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Manchester United – Copenhagen preview: Copenhagen boss Stale Solbakken isn’t disguising his happiness that a bid to oust tournament favorites Manchester United from the Europa League will be contested over just one leg thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
[ MORE: JPW’s European predictions ]
“It is a great advantage for us that it is decided over one match on neutral ground and without spectators, than if we had to meet them both home and away,” he said on the club’s official site.
The entire tie will be staged at 3 pm ET Monday at Old Trafford.
The Danish Superliga runners-up stumbled down the stretch to finish four points ahead of third but well behind title-winning Midtjylland. Ousted from the Champions League by Red Star Belgrade in penalty kicks, defending has been an issue.
Players of a 4-4-2 for many of their recent outings, Copenhagen has won their last two in a 4-2-3-1. You may see ex-Manchester United prospect Guillermo Varela and former Sunderland and Everton player Bryan Oviedo.
Here are the highlights of the Round of 16 defeat of Istanbul Basekshir. Jonas Wind led the way in the 3-0 triumph at home, overcoming the 1-0 first leg loss in Turkey.
Copenhagen had nearly five months to lament their 1-0 first leg deficit to Istanbul Basaksehir, then unloading on the Turkish powers via a 3-0 second leg in Denmark.
Copenhagen began their UEL run all the way back in the champions’ route of the playoff round, beating Latvia’s Riga before finishing second to Malmo in Group B. It then beat Celtic to get to the Round of 16 tie with Basaksehir.
United went 4-1-1 in the group stage, a loss to Astana on the penultimate match day no big deal thanks to a home pounding on AZ Alkmaar on the final day to win Group I.
The Red Devils pounded Club Brugge and LASK Linz over two legs to seal a space in the quarterfinals and are significant favorites to win the UEL. Their +180 odds through DraftKings are ahead of Inter Milan (+325) and Sevilla (+500).
Man Utd’s Sergio Romero on the nature of his club: “As a group of players, if we have a team-mate who is struggling a bit on the day, all the lads have to give him a lift, so he can compete in the game in the best possible way. For sure, every bit of work and effort every day in training, as well as all our dreams are focused on getting United back to another Europa League final. So, we’re going to work hard for that to happen.”
Copenhagen boss Solbakken: “We have to meet the best Premier League team since the coronavirus break, and have, among other things, seen how they beat LASK 5-0 with a B-team, so no matter who they field, we naturally have great respect. … They have a lot of quick players, they play fast and they’ve been good on the counter since Bruno Fernandes came, and they also combine very fast around the field. So there is a lot you can get nervous about, but we have to stick to our own plan and see how far it can take us.”
The one-legged nature of this round changes the nature of the competition, as class will generally win out over 180 minutes. Ninety (plus) brings a bigger chance of an upset, with Manchester United at -385 and Copenhagen still the biggest underdog of the round at +1000.
The match won’t be without scares, but even an empty Old Trafford bears its advantages. United emerges with a 3-1 win.
Dates: August 5-23 Location: Quarterfinals onwards in Lisbon/Germany How to watch: CBS Sports Live updates: UCL here at NBCSports.com & Europa League here at NBCSports.com
Follow @NicholasMendola
Manchester United – Copenhagen: How to watch, start time, prediction originally appeared on NBCSports.com
Major or no major, Rory McIlroy believes there is a line you do not cross, regardless of your ambition in any given week. The Northern Irishman re-emphasised his belief on Sunday night by calling out Brooks Koepka for disrespectful “mind games” against Dustin Johnson before the final round of the 102nd USPGA Championship. Koepka was on the first hole at Harding Park and trying to become the first player to win three strokeplay Wanamaker Trophies when McIlroy made his comments. After his 68 to close on two under, McIlroy was asked what he thought about Koepka’s sideswipe at his Ryder Cup team-mate the previous evening, saying that “he’s only won one”. Koepka also implied that Johnson had found the second major the hardest to win. “I was watching the golf last night and heard the [Koepka] interview and was just sort of taken aback a little bit by what he said and whether he was trying to play mind games or not – if he’s trying to play mind games, he’s trying to do it to the wrong person,” McIlroy said. “It’s a very different mentality to bring to golf that I don’t think a lot of golfers have. Just different. I try to respect everyone out here. Everyone is a great player. If you’ve won a major, you’re a hell of a player.” Then McIlroy delivered his own biting barb towards Koepka. “It’s sort of hard to knock a guy that’s got 21 wins on the PGA Tour, which is three times as many as Brooks,” McIlroy said. Koepka has a burgeoning reputation as an elite golfer willing to put down his peers. Apart from his many jibes at Bryson DeChambeau, Koepka was dismissive last year when asked if he felt there was a rivalry between him and McIlroy. “I’ve been out here for, what, five years – Rory hasn’t won a major since I’ve been on the PGA Tour,” Koepka said. ”So I just don’t view it as a rivalry.” McIlroy shrugged it off at the time, but was known privately to be unimpressed. In some ways McIlroy’s attitude towards Koepka’s irreverence is curious seeing as he, himself, declared that the European golfers such as Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari were wrong to skip the early PGA Tour restart events following lockdown and stated they should be there “if they cared about their careers”. Except McIlroy did not name anyone directly and climbed down from those comments recently. There is plainly a distaste of Koepka’s discourtesy. As it was, it was another quote in McIlroy’s post-major press conference on Sunday night that will make the eyebrows rise the most in some quarters. Monday is the six-year anniversary of the 31-year-old’s last major win – the 2014 US PGA win. He was quizzed by an Irish journalist “why you find it’s difficult to hang around for 54, 63 holes in recent seasons compared to say earlier in your career?” McIlroy replied: “Maybe I’m just not as good as I used to be. I don’t know.” The world No 3 was being prickly and does not truly believe that. “I feel like the golf that I’ve played in the majors has been sort of similar to the golf I’ve played outside of them, and I’ve won some big events and played well and had a good season last year,” McIlroy said. “I can’t really put my finger on it. I go out there and try my best every single day. Some days I play better than others, and I just have to keep going and keep persisting and see if you can do better the next time.” It was a legitimate query on the reporter’s behalf. Something is plainly missing when it comes to the majors for McIlroy, seeing as he won four by the age of 25 and all too often it is slow starts and/or sloppy errors at crucial times. This was a satisfactory end to his San Francisco quest, but a finishing time before the leaders had even teed-off obviously fell far short of what he expects. For now, McIlroy is simply trying to rediscover the consistency that saw him chalk up seven successive PGA Tour top-fives before the coronavirus hooter sounded. In his six events since the resumption, McIlroy has not recorded a single top-10 finish and only one top 20. “This was one of the tougher tests that we’ve faced since coming back, together with the Memorial a few weeks ago,” he said. “I’ve sort of gauged those two events as the barometer of where my game is, and I’m going to pretty much finish in the same spot around 30th. There’s been enough good stuff in there, I’m just making a few too many mistakes. Try to clean that up going forward.”
Whatever else Rory McIlroy gets to take away from the 102nd USPGA Championship there is no doubt that his reputation will only be enhanced among the golfing purists. You can say what you like about the Northern Irishman’s competitive attitude — and many do and will — but there surely cannot be any questioning his approach to what he regards as proper sportsmanship in the game he adores. McIlroy is in the Bobby Jones school of thought when it comes to the rulebook. The greatest amateur of all time famously declared at the 1925 US Open “you may as well praise me for not robbing a bank” after he was hailed for calling a penalty on himself that only he knew about. It cost Jones the title to Scotland’s Willie Macfarlane. Round two report: Fleetwood’s 64 takes him to touching distance of lead When quizzed about his own moment of honour during Friday’s second round at Harding Park, San Francisco, McIlroy seemed similarly nonplussed. Except, his actions could even be classed as more principled than those of Jones. Because here was a golfer who deliberately gave himself a worse lie to the one chosen by a referee. The incident occurred on the par-three third, after the world No 3 had sliced his tee shot into the thick rough. A search ensued, during which an on-course ESPN reporter unwittingly stepped on McIlroy’s ball. Under the recently introduced Rule 7.4, McIlroy was allowed to re-place it, without penalty, based on an “estimate” of where it was initially. The rules official pointed to an appropriate area where McIlroy duly placed his ball. McIlroy was free to go and try to save par. Except he was not comfortable and said to the referee: “It would not have been as visible as that.” So he bent down and buried it a little further in the cabbage. The best he could manage from that lie was a pitch to within 22 feet, from where he two-putted for a bogey. Suddenly, the clapping emoji appeared all over social media and four hours later, when he could eventually explain his thought process, he was still being congratulated. “I just wouldn’t have felt comfortable,” McIlroy said after signing for a 69. “I placed it, and the rule is try to replicate the lie. No one really knew what the lie was, but if everyone is going around looking for it, it obviously wasn’t too good. So I placed it, I was like, that just doesn’t look right to me. So I just placed it down a little bit. “You know, at the end of the day, golf is a game of integrity and I never try to get away with anything out there. I’d rather be on the wrong end of the rules rather than on the right end.” The proceedings were reminiscent of Darren Clarke at the 2006 Irish Open. Leading by two when play was called for bad weather on the Sunday evening, Clarke returned the next morning to the spot on the ninth where his ball had finished after a wayward drive moments before the hooter had sounded. Lo and behold, the leprechauns had been at work overnight and what was a poor lie was now so decent that the crowd favourite could reach the green. But Clarke refused to accept his good fortune electing to chip it out into the fairway instead. “That’s part and parcel of the game,” he later said after finishing third being his great friend Thomas Bjorn. “It was a much better lie than when I left it. I had the opportunity to hit it on to the green, but my conscience wouldn’t allow that.” Of course, Clarke was something of a mentor to McIlroy and the protege will certainly recall the episode. Like now, the sanctity of the rulebook was under the spotlight at the time with a few high-profile affairs, including Colin Montgomerie’s notorious drop in Jakarta the previous year. McIlroy’s rectitude occurred a week after Bryson DeChambeau shamelessly tried to bend the rulebook in his favour by claiming that his ball was near an anthill and as they were red ants, it was a “dangerous situation” and he was entitled to relief under Rule 16: “Relief from Abnormal Course Conditions (Including Immovable Obstructions), Dangerous Animal Condition, Embedded Ball.” Two weeks before that, at The Memorial, DeChambeau was heard criticising “another garbage ruling” when insisting to a referee — who, as, fate would have it was the same official as in the fire-ant farce — that he was entitled to play a shot that was resting against an out-of-bounds fence. He obviously was not and annoyed the locker room, by calling for a second ruling. The next referee summarily dismissed DeChambeau’s argument. There have also been mutterings on the range concerning DeChambeau’s dropping “technique” on his way to that almost comical 10 at Muirfield Village. In the new rules, designed in part to quicken up the pace of play, golfers are required to come as close as possible to the original spot within a club length. That can be up to four feet and advantages can inevitably be found in such an area, if the player is willing to exploit this loophole. Was all this on McIlroy’s mind? We might never know, for sure, but we can hazard an accurate guess. As it was, McIlroy goes out in the third round on Saturday on one-under, seven behind the leader China’s Haotong Li, with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose in a group in second, two off the pace. DeChambeau was on two-under.
World Rugby will prolong its three-year residency rule for another year due to the “exceptional disruption” caused by Covid-19. Rugby union’s global governing body voted to extend the residency period from three years to five in May 2017. The rule allows a player to become eligible for another nation provided they have not represented the designated ‘senior’ representative team of a union for which they qualify on different grounds, such as birth. England internationals Denny Solomona and Nathan Hughes have made their Test debuts under Eddie Jones via the three-year residency rule. Similarly, Leinster wing James Lowe is in line to feature for Ireland in November, by which time he will have completed three years of residency. The original cut-off date for World Rugby’s adjustment, marked for December 31, 2020, has now been pushed back to December 31, 2021. Edinburgh loosehead prop Pierre Schoeman is an interesting case due to the change of date. The destructive scrummager arrived in Scotland in the summer of 2018 from the Bulls franchise in South Africa. Under previous guidelines, he would need to wait until 2023 to represent Scotland. Now, the South Africa Under-20 international would appear to be free to do so in 2021.
Cueto’s first hit was a fly ball caught literally 99 percent of the time, per Statcast.
Orioles fans and broadcasters had some fun at the Nationals’ tarp situation.
Maybe Brooks Koepka should have followed the old golf adage — as tired as it may be — and let his clubs do the talking. A day after he raised eyebrows by suggesting some of his fellow players might not be up to the task of winning the PGA Championship, Koepka wasn’t either. When it was over, so were Koepka’s chances in a tournament won by 23-year-old Collin Morikawa, who didn’t lay up when it really mattered.
Derek Stepan gave some words of advice to his Arizona Coyotes teammates not used to the bright lights of playoff hockey. The time of year is different than usual, but the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs haven’t lost any of their luster or penchant for surprises. After a qualifying round full of upsets, overtime heroics and comebacks, the traditional first round that starts Tuesday with 16 teams left is primed to feature even more entertainment and unpredictability.
“I was waiting to hit off of him, one of the hitters there was like, ‘Dude, you know he throws like 100, right?’ I was like ‘What?'”
Danielle Kang completed back-to-back LPGA Tour triumphs with a one-shot victory at the Marathon Classic on Sunday after former world number one Lydia Ko suffered a dramatic late collapse. Ko, who had started the final round four shots clear, looked to be cruising to victory after opening up a five-shot lead with six holes to play at Highland Meadows in Sylvania, Ohio. Ko’s stumble allowed Kang to sneak in and claim victory by one shot only a week after her win at last week’s Drive On Championship in Toledo, the first LPGA event after a five-month COVID-19 hiatus.
A play-in series for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference will kick off on Saturday.
Derrick Lewis took his next step toward another heavyweight title shot with a record-setting knockout of Aleksei Oleinik at UFC Vegas 6 (aka UFC on ESPN+ 32) on Saturday night at the Apex in Las Vegas.Lewis came out firing, landing a few big punches before clinching and pressing Oleinik against the cage. He then powered Oleinik to the ground and unloaded with several hard left hands.Oleinik tried to clinch form the bottom, but Lewis spun into half guard.Oleinik again held tight, trying to force a stalemate and a stand-up. He eventually slipped out and regained his footing, immediately taking Lewis to the canvas and landing in side control with a scarf hold.Lewis scrambled back to top position, but Oleinik easily reversed him and again took side control with a scarf hold. Lewis remained calm and kept pressing on Oleinik’s face, eventually forcing the Ukrainian fighter to give up on the scarf hold and move to side control, where he applied an Americana lock, but it wasn’t enough to finish the fight before the horn.The former UFC heavyweight title contender Lewis opened the second round with a jumping knee to the chest and floored Oleinik with a right hand. He then dropped to the canvas, unloading with a brutal onslaught of right hands that put Oleinik in another time zone, forcing referee Herb Dean to call the fight just 21 seconds into the round.The finish earned Lewis the record, at 11, for most heavyweight knockouts in UFC history. By knocking out Oleinik, Lewis surpassed Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.“It feels good. He had that British Bulldog, whatever the hell submission he had on me, I couldn’t breathe at all,” Lewis said after the fight.Coming into the fight, Lewis marveled at how much better he felt after really focusing on his conditioning. He took things a step further on Saturday, declaring he didn’t want to return to the cage until he could shed a few more pounds.“I’m not gonna take any more fights until I can get down into that 250, 245 (pound) range,” said Lewis, who weighed 265 pounds for UFC Vegas 6.“Hopefully (I will return) in December. Some time in December. Right now, that’s all I’m focused on, trying to get my weight down.” Chris Weidman victorious in return to middleweightFormer middleweight champion Chris Weidman likely staved off the demise of his UFC tenure with a dominant decision victory over Omari Akhmedov in the UFC Vegas 6 co-main event.Having gone 1-5 in his last six fights, Weidman desperately needed to win this fight, his return to middleweight following a losing effort at light heavyweight.It wasn’t the most exciting performance of Weidman’s career, but he out-wrestled Akhmedov to get a much need victory after going the full three rounds. “It was huge,” said Weidman. “(There was) a lot of pressure on (me) and I’m happy to get my hand raised. I’m not too happy with that performance but I needed a win.“I’m back, All the top tier guys, I’m coming for you.”* * *TRENDING > Michael Chandler knocks out Benson Henderson in Bellator 243 main event* * * UFC Vegas 6: Lewis vs. Oleinik resultsMain Card * Derrick Lewis def. Aleksei Oleinik by TKO (punches) at 0:21, R2 * Chris Weidman def. Omari Akhmedov by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28) * Darren Stewart def. Maki Pitolo by submission at 3:41, R1 * Yana Kunitskaya def. Julija Stoliarenko by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) * Beneil Dariush def. Scott Holtzman by TKO (spinning backfist) at 4:38, R1Prelims * Tim Means def. Laureano Staropoli by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) * Kevin Holland def. Joaquin Buckley by TKO (punch) at 0:32, R3 * Nasrat Haqparast def. Alex Munoz by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) * Andrew Sanchez def. Wellington Turman by KO (punch) at 4:14, R1 * Gavin Tucker def. Justin Jaynes by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:43, R3 * Youssef Zalal def. Peter Barrett by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27) * Irwin Rivera def. Ali Al Qaisi by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Paul Westphal was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
Former 49ers first-round draft pick Josh Garnett was among the players released for the Lions to get down to 80 players on the roster. The 49ers traded up to select Garnett with the 28th overall pick in the 2016 first round. Although he was given a starting job as a rookie, he barely played and [more]
Los Angeles Angels right fielder Jo Adell went back on a deep fly ball in the fifth inning Sunday. Adell was charged with a rare four-base error when the ball popped out of the rookie’s glove and flew the few remaining feet over the fence in the Texas Rangers’ 7-3 victory. Nick Solak hoped the original ruling of a home run would stand, but knew right away it hadn’t when he saw a Texas hit replaced by a Los Angeles error on the scoreboard two innings later.
Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson are PFF’s top quarterbacks entering the 2020 season.
Joe Staley looks like a new man just months after his retirement from the 49ers.
Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney crash while racing for the lead in Sundays NASCAR Cup race at Michigan
Lakers coach Frank Vogel has thought about separating players to help their mental well-being. Is bubble life having an adverse effect on the team?
Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs came to the NBA’s restart bubble looking to develop their young talent. For Zion Williamson, postseason hopes have to wait until next year. DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points, Rudy Gay added 19 off the bench and the Spurs wasted much of a 20-point, second-half lead before hanging on to beat New Orleans 122-113 on Sunday.
Richard Petty Motorsports driver Bubba Wallace confirmed to NBC Sports that Chip Ganassi Racing has made him an offer to drive the No. 42 Chevrolet in 2021. The report came from NBC Sports’ Marty Snider during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). McDonald’s, […]