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Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick will not be losing any sleep as he tries to guide his club past Coventry into the Sky Bet Championship play-off final. Carrick and his players were woken in the early hours on Sunday morning after fireworks were set off outside the Forest of Arden hotel at which they were staying ahead of their first-leg clash with the Sky Blues at the CBS Arena. Whether the ploy, which has been attributed to mischievous City fans, worked or not is moot after the teams fought out a 0-0 draw, and everything is still to play for in the return at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday evening. Asked if he was the sort of person who ever lost sleep over football matches, a relaxed Carrick said: “I’m generally a good sleeper fortunately. “Sometimes after games…before games I sleep well – most of the time before games, I sleep well. Sometimes after games, if it’s a night game especially… “It was a little bit worse when I was a player because there’s that little bit more adrenaline going through your system, but most of the time I sleep pretty well.” Mark Robins and his players can expect a hostile welcome and a packed Riverside as Boro attempt to book a trip to Wembley and a showdown with either derby rivals Sunderland or Luton, with the Hatters facing a 2-1 deficit as they welcome the Black Cats to Kenilworth Road on Tuesday evening. Asked if that reception might extend to a tit-for-tat last-night display of pyrotechnics, Carrick said: “Fireworks? I don’t know. “As I said after the game, I had a little chuckle and went back to sleep. Fans are fans, they want to create the atmosphere. “For me, it’s about in the stadium, the atmosphere and how the boys can feed off it. We’ll prepare and we’ll plan and we’ll go into the game exactly as we would for any other game. “But there’s no hiding that extra adrenaline. That extra spark that the supporters inside the stadium can create for us is vital to give us that boost, and I’m sure the boys will feel it and feed off it and hopefully respond to it very well. “But it won’t affect how we prepare for the game. That will be a natural kind of feeling that we benefit from.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

From one star athlete to another, Eagles' A.J. Brown recently told Ja Morant that Morant needs to be careful about who he calls his friends.Philadelphia Eagles wideout A.J. Brown offered some wise words to young NBA star Ja Morant after Morant was seen flashing a gun on his friend's In...

MLB Rumors: Should Bryce Harper expect punishment?Despite missing a month of action, Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper could enter the NL MVP conversation shortly. Harper's numbers since returning to the lineup have been otherworldly. He underwent Tommy John surgery just five months ...

MLB Power Rankings of which teams are most likely to become trade deadline sellers.A whole lot can change between now and the MLB trade deadline. Many teams have played about 40 games this year. Sparky Anderson knows it takes 40 games to know what a team is or isn’t. In this week’s M...

Tonight is the conclusion of the New York Mets and Washington Nationals weekend series. The Mets enter this matchup in DC with a 2-1 series lead after Max Scherzer beat his former team and New York hung scored eight runs, all in the fifth inning, for an 8-2 victory. The Mets are 20-21 and Washington...

The Eastern Conference Finals is set, and for the third time in four years, the Miami Heat are taking on the Boston Celtics.These two teams have gone through very different paths to make the Eastern Conference Finals, and it now sets up a rematch of last seasons’ series. Boston won that se...

Gavi has provided an update on his future following Barcelona's La Liga title triumph.

Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi insists the players are targeting victories in their final two games to secure their Premier League status. Defeat at home to champions-elect Manchester City was not unexpected, even after the vital, morale-boosting win at Brighton six days previously, and has not really changed the equation for Sean Dyche’s side. One win could possibly be enough to extend their top-flight stay into a 70th season but beating both Wolves away and Bournemouth at Goodison Park would almost certainly do that. A year ago the Toffees safeguarded their future in their penultimate fixture, the final home game against Crystal Palace, but with things so tight at the bottom it is likely the outcome of one or both remaining relegation places will go to the final day. Which is why a maximum haul for Everton will be absolutely crucial. “We can’t be too down but there is a saying in football that you can’t be too high, like against Brighton, and then too low about City. We just need to kick on and go again,” said Iwobi. “The mindset is to have the belief that we can stay up and get maximum points – get six points. “We have to prepare, analyse and see Wolves’ weaknesses and how we capitalise against them.” Despite the City defeat the fans who remained behind at a rapidly-emptying Goodison Park were keen to voice their support for the players. Iwobi accepts that will be crucial for the final day of the season against a Bournemouth side who are already safe but said it was an important boost for the squad heading to Molineux before that, especially in a campaign which has been fractious between fans and the club. “To have the fans having our back after a disappointing result shows how much the fans care and want us to do well,” he added. “We use that as motivation to go into the next game. If they can fight for us, it is only right that we can fight for them as well.” Right-back Nathan Patterson is still trying to find his feet in the side having struggled with fitness and it has been difficult for him coming into an under-performing side, starting the last two matches due to an injury to Seamus Coleman. But having been given his chance he is focused on the fight for survival rather than worrying too much about his own personal difficulties. “You always have to be ready any time you are called upon and I feel I’ve done that in the last couple of games,” he said. “We are making sure we are focused on the things we do and as long as we do our job and do our best I’m sure we will be fine. “All season we’ve concentrated on ourselves, trying to not look at the table and anyone around us. “We just have to make sure we are focused and everyone is on the right page.” Everton are still waiting to find out the extent of striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s groin problem, which forced him to be taken off as a precaution at half-time with the side already 2-0 down against City. Manager Sean Dyche refused to take any chances after the injury-plagued forward reported a niggle in the first half and took him out of the firing line in the hope he can still feature in their remaining two games. While Calvert-Lewin has scored only once in five appearances after two-and-half months out with a hamstring problem, his return to the side has contributed to better performances with him being able to provide a focal point. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rising stars have chance to emulate footballing greats at FIFA youth tournament Carlos Alcaraz stunned by world number 135 Fabian Marozsan in Rome FA take no action against Oxford’s Ciaron Brown after spot-fixing investigation

Carlo Alcaraz’s 12-match winning streak came to an unexpected end when he was beaten by 135th-ranked Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the third round of the Italian Open

UDFA Monte Pottebaum has that Steelers blood in him. He's been rooting for Pittsburgh since he was a kid.The Pittsburgh Steelers recently have been working out undrafted free agent Monte Pottebaum, who has been a fan of the black-and-yellow since he was a child.The Iowa Hawkeyes product...

The country currently in charge of the European Union's presidency says a boycott of next year's Paris Olympics is not on the table

A tournament which gave players like Sir Bobby Charlton, Pep Guardiola and David Beckham one of their first tastes of international competition is poised for its 83rd edition this week. The Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup was first held in the Swiss city of Zurich in 1939, with FIFA assuming the patronage of the event in 1991 before it took on its current name in 1995. It welcomes clubs’ under-19 teams from around the world, and since 2018 a women’s tournament runs concurrently with the men’s. This year, Liverpool and Arsenal have been invited to the men’s and women’s tournaments respectively. Any players in their squads who are in need of any extra motivation heading into the tournament on May 17 and 18 need only look at some of the star names who have competed in the past. Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ team – featuring Charlton and Duncan Edwards among others – triumphed in 1954, one of 18 titles won in this tournament by the Red Devils. A decade later, a United side featuring George Best took part. Best, who had just turned 18, wrote a postcard to his parents from the tournament, reporting: “The weather here is brilliant. The food isn’t too good. The girls are fabulous.” United’s ‘Class of 92’ also took part, with Beckham playing in the tournament alongside Gary Neville every year between 1992 and 1995. Paul Scholes also featured in 1992 and 1994, while another United star Roy Keane took part in the event for Nottingham Forest in 1990. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is another Blue Stars alumnus, having played at the 1988 tournament for Barcelona alongside Albert Ferrer. The pair would go on to help the Catalan giants become champions of Europe just four years later. Current Arsenal midfield star Lia Walti sees the event in her home country as an event the young Gunners should relish playing in. “Looking back at my childhood, it was mostly small tournaments we played,or tournaments at weekends when we used to camp overnight,” the Switzerland international told fifa.com. “So yes, I would have loved to have had more of those tournaments as they gave me some of the best memories from my childhood. I’m sure that nowadays women and girls have more opportunities than 15 or 20 or years ago when I was at that age. “At the beginning (of my career) we could hardly make a living from the game, the pitch conditions were bad and there were only a few spectators. “Now the time (for women’s football) has come, and everything is a bit closer to the men’s game. Not yet on a financial level, but the situation in general, with better pitch conditions, lots of fans, big stadiums and more support.” Walti described the Arsenal team which will go for glory in Zurich as “physical”. They will be up against Swiss sides Basel and Zurich, along with Swedish outfit Rosengard in Group A. The top two from the group advance to the semi-finals to take on the top two from Group B. The teams finishing third and fourth in each group will also face each other. The men’s competition follows the same format. Liverpool are in Group B alongside founding club Blue Stars, their Zurich neighbours Grasshopper and Brazilian side Corinthians. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Alex Iwobi targets maximum haul from Everton’s crucial last two games Carlos Alcaraz stunned by world number 135 Fabian Marozsan in Rome FA take no action against Oxford’s Ciaron Brown after spot-fixing investigation