World Cup 2022 countdown: Salah v Mane, Italy or Portugal, grudge matches galore – the key talking p
Will it be Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane? Italy or Portugal – or indeed neither? Can Canada end their long wait, and are the United States and Australia at risk of missing out?
Those questions and plenty more are set to be answered over the next week or so as World Cup qualifying concludes for many nations.
Just 15 of the 32 participants have so far been confirmed for Qatar 2022, leaving 48 teams battling for the 17 remaining spots.
Fourteen more countries will be assured of a finals berth come the end of next week in what is very much crunch time for those still in contention.
Stats Perform looks at the key talking points.
Egypt seeking revenge in AFCON final repeat
Less than two months on from meeting in the Africa Cup of Nations final, …
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has no plans to end his glittering career anytime soon as he prepares to take charge of Los Blancos for the 300th time, versus Alaves in LaLiga on Tuesday.
Ancelotti has taken charge of Madrid 299 times across two spells, overseeing 119 games between 2013 and 2015, winning the Copa del Rey in 2013-14 and also leading the Spanish giants to their long-awaited 10th European Cup/Champions League crown.
Since returning to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2021, Ancelotti has overseen a further 180 matches, leading the side to two more Champions League successes, two domestic title triumphs and a further Copa del Rey win.
Ancelotti – who last season became the first coach to win the European Cup/Champions League on five occasions – turned 65…
Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has signed a new contract with the Serie A club until 2023.
Pioli put pen to paper on a two-year deal to replace the sacked Marco Giampaolo at San Siro in October 2019.
The former Fiorentina boss led Milan to second in Serie A behind city rivals Inter last season, sealing Champions League qualification for the first time in seven years.
Pioli on Friday signed a contract to keep him at the club until the end of the 2022-23 campaign.
The 56-year-old told Milan TV: I hope to be able to experience many emotions on this bench, we are ambitious and we want to continue like this.
Milan are second in Serie A, level on points with leaders Napoli, after amassing 32 points from their opening 12 games for their first time…
Luciano Spalletti believes Napoli s current team is a greater collective unit than the Partenopei sides which Diego Maradona inspired to two Serie A titles.
Napoli reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time on Wednesday, completing a 5-0 aggregate triumph in their last-16 tie against Eintracht Frankfurt.
A Victor Osimhen brace and a Piotr Zielinski penalty guided Napoli to a 3-0 win at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with last season s Europa League winners failing to land a blow on Spalletti s men.
With Napoli set to end a 33-year wait to win Serie A after building an 18-point lead at the summit, comparisons have been made with the sides Maradona led to the Scudetto in 1986-87 and 1989-90.
However, Spalletti feels his team are less…
Real Madrid failed to take advantage of Barcelona suffering a shock defeat at Leganes as both clubs lost LaLiga matches on the same day for the first time since January 2015.
LaLiga champions and leaders Barca went down 2-1 at Butarque with Madrid loanee Oscar Rodriguez scoring the winner for Leganes, taking advantage of a Gerard Pique error on Wednesday.
Madrid were therefore handed the chance to move top of the table but they instead suffered a first league loss under Julen Lopetegui in stunning style in Seville.
Andre Silva struck twice and Wissam Ben Yedder was also on target in the first half, with Pablo Machin s Sevilla in rampant form at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan midweek.
2 are one of the two teams to have won against both Barcelona and Real Madri…
Mark Hughes was sacked as Manchester City manager on this day in 2009, paying the price for a run of two wins in 11 games.
Roberto Mancini was installed as Hughes’ replacement, with Brian Kidd as his number two, in a move which confirmed speculation that a decision had already been taken before an eventful 4-3 win over Sunderland, at which the Italian was present.
A three-goal hammering at Tottenham convinced owner Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak that Hughes could not steer City into the top four, as had been expected following a summer outlay of £120million.
“A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set,” Khaldoon said in a statement.
“Sheikh Mansour and the boar…
When building same-game parlays, it’s important to build a proper narrative and then make corresponding picks. Both the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions have made changes that set up fun opportunities for Thanksgiving Football betting.
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The Atlanta Falcons are winless through the opening two weeks of the 2022 season but, to their credit, they have been competitive against quality teams, dropping games to the Super Bowl champion Rams and playoff-hopeful Saints by a combined five points.
This week they will face off against the Seattle Seahawks, who followed up their Week 1 Russell Wilson spoiler party with a 27-7 dud against the 49ers.
This NFC matchup pits two underappreciated defenses against reclaimed quarterbacks in Marcus Mariota and Geno Smith. Will Mariota lead the Falcons to their first win with him as the full-time starter — or can Geno and Pete Carroll recreate some of that Week 1 magic?
I’ll tackle that question in my free NFL picks, while also breaking down the Week 3 …
What do a kid who ate a Lego brick, me holding my wife’s purse, and the Indianapolis Colts all have in common?
Answer: They’re all playing the “waiting game”.
With rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson in concussion protocols, the Colts are watching and waiting to see who their starter will be when they visit the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3.
If Richardson sits, Indianapolis has a capable backup in Gardiner Minshew. And that then poses the question to football bettors: how much is the difference in QB worth to the spread?
As it stands, Baltimore is a sizable home favorite despite having injury issues of its own. A thinning Ravens roster has become commonplace in recent seasons, with the offensive line missing starters, the d…
We’ve already had four Week 12 odds opportunities but there are still 12 games remaining on the NFL betting board heading into Sunday. That includes a marquee matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles where I’m eyeing a pair of defensive player props.
I’m also diving into the NFL odds for Monday Night Football where I’m backing one of the league’s best pass rushers in a juicy matchup against a division foe. Here are my favorite sack and tackle NFL picks for Week 12.
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