Category Sports News

At the revamped Fifa Club World Cup, Manchester City entered a new era, but it was one of their former stars who won in Philadelphia.

In their Group G opener, Moroccan club Wydad AC defeated academy star Phil Foden 2-0 despite his team’s form and fitness last season.

The first signs point to an England international returning to his best form after only scoring seven times last season at the Premier League, which Lincoln Financial Field is seeing.

Foden could play a key role in City’s chances of success in the competition with his starring role on Wednesday.

The tournament is extremely important to both the players and me, not just for me. In this intense competition, it is crucial to now improve your sharpness.

There are expectations for performance in every game playing for a club like City. That pressure is something I’ve always felt. We had a rough last season, but it’s about to end this year.

Foden revealed that he had been struggling and having an ankle injury at the end of last season, which City finished with for the first time in eight years without a major trophy.

He also believed that if he wanted to fully recover from the injury, it might be better to miss out on the American competition.

The 25-year-old, who won the 2024 Premier League Player of the Year and the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, will undoubtedly be relieved to have skipped the occasion.

As Foden played a significant portion of City’s game against the north African side, he was quick to pick the ball, filling voids outside the box, and looking to control the tempo.

His opener, which was the competition’s fastest goal thus far, bore the traits of a player who had taken a step back and caressed a fine finish into the far corner.

Foden appears to be feeling more like he’s found freedom in “Philly,” and that he’s stepping up in the post-Kevin de Bruyne era’s first game.

In Foden, Guardiola may have the best choice in replacing the legendary Belgian midfielder, who signed for Napoli for free.

Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, two of whom started on their debuts, set up Guardiola’s stall for this competition by signing three players for more than £100 million.

Dutchman Reijnders described himself as “box-to-box” number eight prior to the game, and there were already indications that he would be bringing something to this City side.

After the Spaniard’s serious knee injury in September, City struggled without Rodri’s presence in the middle of the park, but they may have found the ideal match for the Ballon d’Or winner.

Reijnders’ athleticism and ability to read the game clearly demonstrated his ability to snuff out attacks while also being able to pick out a pass and drive the side forward. He appears to have given City’s midfield, which was frequently unproductive last term, much-needed energy.

Guardiola acknowledged that “you feel and smell it, a really good player.” When he finds the rhythm, he will be at the top, according to the coach, “the pace and in the final third with the ball.”

Cherki, a French forward, showed his creativity with some eye-catching flashes on the ball, but he may be a player who doesn’t dominate the play like Reijnders, but he may be one who creates eye-catching moments in games.

The 18th Players Championship of 2025 was won by Stephen Bunting after a brilliant performance against Jermaine Wattimena.

The world number four won the final in Leicester against his Dutch foe, scoring six 180s and an average of 104.84.

Before Bunting reeled off six legs in a row with checkouts of 164 and 156 to take complete control, Wattimena broke to win the first leg.

Bunting won 94 for his first Players Championship title in nearly four years, beating Wattimena 7-5 to regain his previous record of almost four.

The Liverpudlian averaged 106.43 in the quarter-finals against Alan Soutar, who had earlier defeated him 6-4 in the final 16.

He defeated former World Championship semi-finalist Dave Chisnall 7-6 in the final four, defeating Karel Sedlacek of the Czech Republic 6-5, averaging over 100.

Before going down in the final, Wattimena had already won four one-leg shootouts in a row, defeating Bunting, Ryan Searle, Mike de Decker, and Josh Rock, with the other two coming off the bench.

The triple-header in Leicester wraps up on Thursday with Players Championship 20 following Chris Dobey’s victory in the 17th event on Tuesday.

English golfer Mimi Rhodes is eager to launch her major career at this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas after a blistering start to her professional career.

After winning three titles on the Ladies European Tour (LET), the 23-year-old from Bath was given a special invitation to play the year’s third major, which is worth a record of $ 12 million (£9 million).

Nelly Korda, the first golf course in Texas to host this competition, will be playing alongside Rhodes and the world’s best players on the Fields Ranch East course, which will host the event.

After playing for Great Britain and Ireland in the team that won the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale last year, she made a professional move. In addition, she won the recent Dutch Open, Joburg Ladies Open, and the New South Wales Open, among other things.

Rhodes would not have believed anyone who had suggested that she would become a pro athlete as soon as she had joined the pro ranks. She said, “I would have told them that they were crazy and lying.”

How much I’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time is unbelievable. I just want to make the most of the process and my presence.

Stacy Lewis, the former US Solheim Cup skipper, received two sponsor invitations, one of which was issued by the organizers. Rhodes describes it as “one of the best messages of my life” and discovered it a fortnight ago.

In the 156-player lineup, she joins fellow Englishwomen Charley Hull, Georgia Hall, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, and Gemma Dryburgh from Scotland. Being a major, Rhodes said, “I knew it would be quite difficult to enter the field.”

“I guess it was a shock, undoubtedly. but also demonstrated to me that I can compete with other LPGA players on the same level and provided me with the assurance that my game can compete with the best in the world.

A player who has already ranked among the top 100 has experienced a meteoric rise. The world number 89 reportedly said, “Everything kind of happened so quickly.

“I haven’t really had time to concentrate on anything,” she said. When you return home, club members from your club approach you and ask for pictures.

You sort of come to terms with the fact that you know you’ve accomplished a lot and have been playing a lot of golf.

On a par-72 course measuring 6, 604 yards, India’s Aditi Ashok and European Solheim Cup player Esther Henseleit will play at 13:55 BST.

Rhodes said, “I really like it.” It is in incredibly good condition. It’s a long course with a lot of slopes but a lot of room for improvement.

At 20:17 BST, Hull joins Korea’s Jin Young Ko and Japan’s Ayake Furue as late starters. The Englishwoman is ranked 17th overall and seeking her first victory in her 58th major start.

Korda and Maja Stark tied for second place at the most recent US Women’s Open, bringing her to the championship. In a season that has so far been wonless, she came in second.

The 26-year-old insists she will be ready to challenge for her third major title after suffering a neck spasm in a practice round on Monday.

Korda acknowledged that with the injury I sustained last year, I now feel my neck a little bit more than it used to, which I had previously experienced.

With her three-weekly success at Erin Hills, Stark won one of the big five titles, becoming the first European to do so in eight majors.

The 25-year-old Swede claims that JJ Spaun’s dramatic victory in the men’s equivalent last Sunday still had an impact on her emotions.

After failing to secure a full return to the Premier League, Sheffield United have appointed Ruben Selles as their new head coach.

Selles, 42, was hired as the new Blades boss less than an hour after Wilder’s exit was confirmed, along with former Southampton, Reading, and Hull City.

In the Championship play-off final last month, Sheffield United defeated Sunderland in stoppage time in the championship title match.

Wilder, 57, was in charge of his boyhood team for the third time and had been trying to help them advance.

With coaches Alan Knill and Matt Prestridge also leaving, the club announced that he had “mutually agreed” with the club.

In a statement made via the club, Wilder stated, “I’m obviously disappointed to be leaving, especially given how close we were to returning to the Premier League.”

“I love this club and this city, and that feeling will never change,” says the Sheffield native.

Selles took over Sheffield United when the club was in the bottom three, leaving Hull in May, despite leading the Tigers to avengeance.

Before taking over as manager of Reading, the Spaniard previously spent 18 months in charge of Southampton and two interim stints in the Premier League.

Selles’ comments after taking the Bramall Lane role suggested that wilder’s claims of being uneasy with AI-led recruitment strategies may not be true.

It was crucial at the beginning of the discussions that everyone was on the same page, Seles said, “This is a very powerful and ambitious project.”

The most crucial thing is to remember the football spirit, even though we need to embrace data and new technologies.

In his first season in charge, Wilder led Bramall Lane to the League One title in May 2016.

Two years later, they were promoted to the Premier League, and they finished ninth overall in their inaugural season.

However, they struggled badly the following year, and Wilder abruptly left with relegation.

Prior to returning to Bramall Lane in December 2023, he had stints with Middlesbrough and Watford after Paul Heckingbottom was fired from the Blades’ Premier League bottom.

Before the narrow inability to secure a top-flight return at the first opportunity of asking cost him his job, Wilder was unable to stop their relegation.

The legacy Chris and his staff left behind here will never be forgotten, going back to when he first started out with the League One club when he first started out, according to a club statement.

He led the club to two promotions and a ninth-place finish in the Premier League between 2016 and 2021, evoking a period that will be remembered as one of the most fondly remembered moments in the history of the organization.

In December, Wilder completed a long-awaited takeover by American-based COH Sports, and he signed a new three-year contract in January.

They were two points clear at the top with seven games left. However, they then lost to Plymouth Argyle, Millwall, and Oxford United in three games in eight days.

Despite finishing the regular season with 90 points, Burnley were forced to reach the play-offs after another defeat, which was fourth in five games.

They won the play-off final against the Black Cats in the final at Wembley with a thumping 6-0 overall win over Bristol City.

The only Championship game in which the system was in use all season, VAR controversially ruled out a second goal, and Sunderland came from behind to win.

Andy Giddings from BBC Radio Sheffield

After Paul Heckingbottom’s disastrous summer of recruitment, Wilder’s second assignment was initially intended to be a salvage job.

In the end, it failed, but the seeds of change were planted.

Wilder, who is renowned for having a good plan, decided to change the course and, despite a sluggish, nervy start as a result of the club’s protracted takeover, put together the makings of a strong squad that managed to accumulate 90 points (92 without the deduction), which surprisingly wasn’t enough to earn automatic promotion, and which was ultimately defeated in the Championship play-off final.

Following that final game against Sunderland, it is believed that a split board decided to discuss a “change in direction” last week, which ultimately resulted in the dismissal of one of United’s most successful managers.

The delay in discussing his future and how long it has taken to figure out the matter demonstrates a lack of respect for Wilder, in my opinion, as well as a lack of clarity at the club’s top, and naivety in agreeing to offer him a new three-year deal in January, when it was widely known that significant changes to the club’s hiring practices were about to occur.

With a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to seventh seed Linda Noskova, British wild card Francesca Jones lost to miss out on a chance to reach the top of the standings at Nottingham.

The 24-year-old battled valiantly against the world number 32 to save 20 break points in the match when the 24-year-old learned she had been given a wild card for the Wimbledon main draw the day before.

However, as Czech Noskova advanced to the quarter-finals against Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova, who defeated fourth seed Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 4:6, 6-4, she was broken twice in each set.

Leylah Fernandez defeated Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4, and Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine defeated Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic 6-2, 6 6-4 in the other WTA 250 match of the day.

A Briton will be able to reach the quarter-finals on Thursday when Katie Boulter takes on Sonay Kartal. Briton Mimi Xu, 17, who faces sixth-seeded Magda Linette of Poland, is also hoping to advance.

In a gruesome encounter that lasted three hours and 21 minutes, defending champion Jessica Pegula was eliminated from the Berlin Open in the last 16 by Liudmila Samsonova, who had earlier lost 6-7 (10-8) 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in one of the other pre-Wimbledon grass-court events.

Ons Jabeur, a two-time Wimbledon champion, defeated fourth seed Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 6-3, to reach the quarter-finals.

Scottish Rugby’s Alex Williamson anticipates having “really positive” discussions with Gregor Townsend about his future and would be surprised if the Scotland head coach refused to compete in a third World Cup.

Williamson stated in an interview with BBC Scotland that he was interested in keeping the services of Townsend, Franco Smith, of Glasgow Warriors, and Sean Everett, one of his Edinburgh counterparts, as their top coaches currently working in men’s rugby in Scotland. Deals between all three companies are currently in place until 2026.

Although Townsend has been in charge of Scotland since 2017, he has failed to pose a significant threat to silverware despite undoubtedly raising the standard of the national team during his tenure and producing a number of impressive results against some of the world’s best sides.

At the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, the Scots have never finished above third in the Six Nations under Townsend’s watch and have experienced group stage exits.

Townsend, however, believes that he is interested in a third World Cup and that Williamson would be happy to see the former Glasgow coach play for the Australian competition in 2027.

“We will have plenty of time to talk during our summer tour, and it’s common that we value continuity,” said the tour director.

“I thought the Six Nations and the fall saw a lot,” I thought. If we turn our attention to Australia and South Africa, and particularly to England and France, I believe we were only a few points away from winning very big games, and that should give us a lot of excitement.

“The players’ feedback on the quality of the camp and the coaching is still very positive, and I think we should be optimistic about how the men’s national team will fare in this extremely difficult summer tour and then in the fall.”

Since taking over in 2022, Smith has been a resounding success.

In spite of the negative effects of injuries from last year, Warriors still advanced to the Champions Cup quarter-finals and the final four of the URC. He led the club to the European Challenge Cup final in his first season and won the extraordinary United Rugby Championship title in his second.

Smith has been linked to a number of positions throughout the season, most recently the vacant position as Wales’ head coach, but he has not been successful in stifling speculation that he is seeking a new challenge.

We really like all three men’s coaches, according to Williamson, and we want to keep them.

I’m having those conversations right now and will continue them in the coming weeks. But he is a fantastic coach more for Franco than just that. I sincerely hope he will remain because of how amazing he has been working.

We want the best coaches in Scotland, and it would be disappointing if no one was talking about someone of such high caliber as him, and I am actually pleased that he is being approached and that people are talking about him as being a coach for others.

I believe we provide a consistent and precise plan that he will be extremely helpful, and I have great faith in him.

Many people think that Smith will make a good Townsend replacement, but Williamson insists that there hasn’t been any discussion of succession planning.

If you want to fill any gaps when they arise at any level, he said, “I don’t think we need to be looking at our coaching group and saying that we are creating the bench.”

We simply want to make sure that we choose the ideal candidate for that position at the time.

We absolutely have to nail that in terms of continuity around our coaching when we are thinking about how to create a path that will lead to our players being highly competitive in 2031 and 2035, or 2029 and 2033 for the women, because that is what will inspire confidence in them.

After having had a lot of success in a similar capacity in Ireland, Nucifora was hired last year to overhaul Scottish Rugby’s performance department and pathway structures.

Williamson doesn’t anticipate that contract being extended even though he thinks Nucifora may still have some influence given that the Australian’s deal runs until 2026.

“David was appointed with a very specific remit to establish a structure that would enable us to be highly competitive in those World Cups that have already been mentioned,” he said.

He and the rest of the senior team have been putting in a lot of effort to deliver that structure, and David isn’t going to be the guy who breathes life into that structure every day. That is unquestionably someone else.