Also in this sports roundup:

Atlético Madrid lost 2-1 at home to Barcelona but are also through to the Champions League semi-finals. In the 2027 World Cup qualifiers, the French women’s team relinquished their top spot in Group A to the Netherlands.

In rugby, Gaël Fickou is set to join RC Toulon.

In tennis, Carlos Alcaraz won on home soil in Barcelona.

In just over two months, soccer fans will descend on stadiums across North America for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But those thousands of fans won’t get to take part in a long-running pregame tradition — at least at the venues located in the U.S.

FIFA is set to ban pregame tailgating at U.S. stadiums during the tournament, according to multiple reports Tuesday. NFL venues such as Arrowhead Stadium, Gillette Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field, among others, were listed as host sites where fans will not be allowed to tailgate this summer.

It was not immediately clear what led to the decision or why it is being introduced.

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A general view shows the empty parking lot at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sept. 14, 2020, as no fans were allowed at the NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)

The governing body and tournament organizer may be aiming to prevent crowd-control issues similar to those that surfaced when Copa América was held in Miami. Large gatherings outside stadium entry gates fueled logistical hurdles.

Tailgating has long been synonymous with American sports culture, giving fans a budget-friendly way to enjoy the game-day atmosphere.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PRICES HIT ABSURD LEVELS FOR WORLD CUP GAMES: REPORT

But with that option gone, fans may encounter a very different pregame scene this summer. While FIFA will oversee venues during the tournament, the atmosphere outside them could ultimately prove more challenging to manage.

Real Madrid fans tailgate outside MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, before the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 semi-final match against Paris Saint-Germain on July 9, 2025. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

The move to outlaw tailgating comes as several host cities adjust transportation plans to ease traffic flow around World Cup venues. Fans attending matches at MetLife Stadium in the New York area will not be able to park in the stadium’s usual gameday lots.

Fans of Real Madrid tailgate in a parking lot outside Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 group H match against FC Red Bull Salzburg on June 26, 2025. (Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images)

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Public transportation is expected to be the primary alternative, though travelers may face higher fares to cross state lines. New Jersey Transit could charge more than $100 for round-trip service to MetLife Stadium during games, The Athletic reported.

On a typical day, the 18-mile commute commands a fare of less than $13.

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Barrengarry suffered a minor false dawn a couple of Saturdays earlier, however, the gelding is primed for Group company this Saturday amid the Sydney Autumn Carnival.

The three-year-old looks to extend his rise through the $250,000 Frank Packer Plate (2000m) conducted at Randwick.

Positioned as a Group 3 spectacle two weeks beyond the Carbine Club Stakes—a race Barrengarry nominated for yet scratched amid a trivial concern—Kembla Grange handler Joe Ible anticipates the grand occasion keenly.

“He was in to run in the Carbine a week ago but he just wasn’t 100 percent so we scratched him,” the Kembla Grange trainer said.

“He looks like he’s bounced back nicely. He had a good trial on Friday at Canterbury.

“Horses like this are what we get out of bed every day and do it for. To have a horse like him walk in the stable, it certainly invigorates you and gets you going.”

In pursuit of a hat-trick, he’ll confront foes like Tulloch Stakes silver medallist Eureka Rebel, Providence off a Moonee Valley Vase second, alongside Matias and Olympian who nabbed third and fourth in the Carbine Club Stakes over the weekend.

This trajectory marks an improbable ascent for Ghaiyyath’s progeny, opening with a fourth over 1200m in Nowra’s maiden event last November.

His home track effort on February 17 yielded third across 1400m, succeeded by a commanding 1600m maiden breakthrough at Newcastle March 6, then a gritty 1500m Midway score against elders at Rosehill March 21.

Last Friday brought his only recent public trial over 1100m, placing fifth in a field of seven, roughly four lengths behind the winner.

Ible remains thrilled yet surprised by Barrengarry’s pace of growth, pondering bolder targets this campaign pending a solid Saturday effort.

“He’s always shown us something, but I wouldn’t have thought he’d be getting there as quickly as he has,” Ible said.

“The way he’s progressed this preparation, he still looks a bit backward and his mannerisms are a bit immature, so out of this preparation you start to think about what the future could be.

“If he was to go out and perform as we hope (this weekend) there’s a chance we’ll end up in Brisbane.”

Envisioned there is the $1 million Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) slated for Eagle Farm on May 30.

Discover prime betting sites with the best racing odds for the Frank Packer Plate.

The debut seasonal win held no surprises for trainer Peter Snowden concerning unbeaten filly Plaintiff, but her impressive execution may have piqued some curiosity.

This elite-bred three-year-old, a Zoustar foal out of champion Group One horse Prompt Response, pursues another victory to make it five on the trot in the Group 3 JHB Carr Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Plaintiff registered a highlight victory on the star-filled first day of The Championships, storming from last to victory in the Group 3 PJ Bell Stakes (1200m), as Snowden highlighted her ongoing stakes-calibre form.

“It wasn’t a surprise to us,” Snowden said.

Her previous preparation featured three city wins from three starts, with the stable always possessing firm belief in her quality.

Plaintiff is the firm $1.90 pick for Saturday’s JHB Carr Stakes, leaving Snowden convinced of her prospects to stay perfect en route to grander Queensland goals.

“I think she can go on with it,” Snowden said.

“She’s got a really good attitude, she’s got a good racing profile, she doesn’t pull, she relaxes really well and she’s got a turn of foot so she should get seven furlongs okay.

“We’ll get through Saturday and see what happens, but she’s got good ability and you can aim a bit higher with her and know she’ll be competitive.”

In prior runs she hugged the pace, yet Snowden trusts Plaintiff has every tool to take out the JHB Carr Stakes regardless of running style, with 57kg the heaviest under set weights plus penalties.

“She’s sat outside the leader in her first preparation at Rosehill so she’s pretty adaptable,” Snowden said

“You never get too far ahead of yourself but she’s certainly full of good potential.”

For the JHB Carr Stakes, punters should review betting sites with the strongest racing odds.

Referee Matteo Marchetti will be in charge of Friday’s Serie A clash between Inter Milan and Cagliari.

The Lega Serie A have announced the complete list of officials for the weekend, via FCInterNews. Francesco Meraviglia will be on VAR duty for the match.

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Inter Milan have gone from strength to strength since returning from the March international break.

Indeed, after a 5-2 rout of Roma in their last outing at San Siro, they beat Como 4-3 on the road.

As a result, Cristian Chivu is on the verge of winning the Scudetto in his first season at the club.

With only six games left to play, the Nerazzurri boast a handsome nine-point lead over second-placed Napoli.

Matteo Marchetti to Referee Inter Milan vs Cagliari Serie A Clash – Meraviglia On VAR

The referee for Friday’s game will be Matteo Marchetti.

Assisting Marchetti in his duties will be Claudio Rossi and Alex Cavallina.

The role of the fourth official, meanwhile, will fall to Kevin Bonacina.

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In the VAR booth, Francesco Meraviglia will oversee the match to correct any errors made by the on-pitch officials.

Assisting Meraviglia in his duties will be Marco Di Bello.

After falling victim to disastrous officiating in several matches this season, Inter will hope to avoid further controversy in this clash.

Udonis Haslem has defended LaMelo Ball following the controversial play that led to Bam Adebayo leaving the game with injury.

The incident happened during the Charlotte Hornets’ overtime win over the Miami Heat, when Ball was seen grabbing Adebayo’s leg as both players chased a loose ball, causing the Heat big man to fall awkwardly.

The play was quickly labeled dirty by critics.

Haslem, however, disagreed.

“Obviously, emotions are flying and everybody’s competing at a high level,” he said during halftime coverage.

“But what I will say is LaMelo is not a dirty player. I don’t think he meant to do that intentionally to hurt Bam.”

He described the moment as a split-second reaction rather than deliberate intent.

“In the heat of the moment… sometimes you make split-second decisions. I think he made a split-second decision.”

While defending Ball’s intent, Haslem still questioned the officiating.

“That’s got to be a call… I don’t know if that’s a flagrant or a regular foul… but I think something has to be called.”

“That’s a huge play to miss.”

On the other side, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra criticized the play, calling it a “stupid play” after Adebayo was forced out with a lower back injury.

Ball has since apologized, maintaining that there was no intention to cause harm.

By and large, Abyss Gears are among Crimson Desert’s biggest pillars of progression. These are socketable gems that you’d be familiar with if you played any ARPG before. There’s Abyss Gears that do piecemeal stat padding like a few points of extra damage or increasing your movement speed slightly. However, the bigger prize that opens up into the mid-game are those that add special effects to your Skills and attacks.

In many cases, these Abyss Gears can actually be the fundamental of your build. They are also freely moveable between weapons and armor. So when you see a unique weapon in Crimson Desert, you can extract its Abyss Gear that grants it that unique effect, and then socket it into your own weapon instead.

So, if you’re trying to get an overview of how to engage with the system, what you should use for min-maxing, or indeed whether your favorite playstyle has Abyss Gears aligned to it, here’s a full list of what you can find in Crimson Desert.

Every non-Skill based Abyss Gear in Crimson Desert, and how to get their blueprints

It’s likely that most Abyss Gears you’ll end up using in an end-game Crimson Desert build isn’t those that modify Skill effects. Instead, the way this game works incentivizes pushing up various stats like Attack Speed, Crit Rate, straight Attack (which doesn’t always equate 1:1 to actual damage) together.

Most Abyss Gears of this type will come in three tiers, and once you get their specific blueprint you can simply craft a higher tier by combining two of the lower-tier ones together.

All Abyss Gear obtainable from Witches in Crimson Desert

The primary way your interact with Abyss Gears in Crimson Desert is through witches. The first one you come in contact unlocks right after Chapter II. Sylvia, the Hermit Witch, is found in Shadow Whisper Cave north of Hernand City. Like all other witches, she can let you extract and embed Abyss Gear between weapons and armor for free (only creating new sockets cost money).

However, Sylvia is more of a demo-mode witch as she doesn’t have any wares to sell. All four other Witches in Crimson Desert sell Abyss Gear blueprints in Crimson Desert. Here’s what you get from each:

Note that maxing out Trust with Witches will not unlock any new Abyss Gear blueprints. If you do that, you’ll instead get access to powerful higher-tier Elixir blueprints.

Bane Abyss Gears (increased damage against specific enemies)

Starting from this section, you’ll see that the gear blueprint for the vast majority of Abyss Gear is quite hard to find. You have to spam Excavation Dispatch missions which take 3 days to complete, and even then the chances of getting a specific one is only 2%.

On top of the time required, starting each of these Excavation projects also require a high amount of camp provision and coin. If you’re still struggling to get these secondary resources up, here’s a guide to the Dispatch mission strategy I used to get rich.

There are numerous Abyss Gears in Crimson Desert that increase damage dealt to a specific enemy faction (sort of like bane mods in Warframe). These only apply to the weapon you put it on, but even a basic Lvl I +4% is a significantly higher increase over a Lvl III Destruction.

Economy, Crafting, and progression-boosting Abyss Gears

While most Abyss Gears are geared towards combat, some also improve things you do in between. For Crimson Desert players who are committed to the long-term grind and resource-hoarding for its own sake, it’s feasible to create a secondary gear set just to boost the hunting-gathering-crafting loop.

However, I don’t really find much reason to ever use these if you just keep one set of weapons and armor to refine through the game. Some of these are readily more useful, like Ledgermain before a Gold-pickpocketing run, or Companionship when you’re out to create an army of pet cats.

Status Immunity and Elemental Resistance Abyss Gears

Elemental effects are no joke in Crimson Desert. As you venture into more frigid biomes or deal with menaces like the Skull Knight boss, you’ll find that getting frozen solid and electrocuted is a frustrating way to die.

The following Abyss Gears directly counter this by flat increments. The Elemental Resistance system in Crimson Desert is threshold-based, like for example Ice Resistance Lvl 5 altogether stops the stamina-regen debuff from exposure to cold.

These also act as flat additions on top of the whatever resistances you get natively beforehand. If you’re wearing a cloak or armor that gives you Ice Resistance, any Ice Resistance Abyss Gear you put on top will add to it. If you crack Lvl 10 like this, you completely negate all effects of Ice and cannot be frozen.

Meanwhile, some Abyss Gears also give you complete immunity to some more niche status effects.

Other utility and miscellaneous Abyss Gears

There are a lot of niche Abyss Gears in Crimson Desert you can find oddly useful.

I can point at Disarm as an easy example. On paper, even 3% chance to disarm enemies seems situational and nothing special. However, you can use Shield Bash with this to force humanoid enemies to drop their weapons to the ground. This is currently the basis for the most popular way to farm Abyss Gears in Icewatch Altar, Frosthold Pass, and Frosthold Entrance.

What are the best passive Abyss Gears to use in Crimson Desert?

The best Abyss Gears to this end are almost always Attack Speed on your gloves, boots, and shields, since Attack Speed is an universal increment. It affects all offensive maneuvers, including your armed and unarmed attacks, and even your Skills.

That being said, a lot of things (inclung +Attack Damage) have dimishing returns in Crimson Desert, so it’s also a good idea to mix it up with your Abyss Gears to pump up various effects in the end-game.

Effectively, you want to get a healthy mix of Critical Rate and Attack Speed (aim for 10 with both) to get the best DPS.

You also want a combination of Spirit Tansference and Composure if you don’t want to use Focus to regen Spirit in the middle of combat. Many of the best Skill-modifying Abyss Gears incur additional Spirit cost per attack, so this is a resource you want as much of as you can squeeze out.

Defensively, a combination of Damage Reduction 3.0 (Aegis) is essential, while flat Defense (Aegis) becomes less relevant if you use plate armor and reach higher refinement levels.

Greater Abyss Gears (and why they’re different)

When you fuse together two Lvl 2 Abyss Gears, there’s a low chance (reportedly 4%) that you get a Greater variant rather than the expected Lvl 3 variant.

These offer much higher overall boost above and beyond what Lvl 3 variants can give you. The tradeoff is that Greater Abyss Gears come with a durability meter (same as temporary weapons like Flame Spear), and they break after a while.

So if you get some of these when bulk-crafting Lvl 3 Abyss Gears, save them for an opportune moment where you could really use the boost.

All Skill-modifying Special Abyss Gears in Crimson Desert

Now that we’ve talked about all the Skill-agnostic ones, here’s where the real fun begins. Crimson Desert gives you the opportunity to upgrade and tailor any specific Skill on the Skill Tree as the bread and butter of your playstyle.

Skill Abyss Gears, primarily found on unique weapons scattered throughout the world (or sometimes locked behind bosses), augment that Skill to add more effects. None of these fundamentally alter the skill. Rather, they some auxiliar effect or just straight damage on top to make it better.

The fare for using them is higher resource cost. For example, all Abyss Gears that only trigger on Spinning Slash will also increase the Stamina cost of Spinning Slash. For those that switch up Turning Slash, it’s more Spirit cost that you have to manage.

You can actually stack multiple Abyss Gears that modify the same Skill, and get the effects of both. Only, the resource cost will also add up, often to such a degree that makes missing your mark very punishing.

If you really care about optimization, I’ve found that only selecting one based on what’s required on your build.

For example, Ator’s Orb is not that great for actual DPS increase due to how it can misfire on smaller enemies. However, it’s great for dealing posture damage to bosses, so you could spam it to bring the boss to a stun faster, and switch to another weapon with a more pure-DPS Abyss Gear.

In any case, here’s all the options available for each Skill/move:

Note that installing Abyss Gears that bolster a specific Skill in Crimson Desert doesn’t automatically give you the Skill. If it’s not unlocked by default, you’ll still have to go and get it from the Skill Tree first.

Check out our other guides on the game: