In a World Cup that has teased and confounded expectations, England march mercilessly on. A familiar blend of the Stakhanovite and the sublime saw off Senegal, the champions of Africa. Now France, the reigning world champions, await in the quarter-finals next Saturday – along with the world’s most thrilling player, Kylian Mbappé.

England will be underdogs there, for sure. But the ruthlessness and efficiency of this 3-0 victory against Senegal, and the way they emerged from a sticky start to dominate, has laid down a significant marker.

Along the way, England also punctured the “curse” of playing on ITV. Since 1998, they had won just three of 16 World Cup games on the channel, a miserly 19% – compared with…

Once again Didier Deschamps made changes, once again they had a negligible effect, once again France advanced – rinse and repeat. That is the story of Les Bleus’ Euros so far as they played to type in their latest victory, over Portugal on penalties.

Dysfunctional diamond

The diamond was ditched by Deschamps against Belgium, despite deploying it in training on the eve of the last-16 game. However, his solution, moving Antoine Griezmann to an unfamiliar position out wide in a 4-3-3, did not get the best out of the Atlético Madrid forward, nor did it solve the continued issue of finding balance in midfield.

So it was no surprise to see Deschamps twist again against Portugal. In all five…

Don’t listen to them. Don’t let them steal your joy. The 2020 baseball season is within our grasp. MLB players are reporting to their makeshift “spring training” facilities all over Baseball America today. If all goes well, or at least as well as it can given the circumstances, the season will start in earnest on July 23. Teams will play 60 games, not 162, and have a regular postseason before crowning a World Series champion in late October. It isn’t much. But it’s all we got. You should be thrilled, excited. Few love baseball more than I do. Not only as a reporter who has covered the sport since 1986 — I’m a proud Baseball Writer of America Association member and I have a coveted Hall of Fame vote — but as a fan of the sport. And to be honest, I can’t wait for …

Welterweight boxer and all-around shitheel Adrien Broner is being sued in Ohio by a woman he sexually assaulted in a club in Cleveland in June 2018. For those keeping score at home, this is at least the second incident from the first half of 2018 where Broner was arrested for allegedly attacking and sexually assaulting a perfect stranger. In the June incident, Broner is accused of throwing himself on a woman who was seated on a couch at The Park Social Lounge in Cleveland, which was crowded with patrons watching Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The lawsuit says Broner pinned the woman on her back and assaulted her, in full view of, and in at least one case in physical contact with, startled onlookers. From a summary provided in a press release by the victim’s lawyers: According to the comp…

The Rugby League World Cup is underway in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, but the Scottish national team left captain Danny Brough and two other players behind in Christchurch today as the team flew to Brisbane because they were just too drunk. Brough and teammates Sam Brooks and Johnny Walker (heh) were reportedly sozzled when they showed up to board the team plane Sunday after the Scots lost 74-6 to New Zealand the day before. Scottish Rugby League chairman Keith Hogg said all three players were “very contrite” and acknowledged they’d “over-stepped the mark.” Brough is a three-time Super League MVP who has captained Scotland since 2008. That said, we understand why one might have a few after being knocked around by the Kiwis for 80 minutes. [ Daily Telegraph…

After the Dallas Cowboys practice today, wide receiver Dez Bryant went on a rant about the media. There was a lot of yelling, but it’s still not exactly clear what he was mad about. Reporters who were in the locker room started tweeting about the incident shortly after it happened: There doesn’t seem to be any video of Dez’s tirade, but you can hear him shouting the background of this interview with Jason Witten, recorded by the : Bryant then got on Twitter and posted this very confusing explanation for why he was mad: According to another reporter who was in the locker room, Dez was angry at ESPN writer Jean-Jacques Taylor, who had just been accused by wide receiver Devin Street of calling Street the N-word: Taylor hasn’t addressed the issue himself, and Dez seems done wi…

For many years, prior to the Oscar nominations, the boy from Mattoon and his friend Tim have put on their Ebert t-shirts and run down their personal best movies the year. It's cute. Sometimes I chime in. My list is below. 10. Sprinkles the Llama Comes A-Courtin'
Children's movies always tend to get overlooked for the big awards, but they make everyone's Top 10 list anyway. Mine is no different, as I found Danish director Sprong Spurgenvisk's plucky little llama fable enchanting and heartbreaking. Amazingly, the entire film was shot with a handheld camera, using crude Chinese zoetrope animation done on a Post-it notepad with eyeliner pencil. "How twee," you might say, but those of you who know Spurgenvisk's earlier work (raise your hands, Memorie…

data-mm-id=”_ayolz6qaz”>There are no shortage of reasons why Justin Verlander has cemented his place in Cooperstown. Primary among them is a throwback toughness he's been able to channel in October when his team's back is up against the wall. He's won four games while facing elimination, tied for the most in MLB history. He hurled two spectacular deciding Game 5s against the Oakland A's while a member of the Detroit Tigers and seven scoreless innings in Game 6 of the 2017 ALCS against the New York Yankees.Verlander is a special breed; a workhorse with almost unmatched pedigree and competitive fire. When he wants the ball, you give him the ball. He's earned that trust. Even if it's on short rest. So it's perfectly understandable why A.J. Hinch trusted …

data-mm-id=”_8pdo11ykr”>The Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys are both 6-6 heading into their Week 14 Thursday Night Football matchup. With two popular teams teams in the thick of the playoff hunt and needing a win, tonight's game should program sports talk shows all day on Friday. So what will everyone be talking about? Win Or Lose, The Bears Are Missing the PlayoffsThe Bears are 3rd in their division and a game out of the Wild Card. Including tonight's game against the Cowboys, they finish with the second-toughest strength of schedule. Next week they travel to Green Bay, the head back to Chicago for a visit from the Kansas City Chiefs before traveling to Minnesota to play the Vikings– one of the teams they trail in both their division and the Wild Card race. So, the Bears a…

data-mm-id=”_qktktiqn5″>ESPN wants to trade for Al Michaels in hopes that they can pair him with Peyton Manning on Monday Night Football. If ESPN were to pull this off, it would be considered a tremendous upgrade for an NFL broadcast, but what would be the point?With Tony Romo signing a huge new deal to stay at CBS, chasing Michaels to land Manning seems like a panic move for ESPN. Michaels turns 76 this football season. While he's the perfect age and income bracket to run for president, he's getting up there in broadcaster years. That's not to say he isn't still currently great at what he does, but ESPN doesn't need him.If Manning truly wants to call football games, he'll call football games. When he makes up his mind, ESPN can be there waiting with a Rom…