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Baltimore Orioles general manager Mike Elias was voted Major League Baseball’s executive of the year after the team finished with the American League’s best record for the first time since 1997

It is a big game, but then they all are now for Newcastle. By Christmas, they will have played Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund twice each, and Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Brighton once apiece. The definition of a major match can shift according to reason, to the quality of the opposition – despite the size of their fanbase and stadium, Newcastle may not have been underlined on the fixture list by the elite during their wilderness years – but the sight of the massive Signal Iduna Park is another reminder they are back in the big time now. Whether they remain there in spring is still to be determined. Dortmund may have always been the biggest game of perhaps the biggest week thus far for Newcastle – a triple header of Manchester United, Arsenal and last season’s Bundesliga runners-up – but Eddie Howe’s side arrive in Germany having proved masters of brinkmanship. Short of players, but high on spirit, they are looking to complete a famous hat-trick. In four days, they could have exited the Carabao Cup and been distanced from the Premier League’s top four; instead, they overcame United and Arsenal. Now for the side who inflicted their only defeat in their last 12 matches. Three points would put Newcastle on course for the knockout stages. “Every game is a must-win,” said Howe. “The term is probably overused in football.” And if he was right to note that too much of the language can be hyperbolic – certainly some was at St James’ Park on Saturday – a setback could be very damaging. With a trip to Paris next, defeat in Dortmund could mean Newcastle are out of the Champions League after five games. Howe will have to navigate the rest of the group stage without the symbolic hero of their demolition of Paris Saint-Germain. Dan Burn’s aerial ability brought a goal then, but he landed awkwardly on his back after going up for a header on Saturday. “A long-term problem, a couple of months is a speculative number,” said Howe. “He has been gigantic for us.” It was not just a reference to Burn’s height and, with Matt Targett out for around three months, Newcastle are now short of left-backs. They were already missing the spine of a side, in the flagship signings Sven Botman, Sandro Tonali and Alexander Isak. With Burn, Targett and Harvey Barnes absent as well, Newcastle are shorn of players who have cost more than £200m of their £400m outlay in Howe’s reign. Big numbers have given way to small ones. Newcastle have too few players. There was no room in the Champions League squad for Emil Krafth and Matt Ritchie, two fit players. Selection could be a process of elimination. “You just see who is fit and who is available,” Howe said. “The games have come at a cost.” Nor is there much respite for the overworked. “The problem we have is a lot of the injuries are on a longer-term scale, which means there’s no relief coming around the corner,” he said. The last men standing will have to carry on running for quite some time. It is something depleted groups managed to do against United and Arsenal. But, deprived of some of the players who brought stardust, Newcastle feel still more reliant on hard work. Certainly, it is harder to outclass teams. And, while a 4-1 scoreline against PSG was spectacular, otherwise Newcastle are yet to score. The statistics are explained in part by the toughness of a pool without a minnow who can be thrashed but of the 32 teams in the Champions League, so far Newcastle have the third-lowest expected goals and the fourth fewest shots. They rank fourth from bottom for completed passes and have had the third-fewest touches. Only three goalkeepers have made more saves than Nick Pope; of those who have played two or more games, only one has a higher save percentage than his 86.7; as he is Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel, it could add to a struggle to score. They drew a blank at home two weeks ago and the realist in Howe was apparent when he reviewed Dortmund’s victory at St James’ Park. “It was a tight game but they deserved to win,” he said. The sense is the rematch could be tight; so, too, the pool. At the start of the competition, Opta’s predictive statistics gave Newcastle a 54 per cent chance of qualifying from Group F. Halfway through it, their supercomputer now thinks there is a 54 per cent likelihood they will go through. That said, Opta gave Newcastle a 78 per cent chance of a top-two finish before the defeat to Dortmund two weeks ago. It could shape up as the pivotal result of their European campaign. And yet, as Howe is very aware, there are worse problems than being deprived of key players for a marquee match against one of Germany’s great clubs. Wednesday marks the second anniversary of his appointment. Dortmund were not on his agenda then. “The vision was short-term. It was, can we stay in the Premier League?” he recalled. Now the question is whether Newcastle can stay in the Champions League. Read More Sporting director Dan Ashworth believes Newcastle are on ‘an upward trajectory’ How Anthony Gordon became central to Newcastle’s Champions League hopes Arsenal lose unbeaten start as Newcastle keep their heads in the battle of St James’ Park

António Costa says he has handed in his resignation during a meeting with the Portuguese president.

Former England captain Wayne Rooney has described his abuse of alcohol early in his football career as a “release”. The Birmingham manager appeared on the new podcast of ex-rugby league star and Motor Neurone Disease campaigner Rob Burrow, and opened up on the difficulties he faced in finding a way to deal with the pressure of fame as a young man. Rooney first broke into Everton’s senior side at the age of 16, became an England international at 17, and joined Manchester United at 20, but has said his high profile came with a cost. The 38-year-old told Burrow: “My release was alcohol when I was in my early 20s. I’d go home, and spend a couple of days at home and not leave the house. I’d drink almost until I’d pass out. “I didn’t want to be around people, because sometimes you feel embarrassed. Sometimes you feel like you’ve let people down and ultimately I didn’t know how else to deal with it. “When you don’t take the help and guidance of others, you can be really in a low place, and I was for a few years with that. Thankfully, now I’m not afraid to go and speak to people about issues.” Former Leeds Rhinos star Burrow and his wife Lindsey have launched a new series called Seven on the BBC’s The Total Sport podcast, in which they interview seven sporting greats and ask seven questions, with Rooney the first guest. Burrow uses AI technology and a computerised voice with a Yorkshire accent to communicate. Rooney said Burrow’s approach to the disease had inspired others. “I know first hand the impact this (illness) can have on yourself and people around you,” he said. “Everyone must change the way of living and I had that with my sister-in-law, who suffered not the same illness but something as severe. “But your energy and positivity helps everyone else around you. I can see the money you have raised for charity and to help others - it’s really inspiring.” Read More Ian McKellen and Wayne Rooney lead tributes to theatre producer and ‘great man’ Bill Kenwright Sir Bobby Charlton turned tragedy into triumph with unique style and perseverance Wayne Rooney appointed new Birmingham boss and teams up with ex-England team-mate I know my worth – Rasmus Hojlund ready to build on promising start at Man Utd Bill Kenwright: Theatre producer who went from terraces to boardroom at Everton Mikel Arteta doubles down on VAR comments and vows to ‘talk loudly’ after criticism

Diana Taurasi is settling into a new role with USA Basketball

Players from the Afghanistan men’s team are boycotting their World Cup qualifying match against Qatar over their treatment by the football federation. A substantial number, 18 players, have reportedly refused to play in the match, due to take place in Qatar on 16 November. Three footballers who play overseas sent a letter last month to the Asian Football Confederation and Fifa detailing complaints and allegations of serious corruption by the Afghanistan Football Federation, the Guardian has reported. “The last straw came at the last camp when a big group of us decided that we’d had enough – 18 players got together and said: ‘If we’re going to move forward, we have to put a stop to this,’” Noor Husin, who plays in the National League for Southend United, told the Guardian. “We really want change. We want to help domestic players because the money they are getting from Fifa is not being used in the right way. “We have the worst flights possible and we have to stay in substandard hotels. “We’ve come together as a group because we want football in Afghanistan to move forward and we believe that it’s not going to move forward with the people that are in charge at the moment.” Faysal Shayesteh, who is a former captain and also signed the letter, said: “Every year our federation gets financial support from Fifa and from the AFC. “We want to show a positive Afghanistan to the world so we are asking Fifa to stop supporting our federation financially because the money is going into the pockets of a gang who is ruling football in the country.” The federation’s secretary Behram Siddiqui has denied the allegations. While players have argued that the AFF executive committee kept half of the bonus that should have gone to the squad for reaching the next stage of the World Cup qualifying among themselves, and that they have been holding on to money from plane tickets of players travelling to games. A Fifa spokesperson said: “Fifa was informed of these allegations very recently and is currently looking into the matter.” Read More Afghan players watch Morocco's team practice for Women's World Cup, hoping to get their chance Women's World Cup brings attention to abuse in soccer Russia consider leaving Uefa after invite to Asian competition

While the rest of the footballing world was taken by surprise by Chelsea’s 4-1 battering of league hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur, Paul Merson shared a hilarious meme after his prediction was proved right. Mid-table Chelsea took on an in-form Spurs at their Tottenham stadium on Monday (8 November), in what turned out to be an action-packed game with two red cards, five disallowed goals, a penalty and a last-minute hat-trick. Speaking ahead of the match on Sky Sports, former footballer and pundit Paul Merson said he was “very confident for Chelsea on Monday night” and said he would be “shocked” if they lost. Another person on the punditry team could be heard saying, “clip that up”, suggesting that Merson would be proven wrong. As it turned out, he wasn’t. After the game, Merson hilariously shared the video of his prediction along with the Kevin James meme of the actor smirking and shrugging his shoulders. The post has gathered over 91,000 likes and been viewed 5.4 million times, as people admired the hilarious trolling of Spurs’ defeat. “Merson my hero,” one fan replied. “I love Merse, how has he said this and managed to look like a genuis within our generation,” another said. Chelsea beat Spurs 4-1 in the London thriller after the home side initially went 1-0 up after 6 minutes with a goal from Dejan Kulusevski. Spurs defender Cristian Romero conceded a penalty and was sent off in the 33rd minute. Cole Palmer converted the penalty taking the score to 1-1. After a second Tottenham defender, Destiny Udogie, was given a red card in the 55th minute, the floodgates eventually opened as Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson scored a hat-trick. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

The defending champion Denver Nuggets are cruising right along and sit at 7-1 after taking care of the New Orleans Pelicans last night. Mike Malone's team was t

Real Madrid will have Jude Bellingham available for the Champions League match against Braga on Wednesday

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has doubled down on his severe criticism of Premier League match officials

Video reviews in soccer were meant to take no more than six seconds

A farce that sums up a lot of modern football, or one of the games of the season? It maybe sums up how confusing and contradictory this game was that it could genuinely be both. Chelsea’s eventual 4-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur could have huge effects for both of their seasons too. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have got the win it feels like they have been waiting for, and that at the stadium that still means more to him than any other in football. Ange Postecoglou’s scarcely believable high line with nine men and no main centre-halves did make it borderline for some time. Such a creditable approach earned the applause of the home crowd when it finally went wrong for Nicolas Jackson’s decisive second goal, but there was that unsettling feeling of momentum being undone. Spurs have not just lost their first league game under Postecoglou but also Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero to suspensions and possibly James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to injury. That all has the feeling of bringing down a flight that had been improbably soaring for some time. Postecoglou could of course tell his players it was a freak game. That’s one way of putting it. It was almost several different events in one, as we saw a spell akin to the infamous Battle of the Bridge as well as Saturday’s Copa Libertadores final, a grand staging for every debate about VAR over and over and then what amounted to a bizarre but brave training session, where Postecoglou seemingly set up the irrepressible Guglielmo Vicario against the entirety of Chelsea’s young attack. To top it off, and turn everything on its head, the previously misfiring Jackson got a hat-trick late on. It wasn’t quite an exhibition of finishing but there was enough to show the potential that is there. Whatever about this evening exhibiting various types of football events in one, mind, there were alternating periods that looked like it could have come from completely different matches. It was incredible to contemplate this by even the half-hour mark, but the first 18 minutes looked like it would be a comprehensive and confident Spurs win to continue their early-season surge. They were shredding Chelsea, especially on the wings. Both sides were being targeted, something inevitable given all the space, and the first real attack brought a goal. Dejan Kulusevski shot and the ball cannoned off Levi Colwell and past Robert Sanchez. Reece James was even more exposed on the other side, allowing Brennan Johnson to just saunter through and square for Son Heung-Min to slide the ball in. It was all so easy that Spurs were getting ahead of themselves, as the Korean’s wayward foot saw the goal ruled out for offside. That was what made what happened next all the more inexplicable, as Udogie went in with a dismally reckless challenge on Raheem Sterling. He didn’t get sent off – yet – but it was like the entire tone changed. It was also a bit of Chekov’s foul, as Udogie would go for similar later on. That itself was influenced by what the match briefly became, which was somewhere between an old storyline from this fixture like the Battle of the Bridge and the Libertadores final. Cristian Romero was at the centre of it, with two challenges of his own that each could have received red cards. He was eventually sent off as part of the same sequence that saw a second Chelsea goal chalked off, to bring a penalty. It was almost difficult to keep up, the sense of dislocation added to by how the match was played at a frenetic pace and yet also frequently stopped for long VAR checks. Cole Palmer’s ensuing penalty consequently may not have been as pure as he’d have liked but it did make its way in. For Pochettino’s part, Udogie’s challenge wasn’t the only big change. He altered Chelsea’s formation to ensure they had taken tactical control of the game even before Romero’s red card. It probably shouldn’t have got to that for Spurs, though. It was going to get worse. Both Maddison and Van de Ven had to go off injured before Udogie eventually got his red card. What happened next was perhaps the most unexpected development of all, though. Postecoglou refused to back down. He doubled down. Despite nine-man Spurs losing two of their leading players to injury, with both of their main centre-halves off the pitch, Postecoglou seemed to go even higher with his line. Spurs basically offered up the entirety of their half to Chelsea’s attack. It was bold, to say the least. It immediately led to Chelsea setting up a series of one-on-ones, the game almost becoming a training exercise between their forwards and Guglielmo Vicario, with some vague use of the offside trap in between. And yet this might well have been where there was a clear logic. Given how inexperienced this Chelsea squad is, many of them seemed to keep making the bad choices when such good chances were offered. There was rarely a third-man run. Mykhailo Mudryk and Nicolas Jackson kept going outside when they should have gone inside, or vice versa. Vicario, for his part, was brilliant. Every unlikely stop amplified the atmosphere. It was as if every wasted one-on-one – and they were becoming countless – was further eroding their confidence. This could have been a hugely embarrassing game for Chelsea, rather than the humiliation for Spurs it was almost set up for. Except, the risk was just too great. A team with someone as experienced as Sterling was eventually going to get one right. It was duly his pass that set up Jackson. At 2-1, Spurs had no choice but to go for it even more. Jackson claimed even more, twice scoring in stoppage time. That may be a turning point for him as well as Spurs, but only after a night that really did the rounds. You can try to make sense of it – but maybe it’s just best to be experienced. Read More Ange Postecoglou reacts to VAR calls as Spurs earn two red cards in defeat to Chelsea Ange Postecoglou’s high line epitomised Tottenham’s optimism - and their downfall Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: Spurs went down with flag held high but loss hurts a lot