Month: October 2024

The second leg of the EFL Cup semi-final will see Chelsea and Middlesbrough battling for a place in the final. Our soccer betting odds have the Blues as overwhelming favorites to win in regulation.

With three upcoming matches over nine days, Mauricio Pochettino will be happy to have had 10 days off since their last match. But that’s not enough to get any of his injured players back, with nearly a full squad either on the trainer’s table or away for international duty. Still, he has the quality at his disposal to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg and reach the final.

Middlesbrough will hope to somehow do enough to make that advantage count. They were fortunate to escape with the win in the first leg after conced…

One of the NFL’s greatest rivalries will be renewed this evening when the Dallas Cowboys face the New York Giants in primetime.

These venerable franchises have met 125 times since 1960, with the Cowboys holding a commanding 75-48-2 lead in their all-time series. That includes a pair of embarrassingly lopsided victories in 2023, as Dallas outscored New York 49-17 and 40-0. However, oddsmakers are expecting a much more competitive affair tonight, with Dak Prescott & Co. entering the game as mere 5.5-point favorites.

There are a number of subscription-based TV channels and streaming services available to watch this evening’s game, but did you know you can also live stream the action directly from legal sports betting sites?

Discover the details be…

Minnesota Twins right-hander Anthony DeSclafani underwent forearm flexor tendon surgery and will miss the entire 2024 season. Expected to be a starter on the back end of the Minnesota rotation, DeSclafani was diagnosed with a right elbow strain in mid-March and was placed on the 60-day injured list Thursday in advance of the regular season. With a timetable for a return set at 13 months, DeSclafani will miss the start of the 2025 season as well. Traded from the San Francisco Giants to the Seattle Mariners on Jan. 5, DeSclafani was then moved to the Twins in a Jan. 29 deal. DeSclafani is in the American League for the first time after spending nine seasons with the Miami Marlins (2014), Cincinnati Reds (2015-20) and Giants. He went 4-8 with a 4.88 ERA in 19 appearances (18 starts) f…

NAME THAT TUNE

Footballers and self-awareness usually go together as well as novichok and international relations, so The Fiver wasn’t entirely surprised to hear of Alexis Sánchez’s attempt to justify his shambolic spell at Manchester United. But even allowing for the self-serving norms of this particular genre, it was quite surprising to see a man whose transfer redefined the concept of wasting money go through a deconstruction of his time at Old Trafford without mentioning, well, money.

Alexis Sánchez wanted to leave Manchester United after one training sessionRead more

Having infamously joined United on the piano, Sánchez has belatedly left via an impromptu performance on the violin. �…

The 7-0 hammering by Spain on the weekend could yet reap future benefits for Australian football, according to under-fire Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson.

An experimental Matildas team capitulated in the second half against the Women’s Euros-bound side, conceding six goals after the break, having largely contained their hosts during the first half in Huelva.

Understrength Matildas hammered by Spain in 7-0 friendly defeat Read more

It led to Australia’s heaviest defeat in 25 years and prompted questions over Gustavsson’s decision to send out such an inexperienced side against one of the world’s best, with just a year to go before the World Cup on home soil.

But the Swede, who had defen…

When tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of people – OK, many of them were from China, hoping for a miracle – are breathlessly tuning in to see what happens between Tajikistan and Lebanon and seeing something historic, heartbreaking and just plain dramatic then you know that something is going well. Nobody knows what is going to happen in this wild, exciting and dramatic Asian Cup in Qatar. It’s already been emotional – Syria’s translator broke down after the coach Héctor Cúper secured their first ever second round spot – and the group stage will go down as the best that the tournament has produced for a long, long time. Just eight of the 24 teams have gone home but they all played their part.

Some did so by being historically …

After a recount, the Lakers have been declared winners of the 2024 NBA title.Or so you would have thought based on the reaction of general manager Rob Pelinka and his flunkies after the No. 55 pick of last month’s draft.A week later, LeBron James agreed to re-sign with the Lakers. It was then that we fully understood.The Lakers will be relevant, if you measure by TV ratings, for at least one more year. Hip hip hooray. That’s more than we can say at this point about Paul George, who is really the only legitimate challenger for the honor of being the Most Impactful Free Agent Signing of 2024. If you thought George retired, we forgive you.In this Olympic summer, here are my medal winners in the Free Agent Freestyle…THE BRONZE: DeMar DeRozan re-signs with the Bulls, traded to the Kings…

Hindsight is 20/20. But in 2021 you should’ve known to take underdogs on Wild Card Weekend and favorites in Saturday’s Divisional round. Yesterday, both the Packers and Bills beat their opponents by 14. So will we actually see an upset this weekend? Yes, but you’ll probably have to wait till tonight. Here’s who I like today. Browns at Chiefs (-10) source: Getty Images The Cleveland Browns won their first playoff game since 1995. Tell ‘em what they’ve won! A visit to the 14-2 reigning Super Bowl Champion Chiefs off a bye. Oh. At the end of the regular season, KC ranked first in total offense, Cleveland 16th. KC ranked first in passing yards per game, Cleveland — 24th. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt might cause problems for a Chiefs defense that gives up, on average, 122.…