Some of the usual heavyweights rub shoulders with surprise packages in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup, which get under when France take on Uruguay in Nizhny Novgorod on Friday.
That mouth-watering clash is followed by another packed with prime talent as Brazil face a Belgium team on the other side of their great escape against Japan.
On Saturday, with their penalty shoot-out hoodoo slain for now, England meet Sweden in Samara before hosts Russia aim to extend their dream run against perennial dark horses Croatia.
Along with the eight teams, five of our reporters remain in Russia. Here s who they think will go all the way.
Harry West – Brazil
We re at the business end of the World Cup now and I haven t seen a stronger side than Brazil. …
South Africa s 2010 readiness got a thumbs up on Monday after a successful Confederations Cup, with organisers confident that hitches will be ironed out ahead of the continent s first World Cup.
Security passed with no major incident, a critical concern with crime levels in South Africa among the world s worst, while the football curtainraiser was also praised for unifying South Africans 15 years after democracy.
The rehearsal, as this tournament has become known, has been very satisfactory. We are happy with the level of commitment shown by the organising committee and the government, FIFA boss Sepp Blatter told journalists.
The world football body gave organisers a 7.5 out of ten for the Confeds Cup, saying it hoped the score will rise to 10 by next year for…
Phil Foden sat out England s training session on the eve of the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
Manchester City midfielder Foden was absent due to a minor knock , with all other members of Gareth Southgate s 26-man squad present.
Southgate will address the media later on Saturday, when he is expected to give an update on Foden s condition.
The 21-year-old was named Professional Footballers Association (PFA) Young Player of the Year in 2020-21 after scoring 16 goals and supplying 10 assists in all competitions as City won the Premier League and retained the EFL Cup.
He began Euro 2020 on the right-hand side of England s attack, hitting the post during the early stages of the opening 1-0 win over Croatia.
But Foden was substituted during the lacklus…
Barcelona are LaLiga champions for the eight time in 11 seasons after completing a 1-0 victory over Levante and there can be no doubt who has been their star man.
Lionel Messi has once again led the way, scoring 34 times – including the decisive strike from off the bench on Saturday – and setting up another 13 in 32 appearances, while also making the difference with numerous late goals.
At the age of 31, the Argentina superstar s role has changed a little and Ernesto Valverde has done his best to afford him rests where possible.
That certainly appears to have aided Messi s productivity. He is thus far averaging a goal every 73.1 minutes, and if that figure were to remain, it would be the second most effective full campaign of his career.
But…
English Premier League club Chelsea have been fined and hit with a ban on registering players until January 2011 by world football s ruling body FIFA as punishment for their role in a contractual dispute.
The sanction follows a decision by FIFA s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC), which met on August 27 to rule on a contractual dispute opposing French first division club Lens to French player Gael Kakuta and London giants Chelsea.
The DRC found Kakuta guilty of breach of contract and also found Chelsea guilty of inducing the player to break his contract with the French club, which had lodged a claim with FIFA seeking compensation and demanding sporting sanctions both on the player and Chelsea.
A statement from FIFA said the DRC found that the player had indeed br…
Women’s Super League clubs saw aggregate revenues rise by 60 per cent in a record-breaking 2021-22 season, according to new figures published by Deloitte.
Clubs brought in combined revenues of £32million, up from £20million in the previous season, with the increases driven by new commercial and broadcast deals.
The higher revenues helped clubs bring down their aggregate wages-to-revenue ratio from 92 per cent to 78 per cent despite wages rising to a combined total of £25million, up 37 per cent on the previous campaign.
Clubs made an aggregate pre-tax loss of £14million, according to Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance, which will be released in full on Thursday.
From the start of last season, WSL and Women’s Championship clubs enjoyed t…
Be curious. Not judgmental.
The quote is attributed to Walt Whitman, but it’s been made famous by the popular comedy series “Ted Lasso”, which took home Tom Brady-like hardware at the Primetime Emmy Awards last weekend.
Be curious. Not judgmental.
It sounds like the perfect mantra for making the best NFL underdog bets each week.
But that’s not my point. My point is Whitman never said it.
Despite blind public opinion and a slew of Wayfair-peddled products — like mugs and folky wall plaques — that feature the quote next to Whitman’s name, English scholars can’t find any evidence of attribution anywhere.
My point is don’t just believe something because it’s on a mug, or a shirt or a…
The defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs this Sunday.
The Bucs will look to take care of business as 8.5-point favorites but things could get messy with inclement weather expected. There’s a high chance of rain in Tampa Bay on Sunday along with 20 mile per hour winds, which has seen this total plummet from an opening number of 49.
With both teams surely factoring this into their gameplans we try to find the best betting angles with our free player prop picks for the Eagles vs. Buccaneers.
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The NFL playoffs have finally arrived. Wild Card weekend offers a six-pack of games, beginning on Saturday afternoon.
I’ve taken a look at the entire NFL odds slate, and have come up with my four favorite sides, which I’ll break up into a pair of two-leg parlays.
Check out my NFL parlay picks for Wild Card weekend.
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We’ve got an interesting non-conference matchup for Monday Night Football odds when the Green Bay Packers visit Sin City to battle the Las Vegas Raiders.
NFL odds aren’t expecting much scoring tonight, but the NFL prop markets have plenty of value to be had for this Week 5 odds finale.
We’ve already broken down the matchup in our Packers vs. Raiders predictions and Jordan Love prop picks, but I’ll give you my three favorite player props in my free NFL picks for Monday Night Football below.
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