Former Union Saint-Gilloise and Monaco head coach Sebastien Pocognoli has been lined up as the new Scotland head coach.

The Scottish Football Association is closing in on a deal for the 39-year-old Belgian to be named as Steve Clarke’s replacement and the appointment could be confirmed early next week.

The former Belgium international led Union to the 2024-25 Belgian title in his first season as a head coach.

Pocognoli would be Scotland’s second foreign manager after former Germany boss Berti Vogts, who had a two-and-a-half-year spell in charge in the early part of the century.

Pocognoli had previously worked with youth players at Union, plus Belgium and Genk.

The former West Brom and Brighton left-back moved to Monaco in October last year but was sacked at the end of the season.

Pocognoli led Monaco to the Champions League knockout phase where they lost narrowly to Paris Saint-Germain. However they missed out on qualification for this season’s tournament after a seventh-placed finish in Ligue 1, which gained them entry to the Conference League play-offs.

Clarke stepped down after Scotland’s World Cup group-stage exit was confirmed in June, despite having signed a new four-year contract in the build-up to the tournament.

The former West Brom and Kilmarnock manager had led Scotland to their first three major tournaments of the century in his seven-year tenure.

Marquee signing Will Lankshear notched a second-half double as Championship promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough fought back to kick off their campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 victory and inflict a first defeat in eight and a half months on newly-promoted Lincoln City.

The Imps – playing their first second-tier match in 65 years – made a strong start and opened the scoring in the 12th minute through Adam Reach but former Tottenham forward Lankshear marked his first league appearance since his much-hyped move to the Riverside by equalising just after the hour and then poking in a stoppage-time winner.

It was a devastating end for spirited Lincoln as a run of 29 games undefeated in all competitions since early December was finally brought to a halt.

Another newly-promoted side did leave the opening weekend victorious however as Sam Dalby and Thierry Gale scored first-half goals to enable Bolton beat Preston 2-1 and record a first Championship win since March 2019.

Last season’s League One play-off final winners have been predicted to struggle on their return to the second tier after seven years away but in front of a sellout 26,262 crowd at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, Steven Schumacher’s side largely dominated.

However, they had to hold on at the death after Jusef Erabi headed in fellow substitute Andrija Vukcevic’s cross four minutes from time to give Preston hope.

Meanwhile, Sheffield United and Birmingham City made a much more underwhelming start to the Championship season as they played out a drab goalless draw at Bramall Lane that didn’t suggest either side’s ambition of mounting a promotion challenge will necessarily be particularly successful.

West Brom launched a smash-and-grab raid with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Norwich, enduring long spells of pressure before late goals from Aune Heggebo and Jimmy-Jay Morgan secured an unlikely victory, while young Charlton star Tyreece Campbell netted a stunning 80th-minute goal to complete a 2-1 comeback win for the Addicks over Derby, who ended a week to forget after Saudi government official and boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh’s takeover collapsed on Monday.

Ilias Chair scored twice as QPR came from behind to beat Portsmouth 3-1 and claim their first win at Fratton Park in 26 years, while super-sub Adam Idah snatched a 66th-minute winner with his first touch of the game as Swansea bravely battled back from a goal down to stun Stoke 2-1.

Defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for the Potters, especially after Eric Bocat had fired them into a 10th-minute lead with a deflected left-foot strike, but Nigeria international midfielder Joseph Opoku snatched a 23rd-minute equaliser by powering in a sweet right-foot shot after some poor defending and Idah then won it with a smart close-range finish following more questionable defending.

And Josh Coburn netted a double as Millwall notched a comfortable 2-0 away win over 10-man Bristol City, who saw Adam Randell shown a second yellow card for a foul to prevent a counter-attack in the first half.

Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has explained what happened during his chaotic third-place match against Alireza Firouzja at the Esports World Cup 2026, after a series of technical problems eventually brought the contest to an unexpected end.Nakamura was competing against his Falcons Esports teammate Firouzja for third place. The match was already close and complicated when multiple players experienced disconnections.Another game was affected by the technical problems, and Firouzja eventually left the match.

Multiple disconnections cause chaos and controversy

Nakamura said he was left waiting for around 20 minutes before officials told him that the match would be recorded as a forfeit in his favour. At the time, however, he did not know what had caused the problem.“Today’s match with Alireza certainly didn’t go well for anyone. It was chaos with multiple disconnections and then Alireza’s untimely departure from the event,” Nakamura explained in an official statement.The American grandmaster said he had no access to his phone or outside information while waiting. Because the first thing he saw on his screen was a disconnection, he assumed the problem was with chess.com.After the forfeit was confirmed, Nakamura was taken to do interviews. Still frustrated and without the full context, he publicly said that he believed chess.com was responsible.

Nakamura retracts his comments

He has since admitted that assumption was incorrect.“I now know I was wrong. It was an EWC issue that took out a few events, not just chess,” Nakamura said. He added that he wished he had been given that information before doing the interviews, saying that he had “jumped to conclusions” and wrongly blamed chess.com.Nakamura apologised to chess.com and asked for his retraction to be shared wherever his original comments had appeared. He also jokingly dismissed suggestions that he had been pressured into changing his story, saying he was “not under duress by the ‘chess mafia’” and that Danny was not “holding my hand on the stove.”Despite the dramatic ending, Nakamura officially finished third at the Esports World Cup, defeating Firouzja after leading 3-1 with two games remaining before the forfeit. The result earned him $145,000 and valuable Club Championship points for Falcons Esports.

The Vikings’ offense doesn’t lack for star power. Truthfully, though, these guys aren’t of huge interest for what’s to come later today.

Indeed, the focus in Minnesota is likely going to be about who plays the best from among the depth guys. Kevin O’Connell needs his side of the ball to bounce back from a very modest effort in 2025. Getting a solid performance out of the Vikings later today in New York will be a small step toward the needed improvement.

3 Players to Watch on The Vikings’ Offense

Player No. 1 — Tai Felton

Kevin O’Connell has been among the lead cheerleaders for Tai Felton. And why not?

Felton boasts great length and offers elite speed, clocking a faster 40 time than both of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Envision a scenario where Felton starts threatening teams deep. Win a few of those reps and the teams will think twice about crashing down too aggressively on those intermediate crossing routes for Jefferson.

The goal is to put the other side in a tricky spot. Failing to keep a free safety over Felton means risking a kill shot for a long score. Failing to bring that free safety crashing down on Jefferson means getting walloped on those crossing routes 20 yards down the field.

Can the 2025 3rd-Round selection become that guy? If so, then the decision to pickup the feisty Maryland player was great work.

Player No. 2 — TE Gavin Bartholomew

Lots of chatter online about the sophomore’s effort.

Gavin Bartholomew missed his entire debut season due to a back injury. The 6th-Round pass catcher should seek to emulate Johnny Mundt, somebody who could get asked to do a bit of everything. Be a menace on specials and block like a maniac on offense. Occasionally, catch the ball.

Mirror Mundt and Bartholomew will end up having a long NFL career.

He’s still just 23 and offers good size at 6’5″ and roughly 250 pounds. Has a slick mullet, too.

Player No. 3 — QB J.J. McCarthy

Hard to exclude the kid.

Mr. McCarthy had a tough week. Kyler Murray has been named the starter, a reality that’s going to be a disappointment to the Michigan man. He can begin chipping away at the deficit — if that’s at all a possibility — by torching preseason opponents.

Look for him to do the little things well. Make good adjustments at the line of scrimmage while getting his guys in and out of the huddle cleanly. Crisp hand offs, good check downs, and know when to run out of bounds. Within all of that work toward making some “wow” plays with aggression when it’s open for the taking.

Even if the Vikings move on soon, the NFL is watching. McCarthy is going to be fine in the end.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Ruben Amorim was reunited with his former players when Man Utd played AC Milan in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.

Several Manchester United players spoke to Ruben Amorim after the final pre-season friendly of the summer against AC Milan on Saturday afternoon.

Seven months after being sacked by United, Amorim was reunited with his former club for a friendly at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw.

Milan won 4-2 against United, who lost their second game of the summer, and captain Bruno Fernandes was the first player to make his way over to speak to Amorim following the final whistle.

Fernandes greeted Amorim’s coaching staff, who were all with him during his time in charge of United, before exchanging a few words with the former United boss. Noussair Mazraoui was the second player to walk over, and the defender shared a warm embrace with Amorim.

Luke Shaw, Joshua Zirkzee, Ayden Heaven and Lisandro Martinez also greeted Amorim. Matheus Cunha was the last to catch up with the 41-year-old, and the pair were spotted laughing and joking.

Amorim was sacked in January amid rising tensions with United’s board in January. He called out the club’s decision-makers when he spoke to the media after facing Leeds at Elland Road, saying others within the club should focus on their jobs and let him focus on his.

However, Amorim recently admitted he made mistakes during his time at United. When asked what went wrong at the club, he said: “The first thing is that it doesn’t matter anymore. That is the feeling. There’s a history, then something happens, the context changes, and you focus on the next challenge.

“I learned a lot. It would be hard to point to one thing, but the important thing that I clearly know is that I made a lot of mistakes. When you do this kind of reflection, and you understand that it was not just their fault, but also my fault, I think you can be a better coach and a better man.”

In the Premier League, Amorim had the worst win ratio (32 per cent), the worst goals conceded per game ratio (1.53) and the lowest clean sheet ratio (15 per cent) of any United manager in history.

CommBank Stadium will play host to Sunday’s
Round 24 NRL game between Wests Tigers and
St. George Illawarra Dragons. The game kicks off at 4:05 pm with St. George Illawarra Dragons heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Wests Tigers vs.
St. George Illawarra Dragons
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Sunday August 16, 2026 at 4:05 pm

Where: CommBank Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Wests Tigers vs St. George Illawarra Dragons Odds

Wests Tigers vs St. George Illawarra Dragons Preview

The Tigers and Dragons meet without finals implications, but St George Illawarra brings welcome belief after stunning Cronulla 24-16 for only its third win of the season. Wests has lost seven straight and entered its bye following a 16-13 defeat to Parramatta, with its attack held to 13 points or fewer in six consecutive games. Debutant Solomone Saukuru replaces Heamasi Makasini in the Tigers’ centres after strong NSW Cup form. The Dragons regain Toby Couchman from concussion, while Setu Tu is named to start and Damien Cook remains at hooker. St George Illawarra has won six of the past eight meetings, including a 24-10 result in Round 18. With both sides struggling for points, territory, discipline and patience are likely to decide a contest in which the Dragons’ recent defensive resolve provides the stronger foundation.