List of All Articles with Tag 'per'

Already one of the true legends of the women’s game, Lucy Bronze has been a regular for England since making her debut in 2013 and has played all across the park, although she is best known as a marauding right-back, overlapping Beth Mead in the Euros to often devastating effect. Born into a bilingual Portuguese-English family in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bronze, now 31, played for Alnwick Town until she turned 12, when FA regulations prevented her from continuing to play for the boys’ team, a matter about which her coach felt so strongly he launched an unsuccessful discrimination case to challenge the rules, reluctant to lose his best player to an outmoded technicality. A multi-talented athlete in secondary school, she played at youth level for Blyth Town and Sunderland, graduating to the latter’s senior squad and winning the FA Women’s Premier League Northern Division in 2008/09 before relocating to the US to enrol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to play for the Tar Heels, a path future LionessesAlessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy would later follow. Returning to England to complete her sports science degree at Leeds Metropolitan University, playing for the institution’s women’s team while supporting herself by working at Domino’s Pizza, Bronze then commenced her senior career in earnest with Everton in 2010. After two years, she transferred to city rivals Liverpool where she won back-to-back Women’s Super Leagues, before moving to Manchester City in 2014, where she again won the title and the FA Cup in 2016. She then moved on to France to play for all-conquering Lyon in 2017, winning the Champions League, three successive league titles, two domestic cups and finishing second in the running for the 2019 Ballon d’Or before returning to City for further cup success. A final switch to Barcelona alongside long-time teammate Keira Walsh followed last summer and the Catalans duly won the title and Champions League in Bronze’s debut season. A hugely popular and respected member of the England set up with 105 caps to her name and counting, and an Instagram account for her West Highland Terrier Narla, it could all have been so different for Lucy Bronze. As the daughter of a maths teacher, she had reportedly planned to become an accountant had football not worked out. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

Colton Cowser hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in the opener of a four-game series between the American League’s top teams

Jonny Bairstow's quickfire 99 not out rounded off a staggering England run-spree against Australia in a must-win fourth Ashes Test for the hosts...

Georgia Stanway was one of England’s brightest stars at Euro 2022, her finest moment coming in the quarter-final against Spain when she blasted a long-range drive into the top corner early in extra-time to win the game and send the Lionesses roaring into the semis. Like international teammates Keira Walsh and Ella Toone, the girl from Barrow-in-Furness, now 24, progressed through the Blackburn Rovers youth set up before ending up at Manchester City, for whom she played 109 times between 2015 and 2022, scoring 39 goals and winning the PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year award for the 2018/19 season. Like Walsh and Lucy Bronze, she has since left the Barclay’s Women’s Super League to test herself at one of the European superclubs – in their case Barcelona, in her’s Bayern Munich. Winning the Frauen-Bundesliga in her debut season, the already reliably-cheery Stanway has since told The Guardian that the move has made her “so much more open”. “I went to a country where no one knew me and I could be whoever I wanted to be,” she said. “No one was going to judge me. I’ve developed so much. I was never the most sociable person but in a new environment I’ve wanted to go out for tea every night. In Germany, I’ve wanted to see people.” Stanway says the move to Bavaria has forced her to be more independent, seek help when necessary and emboldened her to become more of a leader on the pitch, although she admits that, like Walsh in Catalonia, she has struggled to learn the language. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

Several drivers expressed concern on Friday about abrupt mandatory qualifying tyre-choice rule changes ahead of opening practice at this...

Manchester City winger Lauren Hemp was one of the Lionesses’s most dynamic attacking threats at Euro 2022, providing a steady supply of crosses into the box from the left while unafraid to cut inside for a shot, perfectly complimenting Beth Mead’s game on the opposite flank. She only scored once in the tournament, during an 8-0 demolition of Norway in the group stages, but supplied the crucial extra-time corner that was poked home by Chloe Kelly in the final against Germany to secure the trophy and send an 87,000-strong Wembley crowd into raptures. But Hemp, 22, can certainly finish, having scored 10 for her country at senior level in 38 games, four of which came in a brutal 20-0 thrashing of Latvia in November 2021. Since last summer’s triumph, Sarina Wiegman has experimented with playing her as a number nine in a friendly against the USA last October, which paid off when Hemp scored early on in a 2-1 win, giving the manager fresh food for thought as she seeks a permanent replacement for retired record goalscorer Ellen White up front. Hailing from North Walsham in Norfolk, she began her career with her hometown team, playing alongside her sister Amy, before moving on to Norwich City to continue her youth career. From there, Hemp moved west to play for Bristol City, where she scored nine goals in 24 appearances between 2016 and 2018 and was named England’s Young Player of the Year for 2017, catching the eye of Manchester City. She has since scored 30 times for the blue half of Manchester in 81 games to date, including in the 2019 FA Cup Final when she came off the bench to net the winner and lift her first trophy. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

Jordan Nobbs, an energetic box-to-box midfielder and former Arsenal captain, has had more than her fair share of bad luck in recent years and was forced to miss out on the 2019 World Cup, the 2020 Olympic Games and Euro 2022 because of knee and ankle injuries. Even in spite of those heart-breaking setbacks, she has still notched up 71 appearances for her country and scored eight times, including a memorable long-range drive against Italy on her debut in the Cyprus Cup in March 2013, in addition to captaining the national side at under-17 level. Now 30, Nobbs will be relishing her chance to get out on the field at a major tournament once again, rather than languishing in a TV studio on punditry duties, and has the calm and experience to martial the Lionesses from the middle of the park, as Jill Scott was often called upon to do during difficult moments last summer. Nobbs was born in Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham and is a product of Sunderland’s youth system, making her first team debut for the Black Cats at 16 and scoring nine times in 29 outings between 2008 and 2011, during which time the side were beaten FA Cup finalists in 2009 and she was named FA Young Player of the Year in 2010. Nobbs subsequently signed for the Gunners in 2010 and became an integral part of the North London club’s success for more than a decade, winning three Barclay’s Women’s Super League titles (captaining the side that lifted the trophy in 2019), as well as four FA Cups and five League Cups. She scored 52 goals in 157 matches between 2010 and 2023 before that sequence of niggling injuries began to hamper her progress and eat into her playing opportunities. Earlier this year she gave herself a new lease of life when she signed for Aston Villa, joining up with current England teammate and Rachel Daly, and scored a hat-trick in a 6-2 trouncing of Brighton, firmly re-establishing her credentials at the highest level. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

Unlike most biographical documentaries, "Stephen Curry: Underrated" benefits from having two very distinct windows in mind, both buttressing its underlying point: Curry as a barely recruited, under-sized high school prospect, before merging as a college star at Davidson; and his most recent title with the Golden State Warriors. Either would be good enough, but put together, "Underrated" shoots and scores.

Sergio Perez’s torrid run of form continued at the Hungarian Grand Prix after he crashed out of a rain-hit opening practice. George Russell led the way in the wet conditions for Mercedes at the Hungaroring, 0.359 seconds clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll third and Lando Norris fourth. Only 13 of the 20-strong field posted a competitive lap, with championship leader Max Verstappen and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton not risking the possibility of damage. The first one-hour running of the weekend was still dry, and barely a few minutes old, when Perez lost control of his Red Bull and ended up in the wall. The Mexican put two wheels on the grass under braking for the fifth corner, sending him into a pirouette and into the tyre barrier. Perez was unharmed in the accident but he sustained significant damage to the front of his machine. Perez is under increasing pressure at Red Bull following five consecutive qualifying sessions in which he has failed to make it into Q3. On each of those occasions, Verstappen has scored pole position in the other Red Bull. Indeed, Verstappen, who has won eight of the opening 10 rounds and six in succession, has already moved 99 points clear of his struggling team-mate. Daniel Ricciardo’s comeback at Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri is also likely to be playing on Perez’s mind, with the Australian admitting he is daring to dream about the possibility of a return to the grid’s all-conquering team. For now, Ricciardo has a dozen races to prove his credentials. However, the eight-time grand prix winner was among those who elected not to set a timed lap on Friday. The red flags were deployed to deal with Perez’s stricken car and then the rain arrived. The slippery conditions caught out Carlos Sainz after he lost control of his Ferrari on the exit of turn three. The Spaniard spun across the track and grazed the wall on the opposite side of the circuit before becoming stuck in the grass. A second red flag was required as marshals assisted in helping Sainz return to the pits with front-wing damage on his scarlet machine. Friday’s concluding session takes place at 5pm local time (4pm BST).

There are barely 100 miles between Doha and Dammam. One city in the Persian Gulf which, until recent years, relatively few football fans elsewhere had to consider, brought arguably the culmination of Jordan Henderson’s Liverpool career, the other a conclusion that feels both sudden and premature and yet comes 11 years after Brendan Rodgers infamously tried to offload him to Fulham to get Clint Dempsey. Three years before Doha hosted the World Cup final, it staged the Club World Cup final. Henderson, the fifth Liverpool captain to lift the European Cup, became the first to raise the trophy that gave them the mantle of world champions. The ‘Hendo lift’, a trademark shuffle before picking up the silverware, capped their rise from the doldrums and his own ascent. Henderson was the misfit who became the only Liverpool skipper to win the lot: Premier League, Champions League, Club World Cup, European Super Cup, FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield. And now he has joined the retirement home for Liverpool captains in Saudi Arabia, reunited with Steven Gerrard at Al Ettifaq in Damman. Robbie Fowler is in the neighbouring city of Al Khobar. Perhaps Phil Thompson and Phil Neal, Alan Hansen and Ian Rush will pop up there too, though presumably not Graeme Souness, who has criticised Henderson’s decision. That Gerrard, the mentor who groomed Henderson as his successor, has now disrupted Jurgen Klopp’s plans to transition between generations may irritate: Liverpool’s history has been a burden before but two men who have made the right sort have now posed a problem in the present. For Henderson, a departure comes with less fanfare than his old sidekick James Milner’s move to Brighton and more questions if he has tarnished what otherwise looked a wonderful legacy. Contrasting statements can both be true. The midfielder has earnt the right to take whichever decision he chooses; his band of admirers can nevertheless be disappointed with the one he has made. Liverpool LGBTQ+ fan group Kop Out said they were “appalled and concerned”; Henderson had appeared an ally to them, and to many other communities, offering vocal leadership on the field and moral leadership off the field. Saudi Arabia is not the logical destination for a man who had taken principled stands. If nothing came easily to Henderson at Anfield, now there is the sense he is giving up something he worked so hard for. When the Wearsider signed his penultimate Liverpool contract, in 2018, he said: “There is no other place in the world I would rather play football. I want to be here for as long as I can be.” Times change, along with circumstances, opinions and priorities but a slogan Liverpool adopted – “this means more” – felt particularly true for Henderson; the tearful pitchside embrace with his father, Brian, after the 2019 Champions League final moved many who knew neither in person. Henderson represented a great feelgood story; he was the ugly duckling who became a swan at Anfield, part of the seemingly gruesome foursome of expensive British buys in 2011, with Andy Carroll, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing. If none appeared good enough for Liverpool, Rodgers shared those doubts upon his appointment the following year; he was willing to let Henderson leave. Instead, the midfielder won him over to such an extent that he became captain. There was a sense, too, that Klopp was initially unconvinced by Henderson. In later years, he was happy to call him Liverpool’s “General”. Henderson, he reflected in 2021, was “essential to all the things we achieved in the last few years”. His Liverpool career was a triumph of character even as he could remain curiously underestimated or damned with faint praise. “If anybody does not see the quality of Jordan Henderson, then I cannot help them,” Klopp said in 2020; many remained blinded to it but Henderson was voted Footballer of the Year that year as the driving force in a team who won 26 of their first 27 league games and who ended Liverpool’s three-decade wait to become champions of England. Without ever oozing class, he proved a top-quality performer in two roles for Klopp: first, in the manager’s vernacular, as a No. 6 and then, after Fabinho’s arrival, as a No. 8 as well. He was an eager gegenpresser but that sometimes camouflaged his other qualities: he has often been a fine crosser, including from infield positions; many of his 33 Liverpool goals were spectacular. He had the tactical awareness to cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold in a way that meant the attack-minded right-back was rarely exposed for years. He was a valiant makeshift centre-back, including in the Club World Cup semi-final. He made 57 appearances as they came agonisingly close to the quadruple in 2021-22; perhaps that represented a last hurrah before the troubled 2022-23, the arrival of fellow midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, the reinvention of Alexander-Arnold, the prospect of a diminished role and, maybe, the passing of time persuaded him to move on when he had two years left on his contract and enduring importance. Or, alternatively, it was simply the Saudi millions. Henderson leaves with 492 appearances, level with Roger Hunt, one behind Ronnie Whelan, and eight years as captain, topped only by Gerrard, Ron Yeats and Alex Raisbeck. From unpromising beginnings, he became an all-time Liverpool great. But it is a shame he decided it had to end this way. Read More Liverpool agree £12m deal to sell Jordan Henderson to Saudi club Al Ettifaq Who could replace Fabinho? Liverpool transfer options analysed Liverpool transfer news: Latest Romeo Lavia and Federico Valverde updates as Dominik Szoboszlai signs

Cycling's all-time great Eddy Merckx believes Jonas Vingegaard's climbing makes him stronger on Grand Tours than his rival Tadej Pogacar, he told AFP ahead...

With the retirement of England’s record goalscorer Ellen White in the wake of last summer’s Euros triumph, much of the responsibility for providing the side’s attacking threat could now fall upon the shoulders of Alessia Russo. Russo, 24, who has just moved from Manchester United to Arsenal on a free transfer, grew in influence as that tournament progressed, regularly emerging from the bench to replace White and scoring twice in a 5-0 thrashing of Northern Ireland, as well as netting arguably the goal of the tournament in the semi-final: an utterly outrageous backheel to embarrass Sweden. Born and raised in Maidstone, Kent, Russo is of Sicillian heritage and took to football from an early age, both her father Mario and older brother Giorgio having played at non-league level. Rising through the youth ranks of first Charlton Athletic and then Chelsea, she briefly appeared for Brighton and Hove Albion in 2017 before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she spent two years playing college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels alongside Lotte Wubben-Moy, scoring an impressive 28 goals across 58 games over two seasons before having to curtail her time in the United States because of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Subsequently signing for Manchester United, she has scored 22 goals in 48 games for the Red Devils over the last three seasons, form that has earned her the attention of Sarina Wiegman and a move to the multiple title-winners, where she will link up next season with Lionesses’s teammates Leah Williamson, Wubben-Moye and Beth Mead and European greats Vivianne Miedema and Stina Blackstenius. The goalscoring form of both Rachel Daly and Bethany England last season means Russo’s place in the starting lineup as White’s natural replacement is by no means a given, however. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today