pedro Neto have an effort turned around the post by Trafford. Gordon’s first sight of goal in the 23rd minute from Jacob Ramsey’s through-ball was easily saved by Celton Biai but the Portuguese goalkeeper had no chance with his next effort. Noni Madueke played in Morgan Gibbs-White and he cleverly cut back the ball to Gordon loitering near the penalty spot to confidently sweep home first time. In first-half added time Taylor Harwood-Bellis produced an important block to deny Tiago Dantas and, after Aarons was booked early in the second half, Levi Colwill did similarly to prevent Araujo having a chance to equalise. Seconds later the Portugal forward was unsuccessfully appealing for a penalty after a tangle with Harwood-Bellis in the six-yard area as they challenged for a cross before coming even closer to scoring when his header hit the crossbar. With seconds remaining of regulation time, Neto drilled a free-kick into England’s defensive wall and when Nuno Tavares fired over in the final minute of six added on, Carsley’s side were safe. Read More England Under-21s could make changes but keen to continue momentum England book quarter-final spot at U21 Euros after beating Israel Lee Carsley praises England Under-21s’ ‘brilliant spirit’ after winning opener

Tampa Bay placed center fielder Jose Siri on the 10-day injured list because of a fractured right hand

Ryan Blaney won the Coca-Cola 600 last weekend and now the NASCAR circuit heads to Gateway Motorsports Park for this weekend's Enjoy Illinois 300 Presented By TicketSmarter.This will be the second ever edition of the race. Joey Logano won the inaugural version of it in 2022 and the 33-year ...

An A+ call.