List of All Articles with Tag 'o'

Roberto De Zerbi hopes to help goalkeeper Jason Steele gain England recognition after claiming Lewis Dunk’s international recall is a comparable achievement to Brighton qualifying for the Europa League. Seagulls skipper Dunk has been included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, having been in international exile since his debut in November 2018. The 31-year-old has been rewarded for his key role in Albion’s sixth-placed Premier League finish. Former Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Sunderland keeper Steele has also been instrumental during a remarkable season at the Amex Stadium after dislodging Robert Sanchez as first choice in early March. Brighton head coach De Zerbi believes the 32-year-old is capable of joining Dunk in the national team set-up to compete with the likes of Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope and Sam Johnstone. “It’s great news,” the Italian said of Dunk’s call-up. “I think it’s maybe the same big news like Europa League because to help one of our players to achieve a target so important, so prestigious is a proud (moment). “We have to be proud – not only the coaches but the players – for one player. “We will work in the next season to help Jason Steele to achieve the same target of Lewis Dunk because he has the quality to achieve one target so important. “In my vision, in my idea, Jason Steele is a top keeper. It’s difficult to find another keeper of this level. “I study football 24 hours per day but it’s very hard to find another keeper with this quality.” Steele, a former England Under-21 international who represented Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics, had never played in the top flight until last term. He has registered six clean sheets and one assist during the past three months, having been preferred to Sanchez due to his ability to play out from the back. Steele joined the Seagulls in June 2018 – on the back of suffering successive relegations to League One with Blackburn and Sunderland – and had to wait more than three years for his league debut. “Football is nice because the past is not important,” said De Zerbi. “I have to analyse the present and sometimes the potential in the future but the past is not important. “You can change your life in one day, if you believe in yourself and you believe in work. “And I told him the same: ‘Jason, you have to think you can change. I give you the possibility to change your life, to change your career and you have to believe in yourself because I help you and you help me and you help the team’.” Brighton complete an unforgettable campaign at Aston Villa on Sunday after cementing their Europa League spot with Wednesday evening’s 1-1 draw at home to champions Manchester City. De Zerbi, who succeeded Graham Potter in September, feels Albion can progress significantly next term. “I am looking forward to working in pre-season because I think we can improve in a lot of things,” he said. “We have played not more than 70 per cent and we have another 30 per cent of improvement.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rob Edwards relieved to hear skipper Tom Lockyer is doing okay after Luton win Pep Guardiola has no concerns about ‘scoring machine’ Erling Haaland I am on my phone all the time – David Moyes finds it difficult to switch off

Willi Castro had his first career multi-homer game, Matt Wallner homered amongst his career-high four hits, and the Minnesota Twins held off the Toronto Blue Jays 9-7 on Saturday

Rob Edwards’ delight at Luton ending their 22-year wait for Premier League football was nothing compared to the relief he felt at the news captain Tom Lockyer was all right. Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off final went the distance at a packed Wembley, where the Hatters rallied after their skipper’s worryingly collapse early on. Jordan Clark put Luton into a deserved lead that Coventry midfielder Gustavo Hamer cancelled out in the second half, with the match ending 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time. Joe Taylor saw a winner ruled out just before spot-kicks, with Fankaty Dabo’s sudden-death miss sealing a 6-5 shoot-out triumph that propelled Luton back into the top-flight for the first time since 1992. The dramatic triumph means the Hatters will welcome Manchester City and Co just nine years after facing the likes of Salisbury and Hyde in the Conference Premier. Luton boss Edwards said: “I felt a bit numb. I just made sure I shook Mark’s hand and his staff. “I don’t want to be that guy that just starts running off and celebrating before I’ve seen the other manager. “I just felt very numb. I still do. It hasn’t sunk in quite yet. It might take a few days, but it’s great. It does feel good. “It was mixed because of Locks (Lockyer), that’s why I couldn’t really go for it celebrating.” This is a day that will live long in the memory of anybody connected to Luton, whose players held a Lockyer shirt throughout the celebrations. The Hatters captain collapsed when running back to defence in the early stages of the final, leaving the field on a stretcher and being taken to hospital for tests. Luton confirmed Lockyer was “responsive and talking to his family”, with his dad posting an image of him in a hospital bed celebrating the shoot-out win. Edwards cried with delight when he saw that image and hopes to soon celebrate with the much-loved skipper. “If we can we will (see him in hospital),” he said of Lockyer, who is expected to be kept in overnight. “But I don’t want to get in the way and if I’m not allowed then I won’t. “If I’m allowed I would love to go and see him, but then I think we’re so tight as a group that I’m not sure if 40-odd people are allowed to go and see him in hospital. “We will have to check on that, but I’m just so thankful that he’s OK because that’s all that matters. “I wasn’t really able to enjoy any celebration at the end because all I cared about was Locks.” As for Coventry, it was a heartbreaking end to a memorable season. Bottom of the table in October and taken over at the start of the year, boss Mark Robins was agonisingly close to leading the Sky Blues from League Two to the top flight. “Firstly, congratulations to Luton because once the game is over and done with you’ve got to congratulate the winners,” the long-serving Coventry boss said. “They’ve come out on top today, however tight the game may have been. “Congratulations to them and their supporters. I think they have been outstanding all season and good luck to them moving forward. “I think for us, certainly the opposite of their joy is pain. “You certainly feel a bit of pain, but once that pain starts to dissipate in however long it takes for it to go, we’ve got to reflect on what an unbelievable achievement it’s been just to even be here today in a play-off final. “The division is very, very tough as we all know and unfortunately we couldn’t make that next step.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Roberto De Zerbi wants to help Jason Steele follow Lewis Dunk into England squad Pep Guardiola has no concerns about ‘scoring machine’ Erling Haaland I am on my phone all the time – David Moyes finds it difficult to switch off

Officers used water cannon to try to disperse the crowds at the Extinction Rebellion protest

Paris Saint-Germain clinched a French record 11th league title on Saturday as Lionel Messi scored in a 1-1...

Champions League finalist Inter Milan has secured a spot in next season’s competition by beating Atalanta 3-2 in Serie A

Halle Bailey’s red hair as Ariel in 'The Little Mermaid' cost a whopping $150,000 to make it look realistic and natural

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been accused of threatening colleagues with political blowback if they vote for his impeachment. State Representative Charlie Geren, who like Mr Paxton is a member of the Republican Party, said that “several members of this House while on the floor of this House, doing the state business, received telephone calls from general Paxton personally, threatening them with political consequences in their next election,” according to The Texas Tribune. Mr Geren made the claim during the opening remarks in the impeachment hearing in the Texas statehouse. The 73-year-old rejected Mr Paxton’s claims that the impeachment is a witch hunt and that the whistleblowers behind a lawsuit against him are “political” appointees. Mr Geren, who sits on the House General Investigative Committee, repeated what the panel said in the articles of impeachment filed against Mr Paxton, that the committee wouldn’t have probed the issue if he hadn’t made the request that the legislature greenlight a settlement worth $3.3m to the former members of staff. “We are here today because the attorney general asked the state Legislature to fund a multimillion-dollar settlement,” Mr Geren said. “There was no investigation prior to this time. We wanted to look further into the reasons behind that.” Mr Geren went on to say that the settlement was Mr Paxton trying to hide the possibility of wrongdoing. “This settlement served to stave off a trial, including a discovery process that could have brought new info to light,” he said. Mr Paxton has long been accused of violating the standards of his office, which he has held since 2015, before which he served in the Texas state senate between 2013 and 2015 and before that the Texas Statehouse from 2003 until 2013. On Saturday, members of the GOP in the Texas House started to present their case for impeaching Mr Paxton, arguing that he used his role to benefit himself and a donor to his campaign and that he should be put on trial in the state Senate for a range of violations. It’s the first vote on the impeachment of a statewide officeholder in Texas since 1917, The New York Times noted. Former President Donald Trump issued a statement of support for Mr Paxton on Truth Social, writing that “the RINO Speaker of the House of Texas, Dade Phelan, who is barely a Republican at all and failed the test on voter integrity, wants to impeach one of the most hard working and effective Attorney Generals in the United States, Ken Paxton, who just won re-election with a large number of American Patriots strongly voting for him”. “You would think that any issue would have been fully adjudicated by the voters of Texas, especially when that vote was so conclusive,” Mr Trump added. The Republican-controlled bipartisan statehouse committee that advanced the process against Mr Paxton filed 20 articles of impeachment this week, with the panel unanimously finding him unfit to hold office, sending the issue on to the full statehouse. Republican Representative David Spiller said that Mr Paxton used his office to help the donor, an Austin real estate investor, to his campaign as well as himself. “Attorney General Paxton continuously and blatantly violated laws and procedures,” Mr Spiller said, according to The New York Times. “Today is a very grim and difficult day for this House and for the State of Texas.” For the issue to head to a trial in the state Senate, 75 of the statehouse’s 85 Republicans and 64 Democrats would have to vote for impeachment, according to the House Speaker’s office. Mr Paxton, 60, has rejected all allegations of wrongdoing. He has been a vocal supporter of conservative legal issues and a main combatant of the Biden administration on issues such as the Affordable Care Act and immigration. He won a third term last year after beating George P Bush, the son of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the nephew of former President George W Bush, in a Republican primary in May 2022. The allegations against him became a part of the campaign, and Mr Paxton accused the Republican House leadership of working with Democrats to remove him from office. If the impeachment vote succeeds, Mr Paxton would be temporarily removed from his office as the issue head to the state Senate for a trial, where a number of his main allies, such as his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, will be jurors. Read More Texas' GOP-held House set for impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Ken Paxton Texas’ extraordinary move to impeach scandal-plagued GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton A look at the 20 articles of impeachment against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

French director Justine Triet became the third woman to win the top prize Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday with her gripping...

Paris Saint-Germain clinched a record 11th French league title after drawing 1-1 at Strasbourg to move four points of second-place Lens with one game left

WWE Night of Champions 2023 saw new champions crowned and titles retained. We'll now grade each match on the premium live event.WWE presented yet another premium live event in May. On Saturday, May 27, Night of Champions 2023 took place at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.T...

The Cowboys may bow out of the race to sign former Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins because of a roster management excuse that couldn't be more weak.Half of the league perked up on Friday when the Cardinals released wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins after months of unsuccessfully trying ...