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Folarin Balogun scored a crucial goal to put the United States Men’s National Team ahead 2-1 against Paraguay during the November 2025 international window. The strike was Balogun’s third goal in his last four appearances, with Gio Reyna creating the chance moments after ending his own scoring drought with the USMNT’s opener – his first goal since March 2024.

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  USMNT’s aggressiveness

  The goal originated from Diego Luna’s aggressive pressing, which forced Paraguay into a turnover deep in their own half. Luna’s pressure allowed the USMNT to regain possession in a dangerous area, setting the stage for a swift counterattack. Reyna picked up the ball from Balogun’s hold-up play and attempted a cutback pass. Although the initial pass was blocked, it deflected back to Balogun, who quickly slashed a left-footed shot into the net.

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  Balogun’s scoring form

  Balogun’s goal reinforces his growing importance to the USMNT attack. With three goals in his last four appearances, the Monaco forward continues to show reliable scoring form at the international level. His link-up with players like Reyna also underscores the expanding attacking options for Mauricio Pochettino ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

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  USMNT builds momentum

  The goal against Paraguay and their subsequent 2-1 win reflects the USMNT’s growing confidence and attacking dynamism under Pochettino’s guidance. They will face Uruguay next on Nov. 18 in their final international game of the calendar year.

Stokes said that given the quick turnaround, he didn’t want to risk any of his frontline bowlers getting injured

Shashank Kishore27-Jul-20251:19

Harmison: ‘A little bit farcical towards the end’

India’s decision to bat on and not call off the game at the start of the mandatory final 15 overs was a decision left to Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, India captain Shubman Gill said after India secured a hard-fought draw in Manchester to keep the series alive at 1-2.Jadeja was unbeaten on 89 and Washington on 80 at the start of the last hour with India on 386 for 4, when Ben Stokes offered to shake hands for a draw. India, however, decided to bat on. “It was up to the boys,” Gill said when asked whose decision it was to stay on. “I thought they both batted brilliantly, both were in their 90s. We thought they deserved a century there.”The game was called off as soon as both batters brought up their hundreds. This was Jadeja’s second in England and Washington’s first in Tests; the pair put on an unbroken 203-run stand for the fifth wicket to secure a draw.Related

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“Very pleased with the batting effort,” Gill said. “The past couple of days, we’ve been put under a lot of pressure. The way we responded after losing two early wickets, it’s never easy but it was a very brave effort.”India head coach Gautam Gambhir agreed with Gill. “If someone is batting on 90 and the other one is batting on 85, wouldn’t they deserve a hundred? Would they have walked off if someone from England side would’ve been batting on 90 or 85? If someone has the opportunity to get his first Test hundred, wouldn’t you allow him to do it? They weather the storm. It’s up to them. If they want to play that way, that’s up to them. I’ve got nothing more to say. I think both those guys deserve a hundred and fortunately they got it in the end.”Stokes, meanwhile, said that given the quick turnaround between the Tests, he did not want to risk his frontline bowlers getting injured as the reason behind offering to shake hands once the last hour began.”We were willing to take it as far as we possibly could and throw everything at them that we did, but it got to that point where there was obviously only one result left on the table and I wasn’t going to be risking any of my frontline bowlers in a situation like that, especially when we’ve got a quick turnaround,” Stokes told the . “The only other person who actually has any bowling workload in them is Harry Brook.3:12

‘Would they have walked off?’ – Gambhir on Stokes’ draw offer

“He does actually work on that kind of stuff, but I did have to say to him, ‘please don’t do anything stupid’. We’ve been out in the field for 200-and-whatever overs, we’ve got a quick turnaround, so just do what needs to be done. I said don’t do anything daft: don’t pull a side, don’t pull a hamstring. We knew what was going on there.”While appreciating Jadeja’s and Washington’s knocks, Stokes said the “10 more runs” the duo wanted to get for their respective centuries wouldn’t have changed the fact that they got their team out of a tricky situation.”The knock that those two played was very, very good,” he said at the press conference. “The situation that India found themselves in there, with us opening the game slightly, that partnership was massive. You hold your hands up – they played incredibly, incredibly well. And I don’t think there would’ve been too much more satisfaction from walking off a hundred not out, getting your team out of a tricky situation, than walking off at 80, 90 not out. That’s what you’ve done for your team. You know, the 10 more runs or whatever it was ain’t gonna change the fact that you’ve managed to get your team out of a very, very, very tricky situation and almost saved your team from a series defeat before the last game.”India resumed the final day on 174 for 2, still trailing England by 137 runs, with KL Rahul and Gill having got together in the first over on day four with the score reading 0 for 2. Gill said the plan was “about taking the wicket out of the equation.””Day five wicket, something keeps happening, every ball is an event,” he said. “We wanted to play ball by ball, take the game as deep as possible. That’s what we spoke about.”On asked about his learnings as a Test captain four games in, Gill said, he’d learned “a lot of things.””Every match going up until the last session of the last day … so many learnings,” he said. “Each Test match teaches you something different, four matches as a group has also taught a lot. Hopefully, we can draw the series if we win the next match.”

Veteran manager Sam Allardyce has voiced his willingness to fill the current vacancy at Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Hired in late 2024, Vitor Pereira guided Wolves away from the relegation zone in the second half of the 2024/25 Premier League season. Across the summer, though, the club sold star players Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Cunha, replacing them with options that, seemingly, are not of the same quality. After 10 league matches without a win, Pereira was sacked by Wolves in early November, despite having signed a new contract earlier in the year.

Since the Portuguese was dismissed, Wolves have been linked with a number of potential replacements. Gary O’Neil, who himself was replaced by Pereira at Molineux, was seemingly in the frame for what would have been a shock return. O’Neil has since taken himself out of the running to be the manager that will try and ensure Wolves’ Premier League safety.

O’Neil, who had a generally solid tenure at Molineux, would have been a bold appointment from the Midlands club, whose search for a new manager is ongoing. As per David Ornstein of The Athletic, Erik ten Hag is “among the other candidates”. The former Man United manager was hired by Bayer Leverkusen to replace Xabi Alonso in the summer but was sacked after just three matches with the German side.

Now, it would appear that an English football icon is open to trying to save Wolves from dropping to the Championship.

Allardyce would be open to Wolves job

As per talkSPORT, Sam Allardyce would be open to taking the current vacancy at Molineux. Having been out of work since his brief stint in charge of Leeds United came to an end in 2023, the veteran said:

Since taking up management in the early 1990s, Allardyce has worked extensively in the past three decades. The Englishman found a lot of success with Bolton between 1999 and 2007, going onto manage sides including Blackburn Rovers, West Ham and the England national team amongst many others.

Games

10

Wins

7

Draws

3

Losses

0

Points per Match

2.40

Across a period of over 20 years, Allardyce is unbeaten in 10 games against Wolves, with games coming during his time at Bolton, Blackburn and West Bromwich Albion.

Though he no longer has a perfect record of avoiding relegation, Allardyce’s reputation could be a leading contributor to what would be a truly sensational return to Premier League management. As he noted, though, it may be that Wolves look for a younger candidate.

Wolves manager target could be their 'new Nuno'

Fast bowler Renuka Singh and allrounder Amanjot Kaur have returned from injuries and have been named in India’s Women’s World Cup squad.Shafali Verma, who fell out of favour in the ODI set-up last year, continues to miss out on selection, while Tejal Hasnabis and Sayali Satghare, who were all part of the recent ODI series against England, have been left out of the 15-member squad.Amanjot has, however, been rested for the three-match ODI series against Australia leading up to the World Cup, with India captain Harmanpreet Kaur saying she was at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence “working on a few small niggles”. Renuka has been named in that squad for the series, which starts on September 14 in New Chandigarh. Satghare will also play the three ODIs against Australia and will be replaced by Amanjot for the World Cup.Amanjot, who has risen through the ranks to become one of the key allrounders for India, missed the last two ODIs against England last month due to a flare up of a back injury. Renuka, meanwhile, has been out of international cricket since December 2024 with a stress fracture.”Renuka has been a precious player for us,” chief selector Neetu David said. “She had niggles and been out of the game, but is available. Is our main player. This is a main event, great she’s part of the team.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

David said Shafali, who recently played in the three one-dayers for India A against Australia A in Brisbane, is still part of India’s ODI plans in the future. “Shafali played the Australia A series. She’s in the system, it’s not like she’s not. We’ve got our eyes on her. Hope she plays a lot more and garners experience, it’ll help serve India in the 50-overs format.”Kranti Goud, who finished as the highest wicket-taker in the England ODIs, is among the pace bowlers in the squad alongside Renuka, Amanjot and Arundhati Reddy. Sneh Rana, who made an excellent comeback during the Sri Lanka tri-series, and Shree Charani are the two other specialist spinners in the squad, along with Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav.”We have Renuka and Kranti [to bowl] in the power play,” Harmanpreet said. “Then have Shree Charani, Deepti and Radha to bowl in the slog overs, Sneh Rana in the middle overs. We didn’t want to make a lot of changes and wanted continuity.”Pratika Rawal, who took over Shafali’s spot in the format last year and has been impressive across her 14 ODIs so far, is expected to continue opening alongside Smriti Mandhana. Harleen Deol, who has shown consistency with the bat in recent times, is expected to continue at No. 3, with Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues to follow at No. 4 and 5 respectively.Yastika Bhatia, who last played an ODI in October 2024, is also in the squad and will serve as a back-up option for wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh. Though Satghare is not part of the World Cup squad, she is among the standbys alongside Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Uma Chetry and Minnu Mani. Bhatia made two fifties in the Australia A series, which Hasnabis, Mani and Rawat were also part of.Co-hosts India and Sri Lanka are set to begin the tournament on September 30. India have never won the ODI World Cup but have made the final twice, in 2005 and 2017.The selectors also picked up an India A squad that will play the warm-up match against South Africa on September 28. All six standbys for the main squad and Shafali are part of that team. India’s main team will play their warm-up against England on September 25.

India squad for Australia ODIs

Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh, Kranti Goud, Sayali Satghare, Radha Yadav, N Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Sneh Rana

India’s World Cup squad

Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh, Kranti Goud, Amanjot Kaur, Radha Yadav, N Shree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Sneh RanaStandbys: Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Uma Chetry (wk), Minnu Mani, Sayali Satghare

India A squad for warm-up match

Minnu Mani (capt), Dhara Gujjar, Shafali Verma, Tejal Hasabnis, Vrinda Dinesh, Uma Chetry (wk), Nandini Kashyap (wk), Tanushree Sarkar, Tanuja Kanwer, Titas Sadhu, Sayali Satghare, Saima Thakor, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Raghvi Bist

Tottenham number one Guglielmo Vicario faces an uncertain long-term future amid reports of Inter Milan’s interest, with his personal stance on an exit now also coming to light.

Guglielmo Vicario criticised after recent Tottenham outings

Vicario’s tenure at Tottenham appears increasingly uncertain following his costly error against Fulham, which added to the concerns surrounding his capability as their first-choice goalkeeper.

The 29-year-old endured a nightmare moment during Spurs’ 2-1 home defeat to Fulham last Saturday, rushing needlessly off his line before playing a weak clearance straight to Josh King.

Harry Wilson capitalised spectacularly, curling home from near the touchline to double the visitors’ advantage inside six minutes.

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He’s on the verge of leaving his current club.

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The blunder sparked an immediate negative reaction from frustrated Tottenham supporters, who booed Vicario throughout the remainder of the first half.

Thomas Frank defended his goalkeeper afterward, questioning whether those jeering could be considered true Spurs fans, with damage to the relationship between keeper and supporters appearing pretty significant.

Much was already made of the Italy international’s weak command of his area, with pundits suggesting that opposition teams should target Vicario as a weak link in Spurs’ side.

Frank has also been urged to drop the ex-Empoli star by former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy, who called Vicario ‘nervous as a kitten’ with his distribution.

Despite his torrid time lately, Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Inter hold a serious interest in Vicario, and the prospect of a 2026 transfer back to Italy isn’t ruled out.

Now, Italian newspaper La Gazetta dello Sport have shared their own update on the matter.

Guglielmo Vicario yearns for Tottenham exit and sends message to his agents

Indeed, Vicario has apparently communicated his growing frustration with life at Tottenham to his representatives, revealing his weariness and how he’s ‘yearning’ for a Serie A return.

La Gazzetta claim the shot-stopper has grown tired of difficult seasons at Spurs and has informed his agents that the current term could mark his final year in English football.

The newspaper suggests a powerful emotional pull toward his homeland is driving his thinking, with a permanent return to Italy now firmly on his mind.

Inter have emerged as the frontrunners for his signature, with reports in Italy indicating the Nerazzurri have already opened discussions with Vicario’s representatives.

The Serie A champions are said to view him as an ideal long-term replacement for veteran Yann Sommer, whose contract expires at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Tottenham are reportedly already scouring the market for potential replacements.

Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen has been identified as a potential option, with TEAMtalk reporting earlier this week that Spurs have made contact over the keeper who Bayern are also looking at as an heir to Manuel Neuer.

Former Chelsea star Jeremie Boga and Nice team-mate Terem Moffi have reportedly been placed on leave after allegedly being assaulted by the club’s own supporters in an “unbelievable and scary” incident. Disgruntled fans took their anger out on senior players after a frustrating 3-1 defeat at Lorient, with many descending on the team’s training base.

Nice Ultras descend on training ground

Nice were gifted the lead against Lorient on Sunday, as Arthur Avom put through his own net, but a dramatic collapse was endured from there. Franck Haise’s side found themselves 2-1 down at the interval, and conceded a third early in the second half.

Those watching on from afar were less than impressed by what they saw. According to , some 400 Ultras headed down to Nice’s training ground and waited for the first-team squad to return. The atmosphere is said to have been “very tense” before players arrived.

AdvertisementGettyPlayers attacked by angry supporters

ESPN reports that “two supporters got on the team bus to express their anger before the violence erupted when the players stepped off”. Moffi and Boga were among those caught up in events which escalated quickly.

They are said to have been “punched, spat at, kicked and insulted by the Ultras”. Eye witnesses reported as much to ESPN after Nice’s coach returned to familiar surroundings after a journey from the nearby airport.

Sources have told ESPN how Moffi has been put on “sick leave” for a week, and Boga for five days. The duo are said to have attended a local police station on Monday, at which they sought to press charges against the alleged assailants. Police forces are yet to comment on the matter.

Nice have, however, released a statement. Addressing the unfortunate scenes that played out when the team returned from a disappointing trip out on the road, the Ligue 1 outfit said: “On Sunday, on their return from Lorient, the Eaglets were welcomed at the training ground by an important gathering.

“The club understands the frustration created by the succession of poor displays and performances far from its values. However, the excesses we saw during this gathering are unacceptable. A few members of the club have been attacked. OGC Nice give them its full support and condemn these acts with the highest toughness.”

Nice results: Why supporters have lost their cool

Tempers have boiled over at Nice following a run of six straight defeats in all competitions. They have come unstuck against Paris Saint-Germain, Metz, Marseille and Lorient in Ligue 1, while also dropping points in Europa League clashes with Freiburg and Porto.

Moffi and Boga are said to have been targeted as they stand accused of “having a poor attitude in recent weeks”. Sources told ESPN how the former was “punched, kicked, had his hair pulled and needed the help of his goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf to get out of the crowd and safely inside the club's building” during the aforementioned bus attack.

Sporting director Florian Maurice required protection from security forces as he made his way back to his car and headed away from the scene. Somewhat surprisingly, manager Haise was cheered by the crowd as some Ultras told him that he retains their full support – despite the recent sequence of results. Club captain Melvin Bard and local midfielder Sofiane Diop were also spared abuse from angry fans.

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gettyOfficials blamed for allowing scary scenes to take place

After seeing Moffi and Boga attacked, the rest of Nice’s squad were able to make their way safely into the club’s training centre. Many were, however, left “shocked and traumatised, blaming the lack of security and safety” on team officials. One player told ESPN: “How can they not protect us more? It was unbelievable and scary.”

Nice’s struggles for form have seen them slip to 10th in the Ligue 1 table. They will be hoping to enjoy a return to winning ways on Sunday when playing host to Angers – who sit two places and one point below them in the standings.

It remains to be seen when Moffi and Ivory Coast international Boga – who is a product of Chelsea’s academy system – will grace the field again as inevitable questions are asked of their respective futures.