List of All Articles with Tag 'f'

Joan Laporta has insisted that Lionel Messi turned down the opportunity to re-join Barcelona due to his 'difficult' spell at Paris Saint-Germain.

Bradley Wright-Phillips believes football in North America can become “unstoppable” on the back of Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami and the 2026 World Cup. It is a decade since the former Manchester City and Southampton striker swapped English football for Major League Soccer to join New York Red Bulls. Wright-Phillips last year retired in sixth on the MLS all-time goals list having enjoyed a ringside seat to the sport’s growth in North America and says the best is yet to come. Having signed an eye-catching broadcasting deal with Apple in 2022, further developments will be fuelled by Messi’s move to Miami and the World Cup being hosted in the USA, Canada and Mexico in three years’ time. “My first reaction to Messi coming out was I just couldn’t believe it,” Wright-Phillips told the PA news agency. “Honestly, even now until I see him run out on an MLS pitch, I can’t really fathom what it’s going to be. It’s hard to even picture that. Even now it doesn’t seem real to me. It’s Messi! “Unbelievable time. I feel like I retired at the perfect time, just to be involved in what’s going on. “Messi obviously, Apple taking over and then you’ve got the World Cup coming in ‘26. What more can you ask for?” Put to Wright-Phillips that the sport in North America seems to be going from strength to strength, he said: “Yeah, it does. The potential and the ceiling is higher than ever. “If it’s done right, it can be unstoppable – best league and country in the world for football, right? Wouldn’t you say so?” MLS is certainly on an exciting trajectory and Messi’s arrival will spark unparalleled interest in the competition. “The league is not only getting the best player in the world,” says Wright-Phillips, who played for LAFC and Columbus Crew as well as the Red Bulls. “If you just think about the average fan that doesn’t watch MLS, but now because Messi’s here they’re going to watch MLS. “They now get see a Carles Gil, a Hany Mukhtar, young players like Noel Buck – these are players that we know are good. “But now you’re watching because you want to see Messi and the average fan gets to see that player or they get to see the atmosphere in St Louis or Austin. “That’s what’s exciting about it. It’s not just that we’re going to see Messi play, it’s what Messi exposes globally.” As well as Messi’s macro impact, Miami will be desperate for the Argentina star to improve fortunes at DRV PNK Stadium. The David Beckham co-owned team languish bottom of the Eastern Conference thanks to a difficult campaign that led to Phil Neville’s recent sacking. Ex-Barcelona boss Tata Martino has come in, while Messi’s former Nou Camp team-mates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba are expected to join him in Florida. “That tells me that they don’t just want Messi to come here and lose games,” Wright-Phillips added. “The Inter Miami team isn’t doing very well this season, they’ve suffered a lot of injuries, they’ve had a change in the manager. “There’s a lot of things they have to do but if you bring a Busquets, a Jordi Alba, you’re giving yourself, you’re giving Messi a chance to succeed.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Spain defender Pau Torres joins Aston Villa on five-year deal from Villarreal Ons Jabeur ends Elena Rybakina’s reign to reach Wimbledon semi-finals again Paul Collingwood says thrilling Ashes series is drawing new fans to cricket

As soon as the Aaron Rodgers back-and-forth mercifully ended with a deal sending him to the New York Jets, speculation began to grow that Gang Green would be conscripted into Hard Knocks duty. Because, well, they have an extremely noteworthy quarterback now and everyone is curious about how all of that is going to work. It took some time but we have some resolution on that matter today as Adam Schefter was first to market with the news that, yup, the Jets will be on Hard Knocks.

CONTOOCOOK, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 12, 2023--

Aston Villa have completed the signing of defender Pau Torres from Villarreal. The 26-year-old, who has been capped 23 times for Spain, moves to Villa Park for an undisclosed fee after agreeing a five-year deal. He links up again with Villa boss Unai Emery who he played under for the Yellow Submarine. Torres won the Europa League in 2021 – under Emery – and helped Villarreal reach the semi-finals of the Champions League a year later. He becomes Villa’s second summer signing after the arrival of former Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans on a free transfer. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has admitted that a lack of game time at Chelsea led to his departure this summer.

SAO PAULO Brazilian airline Azul announced on Wednesday it is launching a public offering of senior secured notes

Executives from the likes of Volkswagen AG and Ericsson AB are calling on the European Union to remove

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 12, 2023--

By Leah Douglas About 735 million people worldwide faced chronic hunger in 2022, a figure much higher than

By Granth Vanaik and Juveria Tabassum (Reuters) -Domino's Pizza shares surged 10% on Wednesday after the pizza chain said customers

Jennette McCurdy has detailed how her mother encouraged her to engage in disordered eating when she was 11 years old. The former Nickelodeon star, 31, previously said that her mother, Debra McCurdy, “explicitly” told her how to eat in a way that would delay puberty so that she could continue to land child roles and therefore support her family financially. In a new interview with Louis Theroux on his podcast, The Louis Theroux Podcast, the iCarly actor opened up about exactly what her mother would do to promote disordered eating. “We partnered up to count our calories, she weighed me daily, she measured my thighs with a measuring tape, she taught me what diuretics were and we read calorie books together,” she recalled. McCurdy said that, to her 11-year-old self, it “felt amazing” to be “partners in crime” with her mother, and Debra told her that it was a “secret we shouldn’t tell anyone”. “I thought that was great because it was like a secret code language, nobody else knows what we’re doing, we could nod to each other and know that we were in this together, and nobody would be part of this.” However, Debra’s tactics to keep her daughter’s calories under control led to an “arduous relationship with food” for McCurdy. McCurdy explained that she began acting when she was six years old and began booking more significant roles when she was 11. She recalled playing characters that were younger than her actual age because she looked younger, and how her mother “made it clear that that was really helpful because casting directors like to cast older kids to play younger roles”. The actor said that one day, she felt a “lump” on her chest area and went to her mother out of fear that it was cancer. Debra has been diagnosed with breast cancer when McCurdy was two years old and later recovered. “I always had this fear of cancer recurring for her, cancer for me… it was just a constant fear,” she explained. “She reached her hand up my shirt, felt the lump and said, ‘Oh, Netty, no, you don’t have cancer, you’re just getting boobies.’ “That was truly as horrifying to me because it meant growing up and it had always been really clear to me that my mum did not want me to grow up. Not just for acting, but it also felt like her worth was tied up in me being young. With me being young, she had something to do, she felt good, me growing up kind of felt like her loss of purpose.” McCurdy asked Debra what she could do to “stop” her breasts from growing, which is when she introduced her daughter to calorie restriction. Speaking about her mother’s own eating disorder, which she had had “for years”, McCurdy recalled that Debra began restricting her food intake at the age of 14 by eating “one donut a day”. “The idea that this was abuse, that this was unhealthy, I couldn’t go anywhere near the reality of it,” she said. “I kept clinging to, ‘Oh, mum’s doing this because it’s what’s best for me, it’s what’s best for my career, she clearly wants what’s good for me,’ and I think a part of her believed that she wanted me to have a better life than she had, but I don’t think she ever stopped to consider what that actually meant, what does that look like, what does my daughter want. “She just assumed that her dreams must be everyone’s dreams, because of narcissism, I guess.” In her 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mother Died, McCurdy opened up about the abusive childhood she endured at the hands of Debra, who died in 2013 after her breast cancer returned. During her interview with Theroux, she also revealed that her mother would shower her until she was “17 or 18” and would give her “breast and vaginal exams”. “She would give me breast or vaginal exams in the shower and said that she was checking for lumps – she was just checking for cancer,” she recalled. But when McCurdy voiced how “uncomfortable” the experiences were, her mother became “hysterical”. McCurdy grew up in California with Debra, her father Mark McCurdy, and her three older brothers, Dustin, Marcus and Scott. Her best-selling memoir led to a two-book deal with Penguin Random House’s Ballantine Books label. For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this piece, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040. Read More Nigella says extravagant dinner parties are a thing of the past – I wish she was wrong From Queen Camilla to Mary Berry: Who is in the Royal Box on the 10th day of Wimbledon? Kevin Costner ‘ordered to pay estranged wife $129k in monthly child support’, double his offer Children say ‘I’m bored’ 7 times a week – 7 ways to prevent it What are weight loss injections and what’s the controversy? What is group B strep? Charity says pregnant women ‘in the dark’