Michael O’Neill: Northern Ireland ‘angry and upset’ after disallowed equaliser
Michael O’Neill said his Northern Ireland players were “angry and upset” after teenage debutant Callum Marshall saw a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out by VAR for a marginal decision in Friday’s 1-0 Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Denmark. Marshall had only been on the pitch for a few minutes when the West Ham youngster flicked on Jonny Evans’ header to find the corner of the net, cancelling out Jonas Wind’s 47th-minute strike and sparking huge celebrations amongst the 1,700 travelling fans. But hearts sank as referee Daniel Stefanski signalled a VAR check that would last a full five minutes, with Tomasz Kwiatkowski taking an age to review the footage before determining that Evans had been fractionally offside when the free-kick was sent into the box. “I thought it was all about ‘clear and obvious’ and the different terminology that we have in different situations,” O’Neil said. “If it takes that long to disallow a goal why would they disallow it in that situation? I don’t know whose call that is. “The referee obviously doesn’t go to the monitor to look at it so whoever is looking at it has to take that decision. But I’m baffled that it took so long, and clearly the margin was so minimal. For me it’s not how the technology should be used.” Jordan Thompson had sent in a free-kick from 40 yards out on the right, with Evans heading it goalwards and Marshall’s flick beating Kasper Schmeichel. “By the time Jonny heads it Jonny is clearly onside so we’re looking pre-the delivery of the ball,” O’Neill said. “Did he gain any advantage? The referee said to me something about 30 centimetres. I don’t know where he gets that from. I'm baffled that it took so long, and clearly the margin was so minimal. For me it's not how the technology should be used. Michael O'Neill “I’m not really sure where we gain an advantage. We won’t get a satisfactory explanation, I know that, so it’s done and we have to move on.” Asked if he wanted his players to use a sense of injustice as fuel going forward, O’Neill added: “I don’t think we need it. We don’t need that to turn around our team to be ready to play on Monday night (at home to Kazakhstan). “We’ll be playing in front of a vociferous crowd who will be proud of how we played tonight. We’re angry and we’re upset but we don’t need that.” O’Neill was seen with a consoling arm around Marshall’s shoulder as the players went to applaud the travelling support. “We’ve put him on because he’s got a lot of potential,” he said. “He’s come on, scored a goal and he’s had the fairytale start to his international career taken away from him. “I put my arm around him and told him there’ll be plenty more goals. He’s a young player with massive potential but it’s heartbreaking to have that taken away from you in that type of scenario.” For all the frustration at the end, O’Neill was proud of the way his young Northern Ireland side had handled the toughest fixture in Group H. An injury to Craig Cathcart took the number of senior players missing to 10, with O’Neill forced to rely on inexperienced players including four teenagers. “It was a tough game but we did very well in the first half to contain them and we managed the game well,” he said. “I felt the second half with the goal got a bit ragged and we should have done better out of possession but our reaction to going a goal down was excellent. At that point you have to stay in the game, it would be easy here to concede again but we didn’t do that. “We knew we could get a bit of play in the last 15-20 minutes and on the basis of the last 15 minutes we deserved to get something from the game and we feel pretty aggrieved that we didn’t.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Wales’ Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Armenia a necessary ‘slap’ – boss Rob Page Sam Curran claims five as Surrey beat Somerset in top-of-the-table showdown Matt Fitzpatrick keeps US Open defence alive with first professional ace
1970-01-01 08:00
Ukraine war: Putin confirms first nuclear weapons moved to Belarus
Russia's leader says the move is to remind anyone "thinking of inflicting a strategic defeat on us".
1970-01-01 08:00
Michael Jordan to sell Charlotte Hornets NBA team
US media reports the team is worth an estimated $3bn (£2bn) but details of the deal are undisclosed.
1970-01-01 08:00
Scolari comes out of retirement to coach Brazil's Atletico Mineiro
Former Brazil and Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has come out of retirement to take charge of Atletico Mineiro
1970-01-01 08:00
England, France ease to Euro qualifying wins as Wales stunned
England and France cruised to victories over international minnows in Euro 2024 qualifying on Friday, but Wales saw their hopes of reaching next year's finals in Germany suffer a setback...
1970-01-01 08:00
Lewis Hamilton fastest as practice for Canadian Grand Prix finally gets started
Lewis Hamilton finished fastest in second practice for the Canadian Grand Prix as the action finally started in Montreal on Friday. The opening running of the weekend was abandoned following an embarrassing CCTV failure at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. But the problem was fixed to allow an extended 90-minute second session later in the day and it was Hamilton who topped the time sheets with Mercedes team-mate George Russell second. Carlos Sainz finished third for Ferrari ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while championship leader Max Verstappen ended the day in sixth position for Red Bull. Hamilton finished runner-up to Verstappen at the last round in Spain a fortnight ago in his revamped Mercedes machine, and the seven-time world champion spoke earlier this week about the grid’s once-dominant team having discovered its North Star as they bid to reel in Red Bull. And the early signs at the eighth round of the campaign were again encouraging at a venue where Hamilton has won on seven occasions – more than any other driver. The 38-year-old finished 0.027 seconds clear of Russell in the other Mercedes, with Sainz a tenth adrift. Verstappen, who heads the championship order with five victories from seven appearances this year, finished four tenths back. The second session was brought forward by 30 minutes – and extended to an hour-and-a-half – after the opening running was red-flagged with just four minutes on the board when Pierre Gasly broke down in his Alpine. Only a handful of drivers had posted a lap with Hamilton and Russell among those who had not taken to the track. The session had been expected to restart as usual following the removal of Gasly’s Alpine, but Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, blamed “issues with local CCTV infrastructure” for the initial delay. The suspension in play then became temporary with the FIA confirming at 14:20 local time (19:20 BST) that the session would not be resumed leaving an estimated 90,000 spectators short-changed and the sport with red faces. Two red flags then disrupted the second session after Nico Hulkenberg’s engine blew up, and Esteban Ocon broke down in his Alpine on a troubled day for the French team. Dark clouds lingered over the 14-corner track and heavy rain arrived with 10 minutes remaining to cement Mercedes’ position at the top of the order. Rain is forecast for Saturday’s qualifying session and could also play a part in Sunday’s 70-lap race. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Max Verstappen closes in on ‘amazing achievement’ of matching Ayrton Senna Lewis Hamilton plays down talk of imminent new Mercedes deal On this day in 2007: Lewis Hamilton claims first Formula One victory
1970-01-01 08:00
Dustin Johnson makes a crazy 8 at the US Open but crawls back into contention
The quadruple-bogey 8 Dustin Johnson took on the second hole at the U.S. Open was as bad as it gets
1970-01-01 08:00
Yankees slugger Judge has 2nd plasma injection on injured toe, continues to rehab
Yankees manager Aaron Boone says Aaron Judge received another platelet-rich plasma injection on his sprained right toe, but continues to make progress on an ailment that has him on the injured list for the second time this season
1970-01-01 08:00
USMNT news: 3 managers Americans should have hired instead of Gregg Berhalter
Gregg Berhalter's return as the manager for the USMNT has not been well received, especially with three superior options out there.It was announced today by U.S. Soccer that Gregg Berhalter will be returning to his role as head coach of the USMNT.This has not been a popularappointment s...
1970-01-01 08:00
North Carolina governor vetoes limits on politics, race discussion in state workplaces
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed GOP legislation that would ban the promotion of certain beliefs that some lawmakers have likened to critical race theory in state government workplaces
1970-01-01 08:00
Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment means England may have found their ‘quarterback’
If ever there was a night to try things, it was this, and so it was for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Playing in a role that was more quarterback than that associated with the No 10 on his shirt, the Liverpool star decorated an otherwise drab 4-0 win over Malta with a series of sublime balls. One of those was a brilliant strike to make it 2-0, as Alexander-Arnold at least gave Gareth Southgate something to think about from a game almost everyone else will instantly forget. There is of course a danger in reading too much into a game as utterly routine as this, but you might say it’s a start. That’s actually been rare enough with Alexander-Arnold for England, since this was remarkably only his 19th appearance. If these sort of matches have always provoked debate about whether they should even be taking place, such is the extent of the mismatch, the one element of tension is how long it will take the superior side to score. Southgate had direct knowledge of that given it was his last match in this stadium that was one of his most dismal nights with England. A goalless first half led to away fans booing and cries that the team were “sh*t”. “We’re not,” Southgate chuckled on the eve of the game here, and his players went out and proved that within eight minutes. The irony was the scoreline was exactly the same as that more miserable experience, even though England are a completely different team. The ability to use Alexander-Arnold like this showed that. He played one of many divine balls, Bukayo Saka hit it across goal and Ferdinando Apap just about denied Kane. The problem was that he denied the striker by putting it into his own goal. That was that, the game then effectively a training session, if maybe not quite as intense as the ones the players had this week. It was one of those where everyone could try things, as the circumstances led to some experimentation. James Maddison displayed real innovation with some of his touches, and it was one superb turn that set up England’s second. While the Leicester playmaker completely opened up the space around Malta’s box, he was then blocked down only for the ball to fall to Alexander-Arnold. The Liverpool star showed another from his array of deliveries by driving a superb long-range strike over the stranded Henry Bonello. The goalkeeper was at the edge of his six-yard box, but it was still sublime for Alexander-Arnold to put it where he did. There’s almost an elite golfer’s quality to him, a player who can barely be called a defender at this point. Alexander-Arnold has every single shot in his bag. He went on to emphasise that with the next goal, again supplying the pass, only for Kane to this time be felled by Matthew Gullaumier. Kane of course supplied the finish for the penalty. That made it 56 international goals in 83 games, only adding to that all-time record. This game wasn’t going down in history, though. It had barely anything of note other than Alexander-Arnold’s deployment and a few interesting appearances, as well as Ebe Eze’s debut. The England fans evidently felt the same. By about midway through the second half, the away end had significantly thinned, with the majority of the fans headed out for the local nightspots of St Julian’s. You could probably add your own line about celebrations given how much Gareth Southgate was pressed on Manchester City’s festivities before the game. He did introduce Phil Foden in the second half, amid a raft of substitutes that included Eze. One of them, Callum Wilson, also ensured the trip was worth it. The Newcastle United striker hit his second goal for England, benefiting from a penalty after the ball had somewhat unluckily hit Steve Borg’s arm. It only displayed how misguided the current rules on that are. The idea of Alexander-Arnold as a playmaker or quarterback, though, now has that bit more logic to it. The case is growing, even if it will require a few more exacting tests. Read More Gareth Southgate urges players not to cross the line with celebrations England’s future is about to be defined – and it’s out of Gareth Southgate’s control Marcus Rashford reveals pain that is ‘relighting the flame’ inside him England fans soak up the Malta sun and discuss tactics ahead of Euro 2024 qualifier Marcus Rashford couldn’t stomach Man City celebrations but England remain united ‘Serial winners’ can help England finally celebrate silverware – Tyrone Mings
1970-01-01 08:00
Chelsea hoping to beat Premier League clubs to signing of Nicolas Jackson
Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson is one of La Liga's finest young forwards and has plenty of suitors from the Premier League, with Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Newcastle United looking into a deal.
1970-01-01 08:00
