‘I was suffering with OCD, which was horrific’: Former England scrum-half Kyran Bracken opens up over his mental health problems October 15, 2019 Kyran Bracken played professional rugby for 14 years. As a scrum-half he won 51 caps for England and was part of the famous World Cup-winning squad of 2003. That much is well documented. What wasn’t known, until now, was that he has struggled with mental health problems. But 13 years on from his retirement, Bracken [...]
Improving Ross Barkley should strive to be England’s Kevin De Bruyne October 15, 2019 Only two competitive fixtures stand between England and their opening Euro 2020 match at Wembley next summer, yet Gareth Southgate’s jigsaw is still missing a piece. The one glaring weakness is the midfield combination and, specifically, the lack of someone to take a hold of games when the chips are down. A midfield general, in [...]
Bulgaria 0-6 England: Racist abuse in Sofia proves Uefa’s protocols are not strong enough October 14, 2019 Tyrone Mings made his international debut tonight, a moment the 26-year-old must have dreamt of since childhood. But rather than remembering it for the proud occasion it should have been, Mings will instead reflect on a night on which he was subjected to racist abuse while simply doing his job. The Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski [...]
Player ratings: Raheem Sterling and Ross Barkley shine for England in Bulgaria October 14, 2019 England thrashed Bulgaria 6-0 in Sofia tonight in a Euro 2020 qualifying match overshadowed by persistent racist abuse from the stands. Here is how the visitors rated on a dark night for European football. Jordan Pickford: 6 Saved what came his way, which was very little in an embarrassingly one-sided match. Some wayward kicking. Kieran [...]
Fit-again Bernd Wiesberger is riding a wave of euphoria to the top of golf October 14, 2019 Injuries need a lot of respect, especially in a physical game such as golf and in particular when it affects your wrist, like the one that sidelined Bernd Wiesberger for most of last year. But they can also allow you to reset your targets, to take stock of elements of your game that you want [...]
Japan 28-21 Scotland: Hosts produce scintillating rugby to reach World Cup quarter-finals October 13, 2019 The fact that Japan made history, beating Scotland 28-21 to reach the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history, was remarkable enough. But to do so on their own turf, in such style and in front of an adoring fan base just hours after the pain and destruction wreaked by Typhoon [...]
England have a midfield quandary but the system needs fine-tuning, not dismantling October 13, 2019 Overreaction clings to international football, where the relative infrequency of fixtures lends absurd weight to every result. So it was inevitable that England’s flat performance and surprise defeat in Friday’s European Championship qualifying match against the Czech Republic prompted not only justifiable soul searching about the team’s level but also some wild calls to abandon [...]
European Championship revamp keeps football open to all October 13, 2019 Every time Indiana Jones takes a plane, his journey is illustrated by a red line moving gradually towards its destination, the aircraft pivoting now and again to refuel as it traverses continents. For those still recovering from trying to understand the Uefa Nations League, the Raiders of the Lost Ark motif helps explain what will [...]
Ollie Phillips: World Cup fixture cancellation disadvantages Wales but France mutiny can go either way October 10, 2019 Typhoon Hagibis may not have directly affected Wales’s Rugby World Cup fixtures but the tropical cyclone has still managed to leave them at a considerable disadvantage. If, as expected, Wales win their final group match against Uruguay on Sunday they will finish top of Pool D and set up a quarter-final clash with the runner-up [...]
Gemini Man review: A technical tour de force, but a mediocre action movie October 10, 2019 Ang Lee’s latest film, Gemini Man is remarkable for two reasons. Firstly, it stars regular Will Smith facing off against a digitally de-aged Will Smith, in a feat of cinematic engineering that is genuinely very convincing. Thanks to whatever manner of advanced Snapchat filters Ang Lee brought to bear upon the actor’s motion-captured face, Smith [...]