List of All Articles with Tag 'sport'

In the celebratory aftermath of England’s qualification for Euro 2024, Jude Bellingham was in little mood to qualify his opinion. The Real Madrid midfielder just went out and said how Gareth Southgate’s side deserved the win over Italy because they were the “much better” team. There was no diplomacy there, just a striking stridency. It created a very different mood to the last time a match between the two teams led to a tournament qualification, amid scenes that received a new prominence recently due to the David Beckham documentary. That was the 1997 0-0 draw in Rome, which saw England qualify automatically for the 1998 World Cup. The suffocating tension of that match bore so little resemblance to the stroll of Tuesday’s game, at least for Gareth Southgate’s side. Then, Christian Vieri’s late header caused audible gasps within the Stadio Olimpico, no doubt to match those around the country. The ball went just wide, though, to bring huge emotional release and Paul Gascoigne dancing. The sense of achievement was profound. It was admittedly a different football and a very different Italy, with some of the intensity influenced by England’s failure to reach USA 94, but it was still just qualification - and that for a newly expanded 32-team event. It was also a hugely talented squad, filled by some of the most relentless winners the English game has known in so many of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United stars. And yet this England now has something more, as well as much more than just the expectation of qualification. It is more than the experience of reaching the latter stages of tournaments and so many other psychological milestones like beating Italy away. It is that assuredness, personified by Bellingham. There is something genuinely different in the midfielder, a potential missing ingredient for a team that last came within a penalty shoot-out of victory in this very competition. It is personality as much as performance. It points to an England that can be defined by “winners” at international level, that is able to rise to any given day because they are completely devoid of all the old baggage. This is something that Bellingham’s very youth represents, as well as his admirable willingness to just go straight to Real Madrid rather than feel he has to go to the Premier League. It’s similarly difficult not to think that the mood that fosters also fortifies the confidence of other players with England. That was maybe most visible in Marcus Rashford’s finish, as well as a level of display we haven’t seen so much with his club of late. None of this is to say it’s all down to Bellingham, of course. It’s rather what his mindset represents and rounds off. “He has been a catalyst,” Southgate said after the 3-1 win. “The way he carries himself and plays on the field and shows that, and he has had that since he walked through the door. Plus the power in his play, that gives us something when you are in tight situations and he can suddenly wriggle out of things… That belief, that willingness to engage with the crowd, they are rare traits in a player so young.” They are especially rare in historic England squads, right up to the recent successes. Southgate has navigated his sides through all that from fine man-management of a brilliant generation, where the Football Association have essentially become the latest wealthy western European football nation to industrialise talent production. Bellingham is the sort of player that eventually comes out of that, a final product if you like, but one that often requires a lot of patience. Putting all the pieces in place just gives you the best chance, rather than giving you a certainty of having the best player. These are of course the terms that are already framing the discussion around Bellingham. That isn’t English media exaggeration, either. It was the first question put to Southgate by Italian media. It dominated the late-night football discussion in Spain. The world is talking about Bellingham. It might yet see England dominate these Euros, in the same way they did to Italy to get there. Read More Jude Bellingham once again proves he is the key for England’s Euro 2024 hopes England have qualified for Euro 2024 — now it’s about winning it Gareth Southgate savours win and says England are ‘capable of winning’ Euro 2024 Jude Bellingham once again proves he is the key for England’s Euro 2024 hopes England have qualified for Euro 2024 — now it’s about winning it

Logan Paul has candidly shared his concerns about the fight against Dillon Danis after months of him trolling his fiancée, Nina Agdal. Despite claiming he "won the war," Danis lost the fight against Paul due to being disqualified. On Saturday (14 October) at Manchester's AO Arena, Paul defeated Danis after a mass brawl broke out in the ring, prompting security to act. It comes after months of cruel trolling against model Agdal, who resorted to filing a lawsuit against Danis. Paul has since spoken out about the fight, apologising for what his fiancée had to go through. "I think Dillion perfectly embodies the problem with society," he wrote on X/Twitter. "All s*** talk behind a screen. No action. Just another peasant running his mouth contributing nothing to this world but negativity. So happy I got to expose this clown". Now, he has spoken about the incident on an episode of his podcast Impaulsive. When asked if he regretted choosing Danis as his opponent for the fight, he admitted: “I do. I lied in the build-up when I said I didn’t regret choosing him as a partner.” "I’m eternally sorry for Nina. I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing if I have to for putting her through that kind of torment. It’s inhumane what he did. She’ll hold him accountable." The YouTuber and Prime founder also empathised with Agdal, explaining that no fight or promotion has ever seen the type of build-up that she had to go through. "This is gnarly," he wrote on social media. "And no fighter, I think, has a partner who can be exploited in the way that Nina can." "She’s a public figure, you know, and with that comes the limelight and a lot of responsibility that a lot of fighters aren’t able to do with their opponent as their wives don’t have an independently self-made career. He was able to exploit it in a way that worked for the build-up but it kind of hurts. It hurts, personally." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and Rickie Fowler are playing for the first time since the Ryder Cup, hoping there’s no individual hangover from the Americans’ lopsided loss to Team Europe in Italy three weeks ago

Kyle Larson is the new leader in NASCAR's championship chase

Jonathan Marchessault broke a shootout tie in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night in a Western Conference final rematch

The Pan American Games in Santiago will try to reach new audiences and seduce a younger crowd by bringing breaking, sports climbing and skateboarding into the program

Seth Jarvis scored two power-play goals, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the San Jose Sharks 6-3

LIMA (Reuters) -Lionel Messi become the all-time top scorer in South American World Cup qualifying on Tuesday after netting both

Arttui Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor scored their first goals of the season in the second period, Mikko Rantanen scored his third with 6:15 remaining and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Tuesday night

Kyle Schwarber hit two of Philadelphia’s three solo homers off Merrill Kelly, and the sweet-swinging Phillies pounded the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-0 for a 2-0 lead in the NL Championship Series

Australia’s cricketers have created a “fighting fund” to help the country’s netball players amid a bitter pay dispute with Netball Australia

Brandon Ingram scored 18 points, Zion Williamson scored 16 and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Orlando Magic 104-92