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County Championship updates as the title race heats up Mail Tanya or post BTL | Sign up for The Spin newsletterHere’s Ali’s preview of the final Test of the summer, starting at Edgbaston at 11 (I wonder why they don’t start at 10.30?)The three leading contenders for the Division One title, Somerset, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire, each had a profitable day, though Warwickshire swung the biggest hammer after dismissing Glamorgan for 69 at Sophia Gardens. Continue reading...

Winner claims 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7) victoryEpic quarter-final ends after 3.30am in New YorkAs the official 10th day of play in New York moved deeper into the remote hours of the new morning, every passing game imbued Carlos Alcaraz with greater despair. From his focused start, Alcaraz’s intensity had flatlined and he could barely put a ball in court. Alcaraz lost nine consecutive games against Ben Shelton and seemed to have nothing left.Instead, the contest would develop into one of the most remarkable matches of the year as Alcaraz dragged himself into a fifth set and came so close to orchestrating another seemingly impossible comeback. This time, he was denied by a brave, defiant Shelton, who refused to be shaken by the status of his rival or the prospect of securing the greatest win of career after four hours and 29 minutes on court. At 3.33am, the sun not long from rising over Flushing Meadows yet a half-full Arthur Ashe Stadium still hollering until the end, Shelton closed out with a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7) win over Alcaraz to reach the semi-finals of the US Open. Continue reading...

One of Barcelona’s eight World Cup winners reflects on how Spain’s triumph is inspiring them in the Champions LeagueDani Olmo nods towards his right arm. “Look: goosebumps,” he says. The Spain midfielder is sitting in a back room at Barcelona’s Joan Gamper training ground trying to pinpoint the moment he knew he was a world champion. “There’s an image in my mind with Ferran [Torres]’s mum: hugging her, the two of us in tears,” he says. “‘What your son just did … what we all did … this is historic.’ And that’s when you start to feel it. In those final minutes of the game it’s impossible, impossible, but when the referee blows, the thought enters your head: ‘Have we done it?’ ‘Are we …?’ There, you feel it a little bit. When you lift the cup, a little bit more. And then when you see the families, when I see the reaction from my brother, my partner, my dad. I’m not one to cry, but …”But then Olmo knew, felt it: Spain were world champions. It was 19 July in New Jersey and it was real: Spain had beaten Argentina and nothing would be the same again. Continue reading...

Plus: clubs with multiple £100m players on their books and more trophy-laden footballersMail us with your all of your questions and answers“The Saturday before last, Clyde were winning 3-0 at The Spartans after an hour when Logan Dunachie was sent off. Twenty-eight minutes later, the score was 3-3. What is the biggest turnaround in a game following a red card/most quantitative blame that can be thrown at a player for getting sent off?” asks Jamie Wills.At Knowledge Towers, we usually receive questions about the greatest comebacks with 10 men. We covered that in 2021, so it’s a nice change to look at teams who went to seed after having a player sent off. Continue reading...

NFL executives use this week to push for inclusion at Brisbane 2032Possibility a key reason Melbourne secured Rams v 49ers matchThe NFL’s regular season debut in Australia will deliver a significant commercial return for the league and its clubs, but the league’s takeover of Melbourne this week is about more than money.The scheduling of Friday’s match at the MCG is also designed to help secure a place for flag football – a non-contact version of American football – at the Brisbane Olympics. Continue reading...

Saudi investors stopped backing LIV this yearRahm, DeChambeau and Smith among the creditorsLIV Golf, the breakaway tour that spent billions of dollars luring top players away from the PGA and triggered bitter divisions within the sport, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.The filing at a New Jersey court indicates LIV, which abruptly lost its deep-pocketed Saudi investors earlier this year, intends to restructure and return in a new form. Continue reading...

England forward scores twice in 3-2 victorySouthampton 3-1 Swansea; Watford 2-1 PrestonCaptain Jarrod Bowen scored twice as West Ham’s 3-2 win over Bolton took them top of the Championship on goal difference. The England international opened the scoring after 13 minutes and earned his side a first win at Bolton for 31 years with his second 13 minutes from time.In between, Wanderers, beaten for a fourth successive outing, equalised through midfielder Ethan Erhahon’s maiden goal for the club and they looked on course for a ninth successive league victory over the Hammers when Ruben Rodrigues converted a 27th-minute penalty. Instead, Konstantinos Mavropanos levelled with a 31st-minute header and Bowen completed the comeback. Continue reading...

Sometimes football is silly, sometimes it doesn’t make much sense, and sometimes it’s fun for it. On a night when there were 37 shots and the goalkeepers shared 13 occasionally absurd saves between them, José Mourinho’s current side beat his former team Inter on his Champions League return to Real Madrid. Just don’t ask exactly how. Except perhaps to cite Thibaut Courtois, whose astonishing 89th-minute stop from Henrikh Mkhitaryan explained much and allowed them, just, to hold on to the first-half lead they had been given by goals from Kylian Mbappé and Fede Valverde.By Mbappé, Valverde, and Inter themselves, that is. You might be tempted to say the Italians had shot themselves in the foot, only if they tried Courtois would probably save that too. “If he wasn’t voted man of the match tonight, he never will be,” Mourinho said. It took 77 minutes for him to be beaten, Carlos Augusto’s goal giving this match a frantic last 15 minutes and Inter hope of justice, but it didn’t happen again. So a game that could have had any scoreline – “5-1 to us, 6-6, I don’t want to say they could have won,” Mourinho suggested – actually ended 2-1. Madrid’s manager called it “mad, and not a madness I like.” Continue reading...

Enzo Maresca admitted a liking for the “boom-boom” of house music in the buildup to this match, then enjoyed the sweet notes of victory having overseen a gritty performance from his Manchester City side in incessant rain.City had lost six of their past nine away games in the competition, and been beaten in the 2021 Champions League final at this venue, so to beat Porto and claim three points is a fillip for the manager’s nascent project. Continue reading...

Newcastle did just enough in south-east London to progress to the next round of the Carabao Cup. Joe Willock scored the only goal of this boisterous, fun, slightly vague cup tie against a spirited Millwall team that was not so much down to the bare bones, as the bones beneath the bones.By the end there was a sense both sets of fans were more or less happy. Millwall for the vigour of the performance and Newcastle for the result, the clean sheet and any signs of early progress in the dawning of the age of Jaissle-ball. Continue reading...