Herve Renard has been reappointed manager of Saudi Arabia following Roberto Mancini’s departure.

Frenchman Renard took charge of the Saudi men’s team from July 2019 to March 2023 and led them to a remarkable victory over eventual tournament winners Argentina in the group stage of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The 56-year-old left the role to lead France’s women at the 2023 World Cup and on home soil at this year’s Olympics.

He was replaced at the Saudi helm by Mancini, who he now succeeds after the Italian agreed with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to end his contract.

Mancini, 59, left his role as Italy head coach and became Saudi Arabia manager in August 2023, but he endured a difficult time in charge.

“I am back,” Renard said in a video, external posted on the Saudi national team’s X account.

“I did not intend to leave, but when your country knock on your door, you have to respond.

“I did not finish my story with Saudi yet.”

Renard’s second spell in charge will begin with World Cup qualifiers away to Australia and Indonesia in November.

ABU DHABI – Khamzat Chimaev has no doubt he would slice through UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis on the ground.

Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) quickly submitted Robert Whittaker (27-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC) with a face crank in the first round of their middleweight bout Saturday, which co-headlined UFC 308 at Etihad Arena.

Two weeks ago, UFC CEO Dana White said Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2 is next. He refused to commit to his initial plans during the post-fight news conference, and Chimaev is ready to slide in for a title shot if the UFC grants him the opportunity.

“It doesn’t matter Sean or Dricus, just going for the gold,” Chimaev told reporters, including MMA Junkie at the UFC 308 post-fight news conference. “So we’ll see what happens next. I’m ready.”

When asked about Du Plessis’ grappling, Chimaev quickly dismissed it.

“How I did with this guy, Rob, and how he done?” Chimaev said. “Rob took him down, so if Rob took him down, there is salam alaikum (against me).”

If not a title shot, Chimaev said he’d be down to fight former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

“For me, Adesanya would be a good money fight because he has a big name,” Chimaev said. “Sean Strickland, we’ve been in the gym. We have some stuff not done yet, so that would be good history as well.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Quinn Ewers threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as No. 5 Texas beat No. 25 Vanderbilt 27-24 Saturday in its Southeastern Conference road debut.

The Longhorns (7-1, 3-1) bounced back from the loss to Georgia last week that ended their stay at No. 1. They also beat Vanderbilt in Nashville for the first time since 1925 as these new league teammates renewed a rivalry last played in 1928 in Dallas.

Vanderbilt (5-3, 2-2) snapped a three-game winning streak in its first game ranked in the Top 25 since the 2012 Music City Bowl. This was the Commodores’ first regular-season game as a ranked team since Oct. 18, 2008, when they played three games as a Top 25 team.

They had a chance late as Diego Pavia threw for two touchdowns after Texas went up 24-10 in the third. Pavia’s second TD pass, an 8-yarder to Eli Stowers with 46 seconds left, pulled Vanderbilt within 27-24.

Texas easily recovered Vanderbilt’s onside kick attempt to seal the victory.

The Longhorns opened slowly as a holding penalty on the opening kickoff was followed by a tipped Ewers’ pass that was picked off by Martel Hight. Vanderbilt needed only five plays before Pavia scrambled 18 yards for a touchdown and 7-0 lead.

Ewers completed his next 17 passes. He threw a 3-yard TD to Matthew Golden on the Longhorns’ next drive, and he connected with DeAndre Moore Jr. for a 27-yard TD late in the first quarter for a 14-7 lead Texas never lost.

The Texas quarterback found Moore again for a 25-yard catch-and-run up the left sideline for a 21-7 lead in the second. Ewers didn’t miss on a throw until the final minute of the first half.

Pavia threw for 143 yards and ran for 67 more and a score. After Miles Capers‘ interception, Pavia tried to rally Vanderbilt, finding Junior Sherrill on fourth-and-goal with a 3-yard TD pass late in the third.

Texas linebacker Liona Lefau picked off Pavia’s pass on fourth-and-2 with 5:05 left to set up Bert Auburn’s second field goal with 3:11 left.

Poll implications

Texas might not win many style points for the Longhorns’ first league road win, but Vanderbilt came in having lost its first two games by a combined seven points. An argument can be made the Commodores deserve to stick around at the bottom of the AP Top 25 after going 3-1 in October.

The takeaways

Texas: The Longhorns gave up four sacks and played sloppy with 10 penalties for 108 yards. They overcame that by outgaining Vandy 392-269.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores showed that their win against Alabama on Oct. 5 wasn’t a fluke, only losing to a top-5 team by three points.

Up next

Texas has an open date before hosting Florida on Saturday, Nov. 9, while Vanderbilt visits Auburn next.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Sergio Perez says braking issues were behind his painful Q1 elimination at his Mexican Grand Prix home race, explaining he “could not stop the car” at the end of the straights.

Perez only managed the 18th-fastest time in Q1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, missing the cutoff by two tenths and joining McLaren driver Oscar Piastri in the drop zone.

Perez had been struggling all weekend with the front of his Red Bull RB20 and unresolved braking issues, which made him unable to attack corners.

“I’ve been struggling quite a bit with braking. Every time I try attack the braking, I just put too much energy through the tyres and that makes it very tricky for me to stop the car,” he said.

“It’s been there for the last three races where I cannot stop the car. I’m having to modulate my braking quite a lot and that’s something we can see in the data, but we are not able to fix it at the moment. It’s mainly on the straight line I cannot stop the car. I just slide too much and given that it’s all surface sensitivity here, it makes it a lot harder.”

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Perez crashed out of the race at the first corner last year and is desperate for a morale boosting result in front of his home fans after a tough run of results. 

But with his braking issues also occurring on longer runs, Perez is pessimistic over his chances of a strong comeback race. Given the severity of his handling issues, it is not out of the question the team may opt to make parc ferme changes and let him start from the pitlane instead.

“We will discuss all the options,” he said. “The problem is that we are also very tight on parts that we have available. We don’t have the spec of floor that we would like to go on to. I don’t know, we will discuss it for sure with the team.

“It’s going to be hard because it’s also present there in the long run, so I will try everything. I will try and see what we are able to do with the team and see what solutions we are able to find.

“It’s obviously very disappointing. If there’s a grand prix that I want to do really well, it’s this one. Unfortunately, this event has been really difficult and tricky.”

Driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Austin Hill ran down Cole Custer and easily passed the reigning series champion for the lead with just 12 laps to go at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

After passing Custer, Hill drove off with the race win in hand. This will be his first ever appearance in the Championship 4, causing him to become emotional on the radio after taking the checkered flag. This victory is Hill’s fourth of the year and the tenth of his Xfinity career.

“I work so hard at this,” said Hill after the race. “A lot of people doubt me but I wake up everyday to prove everyone wrong. I deserve to be here. I deserve to race for a championship. This No. 21 team deserves it just as much as I do.

“They worked their asses off each and every day just like I do.I have to give it up to those guys. They gave me a hell of a car. I didn’t have to go run the wall. I could run wherever I wanted to … Oh my God, I am out of breath. I can honestly say I’ve never cried coming to the start/finish line — I couldn’t even get my emotions together getting into Turn 1 after the checkered. All the hard work and dedication that goes into this. I don’t think anyone is going to understand what this means to me (and) my family.”

The run to the finish

After the final round of green-flag pit stops with about 40 laps to go, A.J. Allmendinger was actually in control of the race. He was already locked into the final four via his Las Vegas win last weekend, so he chose to gamble for a late caution while saving his final set of tires. Kaulig Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen and JR Motorsports’ Brandon Jones did the same.

Once Allmendinger finally pitted from the lead with 20 laps to go, Custer regained control of the race. However, it was short-lived as Hill rapidly closed in, making the move to the outside and snatching the lead away.

Custer ended the race three seconds behind Hill with Aric Almirola, Jesse Love and Sheldon Creed rounding out the top-five. Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, and Allmendinger filled out the rest of the top-ten.

Van Gisbergen was the only driver to never use their final set of tires, stretching the fuel to the very end in hopes of a caution that never came and finishing 17th. 

Heading into the Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville, the following drivers are below the cut-line: Chandler Smith (-28 points), Jesse Love (-35 points), Sam Mayer (-47 points), and Sammy Smith (-95 points).

Allgaier is 35 points above the cut-line and Custer is 28 after their showings at Homestead.