Chase for Igamane heats up
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Daily Record
35 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Have Celtic found Kyogo replacement and will Rangers transfer raids on English Championship bring rewards? Saturday Jury
Is Shin Yamada the man to replace Kyogo for Celtic? CRAIG SWAN: Hard to say. He'll have to be some striker to emulate Kyogo's success at Celtic. Difficult to follow that. ANDY NEWPORT: The Kawasaki Frontale frontman's recent J League record doesn't suggest that he is a natural-born poacher. But you never know, with the right handling Brendan Rodgers could polish up his rough attributes. MICHAEL GANNON: Yamada looks a decent player and he could prove to be another great bit of business from Japan. But his goal record isn't exactly spectacular and Celtic could really do with an experienced front man as well. Is Russell Martin right to raid the English market for his Rangers revolution? CRAIG: Again, it's about the individuals. Nationality doesn't matter if you do the business. It's a safer play, though. ANDY: It's the market he knows best so why not? The trouble with shopping down south is the inflated prices but it looks like Martin is carefully choosing players he believes can produce best value. MICHAEL: It's clearly a strategy from Gers and their manager and it's a market they know well. Rangers have been burned before with signings from the Championship but if it's the right ones they can slot in to the Scottish side without too much risk. Should the SPFL scrap the Premier Sports Cup group stages? CRAIG: No. Pre-season friendlies are awful. It was brought in for the right reasons and it works just fine. ANDY: Not for me. Anything that reduces the number of boring pre-season friendlies is a winner. A tweak of the rules to perhaps allow trialists or extra subs might cheer up some of the grumpy bosses, right enough. MICHAEL: It just seems like too much hassle for too many clubs. Squads are still being put together and while it generates some gate money, the dosh is needed to cover the wages for the extra few weeks. It might be time for a rethink. The Open gets underway at Royal Portrush this week, who are the best winner and each way bets? CRAIG: If Xander Schauffele tightens some stuff up over the weekend in Scotland, he can go close to defending. Harry Hall the each way. ANDY: Scottie Scheffler has never done better than seventh at The Open but I fancy the American to be there or there about this time. A fiver each way on Bob MacIntyre won't break the bank either.
The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Sinner dismantles ailing Djokovic to set up Wimbledon final against Alcaraz
When Novak Djokovic strode on to Centre Court for a second contest with Jannik Sinner in little over a month, the narrative had long been set. This was surely one of the 24-time grand slam champion's last chances for a major victory, a challenge that only continues to grow as age takes him further from his physical peak while Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz move closer to their own. Two hours later, by the time Sinner was finished with him, Djokovic's hopes of winning a 25th grand slam title seemed painfully remote. Sinner completely dismantled an ailing Djokovic, exposing the Serb's sluggish movement with his weight of shot and unimpeachable defence to reach the Wimbledon final for the first time with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win. A month after suffering the most devastating loss of his career, holding triple championship point against Alcaraz in the French Open final before losing in five sets, Sinner has offered an admirable presentation of his mental fortitude and resilience by immediately making his way through to another final. Sinner, the world No 1, will have a chance to avenge that defeat at the earliest possible moment as he faces Alcaraz once again after the Spaniard defeated Taylor Fritz in four sets in the other semi-final. As their combined grip on men's tennis continues to strengthen, Alcaraz and Sinner will be the second pair of players in the open era to contest the men's finals at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, which Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer achieved for three consecutive years between 2006 and 2008. 'We saw the last final – you never know [what will happen],' Sinner said. 'It's an honour to share the court with Carlos again. We try to push ourselves to the limit. Hopefully it's going to be a good match like the last one, but I don't know if it can be better because I don't think it's possible.' The Italian extends his run of dominance against Djokovic to five wins in a row and he has not lost to him since 2023. He is also the sixth player in the open era to reach four consecutive men's singles grand slam finals, joining a distinguished list: Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Andre Agassi and Rod Laver. Before the match, Djokovic expressed confidence about his level after their tight three-set match in the French Open semi-finals. At 38 years old, his physical preparedness for a best of five sets battle with Sinner was less certain: Djokovic skipped practice on Thursday after suffering a heavy fall two points before winning his quarter-final against Flavio Cobolli. Sinner immediately made it clear that a long, arduous day awaited Djokovic by performing at a supreme level from the off and at 1-1 he put together a superb return game to break Djokovic's serve. The 23-year-old looked impenetrable throughout the first hour, covering every blade of grass with his perfectly timed and balanced open stance, sliding to both sides, which permits him to attack on either ground stroke from any part of the court. He served spectacularly, too, completely shutting Djokovic out of his service games. Between his punishing weight of shot off both wings, which constantly stole time from Djokovic, and the difficulty of consistently putting the ball past him, the effect of Sinner's game on his opponents is total suffocation. Djokovic's movement was laboured, particularly when forced to change directions in the corners. Midway through set two, Djokovic began to serve and volley practically every other point. But completely ceding the baseline only served to further illustrate his woes. Down two sets in barely over an hour, Djokovic received a medical timeout for his left leg and inner thigh. Although a brief loss of concentration from Sinner allowed Djokovic to build up a 3-0 lead in set three, with the Serb's legs increasingly heavy it was only a matter of time before Sinner pulled him back in. As Djokovic slowly departed Centre Court, he took his time as he saluted all corners of a stadium that, after witnessing so many of his greatest moments, now sees him in his final stretch. 'I just got off the court so, of course, I'm upset and disappointed. Mostly not for the loss, because obviously even if I was fit, I wasn't a favourite to win against Sinner, I know that, but I think I had good chances if I was fit,' said Djokovic. 'But it's just that physical aspect that is bothering me. You're there. You want to play. You're determined. But then the body doesn't want to listen. That's it. That's what you can say about it.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Spain overcome early Italy scare to win and set up tie against hosts Switzerland
There are suggestions that the era of possession heavy, carefully choreographed, positional play, may have passed its zenith but, if that message worries Pep Guardiola disciples, Spain's women remain unperturbed. As usual the world champions hogged the ball as they won a third consecutive group game at Euro 2025, scoring their 12th, 13th and 14th goals of the tournament in the process. Yet if, in one sense, it was business as usual for Montse Tomé's queens of on-field geometry, Italy actually did a pretty good job of emphasising that La Roja are mortal after all. Indeed in certain cameos it was almost possible to detect glimpses of the way in which this particular Spanish empire might eventually fall. Italy are not quite good enough to bring them down; not now, not yet. But Andrea Soncin has constructed a smart counterattacking unit that revelled in not merely going toe-to-toe with Spain but demonstrating why their cloak of invincibility contains a few loose threads. Opponents blessed with even greater speed and a more aggressive press should be suitably encouraged. A draw would have been a far from unjust result but, Portugal's defeat against Belgium, confirmed that Italy are also quarter-finalists. While Spain, as group winners, face Switzerland in the last eight back here in Berne next Friday, Soncin's team will meet Norway in Geneva on Wednesday. Italy swiftly settled into five at the back mode but, rapid in transition, looked to counterattack at every opportunity and it would have been no surprise had the crossbar developed a significant fissure after Elena Linari thumped the most powerful of early headers against it. Spain failed to heed that warning and paid the price when they failed to clear a low cross. Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey for once displayed a heavy touch and Italy's gloriously intrepid right wing-back Elisabetta Oliviero used her left foot to expertly redirect the loose ball into the back of the net. It prompted some prolonged, and extravagant, celebrations but when the dust finally settled, Spain suddenly started playing in the manner of a quietly furious team. The World Cup holders evidently regarded that goal as an insult to their pride and Real Madrid's Athenea del Castillo responded by equalising with a first-time shot into the top corner. It followed a sumptuous dribble and one-two with Barcelona's Alèxia Putellas whose adroit back heel confounded Soncin's rearguard. Quite apart from repairing wounded egos it took Spain's goal tally to 12 in three games since arriving in Switzerland while also emphasising that Del Castillo looked the brightest of the half dozen fresh faces Tomé had rotated into her starting XI. Tomé's side had already qualified for the quarter-finals but their evident irritation whenever Italy slowed the game down – not least as Soncin's goalkeeper, Laura Giuliani, collapsed with an apparently unfathomable injury that enabled the manager to issue a series of urgent tactical instructions – was real. Perhaps such rising tempers proved counter-productive to concentration because Irene Paredes subsequently, and self destructively, handled Sofia Cantore's cross after making an awful hash of an attempted header. Italy fans were convinced it was a stonewall penalty but a VAR review detected that Cantore had been offside in the preamble and the Barcelona centre-half, Spain's captain, was duly able to forget one of her rather less distinguished moments. Uefa's half-time statistics indicated that Spain had completed more than 400 passes, while Italy had managed less than 200. Not that Tomé would be fooled; her team were in a tough match, against extremely awkward opponents with a highly effective style of their own. It had been a hot and sunny day in Berne but, as the second half began, those fans who had made their way to the Wankdorf Stadium in shorts and T-shirts started pulling on emergency jackets and jumpers. Soncin though suddenly started feeling the heat. He needed nothing more than his fitted white shirt and tie as Del Castillo ran, slalom style, through his defensive chicane and Martina Lenzini's weak clearance headed to Patricia Guijarro. She could hardly pass up such a generous invitation to shoot Spain into the lead and duly did. No matter that it was not exactly the cleanest of hits, Guijarro's strike still flew in via the inside of a post and Italy seemed to sense an almost palpable shift in the power balance. For the first time on the night La Roja really looked on top. Nonetheless Adriana Nanclares, once again preferred to Cata Coll in goal by Tomé, performed wonders to prevent Cantore's awkwardly deflected, high velocity, shot restoring parity. Granted Giuliani did well to deny Aitana Bonmatí a chance to celebrate her recovery from meningitis by diverting the latter's elegantly curving left-foot shot. And, admittedly, Esther González's close-range stoppage time goal after her connection with Putellas's sumptuous cross highlighted Spain's very real threat. But, on this evidence, Tomé's team do not look unbeatable, let alone unplayable.
