Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann announced his 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada on Thursday.

With most of the surprises reported by local news in the days before the official announcement, the edge was taken off the squad reveal.

Nevertheless, the headline news is the shock return of veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who retired from international football after Euro 2024. The 40-year-old has enjoyed a strong season at Bayern Munich, particularly in the Champions League, but has also battled injuries. He recently signed a new one-year contract despite rumors of impending retirement.

Nagelsmann made it clear that Neuer would be the number one.

“We told Oli [Baumann] back in March that we’d had a meeting with Manu,” Nagelsmann said of the decision, admitting that it had been a blow for the Hoffenheim keeper but that he was still ready to help the team.

“My focus is on nominating the best three goalkeepers in the country and they are the best three,” he added. “We called him and asked him if he wanted to play for Germany again, and he wanted to play at the tournament. His sporting ability was considered above all, but we also wanted to know whether he was going to keep playing or retiring,” Nagelsmann said. “Everyone knows what kind of aura Manu has because of the experience he has and the titles he has won.”

When pressed on his communication, Nagelsmann was open in his response.

“There are always things you can look back on and say you could have done better, but I have no guarantee that it will be received much better,” he said. “Football is a daily business. Please understand that not every detail of my conversations with the players can be made public. I try to explain things thoroughly and keep people informed. Sometimes I’m not as successful as I’d like to be, and sometimes I am.”

The other big news was the selection of teenager Lennart Karl (18). Karl has impressed for Bayern this season and also looked comfortable when making his Germany debut earlier this year. Felix Nmecha recovered from injury in time to make the squad, with Nagelsmann saying the midfielder had all the tools to become one of the best in his position in the world.

Amiri and Sane in, Bischof and El Mala out

Elsewhere in the squad, Nadiem Amiri, the German born midfielder whose parents are from Afghanistan, made the final 26. Youngster Maxi Beier was favored, along with Leroy Sane, whose flashes of quality in Germany colors were enough to make the cut. “He has huge appreciation in the team and he is excellent in tight spaces,” Nagelsmann said.

Nathaniel Brown was also included, with Nagelsmann saying the right back probably didn’t even realize how good he is. Both Stuttgart’s Angelo Stiller and Jamie Leweling also made the final 26, with the Germany head coach citing the latter’s one-on-one skills as a key factor in his decision.

Despite not playing for Germany since early 2025 as a result of injury, Jamala Musiala was named in the squad with Nagelsmann explaining the forward can “decide the outcome of games, even tournaments, with just a few moves.”

Niclas Füllkrug, Tom Bischof and Said El Mala missed out, as did Chris Führich and Maxi Mittelstädt. 

The squad announcement was slightly more personal than two years ago, when a creative marketing campaign displayed German culture and regions as a way to reveal Germany’s Euro 2024 squad. This time around, social media videos with messages from friends and family and motivational words from Nagelsmann for 12 players in the final squad were released in the hours before the official announcement.

Neuer news both a surprise and a major talking point

The news of Neuer’s surprise return was reported on across Germany in the days before the squad announcement. It comes as a shock because Neuer was retired, but also because Neuer and Nagelsmann famously fell out during the latter’s time as Bayern Munich coach.Furthermore, Nagelsmann has been outspoken in the last 12 months about Oliver Baumann being Germany’s number one, stating more than once that Germany did not have a goalkeeper problem.

While many Germany fans are unlikely to travel for the tournament, the team’s preparations begin at the end of this month. The squad will assemble in the final week of May (with the exception of Kai Havertz, who is in the Champions League final with Arsenal) and the team will play a friendly against Finland in Mainz on May 31. After that, Germany fly out to the US on June 2. There, Nagelsmann’s side will play a friendly against the USA in Chicago on June 6 before their first World Cup game on June 14 against Curacao in Houston. The team’s base camp will be in North Carolina.

Germany’s squad in full

Goalkeepers

• Manuel Neuer (40, Bayern Munich)
• Oliver Baumann (35, Hoffenheim)
• Alexander Nübel (29, Stuttgart)
• Jonas Urbig (22, Bayern Munich)*

*training goalkeeper

Defenders

• Jonathan Tah (30, Bayern Munich)
• Joshua Kimmich (c) (31, Bayern Munich)
• Nico Schlotterbeck (26, Borussia Dortmund)
• Antonio Rüdiger (33, Real Madrid)
• David Raum (28, RB Lepizig)
• Nathaniel Brown (22, Eintracht Frankfurt)
• Waldemar Anton (29, Borussia Dortmund)
• Malick Thiaw (24, Newcastle United)

Midfielders

• Pascal Gross (34, Brighton and Hove Albion)
• Leon Goretzka (31, Bayern Munich)
• Aleksandar Pavlovic (22, Bayern Munich)
• Felix Nmecha (25, Borussia Dortmund)
• Nadiem Amiri (29, Mainz)
• Angelo Stiller (25, Stuttgart)

Attackers

• Kai Havertz (26, Arsenal)
• Nick Woltemade (24, Newcastle United)
• Deniz Undav (29, Stuttgart)
• Jamal Musiala (23, Bayern Munich)
• Florian Wirtz (23, Liverpool)
• Lennart Karl (18, Bayern Munich)
• Jamie Leweling (25, Stuttgart)
• Leroy Sané (30, Galatasaray)
• Maximilian Beier (23, Borussia Dortmund)

Edited by: Matt Pearson

GMHBA Stadium will play host to Saturday’s
Round 11 AFL game between Geelong Cats and
Sydney Swans. The game kicks off at 4:15 pm with Geelong Cats heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Geelong Cats vs.
Sydney Swans
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Saturday May 23, 2026 at 4:15 pm

Where: GMHBA Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Geelong Cats vs Sydney Swans Odds

Geelong Cats vs Sydney Swans Preview

Sydney faces one of its toughest assignments of the season when it travels to GMHBA Stadium to meet Geelong on Saturday afternoon. The Swans improved to 9-1 after holding off Collingwood in a high-quality contest at the SCG, with Brodie Grundy producing one of the standout individual performances of the season and Nick Blakey again driving Sydney’s attacking transition. Geelong also arrives full of confidence after dismantling Brisbane at the Gabba to reaffirm its premiership credentials. Shaun Mannagh was instrumental in the upset, finishing with five goals in a career-best display. The Cats have enjoyed recent success against Sydney, winning seven of the past 11 meetings, including a dominant victory at the SCG late last year. Geelong’s record at Kardinia Park against the Swans is particularly imposing, highlighted by a crushing 93-point result in 2023.

NEW YORK — The big question going into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals: How do you come back from that?

In the opener, the Cleveland Cavaliers led by 22 points with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before they disintegrated. Offensively, they started to “play the clock,” as Cavs big man Evan Mobley put it, slowing down instead of playing with the pace and purpose that had built the lead. Defensively, Cleveland gave up soft switches possession after possession, gift-wrapping the New York Knicks their preferred matchup: James Harden on Jalen Brunson. A bloodbath ensued.

The Knicks ended the game on a 44-11 run, coming away with a 115-104 win in overtime, the second-largest fourth-quarter comeback in a playoff game in the play-by-play era. Donovan Mitchell said his message to his teammates was straightforward: “We f—in’ blew it. All right, let’s respond for Game 2.”

When the media entered the visitors’ locker room at Madison Square Garden, it was as quiet as you’d expect. Maybe even quieter. Dean Wade, however, said that the Cavs are “not too down,” and Mitchell said they can’t let the loss “kill our momentum,” likening it to their Game 6 loss in the first round in Toronto, in which RJ Barrett’s crunch-time 3 bounced high above the backboard before falling through the net and forcing a deciding game.

Maybe Cleveland can bounce back on Thursday, the way it did in Game 7 of both the first and second rounds. Maybe it can’t, and it will unravel the way the Knicks’ last two playoff opponents did. Beyond noting that it’s a factor, though, there’s not much to say about the potential psychological impact of the collapse/comeback. So let’s talk about the basketball stuff.

Five questions about the rest of the Eastern Conference Finals:

1. Is Knicks’ fourth-quarter offense sustainable?

Just before Game 1, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said that New York was “a different team” than it was in the regular season, as it was running much of its offense through Karl-Anthony Towns. Atkinson said they needed to put pressure on Towns, and their off-ball defense needed to be on point, too. This, he said, would be one of the keys to the series.

Cleveland shut all of that down on Tuesday and lost anyway. The funny thing about the Knicks’ comeback is that it didn’t require any of the pretty stuff. They won with matchup-hunting and hero ball. Brunson got comfortable going at Harden one-on-one and converted a mix of clean looks and contested leaners. Eventually, Cleveland decided to put two on the ball, but its execution in those situations was terrible.

The Cavs obviously need to handle the Harden-hunting better. When New York surrounds Brunson with shooters, the way it did late in Game 1, the switches can’t be automatic. If and when they blitz him, they need to be on a string. I still can’t believe they played the 36-year-old Harden for the entire fourth quarter and overtime and left him on an island against Brunson as many times as they did. At the same time, though, the Knicks need to ask themselves a tough question: Can they win that particular way again?

For three-plus quarters, it seemed like Cleveland’s switching was going to be one of the major reasons it won the game. “I think we know we’re at our best when we keep people in front of us, and switching is the easiest way to avoid getting behind on screens,” Wade said. By staying out of rotation, the Cavs were able to prevent corner 3s, protect the defensive glass and slow down an offense that had been humming for weeks … until Brunson took over.

New York is surely thankful that the let-Brunson-cook strategy saved the day. Going forward, though, it might need to find other sources of offense.

2. Can Cavs put New York back in the blender?

Until the collapse, Cleveland’s offense appeared to be a step ahead of the Knicks. Mitchell in particular punished the Knicks for blitzing his pick-and-rolls, and the bigs made quick decisions in the pocket. There were some sloppy passes, but generally speaking, when the Cavs got in the paint, they knew they’d be able to find clean looks for their shooters, who did a good job relocating on the perimeter. They targeted Brunson a lot, and that almost always led to a high-quality shot.

“We were pinging the ball all over the place,” Atkinson said. 

Then all of that went away. The ball movement was replaced by zero- or one-pass possessions. Was that because of fatigue? Complacency? Renewed spirit and fight from New York? These were likely all a part of it, but had the offense merely gone from good to bad instead of good to atrocious, Cleveland would have won.

“It’s night and day,” Harden said. “When our pace is fast, we’re moving, we understand what we’re doing, our quality of shots is much better. And we’re able to get our defense set back.”

Knicks coach Mike Brown said that, defensively, they need to make sure their energy, effort and focus is there “no matter what coverage we’re in.” He said they didn’t look like themselves early on and were “really slow” when they put two on the ball and had to rotate. New York had executed at an extremely high level for most of the playoffs, so it was alarming how easily Cleveland put the Knicks in the blender for most of Game 1.

3. Can KAT get going?

Had New York not pulled off a miracle, Towns would be taking some heat right now. The Knicks can live with the occasional poor shooting night — he was 1 for 5 from deep in Game 1 — but the silly fouls and seven turnovers are another story. Towns could not consistently take advantage of smaller defenders, had trouble keeping control of the ball on his drives and missed a couple of layups. He also really needs to stop grabbing opponents’ arms right in front of referees.

Ideally, New York will get more out of Towns as an offensive hub as the series goes along. If that’s not viable against Cleveland, then it at least needs to unlock him as a scorer. If the Cavs are going to switch smaller defenders onto him — and even start possessions this way — then Towns needs to use his size in the post or on the glass.

4. What will the Knicks do with Hart (and Shamet)?

Landry Shamet changed the game for New York on Tuesday. By playing him instead of Hart with the Knicks’ other starters in the fourth quarter and overtime, Brown took away Jarrett Allen’s hiding place on defense. And on the other end, Shamet pestered Mitchell as much as he could, both on and off the ball, which had a lot to do with Cleveland’s difficulties getting into its offense.

There’s an argument that, based on how Game 1 ended, Shamet should take Hart’s place in the starting lineup. Hart has been the starter since late November, though, and the Knicks are used to teams putting their centers on him. Hart has shot just 12 for 45 (26.7%) from 3 in the playoffs, but shot 41.3% during the regular season.

“If Josh is open and his feet are set, he’s gotta let it fly,” Brown said. “He’s made shots. We feel like he’ll make shots. And if he doesn’t want to shoot it, he can get to his middy or he can go (dribble-handoff) with somebody.”

No one will be shocked if Hart makes a bunch of 3s, grabs a bunch of offensive rebounds and terrorizes Cleveland in transition on Thursday. He was -23 in 31 minutes in the opener, though, and, if New York’s spacing is an issue again, he could see fewer minutes in Game 2.

5. Will Mobley’s inverted pick-and-rolls return?

During the Pistons series, Mobley’s usage changed out of necessity. Atkinson told reporters after Game 7 that Cleveland had him handle the ball “more than ever” because it was trying to avoid Ausar Thompson, who was an absolute demon on defense.

In the last few games of the second round, the Cavs got good stuff out of Mobley’s inverted pick-and-rolls. He’s a smart passer and a dangerous driver, and opposing bigs aren’t used to navigating screens on the perimeter. They didn’t do much of this at MSG, though, and I wonder if they might go back to it, if only to lighten the load on Mitchell. (Despite Mitchell being quiet near the end of the game, Game 1 was only the third time this postseason — and the first time since Game 7 against the Raptors — that he spent more time with the ball in his hands than Harden did.) The stagnation down the stretch suggested that Cleveland could stand to diversify its attack.

Gujarat Titans Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Prasidh Krishna, Kulwant Khejroliya, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Luke Wood, Shahrukh Khan, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Ashok Sharma, Connor Esterhuizen.

Chennai Super Kings Squad: Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Gurjapneet Singh, Akash Madhwal, Zakary Foulkes, MS Dhoni, Matt Henry, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Chahar, Kuldip Yadav, Macneil Noronha, Dian Forrester.

Jannik Sinner will begin his pursuit of a first French Open title, and a career grand slam, against French wildcard Clement Tabur in the first round of the men’s competition at Roland Garros.

Sinner is being heavily backed to win the tournament following his recent triumph at the Italian Open and the withdrawal of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Sinner in the 2025 final but withdrew from this year’s tournament with a wrist injury.

Should Sinner make it into the second round he could face Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley though the 24-year-old has a difficult opening match against Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo who sits 68 places above him in the world rankings.

No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev will also take on French opposition in the opening round as he was drawn out agains Benjamin Bonzi. The German faces a trickier task to reach the final with French hopeful Arthur Fils also on his side of the draw.

More pressingly, so is 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic who will face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round. Djokovic is in the hunt for a record 25th major title but his campaign will begin is tricky fashion against the six foot seven 22-year-old Frenchman who has a powerful serve and the home fans advantage to back it up.

For Britain, Cameron Norrie enters the tournament as the 20th seed and the best chance of progressing through the rounds. He reached the fourth round last year before losing to Djokovic and will be hoping to get further this time around. Norrie hasn’t been in the best of form and will take on Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo first up.

In the women’s draw, defending champion Coco Gauff will face American compatriot Taylor Townsend in the first round as she looks to regain her title and banish the memories of losing the Italian Open to Elina Svitolina last weekend.

Gauff attended the draw at Roland Garros and was asked for her thoughts on last year’s victory and if she was ready to take to the famous clay courts once again.

“My mind definitely went blank,” she said recollecting her win. “Since I was little I always said that if I win at Roland Garros I wouldn’t fall on the ground as I didn’t want to get clay in my hair but I was so relieved that the match was over, because it was like three hours, so I just fell on the ground. It was disbelief.

“Yeah [I’m ready]. If I wasn’t ready I wouldn’t be here. I’m as ready as you can be, I feel like I had a good tournament in Rome and I’ve had similar preparation to last year, this year so I feel really ready.”

Elsewhere in the women’s draw No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka will face Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, while No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina takes on Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia. Other ties of note are four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek facing Australian wildcard Emerson Jones and Italian Open champion Svitolina taking on Hungary’s Anna Bondar.

For Britain, Francesa Jones has the unenviable task of facing Beatriz Maia Haddad while Katie Boutler has drawn American teenage wildcard Akasha Urhobo.

Emma Raducanu, meanwhile, will face Argentina’s Solana Sierra who she was supposed to play at the Italian Open before withdrawing with a post-viral illness.

NFL.com decided this week which teams will reach the postseason in 2026 and which will be left on the outside looking in — according to them. For the Minnesota Vikings, the fate was grim: no playoffs.

Minnesota may need its defense to carry the whole operation again.

That’s the word from Ali Bhanpuri and Tom Blair, who claimed Minnesota doesn’t quite have the juice to play meaningful January football.

O’Connell Faces a Pressure-Packed Season in Minnesota

Another playoff-less season?

Bhanpuri and Blair: Vikings Won’t Make Playoffs

Analyzing the playoff field for 2026, the NFL.com pair decided Minnesota would not make the cut.

Blair explained, “Will the Vikings make the playoffs? Ali: No. Tom: No. Falling to 4-6 with a Week 11 loss to the Niners in Mexico City sparks unpleasant memories of last season — which are quickly wiped out by a 6-1 finish.”

“I realize this is peak offseason dot-connecting, but I can’t resist visions of Kyler Murray (presuming he beats J.J. McCarthy for the QB1 job) giving Kevin O’Connell the exact quarterbacking upgrade this otherwise-solid roster needs to compete again. And the strong stretch run isn’t just the product of scheduling luck; it includes wins over no-joke opponents like the Panthers, Patriots, Lions and Bears.”

Oddsmakers expect Minnesota to win eight or nine games in 2026.

Blair continued, “So, though Minnesota barely misses the party, the season offers plenty to build on. Toughest game to call: Week 14 at Patriots. The Pats’ search for a hero QB in the 2024 NFL Draft helped pave the way to Super Bowl LX; the Vikings’ search for a hero QB in that same draft, meanwhile, has not gone as well.”

“But in Week 14, Minnesota’s prime-time road win strikes a momentary blow for the find a competent veteran signal-caller theory of team-building.”

Why They May Be Right

Minnesota started the 2025 campaign with a nauseating 4-8 record, plagued by a terrible offense, even worse quarterback play, a failure to run the football, and an inability to force turnovers. In the backdrop, the defense remained steady, and the kicker forged an All-Pro resume.

After hitting rock bottom in a game at the Seattle Seahawks, the Vikings rebounded, winning their final five games and finishing 9-8. The defense set the tone.

For NFL.com to be right — the Vikings miss the postseason — the quarterback efficiency would likely emulate last year’s doldrums. For instance, perhaps Murray just doesn’t adjust to O’Connell’s offense, or maybe injuries keep him sidelined. As in the first few months last year, the main item that could sink the 2026 Vikings is lackadaisical quarterback play.

Why They May Be Wrong

On the other hand, the path to the playoffs may feel more likely. Why? Well, the defense is already there for Minnesota. Brian Flores’s group didn’t finish third-best in the league per DVOA and EPA/Play in 2025 by accident.

Murray also has a consistent track record of production; suggesting that he’ll flop under O’Connell’s coaching — the guy known by many as a “quarterback whisperer” — seems unlikely. And the Vikings still have offensive weaponry in the form of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jauan Jennings, T.J. Hockenson, Aaron Jones, and Jordan Mason.

The aforementioned O’Connell also owns the NFL’s fifth-best win percentage on his watch. He knows how to win when his quarterback is healthy.

If the Vikings prove Bhanpuri and Blair wrong, it will be because Flores’s defense did not regress, Murray played like peak Murray, and the offensive weaponry took care of the rest.

An Important Year for the Head Coach

While O’Connell, indeed, is a Top 5 skipper by win percentage, his Vikings have not won a playoff game with him on the sidelines, and, in fact, haven’t prevailed in a postseason contest overall since 2019.

The Vikings’ owners love O’Connell, but he may not have job security forever. For example, if Minnesota finished around 5-12 or 6-11 in 2026, the franchise might contemplate a head coach change. If not, it would enter Year No. 6 of the O’Connell era with zero playoff triumphs, which is nearly unprecedented in NFL history.

The Viking Age‘s Nik Edlund noted on O’Connell earlier this offseason, “O’Connell will be under immense pressure this season, and a trip to the playoffs may not be enough to keep his job. JJ McCarthy’s progress will be detrimental to O’Connell’s future tenure as the Vikings’ head coach.”

“If he has more downs than ups in 2026 and doesn’t show any growth or shed more light on whether he’s the quarterback of the future, that will reflect very poorly on O’Connell’s ability to develop a young quarterback. If the Vikings make it to the playoffs because the defense is carrying them and they are winning despite McCarthy and not because of him, O’Connell could still get the ax.”

O’Connell doesn’t have to be expressly on the “hot seat,” but he’d be much better off if he reached the playoffs in 2026 and won at least one game.

It’s just that Bhanpuri and Blair don’t think that will happen.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker

May 21—OXFORD — Lawrence County junior Bella Cross said the Red Devils’ softball team wanted to leave a legacy.

Mission accomplished.

The Red Devils ran the gauntlet on Wednesday, winning three straight games including beating Houston Academy twice (6-4, 10-3) to win the Class 5A state championship. It’s the first softball state championship in school history.

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“We’ve talked a lot in the past few weeks, talked to people that had been in this position, and we talked about building a legacy,” Cross said. “I truly believe this softball team has left a mark at Lawrence County.”

Lawrence County defeated Springville 2-0 to advance to the state finals and then avenged a previous night loss to Houston Academy by beating the Raiders 6-4 to force a winner-take-all game for the championship,

In the final game the Red Devils dominated, building a 7-0 lead in the first three innings en route to a 10-3 win.

Ellie Stark led the way with three hits and an RBI. Ava Templeton added three hits and Bella Cross had two hits and two RBIs

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McKinley McCaghren was the MVP of the state finals. The junior pitched 20 2/3 innings between the three games on Wednesday, allowing nine hits and five runs with 13 strikeouts. She also added five hits and three RBIs.

“My screw-ball was working the best for me today. I just kept them off balance all day,” McCaghren said. “I was getting tired but it’s the state championship, there was no way I was coming out.”

The win was a special moment for first-year head coach Josh Graham. Graham previously the head coach for the Red Devils and made stops at Russellville and Hatton before finding his way back to lead Lawrence County to a 49-10-1 record and its first state championship.

“This is surreal, you can’t describe it,” Graham said. “I’ve coached a lot of teams and this is a special group of girls. They grinded all year long and they earned this.”

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Class 5A

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Lawrence County 6, Houston Academy 4: Lawrence County built a 6-1 lead and held off a late rally to force a winner-take-all game for the state championship.

McKinley McCaghren led the way with three hits and two RBIs. She also got the win in the circle, allowing four hits and two runs with five strikeouts.

Bella Cross and Alivia Terry each added two hits and an RBI.

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Lawrence County 2, Springville 0: McKinley McCaghren pitched a shutout to send the Red Devils to the Class 5A state finals.

She allowed just two hits with three strikeouts

Alivia Terry and Alivia Templeton each had an RBI.

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Class 7A

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Vestavia Hills 4, Austin 3: Austin had a late rally to try and overcome a 4-0 deficit but fell just short, sending the Black Bears to the loser’s bracket.

Arden Breedlove had a two-RBI double, while Kyleigh Gable had a hit and an RBI and Khalilah Mason had two hits.

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Austin 7, Daphne 1: Austin scored six runs in the first inning to cruise to a win in its first game of the state tournament.

Marissa Adams led the way with two hits and two RBIs. Grace Lamb and Evelyn Lamb each added a hit and two RBIs.

— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2

EPCR Challenge Cup Final
Montpellier Hérault Rugby v Ulster Rugby
Venue: San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
Date: Friday, 22 May 2026
Kick-off: 9pm local time / 8pm UK & Ireland time
TV: ITV, Premier Sports
Handicap: Montpellier -7

Ulster Rugby head into Friday night’s EPCR Challenge Cup Final as underdogs, with Montpellier installed as seven-point favourites for the Bilbao showdown.

Richie Murphy’s side have already produced a strong European run, including an impressive semi-final win over Exeter Chiefs, but this is another step up. Montpellier arrive with the power, depth and Top 14 edge that makes them clear favourites on the handicap line.

However, finals rarely follow a straight script. Ulster have named a side with pace, breakdown threat and enough attacking danger to make Montpellier work for everything at San Mamés Stadium.

Baloucoune Return Gives Ulster Extra Spark

One of the biggest boosts for Ulster is the return of Robert Baloucoune, who makes his first provincial start since his injury in Ireland’s Six Nations Triple Crown-clinching win over Scotland in March.

His pace on the right wing, alongside Zac Ward on the left and Michael Lowry at full-back, gives Ulster a back three capable of punishing loose kicking and broken-field errors.

That could be vital. If Montpellier dominate territory but become loose in transition, Ulster have the players to turn pressure into points quickly.

Timoney Leads A Serious Ulster Pack

Nick Timoney captains the side from openside flanker and will be central to Ulster’s chances at the breakdown.

The back row of David McCann, Timoney and Juarno Augustus looks well-balanced. McCann has been passed fit after a recent knee issue, while Augustus gives Ulster serious carrying power at number eight.

Up front, Ulster have gone strong with Angus Bell, Tom Stewart and Tom O’Toole in the front row, while Harry Sheridan and Cormac Izuchukwu start in the second row.

With Iain Henderson suspended for the final, Ulster needed others to step forward physically. This pack has enough quality, but Montpellier will test them brutally at scrum, maul and collision level.

The Half-Back Question

Nathan Doak starts at scrum-half, with Jack Murphy at fly-half. That pairing will have a massive say in whether Ulster can stay within the Montpellier -7 handicap.

Doak’s kicking game and game management will be crucial. Ulster cannot afford to play too much rugby in their own half. Murphy, meanwhile, needs to bring tempo without forcing the game too early.

If Ulster stay calm, kick well and keep the scoreboard moving, they can make this a tight final. If Montpellier build a lead early, the game could quickly move beyond Ulster’s preferred shape.

Key Battle: Montpellier Power v Ulster Speed

This final feels like a classic contrast.

Montpellier will look to squeeze Ulster physically, win penalties, build scoreboard pressure and force Murphy’s side to chase the game.

Ulster’s route is different. They need discipline, accuracy, strong exits and moments of pace from Ward, Baloucoune, Lowry and Hume.

James Hume and Jude Postlethwaite also have a big job in midfield. They must defend hard, win collisions and give Ulster enough gainline success to bring the back three into the game.

Betting Angle: Montpellier -7

The handicap being set at Montpellier -7 feels fair.

Montpellier deserve favouritism. They have the heavier squad profile, the Top 14 battle-hardness and the sort of forward power that often decides finals.

Still, Ulster are dangerous enough to make this awkward. Their bench also has good balance, with Jake Flannery and Ethan McIlroy offering late backline options if the game opens up.

The concern for Ulster is that if Montpellier win the set-piece and penalty count, the French side could slowly pull away. Ulster need this to be a one-score game entering the final quarter.

Prediction

Ulster have enough quality to trouble Montpellier, especially if Baloucoune and Ward get early touches. But Montpellier’s physical edge and final-winning profile make them the safer pick.

Prediction: Montpellier by 8-12 points.

Ulster Rugby Team

1. Angus Bell
2. Tom Stewart
3. Tom O’Toole
4. Harry Sheridan
5. Cormac Izuchukwu
6. David McCann
7. Nick Timoney (captain)
8. Juarno Augustus
9. Nathan Doak
10. Jack Murphy
11. Zac Ward
12. Jude Postlethwaite
13. James Hume
14. Robert Baloucoune
15. Michael Lowry

Replacements

16. James McCormick
17. Eric O’Sullivan
18. Scott Wilson
19. Charlie Irvine
20. Bryn Ward
21. Conor McKee
22. Jake Flannery
23. Ethan McIlroy

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