Erling Haaland’s nightmare return: Poor ratings, argument, Man City star’s pressure – Manchester Evening News
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Erling Haaland played his first minutes since Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth against Morocco in New Jersey on Sunday
Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard look on during Norway’s draw with Morocco(Image: Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
All you need to know about Erling Haaland’s nightmare return to action this weekend:
Erling Haaland had not played since the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on May 19 prior to the World Cup warm-up clash with Morocco in New Jersey on Sunday.
Haaland started the game and lasted 72 minutes before being replaced by Crystal Palace striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.
However, it was an afternoon to forget for Haaland as he managed just four touches of the ball. His only shot was blocked as Norway drew 1-1.
During the game, Haaland appeared to have an argument with one of the Norwegian team’s physios to cap off what was a poor night for him.
The Norwegian media opted to criticise Haaland in their post-match ratings. Dagsbladet awarded him a meagre two out of 10 rating, writing: “The striker was invisible in the first half. He played himself up after the break, but this was actually a shockingly weak rehearsal.” Meanwhile, TV2 handed Haaland a three out of 10, their lowest rating of any Norway player.
Norway boss Stale Solbakken leapt to his defence after the game. “He’s a player who feels it today. He needed those minutes. Without being rude to him, he saves himself five, 10, 15 per cent. Those explosions are coming,” he said.
Haaland and his Norway teammates are under pressure to perform this summer. This is the first World Cup they have qualified for since 1998.
Norway’s next game is their World Cup opener against Iraq in Boston on June 16. Read more here.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has again stressed that he may only have two more chances to win a record-breaking eighth world championship and vowed to quit if he has to enter qualifying.
The 50-year-old, who won the last of his seven titles in 2022, is level with Stephen Hendry as the most successful player in the World Championship’s modern era.
“I’d love to win another World Championship,” O’Sullivan told World Snooker Tour after opening his 2026-27 season with a 6-1 win over Liu Linhao at the Shanghai Masters. “I have two attempts at it.
“If I can find a bit of cueing or some form at Sheffield, you never know. If I don’t do it this year or the next, it will definitely never happen.”
O’Sullivan has not won the World Championship since 2022 (Zac Goodwin/PA) (PA Archive)
O’Sullivan has slipped to 12th in the world rankings as a result of playing fewer tournaments and only the top 16 qualify for some of the biggest events.
That raises the prospect of the game’s biggest name potentially having to go through qualifying to reach the Crucible – but O’Sullivan says that will not be happening.
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“I’m not going to play qualifiers. You won’t be seeing me go down to Barnsley trying to win qualifying matches and all that sort of stuff,” he said.
“If that happens, then obviously that’s the end of my career. But hopefully, I can keep going for at least another two seasons.
“I’m happy with my career and how things have gone. I want to enjoy these next two years. I’ll reassess in 2028 and if things are really going well, you can maybe extend it.”
O’Sullivan believes he has to achieve the feat in the next two years because of the mental demands of the game.
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He added: “I have to be realistic. I’m 50 now and if I play for two hours I then have to lie down for two or three hours. It is very hard for me.
“OK, you don’t have to run around a football pitch but mentally you have to concentrate. When you are younger you can do that for hour upon hour.”
O’Sullivan proved too strong for 18-year-old Chinese wild card Liu, finishing off the match with breaks of 73, 71, 75 and 55 after initially being pegged back to 1-1 following a fine run of 88 from his opponent.
Zhou Yuelong came from behind to beat four-time world champion Mark Selby 6-5, Barry Hawkins overcame Lei Peifan 6-4 and Ding Junhui saw off Dongcheng Yao 6-2.
The US Open has announced the first list of players for its 2026 mixed doubles tournament, with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic leading the entries.
Sabalenka, who missed last year’s event, will team up with Djokovic in one of the biggest pairings for the competition.
Another strong team is Iga Świątek and Casper Ruud. Ruud reached last year’s final but lost alongside Świątek to doubles specialists Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who are expected to return through a wild card.
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Other top pairings include Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien, Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper, Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori, and Taylor Townsend with Alexander Zverev.
However, men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are not on the entry list yet. Alcaraz is still recovering from a wrist injury but has entered the singles event. Tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams are also missing from the mixed doubles list.
The mixed doubles competition will be played from August 24 to 26 during the US Open Fan Week, before the main singles tournament begins.
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Only the six teams with the best combined singles rankings will qualify automatically after entries close on August 17. Eight more teams will receive wild cards, while the final two places will be decided through a qualifying tournament.
The event was a huge success last year, attracting around 78,000 fans, with champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori winning the $1 million prize.
This year’s tournament also comes as top players continue discussions with Grand Slam organisers over prize money, although many leading stars have still entered the competition. The matches will follow a shortened format until the final, where the traditional six-game sets will be used.
Chelsea are in talks to sign experienced duo Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck as the club looks to add more leadership to its squad.
The Blues are discussing a deal for 36-year-old midfielder Henderson, who has one year left on his Brentford contract. Brentford are willing to let him leave on a free transfer.
Chelsea are also working on a move for Brighton striker Danny Welbeck. The 35-year-old is interested in joining Stamford Bridge, and there is growing confidence that an agreement can be reached.
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The club’s move for the two veterans comes after co-owner Behdad Eghbali admitted earlier this year that Chelsea’s policy of signing mainly young players needs some changes. The club now wants to add more experienced players to the squad.
Welbeck enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career last term, scoring 13 Premier League goals in 37 matches for Brighton. Since joining from Watford in 2020, he has scored 51 goals in 201 appearances for the Seagulls. He signed a one-year contract extension in March, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2026-27 season.
Henderson joined Brentford from Ajax and made 34 appearances in all competitions last season. He also featured for England at the FIFA World Cup before suffering a broken arm while celebrating the team’s last-16 victory over Mexico.
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Chelsea’s interest in Henderson and Welbeck could affect the futures of several attackers already at the club. Joao Pedro is seen as the first-choice striker, while Liam Delap, Emmanuel Emegha, Marc Guiu and Nicolas Jackson all face uncertain futures.
Guiu is available for either a permanent move or a loan, while Jackson is open to leaving after attracting interest from Aston Villa. Delap is also expected to move on despite hoping to impress new manager Xabi Alonso, and Emegha’s future remains unclear.
Chelsea have already signed Morgan Rogers for a club-record £117 million and full-back Marco Palestra this summer. They are also close to completing a deal for defender Maxence Lacroix.
The possible arrivals of Henderson and Welbeck suggest Chelsea are changing their transfer strategy by combining young talent with experienced players as they aim to improve after finishing 10th in the Premier League last season.
Three of boxing’s biggest legends could be set to appear on one blockbuster card later this year, with Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao all poised to fight on the same bill.
Mayweather has been linked to an exhibition fight against Tyson and a professional encounter with Pacquiao throughout 2026, but had been scheduled to first take on Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis in a lucrative three-fight year for ‘TBE’.
It seems as though Mayweather’s ring return could be around the corner though, as he prepares to step through the ropes in a rescheduled exhibition against Zambidis, before colliding with Tyson in the autumn, where Pacquiao may fight in a separate fight on the undercard, as per BoxingScene.
The report reveals that an “official connected to the arrangement” believes the plan for all three to fight on the same night could “solve everything” after the financial disputes.
While they have not confirmed this exact plan, Pacquiao’s team have made it clear that he is targeting an exhibition bout this year following the collapse of the Mayweather rematch. The Filipino was previously announced to be facing former super welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov before it fell through, so that could be revisited.
Safe to say that Everson Griffen was a fan favorite. Does the Vikings pass rusher still have what it takes to play in the NFL? Frankly, probably not, but he’s still holding out some hope.
Pro Football Talk was among the spots to discuss the news. Josh Alper relays the word, doing so after Griffen chatted with veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson. Griffen’s desire: “‘I’ve burnt bridges, but I feel like that’s reparable. I’m willing to do anything to mend them. I’m saying clear, you don’t have to worry about me going back to using again.’”
Vikings Pass Rusher Wants Another Shot
Griffen is such a gregarious, outgoing personality that those around the Minnesota Vikings have forgiven several misdeeds. At times, the pass rusher has been his own worst enemy, in no small part due to battling some personal demons. I, for one, wish him nothing but the best even while acknowledging that he has made some mistakes.
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As fate would have it, the Vikings could use some help at pass rusher. The Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner twosome promises to be at least good. Quite possibly, those two will become great in 2026. What sort of effort gets offered beyond those two, however, remains to be seen. Options such as Eric Wilson (Jake Golday?), Ty Ingram-Dawkins, and Bo Richter look like the players most likely to soak up snaps. All come with questions, quibbles, and/or concerns.
Sep 8, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen (97) and defensive end Danielle Hunter (99) celebrate during a game against the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Ludeman-USA TODAY Sports.
Seeing Griffen get a shot for the 2026 Vikings would nevertheless qualify as a major surprise.
Chosen at No. 100 in the 2010 NFL Draft, Everson Griffen would begin slow before exploding. His burst coming out of his stance was legendary, especially when allowed to setup his spin move. He put more than his fair share of offensive tackles in the spin cycle. Poetry in shoulder pads.
Perhaps his most formidable season arrived in 2017. Quite possibly, that was the season when a lot of Vikings had their best years: Xavier Rhodes, Harrison Smith, and so on. Griffen’s final stats show 45 tackles, 13 sacks, 25 quarterback hits, 12 tackles for loss, and 3 forced fumbles. He was honored with a well-earned AP2 spot and trip to the Pro Bowl.
Griffen would eventually move on from the Vikings. He put in work with Detroit and Dallas before coming back to the Twin Cities in 2021.
Oct 31, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen (97) greets a member of the Dallas Cowboys during before the teams meet at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports.
Very few have been able to match Everson Griffen’s passion for the game and his emotional leadership. Nobody ever questioned if he cared about ball and his teammates. Nobody ever questioned whether he enjoyed sacking the quarterback. Like Alex Ovechkin scoring a goal, Griffen loved to celebrate after wrangling a passer.
Vikings rookies arrived at TCO Performance Center yesterday. Tomorrow, the rest of the team will report to Eagan. We’re therefore just days away from seeing purple football get rolling again. After quarterback, the edge rusher competition is perhaps the most fascinating story in the Twin Cities.
The next young American with superstar potential has arrived — and his name is Jackson Koivun.
Koivun, a 21-year-old fresh off his junior year at Auburn, turned pro just one month ago, and he’s already broken through for his first PGA Tour victory. With a four-round total of 25-under, Koivun won the 3M Open in just his third professional start by three strokes — over none other than World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
“Obviously, having the World No. 1 in the field just makes it even sweeter,” Koivun said.
No kidding.
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While Koivun has long been a household name in the amateur game, this past weekend was the first time many professional golf fans got a glimpse of the wunderkid. And with it came plenty of chatter about his game, including the intricacies of his unorthodox swing.
Why Koivun’s swing works
When you watch Koivun swing, one thing stands out immediately: it doesn’t look textbook. You’re not going to mistake its silhouette for the swing of Adam Scott or Tiger Woods. Yet the unorthodox motion is a big reason why the former Auburn star generates so much speed.
If you slow Koivun’s swing down, you’ll notice how aggressively he fires his hips from the top of the backswing. For most golfers, this can throw the swing out of sequence, with the lower body outracing the arms. But just before impact, Koivun does something unusual: he recoils his hips, allowing for his arms to catch up.
“It’s a fascinating, athletic move,” says GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood, who has coached the likes of Michael Campbell, Nelly Korda and Ben An. “The interesting thing is that it creates a lot of torque, a lot of speed. The athletic part is the fact that he moves out of the way so he can manage the face and path.”
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Yarwood compares the motion to a slingshot. The hips reach their maximum rotation early, then recoil, helping transfer energy into the arms and clubhead just before impact.
Yarwood explained that the move likely dates back to Koivun’s childhood, when he relied on his lower body to create as much power as possible. Most players are coached out of that pattern as they develop in favor of more conventional sequencing, but Koivun has kept it — and learned to time it with remarkable precision.
“It’s a very unique case study and a very interesting one,” Yarwood says. “I don’t look at it critically, but I do look at it with fascination.”
That’s also why Koivun’s swing isn’t something most golfers should try to copy. Every elite swing relies on a series of compensations — or “matchups” — that make the motion work. Remove one piece without the others, and the entire system can fall apart.
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“Most people who do [Koivun’s move] get really out of whack,” Yarwood says. “They don’t recoil their hips, they don’t move out of the way, and they flip the clubface all over the place. For 99 out of 100 golfers, it’s one of the worst moves you can make. But for him, it’s super effective. He’s perfected the timing of it.”
Yarwood’s only long-term question isn’t whether the move works (Koivun’s results already answer that) but whether it’s sustainable. The amount of torque the motion places on his pelvis, spine and lead side is immense, he says, and maintaining that level of precision over the course of a long career will be the real test.
“He’s a breath of fresh air,” Yarwood says. “We want to see a lot of these young kids coming through like him.”
Jul 26, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon (50) delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The Chicago Cubs designated veteran right-handed starting pitcher Jameson Taillon for assignment on Monday.
The Cubs selected the contract of right-hander Andrew Wantz from Triple-A Iowa in a corresponding move.
Taillon, 34, was in the final season of a four-year, $68 million contract with Chicago. He pitched well over the first three seasons, and he made a pair of starts for the Cubs in the 2025 postseason, posting a 2.25 ERA over eight innings without a decision.
But in 2026, Taillon was 2-6 with a career-worst 5.92 ERA through 15 starts. He led the National League with 25 home runs allowed and had already issued as many walks (27) as he did all of last season.
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Taillon pitched Sunday and received the loss in an 8-7 defeat against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed seven runs on six hits over four innings, with three home runs. He had not earned a win since April 29, and the Cubs were 1-7 in his past eight starts.
For his career, Taillon is 84-66 with a 3.99 ERA in 239 games (238 starts) for the Pirates (2016-19), New York Yankees (2021-22) and Cubs (2023-26).
Wantz, 30, has appeared in 92 major league games for the Los Angeles Angels (2021-24) and Tampa Bay Rays (2026). He made one relief appearance for Tampa Bay and was dinged for five runs on two hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings. He was granted free agency on June 3 and signed with Chicago three days later.
The Serie A club are in the market for a wing-back in order to play Amorim’s preferred 3-4-3 formation, with Mazraoui viewed as an ideal candidate for that role.
Reports in Italy claim the Serie A club would make a move to sign the United defender, if decision-makers at Old Trafford make it clear they are open to selling.
There are also said to be concerns about what role the Moroccan World Cup star would play in Amorim’s system, having also played as a centre-half under the Portuguese head coach during his time at Old Trafford.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Mazraoui has signed with new agency Panthera, who will represent him moving forward, though it remains to be seen if there’s any correlation between that decision and a transfer this summer.
The 28-year-old defender made 20 appearances for United last season, missing a large chunk of the campaign for the African Cup of Nations.
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Mazraoui struggled to get back into Michael Carrick’s side after returning from the winter tournament, but did impress the then-interim United head coach, winning his place back in the side.
“Yeah he’s come back well, Nous,” Carrick said last season after reintegrating Mazraoui back into the side. “It was a difficult one, obviously, on the back of the final and how it panned out.
“[He had] a few days to digest that then back in and around it. He’s been fantastic in and around the group and around training.
“Obviously, he came on at the end of the game and played a part for us, as you’d expect. So yeah, again [we want to] just keep thickening the squad, bolstering the squad and it’s great to have him back.”
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On Saturday, Anthony Joshua left fight fans with their hearts in their mouths in a dramatic five-minute shootout before registering a stoppage win against Kristian Prenga, and fellow British heavyweight Derek Chisora has offered his thoughts on the performance of ‘AJ’.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Chisora said that Joshua was ‘sleeping’ when he stepped through the ropes and criticised the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist for not using his jab.
“He decided to go in there without using his jab and he got laid out. There is no two ways about it, he got hit.
“It doesn’t matter how big you are, if someone hits you at the right time, in the right spot, you are going down. Heavyweight, non-heavyweight, it don’t matter, it is lights out.
“He came into the ring sleeping and then he woke the f**k up, that is it. That dude was asleep.”
Chisora remains unconcerned though, admitting that he was impressed by Joshua once he had settled into the contest against Prenga.
“I don’t give a f**k [about Joshua’s punch resistance], I just want him to fight Tyson Fury. All of this nonsense [about punch resistance], you guys are not doctors, we are not doctors, we can’t say [anything about] punch resistance or that he is done.
“He is the only guy who can decide for himself if he is done and he looks good when he gets his hands going.”
Fury-Joshua is expected to take place in November, with Madison Square Garden in New York City believed to be the current frontrunner to stage the long-awaited clash.
Naoya Inoue has been linked to a fascinating showdown with pound-for-pound rival Jesse Rodriguez in recent weeks, but it seems as though the meeting is far from guaranteed, with Inoue stating that he is not ‘obsessed’ with facing the Texan.
Inoue defended his undisputed super-bantamweight world title for the seventh time when he scored a legendary win over fellow Japanese sensation Junto Nakatani back in May, in what many believe to be the biggest fight in the nation’s long and proud history of boxing.
That victory sparked rumours of an early 2027 clash with ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who vacated all three of his super-flyweight world titles to move closer to Inoue and up to bantamweight, where he then dethroned WBA champion Antonio Vargas a few weeks later.
Upon hearing those rumours, Inoue has revealed that he is unwilling to further delay a fight with Rodriguez and threatened to move on from the proposal and up to featherweight, if it does not take place when he wishes, as per Sanspo.
“I can’t do it [fight Rodriguez] later [than February].”
“No, I’m not particular about Bam either. If Bam says, ‘I want to spend a little more [time] at bantamweight’, I’m already thinking about the featherweight challenge.
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“If I can do it [fight Bam] around February, I will do it. However, if you go beyond that and get a little longer, I don’t have to be that obsessed with Bam, and I am not obsessed. I will go my own way,”
Inoue’s words may cause Eddie Hearn to rethink plans to stage Rodriguez-Medina at the end of the year, with a potential two month turnaround sure to prove too short for the American star.
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