Four-goal Tom Cannon fired Stoke City to a 6-1 win over Portsmouth on Wednesday, their first triumph under Narcis Pelach extending Pompey s own wait for a Championship victory.
Stoke entered this encounter at the bet365 Stadium just two points better off than their winless visitors and without reward for the bold decision to replace head coach Steven Schumacher with Pelach last month.
But an explosive display from on-loan Leicester City forward Cannon provided what could be a pivotal victory in the Potters season.
Cannon scored only three times in all competitions for Leicester last term but bettered that tally inside the opening hour of his fourth start for Stoke.
Portsmouth were on level terms approaching half-time after Mark O Mahony cancelled out Cann…
Croatia bristled with imagination and inspiration as they dealt Germany a 2-1 Euro 2008 Group B defeat here on Thursday in one of the biggest surprises of the tournament so far.
The Croats were well worth their victory which came 10 years after the biggest result in their history when they beat the same opponents 3-0 in the World Cup quarter-finals as they took charge of the group and are now almost guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals.
It will be back to the drawing board for the Germans, who ended the match with 10 men.
After a cagey and dull opening the game burst into life midway through the opening stanza.
Croatia took the lead on 24 minutes with a move of delightful fluency.
Quick, zipped passes and intelligent running off the ball…
Tottenham Hotspur are coming off from their best league finish since 1963 after ending the season in runners-up spot behind champions Chelsea.
Having gone one place up to their Premier league finish two seasons ago, Tottenham now dream of domestic success and there are few that could argue that Spurs will be proper title candidates.
In order to celebrate the season behind them, Spurs have published a nice little video on their Instagram account presenting their top 5 skills last year.
Any favourites?
…
Euro 2008 chief organiser Martin Kallen said Tuesday he was confident that Poland and Ukraine would be ready to stage the event without a hitch in 2012.
Both countries have been under pressure to deliver amid fears that they are lagging behind with logistical and infrastructural preparations, but Kallen, a Swiss, said he was not worried.
We were in the two countries at the start of July under UEFA president Michel Platini and it was a good trip, Kallen said.
Two weeks ago Poland s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Timoshenko pledged their countries will be ready, UEFA having chosen the neighbours as co-hosts for the quadrennial, 16-nation championships.
The choice raised eyebrows because neither the Poles nor Ukrainians …
The presents have all been opened and now it’s time for the adults to have some fun. The NFL Christmas Day schedule kicks off with the Cleveland Browns traveling to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers who sit as 7.5-point home favorites.
Can the Browns get Baker Mayfield under center and regroup after health and safety protocols wreaked havoc on them last week? Can Aaron Rodgers further build his case for the league’s MVP?
Find out in our free player prop picks for Browns vs. Packers.
…
It’s no secret that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has been slumping a bit lately. But that’s no reason to doubt that he’ll feast on Thanksgiving, which is why Allen is the focus of my NFL player props spotlight this week.
Allen can throw. He can run. And he’ll likely do plenty of both against a Detroit Lions team that will still be overmatched on Thursday, despite their better play as of late.
While Detroit has improved on offense, it still boasts one of the worst defenses in the league. The Lions are 28th against the pass (262.2 yards per game), 31st against the run (153.7), and dead last in terms of points allowed (28.2).
You can learn all about this Thanksgiving matchup in Rohit Ponnaiya’s full Bills vs. Lions betting p…
Week 16 odds have arrived, which means only three weeks remaining of a full slate of NFL odds to dig into.
This is a big Christmas weekend with a slew of games on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I’m focusing on the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day contests as I analyze the defensive player props.
Let’s just say that Santa won’t be the only fat man bringing a sack this Christmas (please don’t tell Fletcher Cox I called him fat), and Dre Greenlaw will also be ringing plenty of bells against the Ravens. Here are my best free sack and tackle NFL picks for Week 16.
…
Aaron Rodgers returns to the field on Monday night as the New York Jets head to Levi’s Stadium to face the San Francisco 49ers. Early money has poured in on the visitors and the Under, but my early Jets vs. 49ers predictions are going against the line movement.
Here are my best free NFL picks for this Week 1 showdown.
Jets vs 49ers predictions
Early spread lean49ers -4.5 (-105 at FanDuel)
My analysisThis spread opened with the San Francisco 49ers installed as 6-point favorites and slimmed as low as -3.5 before ticking back up to -4.5.
Super Bowl runners-up have gone 4-19 ATS in their following Week 1 openers since 2000. That said, most Super Bowl losers have plenty of roster turnover and tend to be due for regression aft…
This article is part of the Guardian’s Women’s World Cup 2023 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 32 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 20 July.
Overview
With the expansion of the tournament to accommodate 32 teams, China found their path to qualification smoothed considerably thanks to the availability of at least five places in the Asian Football Confederation (especially with Australia qualifying as hosts). After triumphing 3-1 over Vietnam in the quarter-final of the 2022 AFC Asian Cup, the Steel Roses secured their place.
Joshua Zirkzee marked his first Netherlands start with a goal and an assist as Ronald Koeman s side kicked off their Nations League campaign with a 5-2 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Manchester United forward opened the scoring early on at the Philips Stadion.
A quiet start to proceedings burst into life in the 13th minute as Simons deflected effort dropped kindly for Zirkzee, who nodded the ball beyond Nikola Vasilj.
But with their second shot on target, Bosnia snatched an equaliser after Denis Huseinbasic s defence-splitting pass picked out Ermedin Demirovic, who finished smartly.
Teed up by Zirkzee, Tijjani Reijnders restored the hosts advantage before teeing up Cody Gakpo, who maintained the goalscoring form he displayed at Euro 2024.
Bos…