Archive August 4, 2025

In the biggest US Athletics Championships upset, Sarah Calvert defeated Olympic silver medalist Laura Muir to claim the 1500-meter title.

The 24-year-old Livingston AC runner’s personal best is 15 seconds worse than her fellow Scot, who is also a Scot.

However, Calvert fought back from the outside to win the biggest race of her career just as Revee Walcott-Nolan and Erin Wallace appeared to be bursting through on the inside of the final straight.

She won in Birmingham a week after taking silver at the German Summer World University Games.

She told Scottish Athletics, “I thought the world juniors championship last weekend was a big breakthrough, but this is crazy.”

“It’s crazy. Never mind this year, I didn’t anticipate that to occur.

It turned into a slow, tactical race as the UK Championships doubled as the British trials for the World Championships in Tokyo next month.

With England’s Walcott-Nolan finishing third and Giffnock’s Wallace tying for fourth, Calvert’s winning time of 4:16.27 was eight seconds slower than her own personal best.

A quick, tactical race definitely plays into my hands, she continued.

After revealing his departure from Tottenham over the weekend, Son Heung-min is expected to join Los Angeles FC for around £20 million.

After ten years at Tottenham, the forward announced in a press conference on Saturday that he would leave this summer.

And the 33-year-old appears to be on the verge of signing for Major League Soccer (MLS), which could even be a record-breaking fee, possibly more than Atlanta United’s $22.5 million acquisition of Middlesbrough for Emmanuel Latte Lath in February.

Although the transfer’s final details are still being discussed, his move to LAFC is now regarded as contingent on the completion of all paperwork and a medical.

Son, who is contracted with Spurs until 2026, made his anticipated final appearance on Sunday in a 1-1 pre-season friendly against Newcastle in Seoul.

When he was substituted in the 65th minute, his Spurs team-mates and the opposing Newcastle players performed a guard of honor. Tottenham will now travel to Germany on Thursday for a pre-season match, where they will face Bayern Munich, and Harry Kane will have a chance to spend some time in his home country, South Korea.

Son made 454 appearances for Tottenham since joining from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015, scoring 173 goals.

It is prudent to watch closely to see if any signs of recovery are developing before making a judgment because Manchester United have been so underwhelming, erratic, and have talked so many good games without actually delivering.

Ruben Amorim is correct in this regard.

If United lose to Arsenal at Old Trafford in their Premier League opener on August 17, he knows his brutally honest assessment of United and his welcome openness in blatantly describing how he is trying to improve things will be useless.

He also is aware that United can provoke extreme reactions, and he acknowledged this after Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Everton in Atlanta established his team as the champions of the four-team Premier League Summer Series.

He claimed that this behavior was typical in our club.

They will say, “If you play well, they will say, “We play really well,” and it’s the same if it’s on the other side.”

After speaking to the press for four minutes, which was barely a sixth of the time he had spent with visiting UK journalists in Chicago on Friday, he decided to leave and watch his team’s non-starters, Joshua Zirkzee, Noussair Mazraoui, Andre Onana, and Lisandro Martinez, complete training on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium pitch.

Amorim’s coaching approach treats his players like adults, which is a significant component. Even though this is football, which is still a top division club, Sir Alex Ferguson’s day one player showed up for a European tour with all his house keys, locked the door, and had to fumble with the keys to the rest of his family inside, and had to squirmly ask another employee to go back and let them out.

A healthy dose of normality, which, as Amorim points out, comes with responsibility, was suggested by United players wandering around Chicago after training, either for a coffee, a bite to eat, or to browse through the extremely expensive shops that make up the “praise mile.”

When the players were wandering around the team hotel, they posed for numerous selfies and many fans asked for them, but no one objected. Ferguson well served by letting the dressing room run.

It has created a more tranquil setting. This contrasts with Erik ten Hag’s prescriptive treatment of late meetings that players receive.

That doesn’t mean Amorim’s world doesn’t have punishments.

The end of training requires having to pack away the training equipment in the small-sided games. And Amorim claimed that the group is aware of poor training performance in his revealing conversation on Friday, rather than just the individual being targeted for a quiet word.

There are also other subtleties. Knowing that Amorim will have his squad back together at Carrington on Wednesday before Saturday lunchtime’s friendly against Fiorentina, a change in time zone change should be less disruptive, training on day one was at 8am to allow a transition through a six-hour time zone swap.

Before the players arrived, Amorim was getting up even earlier to do his morning run and weights.

More intense gym work lasted for an hour during the training period, as well as watching game scenarios, which Amorim takes and club media are not permitted to record.

Instead of being risk-filled and sending out messages without permission, the information is kept to the essentials. It serves as the general framework that Amorim aims to develop. He believes that the players should have the wisdom to make their own decisions in crucial situations.

This implies that the pitches don’t perform all the important work. Set pieces and drills are performed by Amorim’s assistant Carlos Fernandes. The old practice of twice-sessions to exercise has been abandoned.

All of this appears to be good at first glance. After Amorim’s players returned for the start of the pre-season on July 7th, reports from inside the club confirmed that the sports science team were delighted with the results from the early training sessions.

They argued that this suggested that the players had adhered to a very strict and thorough fitness regimen to work on during their free time.

There were some commercial appearances for Manchester United, which they have since reduced to previous home matches.

No player involvement was a part of a delegation that addressed a crowd of Wall Street investment banks and US financiers in New York to try to pique interest in helping to fund the planned £2 billion new stadium project, making it potentially the most significant commercial event as far as the club was concerned.

Nothing significant has changed, and the fact that neither Coe nor Collette Roche, the company’s chief operating officer, spoke to the media in depth about the Los Angeles stadium’s plans in March, were there at the time.

Of course, that’s not Amorim’s area of concern.

He must deliver the pitch. In order to accomplish that, United did look far better than it did last year.

When Amorim’s team has the ball, it was obvious that the frequently discussed three-man defence splits occur when the right and left-sided defenders play their normal central defenses, with Matthijs de Ligt, who is in command of that position, moving into midfield alongside the deeper of the two chosen for those positions.

Even if questions are posed defensively, Amad Diallo poses a significant threat offensively at right wing-back, and Matheus Cunha undoubtedly adds more innovation to Amorim’s attack.

Even though many would argue that finding someone who can bring physicality and energy to midfield would be a better use of the funds United do have, it is obvious Amorim feels that he can find an improvement in Rasmus Hojlund.

Watching Bournemouth’s Alex Scott’s industry highlights Amorim’s squad’s significant weaknesses.

However, this tour has been fairly quiet overall. Overall, Amorim’s team appears content, and there is a sense of optimism in the players that any team needs to succeed.

However, modern football’s culture dictates that everything is seen through the lens of results.

The walk-through might be beneficial. It will be seen if United prevails. Even though it is exactly the same process, if they lose, it will be dismissed as a terrible idea.

The Europa League final winner was scored to Tottenham by a flick off Brennan Johnson, who deflected a deflection off Luke Shaw and then snuck in at the corner despite Onana’s last-ditch effort to keep it out despite the league’s sparse managers talking about. Nothing about this has to do with training or the small margins that managers across the league discuss.

This United does appear to be better. Amorim is communicating his ideas.

As Santi Cazorla prepares for the final season of his career in the colours of boyhood club Real Oviedo, the words of his son Enzo still resonate with the 40-year-old.

Enzo only wanted to see his father play once more while the former Arsenal midfielder spent two years with ankle issues that nearly nearly claimed his leg.

Cazorla was prepared to quit after 636 days of operation, 11 operations, and gangrene, but only for his daughter India, 12, and wife Ursula, who is now 15 to keep him going.

“In some moments I called my family and said ‘ I will stop. I want to be with you after a year, he tells BBC Sport. Nothing, I’m by myself, I don’t have family around, and things aren’t going well.

” My son would say ‘ no daddy, please try again – tomorrow will be better and you will start to feel better. Please come back and play football again because I want to see you again and I enjoy seeing you playing for clubs like Arsenal and others.

“Finally, I succeeded,” she said. But in that moment it was difficult to say ‘ yes, I will be back’. These words are my strength and encouragement for the day.

He has been given the freedom to pursue a career. One which has gone full circle, having helped Oviedo – the team he left in 2003 without playing a first-team game – return to La Liga for the first time in 24 years after winning the Segunda Division play-offs last season.

After signing his final contract, a one-year contract, three weeks ago, it will be a fairytale ending for the lifelong Carbayones fan.

Cazorla remarked, “This will be my last season, and I must pay attention to my body, which is already asking me.”

“When I was a kid I always dreamed to play in the club and I’m here now – lucky and able to play with my club in the top division.

It is uplifting to speak with Cazorla. He beams, clearly loving the extra years he has fought hard to gain.

It has taken a long way to get here. He had ankle issues after receiving an innocent kick in a game against Chile in 2013. He continued to play for three years.

By then the pain was too much and treatment was needed, but Cazorla did not expect the multiple operations, one leading to infection which destroyed almost 11 centimetres of his Achilles and nearly cost him his leg.

His bone had softened. A reconstruction of his Achilles involved the grafting of skin from his left arm, which included a tattoo of his daughter’s name, to his right ankle.

Doctors explained he should be content with walking again, let alone playing. Cazorla recalls his defiance when asked what the conversation was like. Cazorla describes his ankle as a “jigsaw puzzle.”

He claims, “I never believed this kind of thing.” The injury was really hard. I never told the truth about the injury; I assumed it was minor.

Cazorla put off having surgery until he was no longer able to.

” It was the most difficult moment in my career, not only in football but my life, “he adds”. You have to fight if you have a dream, you have to fight every day, even if I wasn’t with my family, my wife, and my kids.

“My wife, children, my mother, and brother,” I say. I had to fight for them. For me personally, it was a very challenging time.

You arrive at the Emirates to play, and you are hospitalized for a week. It’s difficult to control these kind of emotions. “

Cazorla’s confidence in making a comeback, however, was not shared by Arsenal.

He had previously been given a contract renewal, but he was unable to persuade the Gunners to give him a new one in 2018. He eventually returned to Villarreal for three years, where he had added 86 appearances to his previous 233.

” I remember when I started to feel better after a year and a half, I came back and asked, ‘ please give me the chance to do pre-season and after I would like to sign one year more, ‘ “he says, having made 180 appearances, scoring 29 goals, in six years at Arsenal.

They said they thought I wouldn’t be able to return to the top level. When you are two years away, it’s normal.

“I was very honest with them – give me the chance because I’m ready again. I have to understand why they said no.

He still has feelings for the Gunners, though, and is close to his Emirates Stadium captain, Mikel Arteta. He is also open to a return once he retires.

Cazorla will consider his options, but what will come next will be “something in football.”

Cazorla’s perspective has naturally changed as he enters his final season, determined to enjoy it.

He continues, “I always try to enjoy the little things right now.” “When you are old you try to enjoy everything, when you are young you are not ready.

Since this is my last year, I typically suffer a lot during the pre-season, but I’ve been trying to enjoy it. Before I even considered this, the journey from the hotel to the stadium and watching the fans as they pass through the city.

Cazorla and Oviedo’s La Liga comeback next month is, coincidentally, at Villarreal. the first game at home? Real Madrid .

While he does not take the credit, Cazorla’s return was the catalyst. In their centenary year, he helped Oviedo advance to the Segunda Division play-offs in 2023-24, where they lost to Espanyol, before inspiring a historic promotion.

Oviedo fell to the fourth tier after being dropped from La Liga in 2001. Cazorla was winning his second FA Cup with Arsenal while they were in Segunda Division B in 2014-15.

He was born in Fonciello, a small village 10 minutes outside Oviedo and grew up a fan of Los Azules.

He joined the club at age eight, watched as they were promoted, and then left for Villarreal at age 18 under financial pressure.

The Spain international purchased shares in 2012 during one of the club’s numerous hours of need, and two years later he came back with the same desire to assist.

Cazorla was willing to play for free but, with league rules prohibiting it, collected the minimum wage allowed, £80, 000 a year, with 10% of his shirt sales also going to the academy.

The key is to remember that when you’re on the street, there are a lot of kids wearing Real Oviedo t-shirts, Cazorla says. The street kids’ future is in their hands. They support Oviedo – not Barcelona or Real, Arsenal or Liverpool. It was impossible to see the children wearing Oviedo shirts until recently.

The club referred to him as an emblem and symbol when he wrote his new contract.

Cazorla took the microphone to sing – surprisingly well – the club’s unofficial anthem by Melendi, an Oviedo-born musician, at the promotion party in front of thousands of fans.

Cazorla, a two-time European Championship winner with Spain, is content to ignore the spotlight as he considers his legacy despite taking center stage.

I’m just one more player, not this, because I don’t want to feel this way. I’m 40-years-old, I only try to help the young players and club to get into the top division. The humble playmaker says, “I don’t feel like a symbol.”

I don’t want my team-mates to see me like this because I know I’m setting an example for them and they treat me like a superstar.

“They are young, some have only played in the second division and when I came in, my first day, they look at me like I’ve played at Arsenal and in the national team. I have a lot of respect for them, but I don’t want to be in this position.