World Cup: Muller magic puts Portugal to the sword June 16, 2014 GERMANY 4 PORTUGAL 0 GERMANY forward Thomas Muller believes the experience of playing in two major international tournaments set him up perfectly to shake off first day nerves and bag a hat-trick against 10-man Portugal. Having finished the 2010 World Cup as joint-top scorer with five goals, the Bayern Munich star struck three more at [...]
Schumacher out of a coma June 16, 2014 SEVEN-TIME Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is out of a coma and has been moved to a hospital in Switzerland. The development, announced yesterday by his management, is the most encouraging indication of recovery since he suffered life-threatening head injuries while skiing in France late last year. Schumacher’s camp said the 45-year-old German, who retired [...]
World Cup in brief June 16, 2014 Mexico have plan to stifle Brazil MEXICO captain Rafael Marquez is confident his team can cope with Brazil’s holy trinity in tonight’s second Group A match. He said: “It will surely be a very difficult game, we know the talent of Neymar, Oscar, Hulk, but we will train in ways to handle them.” Russia have [...]
Cook rues spin absence as England suffer late agony June 16, 2014 CAPTAIN Alastair Cook admitted to mixed feelings after England narrowly missed out on a dramatic victory in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s yesterday. England thought they had claimed the win with the penultimate ball when Nuwan Pradeep was given lbw off Stuart Broad, only for the tourists to review and umpire Paul [...]
World Cup: Dempsey downs Ghana with early strike to score revenge June 16, 2014 GHANA 1 USA 2 FORWARD Clint Dempsey struck the fifth fastest goal in World Cup history as USA finally gained their revenge against Ghana last night in Natal. Having lost to the Black Stars at the last two World Cups, including the last-16 stage in South Africa, USA made the best possible start when Dempsey [...]
World Cup: Jeers for Nigeria after being held to goalless draw by Iran June 16, 2014 NIGERIA 0 IRAN 0 AFRICAN champions Nigeria were booed off the pitch in Curitba last night after being held to the tournament’s sole draw so far. In a game of few clear cut chances, minnows Iran were content to sit back and soak up pressure, but Nigeria did not have the quality required to break [...]
Frankel foal fetches £1.15m June 16, 2014 HORSE RACING: A foal of Frankel fetched £1.15m at auction last night, in the first time one of the flat racing great’s offspring has been sold. The unnamed colt, aged three months, was sold with his mother Crystal Gaze, who is expecting another foal by Frankel, to MV Magnier of Ireland’s Coolmore Stud.
Sprinter Ujah snubbed by England June 16, 2014 ATHLETICS: Britain’s newest sprint star Chijindu Ujah has been left out of England’s Commonwealth Games squad. Olympic champion Mo Farah is set to run the 5,000m and 10,000m.
Ascot bookies braced for another Toronado June 16, 2014 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE QUEEN ANNE STAKES ROYAL Ascot kicks off in style with three Group One races today and my strongest fancy is in the opener at 2.30pm, the Queen Anne Stakes. This one-mile showpiece has been won by crack milers Goldikova, Canford Cliffs and Frankel in recent times and TORONADO can add his [...]
Paddy Power: Top Tips From June 16, 2014 TOP hat and tails time and us bookie chappies could do with Toronado getting chinned in today’s opener. And I’m taking Verrazano to do it. He’ll have learnt a lot from his UK debut on his first start on grass and was absolutely top-class on dirt in the States. Treve would be another bad result [...]