“I was going through my scrapbook and I was looking at photographs from the game and ‘Eusébio’ had one of the girls on her shoulders, another on top of her, and they were singing their heads off,” reflects Paula Gorham with a laugh. “And they were out there getting trounced!”
It is 50 years this week since the then 16-year-old Gorham, from a family of 11, took her first trip out of Ireland to play for Dundalk Ladies against Corinthians Nomads from Manchester in a de facto England v Republic of Ireland international at Prestatyn Raceway in Wales.
England Women join project to ‘truly understand the female athlete’Read more
Eusébio was the nickname handed to Stella Clarke, one of a handful of young players…
Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas
Despite the fact he is a 35-year-old goalkeeper, Spanish legendary international Iker Casillas still stands a big presence in world football and should be one of the free-agent shot-stoppers to cause great attention towards the end of the season.
Real Madrid icon has so far notched 23 appearances in all competitions for Porto and his future with the Portuguese giants remains in balance. It has been a turbulent stint for the Spain’s favourite son in the neighbourhood as Casillas had to fight against demons to prove his worth at Porto, but now appears to be ready for a new challenge.
French Ligue 1 outfit Marseille have already expressed their interest in signing the veteran goalkeeper, but we have no doubt that some other clubs will join the r…
Juventus snatched a 1-1 draw at home to relegated Salernitana courtesy of a late Adrien Rabiot goal that cancelled out a first-half header from Niccolo Pierozzi in Serie A on Sunday.
Juve are fourth on 67 points with two matches left, six points ahead of Atalanta, who have two games in hand.
Salernitana shocked the Allianz Stadium as unmarked Pierozzi headed home after 27 minutes following a corner.
But Juventus dominated the rest of the match and equalised in stoppage time when Rabiot slid the ball home at the back post after a corner was flicked on.
Bottom side Salernitana were doomed to the drop last month.
Juve play in the Coppa Italia final against Atalanta on Wednesday in an effort to save a disappointing season and stop their winless streak…
The Pride said in a statement Morgan had a patella stress reaction in her right knee stemming from an injury sustained while with the national team.
It s obviously difficult to lose a player of Alex s calibre due to injury, Pride general manager Erik Ustruck said.
However, after consulting with the club’s medical team at Orlando Health and U.S. Soccer, we felt it was in the best interest of Alex s long-term health to shut her down for the season to focus on the rehabilitation process and take the appropriate time to recover from the lingering knee injury.
The striker has been nursing the injury since she was substituted during USA s group game against Sweden at the World Cup in June.
She returned to play in the remaining games of the tournament,…
As we prepare to usher in a new year, 2017 saw the retirement of some football royalty.
AC Milan hero Kaka, charismatic World Cup-winning magician Andrea Pirlo and Roma icon Francesco Totti all hung up their boots.
Bayern Munich champion Philipp Lahm, team-mate Xabi Alonso and Chelsea favourite Frank Lampard also followed the trio into life after football.
We look back at the stars who brought down the curtain on their illustrious careers over the past 12 months.
KAKA
The Ballon d Or, World Cup, Champions League, Serie A, LaLiga, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Copa Del Rey and Supercoppa Italiana Kaka won it all. The 35-year-old announced his retirement from professional football in December following the expiry of his contract at MLS …
Defending champions Bayern Munich face strugglers Stuttgart on Saturday hoping to end their 2010 Bundesliga campaign on a high, but with one eye on next year as Arjen Robben returns to training.
Bayern are sixth in the table and lag 17 points behind leaders Dortmund, but are set to welcome back injured stars Robben, Germany veteran Miroslav Klose and striker Ivica Olic after the Christmas break.
The Bundesliga finishes for the year on Sunday evening with Bayern s game and coach Louis van Gaal wants three points from Stuttgart to close the gap.
The champions are expected to launch a title surge next season, especially with chief playmaker Robben due back in January.
The flying Dutchman has been out since July s World Cup with a torn hamstring, but resumed…
Kyle Walker is eyeing European Championship qualification and “a little bit of payback” when England host Italy.
Tuesday’s sold-out qualifier will be the first time these sides have met at Wembley since the Azzurri pipped Gareth Southgate’s men on penalties in the Euro 2020 final.
The nations have met in Wolverhampton, Milan and Naples in the intervening 27 months but their reunion under the arch naturally brings memories flooding back from England’s agonising near-miss.
Walker admits the chance to put that ghost to bed adds a little extra, but the main focus is getting the point they need to seal Euro 2024 qualification with two games to spare.
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The NFL schedule giveth and the NFL schedule taketh away.
That’s the name of the game when using situational handicapping — also known as spot bets — to find hidden value when betting on the NFL.
We dig into what the schedule is serving up with our best NFL spot bets for Week 4, pushing pause on the stats, standings, and power rankings to size up the psyche of teams and uncover hidden edges.
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Last weekend saw seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady come up short in his latest heroic postseason comeback attempt, as the Buccaneers clawed all the way back from a 27-3 deficit only to let it slip in the dying moments.
That loss to the Rams put an end to the Bucs’ title defense, but could it have also brought an end to Brady’s career? Despite the legendary quarterback putting together an MVP-worthy season at age 44, retirement talk has circled over the last week, including from Brady himself.
The NFL betting market is never too far behind, so Tom Brady retirement odds are on the board as the NFL’s most successful player ponders his future.
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For many football fans making NFL picks and predictions, the Divisional Round is the best part of the playoffs.
Gone are the scrappy contenders of the Wild Card Weekend, leaving us with the NFL’s version of the Elite Eight. We don’t get the high stakes of the conference championships or the pageantry of the Super Bowl, but we have four solid NFL betting options on the board to keep us busy Saturday and Sunday.
Of course, this being a column titled NFL Underdogs (in which I can only make picks getting the points), we have to size up just how pups do at this point in the postseason.
Long-term, Divisional Round dogs have been pretty good at 47-35-1 against the spread since 2000-01 (57%). But while those underdogs went 3-1 ATS in las…