sports and games

Yet another study confirms that drivers of expensive cars are more likely to ignore pedestrians

Nevada study finds that every thousand bucks of added value decreases the odds of yielding to pedestrians by three percent.




sports and games

E-scooters are not a menace; the real threat on the sidewalks is still the car

A new study finds that dockless cars cause more problems than dockless bikes and scooters.




sports and games

Does size and weight matter in an electric car?

The new all-electric Porsche Taycan weighs in at about three tons. That means a lot of upfront carbon emissions.




sports and games

Why build a subway when there's room for a streetcar?

If you care about embodied carbon, money or time, you don't dig. But then this is Toronto.




sports and games

COVID-19 may change the way people think about bikes

They are not toys, they are transportation, and they can be a big help in this crisis.




sports and games

Air quality hasn't been this good in decades. How can we keep it this way?

More people die from COVID-19 when they live with polluted air. Can we learn from this crisis and clean it up?




sports and games

Why Toronto won't make room for people who walk or bike: Induced demand

Some cities are making space for pedestrians. Others, not so much.




sports and games

E-bikes will eat ... buses?

A lot of people are buying e-bikes instead of taking transit.




sports and games

London is looking to increase cycling tenfold after the coronavirus

It's the only way to deal with reduced capacity in the underground, and is a great example for other cities.




sports and games

What do we do about cars, climate and coronavirus?

If we are going to keep to 1.5 degrees we have to decide: Cars to drive or a planet to live in?




sports and games

Harley Willard: ‘Iceland’s a good place just to concentrate on your football’

The winger, who was part of the Guardian’s first Next Generation in 2014, talks about rebuilding his career after being released by Southampton

Harley Willard made one of those sliding-doors decisions that can turn anyone’s life around last December. He had arrived at Heathrow airport, packed and ready for the 14-hour slog back to Phnom Penh, and at that point another season at the Cambodian club Svay Rieng felt like a trade-off he could just about stomach. The football there offered few real prospects but he had enjoyed the lifestyle and, after such an uncertain year and a half since leaving Southampton, surely his happiness was the most important thing.

Related: Next Generation: after five years, how has our first full class of picks fared?

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sports and games

Next Generation: after five years, how has our first full class of picks fared?

From Rashford to Tielemans, we check in on how our initial Next Generation players have got on before the 2019 ones are announced this week

In 2014 we decided that it would be interesting to pick the best young players from each Premier League club – as well as 40 from around the world – and follow them for five years to see how they progressed.

The idea was to try to get a sense of how difficult it is to become a professional footballer despite being one of the best in that country at the age of 16 or 17.

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sports and games

Next Generation 2019: 20 of the best talents at Premier League clubs

The Guardian selects the best young players at each club born between 1 September 2002 and 31 August 2003, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of class of 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

Photographs by David Price/Arsenal/Getty Images, Neville Williams/Aston Villa/Getty Images, AFC Bournemouth, Paul Hazlewood/BHAFC, Paul Dennis/TGS/Shutterstock, Clive Howes/Chelsea/Getty Images, Danny Loo/PPAUK, Emma Simpson/Everton/Getty Images, Nick Taylor/Liverpool/Getty Images, Manchester City/Getty Images, Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images, Jason Dawson/Jasonpix, James Wilson/Sportimage, Simon Bellis/Sportimage, Robin Jones/Digital South/Southampton FC, Tottenham Hotspur/Getty Images, Alan Cozzi/Watford, Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United and Sam Bagnall/AMA

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sports and games

Next Generation 2019: 60 of the best young talents in world football

Eidur Gudjohnsen’s son, the new Paul Pogba and Barça’s Ansu Fati are among our 60 most talented players in the world born in 2002. Check the progress of our 2018 picks | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

Photographs by DZfoot, BackpagePix, Club Atlético Belgrano, EFE, EPA, Getty Images, Uwe Gruen/Hoffenheim, AMA/Getty Images, Rex/Shutterstock, Zuma Press/PA, FIFA, Tigres, Damir Krajac/CROPIX, Alamy, Daniel Reyes/Ecuafutbol, Reuters, Atromitos, Imago/PA, fotoBERNAMA, New Straits Times, José Alonso Paredes Sánchez, Agencja Gazeta, David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty, AP, Asian Football Confederation, Danubio FC and Championat Asia

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sports and games

Betrayal and bombast: the surreal story of the Terry v Bridge saga | Jonathan Liew

More than a decade on, fact and fiction remain entangled in the tale of former teammates turned enemies. The human core of the entire episode, though, is not a footballer

Officially, nothing happened. This is, by the way, no minor detail: to this day Vanessa Perroncel fervently denies that any affair took place between her and John Terry in late 2009, and she has the printed apologies and legal documents to back it up. Normally this bit is begrudgingly buried at the bottom of the piece. But it’s worth dwelling on, if only because it forces us to confront the vast, incalculable gulf between what we definitively know and what, over the years, we’ve simply assumed.

A decade on, fact and fiction remain knottily entangled. Over time, the story of how Terry and his former friend and Chelsea teammate Wayne Bridge found themselves at the centre of one of English football’s most hysterical scandals begins to feel surreal, perhaps even a touch unreal: a bad memory that most would prefer to pretend never happened.

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sports and games

Juninho, Ravanelli, Emerson … Middlesbrough's exotic past reborn | Louise Taylor

Charity match for victims of Covid-19 promises to be a wonderful wallow in nostalgia for Boro fans

Anthems are invariably repetitive but the paean celebrating Middlesbrough’s journey to the 2006 Uefa Cup final took things to extremes. “Small town in Europe, we’re just a small town in Europe,” Teessiders chorused on the road to Eindhoven and defeat against Sevilla.

The limited lyrics failed to prevent those seven words becoming an evocative, now rather poignant, soundtrack to the season when Gareth Southgate, Stewart Downing and the rest of Steve McClaren’s team annotated the town’s place on football’s European map.

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sports and games

The Serie A team of the 2000s

After building their team of the 1980s and 1990s, the Gentleman Ultra have taken on the 2000s

Following the publication of our Serie A team of the 1980s and 1990s articles, it was only natural we would tackle the 2000s next. After the golden era of the 1990s, the 2000s had a lot to live up to – and it had it all. As well as showcasing some incredible footballing talent, the 2000s gave us the Calciopoli scandal, a debt crisis that threatened to bury the Italian game and a World Cup triumph for the national team. After compiling a shortlist, asked our Twitter followers to choose one player for each position. The result was this formidable-looking team. But, as usual, there were a few surprise omissions.

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sports and games

Premier League critics should recognise football cannot wait for ever | Jonathan Wilson

The objections to restart plans are understandable and the game should pay attention, but ultimately clubs need to play games to survive

With each week the plans become a little more refined and with each week any final decision is pushed back. Football may return, and this is how it may look if it does, but nobody is sure, and any proposed date can only be provisional. Which is as it should be. In an age that often favours decisiveness over the decision itself, there is something vaguely comforting about a process that accepts the wisdom of waiting.

But in the background there is a crucial, nagging voice, and what it is saying is this: if football isn’t prepared to return, at least initially, in a form very different to the one it took before the virus, it may not return for a very long time – and for many clubs that means never.

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sports and games

Football quiz: trophy droughts

How much do you know about clubs with dusty trophy cabinets?

More quizzes: big goals, penalties and famous photos

In which decade did Tottenham last win a major trophy?

The 2010s

The 2000s

The 1990s

The 1980s

Leeds have not won a trophy since Howard Wilkinson guided them to the league title in 1991-92. Who was their top scorer that season?

Eric Cantona

Lee Chapman

Gordon Strachan

Gary Speed

Who was the prime minister the last time Everton won a trophy?

Margaret Thatcher

John Major

Tony Blair

James Callaghan

Manchester United won the double in the 1993–94 and 1995-96 season. Which club won the League Cup in those two seasons – and have not won a trophy since?

Middlesbrough

Leeds United

Aston Villa

Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland have not won a major trophy since they beat Leeds in the FA Cup final in 1973. What was remarkable about that Sunderland team?

They were in the Third Division at the time

They won the game 1-0 even though they did not have a shot on target

None of their team had played international football at the time

They won all of their FA Cup ties 1-0 that season – including the final

Newcastle have not won the league in the post-war period. In which decade did they win three FA Cups?

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

Which of these London clubs has won the top flight?

West Ham

Crystal Palace

Queens Park Rangers

Fulham

Charlton Athletic

None of them

Which club won three league titles in a row in the 1920s and have never won the league since?

Ipswich Town

Sheffield Wednesday

Huddersfield Town

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Who are the only club to have won the old First Division yet never played in the Premier League?

Notts County

Bristol City

Plymouth Argyle

Preston North End

Which club won the league title 100 years ago but haven’t won it since?

West Brom

Bolton Wanderers

Birmingham City

Swansea City

1 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

2 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

3 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

4 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

5 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

6 and above.

No trophy drought for you

7 and above.

No trophy drought for you

8 and above.

No trophy drought for you

9 and above.

No trophy drought for you

0 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

10 and above.

No trophy drought for you

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sports and games

Which two footballers have played the most matches together? | The Knowledge

Plus: the policing of goalkeepers, home shirts that became away tops and strike partners sharing birthdays

“Which two footballers have played the most matches together? I reckon Jason Dodd and Francis Benali for Southampton must be up there,” asks Mark Williams.

They’re not even close, Mark, but we’ll get back to that shortly. First, Geoff Airey has two long-standing midfielders at Manchester United who knock Benali and Dodd (170 appearances together) into a cocked hat.

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sports and games

My favourite game: Panini pest Zoltan Peter comes unstuck against USSR | Paul Doyle

Before the 1986 World Cup my brother and I had nearly 100 stickers of the Hungarian and we wanted him to lose, badly

Before the internet ruined the World Cup there was wonder in ignorance. You could look forward to discovering great players and teams about whom you knew next to nothing. In 1986 my brother and I hoped the tournament would be all about some Hungarian called Zoltan Peter. Our reason was bad.

All we knew about Peter was his name and his face because he seemed to be in every pack of Panini stickers we bought. Every time we removed that shiny wrapper there he was, seemingly mocking us with his Lego-man hairdo and the haunting expression of someone who knew there is no problem so grim it cannot be made worse.

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sports and games

Zola's wizardry, Giro d'Italia memories and an Ebdon farewell | Classic YouTube

This week’s roundup also features Monica Seles, the Windies and a bust-up between Souness and Dunphy

1) Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea. Zola at Napoli. And more of Zola in Serie A.

Gianfranco Zola making life difficult.

Our #OldSkoolSkillSkool feature on Chelsea TV is not to be missed... https://t.co/LSJmrcH0j2 pic.twitter.com/YbUgB1olE4

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sports and games

The Fiver | A Scottish football row that looks set to run and run

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Emotions in Scottish fitba circles were mixed on Thursday morning before the release of the eagerly-awaited Pope’s Newc O’Rangers dossier alleging assorted shenanigans on the part of the Scottish Professional Football League in ending the season prematurely. After weeks of suspense, the excitement of those intrigued to learn what hard evidence O’Rangers have been keeping up their sleeve was rather tempered by the fact they’d have to wade through no fewer than 200 pages of outrage to find out.

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sports and games

Football quiz: the players who missed out

Not everyone can win everything. Do you know which achievements these players have missed out on in their careers?

Who has scored the most Premier League goals without ever winning the trophy?

Jermain Defoe

Robbie Fowler

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Harry Kane

And who has made the most appearances without winning the Premier League?

David James

Gary Speed

Emile Heskey

Steven Gerrard

Who is the only England player to win 50 caps yet never appear at a World Cup or European Championship finals?

Glen Johnson

Colin Bell

Emlyn Hughes

Gary Cahill

Who scored 434 league goals, an English record, yet never played for his country?

Brian Clough

Arthur Rowley

Steve Bull

Kerry Dixon

Who is the last Ballon d’Or winner never to win the Champions League?

Fabio Cannavaro

Pavel Nedved

Thierry Henry

Michael Owen

Gary Lineker never won the top division in England, but for how many clubs did he finish as top scorer in the league?

None

One

Two

Three

Who has scored the most Champions League goals without winning the competition?

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Edinson Cavani

Robert Lewandowski

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Who was Serie A’s leading scorer three times in the 1990s yet never won the title?

Oliver Bierhoff

Gabriel Batistuta

Enrico Chiesa

Giuseppe Signori

Which of these players has never won the Premier League Golden Boot?

Wayne Rooney

Luis Suárez

Alan Shearer

Andy Cole

Which of these greats never won the Ballon d’Or?

Pavel Nedved

Xavi

Hristo Stoichkov

Eusébio

How many goals have Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi scored between them in the knockout stages of the World Cup?

None

Two

Five

14

3 and above.

You missed out too.

4 and above.

You missed out too.

5 and above.

A fine score

6 and above.

A fine score

7 and above.

A superb score

8 and above.

A superb score

9 and above.

A superb score

10 and above.

A superb score

11 and above.

You missed nothing

2 and above.

You missed out too.

0 and above.

You missed out too

1 and above.

You missed out too.

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sports and games

Player wages and contracts will bankrupt EFL clubs: it's time for the PFA to act | Mark Palios

A radical solution is needed and the PFA has the money and the power to step in and help clubs that have no income for the foreseeable future

Last month I said the EFL was entering the most critical period in its history as it struggled to respond to the abrupt cessation of football. What we have seen since has elegantly illustrated the game’s inability to act decisively to protect professional football’s future. This is not a criticism of the individuals involved in negotiations, who are trying their best, but reflects structural flaws that prevent cohesive action. Put simply, it is clear the EFL and Professional Footballers’ Association cannot bring the key counter-parties to the table.

The first phase was characterised by the fight for cash given the disappearance of gate-related income. Although there was relatively swift agreement that a player wage deferral would help, it has been left to clubs and players to agree arrangements. Some players have deferred, some have not, and and the scale varies from club to club. The outcome was, in my view, too little and too late for many clubs.

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sports and games

The struggle is real but is women's football facing an existential threat? | Suzanne Wrack

Investment is bound to suffer in the post-Covid weeks of return but the outlook is cautiously positive for the women’s game

Ominous warnings have been sounded by the international players’ union that women’s football faces an existential threat. When AFC Fylde disbanded their women’s team last week it was probably the tip of an iceberg – but how gloomy is the game’s future?

Although everyone agrees there will be casualties, opinion is split about the extent of any setback. Alan Naigeon offers his assessment from a position of authority as a managing partner of the agency A&V Sports, which represents players such as Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Lyon’s Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg.

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sports and games

Football and coronavirus: 'This could be the end of the grassroots game'

In the latest in our series on how Covid-19 will change football, we look at its impact at grassroots and non-league level

This could be the end of grassroots football. The impact is going to be horrendous. The main problem now is we’re not getting money we would usually receive from training-session fees or fundraising, because they’re not taking place. That money goes towards subsidising teams for the next season, helping them with pitch fees, league fees, trophy presentations, etc.

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sports and games

‘This is horrible': Cambuur stunned after dream season turns to dust

The club from Leeuwarden were 11 points clear of the play-off places and heading for the Eredivisie when the Dutch season was annulled

It took only two games of the season for Erik Schouten to realise Cambuur were on to something. Nobody knew how a brand new team, which had almost entirely changed during the summer, would click but their first home fixture of 2019-20 dispelled any concerns. Go Ahead Eagles were beaten 5-0, succumbing to wave after wave of blistering raids, and a pattern for the next seven months had been emphatically set.

“That was the moment we believed everything was possible,” says Schouten, who had arrived from Volendam and was immediately made captain. “Playing attacking football, playing fast, defeating a really good side. We knew then that, if we played well, we could beat anyone.”

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sports and games

Alan Pardew leaves Den Haag by mutual consent days after relegation reprieve

  • Pardew departs Dutch club after just eight games in charge
  • Assistants Chris Powell and Paul Butler also leave the club

Alan Pardew has left his position as the manager of Eredivisie club Den Haag by mutual consent, days after the Dutch season was cancelled.

Pardew was appointed in December and tasked with saving the club from relegation. The 58-year-old was unable to lead them out of the relegation zone, but the team were reprieved when the season was scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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sports and games

For MLS, anything less than astronomical losses could be a victory

The league’s centralised structure should help during the pandemic but it is also vulnerable in a way that European competitions are not

The warning from Adrian Hanauer was stark. According to the Seattle Sounders majority owner, the shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic could result in “astronomical” losses for Major League Soccer teams. “Hundreds of millions, billions, really big numbers,” he told the Sounder At Heart podcast earlier this month.

Hanauer’s remarks were in line with much of what is being said around the soccer world. The sport has never experienced anything like this with entire seasons on hold, soon to be abandoned in some cases, and competitions such as Euro 2020 and Women’s Euro 2021 pushed back a whole year. For all the meetings that have been held and contingency plans drawn up, nobody can guarantee when play will resume.

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sports and games

Jair Bolsonaro wants football to start up again despite Covid-19 deaths in Brazil

  • President calls for resumption of football despite crisis
  • Brazil has more than 5,900 deaths due to the coronavirus

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro wants to see football competitions restart soon despite the country’s high number of coronavirus cases, arguing that players are less likely to die from Covid-19 because of their physical fitness.

Bolsonaro is one of the few world leaders that still downplays the risks brought by the coronavirus, which he has likened to “a little flu”.

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sports and games

Amiens and Lyon threaten further action after Ligue 1 issues final table

  • Amiens relegated, Lyon miss out on European qualification
  • Lyon president says club will seek damages for financial losses

Amiens and Lyon have both reacted angrily to Ligue 1’s decision to officially end their season on Thursday and determine final league placings, European qualification and relegation amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The 2019-20 campaign was suspended as part of the French government’s steps to contain the spread of coronavirus last month. With some teams having played 27 matches and others 28, the French league (LFP) drew up the final standings according to a performance index – number of points per game weighed by head-to-head record.

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sports and games

Juan Antonio Pizzi: 'Bobby Robson led Barcelona through the hardest era in 20 years'

Former Barcelona player and Chile coach on Camp Nou life, Guardiola and why Sánchez could yet shine for Manchester United

“Most of the time, you fail; there are many more defeats than victories,” Juan Antonio Pizzi says. He is right, even when it comes to his peer group – possibly the most successful coaching class in history – but it is still an unusual reflection for a man who was La Liga’s top scorer and, as a player and manager, won the league in three countries. All the more so when it is a reflection prompted by the time he led Chile to the 2016 Copa América. Minutes after winning the final, Pizzi sat before the press – and started talking about failure.

He laughs now but there was a lesson there. “It’s true: when you take over a team, most of the objectives you set, you fail to meet,” he says. “And however much you try to console yourself with your style, methodology, some improvement, what you want is to win and when you don’t, which is most of the time, disappointment comes. You lose more than you win and your mind is occupied more with defeat than enjoying victory, which is gone very quickly.”

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sports and games

Haiti FA president accused of sexually abusing young female players

  • Claims of abuse by Yves Jean-Bart at national centre
  • Jean-Bart denies all allegations made against him

The president of the Haitian football federation has been accused of sexually abusing young female footballers at the country’s national training centre.

Yves Jean-Bart, known as “Dadou”, the president of the Fédération Haïtienne De Football (FHF) since 2000, denies accusations that he coerced several players at the Centre Technique National in Croix-des-Bouquets into having sex. The alleged incidents are understood to have taken place within the last five years.

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sports and games

The Englishman who lost his job after guiding New Zealand to the Olympics

Des Buckingham followed Under-20 World Cup success by qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics but lost his job last week

There is a word that Des Buckingham, during almost six years working in New Zealand, has used as a mantra to live by. In the Maori language, Mana represents a spiritual essence that almost defies translation but in everyday use it broadly applies thus: a way of holding oneself through dignity, respect, humanity and authority.

It has been invaluable over the past five days because Buckingham is navigating one of the biggest disappointments of a young coaching career that, since he moved to the other side of the world after leaving Oxford United in 2014, had rarely let up.

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sports and games

Eibar players say they fear 'terrible consequences' of La Liga resumption

  • Team issues joint statement before planned return to training
  • La Liga: ‘Playing football safer than going to supermarket’

Eibar have become the first La Liga side to publicly express concerns about the planned return to training, and have called for “responsibility” from league officials.

Clubs in Spain’s top two division are due to start individual training this week after testing for Covid-19 with matches behind closed doors planned for June. But in a strongly worded joint statement, the Basque club have raised doubts about the plan.

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sports and games

Toilet roll keepie-uppies: sports stars' coronavirus lockdown challenge – video

With the sporting calendar on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, football stars around the world are challenging each other to perform tricks with loo roll as part of the #stayathomechallenge to encourage fans to practise social distancing

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sports and games

Sadio Mané: Made in Senegal, trailer for documentary on Liverpool forward – video

Made in Senegal takes an in-depth look at the rise of Liverpool forward Sadio Mané, who is the current African player of the year. The documentary will be exclusively available across Europe on Rakuten TV’s free Rakuten Stories channel from 8 April.

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sports and games

Neck stalls and sole juggles: freestyler Liv Cooke’s lockdown challenges – video

With football on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, one of the world’s leading freestylers is helping fans remain active under lockdown. Every day, Liv Cooke a four-time world record holder, posts footage of herself performing a freestyle trick with instructions on how to follow suit at home

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sports and games

Lockdown, Bayern and growing up as a refugee: Gary Lineker meets Alphonso Davies – video

Alphonso Davies was born in a refugee camp after his parents fled civil war in Liberia. He has since become the youngest footballer to play for Canada and won a Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich. The 19-year-old talks to Gary Lineker about his incredible journey

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sports and games

Andrés Iniesta calls children born because of his goal against Chelsea in 2009 – video

Barcelona icon Andrés Iniesta has video-called the children born because of his famous goal against Chelsea in 2009. The late winner at Stamford Bridge led to a spike in pregnancies. 'Has your mum shown you the goal?' Iniesta asks Ignacio, born on 18 January. Of course she had, Ignacio says: 'You were a star.'

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sports and games

Project Restart: the hurdles Premier League football must clear to resume | Paul MacInnes

Many questions need answers, not least where games will be played and the not-insignificant 100 concerns of club doctors

Without government endorsement of a return to play, nothing can happen. Since the beginning of March, when games were still being played in front of paying crowds, the Premier League has said it would follow government advice on the best way to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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sports and games

Jonjoe Kenny: 'I came to the Bundesliga to push my comfort zone'

The Everton right-back joined Schalke on loan in pre-season and hopes to play against Borussia Dortmund on 16 May

As Jonjoe Kenny remembers the sights and smells that defined his childhood it is tempting, more so at a time such as this, to close your eyes and travel back with him. He can tell what, with a few bumps here and there, is the textbook story of a local boy made good, and Everton games were the focal points throughout. Kenny grew up in Kirkdale, virtually on the doorstep of Goodison Park, and the glimpse of a buzzing County Road brought the kind of sensory assault that would leave thousands pining today.

“It’s about a five-minute walk round the corner,” Kenny says. “On matchdays going to the stadium it was always busy in our area. The chippies were packed, the pubs were packed, and when you’re walking to the game through it all there’s no better feeling. As a kid growing up, it was such a big thing.”

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sports and games

World Cup questions: what did Zidane's head-butt in Berlin mean? | Barney Ronay

Using the Fifa archive we rewatch a series of memorable games in search of answers we didn’t find at the time

It was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness” – Albert Camus, the Outsider

The World Cup final, France v Italy in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. It’s still humid under the lights. The score is 1-1, the players wide-eyed but still running.

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sports and games

Jacqui Oatley's career and Bundesliga returns – Football Weekly Extra

Max Rushden and Barry Glendenning talk to Jacqui Oatley about the ups and downs of being the first woman to commentate on Match of the Day and her love of Wolves. Also, Archie Rhind-Tutt on the impending return of the Bundesliga

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Max and Barry talk with Jacqui Oatley about her love of football, how her career came about and how she learned to deal with the enormous level of scrutiny which came with becoming the first woman to commentate on Match of the Day.

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sports and games

Peak Pochettino: how a golden age of recruitment transformed Tottenham | Richard Jolly

Spurs’ former scout David Webb tells the story of how four supremely shrewd acquisitions helped take the team to the Champions League final

The anniversary falls on Friday. In the second extraordinary semi-final comeback in as many days, Tottenham overcame Ajax courtesy of a 96th-minute winner from their most recent recruit. A year and a half into his Spurs career, Lucas Moura completed his hat-trick. It was an advertisement for enforced continuity, an antidote to the obsession with spending as the only team in the top five European leagues to go through the season without signing anyone became Champions League finalists.

But it was not entirely true to call Tottenham the team without transfers. There was a golden age of recruitment under Mauricio Pochettino: not in 2018-19, but a seven-month spell in 2015 when Spurs brought in Dele Alli, Son Heung-min, Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld all for less than £45m. Four years, and four top-four finishes later, each of a quartet which could have been valued at a combined £250m started the Champions League final.

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sports and games

My favourite game: Arsenal v Newcastle, 1998 FA Cup final | Suzanne Wrack

A trip to Devon meant updates were via a classmate’s radio but it gave me my first real glimpse of the power of football

It seems a little odd pitching a game I’ve not seen for this series. I wasn’t at Wembley, I didn’t watch on TV and I didn’t listen to it on the radio. How, then, I hear you say, can the 1998 FA Cup final between Arsenal and Newcastle possibly be my favourite game?

I had always been an Arsenal fan, I didn’t have a choice. I grew up in a council flat in Hackney where if you left the windows open on matchdays you could faintly hear the Highbury goal celebrations. I went to a primary school in Islington. My dad supported Arsenal, so did my grandad.

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