List of All Articles with Tag 'sport'

New Zealand has overcome a sluggish start to beat Uruguay 73-0 in its final pool match at the Rugby World Cup in Lyon

John McGinn’s last-gasp winner saved Aston Villa from embarrassment as they laboured to an uninspiring 1-0 victory against Zrinjski Mostar. The captain netted in the fourth minute of added time to break battling Mostar hearts. It looks like Villa’s Europa Conference League campaign would continue to stutter until then after the hosts were left frustrated by their organised and combative opponents, who refused to buckle until stoppage time. Despite dominating, Villa struggled to break Mostar down and had a penalty call reversed in the second half. Referee Urs Schnyder changed his decision to award a spot-kick for handball after replays showed Ollie Watkins’ header hit Slobodan Jakovljevic in the face. Nemanja Bilbija wasted the visitors’ best opening in the first half as the Bosnian champions fell just short in the Group E clash. Ezri Konsa, unfortunate to be left out of the latest England squad, confessed to having never heard of the visitors. He would not have been the only one. Boss Krunoslav Rendulic called it the biggest game in the visitors’ history and the club which gave a 17-year-old Luka Modric his professional debut were a nuisance from the start. Antonio Ivancic briefly threatened first, lobbing the ball over Emi Martinez only to lack support, before the goalkeeper needed to parry Bilbija’s shot after Marijo Cuze’s low cross. In between, Nicolo Zaniolo twice threatened but it was a chance Mostar should have taken. They had, at least, sapped the energy from Villa Park in the opening 20 minutes and the hosts’ frustrations were underlined when McGinn was booked for an obvious dive. As a team Villa are still learning to adapt to European football and the opening 3-2 defeat at Legia Warsaw did little to justify their favourites tag in the competition. In the first half at Villa Park, there were even fewer hints. Mostar fought back from 3-0 down to beat AZ Alkmaar 4-3 last month and were comfortable, Zaniolo’s overhead kick allowing goalkeeper Marko Maric to offer a save for the cameras but there was little else to trouble them. Unai Emery had seen enough and summoned Watkins, Douglas Luiz and Matty Cash from the bench and their arrival lifted Villa. Watkins conjured a chance for Diego Carlos, only for the defender to get his header all wrong and the striker thought he had earned a penalty eight minutes into the second half. Cash’s cross was met by Watkins, whose header cannoned into the face of Jakovljevic – with official Schnyder giving a spot-kick for handball. It was clear, though, the ball hit the defender in the face and once Schnyder had checked his monitor he correctly overturned the decision. It did finally light a fire under Villa and Maric saved Diego Costa’s header asthe hosts camped in Mostar’s half for the rest of the game. Youri Tielemans and Zaniolo went close before McGinn rescued the hosts in stoppage time. Cash got free on the right and crossed for the midfielder to nod in from six yards. Read More Ryan Gravenberch scores first goal for club as Liverpool labour to victory Steven Davis remains confident in Rangers squad despite defeat to Limassol ‘Maverick’ Lucas Paqueta impresses David Moyes in West Ham’s Europa League win Roberto De Zerbi hails ‘incredible’ Brighton reaction to salvage Marseille draw Warren Gatland highlights hard work as Wales aim to continue progress Geoge Ford believes partnership with Owen Farrell is ready to deliver

Ryan Gravenberch benefited from an error by Union Saint-Gilloise goalkeeper Anthony Moris to score his first goal for the club as Liverpool laboured to a 2-0 Europa League victory to maintain their 100 per cent record in Group E. For all the attacking firepower at their disposal – and it was considerable with Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota boasting 248 goals between them – it was a 21-year-old former Ajax and Bayern Munich midfielder who had scored just nine in five years who popped up with the breakthrough at a crucial moment a minute before half-time. That two of the front three were replaced at the interval was more down to a prepared plan rather than a reflection of their first-half contributions but if either had been anywhere close to their sharpest the game would have been out of sight before Gravenberch’s intervention. Jota remained on for the whole game and scored the second with a breakaway in added time to ease any late nerves. Salah’s first Europa League start for the club would have led to speculation about just how much devastation he could inflict, especially after his 16-minute cameo in their first European game produced a goal, an assist and a couple of other chances. In his 150th game at Anfield he should have added to the 103 he has scored already on this ground as early as the fifth minute. The excellent young centre-back Jarrell Quansah, deputising for rested captain Virgil van Dijk, won the ball high in midfield and released the Egypt international through the middle but he could not beat the goalkeeper. It was the beginning of a long list of chances ultimately concluded by Gravenberch’s close-range effort and while Liverpool never looked in any real danger after Gustaf Nilsson had headed over Union’s best midway through the first half until the latter stages the game was more of a grind than it should have been. Nunez’s 10th-minute rebound goal from Gravenberch’s shot was flagged offside and, on this occasion, UEFA’s VAR officials swiftly made the correct call. A video replay only increased the Uruguay international’s embarrassment with his next effort, however, as he screwed wide from six yards having opted to go with his right instead of left foot for Salah’s cross after Harvey Elliott had carried ball effortless through the Union midfield. A weak Salah header straight at the goalkeeper, a Jota penalty claim turned down and a Nunez shot tipped around the near post from Ibrahima Konate’s diagonal pass all followed as chances came and went. After all just about withstanding all that in-your-face pressure Union were undone from their own attacking corner as captain-for-the-night Trent Alexander-Arnold broke down the left, cut inside on his right foot and drilled in a low shot which bounced in front of Moris. It was not the most vicious of strikes and the Luxembourg international should have done better than to spill the ball a couple of yards in front of him. It was all the encouragement Gravenberch needed and he popped home the rebound from close range. A triple half-time substitution brought an end to the participation of the misfiring Salah and Nunez and also midfielder Wataru Endo as Jurgen Klopp sent on Luis Diaz, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister – who was made to wait 45 minutes to face his brother Kevin in the opposition defence. After an early scare when Alisson Becker missed his punch at a corner and almost turned the ball into his own net only for Quansah to sweep up behind him. Moris tipped over a Jota header and did even better denying Gravenberch a second from a curling shot and even when he was beaten by Diaz his left-hand post came to his aid, while Jones narrowly missed the target with a low shot. Jota’s goal made the game safe and victory over Toulouse, two points behind, at Anfield in three weeks will go a long way to securing qualification to the knockout stages but Liverpool cannot afford to be so sloppy if they want to enjoy comfortable progress. Read More John McGinn’s late goal gives Villa an important victory Steven Davis remains confident in Rangers squad despite defeat to Limassol ‘Maverick’ Lucas Paqueta impresses David Moyes in West Ham’s Europa League win Roberto De Zerbi hails ‘incredible’ Brighton reaction to salvage Marseille draw Warren Gatland highlights hard work as Wales aim to continue progress Geoge Ford believes partnership with Owen Farrell is ready to deliver

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Interim boss Steven Davis insists he retains confidence in the Rangers squad as he called for unity following the 2-1 Europa League defeat by Aris Limassol in Cyprus. The former Light Blues midfielder was asked to take over after Michael Beale was dismissed at the weekend following the 3-1 loss Aberdeen at Ibrox which left the Gers seven points behind cinch Premiership leaders Celtic. Rangers had beaten Real Betis in their Group C opener at Ibrox but found the Cypriot side too much, losing the first goal after nine minutes to defender Alex Moucketou-Moussounda. Striker Shavy Babicka added a second goal in the 59th minute before Light Blues attacker Abdallah Sima pulled a goal back for the Ibrox men but the visitors could not complete the comeback. Ahead of the trip to St Mirren on Sunday, Davis said: “I still believe we have some real quality players. Obviously, confidence has been hit. “You go through these periods in your career and it’s a really difficult moment. “As I say by sticking together you make sure to do the basics right in terms of hard work and application which they have been doing. “It’s important we continue that and things will turn because I believe in the qualities of the squad. “We’ll get players back which will help. The most important thing is right now is us being a group together. “It was a really difficult night because we felt a real opportunity to come here and build on the Betis game. “I think we caused a lot of our own problems in the game. Obviously, with the two goals we give away we’re really disappointed with and when that happens you have a mountain to climb. “Firstly I’ve got to take some responsibility. In the first half we kept trying to play in the middle of the pitch when it wasn’t really on, they were good at getting transitions from that with the pace they had up front which caused us problems all night. “Whenever you go behind in a second half you must throw some caution to the wind at certain points. “We tried to simplify the game really, trying to get the ball in behind, get it wide and cross the ball into the box and ultimately we didn’t do enough to take something from the game. “In terms of the effort of the players, I thought they tried to keep going till the end and in terms of the energy they put in, I couldn’t ask for any more in that respect. “There wasn’t a lack of effort, we’d never question that from the dressing room but it is a really difficult moment that everyone is in. “When that happens you maybe start to make the wrong decision and things like that. “Sunday’s coming up and it’s a really quick turnaround. We’re hurting from tonight but it’s important as a group we stick together.” Read More ‘Maverick’ Lucas Paqueta impresses David Moyes in West Ham’s Europa League win Roberto De Zerbi hails ‘incredible’ Brighton reaction to salvage Marseille draw Warren Gatland highlights hard work as Wales aim to continue progress Geoge Ford believes partnership with Owen Farrell is ready to deliver West Ham set European record with victory over Freiberg in Germany Managerless Rangers slip to abject Europa League defeat in Limassol

David Moyes saluted his “maverick” forward Lucas Paqueta after the 2-1 Europa League win at Freiburg, even though he drives him mad. Freiburg’s nickname is the Breisgau Brazilians due to their flamboyant style of play, but it was West Ham’s Samba star Paqueta who stole the show. He put them ahead after only nine minutes with a towering header from a cross by Jarrod Bowen, celebrating his return to the England squad. Paqueta then spent the rest of the evening tormenting the hosts with his array of flicks, tricks and occasional theatrics. “It was a bit of an old-fashioned goal, down the side with a good cross, and then a great header like an old-fashioned centre forward. I really enjoyed watching it,” said Hammers boss Moyes. “Jarrod played well but Lucas was terrific. He drives me mad sometimes but everybody who watched him would have said this player has got incredible talent. “There is a word that goes around, a maverick. He is that for us. “It is really important we get him in and adapt to him and accept some of his things he may not do, things which I would say are conventional. There is a word that goes around, a maverick. He is that for us David Moyes on Lucas Paqueta “But we are really enjoying him at the moment and he is terrific at taking the ball under pressure – but also there are moments when I say: ‘what are you doing’?” The match may have taken place on the edge of the Black Forest, but it was never going to be a piece of cake for the Hammers against a side eighth in the Bundesliga. They were also up against 34,000 noisy fans, with no away supporters allowed to attend following incidents during West Ham’s Europa Conference League final triumph in June. Freiburg equalised after half-time through Roland Sallai, but Nayef Aguerd’s header from a James Ward-Prowse corner made it two wins from two in Group A and a 17th match undefeated in Europe, a record for an English club. “It’s a brilliant achievement, I’ve said to the boys we need to keep it going. Winning the game tonight was most important,” added Moyes. “I’m really pleased. We played very well especially, in the opening 20 or 30 minutes. “They came back, which I expected. They got better and we had moments when we played very well but we mainly won the first half. We had to then be good defensively.” Read More Steven Davis remains confident in Rangers squad despite defeat to Limassol Roberto De Zerbi hails ‘incredible’ Brighton reaction to salvage Marseille draw Warren Gatland highlights hard work as Wales aim to continue progress Geoge Ford believes partnership with Owen Farrell is ready to deliver West Ham set European record with victory over Freiberg in Germany Managerless Rangers slip to abject Europa League defeat in Limassol

Billy Eppler quit as New York Mets general manager three days after David Stearns was hired above him as the team’s first president of baseball operations

Two straight losses have left the Atlanta Falcons at 2-2 and have led to questions about second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder's job security

The WNBA is coming to the Bay Area

The Kansas City Chiefs have struggled all season to get much production from their young group of wide receivers, and that is a big reason why their offense has failed to soar like it usually does