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FC Porto president Andre Villas-Boas has lifted the lid on a bold new plan that could reshape European football, an Iberian Super Cup featuring Spanish and Portuguese giants like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, and Sporting. The concept, still sitting in what he called “the drawer”, could see Iberian powerhouses go head-to-head in a cross-border spectacle aimed at expanding brands and global reach.

Getty Images SportAVB cooking up Iberian revolution?

Just as reports of a rejigged European Super League converging with the Champions League have surfaced, Villas-Boas has added spice to the pot, revealing that he personally pitched the idea of a brand new Super Cup to key figures in Spain and Portugal and got a surprisingly warm reception. He used his appearance at the Portugal Football Summit this Friday to issue a rallying cry to football leaders: adapt or be left behind, and warned that football was heading “inevitably” toward this kind of competition within the next decade, where the best teams from each country will face each other more frequently on the continental stage. 

AdvertisementVilla-Boas makes his case

Speaking at the event, Villas-Boas said: "We're on a path to brand expansion and international positioning. It's a huge challenge, which will likely come with new competitions. If we consider sports other than football, we have other competitions like the Iberian Super Cups, cross-border leagues… I believe football will be heading in that direction within ten years. 

"I launched the challenge of an Iberian Super Cup to Pedro Proença [president of the FPF] and other great Portuguese and Spanish clubs. Now we're all at loggerheads, but the idea of creating one remained. At the time, it was very well received by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Benfica, Sporting, and the FPF." 

Getty Images SportMore domestic matches on foreign lands?

While the Iberian Super Cup remains on the drawing board, La Liga is already taking bold steps. League president Javier Tebas has all but confirmed that Barcelona’s regular-season clash with Villarreal will take place in Miami on December 20, the first-ever official Spanish league game held outside Europe. Originally slated for Villarreal’s Estadio de la Cerámica, the fixture will mark a historic step in La Liga’s long-term push to expand into international markets, particularly the lucrative North American one.

“This is a landmark moment for La Liga and for world football,” Tebas said in a statement. “By bringing an official match to the United States, we are not only connecting with millions of fans across North America, but also reinforcing Spain’s leadership as a global soccer powerhouse. With the support of all relevant institutions, this initiative is bold, historic, and designed to inspire both our fans abroad and those at home in Spain.”

The decision hasn’t gone down well with everyone. UEFA officials made it clear they were “opposed” to domestic league games being exported, arguing that it breaks the principle of national competition. However, the lack of explicit FIFA rules on the issue meant they were forced to give the green light, a loophole Tebas eagerly exploited. Real Madrid, however, are furious. The club has publicly condemned the idea, saying it undermines tradition and gives Barcelona an unfair commercial advantage. Tebas has brushed off the criticism, insisting fans, players, and sponsors all support the move.

"See what they say now, but I know players from both teams want to come," he said. "Madrid has nothing to say on this issue. Not even the League itself. The regulations establish that the clubs request it from the Federation. La Liga gives its opinion, and it is favourable.

"But with the current leaders [Madrid], it's impossible. It makes me sad because they don't like everything La Liga does. If it weren't Miami, it would be something else. We're very bad and we don't do anything right. To have the squads we have, we have to remember that 42% of our audiovisual income comes from outside Spain. We have to respect those fans who pay to watch football. Because if not, we wouldn't have them."

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Villas-Boas wants to follow La Liga's footprints

Spain isn’t alone in taking football on tour. Serie A confirmed that its January fixture between AC Milan and Como will be played in Perth, Australia, another groundbreaking moment in the sport’s globalisation. League officials say the match will help grow Italian football’s visibility in Asia and Oceania while generating significant commercial income. For Villas-Boas, the writing is on the wall. The former Chelsea and Tottenham boss argues that Portuguese football’s leadership needs to think creatively and collaborate more closely with La Liga and UEFA to unlock new cash flows and revenue streams.

"We'll see a Villarreal-Barcelona match in Miami and a Milan-Como match in Australia. We have to seize this opportunity," he said. "We have games with 1,500 spectators. A Casa Pia-Sporting match, for example. Wouldn't our game in Newark or Geneva, with our expatriates, have more than that? President Ceferin said that leagues should be played in their countries, that this was an exception, but it's up to the federations to seize these opportunities. These are new cash flows and revenue streams.  It's up to the presidents of the league and the FPF to create summits of presidents rich in content and discussion."

Of late, Rohit has picked the corner of ODI cricket he wants to shake up and has gone rogue

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Shiva Jayaraman06-Aug-2024On Wednesday, Rohit Sharma will play his 265th ODI. Ordinarily, this is not a major milestone. But then this is Rohit, who even among the extraordinary players, has found ways to be extraordinary.Eighteen years into his ODI career, though, our guy is set to cross into uncharted territory. Ever since he played his first ODI his stats sheet has always shown a higher number under “high score” than “matches played”. Ten years since setting the kind of record that people credibly contend may never be broken, Rohit is about to go past 264.It is worth remembering and dwelling on the big-scoring Rohit right now. Worth recalling a time when Rohit stans would tell Virat Kohli stans that Rohit held his own at the tippy top of modern India batting.Related

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Though Kohli was the mass-producer of hundreds, “once Rohit gets past 70, there’s almost no stopping him,” was one theory. In ODIs, it was difficult to deny. The man has three double-hundreds, which is three times as many as any other batter, and a quarter of all the 200-plus scores ever made in the format. Of the 31 hundreds he has scored, 16 have produced 130 runs or more.Other batters merely “get in” on a track. Rohit embeds himself inside an opposition attack like the alien from and feeds until he is half the size of the spaceship and they are withering husks.Not lately, though. The more recent Rohit, in ODIs at least, is a highly-skilled DGAF figure – somebody who has seen it all, fought battles in all kinds of games there are to fight battles in, and picked the corner of ODI cricket he wants to shake up. Rohit has become predominantly a powerplay aggressor.The numbers lay this out. Since the start of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Rohit has batted in 13 ODIs and failed to get a start only in two of them. If you jump in at the 20-ball mark of the other 11, he’s striking at 150-plus (i.e. has more than 30 runs already) in seven of those innings, and at 100-plus in 10, the only exception being in an exceptionally difficult Lucknow pitch in the match against England, at the World Cup.In the ongoing series in Sri Lanka, he has hit 58 off 47, and 64 off 44, on hugely spin-favouring tracks. These are pitches on which strike rates of as low as 80 are acceptable, so long as you make a half-century, as Rohit did on both occasions. But here, Rohit’s starts on both occasions gave the middle order room to breathe while they attempted to hunt down modest scores.India have been bailed out by Rohit Sharma twice against Sri Lanka•AFP/Getty ImagesIn a previous age, Sri Lanka tightened their spin vices so effectively, that the pressure to score at a decent clip itself would produce wickets. In matches in which Rohit has peacocked his way through the early overs so spectacularly, Sri Lanka only had one route to victory – to dismiss the opposition. That they have done so twice is credit to their spinners on extremely dry surfaces.While he is batting this way, it might be more appropriate to think of Rohit Sharma, a producer of some of the most epic ODI innings, as a player who might “come off” for a significant number of deliveries. Since the start of the 2023 World Cup, he has never really tried to play himself in – his control percentage at 79.79 in his first 25 balls in that period, but then improving to only 82.32 in the next 25 balls.According to ESPNcricinfo’s data, Rohit plays more “aggressive false shots” now than ever before, which effectively means the man is happy to play attacking strokes that feel poorly conceived when they don’t come off. There are expansive drives against spinners early on, in which Rohit covers the line of the stumps and swings his bat at. There are safe mis-hits, where the bowler fooled Rohit, but he is still able hit to an area in which there is no protection. And there are shots like his attempted switch-sweep against Jeffrey Vandersay on Sunday, which saw him caught at backward point, and set in motion India’s collapse.And yet, though he has only occasionally middled the ball as emphatically as childhood coaches would love him to, Rohit has discovered the fun of hitting balls just okay. He has understood that hitting them well enough to clear the field means there are runs there too. It feels as if Rohit is in his most pragmatic era.There is little doubt that he wants to continue, wants to contest big tournaments, and wants more silverware in his arms. But Rohit has also stepped into a phase of his career in which he is only one star in the galaxy. And right now, that star wants to reap as many early-overs runs as possible.

Widespread use of the helmet has saved dozens of lives, but concussions in the game are now more common than before

Tim Wigmore and Stefan Szymanski01-Jun-2022After Phillip Hughes’ death in 2014, Peter Brukner, the Australian team doctor, and Tom Gara, a historian at the South Australian Museum, conducted an analysis, funded by Cricket Australia, of how common fatalities were in the sport. Until then, no national boards had ever compiled numbers on how many players were killed while playing the game, either at amateur or professional level. Gara spent weeks labouring over newspaper archives from Great Britain and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, going back to 1850. Brukner swiftly learned that “deaths were more common than I thought”.The authors identified 544 cricket-related deaths in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and Ireland: an average of around 3.25 per year. The true figure is likely to be considerably higher: their search only covered three cricketing nations, and the Australian coverage was incomplete. The deaths were split about equally between formal and recreational games.The macabre list of deaths in cricket the researchers compiled included a spectator being killed by a ball hit into the crowd by his son; a fielder killed by the impact of a bat hitting their chest; and a boy killed by standing too close to a teacher demonstrating a shot. But about 80% of the fatalities recorded were caused by the impact of deliveries striking batters above the waist, with a significant majority of these hitting the heart or higher. Gara, a committed club cricketer “expected to find perhaps 20-30 deaths” sustained playing cricket in Australian history. Instead, he found 176. “I am still playing cricket and will continue to do so for as long as I can, but I am much more careful.”

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Batting for Marylebone Cricket Club against the touring West Indians in a first-class match at Lord’s in 1976, England opener Dennis Amiss received a blow on the back of the head from Michael Holding, one of the world’s most ferocious quick bowlers. Despite the blow, Amiss continued to bat. He hit 203 against West Indies in a Test later that summer, defying Holding and underlining his status as one of the finest players of fast bowling in the world.Related

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Yet he retained uncomfortable memories of being hit. After World Series Cricket – the breakaway competition featuring many of the world’s leading players that launched in Australia in 1977 – signed him up, Amiss, who was 34, feared the consequences of suffering another blow.”I knew that I would be facing a lot of Australian and West Indies bowlers who would be delivering the ball at 90mph,” Amiss recounted to the . He reached out to a motorcycle helmet manufacturer in Birmingham and asked him to make an adapted helmet to absorb potential blows, using conventional fibreglass with a polycarbonate visor. “He came up with something lighter than the fibreglass motorcycle helmets around in those days. It had a visor that could withstand a shotgun blast at 10 yards,” he recalled. Initially, the design covered a batter’s ears with unforeseen consequences – “we had a spate of run-outs”. A later model solved the problem by incorporating an equestrian design.In the hyper-violent NFL, it is estimated that about 20-45% of professional players are affected by Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a degenerative brain condition caused by repeated blows to the head•Getty ImagesWhen Amiss arrived in Australia at the end of 1977 with his customised motorcycle helmet, he became the first player to wear a helmet in a professional game. A month into World Series Cricket, the Australian batter David Hookes was struck in the jaw by the Caribbean quick Andy Roberts. He crashed to the ground, dripping blood.It was the moment the helmet went from eccentricity to necessity. As Hookes had surgery – depriving World Series Cricket of one of its most attractive cricketers for the next five weeks – Kerry Packer, WSC’s backer, ordered a batch of Amiss’ helmets to be flown out from Birmingham, hoping that they would help protect his other assets.As word of Hookes’ accident got out, Tony Henson, the owner of Sydney and Surfers Paradise, a company specialising in equestrian caps, sensed a business opportunity. Henson asked a colleague, Arthur Wallace, to arrange a meeting with World Series Cricket representatives, as Gideon Haigh recounts in . Wallace returned from his meeting saying, “It can’t be done, Tony. They want us to make something that can withstand half a house brick at a hundred miles an hour.”But it could be done: helmets could at least deflect blows and lessen their impact. In the months ahead, helmets – most initially without visors to protect players’ faces – became ubiquitous at the top levels of the game, and rapidly spread through cricket’s ecosystem as they became more affordable.What began as an emergency solution to the dangers of facing the quickest bowlers in the world turned into one of the biggest improvements in player safety in sport. “Helmets basically wiped out the most common cause of fatality, which was a blow to the head,” said Brukner. “Since the advent of helmets, I don’t think there’s been a death from a direct blow to the head. Helmets are very good at protecting you from death. The reason people die when they’re hit in the head is that it causes a bleed in the brain, and that’s the thing that kills them – that’s the thing that you’re protected from by a helmet.”Graeme Wood was felled by a Michael Holding bouncer in a 1983 World Cup game and was taken off the field and to hospital unconscious•PA Photos/Getty ImagesResearch conducted by Brukner and Gara shows how much safer helmets have made players. Over the course of the 1970s, there were nine recorded fatalities in Australian cricket – five in organised games and four in informal ones. Over the following 36 years, from 1980 to 2016, there were only ten recorded fatalities, with just five in the 26 years from 1990, when wearing helmets became the norm even at recreational level. And so the growth of helmets ought to be acclaimed as World Series Cricket’s most important legacy – an innovation that has saved dozens of cricketers’ lives since.

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The next catalyst for cricket to take head injuries more seriously was the death of Hughes. StemGuard helmets were developed swiftly after: these have a neck-guard made from foam and plastic that is attached to the helmet.In an Ashes Test at Lord’s in July 2015, eight months after Hughes’ death, the Australian opener Chris Rogers was struck by a short ball from Jimmy Anderson. It hit him behind his right ear and landed on his StemGuard. Rogers was one of the few players then wearing the new protection. Brukner told , “We both said to each other afterwards, if he hadn’t been wearing it, who knows what would have happened?”Yet neck guards are still not compulsory around the world. “It still amazes me that some cricketers don’t wear them,” Brukner says. When Steve Smith was hit on the neck by Jofra Archer in 2019, he was not wearing a StemGuard.Alongside a change in technology, changing the laws of the game can also help to protect players. The introduction of concussion substitutes – first used in Australian domestic cricket in 2016, and in Test cricket in 2019 – may have reduced the number of concussions indirectly. In many cases concussions are thought to be caused not by a single blow but by repeated ones. Concussion substitutes help to destigmatise a player retiring hurt after a head injury, ensuring their teams aren’t penalised. In this way concussion substitutes help to reduce the risk of second impacts after an initial concussion, which could be very serious or even fatal.Australia team doctor Peter Brukner: “The reason people die when they’re hit in the head is that it causes a bleed in the brain – that’s the thing that you’re protected from by a helmet”•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesYet, with neck guards and concussion substitutions alike, the puzzle is why safety measures that mitigate risk have not been embraced the world over. Domestic competitions in most Test-playing nations still do not allow concussion substitutes.

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While direct fatalities in cricket remain extraordinarily rare – less than the chances of dying in the car on the way to a game, Brukner notes – death is not the only risk associated with suffering a blow to the head. Across American football, football, rugby and a range of other sports, recent years have highlighted the long-term effects of repeated blows to the head. These may be related to “sub-concussive” events: blows to the head that do not directly lead to concussions. Repeated impacts to the head – from heading a football to collisions with opponents in American football or in rugby – can lead to degenerative brain injury.In July 2017, a study examined the brains of 111 deceased NFL players; 110 of them showed signs of a degenerative disease, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head, of the kind that routinely occur in NFL games. About 20-45% of professional American footballers may be affected by CTE during their lifetime, explains Thomas Talavage, a concussion specialist at Purdue University. In 2015, a class-action lawsuit settlement between the NFL and more than 5000 former players provided up to $5 million per retired player for serious medical conditions associated with repeated head trauma. A range of other sports have also faced lawsuits.Cricket has been warned. Just because players are rarely killed by bouncers, there is no guarantee that bouncers will not have catastrophic repercussions for these players later in life. A 2020 study by a group of scientists, including John Orchard, Cricket Australia’s chief medical officer, identified situational factors associated with concussion in cricket based on video analysis of elite Australian men’s and women’s matches. It found that 84% of head impacts occurred to a batter on strike against a pace bowler, with most of the others sustained by close fielders. No deliveries by spinners in the study led to batters sustaining concussion, showing how lower ball speeds reduce risks.The evolving science has shown that, even as the number of deaths has declined, the ultimate danger of head injuries in sport is greater than previously assumed. The trajectory is unmistakable. “Concussions have become much more common in cricket over the last ten or 20 years,” says Brukner. This is not simply the result of increased focus on concussion. “Since the advent of helmets, a lot more people are being hit in the head.”Graham Yallop, seen here in the Barbados Test in 1978, was an early pioneer of the DIY helmet•The Cricketer InternationalThere are myriad theories for the increase in head impacts and concussions. Batting technique against short bowling is said to have deteriorated; the protection offered by helmets – and the extra time it takes to move their heads while wearing them – has been blamed for batters being less adept at ducking. Limited-overs formats are blamed for encouraging batters to hook the ball more compulsively. Helmets also may have liberated bowlers to use the short ball more aggressively. Worldwide, improved strength and conditioning, some believe, has enabled players to bowl up and around 90mph now more frequently than before. And there is simply more cricket played now.

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The experience of Australia suggests that concussions have been systematically underreported. In the men’s professional game, there was on average only one concussion per season recorded in the decade until 2014. Following Hughes’ death, Cricket Australia commissioned a study by La Trobe University, whose findings were published in 2018. They counted 92 head impacts in men’s matches in Australia between 2015 and 2017; 29 of them were diagnosed as concussions. As the authors of the study observed, “The rate of concussion in cricket is higher than previously appreciated.”The La Trobe figures equate to a head impact every 2000 balls and a concussion every 9000 balls in male domestic cricket. These figures suggest more than one head impact per Test match that runs the full five days, and more than one concussion for every four such Tests. Assuming head impacts and concussions were sustained at the same rate in international cricket as the Australian domestic game, we would have expected there to be 39 incidences of concussions from 2015 to 2018 in Test cricket alone, an average of 9.75 a year. Overall, we could expect an average of 16 concussions and 75 head impacts a year throughout all men’s international cricket involving the 12 Full Member nations.BloomsburyMedical officials argue that, per ball bowled, Australian domestic cricket is likely to produce more head impacts and concussions than the average across the world. There are a number of reasons for this: pace bowlers in Australia tend to be faster, spinners deliver a lower share of overs, and the pitches tend to be quicker. As such, they estimate that, per delivery bowled, the number of head impacts and concussions per ball in all first-class cricket is about one-third of the Australian rate. Using this ratio, and the fact there were 1,012,160 deliveries in all first-class cricket in 2019, implies that there were around 169 head impacts and 37 concussions sustained in men’s first-class cricket in 2019.
Brukner does not think that cricket will witness the same prevalence of CTE in retired players as in sports such as American football and rugby, because there are fewer sub-concussive blows to the head in cricket: “We believe that cricketers are therefore not as much at risk of that long-term issue as those other sports.”It will be many decades until it becomes clear what damage, if any, Will Pucovski suffered from his ten concussions. “We really don’t know whether he’s at risk of long-term damage,” said Brukner. “There’s so much we don’t know about concussion.”Crickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket

Once excited to play in a game that was being telecast live, the left-arm seamer put up a great show with his five-for against Saurashtra

Hemant Brar in Rajkot01-Mar-2020Arzan Nagwaswalla is excited. The 22-year-old will be opening the bowling for Gujarat for the first time, but that’s not the reason for his excitement. If anything, there’s extra pressure on him with Roosh Kalaria absent and his side all-out for 281, against Punjab during the league match in Ranji Trophy 2019-20.His family is watching him from the stands, but he is used to that also by now. After all, they are in attendance whenever he plays in Valsad.The reason for Nagwaswalla’s excitement is that the match is being telecast live. And he did make sure to look good on TV: the left-arm seamer ended up taking five wickets in each innings.”It’s a great feeling playing at home and taking five wickets in a live match. Everyone has a dream of playing in a live match and taking wickets,” he would tell after Punjab’s first innings. ” [It’s fun playing a live match].”That tells a lot about Nagwaswalla the person: simple, humble and real. A soft-spoken guy who lets his bowling do all the talk, and that was on display during the semi-final too as he picked up 5 for 81 to bowl Saurashtra out for 304 on the second afternoon. That Gujarat handed back the advantage by being 119 for 6 at stumps was on their batsmen.On Saturday, Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel had put Saurashtra in on a pitch where the hosts anyway wanted to bat first. After seeing off a tricky first session, Saurashtra moved to 102 for 1. The early moisture in the surface had dried off. The ball was 46 overs old, means there was neither the conventional swing nor the reverse. And the first-day pitch was too young to help spinners. With all this, Saurashtra were set for a big total, threatening to reduce the match to a one-innings contest.But Nagwaswalla, the leading wicket-taker for Gujarat this season, wasn’t ready to give up yet. Third over into his second spell, he was running in hard, bowling the fifth-stump line and trying to force an outside edge. He wasn’t to be denied for long even though the dismissal didn’t happen the way he would have envisaged.Harvik Desai, who was batting on 35, sliced a wide, low full-toss to short cover where Bhargav Merai flung himself to his left to take a brilliant catch. In the next over, Avi Barot played a rash shot to gift Axar Patel his second wicket.After that, Sheldon Jackson and Vishvaraj Jadeja batted patiently, adding 60 for the fourth wicket to take Saurashtra to 162 for 3. With the partnership budding, it was once again Nagwaswalla bringing his side into the game. This time with a double strike, as Vishvaraj and Arpit Vasavada fell on successive balls. Both chased the fifth-stump deliveries, Vishvaraj trying to steer one to third man only to edge it to the wicketkeeper and Vasavada offering a nervous poke to first slip. Now those were as per the plan.On the second morning, he almost had Jackson too when the batsman tried to chase a wide one but Parthiv couldn’t hold on to a regulation chance. Jackson was on 84 at that point and Saurashtra 237 for 5. Jackson went on to bring up his 19th first-class hundred before falling to Kalaria for 103.Jackson’s was the seventh to fall, but there is no tail in this Saurashtra line-up: their No. 11 Chetan Sakariya averaged 20.33 before this game. When Prerak Mankad and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja had added 31 for the eighth wicket, there were murmurs of Saurashtra posting a total in the vicinity of 350.That, however, wasn’t to be the case. Nagwaswalla came around the wicket and start peppering Dharmendrasinh with short balls, who eventually fended one to short leg. In the seamer’s next over, Mankad tried for a single to third man but the ball kept coming in and uprooted the off stump via the inside edge.It’s still early days but Nagwaswalla has put up some impressive numbers: 60 wickets from 16 first-class games at an average of 22.03 and a strike rate of 44.2. What makes them even more special is that he is generally the first change, and therefore, doesn’t get to use the new ball often.Despite being only into his second season, Nagwaswalla doesn’t consider himself a newcomer anymore. According to him, he has grown a lot since the last season, and that’s reflecting in his bowling as well.”This season, I am more disciplined,” he said at the close of play on Saturday. “There was a time today when we required a breakthrough. Had it been the last season, I would have perhaps pitched a couple of deliveries here and there, straying from my line. That’s something I have learnt this season, that you have to stick to the plan. So mentally you need to be prepared and bowl with discipline. That’s something I have been able to do this season.”And what else has changed from the last season? “Last year I was just thinking about my own performance. But now I have played 15-16 matches, I am no more a newcomer. So I want to take more responsibility and live up to the expectations. Also, there were some minor issues with my run-up and the release point last time. In the off-season, I analysed my mistakes and worked on those areas. That’s why I am more consistent this year.”Nagwaswalla may not realise but one more thing has also changed. Till the last season, people knew him as the only active Parsi cricketer in India. Now they are aware of his bowling credentials as well.

MLB's two biggest stars and reigning MVPs, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, notably did not compete in the Home Run Derby on Monday night. Though Judge and Ohtani finished as MLB's leaders in home runs last season, and rank top-three in long balls so far this season, neither have competed in the Derby in the last few years.

Ohtani, who did compete in the Home Run Derby in 2021, said recently that it would be "pretty difficult" for him to participate because of the current rules, which can be physically demanding due to the amount of swings.

Judge, who won the Derby as a rookie in 2017, was asked why he and several top stars don't compete in the Home Run Derby. Judge initially joked in response, "I already did it, I don't know what else you want from me. I already did it, so I think it's time for somebody else to do their thing and have fun with it."

Judge did go on to say he likes that the current trend allows lesser-known players to have an opportunity to shine on the national stage.

"It's tough to say. I love seeing new faces in the game go out there and do their thing, especially getting to see Oneil Cruz go out there and hit one out of the stadium, I thought that was pretty special for baseball and special for fans," Judge said. "I'm looking forward to stuff like that every year, having someone new go out there and put a show on for the league."

Pirates star Oneil Cruz was the standout example on Monday. Though not an All-Star, he got the chance to compete in the Derby and made a strong impression as he hit a 513-foot home run out of the stadium. Though breakout star and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh won the Home Run Derby, the competition allows players like Cruz to make greater names for themselves.

Had Liverpool been dispatched at the London Stadium right now, the calls for Arne Slot’s dismissal would have risen a few decibels, higher than the din that followed successive Anfield defeats against PSV Eindhoven and Nottingham Forest.

But Liverpool secured a 2-0 win over the Hammers in the Premier League, with Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo sealing three much-needed points for the struggling Redmen.

Still, the Merseyside outfit have left so much to be desired this term, lacking all of last year’s balance and belief as Slot was crowned king in his first year in charge.

So much has gone wrong, and the forthcoming league fixtures against Sunderland and Leeds United will determine whether a true crisis has been averted.

Much more is needed. The likes of Florian Wirtz and Isak are beginning to show signs of world-class quality, but FSG must feel pretty rueful over their decision to sell Luis Diaz and opt against sealing a like-for-like replacement for the Colombian winger.

How Luis Diaz has performed since leaving Liverpool

In fairness, Diaz was set to enter the penultimate year of his Liverpool contract, and there was no sign of a resolution. The Reds cashed in for a healthy £66.5m sum.

However, the 28-year-old’s blistering performances in Germany this season have underscored the dimension that Slot has lost down the left channel. Moreover, let’s not forget that Diaz played plenty of football as a makeshift number nine last year.

Bayern score a lot of goals, and they are the dominant force in the Bundesliga. However, Diaz is impartial as to who he picks apart, having played some immense stuff in the Champions League too.

His prolificness has catapulted him to a seat at the highest table, marrying his athleticism and electricity with a new sharpness in front of goal.

This serves as a reminder that the grass is not always greener. Diaz will have no regrets over his summer transfer, but Liverpool desperately miss his speed and energy and potent threat.

And now, FSG are in danger of losing their next version of the versatile forward.

Liverpool star could be "the next Diaz"

Liverpool opted against directly replacing Diaz this summer, hoping to keep a road to the first team for Rio Ngumoha clear from clutter.

But Diaz is an elite player, and he is not easily replaced. Perhaps some of a Liverpool persuasion regret their frustrations directed toward him last season, with the clinical performances coming in pockets throughout the year.

History may repeat itself with Alexis Mac Allister, who has been described by prominent Liverpool fan John O’Sullivan as being “the next Diaz” in that he is being hounded out by some segments for his performances this year.

While it’s true that the Argentina “superstar”, as he has been called by pundit Joe Cole, has been off the boil this season, he is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, instrumental for the club’s success since joining from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2023.

Few know the byways of the midfield game like Mac Allister, who is combative and creative and cerebral in his performance in the engine room. Not just a steely lieutenant, he is smart and savvy, and that sets him apart.

Form is temporary, as the old adage goes. Mac Allister will surely bounce back, but if Liverpool are set for a rocky road through the 2025/26 season, the 26-year-old may be considered for sale next summer, though reports suggest sporting director Richard Hughes and the club’s officials want him to stay put.

It’s as clear as day: Mac Allister will thrive if sold to a superpower in Germany or La Liga.

And Liverpool, as with Diaz, will be left rueing their decision as they scramble to find an adequate replacement.

Semenyo upgrade: FSG enter race to sign £88m "superstar" for Liverpool

Liverpool and FSG are getting ready to sign a new forward in 2026.

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By
Angus Sinclair

Dec 2, 2025

Boston Red Sox rookie outfielder and baseball's top prospect Roman Anthony made his major league debut on Monday night, going hitless in four at-bats, while driving in a run on an RBI groundout in Boston's 10-8 extra innings loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

While Anthony already notched his first career RBI, he had to wait until Tuesday night to collect his first hit at the major league level. On his first at-bat of the night in the bottom of the first inning, Anthony took a Ryan Pepiot changeup the other way, hitting an RBI double into left field off the Green Monster.

Anthony's first hit of his career helped the Red Sox jump out to an early 2-0 lead on Tuesday night.

Anthony's family was unable to be at his first major league game on Monday night, as the rookie was not called up until late in the afternoon, just a few hours before first pitch.

Even though they couldn't attend his first career major league game, they were front-and-center by the Red Sox dugout on Tuesday night, taking the atmosphere in after Anthony drove in two runs.

Clearly there were plenty of emotions from the family after seeing the top prospect's first career hit.

There will certainly be plenty more hits to come for Anthony as he formally embarks on his major league career.

Liverpool continue to pursue a move for Crystal Palace and England star Adam Wharton, with talks now reportedly taking place over a move to Anfield.

The 21-year-old has emerged as one of the most promising young players in the country, bringing so much maturity in the middle of the park for Palace.

The £100m-rated Wharton also started for England in their 2-0 win away to Albania on Sunday, which could be the first start of many for the Three Lions in the coming years, having been hailed by former Palace teammate Eberechi Eze.

“He’s an incredible player to play with. Playing with him at Palace, I’ve got used to seeing the way he plays and understanding him. He’s very calm, composed, and a joy to play with. For someone so young, he’s very mature and very wise. When you speak to him, it feels like you’re speaking to someone older than you, that’s the type of person he is. He’s an incredible player.”

Liverpool have been linked with signing Wharton for months now, but he stayed put in the summer, and now an encouraging fresh update has dropped.

Liverpool in talks to sign Adam Wharton

According to a new update from DaveOCKop, Liverpool are “holding initial talks” over the signing of Wharton in 2026, as they ramp up their interest in him.

It is stated that this is a move that is “likely for the summer of 2026 rather than in the January window”, with Palace understandably keen on keeping hold of one of their most prized assets until at least the end of this season.

Wharton stands out as an exceptional option for Liverpool, with the youngster already such an impressive performer for Palace, playing with maturity beyond his years.

He is an unruffled presence with the ability to not only dictate games at his own pace from his deep-lying midfield role, but also put out fires, showing good positional sense and making importantly-timed tackles.

Granted, Wharton wouldn’t arrive at Liverpool on the cheap, especially as he is a young English player, but he could be worth every penny over time, becoming a fulcrum of the Reds’ midfield after already beating them twice this season in the Community Shield and Premier League.

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Posts ByAngus Sinclair Nov 17, 2025

With some doubts persisting over Alexis Mac Allister’s long-term future at Anfield, the England star could be a great choice to come in alongside Ryan Gravenberch, although it would still be far better to sign him and also keep hold of the Argentine World Cup winner.

Liverpool willing to sell first-team star to fund Adam Wharton move

Don’t say it too loudly, but things might be on the up for West Ham United.

After months of poor performances and even worse results, the Hammers finally won a Premier League game on the weekend, as Nuno Espírito Santo’s side dismantled Newcastle United 3-1.

It was a game in which practically the whole team showed up, one in which any number of players could have been man of the match.

Moreover, it was an afternoon in which West Ham’s next big-money star may have announced himself, someone who has shades of Declan Rice to his game.

West Ham's standout stars vs Newcastle

When talking about the West Ham stars who really shone on Sunday afternoon, it would be ridiculous not to start with Lucas Paqueta.

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The Brazilian has come in for some justified criticism this season, but against the Toon, he was simply sensational.

It was his wonder strike in the 35th minute that started the Hammers’ fightback, and were it not for some good goalkeeping four minutes earlier, that would have been his second in the game.

Someone who was almost as influential on the match was Jarrod Bowen, as while he didn’t score or assist a goal, he came awfully close, rattling the post just before Jacob Murphey’s opener.

Finally, while they’ve been woeful almost every time they’ve played this season, Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo deserve plenty of credit for their resolute defending.

Between them, they made 16 clearances, won five of seven duels and were dribbled past just a single time.

In all, there were unreal displays across the board for West Ham against Newcastle, including from one player who could be their next big-money star and already looks a bit Rice-esque.

West Ham's future big-money star

While the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville all deserve credit, the starter who left a significant impression on fans and pundits alike was Freddie Potts.

The academy graduate has featured a few times for the first team, but Sunday afternoon was his first competitive start for the club, and to say he repaid the manager’s faith would be an understatement.

The 22-year-old was utterly sensational in the middle of the park, bringing some much-needed dynamism to the role while maintaining a technical level some might not have expected from him.

In his 90 minutes of action, the Englishman played two key passes, completed two crosses, was accurate in 33 of 39 passes, took 57 touches, won 66% of his tackles, made six clearances and won 75% of his ground duels.

It was a quintessential all-action display from the midfielder, and if his boots were one size smaller, he could have topped it off with a well-taken goal.

Unsurprisingly, such a strong showing from an academy graduate has led to comparisons with the club’s former captain, with one content creator noting that he has a “similar aura to Rice when he first came through.”

In addition to his development as a player, the content creator credited the Englishman’s “supreme confidence and ability to create time and space on the ball” as reasons for the comparison.

Now, it might sound a little over the top considering it was his first start for the club, but thanks to his ability to protect the ball, carry it into dangerous areas and play the right pass at the right time, it is easy to see where such comparisons come from.

Moreover, as was the case with the former midfielder, there already seems to be a connection between the Barking-born ace and the fans, with journalist Dan Woffenden claiming he “understands what it means to wear the shirt.”

Ultimately, West Ham will want to keep hold of Potts for the long term, but if he does end up emulating Rice and eventually leaves, at least they should once again get massive money for an academy graduate.

West Ham player ratings v Newcastle United as Nuno secures first victory

The Hammers returned to winning ways with a 3-1 win against Newcastle this afternoon.

By
Dominic Lund

Nov 2, 2025

Xabi Alonso has responded to Vinicius Junior's public apology in light of his unpleasant reaction to being taken off during the 2-1 win against Barcelona last weekend. Speaking to reporters, the Real Madrid head coach put all doubts to bed once and for all by claiming that the "matter is closed" while also admitting that the Brazilian was "impeccable" during the conversations they had.

• Vinicius issues apology after Clasico touchline tantrum

  The Brazilian winger was in red-hot form during the 2-1 El Clasico win over rivals Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu last weekend, putting in an electric display that unsettled the visitors' defence time and again. For all his razzmatazz down the left flank, he was hooked in the 72nd minute by Real Madrid head coach Alonso. 

  “Me? Me? Mister, mister! Me?", Vini Jr shouted in disbelief as Alonso prepared to introduce Rodrygo in the second half. The Madrid No.7 walked off the pitch looking visibly furious at Alonso's decision and headed straight to the tunnel. "Always me… I am leaving the team. I am leaving. It's better I leave," he reportedly muttered as he stormed to the locker room instead of joining the rest of his team-mates on the bench. 

  He eventually returned to the dugout before the full-time whistle, but his reaction drew a lot of backlash. Per reports in Spain, Madrid were unhappy with Vini's behaviour and saw his actions as unjustifiable. However, they reportedly decide not to impose any institutional fines or disciplinary measures. 

  In the aftermath of the incident, Vini issued a public apology. "Today I want to apologise to all the Madridistas for my reaction when I was substituted in the Clasico," he wrote in a statement on X on Wednesday. "Just as I have already done in person during today's training, I also want to apologise again to my teammates, the club, and the president. Sometimes passion gets the better of me because I always want to win and help my team. My competitive character stems from the love I feel for this club and everything it represents. I promise to keep fighting every second for the good of Real Madrid, as I have done since the first day."

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  Alonso clears the air regarding Vinicius Jr

  After the Clasico, Alonso told reporters that he'd have a conversation with the 25-year-old. "Vini’s character? There are different personalities in any dressing room. Right now we will enjoy the win, then we’ll have a conversation, for sure," the mister said. 

  On Friday, during his press conference ahead of Saturday’s clash with Valencia, Alonso commented on Vini Jr.’s public apology, confirming that the issue is now considered resolved. "Has Vinicius apologised to me? We had a meeting with everyone on Wednesday, and Vinicius was impeccable. He spoke honestly and was very good. For me, that settles the matter."

  When asked about being left out from Vini's public statement, Alonso remarked: "It was a very valuable, very positive statement. He demonstrated his honesty; he spoke from the heart. What he said was the most important thing, and I was very satisfied. I've already said it, I was very proud and the matter was settled on Wednesday itself. We trained well yesterday, I see Vini doing well, and we're all in the same boat and rowing in the same direction."

  The former Bayer Leverkusen also confirmed that Vini will not be reprimanded. "It's closed. We have a match tomorrow and there will be no retaliation against him," he said, before adding: "I think the team, and everyone, including Vinicius, is focused on what's most important. Everyone wants to be on the pitch. The focus is the same. We want to proceed safely.

• Alonso row won't affect Vinicius Jr renewal plans

  In recent months, speculation has intensified over Vini Jr.’s future at Madrid, following a stall in contract negotiations between the player and the club. The Brazilian forward is reportedly seeking a salary increase that would bring his earnings in line with those of teammate Kylian Mbappe, currently the highest-paid player on Madrid’s wage bill.

  However, recent reports suggest that both Vini Jr and Los Blancos are willing to continue together. "My love for this club will never change," he said recently, even though his stature within the club seems to have been affected following Mbappe's arrival. 

  While no new date for further negotiations is in place, it is expected that the two parties will reach an agreement before next summer. Reports suggest that Madrid want to keep Vini Jr until at least 2030, with his current deal expiring in 2027. 

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  Will Vinicius Jr start against Valencia?

  In his first few months at the Bernabeu, Alonso has made it clear that he is a firm believer in squad rotation; Los Merengues have yet to field the same starting XI in consecutive matches. As for Vini Jr, he has completed the full 90 minutes only three times in 13 appearances this season. While his reaction to being substituted against Barcelona may have influenced Alonso’s decision to potentially bench him against Valencia on Saturday, it remains to be seen whether the coach will restore the Brazilian to the starting lineup or give Rodrygo another chance on the left wing.