List of All Articles with Tag 'eppersons'

FIFA players could be witnessing the end of an era, after both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi reportedly missed out on a spot in the top 10 best players list in the new game. The upcoming instalment, which is the first of the franchise to ditch FIFA from the title and will go by the title EA Sports FC 24, is set to be released next month. However, details from the game and the updated squads have reportedly already been leaked and they may come as a surprise to some fans. According to SportBible, neither Ronaldo or Messi rank among the best players in the new game. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter They might be approaching the ends of their careers now, but it’s still a surprise to see the pair who have dominated the top echelons of professional football for the past two decades drop down the rankings. Instead, the top 10 player ratings reportedly see a number of both male and female players tied on the rating of 91. Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe, Alexia Putellas and Sam Kerr are all tied as the best players in the game. Elsewhere, Wendie Renard, Karim Benzema, Caroline Graham Hansen, Alex Morgan and Robert Lewandowski are tied with a rating of 90. That completes the top 10, with Ronaldo and Messi said to have respective ratings of 83 and 88. For players of the game who have perhaps grown up with them dominating the ratings in the game, it’s a pretty major change. The upcoming game will see a number of new features introduced, including brand new commentators and an Ultimate Team featuring female players. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

After their bench-clearing incident, Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien revealed what Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado told him to spur it on.MLB rivalries mean that much more when two teams are neck-and-neck for a division lead. That is the case for the Texas Rangers and Houston ...

A person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press free agent running back Dalvin Cook is scheduled to visit with the New York Jets this weekend

LOS ANGELES — Before and after the finale of a three-game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers, hear are some things I heard from both clubhouses.With the series ending on Wednesday afternoon, much of the buzz around the Dodgers clubhouse had to do with not only the...

Australia's captain Sam Kerr will be given until the last minute to prove her fitness for their must-win Women's World Cup clash against Canada on...

Former Manchester City playmaker David Silva has said his goodbyes to football as the World Cup winner and four-time Premier League champion announced his retirement. The 37-year-old played 436 games across 10 seasons at the Etihad Stadium, helping to turn City into the best team in England and winning a total of 11 major honours with the club. Silva started his career in the youth ranks at Valencia, making his senior debut in 2004 and spending six years in LaLiga before signing for City. He was capped 125 times by Spain, scoring 35 goals and winning the 2010 World Cup, Euro 2008 and 2012. “Today is a sad day for me,” he said in a message posted on his Twitter account. “Today it is time to say goodbye to what I have dedicated my whole life to. “Today it is time to say goodbye to my colleagues, who are like family to me. I will miss you very much.” Addressing the fans of the clubs he represented, Silva added: “Thank you because you have made me feel at home.” He left City in 2020, with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak confirming Silva would be one of three players whose contribution to turning the club into a top contender in Europe would be commemorated with a statue outside the Etihad. Silva spent three seasons at Real Sociedad and made almost 100 appearances but was forced to hang up his boots after suffering a serious knee injury in pre-season training earlier this month. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Man City legend and former Spain star David Silva announces retirement from football after suffering ACL injury.

Silverstone, 2022. That was the moment a goal within touching distance for so long was finally grasped by Carlos Sainz. Fittingly, his first pole position of his career was duly followed by a first Formula 1 race win, in his 150th grand prix. Ferrari were back among the top contenders and Sainz, this time, was the leading man ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc. The Scuderia were a force at the front once more. Or so we thought. Despite producing a race-winning car, Ferrari failed to capitalise last year amid strategy and reliability clangers. Red Bull leapfrogged the calamitous prancing horse – and have not looked back. Now, Ferrari have not won since Austria last year, just a week after Sainz’s inaugural triumph. They are fourth in the Constructors’ Championship at the halfway stage this season. Sainz has not even finished on the podium. “I thought we’d be fighting for more podiums and wins but unfortunately it’s a very competitive team called Red Bull who are dominating,” Sainz tells The Independent. “It’s been a challenging season. All of us at Ferrari expected more from this year’s car and performance. We haven’t done the best job. “I’m happy with my own performance and the way I’m driving. But for one reason or another the results are not coming.” 2023 marks Sainz’s ninth-straight season in a sport he has devoted his life to. You can only wonder his thoughts as Max Verstappen – the driver he entered the sport alongside at Toro Rosso in 2015 – steamrolls to a third consecutive world championship at Red Bull. Via Renault, McLaren and now the scarlet red of Ferrari, Sainz’s progression through the ranks has been steady, if a bit slow. “I saw from very early on [as a junior] when I was winning that I was very good,” the 28-year-old says. “But I was naïve to believe that just by winning I was going to be an winning F1 driver. “I started to understand that everything needed to align. There needed to be a space for me in F1 and then I would need to be good enough to stay on. There’s always challenges.” An initial challenge, no doubt, was coping with the pressure which naturally came with being Carlos Sainz Jr. His father won the World Rally Championship twice and still competes in Extreme E at the age of 61. But Sainz Jr. is quick to point something out: his dad was not a pushy parent throughout his upbringing in Madrid. “My dad never got me into it, it was just me and something inside me that wanted to drive,” he insists. “It was just the genes, I’m not going to lie. “I happened to fall in love with F1 as a sport. It coincided with racing in go-karts and since the age of two, I’ve always been on top of a car.” His adoration for the sport is palpable. Time spent away from the paddock – whether it be golf, eating tapas or time with his family and dogs – is attuned to his return to the racetrack. Despite being the right side of 30, only three current drivers have completed more consecutive seasons in the sport than him. And unlike his first team-mate Verstappen – who despite his success is adamant he will not race deep into his 30s like Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton – Sainz is not interested by other competitions or opportunities at the moment. Not even the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which Ferrari won this year? “Yes I would, one day,” he says. “But I don’t think about it yet. Why? Because I’m so focused on F1.” Instead, while the ultimate dream is still attainable with a contract at Ferrari until the end of the 2024 season, Sainz will continue down the same road. And that road is currently one of recovery, which starts this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix before the summer break. “I want to be a world champion one day,” he states. “I want to be winning more races. My brain is only thinking about that and I don’t even think about the other possibilities. Now, my target is to help the team to develop the car and go faster. That will allow me to fight for podiums and wins. “And that’s what I’m here at Ferrari for.” Carlos Sainz is a brand ambassador for Estrella Galicia 0.0. Read More Daniel Ricciardo is back - and this time he wants to go out on top F1 Juniors broadcast an admirable idea – but a reminder that all kids want to be is grown up Max Verstappen making Red Bull rivals ‘look like F2 cars’, says Toto Wolff F1 Academy announces radical team change for 2024 season How to win new fans for a growing sport and rival racing championship F1 2023 race schedule: When is the Belgian Grand Prix?

Travis Kelce made a play for Taylor Swift, but failed to score.

As Sarina Wiegman admitted she is willing to twist rather than stick, England are still in a position where they are needing more than that. The Lionesses go into their second match of the Women’s World Cup against Denmark looking to rediscover their goalscoring form and lift the mood that was left rather flat by the opening 1-0 win against Haiti on Saturday. There are lots of reasons not to panic. It is true to say that the opening games in tournaments are rarely easy, and that the Lionesses also laboured to a 1-0 win over Austria to kick off the Euros last summer. Wiegman’s teams are typically slow starters, with her Netherlands sides winning 1-0 in their first matches at both the 2017 Euros, which they won, and the 2019 World Cup, where they reached the final. While Denmark are considered to be England’s toughest test of Group D, Haiti, led by their 18-year-old star Melchie Dumornay, were also stronger opposition than anyone was expecting, playing a high-tempo match that the Lionesses did not seem ready for at this stage of the tournament. But England won, and should Haiti go on to trouble China and Denmark, that result will undoubtedly be viewed in a very different context. Yet England’s form must also be viewed within the context of how they arrived at the World Cup. With Georgia Stanway firing England’s winner against Haiti from the penalty spot, the Lionesses have now not scored from open play in their last three games – or a span of 367 minutes going back to Ella Toone’s opener against Brazil in the Finalissima at Wembley. For a team blessed with attacking options, and who scored 80 goals in 10 games in qualifying, there has been an alarming drop-off in their creative output. There had been a general acceptance that the goals would come should England continue to get into the right positions, but against Haiti, the chances dried up as the Lionesses struggled to find control. To some, changes are not just an option, they are required. Wiegman said afterwards that they needed more “ruthlessness” in their attack. Now, the manager is being asked if she will bring the same approach to her team selection. “That I’m more likely to make changes doesn’t have to do with that,” Wiegman said. "I want to make changes. What we do is approach every game, and then when we get ready for that game we see who is fit and available, and then we make decisions [as] to what we need to start with. And then we decide whether we are going to start with the same 11 or maybe make some changes." For England, it’s a chance to reset and start again. For a manager who famously named the same starting line-up in every game at the Euros last summer, it would almost be an admission from Wiegman that England aren’t where she would want them to be. There was an expectation that the side named against Haiti would be the strongest the Lionesses could put out, but that still left Lauren James and Rachel Daly on the bench and England’s performance suggested that both were missed. It would not be a surprise to see James start, and if Wiegman was to shake things up then starting the Chelsea forward in the No 10 role teased against Portugal in England’s send-off game could solve some of their creative issues. Against Haiti, the Lionesses struggled at times to move the ball through Kiera Walsh and out to Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly on the wings. James, with her ability to turn and drive on the ball, providing an easy option, is able to bypass that. The 21-year-old’s relaxed style and confidence can also settle England in a match where they will expect to dominate possession. Toone, who started alongside Stanway and Walsh in midfield, has looked lost in the role she has been asked to carry out. Bringing in James in midfield and asking Stanway to sit closer to Walsh is also likely to bring a greater sense of control, after Walsh was at times marked out of the Haiti game by Dumornay, taking away England’s tempo and rhythm. There could also be a change up front, with Alessia Russo unable to do enough to nail down her place ahead of Daly, who was another surprise omission from the opener after finishing last season’s WSL with the golden boot. If “ruthlessness” is what Wiegman wants, then Daly carries a clinical ability and an instinct to meet the service from Hemp and Kelly. Russo appears a more natural fit for the impact role off the bench; neither Daly nor James offered the same improvement as substitutes that Russo and Toone managed at the Euros last year. The threat of Denmark captain Pernille Harder will be a familiar one for centre-backs Millie Bright and Jess Carter, as well as the rest of the Lionesses side, after the forward’s three successful years with Chelsea. Denmark will sit deep and look to frustrate England, leaving Harder as a lone raider up front. It should be a serious examination of Bright after the captain looked rusty in what was her first appearance since March. Wiegman doesn’t want to compare the World Cup to the Euros, her team has changed since then and this is a different challenge, but after last summer’s 1-0 win against Austria came the 8-0 annihilation of Norway, and the moment their campaign really found its spark. How England would want something similar now. Victory would take them to the verge of qualifying for the knockout stages and while the Lionesses insist that it’s results over performances that matter, England could really do with a lot more. Read More Women’s World Cup 2023 LIVE: Nigeria stun Australia after USA deny Netherlands in thriller Darts, colouring in and 1,000 bags of Yorkshire tea: Inside the Lionesses’ World Cup den Women’s World Cup schedule: How to watch every match today Women’s World Cup LIVE: Today’s results and latest news Sarina Wiegman hints at changes as England prepare to face Denmark Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today

Today's Premier League news includes Harry Kane being linked with a move to Bayern Munich. West Ham United have stepped up their efforts in finding areplacement for Declan Rice and Jordan Henderson has left Liverpool to joinAl-Ettifaq.Premier League news: Harry Kane to Bayern MunichHarry Ka...

Second-half substitute Asisat Oshoala inspired Nigeria’s 3-2 upset win over co-host Australia with her extra edge in attack and a goal that sealed the victory and sparked a jersey-shedding celebration