List of All Articles with Tag 'sports'

The son of another NBA great says he'll play for Southern California next season

Liverpool are parting company with the throw-in coach who helped them become Premier League champions in 2020. Danish coach Thomas Gronnemark, who first linked up with Jurgen Klopp’s squad in 2018, will not have his contract renewed after learning he will not have the time he wanted to work with the players. Gronnemark, a former sprinter and bobsleigh rider, was contacted by Klopp five years ago when the Liverpool manager saw statistics that his side were the third-worst in the Premier League at throw-ins. They won the Champions League in their first season working with Gronnemark and 14 goals in their title-winning campaign of 2019-20 were traced to throws. He visited Liverpool several times a season before lockdown, while also working with around 25 other clubs, including Ajax, Flamengo, Toulouse and Philadelphia Union, but said he made the greatest impact in his first two seasons when he was involved. Gronnemark said on YouTube: “It has been five great years with Liverpool FC, we had great results: not only going from 18th for throw-ins to No 1 but winning all the club titles you can in Europe. “We had two fantastic first seasons when I was first there where we won Champions League, Premier League and World Club Championships and I was visiting the club four or five times per season so I had a lot of time to work on the basics and go deep into the throw-in drills. “But then we had a challenge with Covid-19 and it meant that suddenly from the 2020-21 season, the playing schedule was really tight and there were a lot of travel challenges so it was much easier, for example, to go to Mexico than England. For a couple of seasons, I was only there one time a season and for me, the throw-in level has been going from great to good. I don’t think I had enough time with the players. “So I had to go back to four or five visits a season and that was my wish for the 2023-24 season and I talked with the club and they also wished for a change but to try for themselves. Thanks to Liverpool FC, it has been fantastic.” Read More Premier League top-four race: Remaining fixtures and how each club can qualify for the Champions League Liverpool turn up the heat as Anfield rediscovers its chest-thumping swagger Surprise favourite emerges in race to be Liverpool’s new sporting director

The hardcore “ultra” fans of Paris Saint-Germain plan to boycott the team’s matches until further notice amid growing tensions with the club’s direction

Milan’s two biggest clubs meet in the Champions League final four hoping to book their place in the European final. It is the first time in 20 years that AC Milan and Inter have clashed so late in the competition but their meeting guarantees a first Italian competitor in the final since 2017. Both clubs have history in this competition, Inter last won the trophy in 2010 under Jose Mourinho while Milan dominated the Champions League at the start of the millennium and in the 90s. They have been evenly matched domestically with the pair currently fourth and fifth in Serie A, and both teams will recognise this major opportunity to return to European football’s biggest stage. The fitness of AC Milan star Rafael Leao is the big talking point ahead of the game but Milan will make a late call on his participation after the Portuguese winger suffered a muscle injury. The winner of this semi final will face either Real Madrid or Manchester City in Istanbul on 10th June after the Spanish and English champions played out a 1-1 draw in their semi-final first left last night. Follow all the action from the Milan derby as AC Milan and Inter clash in the Champions League: Read More AC Milan are back – but not as how you remember them The Milan derby crowns Serie A’s return - here is why it means so much more Olivier Giroud ‘more motivated than ever’ as AC Milan chase Champions League win

Bob Huggins will keep his job as basketball coach at West Virginia but has agreed to a suspension and pay cut after he used a homophobic slur during a radio show

The PGA Championship always tries to get the strongest field in the majors

Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is coming out of retirement and heading to the NBA

The Minnesota Twins have reinstated infielder Kyle Farmer from the injured list four weeks after he was hit by a pitch in the face and needed oral surgery

The International Tennis Federation says the Spanish city of Seville will host the Billie Jean King Cup finals for the next two years

Former defender Oguchi Onyewu was hired by the U.S. Soccer Federation as vice president of sporting, a newly created role the governing body said is not a replacement for departed men’s general manager Brian McBride

The blood still dripped from John Ryder’s broken nose as he sat down to address the throng of media gathered in the bowels of the Estadio Akron just before midnight local time. The bone had shattered in the second round when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez landed with a sharp right hand. Three rounds later he was dropped heavily as he gulped back a steady flow of his own blood in order to keep breathing. “I felt it go instantly,” Ryder said, wiping blood off the table in front of him. “It threw me for a couple of rounds but it is what it is.” Despite all that, Ryder made it through all 12 rounds of his challenge for the Mexican icon’s four super-middleweight belts on a night he will never forget as long as he lives. It was a performance that led Canelo to label Ryder as the best of the eight British men he now holds wins over. By the time Canelo had made that evaluation at his press conference in the early hours of Sunday morning, Ryder was already back at the fight hotel, battered, bruised and with a bandage strapped around his nose but surrounded by the friends and family who made the trip. He would by then have seen the hugely positive response to his gutsy performance from across the boxing world. And, although the north Londoner had suggested pre-fight that he would only keep fighting as long as he was winning, Ryder has vowed to box on after enhancing his reputation in defeat. “I think I’ll carry on,” he said. “I got a lot of enjoyment out of that fight, although I got a busted nose. Ultimately, though, I’ll sit down with the team and my family and just evaluate. “I’ve got no regrets, I just could have done without getting hit with that punch in the second round, then things could have been different. But I’m just happy I live to see another day and fight another fight. I’m sat here looking like an absolute victim with my nose in plaster but, listen, I’ve dared to dream and I’ve come up short. “The overriding feeling is that I’m gutted but I’ll sit down now with my team and see where we go from there. “Coming away with a win was the ultimate goal, going the distance isn’t. I made a fight of it for a while but on the scorecards it wasn’t that close. Moral victory? Maybe, yeah. But I came here with a dream and I didn’t achieve it. “I’m just gutted. I’ve put so much into the sport over the last few years and haven’t always got the rub of the green. I came here with a dream but I fell short – that’s boxing. I won’t be the first and I won’t be the last.” It looked as though Ryder could be on the verge of a stoppage in the fifth round when a straight, hard one-two combination sent him staggering back against the ropes and then onto the canvas. But the man known as the Gorilla says it was the spirit of another famous British super-middleweight that got him through the crisis. “It’s all that time I’ve spent with Nigel Benn,” said Ryder, who trains alongside the former world champion’s son Conor in Tony Sims’ gym. “I just thought to myself ‘what would Nigel Benn do? He’d come out swinging. He’d probably knock him out though. I didn’t do that, unfortunately. Listen I’m in the gym around great fighters and idols so I could pull from the best in the business.” Canelo had predicted during fight week that he would be able to get rid of Ryder inside six rounds and even said he’d retire from boxing if he was beaten at the Akron Stadium. And Ryder believes his inability to find that stoppage is evidence the 32-year-old is in decline after 63 fights as a professional. Of Canelo, Ryder added: “He was very good but I think he is past his best but he still had enough in his tank tonight. “Why is he past his best? Because he couldn’t get me out of there. His plan was to stop me and he didn’t. I know I took a great shot in the fifth round but I came back swinging and had some good rounds after that.” But Canelo only smiled when he was later told of Ryder’s assessment. “For them it’s a win not getting knocked out, right?” the Mexican said. “But we need to give him credit. He came to fight. His preparation was very good, and I respect the fight he did. “He’s strong. He did everything in the ring, and that’s what I expected. I saw him fighting with the other guys, and he’s tough. I think he’s the best British fighter I’ve faced.” This was Canelo’s first fight back in his home town of Guadalajara since 2011 when he beat another Brit, Ryan Rhodes, across town at the Arena VFG. He has since evolved into a genuine boxing superstar and the biggest attraction in the sport. On this Cinco de Mayo weekend, more than 50,000 people packed inside the stadium, where Mexican top-flight team Chivas play their home games. And, although he failed to get the stoppage he craved, Canelo said: “Tonight was more than I even expected. I’m just proud about fighting here with my people and bringing this kind of fight for them. They deserve it, and it’s more than I expected.” Now Canelo will look ahead to his second date of the year, Mexican Independence Day which falls on 16 September, and confirmed that he hopes to secure a rematch with Dmitry Bivol who beat him 12 months ago. “That’s my goal this year,” he said. “But you know, if that fight doesn’t happen – we’ll see – but that’s my goal this year.” Read More Frustrated Canelo Alvarez must take valuable homecoming lesson from gutsy John Ryder The shadow of Dmitry Bivol looms over Canelo vs Ryder Blood, beers and tears: What to expect from Canelo’s homecoming, 12 years in the making John Ryder took on the full power of Canelo Alvarez and emerged an unlikely hero The sporting weekend in pictures Canelo Alvarez vs John Ryder full scorecards revealed

It was a frustrating night for the Haalands in the 1-1 draw between Manchester City and Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals