Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle says Nigeria will play for victory when they face Poland in Wednesday’s international friendly in Warsaw.

The Nigerian team received a major boost on Tuesday with the arrival of Fulham defender Calvin Bassey, taking the number of players in camp to 20 ahead of the clash at the 58,000-capacity PGE Narodowy Stadium.

Bassey’s arrival gives Chelle more defensive options as the coach continues shaping his squad following Nigeria’s recent Unity Cup triumph in London.

“Now, we have a team and we are preparing to go out there and win. Winning is the mentality that we are trying to create in the team, in the players. We will go for a win on Wednesday,” Chelle said.

The former Mali coach now has several defensive combinations available, with Semi Ajayi, Igoh Ogbu and Emmanuel Fernandez also in camp.

Nigeria’s goalkeeping department also looks competitive, with Maduka Okoye arriving in strong condition after joining training on Monday. Arthur Okonkwo, who kept clean sheets in his first two appearances for Nigeria during the Unity Cup, is also pushing for a starting place alongside Francis Uzoho.

In midfield, captain Wilfred Ndidi is expected to play a leading role alongside Frank Onyeka, Raphael Onyedika, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Tochukwu Nnadi and Abdullahi Bewene.

The attack contains several in-form forwards including Moses Simon, Terem Moffi, Akor Adams, Rafiu Durosinmi and Philip Otele.

One of the biggest talking points in camp, however, has been Paul Onuachu after the striker woke up in Warsaw to news that he had won the Turkish Super Lig Goal of the Season award.

The towering Trabzonspor forward was reportedly one of the standout performers during training as confidence continues to grow within the squad.

Poland are also expected to experiment with several younger players after handing debut opportunities during their recent match against Ukraine.

Coach Jan Urban may rely on winger Jakub Kamiński alongside a group that includes Oskar Pietuszewski, Mateusz Żukowski, Norbert Wojtuszek, Kacper Potulski and Oskar Wójcik.

Wednesday’s match kicks off at 8:45pm local time in Poland (7:45pm Nigeria time).

Iran finalized a 26-man World Cup squad on Monday to play in the United States including 17 home-based players whose clubs have not played since February due to the Middle East regional war.

Star forward Mehdi Taremi, who plays in Greece for Olympiakos, was among nine overseas players but they did not include his strike partner at the 2022 World Cup, Sardar Azmoun.

Azmoun was dropped from coach Amir Ghalenoei’s squad in March, reportedly because of a social media post that angered Iranian authorities during the ongoing war with the United States and Israel. His teammate at Dubai club Shabab Al-Ahli, Saeid Ezatolahi, was picked.

Iran features five players with clubs in the United Arab Emirates, two in Belgium, Taremi in Greece and one in Russia. Belgium-based Dennis Dargahi on the official squad list is known as Dennis Eckert Ayensa at his club Standard Liege.

Iran is preparing for the World Cup at a training camp in Antalya, Turkey, before a scheduled departure on Friday to its tournament base in Tijuana, Mexico.

Citing complexities with visa issues to enter the U.S., Iran got FIFA approval 10 days ago to move from a planned training base in Tucson, Arizona.

Iran plays two games in World Cup Group G in Inglewood, California – against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later – then goes to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26.

Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington, Texas, if both place second in their groups.

Iran: 
Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand (Tractor), Hossein Hosseini (Sepahan), Payam Niazmand (Persepolis) 
Defenders: Danial Eiri (Malavan), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan), Saleh Hardani (Esteghlal), Hossein Kanaani (Persepolis), Shoja Khalilzadeh (Tractor), Milad Mohammadi (Persepolis), Ali Nemati (Foolad), Ramin Rezaeian (Foolad) 
Midfielders: Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Saeid Ezatolahi (Shabab Al-Ahli), Mehdi Ghayedi (Al-Nasr), Saman Ghoddos (Kalba), Mohammad Ghorbani (Al-Wahda), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Dender), Mohammad Mohebi (Rostov), Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia (Esteghlal), Mehdi Torabi (Tractor), Aria Yousefi (Sepahan) 
Forwards: Ali Alipour (Persepolis), Dennis Dargahi (Standard Liege), Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (Tractor), Mehdi Taremi (Olympiakos), Shahriar Moghanlou (Kalba).

Alice Capsey hits 82 whilst Heather Knight finishes unbeaten on 70 as England chase down 181, the highest run-chase in women’s T20 history in England, to secure a six-wicket win against India, sealing an impressive 2-1 series win in Taunton.

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A couple of months ago, Megha Ganne, the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and a decorated collegiate player, surprisingly missed the cut at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. And how did she take it?

She called it cool.

Let her explain.

“ANWA was cool for me because I have not played that poorly in a big event in a long time, so I guess there has always been a little pocket of my head where it’s like, What happens when you don’t play well at a really big tournament?” she said Monday at the U.S. Women’s Open, her first start as a professional.

She seems to already think and talk like a pro.

“Maybe not fear is the right word, but just curiosity of what that would look like and how that would affect me,” she continued, answering the question about how she stays confident when things don’t go her way. “At ANWA I learned the answer, and the answer is absolutely nothing. Life goes on. Then you wake up the next day and go practice. So I think just knowing there is so many opportunities, so many opportunities to prove yourself is the main thing I learned.”

That next opportunity is this week, at the 81st U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and Ganne enters with some momentum. Last week, she helped her Stanford women’s golf team win the NCAA Championship, its third win in the last five years. Ganne finished second in stroke play and then went undefeated in match play, even clinching the title-winning point in the final against USC.

That put a bow on her senior year at Stanford, where over the last few years she continued to morph into one of the best amateur golfers in the country.

Now, as a professional — she finished atop the LPGA’s LCAP Ranking, meaning she has full Epson Tour status — she has new goals, like “just being comfortable being uncomfortable,” as she gets used to life on tour.

This will be Ganne’s fourth major start — and third U.S. Women’s Open — and she’s five years removed from her first, where for most of the week she was the talk of the tournament. As a 17-year-old, she held a share of the first-round lead, was tied for 3rd after 54 holes and ultimately finished 14th at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club.

She’s played in pro events since then, but for amateurs playing up with professionals, the whole thing can feel so novel, she said. Now it’s a job.

“When you go on Tour just with an exemption or just once, you spend so much time getting accustomed to the stuff that feels a little bit different, you don’t feel like you can maybe delve into your routines as much,” she said. “So I’m excited to build those new routines and see what they look like.”

English football legend David Beckham is set to be honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, organizers announced on Tuesday, as the United States counts down to the FIFA World Cup, which it is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada.

The 51-year-old former England captain’s plaque on the famous Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles will be unveiled at a ceremony on June 12 ahead of the first game of the tournament on US soil between the United States and Paraguay in nearby Inglewood later that evening.

“David Beckham’s recognition with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in the Sports Entertainment category comes at a fitting moment as the United States prepares to host the FIFA World Cup,” said Ana Martinez of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

“Beckham’s role in elevating soccer’s profile in America and his lasting influence on sports, entertainment, and global culture make this honor especially meaningful,” she said.

Beckham: From English talent to global celebrity

In a highly decorated club playing career, Beckham enjoyed most success at Manchester United where he won six Premier League titles and the Champions League – the latter as part of an unprecedented treble in 1999.

He went on to star for European giants Real Madrid, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as American MLS side LA Galaxy, and also made 115 appearances for England, who he represented at three World Cups.

Since retiring in 2013, he has become a co-owner of the American team Inter Miami CF, which signed Argentine superstar Lionel Messi and won the Major League Soccer Cup Championship last year.

Beckham, who was knighted by the United Kingdom‘s King Charles III last year, has also ventured into the entertainment industry, co-founding the content production company Studio 99 in 2019.

Ever since meeting his wife Victoria, a former pop singer with the Spice Girls, in the late 1990s, Beckham has enjoyed global celebrity status far beyond the football pitch.

The World Cup kicks off on June 11 when co-host Mexico faces South Africa in Mexico City.

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Edited by: Roshni Majumdar

Man Utd had a successful summer transfer window last year and are hoping to make similar signings in this window.

Last summer, Manchester United’s transfer business suggested the penny may have finally dropped with recruitment at Old Trafford.

United signed Matheus Cunha (£62.5m), Bryan Mbeumo (£65m + £6m), Benjamin Sesko (£66.4m + £7.3m) and Senne Lammens (£18.2m), and all four players have played important roles in a season in which United finished third.

Cunha, Mbeumo and Sesko reached double figures for goals, and there was not a single period of the campaign without one of the trio being in form, despite there being peaks and troughs for them all.

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They perfectly dovetailed. Mbeumo made an exceptional start to the season, Cunha started to find his feet in December, and Sesko enjoyed a purple patch in 2026.

Lammens was so good that he was named the Premier League’s Transfer of the Season, beating the likes of Rayan Cherki, Joao Pedro, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Granit Xhaka to the award.

United’s strategy was a mix of signing Premier League-proven players, Cunha and Mbeumo, and players that the data department, along with scouts, had strongly recommended.

Cunha and Mbeumo were seen as players who could make an immediate impact at United due to their experience in the Premier League, while Sesko and Lammens were expected to need a period of adaptation.

Sesko got off to a slow start in Manchester, scoring just two goals before Christmas, while Altay Bayindir was played ahead of Lammens until he was finally handed his debut against Sunderland in October.

A few weeks ago, United sources admitted that club chiefs felt their approach of targeting Premier League-proven players had been vindicated, and that a similar approach would be used in future windows.

That suggests United’s approach for the foreseeable future will be considering players from the Premier League, along with some signings from abroad when the data and financials align for a deal.

Ederson falls into the latter category. The 26-year-old can play as a deep-lying midfielder or as a No.8, and he has built a reputation in Italy for his running power, averaging 10.6km per game in the Champions League this season.

Those are the kind of running stats that endear a player to United’s data department. The Reds’ record of signing players from Serie A does not bode well, but the key decision-makers believe Ederson will be a good addition.

The Brazilian is being signed to strengthen the squad ahead of a season in which the schedule will return to normal, and everything is moving in the right direction for the midfielder to arrive in a deal worth around £38m.

Ederson’s arrival at Old Trafford is not expected to alter United’s plans to sign a marquee midfielder to replace Casemiro, with significant investment earmarked to secure a replacement.

Elliot Anderson is at the top of United’s midfielder shortlist, and he’s an example of a Premier League-proven target. Anderson has been brilliant for Nottingham Forest, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox were in attendance when he impressed at Old Trafford last month.

The downside of targeting Premier League players is the cost attached to those deals. Forest value Anderson at around £100m, and Manchester City also want to sign him, which could spark a battle for his signature. United are not prepared to be drawn into a bidding war with City, though.

United are exploring a signing at left-back, and Newcastle defender Lewis Hall is admired, but he is contracted at St. James’ Park until 2029, and Newcastle’s financial position has been strengthened by the sale of Anthony Gordon to Barcelona, which alleviates pressure to sell more top players.

Newcastle signed Hall in a £35m deal two years ago, and the expectation is they would at least double that to consider a sale, which shows why United’s new strategy in the market is sometimes difficult to execute.

The good news is that United have the power to turn the heads of players from Premier League rivals. They are England’s biggest club, can pay top wages and will compete in the Champions League next season.

Transfers between Premier League clubs are rarely cheap, but they come with less risk attached.

Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package

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Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.

Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.

Early extension is a golf-swing killer.

We’ve covered this topic ad nauseam on this site — but for good reason. When you thrust your hips toward the ball too early in the downswing, you eliminate the space needed to effectively turn through the ball. When that happens, your ball striking always suffers.

Understanding the proper technique to eliminate early extension is extremely important. However, for some golfers, understanding the issue is only half the battle. Because of physical limitations in their bodies, they simply can’t execute the technique that eliminates early extension.

“Everybody talks about mobility and strength, but I think one thing that is often overlooked is stability,” says GOLF Top 100 Teacher Tony Ruggiero. “If you’re not stable enough in that [front] leg, you’re gonna want to stand.”

If you’re someone who suffers from early extension, check out the video below. In it, Tony shares three different exercises you can do to strengthen your body so you can move in a way that doesn’t result in early extension.

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3 exercises to fix early extension

What I love about the exercises Tony showed me is that they incorporate the movements of a golf swing. They don’t simply target the necessary muscle groups; they also force your body to move in the same way that they do during the golf swing.

1. Punch exercise

The first drill is what I call the punch exercise. To set up, get into your golf posture and then drop your trail foot back away from the ball. Next, grab an exercise band that is tethered behind you and pull it across your chest with your trail arm. From there, reach around your body and punch toward the target as you turn your body through.

“That’s pure rotation,” Ruggiero says. “That’s your ribcage rotating through and over to your left leg. When you do that and isolate your weight over your left leg, it’s helping build stability.”

2. Rowing exercise

The next drill is the rowing exercise. For this exercise, get into your golf posture. This time, grab either end of the exercise band in each hand with the center of the band tethered on the ground in front of you. From there, make a rowing motion going back with your trail hand, and then as you turn through to your lead side, make a rowing motion going back with your lead hand.

“There you should actually feel with this resistance having to push off the ground a little,” Ruggiero says.

3. Hinge exercise

For the final exercise, get into your golf posture once again with your trail foot dropped back behind you. This time, hold the shaft of the club across your shoulders. From there, rotate fully toward the target, posting up on your lead leg.

“A lot of people when they do that the first time, they’ll feel that their foot is fighting to hold the ground,” Ruggiero says.

Hunter Brown, Wyatt Langford are closing in on return

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Jun 2, 2026

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In a battle of two youngsters heavily tipped to challenge leading lights Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, it was Jakub Mensik who outlasted his younger opponent Joao Fonseca to book a place in his first grand slam semi-final.

The match in some ways mimicked those early clashes between Alcaraz and Sinner: the flashy, much-hyped, pure shotmaker and entertainer against the more brutal, clinical, machine-like opponent. And in this case it was the precise serving of Mensik – coupled with a delicate touch at the net – that prevailed over the more spectacular, but equally more erratic, tennis of his 19-year-old challenger.

The Czech sped through the first two sets before a sudden drop-off in the third, with Fonseca pulling ahead only to be pegged back several times and eventually falling 6-4 6-3 7-6(3) – having saved six match points along the way.

“I’m still in the match a little bit,” a shell-shocked Mensik said afterwards. “Great guy, great competitor. We started a little bit nervous and at the end of the match there were some incredible shots. The tiebreak was one of my best performances so far, it was really tough.”

It became clear early on that 26th seed Mensik would not just be facing the young Brazilian, ranked three places and two seedings below him, but a crowd heavily weighted in his opponent’s favour, too. The first roars of “Come on Joao” erupted before the warm-up was even over, and as Fonseca slipped to 0-30 in his second service game, a concerned ripple went around Chatrier. Their man responded with a cleverly constructed point, dragging 20-year-old Mensik out wide before blasting home his signature venomous forehand, with an ace and more thunderous groundstrokes digging him out of trouble.

But having been pushed and pulled around the court early on Mensik found his game, venturing to the net with increasing success and capitalising on the increasingly loose Fonseca forehand. The Czech broke for 3-2 and earned another break point at 4-2, but this time Fonseca settled, rediscovering that brutal forehand and combining it with silky net skills of his own to keep the deficit to just one game.

But Mensik, having found his groove, remained resolute in defence and ventured to the net with increasing success, floating disguised drop shots past his opponent and finding solutions to nearly everything Fonseca threw at him as the Brazilian’s trademark forehand crumbled late in the first set.

Mensik outlasted the 19-year-old in a brutal 28-shot baseline rally at 5-3, waiting patiently until Fonseca hit long, and hit 15 winners to nine unforced errors in the first set.

His patient game continued into the second set, and it paid off: from 40-0 up at 2-2 in the second the teenager suddenly wilted, with a double fault and two unforced errors letting Mensik back in, before the former Miami champion came out on top in an 18-shot rally. He was clean on serve, delicate at the net and a wall in defence, with a fine cross-court backhand winner bringing up break point, and a sharply angled drop shot sealing the game.

Fonseca was back under pressure on serve once again at 5-3, saving a first set point with a laser-accurate forehand onto the sideline. But in a game that summed up both his brilliance and his erratic play, he double-faulted to give Mensik a second chance, and the Czech somehow kept himself in another superb 12-shot rally, chasing down the ball across every square inch of red clay, with Fonseca ultimately firing wide. By the end of the second set Mensik had only been taken to deuce once and was yet to face a break point.

But Fonseca left the court to regroup after the second set and looked a different player on his return. The belief was back, the aggression was renewed, and perhaps most significantly, his forehand was firing again.

That coincided with Mensik hitting three double faults in his opening service game – having made only one across the first two sets – to be broken for the first time. “Allez!” roared Fonseca, and the Brazil flags waved with renewed vigour. Having come back from two sets to love down twice already this tournament, first against Dino Prizmic and most notably against Novak Djokovic, the stage was set for Fonseca to do it again.

But with Mensik shaking out his leg after the third game, it suddenly became clear quite how much tennis the two youngsters had played over the last 10 days. Errors crept back into Fonseca’s game and although he fought back from 0-40 down, saving three break points, Mensik broke back thanks to a drop shot falling just short. Both their heads seemed to drop a little; in the next game the 26th seed shanked an overhead he would have made with ease in the first two sets.

Fonseca broke for 4-3 and as the roars under the Philippe-Chatrier roof increased so did the tension, with the youngster betraying his tender age with a poorly chosen 205km/h second serve on 30-30 that went against him. The Brazilian upped the aggression – each increasingly violent forehand accompanied by a grunt corresponding in volume – but Mensik battled back, and two shanked forehands by the teenager at the end of a mammoth game handed over another break for 5-5.

Fonseca’s level dipped as he served to stay in it at 6-5, but the fatigue and the mental strain on the other side of the net were evident as Mensik – on his second match point – shanked an overhead well wide. Both players produced some of their most sparkling tennis in a backs-to-the-wall game – but Mensik could not make any of his six match points count, ultimately handing over the game after seven deuces with a backhand thumped into the net.

The Czech may not have quite the same panache as his opponent – although he produced his fair share of highlight-reel shots late on Chatrier – but he rediscovered his most potent weapon, his serve, in the tiebreak. He pulled ahead to earn a seventh match point at 6-3 up, and it was his other most dazzling strike, the angled cross-court drop shot, that eventually sealed the deal.

The pair shared a warm embrace, these twin titans-to-be of the sport, and the heavily partisan crowd put its flags down for a moment to applaud them both.

Roland-Garros 2026 has most certainly seen the young generation arrive, if there had been any doubt before, but their task only gets tougher from here. Fonseca had spent 14 and a half hours on court to reach the quarter-finals, Mensik 13, with the Czech’s semi-final opponent, Alexander Zverev, having spent only nine to reach the last eight.

The German has only dropped one set across five matches and goes into Friday’s last-four meeting having spent a full four hours less on court, and with an extra day to recover. Mensik collapsed on court with heat exhaustion after his gruelling second-round, five-set win over Mariano Navone; his body has been under significantly more strain than the experienced second seed, who has now reached his fifth French Open semi-final in six years. Mensik will need all of the mental fortitude he displayed on Tuesday night, and some more spring in his step, if he is to well and truly cement his generation as the danger men of this tournament.