England will wait to see how the Gallagher Prem knockout phase unfolds before making a call on whether to rest Maro Itoje for their July tour.

Itoje could be stood down for the Tests against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina amid ongoing conversations between England’s captain, head coach Steve Borthwick and head of performance Phil Morrow.

Any decision to give Itoje the summer off would be in recognition of the demands of a year in which he led the British and Irish Lions to a series victory over Australia, played in the autumn and Six Nations campaigns and mourned the death of his mother.

The 31-year-old has also completed more Test minutes than any other player in the game since making his debut in 2016.

However, before a decision is made, the weekend’s Prem play-offs and the Allianz Stadium final a week later will be monitored to see if Itoje’s fellow locks Alex Coles, Ollie Chessum, George Martin and Charlie Ewels come through unscathed.

If injury misfortune strikes in the engine room, any plans made by Borthwick for the opener against South Africa in Johannesburg on July 4 may have to be revised.

“Maro’s personal situation this year has been well documented,” said Morrow, speaking at England’s Surrey base after Itoje had been omitted from a 26-man training squad that is preparing for a non-cap international against France on Friday week.

“If you take Maro’s last 12 months, he has been captain of the Lions tour, there has been his personal life and the general fact that he plays a decent amount of rugby.

“We always treat players on an individual basis, so this week in particular we thought it was best that Maro stayed at home, spent some time with his family and just rested and recuperated.

“There are two weeks of the Premiership season left so we’ll see what the next two weeks bring and then Steve will pick the final squad.

“We make individual decisions on players in terms of what’s best for them, not just for next year but looking further ahead.”

Morrow believes that England players would benefit from the type of sabbaticals granted to senior All Blacks such as Dan Carter, Ardie Savea and Scott Barrett, who are given either time off from the game or allowed to pause their international career and sign for an overseas club on a short-term basis.

“Do I think it is a good idea?” Morrow said. “Probably. New Zealand have used it well in terms of giving people a break and then allowing them to come back fresh.

“It’s very different in the northern hemisphere compared to the southern hemisphere in terms of the season structure and how it works and who pays people. It’s a bit more complicated.

“In principle it would be great for someone to take six months off and get their body right – but who pays for the sabbatical? That’s always the challenge when it comes to the payment structure.”

Morrow revealed that Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Alex Mitchell are on course to recover from their injuries in time to face the Springboks.

After months of uncertainty, Gervonta Davis appears to be moving closer to a return to the ring.

Davis has not fought since his controversial majority draw with Lamont Roach Jr. in March 2025, a result many felt should have gone against him after Roach was denied a knockdown ruling.

A planned exhibition with Jake Paul was later scrapped as Davis became embroiled in legal troubles, including charges relating to battery, false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping, while an arrest warrant and civil proceedings have further complicated his return to the ring.

After being named ‘champion in recess’ earlier this year, the WBA then officially ordered ‘Tank’ to defend his lightweight world title against mandatory challenger Floyd Schofield on May 23, giving both camps until June 22 to reach an agreement before purse bids are called.

Though some felt that Davis would vacate the belt, either not ready to return or to search for a bigger name, negotiations are now reportedly ongoing. Providing the latest update, Schofield’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya told Fight Hub TV that he is expecting significant progression this week.

“Tom Brown [of TGB] and Eric Gomez from Golden Boy are in talks and we’re waiting for a proposal, which should happen in the next few days.

“That’s a fight that Floyd always wanted. That’s a fight that I believe Tank Davis will be very motivated to make happen. It’s a great fight. People have seen Floyd fight, he’s performed very well and surprised a lot of people. This is a natural fit for him next. The fact that the WBA ordered this fight and we can make it happen very soon is music to my ears. This is one of those fights that fans will really fall in love with.”

Schofield has emerged as one of the leading young lightweights in the sport. The unbeaten 23-year-old, known as ‘Kid Austin’, holds a 19-0 record with 13 knockouts and most recently stopped former world champion Tevin Farmer inside a round.

He was due to challenge Shakur Stevenson for a world title last year before illness forced him out during fight week, but has since climbed to the No.1 position in the WBA rankings and now finds himself on the verge of the biggest opportunity of his career.

Texas Rangers lineup for June 10, 2026 against the Kansas City Royals: starting pitchers are MacKenzie Gore for the Rangers and Seth Lugo for the Royals.

We have game two of the three game series in Kansas City. After the Rangers put just three runs up on the board yesterday, Skip Schumaker has decided to put offensive catalyst Nicky Lopez back in the starting lineup. Jake Burger is getting the day off.

The lineup:

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Jung — 3B

Nimmo — RF

Langford — LF

Duran — 1B

Carter — CF

Higashioka — C

Lopez — 2B

6:40 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -119 favorites.

Referee Omar Artan, center, of Somalia, is confronted by players after calling a penalty kick during the CAF Champions League final soccer match between AS FAR Rabat and Mamelodi Sundowns, in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo)

Somalian referee Omar Artan, who was set to become the first official from his country to officiate at a FIFA World Cup, was denied entry into the United States over suspected links to members of terror organisations, news agency Associated Press reported, quoting a US official.The 34-year-old referee had been selected on FIFA’s final list of match officials for the 2026 World Cup and was due to join other referees at their training base in Miami before the tournament. The United States is co-hosting the World Cup along with Mexico and Canada.US Customs and Border Protection said Artan “was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry.”After arriving in Florida, Artan was questioned about Somali politics and the Al Shabaab militant group, which US Africa Command described in 2022 as “the largest, wealthiest, and most lethal Al Qaeda affiliate.”A US official was later quoted as saying by AP that Artan was refused admission because of an “association with suspected members of terror organizations.”Following the decision, FIFA removed Artan from its list of World Cup referees. He returned to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Wednesday, where he received a welcome from supporters and urged young people to remain proud of their country.Artan is one of Africa’s most recognised referees. He joined FIFA’s international panel in 2018 and became the first Somali referee to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations when he took charge of the group-stage match between Tunisia and Namibia in January 2024.In May this year, he officiated the second leg of the African Champions League final in Morocco. He was also named Africa’s best male referee in 2025.FIFA selects World Cup referees through a long evaluation process. Referees are first nominated by their national associations before progressing through continental tournaments and FIFA competitions. Artan officiated at the men’s Under-20 World Cup in Chile last year and later attended World Cup preparation camps before being included in the final list announced in April.Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries whose citizens are banned from entry under the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and AP reported that Somali officials say Artan might have been denied due to those restrictions.

Fifa President Gianni Infantino used his launch press conference for the World Cup on Wednesday to defend ticket prices and urge people to “chill” after a Somali referee was denied entry to the US.

The 2026 World Cup will begin on Thursday, with the US, Canada and Mexico serving as co-hosts. Many issues have already plagued the tournament, with Iran’s presence previously in doubt – amid the nation’s ongoing conflict with the US – and referee Omar Artan sent home this week after the Trump administration alleged he had links to “suspected members of terror organisations”.

Addressing the latter matter on Wednesday, Infantino urged fans to “chill, relax”, insisting that the football governing body is constantly working on solving every issue that the competition has faced.

He also defended World Cup ticket prices, saying: “If we are doing something wrong, everyone in North America is doing something wrong.”

Fifa priced tickets starting at $140 for the 48-nation, 104-game tournament that starts Thursday and priced regular seats up to $8,680 for the 19 July final in New Jersey. It raised prices for the final to $10,990 and then $32,970. After criticism, Fifa offered a small amount of $60 tickets to national federations for their regular supporters.

Infantino said the average ticket price was under $500 for the tournament and was comparable to other US sports during their play-offs, a claim that – while true for resale prices – does not appear to be accurate for list prices. He said he was unconcerned about investigations by attorneys general in California, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

Infantino said that the secondary ticket market is beyond his organisation’s control when it comes to the large prices fans are seeing for World Cup games. He pointed to the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs as an example of how other major American sporting events are experiencing a similar surge in prices.

“We are very relaxed about it because, before starting to sell 6.5m or 7m tickets, we checked what we do with the best lawyers, the best experts” he said. “We welcome every investigation.”

Infantino also admitted Fifa was powerless to get the US to admit entry to referee Artan and said people “should chill”. “We are not the kings of the world,” Infantino said.

Additional reporting by AP.

The England v Costa Rica kick-off has been delayed until 5pm local time (10pm BST) after lightning and rain threatened the World Cup 2026 warm-up friendly in Orlando.

The Three Lions were due to kick-off at 4pm local time (9pm BST), but the weather pushed the start back to the final preparation for both sides with the tournament due to begin in 24 hours on Thursday, 11 June.

But the delay and threat of a postponement appears to have been limited due to a quick reaction from the Inter&Co Stadium ground staff, with a kick-off at 5pm local time subject to there being no further lightning strikes in the area.

England arrived at the Inter&Co Stadium, home of MLS side Orlando City SC, at 3:30pm local time (8:30pm BST), according to BBC Sport, to complete their final stop before Thomas Tuchel’s side travel to their Kansas City training base.

Then the countdown begins to the first game in Group L against Croatia in Dallas, with the Three Lions one of the favourites to win the trophy.

But after a deluge just over two hours before kick-off, the friendly looked in doubt, with large pools of rain settling on the pitch.

But the water was cleared quickly with fans starting to enter the stadium and the heavy rain subsiding just over an hour before the original kick-off time.

While Inter&Co Stadium staff could be seen drying pools of water with dryers to quickly remove doubt over the match taking place on the eve of the World Cup 2026.

Tuchel opted to start with Harry Kane, with the Bayern striker flanked by Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon. While Reece James and Nico O’Reilly start either side of Ezri Konsa and John Stones, with Jude Bellingham operating just ahead of Declan Rice and Elliott Anderson.

Bukayo Saka is on the bench, despite his fitness issues, with Tuchel admitting he has concerns over the Arsenal star: “We still have to take a little bit of care for Bukayo who had an injury in March and carried it through to club.

“He made himself available at the end of the season and did so brilliantly but he was managed in between matches; that continues a bit at the moment. We are building him up.”

NEW DELHI: For years, football fans have tried all sorts of ways to predict World Cup winners. Some trusted expert opinions, others believed in superstitions, and many still remember Paul the Octopus, who became famous for correctly predicting match results during the 2010 World Cup.Now, a group of statisticians has used artificial intelligence to make its prediction for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. A research team led by statistics professor Achim Zeileis created a machine-learning model and simulated the entire tournament 100,000 times to see which team had the best chance of lifting the trophy.According to the study, reported by The Independent, Spain have emerged as the favourites to win the 2026 World Cup. The AI model gives them a 14.5 per cent chance of becoming champions.England and France are tied for second place with a 12.4 per cent chance each, while Germany are close behind at 11.2 per cent. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal have been given an 8.9 per cent chance of winning the title, while Lionel Messi’s Argentina stand at 8.2 per cent.How did the AI make the prediction?The researchers looked at a wide range of information before making their forecast.They studied how teams have performed in recent years. Apart from this they considered betting market odds and assessed the quality of players. And all these information was then fed into a machine-learning system.The model then calculated the chances of different results in every match. It estimated not only which team was more likely to win but also how many goals each side could score.Using these probabilities, the researchers simulated every game of the tournament, including extra time and penalty shootouts, while following FIFA’s official rules.Why is there no clear favourite?The 2026 World Cup will be the biggest in history, featuring 48 teams instead of 32.With more teams and an extra knockout round, there is greater scope for surprises. A single upset can completely change the course of a tournament, which is why the leading contenders are separated by only a few percentage points.What are the chances of the United States?The United States, one of the tournament hosts, have been given a strong 78 per cent chance of progressing from the group stage and reaching the Round of 32.However, once the knockout rounds begin, the challenge becomes much tougher. According to the simulations, the United States have only a one per cent chance of winning the World Cup on home soil.The researchers were quick to point out that football does not always follow the numbers. The predictions are based on probabilities, not certainties. Upsets and surprises are part of what makes the World Cup special.Still, if the AI model is right, Spain currently have the best chance of lifting football’s biggest prize in 2026.

Richa Ghosh produced a breathtaking late assault but India’s brittle top-order batting proved costly as Dani Gibson’s sparkling all-round show powered England to a narrow five-run win in their final Women’s T20 World Cup warm-up match in Cardiff on Wednesday. After Harmanpreet Kaur opted to bowl, England rode on half-centuries from Amy Jones (64 off 45 balls) and skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt (57 off 45 balls) before Gibson’s unbeaten 30 off just 12 balls lifted them to 171 for 6. India’s chase never quite gathered momentum as wickets fell at regular intervals, but Richa’s stunning 68 off 36 balls nearly pulled off the impossible before left-arm spinner Linsey Smith (3/42) held her nerve to bowl India out for 166 in 19.5 overs.

Gibson also took the wickets of Bhatia and Fulmali in the crucial middle overs phase to return with 2/17 from her two overs, while Charlie Dean (2/1) and Tilly Corteen-Coleman (2/22) also provided fine support.

The defeat exposed a few concerns for India ahead of the T20 World Cup, with the top order misfiring once again, and fielding lapses allowing England crucial extra runs.

Gibson smashed Renuka Singh for two fours and one six to collect 19 runs in the last over, and that proved decisive.

Smriti Mandhana‘s lean run continued as she fell for one, extending a worrying sequence in which her highest score in seven innings since her 82 against Australia in February has been just 37.

Shafali Verma made a brisk 13 off six balls before miscuing Issy Wong, while Yastika Bhatia (15), skipper Harmanpreet (17) and Bharti Fulmali (18) also failed to convert their starts.

At 132 for 7 in 17.3 overs, India looked well out of the contest before Richa launched a spectacular counter-attack.

Needing 38 from the last two overs, the Bengal wicketkeeper-batter tore into Wong, smashing three fours and a six in a 21-run penultimate over to bring the equation down to 17 off the final over.

Richa continued her charge against Smith, first sweeping her for a four and then launching a massive straight six to reduce the target to six runs from three balls.

However, with victory within sight, Smith lured Richa out of her crease and wicketkeeper Alice Capsey completed the stumping.

Renuka then holed out while attempting a big hit as India were dismissed with one ball remaining.

Earlier, England’s innings was built around a 70-run stand between Jones and Sciver-Brunt after India had kept things tight in the opening phase.

Jones punished anything loose during her 45-ball 64, while Sciver-Brunt, returned to rhythm with a 57-run knock with eight fours.

India’s bowlers did well to control the scoring for large periods, especially around the rain interruption, but Gibson’s late blitz tilted the balance decisively.

Shreyanka Patil was India’s standout bowler, claiming 2/29 and striking twice in successive deliveries in the penultimate over to dismiss Sciver-Brunt and Dean.

Four other bowlers picked up a wicket each.

India also gave the new ball to Shafali Verma, an indication that the team management views her as a potential sixth bowler. The off-spinner returned figures of 1 for 18 from two overs, including the key wicket of Jones.

However, veteran spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma was not used with the ball as India rotated six bowling options, while Shreyanka and Radha Yadav (1/38) once again made strong cases with disciplined performances.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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