Gossip: Black Cats see initial bid for France defender Diakite rejected
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The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
Jess Carter admits she was ‘scared' to play Euro 2025 final after racist abuse
England defender Jess Carter admitted she was 'scared' to play in the Euro 2025 final after suffering racist abuse during the tournament as she thanked her teammates for their support. Carter returned to Sarina Wiegman 's starting line-up for the final against Spain and was the only change the England manager decided to make before the Euro 2025 final in Basel. The 27-year-old Carter revealed after England's quarter-final win over Sweden that she had received racist abuse on social media throughout the tournament. She dropped to the bench for the semi-final against Italy, even though Wiegman said Carter was ready to play if needed, but she returned to start the final against Spain. And while Carter was excellent alongside Leah Williamson in defence, as the Lionesses won their second major trophy, Carter revealed she had been apprehensive to play in the final. Carter told ITV: "I was super scared to play today for the first time in my life, but when I woke up and I saw my team, and the support I had and the belief I had from my team-mates, my family and my manager. I knew I could just come out and give it my all. That's all you can do." Carter thanked the support she had received from the England fans and said it gave her the 'courage' to play after suffering racist abuse during the tournament. 'The support I felt from the fans was incredible,' Carter explained. 'I can't thank them enough because without the fans, my team-mates and my family, I don't know if I'd have every had the courage to back on the pitch and play again. 'I'm not normally someone who struggles with the hate they received because everyone is going to have their opinion. But this tournament has been tough and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back on the pitch and do me. "Everyone of those fans, I'm not ever going to be able to show my thanks enough, but they have been incredible, and I hope they will continue to cheer on the Lionesses every single day." England manager Wiegman explained that starting Carter over Esme Morgan, who had also impressed during the semi-final win over Italy, was a tactical decision but said she had 'belief' in Carter to deliver the performance required. 'Well, first of all, it says something about the team that we can make tactical decision,' Wiegman said. 'I've said a couple of times now that I was really happy, before the tournament, with my squad, and that we had players in the same position that can bring different things, and that was true with Esme and Jess. 'Italy was a different game than Spain and we felt we needed Jess now in the starting line-up, exactly for the reasons that you said, the fight and the duels, she can play, and she showed of course that she is a great personality. 'She was ready to perform, also against Italy, but that was a tactical decision and now we've made a tactical decision. I had all the belief in her and she had the belief in herself, that's the most important thing, that she could contribute to the team and you can tell that the team trusted her too.'
The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Enjoy this moment': Pogacar fights off fatigue to savour Tour de France glory
Tadej Pogacar admitted that his own creeping fatigue was perhaps his biggest threat during the Tour de France this year, particularly after he had built a four-minute lead on Jonas Vingegaard following the race's three stages in the Pyrenees. Speaking in a brief press conference after his fourth Tour win, Pogacar said: 'We were in the lead and we had quite a big gap, so we were comfortably in yellow, but yeah, I was tired in the last week. 'For now, I don't want to speak about what went wrong,' he added, 'but for now I want to enjoy this moment with the yellow jersey in Paris.' Although his rivalry with Vingegaard was less intense during this year's Tour than it has been in the past, Pogacar admitted that the pair now have renewed respect for each other. 'Jonas opened up a bit more this year,' he said. 'He comes [over] and we talk about stuff, general stuff. I quite like the guy and I like to race against him. 'Today we were speaking at the start line about how incredible it was, the last five years, battling each other and pushing each other to the next level. We spoke about how we can be privileged to have this competition between each other and how it makes us grow even more.' Vingegaard admitted that his own performance had not been as consistent as he had hoped. 'I can agree that on some stages I have had the highest level that I have ever had,' he said, 'and in other stages I have had the lowest level for many years for me. 'It was a bit more that I had a few bad days. I am better than I ever have been, but it's shown me that I can still have a few bad days.' If he had suffered from ennui, Pogacar managed to hide it for most of the race and certainly in the final stage in Paris, even if his visible weariness during the Alpine stages had drawn criticism from some parts of the French media. 'Burnouts happen in a lot of sports, mental burnout, physical burnout,' he said. 'I think cyclists are a bit too obsessed with training. We always try the hardest and everybody wants to train more and more. 'You see riders with fatigue too early in the season, the team needs you to race, race, race and you keep going and you never really recover. Burnouts happen all the time and it can happen to me as well.' While the four-time champion is looking ahead to a rumoured Grand Depart in Slovenia in 2029, his rival is already turning his attention to trying to win this year's Vuelta a España, the final Grand Tour of the year and one that Pogacar seems unlikely to ride. 'I think first of all, I will do an easy week and from there, you can start training again,' Vingegaard said. 'It's more when you feel fresh and able to train again. There's not a lot of time, but I did it two years ago and it worked out pretty well.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Agency: 49ers signing veteran CB Eli Apple
July 28 - Veteran cornerback Eli Apple will have a chance to play for his seventh NFL team after agreeing to a one-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers, his agency said on social media Sunday. The 49ers had not made an announcement as of Sunday night. Apple, who turns 30 on Aug. 9, was limited by a hamstring injury last season and played in only four regular-season games and one playoff appearance for the Los Angeles Chargers, making two tackles. He has 383 career tackles, six interceptions, 61 passes defended, three forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries in 102 regular-season games (82 starts) for the New York Giants (2016-18), New Orleans Saints (2018-19), Carolina Panthers (2020), Cincinnati Bengals (2021-22), Miami Dolphins (2023) and Chargers. The Giants selected Apple with the 10th overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. --Field Level Media
