Sports
Why is it called soccer and not football in America?
It’s the argument that tears the Anglophone world apart. There is so much uniting us all but how can we possibly see that until this most divisive of beefs has been squashed? How can I, a Brit, and you, based on our analytics likely a reader for America, ever see eye to eye if we cannot agree on what to call the world’s greatest sport? Football or soccer. It can only be one.
Or can it?
To really understand why everyone on my side of the Atlantic is so angry about this, we must first do some etymological investigation. Indiana Jones but with dictionaries. We know where football comes from, that all makes sense. There’s a football. There’s a ball. Apply one to the other and you have your sport.
Soccer though, what’s that all about? Well like all the best stories — Brideshead Revisited, Harry Potter, The Inbetweeners — the story of soccer is the story of the English education system. We will, however, have to come back to that after a potted tour through the social history of this sceptred isle from which I write. Now, some formative version of what we would come to know as football/soccer/futbol has been played in the country for centuries.
If instead you’d like to explore the origins of soccer in America, “The Billion Dollar Goal” tells the story of U.S. soccer’s long road to relevance, culminating in the iconic 1989 strike that ended a 40-year World Cup drought and changed the sport in America, not to mention how the game came to be called soccer in America. Stream “The Billion Dollar Goal” now on Paramount+
In 1314 King Edward II banned the playing of football “as there is great noise in the city, caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils might arise which God forbid”. There’s a man who had a vision of Argentina suffer-balling their way to the World Cup final 700 years later. Football is referenced twice in the works of Shakespeare. In King Lear the Earl of Kent refers to Oswald (steward to Lear’s daughter Goneril) as a “base football player”, an insult that you can still find on X, the everything app, to this day.
North of the border Scotland’s Football Act of 1424 states “the king forbiddis that na man play at the fut ball under the payne of [four pence] to the lorde of the lande”. That’s $24.14 in today’s money, making this perhaps football’s first pay-to-play scandal.
You can still see the remnants of a formative football in events such as the Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football match in Derbyshire, a county in the heart of England. Played every year since 1667, it bears some of the hallmarks of the game that so entrances us in 2026. There are two goals, but they are three miles apart. The game is split into halves, each of which last eight hours. The ball isn’t passed or kicked, but moves in something that looks like either a rugby union scrum or a punch-up outside a Yate’s wine lodge on a Friday night. Interestingly, this latter facet of the game remains and has been the preferred tactics for ball progression at Manchester United in much of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
If the above can be considered football: a pre-history, then the game as we know it emerges in the public schools and factories of 19th-century Britain, where clubs looked to get some shared rules nailed down. In Yorkshire the team of Sheffield F.C. would codify their own game in the Sheffield Rules, 11 years after representatives from some of England’s grandest schools had agreed their own guidelines in Cambridge. Finally, in 1863, at the Freemasons’ Tavern on Long Acre in Covent Garden, London, the first meeting of the Football Association codified the game, with the Cambridge Rules as their guiding star. Association football was born.
Meanwhile, in the Midlands, William Webb Ellis had had a (perhaps apocryphal) revelation that rather than kicking the ball backwards, as the rules state, he could pick it up and run with it. From there came the football of Rugby School, or rugby as it would go on to be known (to this day, the governing bodies of the sport in England and Ireland remain rugby football unions). Of course, the powers that be at the FA could not allow this. They went one way, the rugby boys the other.
Following association football and rugby football, with a few tweaks, come Australian rules football, Gaelic football and, of course, the vastly inferior American football.
You might have spotted the problem here. That’s a lot of footballs. How to distinguish between them? As ever, Oxford University has the answer. Among its many gifts to the world is the Oxford “-er,” a suffix that is applied to bring an air of diffidence to conversation. Think cuppers for inter-college sporting events or Bodders for the university’s main library. To this day, it endures. Bengers, they used to call me. Well, that and some other unprintable things.
Legend has it that at breakfast one morning, Charles Wreford-Brown, who captained both the English football team and the amateur Corinthian FC side, was asked if he fancied a spot of “rugger after brekker” [rugby after breakfast]. He replied that he’d prefer to play soccer, which, it must be said, is a rather ambitious mangling of association (though it sure beats a more traditional formulation, which would have been “asser”). The lengths Englishmen will go to to avoid saying what they really feel.
For most of the 20th century, soccer and football were used interchangeably in the English sport, the former more of an upper-class signifier than any sign of interests beyond the British Isles. The greats of the game certainly took no issue with it. John Charles’ autobiography was titled King of Soccer, Sir Matt Busby’s Soccer at the Top: My Life in Football. That title alone points to the value of soccer, which is much the same as why we might refer to one of the hosts of this World Cup as any of: the U.S.A., the U.S., USMNT, the Stars and Stripes and the team the rest of the world is rooting against. For the reader and the writer, it’s helpful to not have to repeat the exact same nouns.
Stefan Szymanski and Silke-Maria Weineck note in ‘It’s Football, Not Soccer (And Vice Versa)’ that in the London Times usage of the word soccer to refer to the sport steadily rose up to 1980. In a similar study of the New York Times, where usage of soccer over football did not skyrocket until the 1970s, the age when American football began to establish itself as the dominant sport across the nation. Just like Wreford-Brown almost a century earlier, a different word was needed to distinguish these footballs. This time there was no need to invent one.
Still, soccer endured in England for quite some time. As late as 2023 you could turn on your cable/satellite/streaming television of a Saturday morning and settle down for four hours of Soccer AM before Soccer Saturday took you around all the grounds at 3 p.m.. No one, not even Matt Le Tissier, seemed to take issue with that.
And yet, anyone who has ventured onto social media and placed the word soccer in their bio will discover what short shrift that is given. I’ve seen them all, and it has to be said, this one was actually a pretty decent one.
What’s going on here? After all, it’s not like Americans are alone in calling it soccer. You’ll hear the same term in Australia and, in the right context, in Ireland. That does not seem to bother anyone.
Of course, the answer to that is even more straightforward. Even in the height of Crocodile Dundee-mania, nobody was particularly concerned about the warping effect of Australian culture across the rest of the Western world. Would French farmers have protested Supermac’s as vociferously as they did McDonald’s? Since the Second World War, much of the rest of the Western world has both quietly embraced and loudly rebelled against much in culture that has the whiff of the American to it. And if America is the largest footballing nation to predominantly call the game soccer, you can rest assured that soccer will come to be viewed as an American word.
Perhaps after reading this, you still believe that soccer is an American word. You are entitled to do so, much as there are those who are within their rights to hear English fans chant ‘It’s Coming Home’ and assume it’s an act of triumphalism. They’d be wrong, but that is their wrong to own.
Whether they realise it or not, @TikaTakaUnited [sic] and so many other soccer complainers find themselves locked in the fight against Coca-Colonisation. The word soccer to them is as American as apple pie. Apple pie, which traces its roots back to a 14th-century English cookbook.
McConnell may have taken the only gold but it was a successful Games for the boxing team as a whole with half of the 12-strong squad taking home a medal.
Michaela Walsh and Kaci Rock also leave Glasgow with a silver while Willie John McCartan, Garyn McAllister and Jude Gallagher, champion four years ago, all claimed bronze.
There was much made of the age profiles of the squad heading over to Glasgow, with eight aged 25 or under and nine competing at their first Games.
While Louis Rooney, Janssen Hill, Eoghan Quinn and JP Hale all fell at the first hurdle, they were the only four to not win at least one bout.
Nicole Clyde and Caitlin Fryers made it to the quarter-final stage while McCartan, McAllister and Gallagher exited at the semi-finals.
Some did receive the luck of the draw, with Walsh, Rock, Walsh, Hill, McAllister and McCartan going straight through to quarter-finals where they were one win away from a medal, but they still had to seize the initiative and push on.
For Walsh, it was a fourth successive medal at the Games, her third silver to add to the two from 2014 and 2018 and the gold from 2022.
She joins bowler Neil Booth, shooter Martin Millar plus Mike Bull and Lady Mary Peters from athletics on four medals at the Games.
Only shooter David Calvert has won more with eight.
She was “speechless” to hear her name mentioned among those greats, but her achievements demonstrate her longevity and she’s not finished yet.
“I’m proud of my performances throughout the whole tournament. I have Europeans now in six weeks and I’m using this as a springboard to that and I’m ready to go again,” she said.
“[Four medals] It’s obviously an amazing achievement. I’m lucky, I love boxing and I’m doing what I love. It’s a lifetime of work and it’s amazing for the medals to show that.”
While Walsh is used to such an occasion, it was easy for younger members of the team to be overawed at a first multi-sport competition, but Rock showed maturity beyond her years, particularly in fighting back to win the semi-final after losing the first round.
For Rock, like McConnell, it’s a first major medal at her first Games and she believes it is just the start for her and many of her team-mates.
“I think so many people doubted our team because we’re a younger, fresher and inexperienced team but we have six medals coming home.
“We’ve proven we’re only getting started and there’s so much more to come.”
Sports
Use BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS to get $1,500 in bonus bets for Dodgers-Red Sox, MLB betting on Saturday
The latest BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS gives new users $150 in bonus bets if their first bet wins or up to $1,500 in bonus bets if their qualifying wager loses. This offer depends on location. We’ve used SportsLine’s team of experts and SportsLine’s computer model to identify our MLB best bets on BetMGM Sportsbook today, which include picks from Braves vs. Nationals, Padres vs. Giants and Dodgers vs. Red Sox. Claim the latest BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS and bet on Saturday’s top games:
Saturday best bets at BetMGM Sportsbook
- Braves vs. Nationals: Nationals +1.5 runs (-135)
- Padres vs. Giants: Under 8.5 runs (-115)
- Dodgers vs. Red Sox: Dodgers to win (-170)
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Braves vs. Nationals: Nationals +1.5 runs (-135)
Washington has lost the first two games of the series, but its loss on Thursday came by just one run. The Nationals have been in strong form over the past two weeks, going 7-4 in their 11 games prior to this series. They are facing Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez, who has allowed a combined nine earned runs in his last three starts. Nationals starter Miles Mikolas has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his last three outings. SportsLine’s model has Washington covering the spread in 62% of simulations. Bet on Nationals vs. Braves by claiming the latest BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS here:
Padres vs. Giants: Under 8.5 runs (-115)
These teams have gone Under this total in back-to-back games to open the series, as San Francisco recorded a 4-1 win on Thursday before San Diego cruised to a 7-0 win on Friday. Padres starting pitcher Walker Buehler is aiming for a third consecutive solid start, and he is 8-3 with a 3.25 ERA in 16 career outings against the Giants. San Francisco starter Tyler Mahle is coming off one of his best performances of the season, allowing just three hits across six shutout innings in a 3-0 win over Milwaukee. The model projects 8.2 runs, as the Under cashes in 57% of simulations. Back the Under by claiming the latest BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS here:
Dodgers vs. Red Sox: Dodgers to win (-170)
“I don’t have many life “mantras,” but the Dodgers not losing back-to-back home games might be one,” SportsLine expert Matt Severance said. “Great win by Boston on Friday night, no doubt. Little bit different going from facing L.A.’s Cole Irvin, who sells Skechers in the offseason and was Friday’s primary pitcher (wish I had known that as it wasn’t supposed to be him), and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who goes Saturday.” Bet on Red Sox vs. Dodgers by claiming the latest BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS here:
Want more MLB picks for Saturday?
You’ve seen some of the model’s and SportsLine team of experts’ Saturday best bets. Now, get against the spread, total and money-line picks for all games, including the MLB, UFC, and more, all from the SportsLine Projection Model, which has simulated every game 10,000 times.
The Colts were one of the best teams in the NFL over the first half of last season and entered their Week 11 bye with an 8-2 record. But that’s when the schedule turned brutal, with both games against the Texans and Jaguars down the stretch along with road trips to Kansas City and Seattle plus a home game against the 49ers. To make matters worse, starting QB Daniel Jones suffered an Achilles injury that left the team scrambling at quarterback. Jones’ recovery will likely dictate how 2026 goes for Indianapolis, as the Colts seem likely to head into the season with Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson again behind him on the depth chart.
We’re taking a look at everything you need to know before making Indianapolis Colts futures bets below, including odds, trends, 2026 schedule, offseason changes and more before sharing our preseason betting strategy for the team. Odds are via DraftKings.
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Indianapolis Colts 2026 odds
| Go Over win total | 7.5 (-140) | 7.5 (-140) | 7.5 (-130) | 8.5 (+105) |
| Go Under win total | 7.5 (+115) | 7.5 (+115) | 7.5 (+110) | 8.5 (-125) |
| Miss playoffs | -205 | -205 | -215 | |
| Make playoffs | +170 | +170 | +170 | |
| Win AFC South | +380 | +380 | +390 | |
| Win AFC | +2900 | +2900 | +2800 | |
| Win Super Bowl | +6000 | +6000 | +6500 | +6000 |
The market hasn’t been impressed with the Colts’ offseason, as their win total market projection has dropped since the start of the offseason. However, if Jones continues to receive positive health updates after participating in drills at OTAs, that could change as Shane Steichen has managed to win at least eight games in each of his three seasons coaching the team while juggling quarterbacks.
Indianapolis Colts futures trends
| 2025 | +10000 | 7.5 | Over | 8 | 3rd, AFC South |
| 2024 | +8000 | 8.5 | Under | 8 | 2nd, AFC South |
| 2023 | +12500 | 6.5 | Over | 9 | 2nd, AFC South |
| 2022 | +2240 | 9.5 | Under | 4 | 3rd, AFC South |
| 2021 | +3500 | 9 | Push | 9 | 2nd, AFC South |
Since last winning the division title in 2014, the Colts have managed fewer than seven wins twice and more than nine wins twice, with six seasons at eight or nine wins. The defining trait of that period has been instability at quarterback, as the team has finished with seven different leading passers in seven seasons since Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement.
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Indianapolis Colts 2025 season review
| 8-9 | 9.73 | 5.78 (8) | 5.34 (17) | 18.9 (5) |
The Colts ranking fifth in DVOA suggests their first half shouldn’t just be written off as solely due to their schedule, and Pythagorean wins (based on point differential) put them closer to a 10-win team than an 8-9 team. Not only did Indy rank top 10 in yards per pass and run play on offense, the Colts played strong situational football and led the league in goal to go situations. The defense finished second in yards allowed per rush but struggled more against the pass and ranked just 26th in sack rate.
Indianapolis Colts 2026 offseason review
| QB | Easton Stick | ||
| RB | Tyler Goodson, Ameer Abdullah, Salvon Ahmed | Roydell Williams | Seth McGowan (7) |
| WR | Michael Pittman, DJ Montgomery | Nick Westbrook-Ihkine, Liam Clifford | Deion Burks (7) |
| TE | Carson Towt | ||
| OL | Braden Smith, Danny Pinter | Jalen Farmer (4) | |
| DL | Neville Gallimore, Eric Johnson, Chris Wormley | Colby Wooden, Jerry Tillery, Derrick Nnadi | |
| EDGE | Kwity Paye, Samson Ebukam, Tyquan Lewis | Arden Key, Michael Clemons | George Gumbs (5), Caden Curry (6) |
| LB | Zaire Franklin, Germaine Pratt, Jacob Phillips, Buddy Johnson | Akeem Davis-Gaither, Devin Veresuk | CJ Allen (2), Bryce Boettcher (4) |
| CB | Kenny Moore, Chris Lammons | Cam Taylor-Britt, Rob Carter | |
| S | Nick Cross, Rodney Thomas, George Odom | Juanyeh Thomas, Jonathan Owens | A.J. Haulcy (3) |
| STAFF |
Most of the Colts’ focus this offseason was on defense, including bringing in two potential new starters with their first two picks in linebacker C.J. Allen and safety A.J. Cauley. Not as much was done to address the mediocre pass rush with Arden Key the primary new face. On offense, the sole move of note involves bringing in Nick Westbrook-Ikhine to replace Michael Pittman in the offense, with the team’s loss at right tackle expected to be addressed internally after Jalen Travis played well in limited action as a rookie.
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Indianapolis Colts 2026 schedule
| 1 | BAL | |
| 2 | @KC | |
| 3 | HOU | |
| 4 | @WAS | London |
| 5 | @PIT | |
| 6 | TEN | |
| 7 | @MIN | |
| 8 | @JAC | |
| 9 | DAL | |
| 10 | MIA | |
| 11 | @HOU | Thu |
| 12 | NYG | |
| 13 | bye | |
| 14 | @PHI | |
| 15 | @TEN | |
| 16 | CIN | |
| 17 | @CLE | |
| 18 | JAC |
The Colts have a brutal three-game start to the season with facing the Ravens, Chiefs and Texans before a trip to London, so things could get ugly early, particularly if Jones isn’t ready for Week 1. They’ll get to scrap a road game for international play, and the schedule gets more manageable after that, with plenty of winnable home games on tap.
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Indianapolis Colts futures picks
Steichen has worked wonders with what he’s been given during his tenure as quarterbacks have come and gone, but this team appears to be a house of cards ready to fall. I can’t expect the offense to look anything like it did last year with Jones coming off a major injury plus questionable receiving depth, and this team could be one or two key injuries away from focusing on the pursuit of the No. 1 overall pick, particularly with a tough opening two months on the schedule. Those looking to take a little more risk can throw a sprinkle on the Colts to finish last in the division at +245.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has withdrawn his plans to sell stakes in FIFA competitions to private investors after widespread condemnation from across the football world.
European football’s governing body UEFA welcomed the news on Saturday, calling it a “victory for the whole game.”
In a statement on Saturday, Infantino said: “Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.”
What did UEFA say about Infantino’s scrapped plans?
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has lost the “confidence” of UEFA after his plan to allow private investment in the World Cup was withdrawn following a global backlash.
“The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family,” UEFA said, while adding that the “task of rebuilding trust in FIFA” had only just begun.
While the European body welcomed the withdrawal of a proposal unanimously rejected by itself and also by other confederations, it did not hold back in its criticism of Infantino.
UEFA said “we cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast track timescales”, and that now was the time for responsible parties to come together and prevent it happening again.
“It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again,” they said.
UEFA said on Thursday that its members had unanimously agreed to boycott all FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, unless the plan was withdrawn.
“The World Cup is not for sale,” UEFA said.
What were FIFA chief’s Infantino’s private investor plans?
Infantino’s proposal would have created a commercial subsidiary, the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run competitions like the World Cup, selling broadcasting and sponsorship, tickets and hospitality.
Under the plans, FIFA would sell minority stakes in FFE to private equity investors. The proposed investor consortium was to be led by “Thrive Eternal,” a fund run by “Thrive Capital,” which was founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Infantino, who has faced criticism for his close ties to the US president, had asked federations to approve the measure by September 19, reportedly offering the associations $40 million (€35 million) if they backed the proposal.
Infantino’s plans met with global backlash
European teams are the reigning champions of FIFA’s three leading competitions, the men’s and women’s World Cup, and the Club World Cup.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF, which runs the sport in North America and the Caribbean, soon joined UEFA in condemning and rejecting FIFA’s plans, although they stopped short of threatening a boycott.
As the opposition to Infantino’s plans grew, his senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest on Friday.
Later on Friday, the world governing body’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, slammed Infantino, saying the plans were “the project of one person” who had “deceived” FIFA staff.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
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There are 15 MLB games on today’s schedule, and three of them air nationally on FOX and FS1. FS1 carries an afternoon matchup between the Twins and Mariners, two teams hovering right around .500, while FOX has a doubleheader of its own in prime time featuring the Diamondbacks and Guardians, both clubs sitting comfortably above .500, and the Yankees and Cubs, two of the stronger records in baseball right now. All three streams live and on demand on FOX One.
MLB Schedule for August 1 on FOX Networks
Twins at Mariners
Minnesota is hovering around .500 and Seattle is hanging just below it, so this one shapes up as a tight, low-margin affair between two teams still very much in the mix. Both sides need wins to keep pace in a crowded American League field, which should make for a competitive afternoon on the West Coast.
Diamondbacks at Guardians
Arizona and Cleveland enter this one on comparable footing, both clubs a handful of games over .500 and pushing for playoff positioning in their respective leagues. It is a matchup of two teams trending in the right direction, and neither wants to slip this weekend.
Yankees at Cubs
This is a marquee matchup between two of the better records in baseball. New York and Chicago have both separated themselves from the pack, and a night game at Wrigley Field between two contenders is about as good as the regular season gets.
MLB Related Stories
Other August 1 MLB Games
- 3:07 p.m. ET: Cardinals at Blue Jays (Rogers SportsNet, St. Louis Cardinals TV Network)
- 4:10 p.m. ET: Marlins at Mets (SportsNet New York, Miami Marlins TV Network)
- 4:10 p.m. ET: White Sox at Rays (Tampa Bay Rays TV Network, Chicago Sports Network)
- 6:40 p.m. ET: Pirates at Reds (Sportsnet Pittsburgh, Cincinnati Reds TV Network)
- 7:05 p.m. ET: Phillies at Orioles (NBC Sports Philadelphia, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network)
- 7:10 p.m. ET: Rangers at Astros (RSN, Space City Home Network)
- 7:15 p.m. ET: Nationals at Braves (Braves Vision, Washington Nationals TV Network)
- 8:10 p.m. ET: Royals at Rockies (Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals TV Network)
- 8:40 p.m. ET: Giants at Padres (San Diego Padres, NBC Sports Bay Area)
- 9:10 p.m. ET: Red Sox at Dodgers (NESN, Spectrum SportsNet LA)
- 9:38 p.m. ET: Brewers at Angels (Milwaukee Brewers TV Network, Angels Broadcast Television)
- 9:40 p.m. ET: Tigers at Athletics (Detroit SportsNet, NBC Sports California)
How to Watch MLB Games
FOX and FS1 carry today’s national games, Twins at Mariners, Diamondbacks at Guardians and Yankees at Cubs, all of them streaming live and on demand on FOX One.
Sports
The P/PTSD Perspective: Anthony Richardson Rumor, Spin Doctor’s QB Take, and a Defiant J.J. McCarthy
PurplePTSD works in partnership with Vikings Territory, similarly doing their utmost to offer top-notch coverage of the Minnesota Vikings. As a result, we’re promoting five of their top articles of the past month in “The P/PTSD Perspective.” Take a peek at some of their best stuff.
The P/PTSD Perspective: August 1st, 2026
1) Anthony Richardson Gets Yet Another Vikings Take: Some rumors refuse to die. For whatever it’s worth, there are at least some reasons to link Mr. Richardson to the Vikings. Short of something truly bizarre occurring, though, Richarson isn’t going to call Minnesota home anytime soon.
2) Chuck Foreman Doesn’t Hold Back on Vikings’ 2026 QB Competition: Listening to “The Spin Doctor” would be wise. After all, Mr. Foreman had an excellent career for the Vikings, meaning he boasts ample wisdom.
3) J.J. McCarthy Will Not Bow: Being defiant in one’s desire to compete is a cherished personality trait, especially in the NFL. Many are leaving Mr. McCarthy for dead. He doesn’t appear to be particularly concerned. Can the kid overcome the odds by stealing back the QB1 job?
4) Vikings Announce Flurry of Roster Moves After Rookies Report to Camp: A roster is an evolving being. That reality is especially true at a time like NFL training camp. GM Nolan Teasley showed some guys the door before welcoming others.
5) Will Fries Could Benefit Most from Vikings’ Commitment to Run Game: The well-paid right guard didn’t live up to expectations last season. A major part of the reason why is due to injury. Yes, he played the full year, but he was coming off a serious injury that robbed him of most of 2024. He has now settled into the Twin Cities and is working with a new coach. Can he explode?
Enjoy the extra reading, Vikings fans.
Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.
HALF-TIME: Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘45: Heaton is forced into a save late in the half as Castillo has a go from close range, the first time he’s been called into action since Atletico scored, I think.
That’s almost the last action of the half. United have been much better since going behind but frustrated in their bid for an equaliser.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:46
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘43: United are really pushing for an equaliser. Yoro plays a one-two and sets up Shaw, before Dorgu has a pop. They’ve been much the better side.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:43
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘39: United have a free-kick; Shaw whips in a great ball from deep and Yoro gets a head to it but the angle is all wrong.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:40
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘38: Lookman and Yoro get in a tangle as Atletico try to build something, but the Frenchman gets the better of him. The Atletico talisman has been kept very quiet today.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:39
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘34: Heaven launches a ball in and there’s chaos in the box as a United player sends it wide, while Le Normand and Maguire practice a bit of wrestling at the far post. Wrong sport, boys.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:34
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘29: Immaculate by Shea Lacey, who whips a high cross across the face of goal but Mbeumo’s header glances wide! United are threatening.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:30
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘27: Carlos Martin flings himself to the ground under little provocation twice in quick succession, but the second time it doesn’t work out. United have a free-kick on the left of the box. Mount and Shaw stand over it.
Mount’s delivery is repelled by Ruggeri.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:27
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘23: Dorgu speeds down the left onto a through-ball and cuts back at the byline but it’s straight into Oblak’s arms and the flag goes up anyway.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:23
Man Utd 0-1 Atletico Madrid
‘21: Ruggeri just about keeps the ball in down the left channel but United turn it over again quickly. They’ve responded positively to going behind.
Flo Clifford1 August 2026 14:21
Ajax and Real Betis have made contact with AZ Alkmaar about Troy Parrott, in a deal that could go beyond £25m. All of Fulham, Como and PSV Eindhoven are meanwhile surveying how it develops, with a view to potentially trying to hijack any deal.
Parrott has had another sensational season with AZ, with one of many peaks the five goals against Portugal and Hungary in November’s international break, that took Ireland into a World Cup play-off.
That has seen a series of clubs take interest in his progress, with the five above – from four different countries – currently the most keen. Parrott himself is open to another transfer abroad, given how beneficial the move to the Netherlands has been for his career.
Betis are especially keen but the challenge is about securing the right deal.
AZ have long wanted a package that comes to around £25m, with many in football seeing that as a great price for a 24-year-old with a high ceiling and still considerable potential to grow.
Parrott joined AZ from Tottenham Hotspur in July 2024 having been sent out on loan spells to five different clubs during his time with Spurs including Millwall and Preston North End.
He made the switch to the Eredivise in a £6.7m move scoring 14 goals in 30 league appearances in his first season with AZ. He bettered that last year with 16 goals from 28 league appearances and has netted 33 times from 61 games for the club.
Roberto de Zerbi says Tottenham “don’t know” whether forward Richarlison will stay at the club as he “sometimes” wants to leave.
The Brazil international, 29, scored a last-minute winner as 10-man Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1 in a high-profile friendly in Sydney.
After the match, De Zerbi was asked whether Richarlison – who has entered the final year of his contract – would leave this summer.
“I don’t know because I like him as a player and as a guy,” De Zerbi said at Accor Stadium. “He’s unbelievable in terms of attitude and behaviour. But, in the end, we have to respect what he wants to do.”
When pressed on whether Richarlison wants to leave, he added: “I don’t know. I didn’t understand well because sometimes he says he wants to stay, sometimes he wants to leave. We have to speak anyway. There is not any problem. He’s a lovely guy.”
The Italian coach was keen to point out Richarlison’s professionalism and impact in a chaotic campaign that saw Spurs battle relegation, scoring 12 goals.
“For me, he’s still an important player because it’s not easy to find another striker like Richarlison,” he said. “Richarlison scores goals. He knows the way. With any new striker, we don’t know.
“He scored 12 goals last season, not because of luck but because he knows how to score.
“All of us love him, the team-mates, the club and the staff because he works hard every day, seriously every day, and we can’t say anything about him on the pitch.”
The situation comes in the context of Spurs’ record-breaking £237m transfer window, which is set to continue with the pursuit of two more attackers.
One is understood to be Manchester City‘s Savinho, while Liverpool‘s Cody Gakpo has also been linked.
Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk is set to return to action after his doping case was resolved, bringing an end to a chapter that has kept him out of competitive football since late 2024.
The Football Association (FA), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Mudryk reached an agreement during his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), allowing the Ukrainian international to resume his career with immediate effect.
Mudryk had initially received a four-year ban after testing positive for meldonium in October 2024. However, the sanction was effectively reduced to the period he had already served following changes to WADA’s technical guidance.
Under the current standards, the concentration of meldonium found in his sample would no longer be considered a doping violation.
Although the settlement allows him to return, Mudryk accepted that he had committed anti-doping rule violations as part of the agreement. Throughout the process, however, he maintained that he had never knowingly taken a banned substance.
Reacting to the decision, the 25-year-old expressed relief that the case had finally come to an end.
“After a long battle, the four-year ban that was imposed on me has been rescinded, and I am free to resume my career with immediate effect.”
He added:
“This has been the most difficult period of my career. As I have always maintained from the outset of this case, I have never knowingly or intentionally taken any banned substance.”
Chelsea also welcomed the outcome, reaffirming their support for the winger.
“Chelsea Football Club is pleased that this matter has now reached a conclusion which allows Mykhailo to return to football with immediate effect.”
Mudryk is now expected to rejoin Chelsea’s first-team squad as preparations continue for the new Premier League season. His return also gives manager Xabi Alonso another attacking option after nearly two years away from competitive football.
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