“I have had so many operations on the left side that my body now tilts, and some days I could barely pass the ball,” the former Manchester United midfielder James Weir says. The 28-year-old is explaining why he has announced his retirement after a career plagued by injuries.
Weir made his Premier League debut as a last-minute substitute under Louis van Gaal on the same day as Marcus Rashford. The England striker scored a double against Arsenal that afternoon in February 2016 and his story needs no more telling, whereas Weir spent the following years on a somewhat nomadic journey, culminating in a sixth-month spell at Zlate Moravce, who sit bottom of the Slovakian top flight with five points from 24 games. Last month he called it a day.…
The FIFA medical team said on Saturday that it was satisfied with arrangements put in place by South Africa ahead of the Confederations Cup in June and the World Cup next year.
My impression is positive. I am confident with what I have seen and heard, the head of the FIFA medical committee, Jiri Dvorak, told journalists at the end of a meeting with the South African FIFA local organising team.
I am personally confident that we can hold the World Cup from the medical side that the teams, the FIFA family, the FIFA delegation and also the spectators will be well taken care of, he stated.
He said that the meeting discussed strategies to combat doping during the competitions.
These will include the education of players and collaboration with local officials…
Today’s summer transfer window for Premier League shuts in just a matter of hours. Here are some of the more interesting deals in the pipeline and already completed:
Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United to Inter, £73million)
The Belgian striker is in Italy having a medical ahead of completing a £73million move to the Nerazzurri. The 26-year-old struggled to hit top form last season and his future in Manchester has been in doubt all summer.
Inter boss head coach Antonio Conte is a big fan of the big striker, who scored just 12 Premier League goals last season.
David Luiz (Chelsea to Arsenal, £8million)
This move was a rather surprising one, with the first time the deal mention coming on Wednesday. However, the Brazilian international is close to completing an …
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Turning their attention back to Premier League duties on Saturday afternoon, Manchester City will welcome Fulham to the Etihad.
Manchester City
Starting with the hosts, while Manchester City might have still not suffered a single defeat across any competition so far this season, it does feel that Pep Guardiola’s squad are seeking a recent domestic boost. Left frustrated last weekend as they eventually had to settle for a 1-1 stalemate away at Newcastle, the former Barcelona boss has seen his superstar squad drop back-to-back points. Nevertheless, putting in a rampant Champions League performance earlier in the week as they stormed their way to a 4-0 romp away at Slovan Bratislava, the Sky Blues are looking to smash more domestic rec…
Spread bettors addressing Group E will have noted it offers a wide range of footballing styles with the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon all battling for qualification. The Dutch are favourites on the Group E Index (25pts to the winner, 10pts to runner-up and 5pts to third-place), currently with a spread of 16.5-18pts.
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Buyers of the Dutch Group E index will have noted that Holland comfortably qualified for South Africa 2010 with a flawless record. They won all eight of their qualification matches, bagging 17 goals in the process and conceding only two.
Spread sellers of their tournament win index at 30 will however be aware of the side s disappointing record at major tournaments and quick to point to the inconsistent results from E…
Roberto Mancini has expressed regret about Italy s failure to secure automatic World Cup qualification and warned the Azzurri must forget about their Euro 2020 success ahead of the playoffs.
Italy, who missed out on the 2018 World Cup, have undergone a transformative period under former Inter and Manchester City manager Mancini. That culminated in them triumphing at Euro 2020 – their first European Championship title since 1968.
The Azzurri embarked on a world-record 37-game unbeaten run, which ended at the hands of Spain in the Nations League semi-finals in October, but their World Cup prospects hang in the balance.
Italy finished runners-up to Switzerland in Group C, as did Portugal to Serbia in Group A. The pair were then drawn on the same play-off path,…
Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes plans to stop Paris Saint-Germain and Neymar in much the same way as they contained Barcelona and Lionel Messi in 2013.
The Bundesliga champions destroyed Barca in the Champions League semi-finals four years ago, winning 4-0 at the Allianz Arena before claiming a 3-0 victory at Camp Nou en route to winning the trophy.
Heynckes returned to Bayern shortly after PSG beat them 3-0 in October, with that defeat spelling the end of Carlo Ancelotti s time in charge.
The 72-year-old is hoping his side produce a far better performance on Tuesday and says defending as a team will be critical to containing PSG s attacking trio of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani.
It s only possible collectively, he told a news conference. I k…
The Detroit Lions are 0-7 in the standings but far from winless in the hearts of NFL bettors, with a 4-3 mark against the spread heading into Week 8’s home date with the floundering Philadelphia Eagles.
The Lions are coming off an emotional loss to the Los Angeles Rams and former franchise QB Matt Stafford last Sunday, but there’s no quit in Dan Campbell’s team. Despite that ATS record and Philadelphia’s 2-5 mark, Detroit is an NFL betting underdog at home this Sunday, getting 3.5 points from the Eagles.
Here are our NFL free picks and predictions for Eagles at Lions on October 31.
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It’s time! Week 1 is here and so are my NFL power rankings. These can be helpful tools for bettors when pricing matchups while also keeping everything in check from week to week and avoiding recency bias.
In games on a neutral field, every higher-ranked team would be favored or, at least, a pick ’em on the moneyline in this format. For two teams ranked closely together, the difference in the spread would be a home-field advantage (if any), which varies slightly from team to team.
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The Baltimore Ravens and Washington Commanders will be the lone teams in action Monday night when they kick off their second preseason game of 2023 at FedEx Field in Summerfield, MD.
Baltimore will be looking to continue its record streak of 24 consecutive preseason wins, and while Washington has just named its starting quarterback for Week 1 of the NFL season, it still be motivated to end the streak.
I’ve analyzed the NFL odds to give my best NFL picks and predictions for the Ravens vs. Commanders below.
Ravens vs Commanders odds
Ravens vs Commanders predictions
The Baltimore Ravens have already announced their quarterback plan for this game, which does not feature either Lamar Jackson …