England wing Tommy Freeman and Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong both said similar after being involved in last summer’s Lions tour of Australia.

“Without realising it, I think I was tired,” Freeman said of his return to club side Northampton.

“My body felt like I was OK to go and I was saying to coaches ‘Yeah I’m fine, I’m fine’. I just think mentally it was a bit more of a struggle.”

Three-time Lion Furlong said: “Everything maybe seems insignificant the year after.”

France’s players may not have that much sympathy. A campaign in their domestic top flight – the Top 14 – can stretch to 29 matches.

The equivalent figure for the English Prem and the United Rugby Championship is 20 and 21 matches respectively.

However, unlike with the Home Nations, France usually rest their top stars for their summer tours.

While the Lions were touring Australia, across the Tasman Sea a France side took on New Zealand in a three-Test series without the likes of Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Matthieu Jalibert or Charles Ollivon.

Despite objections from their Kiwi hosts, concerned about the impact on ticket sales, France stuck to their policy as a second-string side suffered a 3-0 series defeat.

Ireland are adept at managing their stars’ overall workloads. For instance, Leinster and Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan has made only three starts for his province so far this season.

But Warburton believes that not all games are equal. In his opinion, the Test stages demands more of players.

“I think there’s something about playing international rugby – there’s only so many times I think you can play an international game of that magnitude, emotionally, in a year,” he said.

“The Lions tour obviously eats into that quota and I think it’s a massive part of it.”

The Six Nations’ regular calendar cycle might also play a part. In even-numbered years – in which every post-Lions Six Nations take place – France have three home games, rather than two.

Their home matches include meetings with Ireland and England, often title rivals.

France bookended their Six Nations campaign with victories against those two in Paris this year, crucial results in their championship success.

Mexico City set a Guinness World Record Sunday for having held the largest soccer class, with about 9,500 people having taken part in a training session in a public sqaure in the city.

Participants filled the central plaza, known as Zocalo, for a 40-minute open-air class, practicing drills under instructors as part of a campaign ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June.

Among those participating were members of the Mexico team that won the unofficial 1971 Women’s World Cup.

Guinness World Records judge Alfredo Arista confirmed the record during the event. Organizers said the turnout surpassed the previous record of 1,038 participants set in Seattle in June 2025.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada congratulated participants saying, “Today we kick off the World Cup.”

What to know about situation in Mexico City more generally

The World Cup will begin on June 11 at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca.

Mexico will co-host the tournament along with the US and Canada.

This will be the third World Cup tournament in Mexico, after the country previously hosted the finals of the 1970 and 1986 tournaments.

But safety questions linger after authorities killed the nation’s most wanted drug-leader last month. That triggered a wave of violence in several parts of the country, including Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s three World Cup host cities.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has sought to assauge those concerns, telling the public that authorities will ensure security during the sporting event.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar

NEW DELHI: Team India’s left-handed batter Ishan Kishan is the frontrunner to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad in the upcoming IPL 2026 season, as there is yet no clarity on when Pat Cummins will link up with the squad. TimesofIndia.com reliably understands that the SRH management has had a discussion in this regard, and Kishan has been identified as the most suitable candidate to have the armband in the Australian fast bowler’s absence.

Ishan’s stocks are on a bull run at the moment. The 27-year-old has had a brilliant T20 World Cup campaign, where he became the toast of the nation for his performances, initially as a top-order batter and then at No. 3 when Sanju Samson returned to the Playing XI.

Ishan Kishan’s performance in last IPL

Kishan has established himself as one of the most explosive wicketkeeper-batters in the IPL. Across 119 matches in the tournament, playing for three franchises including Sunrisers Hyderabad, he has scored 2,998 runs from 112 innings at an average of 29.10 and a strike rate of 137.64. His tally includes one century, 17 half-centuries, 288 fours and 134 sixes, underlining his aggressive batting style. Behind the stumps, Kishan has also contributed with 59 catches and five stumpings. In the 2025 season, his first after being picked for Rs 11.25 crore in the auction, he scored 354 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 152.58, including a century and a fifty.

Kishan’s heroics in T20 World Cup 2026

Kishan played a key role for the India national cricket team during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, finishing as India’s second-highest run-scorer with 317 runs in nine innings at an average of 35.22 and a strike rate above 193. His campaign included three half-centuries, including one in the final, helping India clinch the title. Speaking after the victory, he said, “Our team won, obviously, it is a very good thing, not only for us, but for the whole nation. We hope to continue playing cricket like this and keep winning.” He added, “It feels great because I believe the better I perform, the more motivation it will be for the young kids here who want to grow. I always try to ensure as many players as possible emerge from every corner. Now that we’ve played the World Cup, it shows that with hard work, you can succeed from anywhere.” On his future goals, Kishan said, “Nothing much, just keep scoring runs, keep playing, and keep winning.”

The Minnesota Vikings arguably need more cornerback depth, and the Tennessee Titans cut ties with veteran L’Jarius Sneed last week. Therefore, the franchise should explore his 2026 price tag, as it probably won’t be much.

Minnesota may need one more experienced cornerback before the offseason wraps.

Sneed has struggled in the last two seasons, but that doesn’t mean he’s beyond salvation.

A Buy-Low Candidate Still Makes Sense for Brian Flores

Sneed as a Vikings CB3 or CB4 makes sense.

Titans Drop Sneed

It’s the end of the road for Sneed in Tennessee.

ESPN’s Turron Davenport wrote Friday, “The Tennessee Titans released cornerback L’Jarius Sneed on Friday, a move that saves $11.4 million in cap space. Sneed struggled to stay on the field for Tennessee, appearing in 12 games over two seasons.”

“He had signed a four-year, $76 million contract after the Titans acquired him in a 2024 trade with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Titans signed defensive backs Alontae Taylor, Cor’Dale Flott and Josh Williams earlier this week to restock their cornerbacks room.”

Not long ago, Sneed was the top cornerback on the free-agent market.

Davenport added, “Starting the 2025 season on the physically unable to perform list as he recovered from a knee procedure in May and a lingering quad injury, Sneed played seven games last season and finished with 26 tackles and three passes defended.”

“He suffered another quad injury in Week 7 against the New England Patriots and missed the final 10 games of the season after going on injured reserve.”

Vikings Won’t Get Away with Pristine CB Health Again

In 2025, the Vikings jaunted into the season with a rather teensy cornerback room, employing Byron Murphy Jr., Isaiah Rodgers, and Jeff Okudah as the main trio. Remarkably, Murphy Jr. and Rodgers remained healthy, playing 34 games between them, while Okudah sustained two concussions and didn’t play much in the second half of the season.

The club promoted Fabian Moreau from the practice squad, and he played wonderfully by the standards of an unsung CB3.

On the whole, Minnesota probably won’t get away with being perfectly healthy on behalf of the two main cornerbacks in 2026. It just doesn’t work that way. Therefore, adding a veteran like Sneed or drafting a rookie in April feels wise.

The Vikings’ Current CB Group + Sneed’s Career Resume

Here’s the Vikings’ current CB pecking order:

• Byron Murphy Jr.
• Isaiah Rodgers
• James Pierre
• Dwight McGlothern
• Zemaiah Vaughn

It’s worth noting that McGlothern and Vaughn will be on the roster bubble this summer.

For Sneed, here’s his Pro Football Focus resume through six seasons:

• 2020: 68.4
• 2021: 63.6
• 2022: 77.7
• 2023: 72.5
• 2024: 36.3
• 2025: 50.4

And the passer rating allowed:

• 2020: 54.2
• 2021: 91.9
• 2022: 85.0
• 2023: 56.2
• 2024: 91.8
• 2025: 120.0

Sneed missed 65% of all games in Tennessee due to injury after a productive and mostly healthy run in Kansas City from 2020 to 2023. The ideal scenario, if signed by the Vikings, is Sneed turning back the clock three years to reclaim his glory days. Brian Flores has proved a couple of times that players are capable of that. See: Eric Wilson and Isaiah Rodgers.

A to Z Sports‘ Buck Reising painted an unflattering picture of Sneed after his release: “After former general manager Ran Carthon traded a 2024 third-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for and then signed Sneed to a four-year, $76.4 million deal, things could not have gone worse. Sneed appeared in only 12 of a possible 34 regular season games due to various injuries.”

“Sneed accounted for zero interceptions and is credited with only one pass break-up in those 12 games, per Pro Football Focus. His presence was malignant in Tennessee on a number of different fronts. Current general manager Mike Borgonzi signed defensive backs Alontae Taylor, Cor’Dale Flott and Josh Williams this week prior to jettisoning Sneed from the Titans roster.”

That means he’ll be available for cheap.

A Depth CB Needed No Matter What

Let’s pretend Minnesota has no interest in Sneed, who will be gettable on an affordable prove-it contract. Flores should still add another corner. The top of the draft next month offers options like this:

• Avieon Terrell (Clemson)
• Brandon Cisse (South Carolina)
• Chris Johnson (San Diego State)
• Colton Hood (Tennessee)
• D’Angelo Ponds (Indiana)
• Jermod McCoy (Tennessee)
• Keith Abney II (Arizona State)
• Mansoor Delane (LSU)

From free agency, in addition to Sneed, this is the current list:

• Adoree’ Jackson
• Cam Taylor-Britt
• Darnay Holmes
• Derion Kendrick
• Jack Jones
• Marshon Lattimore
• Myles Bryant
• Rasul Douglas
• Trevon Diggs

Sneed turned 29 in January.

While the days of soccer being a go-to conservative punching bag for being “socialist” or a “sign of the nation’s moral decay” have largely subsided, right-leaning publications still regularly trot out arguments for why the “US doesn’t care about soccer” or the sport is “unjust and un-American“.

In recent years, the sport has also served as a lighting rod in American culture wars, with the US women’s national team in particular landing in the crosshairs of Donald Trump and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement for its outspoken progressive players.

With the men’s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico rapidly approaching and Donald Trump aggressively promoting the tournament and deepening his relationship with FIFA, the American president is facing one of his toughest sells yet: soccer to his supporters.

Trump’s World Cup?

Despite weighing in on America’s eternal ‘soccer’ vs. ‘football’ debate, most of Trump’s soccer push is not directly related to the sport itself.

“While compared to other countries around the world, soccer is less political here,” Jeffrey Kraus, political scientist at Wagner College, New York, told DW. “This upcoming World Cup has in many ways taken a political tone.”

“There’s a sense that FIFA has embraced President Trump, which certainly associates the tournament with the president,” he continued.

Trump’s ever-intensifying relationship with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and FIFA’s partnership with the president’s new Board of Peace have helped make Trump the face of a continent-spanning World Cup.

For some conservatives, Trump’s enthusiasm for soccer doesn’t feel out of place given his approach to popular sports generally.

“He’s always been a sports guy – just look at his connection to UFC and wrestling,” Chris Vance, President of the UCLA Young Republicans, told DW. “He’s always been about entertainment, he was in that business a long time, so it makes sense.”

Evolving soccer culture

While American soccer isn’t generally as overtly politicized as in many parts of Europe, its comparably young and immigrant-heavy fanbase tends to be more progressive.

Anti-ICE protests have been a major point of contention among Major League Soccer (MLS) fans and league officials since Trump’s reelection.

Ryan Shirah, a member of the ‘American Outlaws’ US National Team supporters group who’s attended over 120 men’s and women’s US matches, argues that though most fans avoid politics in the stands, they broadly lean in one direction.

“I won’t shy away from the fact that there’s a humanistic element there — I think most soccer fans in America tend to lean on the more progressive, human rights-focused side of things,” Shirah told DW.

Shirah said political tensions in the supporters section were highest in the immediate wake of Trump’s first election, where there was concern Trump’s anti-Mexican campaign rhetoric would spill into the stands at a USA vs Mexico World Cup qualifier in Columbus, Ohio.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen, if people would be trying to chant, ‘build that wall’,” Sirah explained. “It’s something we didn’t want to bring into our atmosphere and we kept out. Generally, we haven’t really had an issue.”

Soccer’s continued growth means the political makeup of its American fans is likely to shift.

“Since the US hosted the 1994 World Cup, soccer has become a bigger part of American life,” said political scientist Kraus. “Much of the population growth since the 90s has been through immigration, and many of the folks who come here brought their love of the ‘beautiful game’.”

Growing Republican support among Latinos in the 2024 election demonstrates that the political views of immigrants, many of whom are driving the sport’s growth in the US, can evolve and potentially change US soccer culture in turn.

And while the arrival of Lionel Messi in Miami has brought wider attention to the sport, organizers are hoping the 2026 World Cup can further propel soccer into the American mainstream. As it gets bigger, soccer will increasingly appeal to conservative fans.

“I live on Staten Island, one of the most suburban and conservative boroughs in New York City. When I was younger, on Saturdays you’d drive around and the athletic fields would be filled with kids playing baseball. Now it’s soccer,” said Kraus. It is perhaps of note that Staten Island is the only NYC borough won by Donald Trump in 2024.

The next MAGA sporting sensation?

Vance, who notes he’s a bit of an outlier among his peers due to his interest in soccer, is excited for the US to play World Cup matches in Los Angeles.

“It’s cool to host it here. I think of it almost as a conservative sport because it’s so community based, or at the very least not really as a politically-leaning sport,” he said.

Organized supporters like Shirah tend not to dwell too much on potential political differences with fellow fans as long as they can maintain a welcoming atmosphere in the stadium.

“We haven’t had a major tournament since the election, but why have that (offensive) nonsense into the stadium if we don’t have to? So far, so good,” he said.

“We don’t care what you do or what podcasts you listen to after the 90 minutes. If you’re passionate about the team and not using slurs or anything, that’s fine. We all have walks of life, and I think that’s what makes America great.”

First, the US will have to have a successful run at the World Cup to make the most of a generational opportunity. If they can do that, existing supporters may well have to worry about the politics of new fans — a problem many of them likely wouldn’t mind.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has broken with recent tradition and made the right decision when it comes to letting Casemiro leave – despite most supporters wanting him to stay

It feels like a crime against football to disagree with Bryan Robson. He is a Manchester United legend after all. One of the greatest midfielder of his generation, a thoroughly decent bloke whose opinions deserve the utmost respect.

But when it comes to his feelings towards Casemiro, Robson is wrong. Robson has called on Michael Carrick to ensure the club does not allow Casemiro to leave.

“I would encourage Casemiro to stay,” he said, “he’s had a really good season this year. He’s a top player. He’s got a great football brain. He’s a really good passer of the ball. He heads the ball well and when he goes in to tackle, he means it.

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our United WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. You can also join our United Facebook page by clicking HERE and don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.

“You don’t stay at Real Madrid for the amount of years he did and win Champions League titles if you’re not an absolute top player and people see what you’re really good at.”

Ever since announcing he would be leaving Old Trafford in the summer, Casemiro has indulged in a long goodbye with United supporters. During United’s crucial 3-1 home win over Aston Villa, the Brazilian was serenaded with pleas to do “one more year”. But what Robson & Co are overlooking, is the fact Casemiro is not the future.

He is 34 and costing United a small fortune. And it’s the precise reason co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has decided to cut ties with him. When Ratcliffe and his INEOS group purchased a stake in United, one of the first things he did was order an interval review of the squad, including each player’s contract.

And what jumped out at Ratcliffe was the fact Casemiro was earning close to £400,000-a-week. Ratcliffe knew Casemiro was a world class footballer. What he couldn’t get his head around was why United had chosen to invest £70m plus wages in someone who was 30, and had had fitness issues in Madrid.

In short, there was a reason Real were prepared to sell Casemiro. He was costing them too much money and was considered past his best. So Real’s indulgence became United’s. Casemiro has served his purpose at United. He’s been a short term fix, not a long-term solution.

Questioning the decision to let him leave shows a lack of vision and foresight. Two issues which have haunted the club in recent times. For once, Ratcliffe has got a decision right. United need fresh legs in midfield next season, and have to sign someone who the manager can build his team around.

Someone who will add value to the team for a long time to come. United need to look forward – not back.

The UEFA Champions League features a clash between two of its biggest teams this week as Real Madrid lock horns with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side in a crucial knockout encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. Real Madrid won the first leg by a comprehensive 3-0 margin and will look to maintain their lead this week.

Manchester City vs Real Madrid Preview

Real Madrid are currently in second place in the La Liga standings and have been fairly impressive so far this season. Los Blancos thrashed Elche by a 4-1 margin in their previous game and will look to achieve a similar scoreline this week.

Manchester City, on the other hand, are in second place in the Premier League table at the moment and have not been at their best this season. The home side was held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by West Ham United over the weekend and will need to work hard to take it up a notch in this fixture.

Manchester City vs Real Madrid Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

• Real Madrid have a slight edge over Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League and have won seven out of the 18 matches played between the two teams, as opposed to Manchester City’s six victories.
• Real Madrid have won four of their last five matches in all competitions, with their only defeat during this period coming by a 1-0 margin at the hands of Getafe in a La Liga match earlier this month.
• Manchester City have remained winless in three of their last four matches in all competitions and have played out draws in two of these games, with their only victory during this period coming by a 3-1 margin against Newcastle United in the FA Cup earlier this month.

Manchester City vs Real Madrid Prediction

Real Madrid have come into their own over the past week and have managed to score seven goals in their last two games. Federico Valverde scored a brilliant hat-trick in the first leg and will look to make a similar impact this week.

Manchester City have stuttered on multiple fronts this month and cannot afford to put a foot wrong in this fixture. Both teams are evenly matched at the moment and could play out a draw in this game.

Prediction: Manchester City 2-2 Real Madrid

Manchester City vs Real Madrid Betting Tips

Tip 1: Result – Draw

Tip 2: Game to have over 2.5 goals – Yes

Tip 3: Real Madrid to score first – Yes