Four days after emerging from pointlessness, Igor Tudor is now no longer winless. His interim reign of error at Tottenham is finally finding its purpose, eight days on from the Croatian appearing a complete and utter lost cause.

Spurs are out of the Champions League but akin to fellow relegation candidates Nottingham Forest, there is the valid argument that Europe could be a very unwanted distraction from survival. With Spurs fans in full voice, still in their seats at the full-time whistle, victory on the night feels far more important than defeat in a tie.

Even without the milestone win, there was a sense of hope and pride that was attached to the atmosphere during the contest’s closing stages. “Oh When The Spurs” belting out from stand to stand, you wouldn’t have thought this was a team three goals down and on the verge of being dumped out of Europe. Purely from a performance perspective, a corner had been turned.

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“We’re out but one very good team on the pitch, one very good performance of the players and energy,” Tudor said. “It was really nice that the fans recognised that the team did everything they could do. They were with us from the start and I thank them for that.”

There was a semblance after Sunday’s draw at Anfield that, with Tudor on the touchline but not necessarily conscious at the wheel, Spurs were beginning to stage their own rescue mission. Their players had shown some fight. Tottenham couldn’t pat themselves on the back too heavily, of course – that first result in five games under the Croatian was hardly to do with Tudor’s tactical acumen and more came from an ever-beleaguered Liverpool’s persistent inability to finish well. It was nevertheless a baby step in the right direction.

The visit of Atletico now acted as a litmus test to see if they were toddling on the road to recovery. Three goals down after their catastrophe in the Spanish capital, a remontada looked dead on arrival. Instead, this felt like a free hit, their last of what is probably the most important close-season in the club’s history.

Perhaps that’s why Tudor opted for more inconsistency in his team selection, who looked like he was reverting back to the three-back system that shipped four in 22 minutes at the Metropolitano. Instead, Radu Dragusin slotted in at right-back, with Pedro Porro moving to right wing in a 4-2-3-1 setup – the fourth formation Tudor has utilised in six outings.

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Yet in this setup, something began to click for Tottenham going forward. Tudor’s men no longer looked flat or devoid of attacking inspiration. Spurs looked like they had a gameplan and for the first time in his reign, multiple Tudor decisions were paying off at once. “You work, you work, you work and then there is a game that shows our work,” the interim boss said. “The players really believed, that was the key.”

Porro was a live wire in his more advanced position, Archie Gray and Pape Matar Sarr starred in the double pivot, while Randal Kolo Muani and Xavi Simons – restored to the side after their influential Anfield cameos – made their starts count with goals.

Kolo Muani delivered Spurs a warranted breakthrough on the half-hour mark, providing the header to match countryman Mathys Tel’s inch-perfect cross. To this point, three of Tottenham’s six goals under Tudor were at least in part down to defensive errors, including their second against Atleti last week and their equaliser at Liverpool. This one could only be pinned on the quality of their own.

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The same could be said for Tottenham’s second, which came five minutes after a piece of individual brilliance from Julian Alvarez briefly snuffed out the newfound belief that was being felt on White Hart Lane. Xavi Simons, with a fire lit by a VAR call that deemed him not to be fouled in the build-up to Atletico’s equaliser, beautifully bent home from range in the 52nd minute.

And it was the Dutchman’s trickery that delivered Tottenham a first win of 2026, a first at home since 6 December. He won the late penalty and converted with aplomb, a consolation in the tie but potentially crucial to Tottenham’s resurrection.

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Spurs still looked porous at the back. They surrendered a lead twice, Atletico’s second seeing David Hancko completely brush off Djed Spence to head home an Alvarez corner to kill all hope of a comeback 15 minutes from time. Spence regressed into the “Spursy” habits of the away leg moments later, being robbed of the ball at the restart and giving Alvarez a clear run on goal. It would’ve been deja vu if not from the goalkeeping heroics of Guglielmo Vicario, whose impressive display can only highlight how detrimental Tudor’s gamble on Antonin Kinsky proved to their chances in this tie.

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But without Jan Oblak down the other end, that unlikely remontada could have become a serious possibility. Tel and Porro both had huge chances to reduce the aggregate deficit to one either side of half-time, but neither could beat the imposing Slovenian.

Alas, there was no miracle on this night, but maybe that was best for Tottenham. They need full focus on maintaining their Premier League status because after this free hit, Spurs face eight cup finals, now with a reminder of the winning feeling. Tudor says Sunday’s pivotal meeting with Forest “will decide nothing” – in reality it could change everything. This will be their last Champions League game for a while – the only remaining Tottenham objective is to avoid the Championship.

Virginia plays a bit differently under head coach Ryan Odom compared to Tony Bennett, but the emphasis on defense remains the same. The Cavs lead all of college basketball with 6.5 blocks per game, while they also defend on the perimeter by allowing the lowest three-point percentage in the ACC. That has No. 3 UVA as the pick of many to represent the Midwest Region in the Final Four of the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket. The program’s last March Madness victory was winning the National Championship Game in 2019 and it will begin March Madness 2026 with a contest against No. 14 Wright State.

Potential future matchups could see the Cavaliers take on No. 7 Kentucky, No. 2 Iowa State or No. 1 Michigan in the March Madness bracket 2026. It took Bennett five years at Virginia to win his first tournament game, while Odom is looking for a sustained NCAA Tournament run in his first year at the school. Before making any 2026 March Madness bracket predictions, be sure to check out the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Their proven projection model has simulated every game in the tournament 10,000 times. It has absolutely crushed its March Madness picks recently, beating over 91 percent of all CBS Sports brackets in four of the past seven tournaments. It was all over UConn’s championship run two years ago and nailed 12 teams in the Sweet 16 last year. It also correctly predicted all four Final Four teams in 2025.

It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 25 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception in 2016.

Now, with the 2026 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. You can only see it over at SportsLine.

Three 2026 March Madness bracket games to watch

One of the most intriguing 2026 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 TCU in the East region. This is one of just five first-round matchups between power conference teams, and these squads have similar profiles. Ohio State’s average point differential of +7.0 is slightly better than TCU’s mark of +6.2, but the Horned Frogs are a bit better versus Top 25 teams (3-6 record) than the Buckeyes (2-8). OSU does own a 4-0 all-time record versus TCU, but 9-seeds have gotten the better of 8-seeds in recent tourneys, winning 64.3% of matchups since 2018.

Another 2026 NCAA Tournament matchup to keep an eye on is No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 UCF in the East Region. UCLA is in the Big Dance for the 54th time, which is tied for the third-most all-time. The Bruins have the sixth-most experienced roster in college basketball and are led by head coach Mick Cronin, who took them to the 2021 Final Four as a No. 11 seed. UCF is just 1-5 in NCAA Tournament games all-time, with its lone win coming against VCU in the Round of 64 in 2019.  

Another 2026 March Madness game to watch out for: No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 11 South Florida in the East Region. The Cardinals can lean on a 29-4 all-time record versus USF, but Louisville HC Pat Kelsey is also 0-5 all-time in the Round of 64. The status of star Mikel Brown Jr. (back) looms large as he missed the last four games, and UofL is 16-5 with him compared to 7-5 without him. As for South Florida, it swept the American regular season and tournament titles and is riding an 11-game win streak. The Bulls also have five players averaging 11-plus ppg, which is tied for the most in Division I. You can only see the model’s 2026 NCAA bracket picks here.

How to make 2026 NCAA bracket predictions

Who wins every tournament-defining matchup? And which teams will make surprising runs through the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model’s track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you’ll want to see which stunners it’s calling this year before locking in any 2026 NCAA bracket picks.

So what’s the optimal NCAA Tournament 2026 bracket? And which NCAA Tournament Cinderella teams will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which double-digit seeds you can back with confidence, all from the model that called all four Final Four teams in 2025.

/ @lockedoncollegefootball  

Senegal’s Sadio Mane (AP Photo/Youssef Loulidi, File)

NEW DELHI: Senegal’s Africa Cup of Nations triumph has been thrown into controversy after the Confederation of African Football overturned the final result and awarded the title to Morocco months after the match.The decision has sparked outrage in Senegal, with the government rejecting the ruling and demanding accountability.The original final saw Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 after extra time, despite chaotic scenes late in normal time when Senegal players briefly walked off the pitch to protest a penalty decision. Although they returned and went on to win, CAF later ruled that their temporary exit violated competition rules.

Explaining the reversal, CAF cited regulations stating that any team that leaves the field without permission should forfeit the match 3-0. However, Senegal strongly disagreed. Government spokesperson Marie Rose Khady Fatou Faye said, “By calling into question a result achieved at the end of a match that was properly played and won in accordance with the rules of the game, the CAF seriously undermines its own credibility”. She added, “Senegal unequivocally rejects this unjustified attempt at dispossession” and called for “an independent international investigation into suspected corruption within the CAF’s governing bodies”.

What happens next

Senegal’s football authorities have confirmed they will challenge the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The federation stated, “The Senegalese Football Federation condemns this unjust, unprecedented and unacceptable decision, which brings African football into disrepute”.Meanwhile, Morocco’s football body maintained that its appeal was only about enforcing rules, saying it “was never intended to contest the sporting performance” but to ensure regulations were followed.The controversy stems from a tense ending to the match, including a late penalty awarded after a VAR check and crowd trouble that disrupted play. Sadio Mane had helped calm the situation before the game resumed.With both sides standing firm, the final outcome of the tournament now depends on legal proceedings, leaving one of Africa’s biggest football events under a cloud.

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