Category Sports News

After the Women’s World Cup in September, Jo Yapp will step down as Australia’s head coach.

The 45-year-old former England captain, who took over as head coach in December 2023, won the WXV2 title in October to claim a spot in the World Cup and won the trophy as captain of Australia.

My family always comes first when thinking about future plans, and we have chosen to return to the UK once my contract expires, Yapp said. “This was a difficult decision.

Australia has won five of its previous seven games, including four in a row for the first time, but lost to Canada on Friday with a score of 45-7.

The 22 August to 27 September World Cup in England is held.

The main reason for announcing this is to prevent any distractions before the crucial World Cup preparation period begins, Yapp said. “There is still a lot of rugby to play.”

Aberdeen’s winters can be miserable.

On a gloomy, bitter night on Union Street, Winterfell has nothing. Particularly if you only need a red and white scarf around your neck to warm you up on January 25.

In crisis, the city’s football team, which had 15 victories in their first 16 games this year, were magnificently unbeaten in every category.

In 13 games without wins, including the most recent humiliating 3-0 home defeat suffered by St Mirren, a cataclysmic collapse in form had resulted in 10 defeats. The fantasy of title challenges had been replaced with a relegation form’s blind panic.

“Either adapt or die,” is the phrase. Before his side lost 2-0 to Hibernian in their next game, Jimmy Thelin reportedly has a month to sort things out, according to one enraged fan.

No panic was reported in the public, just a persistent message from Thelin, the club’s cool and composed new manager, that things would turn around.

The Swede remained unwavering inside the club despite it being difficult to see from outside.

The most divisive football campaign that could have ever been ended in a fairytale book, but one that was saved by one thing: belief.

Few outside of Thelin’s inner circle were as supportive of his team’s performance in Glasgow’s south of Celtic, who are chasing the title.

Roundly defeated in their previous four meetings and recovering from a spluttering fifth-place finish. For Saturday’s final, it was obvious something had to change.

It was difficult to see Thelin’s masterplan as the competition progressed. At half-time, 16 percent of possession. No encouragement or shots.

Aberdeen was still level and set the stage for a dramatic penalty shootout shock, which would rank among the many historic victories in this illustrious old competition thanks to the late substitutes and game plan used by the former Elfsborg head coach.

The heroic shootout goalkeeper for Aberdeen, Dimitar Mitov, described him as the “best manager I’ve ever worked with.”

“It’s his daily fundamentals,” he said of his management of the team, our training, and the little details he adds.

The most crucial moment, he said, is when we made it to the final, and I’ve never seen this before. There were no buts. The boys adopted that mindset.

As he addressed the audience in a standing ovation around the Hampden pitch, Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack declared, “With Jimmy, we feel we absolutely got the right guy.”

In the final, Thelin displayed a tactical awareness. He prepared a game plan to topple Celtic after giving them two days off, and it turned out well.

a change in the management, the operating system, the pragmatism-based change of approach. No wonder given Brendan Rodgers’ team’s tendency to demolish Thelin’s men occasionally this year.

The Swede also showed bravery in doing so. One thing is to recognize that something isn’t working. It’s quite a feat to do it and roll the dice as you approach the end of history.

The gamble has paid off, earning them £6 million and immortality, which is guaranteed to be played in either the Europa League or the Conference League until December.

Given that he received a lot of support in January, how much of it Thelin will get to invest in, but he has earned the right to return to the Aberdeen team with an air of optimism behind him.

Cormack led a run that turned out to be a success and ended with a trophy in the cabinet. He was persistent in his pursuit of Thelin. one that hasn’t lived there in a generation.

On Sunday, a Union Street bus parade will bring the frostiness of a winter of dismay to life.

Postmortems about being killed by St. Mirren will be regarded as irrelevant amid the glory, which is lost in the sea of red and white scarves and flags.

Thelin and his team will face new challenges and expectations. That will come later.

The Pittodrie manager deserves to live in the present day after this season and the most exhausting of days. Just a moment, really.

He told BBC Scotland, “You see how much it means to everyone.”

“Football is such an amazing sport because of that. Keep believing and try everything you can every day to stay strong in the challenging times.

Glasgow City vs. Rangers in the women’s Scottish Cup final

Location: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: May 25, 2014 Kick-off: 14:00 BST

With Hibernian’s first title in 18 years, Rangers and Glasgow City’s rivals have another chance to add to their trophy collection on Sunday, despite Rangers and Glasgow City’s loss to the Scottish Women’s Premier League.

City, who won the Scottish Cup for the first time last year, will be hoping to win it again, while the Ibrox women, who won it for the first time last year, are also hoping to do the same after lifting the League Cup.

In recent years, the SWPL has experienced some incredible title showdowns, with goal difference separating the top two, last-minute heartache and joy, and City’s monopoly on success ending.

However, it seems to me that this season has been the best overall for drama and entertainment, with Hibs’ re-emergence and ultimate fairytale triumph, while city rivals Heart of Midlothian made further advances to ensure the top five were all taking points off each other.

An audience not typically interested in women’s basketball was drawn to the three-way battle that almost ended the title race. Fans of football can’t resist being drawn to a bloody high note.

On the back of their recent form, it would be foolish to attempt to predict the outcome, but City likely enter the game as a slight favorites.

Rangers are after all going for back-to-back cup doubles, and they haven’t lost a decisive game since 2023’s Scottish Cup final defeat at Celtic.

We should be in for a titanic tussle between two of the nation’s top rivals because only three points ultimately divided the SWPL’s two teams.

Rangers came from behind to defeat City just once all season, winning 2-1 at Petershill in mid-April.

However, City’s victory at the end of last month in the most recent meeting, even though it required a Brenna Lovera penalty, really hurt Rangers’ title hopes.

The only respectable victory for either team in this year’s head-to-head encounter was in December when a Natalia Wrobel hat-trick went unanswered for Leanne Ross’ City side.

These two have plenty to offer, and everyone wants to see goals, never more than in a cup final.

On their way to clinching the Champions League once more, City posted 107 points, only to be outscored by, as you’ve probably guessed, 139, despite failing to win the title.

The most deadly threat to goal is Rangers’ Katie Wilkinson, who has an astonishing 46 appearances in 39 games as of Sunday. Both teams have multiple threats in front of goal.

Rio Hardy (28 from 38) and Kirsty Howat (25 from 39) ably assist and assist the former Southampton forward. In addition to the most recent hat-trick against Aberdeen in the semi-final, Jane Ross, who is renowned for scoring goals, would love to bow out of football by scoring at least one more Hampden goals, as well as 88 of Howat’s eight goals in the Scottish Cup.

Nicole Kozlova, a City striker, also scored in the semi-final against Motherwell, and has since increased her total to 23 goals in her last six games, closely followed by the previously mentioned American striker Lovera, who has 20.

Both Katie Lockwood and Sofia Maatta, who were both losing finalists last year with Hearts, would go on to win another game at Hampden, and both would go on to double figures.

There are plenty of other players worth watching, not the least of whom are fit-again Poland international Wrobel and her fellow City midfielder, the American Aleigh Gambone, as well as Rangers’ Scotland midfielder Kirsty MacLean, who is a fantastic talent at only 20 years old.

The Minnesota Timberwolves won the NBA Western Conference play-off finals by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 143-101.

At Target Center in Minneapolis, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle both scored 24 points, setting a club record for points scored in a play-off game.

The best-of-seven series, which continues at the same location on Tuesday at 11:30 BST, ends with them trailing 2-1.

“We brought high energy, and we brought it,” the saying goes.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a total of 69 points in the first two games before being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), managed just 14 at the end of the week.

He claimed that “we got punched in the mouth.”

“We simply didn’t have it,” he said. They sensed a sense of urgency because they knew that if they fell to 3-3, things would be pretty difficult.

It’s all about responding, not getting back up. The next challenge will be that. “

Only one of the Timberwolves’ previous 11 games at Target Center was lost.

In the NBA Finals, the Western Conference champions will face either the New York Knicks or the Indiana Pacers.

Before game three in Indianapolis at 1:00 a.m. BST on Monday, the Pacers had a 2-0 lead.

Ange Postecoglou has limited options. Tottenham’s chairman Daniel Levy has the final say in what comes next.

In their final game of a season that has spanned the sublime to the awful, Spurs host Brighton on Sunday.

A defeat would send the team to their worst Premier League campaign to finish 17th with 38 points.

However, given what has happened recently, supporters’ disappointment is unimportant.

For the moment, Tottenham are almost no longer a man. The excitement over Wednesday night’s Europa League victory over Manchester United won’t continue for a while. They are winners.

The architect of Spurs’ first trophy triumph since 2008 and their first European title since 1984 may now be uncertain about his future.

Tottenham have begun the search for candidates to replace the Australian before the 2025/26 campaign because of the club’s terrible domestic campaign.

In fact, it is widely believed that Postecoglou’s presidency almost certainly would have ended if they had lost to United in Bilbao.

But that was not their choice. And there might be a quandary for Levy.

22 league defeats would be unacceptable for a club with the resources and squad of Tottenham, in the event of a loss on Sunday.

The manager would typically be blamed and delegated from his duties.

These circumstances are not unusual, though. Postecoglou has succeeded in a situation where many, including Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho, and Mauricio Pochettino, have failed.

Spurs’ success in Bilbao was well-known, and aside from the glory, it also represented a qualification for the Champions League.

At Friday’s club’s trophy parade, many of those who had abandoned Postecoglou a few weeks ago were chanting his name.

The 59-year-old has managed to change the narrative and sway a fanbase who had been hampered for so long on Wednesday night in the space of 90 plus minutes.

You may wonder how much public opinion and the swathes of affection Postecoglou’s directed affection will have on Levy in light of this.

If Postecoglou had lost the final, it would have been difficult to keep, but there is a much stronger case in place right now.

Which manager could Tottenham choose to pique the fans’ interest so much that they would accept the Australian’s departure is another important factor?

Given Postecoglou’s newfound love, there is a chance that replacing him with a subpar position will polarize the club’s fan base, who is already having a difficult relationship with Levy and the club’s ownership.

Given the acclaim that Tottenham fans have received for Jurgen Klopp or Carlo Ancelotti in recent weeks, would they accept Postecoglou’s departure as a manager with a proven track record of winning trophies?

By retaining Postecoglou, you’d think Levy could earn some significant brownie points.

He might be considering his decision based on the strength of the relationship between the players and the manager.

In recent weeks, senior players have all publicly backed Postecoglou. Achieving a trophy will only strengthen a relationship that appears to have developed toward the end of the season.

You’d assume that Postecoglou will choose Postecoglou as the person to take next when they meet.

It’s still to be seen whether the aforementioned factors will hold Levy’s nerves.

Whether the chairman has been influenced by the emotion since Bilbao will affect much of what transpires over the next 72 hours.

Levy can be ruthless, according to history. Just six months after guiding Tottenham to the 2019 Champions League final, where they lost to Liverpool, Pochettino was fired.

Just before the 2021 Carabao Cup final, which Mourinho lost to Manchester City, he also fired Mourinho.

Levy doesn’t pay much attention to emotion, based on the evidence.

Having said that, you wouldn’t have to be a robot to have been influenced by Postecoglou’s outpouring of love this week.

The former Celtic boss plans to take a trip early this week, so there will be a desire to sort things out before leaving.

The imagination was captured by his intriguing address to supporters at the Friday night parade reception.

“All the best television series’, season three is better than season two,” roared Postecoglou.

Perhaps he is aware of something that we are unaware of. He might not, perhaps not.