Premier League fixtures 2014-2015: How does your team do in the first game? June 18, 2014 Champions Manchester City will kick off the defence of their Premier League crown with a trip to Newcastle, while newly promoted Burnley host Chelsea in their first game back in the big time. Louis Van Gaal's opening match in charge of Manchester United sees him come up against Swansea at home, while Arsenal welcome Crystal [...]
Frank Lampard: Row over Wayne Rooney’s place will only harm England June 17, 2014 England vice-captain Frank Lampard believes that frenzied debate over Wayne Rooney’s place in the team could damage their hopes of beating Uruguay tomorrow and reaching the World Cup’s last 16. Rooney’s increasingly shaky status as a certain starter has become a sideshow to England’s tournament, fuelled in part by youngster Raheem Sterling dazzling in Saturday’s [...]
Cricket Comment: Cook faces axe if skipper can’t make big score June 17, 2014 IT MIGHT have been an agonising margin that separated England from victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test this week, but now the dust has settled it’s time to look at what went wrong. The biggest disappointment for the hosts was the performance of the opening batsmen, on what was a batter’s pitch at [...]
World Cup: Brazil held by Mexico as party spirit dampens June 17, 2014 BRAZIL 0 MEXICO 0 BRAZIL’S hopes of advancing to the knockout stages as group winners were dented last night thanks to some wasteful finishing and an outstanding display from Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. The 28-year-old, who is unattached having left French club AC Ajaccio following their relegation from Ligue 1, denied Neymar, Paulinho and Thiago [...]
World Cup: Wilmots masterminds Belgium comeback to edge out Algeria June 17, 2014 ALGERIA 1 BELGIUM 2 A LATE second-half strike from Napoli winger Dries Mertens saw Belgium come from behind to land only their second World Cup win in 20 years. Manager Marc Wilmots scored the winning goal to defeat Russia in 2002 – Belgium’s sole triumph at a finals since 1994 – and inspired victory again [...]
World Cup: Kerzhakov comes off the bench to cancel out Akinfeev’s blunder June 17, 2014 RUSSIA 1 SOUTH KOREA 1 RUSSIA substitute Aleksandr Kerzhakov spared the blushes of goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev with a late goal to rescue a point in last night’s Group H clash. Akinfeev, earning his 70th cap, inexplicably spilled Lee Keun-Ho’s speculative strike over the goal-line when a simple catch was required. But former England manager Fabio [...]
World Cup in brief June 17, 2014 Online abuse for wrong Neville A RADIATOR salesman named Phil Neville, 60, has been bombarded with abuse on Twitter following his namesake’s much-criticised commentary debut in England’s defeat to Italy, for which the BBC received 445 complaints. Uruguay craving caramel snack URUGUAY fans have blamed the confiscation of the players’ favourite snack at customs for their [...]
Jockey goads rivals at Ascot June 17, 2014 JOCKEY James Doyle last night apologised for goading his rivals after piloting Kingman to glory in the St James’s Palace Stakes on the first day of Royal Ascot. Doyle turned to face the field and pressed his finger to his lips after the 8/11 favourite saw off rival Night Of Thunder, who beat Kingman in [...]
Cipriani shines on Test audition June 17, 2014 RUGBY UNION: Fly-half Danny Cipriani boosted his hopes of featuring in Saturday’s final Test in New Zealand with a promising display in England’s 38-7 win over Super Rugby side Crusaders yesterday. Regular No10 Owen Farrell has been ruled out of the third Test against the All Blacks with a knee injury.
Cavendish wins Swiss stage four June 17, 2014 CYCLING: Britain’s Mark Cavendish won stage four at the Tour of Switzerland to help Omega Pharma Quick-Step team-mate Tony Martin retain his six-second lead in the general classification. Team Sky’s Sir Bradley Wiggins crashed on the 160.4km leg, leaving him 14 minutes 43 seconds off the pace.