Jurgen Klopp’s edge: Liverpool manager’s approach to marginal gains will help define his Anfield legacy | Football News

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March 28, 2024

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As the Harvard Business Review puts it, one of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is the shift from doing to leading. Jurgen Klopp is a fine coach. But he became an even better leader because of his willingness to embrace new people and new ideas.

His Liverpool side have evolved tactically, adjusting to the trends in the game, but what has made Klopp so successful extends beyond the action on the pitch. It is about the learning culture at Liverpool, the openness to improve. It might be his biggest legacy.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their ability. It is rife in football’s insular world where the tendency is to avoid outsiders altogether. Klopp rose above this and reaped the benefits.

Time and again he has shown himself willing to learn from experts. It is one thing to delegate coaching responsibility to someone who it is hoped will coach in a similar way. Introducing coaches who are going to change the way things are done is quite another.

Perhaps the most notorious example at Liverpool is the deployment of Thomas Gronnemark as a specialist throw-in coach. There were those in football who derided this decision – Richard Keys and Andy Gray chuckling like schoolboys at the mere notion of it.

Klopp had no interest in how things had always been done. His only concern was whether it could be done better. “When I heard about Thomas Gronnemark, it was clear to me I wanted to meet him. When I met him, it was 100 per cent clear I wanted to employ him.”

Speaking to Gronnemark in 2020 about his role at Liverpool, the detail that went into his work was immediately obvious. The Dane explained in easy-to-understand language how he could improve a team’s outcomes – and the input was tactical as well as technical.

He was used to being mocked. “Ever since I started in 2004, people have been laughing at the idea of throw-in coaching,” Gronnemark told Sky Sports. “It is too weird for some people.” But not Klopp. What does that tell us about him and people like him?

“They get in touch because they are innovative and they are open-minded,” Gronnemark explained. “They are always thinking of new ways to improve.” Liverpool went from third last for retaining the ball under pressure from throw-ins to the best in the Premier League.

If the throw-in example is too granular, its impact on results not tangible enough, how about Klopp’s decision to turn to Niklas Hausler and Patrick Hantschke of neuro11? He credits their work on penalty psychology for two of Liverpool’s shoot-out wins at Wembley.

Klopp’s team defeated Chelsea in the finals of both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup in 2022, scoring 17 of their 18 penalties. It was the first season in which they had worked with neuro11, who gave the players the tools to focus in those high-pressure moments.

Speaking to Hausler later that year, he explained the process. “We can know what helps the player to get into this automatic state, into what is known by many people as the zone. We literally measure the brain waves and feed it back to the player,” he told Sky Sports.

“We help the player to understand what things help them to optimise their routine. What is it that helps them and what is it that distracts them? I think that is unique. It is the first time in professional sports that this has been done. The results have been shown.”

That work with Liverpool is ongoing. “They work for us,” said Klopp before this season’s Carabao Cup semi-final. “They were here last week because there was the potential of a penalty shootout against Fulham. We will definitely do something before the final.”

How about something more abstract? A session with famed big-wave surfer Sebastian Steudtner is not necessarily going to win Liverpool a trophy. But Klopp still invited him to share his expertise in 2020, working on underwater breathing techniques with the players.

“It was absolutely incredible, we had players [holding their breath] for nearly three minutes,” said Klopp of that experience with Steudtner. “Three minutes! After half an hour of teaching. That only means you can perform more than you ever imagined.

“I was very interested in what he had to say about how he deals with pressure. If he surfs the highest wave he ever saw, then he is waiting the whole year for the next one, maybe two years. It is just so obvious where the similarities are.”

Maybe it is just his mindset. Klopp’s outlook extends beyond what could help Liverpool. In 2021, when speaking to now Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper coach Fabian Otte, he revealed a story about Klopp that provides an insight into his natural curiosity.

Otte was at Burnley, warming up the goalkeepers before a game against Liverpool. “He started smiling at me,” he told Sky Sports. “Obviously, Jurgen Klopp is a big name, I have heard about him, read about him and watched him on TV for many years. I just waved back.

“When I got back to the changing room, the kitman said, ‘Jurgen Klopp was just asking about you. He said he read this piece about you and was interested.’ Afterwards, I spoke to him for quite a while and he was such a cool person. It was a very interesting experience.

“This is the Liverpool manager. He could have a thousand better things to do than read about me but he knew so many details.

“This is a very German word but when there is someone people instantly like as a leader, they call him a Menschenfanger. Literally, it means someone who catches people in a very positive way, people just come towards him.

“It got me thinking. If he is interested in me that much, how interested would he be in the staff members who he hires and works with on a daily basis? Instantly, you could imagine following him. This is the trait of a very good leader.”

As Klopp prepares to depart Liverpool, it is natural to wonder what the impact of his exit will be. With the return of Michael Edwards, the club has already acted to help ensure the culture continues. But when a leader leaves, there can be a vacuum.

History would suggest that it might be a problem. If there is hope, it comes not only from the recruitment decisions of Edwards and his colleagues but the environment that Klopp has worked to create at Liverpool. Curious players who are still open to learning.

When Trent Alexander-Arnold began trying to improve his peripheral vision with ophthalmologist Dr Daniel Laby, it was, ostensibly, a marketing project for Red Bull. But speaking to the Liverpool player about it, his approach to the challenge explained a lot.

“It is about the little one per cents. As an individual, you need to find something to put yourself ahead of the rest,” Alexander-Arnold told Sky Sports. “The margins are fine. It might not make the difference day to day but it might just be the difference in one or two games this season where I have seen a pass and I have been able to play it because of the extra work that I have been putting in off the pitch.”

It could have been Klopp talking that day.

His Liverpool legacy will be felt in many ways. Throw-in coaches and surfers will not be the first elements of his time at Anfield that spring to mind when the eulogies are delivered. But in their own way, they reveal plenty about the person – and the secrets of his success.

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The Japanese Sensei Bringing Baseball to Brazil

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March 28, 2024

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Yukihiro Shimura always arrives first. He quietly puts on his baseball uniform. He rakes the dirt field meditatively. He picks up the coconut husks and dog poop. And, finally, when he finishes, he bows to Rio de Janeiro’s only baseball field.

Then his misfit team — including a geologist, graphic designer, English teacher, film student, voice actor and motorcycle delivery man — starts to form. Most are in their 20s and 30s, and some are still learning the basics of throwing, catching and swinging a bat.

It was not what Mr. Shimura envisioned when he signed up for this gig. “In my mind, the age range would be 15 to 18,” he said. “I should have asked.”

For the past two decades, Mr. Shimura, 53, was one of Japan’s top high-school baseball coaches. Now he is more than 10,000 miles from home, on a two-year mission from the Japanese government to spread the gospel of baseball.

The challenge is that Japan sent him to the land of soccer.

Despite being the largest nation in Latin America — the region that has fueled baseball’s growth in recent decades — Brazil is baffled by the sport. Brazilians say that compared with their national pastime, baseball has too many rules, too much equipment and too much standing around.

As a result, although many Brazilians wear New York Yankees caps, they often have no idea that the insignia represents the storied baseball team in the Bronx. And as Major League Baseball kicks off another season in the United States on Thursday, many Brazilians actually think of baseball as largely a Japanese sport.

That is because most people who play baseball here are part of the world’s largest Japanese diaspora, according to the Japanese government, estimated at roughly two million Japanese immigrants to Brazil and their descendants, a community that began with economic migration in the early 20th century. It is also because Mr. Shimura is the latest in a long line of Japanese coaches who have come to Brazil to teach baseball.

The coaches are hired by a Japanese government program that sends Japanese experts and money around the world to aid infrastructure and environmental projects as well as to teach cultural exports, like Japanese cooking, language and kendo.

There are nine baseball coaches in Brazil in the current cohort. As usual, nearly all of them are in São Paulo, home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan.

“I was actually surprised that the level of baseball in Brazil is quite high,” Mr. Shimura said, noting that Brazil’s national baseball team finished a surprising second in the Pan American Games last year. “But that is only in São Paulo.”

Mr. Shimura was not assigned there. Instead, he is the program’s second Japanese coach in Brazil’s mecca of samba and soccer: Rio.

Mr. Shimura’s life has revolved around baseball. He said he latched onto the sport as a child as an escape from the taunting he endured for sharing his birth name with one of Japan’s most famous slapstick comedians, Ken Shimura. (He later changed his name.)

Then it turned out he was very good at the sport — an outfielder who could field, hit and run — and he enrolled in an elite baseball school to pursue dreams of playing in Japan’s major leagues.

But he never made it past the semipro circuit. In that league, each team is owned by a large Japanese corporation, and players split their time between baseball and work. Mr. Shimura played for Kawai Musical Instruments, building pianos in the morning and practicing in the afternoon.

After seven years, he moved to coaching, eventually at a high school where he led teams to Japan’s prestigious national baseball tournament. But he said he has never had a challenge like what he faces in Rio.

When he decided to go abroad, leaving his wife and adult children for two years, he hoped to give back while having an adventure. He had dreams of developing talented young players in a baseball hotbed like the Dominican Republic.

Instead, he found himself instructing adults who had first picked up a baseball, in some cases, just weeks before. The team in Rio competes periodically against five other teams in the Rio suburbs, where there are more baseball diamonds and where Mr. Shimura also coaches on weekends.

“To be honest, I was like: ‘Ouch. Why did I do this?’” he recalled in his sparse, meticulously organized Rio rental unit, complete with a hot plate. (He receives a stipend from the Japanese government to cover his living expenses.) “But then there was a turning point. I said, I’m not going to focus on what’s missing here. I’m going to focus on what can be built.”

So Mr. Shimura started with the basics. At a recent practice, using a mix of Japanese, basic Portuguese and pantomime, he demonstrated stances on how to field ground balls and throw to a base.

As he scurried and hopped around the field, it was clear he had more energy than the players. And he was constantly talking, offering loud, positive encouragement, even though the players weren’t exactly sure what he was saying.

“You have to decipher,” said Aluisio Carvalho, 23, a teacher wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat. “Even if you don’t understand a word he said, when he demonstrates the movement, you at least have a notion of what to do.”

The players have begun using some Japanese words — shoto for shortstop and fasto for first base, for instance — and even now sometimes bow on the field, mirroring their coach.

Mr. Shimura has also tried to impart some hallmarks of Japanese baseball. He spent time trying to explain why teamwork is important, drawing diagrams of plays. He showed his students how to maintain the field and equipment. And he demonstrated how to give respect to umpires and competitors. “I want to teach more than just baseball,” he said.

The Brazilians said they were attracted to baseball by American movies or Japanese anime — one said his introduction to the sport was a Woody Woodpecker cartoon — and then they fell in love with the novelty and pace of the game once they tried it. “You can be skinny and play, and you can be fat,” said Luan David, 18, who is studying to be a sommelier.

The players said they were inspired by Mr. Shimura’s nonstop energy and positivity. “He’s much more of a motivational coach than a strictly professional one,’’ said Rafael Dantas, 29, an information technology worker and pitcher. “More emotional than regimented. And for the level we’re playing at, that’s worth a lot more.”

“He’s a real teacher,” he added. “A true sensei.”

Mr. Dantas is one of the longest-tenured players, first introduced to baseball at a Japanese cultural event in Rio eight years ago. He and other more experienced players make up the core of the team — the “Cariocas” — which plays at a dirt baseball diamond along Rio’s picturesque lagoon and in view of its famous mountain ranges. The location draws plenty of curiosity from passers-by who have never seen live baseball. That is partly why Mr. Shimura is coaching so many novices.

Marcio Ramos, 44, a motorcycle delivery man, was at his fifth practice. He had wandered up to ask questions weeks earlier — the most he knew about baseball was from watching the Brad Pitt film “Moneyball” — and now he had learned how to hit from Mr. Shimura. “He speaks the universal language of sport,” Mr. Ramos said. “You basically translate what he wants without understanding what he says.”

A few minutes later, Mr. Ramos hit a ball over the fence for the first time. Mr. Shimura screamed in delight. “Muscle!” Mr. Shimura said, running up to squeeze Mr. Ramos’s biceps.

“I try to be happy with the little things that can be achieved,” Mr. Shimura said. “When they improve little by little, that’s where I find my joy.”

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Smartphones Rewired Childhood. Here's How to Fix It.

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March 28, 2024

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Phones have made kids sedentary, solitary, anxious, and depressed. But, says the author and psychologist, we can reverse the damage.

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Today on Sky Sports Racing: In D’Or clashes with Parikarma at Fontwell | Racing News

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March 28, 2024

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Fontwell and Southwell host Thursday’s fare, both live on Sky Sports Racing…

3.42 Fontwell – Recent winner In D’Or faces Parikarma

Venetia Williams’ In D’Or has taken time to acclimatise since joining the yard from Erwan Grall and showed improved form to get off the mark at Ludlow last week. The six-year-old will have to shoulder a 7lb penalty but remains 5lb well-in after his latest romp, while if all goes well his trainer mentioned Punchestown could be on the agenda next month.

Parikarma landed the odds when scoring at Leicester in January but has a bit to prove having finished down the field on her last two starts, while course and distance winner What’s My Line is another to note having finished second at Lingfield last month.

6.30 Southwell – Lough Leane bids for five-timer

David Simcock’s four-year-old Lough Leane has won all four starts this year and is taken to defy a 5lb hike in the weights with Hayley Turner in the plate for this Stay Golden With BetMGM Safer Gambling Handicap. Due to rise another 5lb in the future, he should have more to come if able to adapt to this new track.

David O’Meara’s Nikovo justified favouritism when landing a Newcastle handicap on his first start since joining from Archie Watson and could give the favourite the most to do off this 5lb higher mark.

The form of Soames Forsyte‘s recent course and distance second behind Cephalus has been franked by the first and third and he would be another for the shortlist.

6.00 Southwell – Suspicion looks to follow up

Suspicion – Ollie Sangster’s son of Make Believe – improved on his racecourse debut when winning a Kempton novice last month and with further improvement expected is fancied to concede weights all round under James Doyle.

The Gosdens’ Vibrato finished five and a half lengths behind Suspicion at Kempton and will hope to close the gap on these revised terms, while King’s Fountain was sent off favourite at Newmarket in October and having found the ground too quick, he should appreciate the switch to the all-weather.

Best of the rest

Last year’s Group One Cheveley Park Jasna’s Secret faces the Godolphin duo of Vertbois and Panarea at Chantilly (2.05). King Of York headlines an intriguing contest at Southwell (7.00) whilst nicely-bred Dubawi colt Hidden Law goes to post in an earlier race there at 5.30.

Sky Bet odds I Today’s cards

Watch every race from Fontwell and Southwell on Sky Sports Racing on Thursday March 28th.

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Russian Group Spread Disinformation About Kate Middleton, Experts Say

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March 28, 2024

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The whirl of conspiracy theories that enveloped Catherine, Princess of Wales, before she disclosed her cancer diagnosis last week probably didn’t need help from a foreign state. But researchers in Britain said Wednesday that a notorious Russian disinformation operation helped stir the pot.

Martin Innes, an expert on digital disinformation at Cardiff University in Wales, said he and his colleagues tracked 45 social media accounts that posted a spurious claim about Catherine to a Kremlin-linked disinformation network, which has previously spread divisive stories about Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as about France’s support for Ukraine.

As in those cases, Professor Innes said, the influence campaign appeared calculated to inflame divisions, deepen a sense of chaos in society, and erode trust in institutions — in this case, the British royal family and the news media.

“It provokes an emotional reaction,” he said. “The story was already being framed in conspiracy terms, so you can appeal to those people. And people who support the royal family get angry.”

The motive, he said, was likely commercial as well as political. Social media traffic about Catherine skyrocketed over the last three months, as a dearth of information about her condition created a void that an online army filled with rumors and speculation. For the Russian network, amplifying those posts through their accounts would enable them to boost their own traffic statistics and follower counts.

It is not clear who might have hired the disinformation network to go after Catherine, but it has a track record of campaigns to undermine the countries and people at odds with the Kremlin. Britain’s robust support for Ukraine, and London’s longstanding antagonism with Moscow, would make it a tempting target for the Russians.

The Daily Telegraph, a London newspaper, reported on Sunday that British officials were worried that Russia, China and Iran were fueling disinformation about Catherine in an effort to destabilize the country.

Asked about these reports in Parliament on Monday, the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, did not name the countries, but said it was “a reminder to us all that it is important for us to ensure that we deal with valid and trusted information, and are appropriately skeptical about many online sources.”

In 2020, a British parliamentary committee concluded that Russia had mounted a prolonged, sophisticated campaign to undermine Britain’s democracy — using tactics that ranged from disinformation and meddling in elections to funneling dirty money and employing members of the House of Lords. The Russian foreign ministry dismissed the conclusions as “Russophobia.”

Kensington Palace, where Catherine and her husband, Prince William, have their offices, declined to comment on Russia’s role in the recent rumormongering. The palace has appealed to the news media and the public to give Catherine privacy, after she announced she had cancer in a video last Friday.

Professor Innes, who leads a research program exploring the causes and consequences of digital disinformation, said his team noticed a mysterious spike in a certain type of social media post on March 19, a day after video surfaced of Catherine and William leaving a food shop near their home in Windsor.

One widely repeated post on X featured an image from the video, with Catherine’s face clearly altered. It asked, “Why do these big media channels want to make us believe these are Kate and William? But as we can see, they are not Kate or William. …”

Tracing the 45 accounts that recycled this post, Professor Innes said, the researchers found they all originated from a single master account, carrying the name Master Firs. It bore the characteristics of a Russian disinformation operation known in the industry as Doppelgänger, he said.

Since 2017, Doppelgänger has been linked to the creation of fake websites that impersonate actual news organizations in Europe and the United States. Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions against two Russians, and their companies, for involvement in cyberinfluence operations. They are believed to be part of the Doppelgänger network.

Catherine is not the only member of the royal family to have become the subject of an online feeding frenzy in Russia. On the same day as the multiple posts about the video, an erroneous report of the death of King Charles III began circulating on Telegram, a social media network popular in Russia.

Those reports were later picked up by Russian media outlets, forcing the British embassies in Moscow and Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, to deny them as “fake news.” Like Catherine, Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, though he continues to greet visitors privately and plans to attend church services on Easter.

Beyond the Russian involvement, the rumors and gossip about Catherine’s health sprouted in many corners of the web, including on accounts sympathetic to William’s brother, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan. With such a widespread online frenzy, the impact of any state actor might be muted.

“It’s very hard to isolate only one piece,” said Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of the EU DisinfoLab, a research organization in Brussels that played a role in identifying the Russia-based disinformation group in 2022 and gave it the name Doppelgänger. “The question is what is being spun by the media, online influencers or inauthentic sources. Everything is interconnected.”

Such campaigns are also particularly hard to measure, he said, because social media companies like X and Meta have restricted access to data that would allow researchers, journalists and civil society groups to get a more granular look at the spread of material on their platforms.

Nor are some disinformation-for-hire outfits very discriminating about what material they spread online, Mr. Alaphilippe said. “You may see bots pushing a Russian narrative on Monday,” he said. “On Tuesday, they may do online gaming. On Wednesday, they can do crypto-scam campaigns.”

Even as awareness of Russian disinformation campaigns has grown since the American presidential election in 2016, the volume of internet trickery and lie spreading has not slowed.

Through bots, online trolls and disinformation peddlers, Russia-linked groups jump on news events to sow confusion and discord. Ukraine has been the major focus of their efforts for the past two years as President Vladimir V. Putin seeks to undermine the West’s resolve to continue supporting the war.

A French government minister recently blamed Russia for artificially amping up concerns about a bedbug scare last year in Paris. Another false claim that media monitoring groups said was amplified by Russia was that the European Union would allow powdered insects to be mixed into food.

The spreading of rumors about Catherine is a more traditional influence operation, but the Russians have been refining their tactics as governments and independent researchers grow more sophisticated at detecting their activities.

In the United States and Europe, fake news sites have popped up to push Russian propaganda and potentially influence elections in 2024. In YouTube and TikTok videos, people have posed as Ukrainian doctors and movie producers to tell fake tales favorable to Russia’s interests.

“Whether spreading it for profit or for political purposes, these types of actors tend to jump on anything engaging and controversial,” said Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University. “Not unlike some news media,” he added, though their motives might differ.

“When politically motivated,” Professor Nielsen said, “the point is rarely persuasion as much as attempts to undermine people’s confidence in the media environment.”

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NBC Cements Status as Anti-Trump, Pro-Biden Network

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March 28, 2024

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The dramatic saga following NBC’s announced hire of former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel solidified the network’s position as being fully anti-Trump going into the 2024 election.

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Chelsea Women 1 – 1 Ajax Vrouwen

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March 28, 2024

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Chelsea eased into the Champions League semi-finals despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Ajax at Stamford Bridge – with a possible reunion against Barcelona awaiting them in the next round.

Emma Hayes’ Blues held a three-goal lead from the first leg in Amsterdam and a much-changed side made that four before half-time in front of over 11,000 fans in west London – with Mayra Ramirez opening the scoring on her Champions League debut for the club.

Chelsea faced a few first-half scares before Ramirez’s opener and were eventually pegged back when Chasity Grant finished below goalkeeper Zecira Musovic. The draw means the Blues are denied the chance to equal their best-ever European run of consecutive wins.

But, more importantly, they move into the last four of the Champions League, where Brann or Barcelona – who knocked Hayes’ Blues out of this competition last season in the semi-finals – await the Women’s Super League leaders. The semi-finals are scheduled for the weekends of April 20/21 and April 27/28.

“If you look at our record in the Champions League, even in the last five seasons, it’s only once we didn’t qualify for the group and reached the latter stages every year,” manager Hayes said at full-time.

“We should be at this level, we should be at the semi-finals. We have a little bit more depth now to make six changes and do what we did tonight.

“We haven’t won anything, I don’t know who the opponent will be. But we’re ready.”

And Chelsea’s quest for a quadruple rumbles on – with the chance to win one of the four available trophies on Sunday when they play Arsenal in the Continental Cup final at Molineux.

How Chelsea got the job done

This was no procession for Chelsea as Ajax started the stronger.

Captain Sherida Spitse headed onto the roof of the net, before Romee Leuchter fired wide from inside the box after muscling Kadeisha Buchanan off the ball. Chelsea then went close at the other end as Erin Cuthbert fired Aggie Beever-Jones’ cross wide at the near post – but Ajax kept coming.

Chelsea goalkeeper Musovic, who had a few poor early touches of the ball, was nearly left red-faced when she clattered a Cuthbert back-pass straight into Tiny Hoekstra and the ball started rolling towards the goal line. Thankfully for the Swede, the ricochet just missed at the near post.

That chance gave Chelsea a wake-up call and Guro Reiten fired wide of the far post from inside the box after good work from Beever-Jones, who was then denied two one-on-one chances by last-ditch challenges from Spitse and Kay-Lee de Sanders.

But Chelsea’s opener finally came as Ajax gifted the ball too easily to Reiten, who slipped Ramirez in on goal to finish past Ajax goalkeeper Regina van Eijk.

The Colombian striker could have made it two as she met Beever-Jones’ delicious early cross – but could not get enough contact to tap home from a few yards out.

With potentially one eye on Sunday’s final with Arsenal, Chelsea were more relaxed after the break.

That allowed Ajax back into the second-half contest, with Hoekstra playing in Grant for a one-on-one, with her finish under Musovic bringing the Dutch side level on the night.

Ajax could have taken the lead – and consigned Chelsea to a rare defeat in 90 minutes – but found Musovic in inspired form. First, Leuchter cut inside brilliantly from the left and fired for the top corner, with Musovic pulling off a superb reflex save to deny her.

The Chelsea goalkeeper repeated the feat when substitute Danique Tolhoek tried a very similar move. Again, a stunning save matched a testing strike.

Catarina Macario came off the bench and nearly found a winner late on, but saw her effort saved by Van Eijk.

And Chelsea came through this routine assignment worry and injury-free – ahead of a mammoth season run-in to come.

Hayes: Ramirez has given me squad headache for cup final

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes:

“I’m happy for Mayra, it’s her debut. She was excited about tonight and happy for the goal. She gives me selection problems for the weekend!

“We love winning. I love saying this to the players, I don’t care who scores. We have to count on everyone almost throughout the season.

“I trust the squad and I trust the players. Some absolutely needed to recover this evening, I’m really happy for the whole squad.

“We have more diversity in the squad. More attacking options. More variety, that’s probably at the heart of it. More experience.

“We’ve been at the latter stages so many times. We know where we have to be to play in those sort of games.”

When are the Champions League semi-finals?

April 20/21: Champions League semi-finals first leg

April 27/28: Champions League semi-finals second leg

May 25: Champions League final – San Mames, Bilbao

What’s next for Chelsea?

Hayes now has a maximum of 11 matches remaining as Chelsea manager, with the club still hunting a historic quadruple between now and May 25.

Next up is the chase for them to lift the Continental Cup as they take on Arsenal in the final this Sunday at Molineux, kick-off 3pm.

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After the U.N. Cease-Fire Resolution, Israeli Strikes on Gaza Haven’t Let Up

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March 28, 2024

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Israel’s air force on Wednesday continued to pound the Gaza Strip with strikes, and Hamas fighters kept up attacks against Israeli soldiers, a further indication that a United Nations Security Council resolution this week calling for a cease-fire had failed to persuade either side as attempts for an agreement appeared to falter.

Over the two days since the U.N. resolution passed on Monday, the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, has said it is continuing to carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military said on Wednesday that warplanes had hit dozens of targets over the previous day, including tunnels, military compounds and militants.

Israel has been outspoken in its condemnation of the Security Council resolution, which called for a cease-fire for the remaining weeks of Ramadan that would lead to a “lasting, sustainable” halt in the fighting and the unconditional release of all hostages held by militants in Gaza. The United States, which has vetoed previous attempts, abstained, allowing the resolution to pass.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met in Jerusalem on Wednesday with Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, and continued to express defiance over the U.S. decision. He argued, according to a statement from his office, that it encouraged “Hamas to take a hard line and to believe that international pressure will prevent Israel from freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.”

Israel and Hamas appear no closer to negotiating a stop in fighting, with significant gaps remaining between them.

On Wednesday, three Palestinian human rights groups said that there had been an intensification of Israeli bombardments on Rafah over the previous 72 hours, killing dozens. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans are sheltering there. Some of the strikes described by the groups occurred after the Security Council’s resolution passed, while several others took place prior.

Gazan authorities reported on Wednesday that Civil Defense teams had pulled Palestinians out of the rubble after strikes in the Jabaliya neighborhood of northern Gaza, though the timing was unclear.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its teams had picked up the bodies of two people killed by artillery fire in the Nuseirat neighborhood.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hamas said that it hit a soldier in the area surrounding Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with sniper fire, after saying Tuesday that it had targeted two Israeli tanks in the Khan Younis area, and an armored personnel carrier and a soldier on the coastal north-south road.

Since early last week, Israeli forces have been raiding Al-Shifa in what the military has said is an effort to crack down on Hamas. Humanitarian organizations have expressed alarm over the situation at the medical facility, which, along with the surrounding area, had been sheltering thousands of people.

Over the last 48 hours, the Qassam Brigades has also published videos purporting to show militants firing on Israeli forces, but it was not clear when the videos were taken.

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Joe Biden, the (Still) Unpopular President

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March 28, 2024

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There’s been a lot of wishful reporting about the political fortunes and reelection hopes of President Joe Biden.

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Miami Open: Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins in action on Thursday | Tennis News

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ABC17 Breaking News

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March 27, 2024

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Here’s everything you need to know about the Miami Open, including the draw, who’s playing and the schedule, with the tournament live on Sky Sports…

The final two men’s quarter-finals and the women’s semi-finals take place on Thursday, with the match between Alexander Zverev and Hungarian Fabian Marozsan getting play under way from 5pm UK time.

Fourth seed Elena Rybakina then takes on veteran Victoria Azarenka, not before 8pm.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz faces Grigor Dimitrov from midnight with the last semi-final spot on the line in the men’s tournament.

The second women’s semi-final between Danielle Collins and the winner of the clash between Jessica Pegula or Ekaterina Alexandrova takes place after that.

Who is playing?

World No 1 Iga Swiatek was unable to build on her victory at Indian Wells after a fourth-round exit, but reigning men’s champion Medvedev is still aiming to defend his title.

Medvedev and Swiatek were headlining the field, but one player who is not involved in Florida is six-time champion Novak Djokovic.

He has played just three times this year – representing Serbia in the United Cup, reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open, and falling in just the third round of Indian Wells.

“At this stage of my career, I’m balancing my private and professional schedule,” Djokovic posted on X. “I’m sorry that I won’t experience some of the best and most passionate fans in the world.”

The 24-time Grand Slam champion suffered a shock third-round loss to 123rd-ranked Italian Luka Nardi at Indian Wells.

Petra Kvitova, the women’s champion in 2023, is not playing after recently announcing that she is due to give birth later this year.

Which British players are in action?

Katie Boulter was the last left standing, but her defeat in the fourth round means British interest has now ended, with two-time champion Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie, Jack Draper and Dan Evans all knocked out earlier.

Harriet Dart and Heather Watson were both eliminated in qualifying while Jodie Burrage and Liam Broady were ruled out of the tournament because of injury.

Emma Raducanu pulled out on the eve of the tournament due to a lower back problem.

What’s the schedule?

Tuesday, March 19 – Women’s singles first round
Wednesday, March 20 – Men’s and women’s singles first round
Thursday, March 21 – Women’s singles second round, men’s singles first round
Friday, March 22 – Men’s and women’s singles second round
Saturday, March 23 – Women’s singles third round, men’s singles second round
Sunday, March 24 – Men’s and women’s singles third round
Monday, March 25 – Women’s singles fourth round, men’s singles third round
Tuesday, March 26 – Women’s singles quarter-finals, men’s singles fourth round
Wednesday, March 27 – Men’s and women’s singles quarter-finals
Thursday, March 28 – Women’s singles semi-finals, men’s singles quarter-finals
Friday, March 29 – Men’s singles semi-finals
Saturday, March 30 – Women’s singles final
Sunday, March 31 – Men’s singles final

Where is it being played?

After 32 years at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, the tournament made its debut at Hard Rock Stadium – home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins – in 2019.

How to watch on Sky Sports Tennis

Sky Sports is the new home for tennis in the UK and Ireland, with Sky Sports Tennis on Sky and NOW, making tennis content available all day, every day for fans.

Sky Sports will broadcast more live tennis than anywhere else, bringing over 4,000 matches from more than 80 tournaments a year on the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as full coverage of the US Open, all exclusively live.

Non-Sky subscribers can stream live matches with a NOW Sports Day and Month Membership, via Sky Sports Tennis, Sky Sports Arena, and Sky Sports Mix channels.

For further access, fans will also be able to follow their favourite players and gain deeper insights from both Tours via Sky Sports News, the Sky Sports app, on SkySports.com and via Sky Sports social channels.

Get Sky Sports on WhatsApp!

You can now start receiving messages and alerts for the latest breaking sports news, analysis, in-depth features and videos from our dedicated WhatsApp channel!

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Watch the WTA and ATP Tours throughout 2024 on Sky Sports Tennis. Stream Sky Sports Tennis and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime.

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