Sports News

Doug McIntyre

football journalist

AL DAAYEN, Qatar – Cristiano Ronaldo did his best to hide his disappointment.

Despite not being called up by coach Fernando Santos for Tuesday’s round of 16 match against Switzerland – with a streak of 18 consecutive World Cup starts since 2006 – the 37-year-old superstar showed a brave face before, during and throughout the game after his team’s dominating 6-1 win.

Wearing a yellow FIFA jersey along with the other Portuguese substitutes, Ronaldo smiled and winked at fans during the warm-up. He joined the pile of bodies after Gonçalo Ramos, his 21-year-old replacement in Santos’ starting XI, scored after just 17 minutes.

Portugal dominates

While Cristiano Ronaldo was on the bench, his successor Gonçalo Ramos scored the first hat-trick of the 2022 World Cup.

He seemed genuinely happy as 39-year-old centre-back Pepe, his friend and long-time team-mate at both national team and Real Madrid, doubled the Seleção’s advantage later in the first half with a rare goal – only his eighth in 132 Stakes for him country.

Inside, however, Ronaldo had to be furious.

“I realize sometimes people are not happy and we have to deal with that,” Santos told reporters after the game. “As I said in my previous press conference, I think these issues have been resolved. I said that and I repeat myself. This is something that is finished.”

We will see.

One of the greatest players of his generation, Ronaldo has been making it clear for months, if not years, that he has no intention of quietly riding into the sunset.

So upset was he by his lack of a starring role at Manchester United this season – still starting in some games and coming off the bench in others, at least until he refused to play a Premier League game in October – that he got his way forced mid-season by very publicly and very deliberately setting fire to the club’s owners and manager.

[Related: Ronaldo will reportedly join Saudi club Al Nassr in January]

Indeed, Ronaldo has featured in Santos’ line-up in each of Portugal’s first three games and his disgruntled reaction to last week’s late elimination in the first-round final against South Korea understandably infuriated his coach.

Santos insisted benching Ronaldo against the Swiss was tactical and not punitive. That could be true. Ronaldo is a luxury player at this point in his legendary career. He remains just as efficient a finisher in the penalty area as he is in sports. Outside of that, he can’t or won’t make the non-stop defensive run demanded of all modern forwards.

Fernando Santos Cristiano Ronaldo’s benches

Alexi Lalas, Maruice Edu and Clint Dempsey discuss Portugal’s decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the Switzerland game.

“Cristiano is more fixed, he stays in one area, he’s playing more towards the box now,” said Santos. “Ramos has different qualities. He sees his opportunities dynamically.”

It was a monumental decision nonetheless.

Ronaldo had played every minute for Portugal in the last three World Cups. It is now clear that he will only play a supporting role.

Ramos scored the Seleção’s third goal and then completed his hat-trick in the 67th minute. He’s not going back to the bench. And Ronaldo is unlikely to rejoin, at least not from the start, although Santos would not confirm that.

“Morocco are a very strong and competitive team that will offer us different challenges,” he said of Portugal’s quarter-final opponents who upset Spain earlier on Tuesday. “We have to make the decisions that we think are the best in this game in terms of strategy.”

If Ronaldo continues to sit, how will he deal with this humiliation not only in public but behind the scenes? Will he be a good soldier hoping his teammates can help him win his first World Cup title, similar to 2016 when he injured himself in the first half of the triumphant Euro 2016 final? Of course that was different. Ronaldo was the undisputed alpha dog back then. If he doesn’t play well now, his battered pride could end up torpedoing Portugal’s hopes instead.

It’s hard to say which way things will go, although early signs are promising.

“Cristiano did what he always does as our captain,” said Ramos after being named player of the match. “He helped us, he encouraged – not only me, but also my colleagues.”

But even in his absence on Tuesday, Ronaldo was still the main attraction. More photographer lenses were focused on him, who was on the bench before the game, than on the Portugal regular.

A recent poll by Portuguese newspaper A Bola claimed 70% of respondents wanted Ronaldo to be benched, but that was not the reality at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Tuesday. The fans in attendance, dressed in red and green, let out a huge cheer as Ronaldo began to warm up in the second half. Then they started chanting his name.

Gonçalo Ramos completes the hat trick

Portugal’s Gonçalo Ramos scored the tournament’s first hat-trick with goals in the 17th, 51st and 67th minutes.

All of this puts Santos in an incredibly difficult position.

“I have a very close relationship with him that I have always had,” said Santos. “I’ve known him since he was 19. I don’t think Ronaldo has ever misinterpreted our personal relationship or our player-coach relationship.”

“He’s a very important player in the team.”

When their hero finally replaced Ramos with just over fifteen minutes to go, the thunderous response was as loud as any of Portugal’s five goals. Pepe dutifully ran over to hand him the captain’s armband he had put on in his place.

Ronaldo almost stole the show late on but his goal was nullified by an offside flag. After that, he led the team and applauded the fans. He was also the first player to disappear down the tunnel.

Portugal showed on Tuesday that they don’t need Ronaldo to win this World Cup. But it still won’t just be a story the rest of the way, it’ll be the story. He always is. How this story ends has not been written.

It’s going to be a fascinating story either way.

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Doug McIntyre is a football writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer at ESPN and Yahoo Sports and has covered the United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @By DougMcIntyre.

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Who screwed up in the Carey Price case? Himself or the Canadian’s management? Request a royal commission of inquiry!

It’s not the Canadian’s first time sailing rough seas. But this time the waves swallowed the ship.

There was an apparent lack of communication between the Canadian’s management and Price.

He now says he knew about Poly’s murder.

Why did the Canadian say he didn’t know?

It doesn’t get any worse than a mess.

Yesterday there must have been meetings in high places.

What is particularly unfortunate is the damage this story has caused to the families of the victims and survivors of the Poly Massacre, which marked the 33rd year of commemoration yesterday.

These people didn’t need that.

What is that ?

It’s also sad for Martin St-Louis and his players who have given us an interesting show since the start of the season.

I know St. Louis well enough to say it has to cook inside. If he left New York to work in Montreal, it was only to play hockey and talk about it.

He is interesting in his press conferences. He says things as he sees them.

He shouldn’t be bored.

By: Carlos Salinas, Special Representative

The World Cup entered the decisive phase with great candidates and a surprise. Two South Americans, five Europeans and one African. The Qatar 2022 World Cup has already qualified their eight for the quarterfinals, a group of teams including Argentina, Brazil, France, England, Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Morocco set to fight for the long-awaited title.

Last Sunday France beat Poland and England beat Senegal so now they will face each other in the battle to reach the semi-finals. England and France meet three times at the FIFA World Cup. Faces have been seen twice at World Cups, which England always won. They first won 2-0 as hosts in 1966 with a brace from Roger Hunt. It was on July 20th of that year to finish the first half of the season at the old Wembley Stadium in order to later establish themselves as world champions.

The last duel at a World Cup was on June 16, 1982 at the Football World Cup in Spain with another 3-1 victory of the “Three Lions” against the Gauls (Bruan Robson x2 and Paul Mariner; Gérard Soler) in old San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao.

Croatia, for their part, defeated Japan in an agonizing series of penalties after a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes. This was the first game in Qatar to have a 12-level finish. And in the second round, Brazil shone with a 4-1 win over South Korea, which meant Neymar’s return from injury.

Looking back, Brazil and Croatia met twice at the World Cup and both held celebrations for the five-time champions of that event. Both games were played in the group stage, first in Germany 2006 and then in Brazil 2014. Will there be a revenge for the Europeans?

unexpected result

The surprise of the round of 16 was undoubtedly Morocco as they beat Spain on penalties after a thrilling 0-0 win which, despite not scoring, had all the spice. In the second round and with Cristiano Ronaldo as a substitute, Portugal beat Switzerland and got the last ticket. The hero of the night was Goncalo Ramos, who scored a hat trick.

Both teams met twice at World Championships. On 11 June 1986 in the first round of Group F with a victory (3-1) for Morocco over Portugal. Later, on June 20, 2018, they met again in the first round of Group B and it was a victory for Portugal.

The football doesn’t stop, the quarter-finals will start on December 9th and will continue on December 10th with matches that will bring us high-level duels, lots of football and emotions.

Morocco, the revelation of Qatar 2022

Morocco has become the great revelation of Qatar 2022. And the fact is that before the start of the championship, almost nobody gave the “Lions of the Atlas” an opportunity to reach the decisive instances. But only Morocco itself had managed to get through the group stage once (Mexico 1986).

Of the 26 players, 14 were born outside Moroccan soil: Bounou, El Kajoui, Hakimi, Mazraoul, Saiss, Amrabat, Ziyech, Zorouy, Chair, Aboukhlal, Amallah, Boufai, El Khannous and Chedira. Four of them were born in the Netherlands, four in Belgium, two in France, two in Spain, one in Italy and one in Canada. Achraf Hakimi, the author of the goal that condemned the penalty shoot-out clash against Spain, was born in Madrid.

Infographic – The Republic

Against the former team of LeBron James, the Lakers failed to get the win on the road, falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 116-102. LeBron led all Lakers with 21 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, and Thomas Bryant had his best game of the season when he scored 17 from the bench and covered Anthony Davis, who suffered from flu-like symptoms early in the game and was ruled out.

For Cleveland, Jarrett Allen played well on his return to the lineup. He scored 24 points, 22 of them in the first half, and Donovan Mitchell exploded late to lead all scorers with 43.

Against the Cavs, Darvin Ham opted for the same starting five he played against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. Given that the Lakers haven’t fielded a five-man lineup in more than 47 minutes — bottoming out in that category for the second straight year — the consistency at the start could be seen as a breath of fresh air if this the case would be rewarded.

It wasn’t like that again in Cleveland as the Cavs came out of the gates on a 10-3 run. Midway through the quarter, Ham made an adjustment, adding Russell Westbrook, Austin Reaves and Troy Brown Jr. at the same time. That change worked, and the Lakers started with an 8-0 run of their own to cut the lead to three. At the 3:42 mark, Davis went to the locker room with flu-like symptoms and was later officially ruled out of the game. With AD gone, Bryant stepped up and scored five off the bench, and the Lakers were down by just a point after the first 12 minutes.

In the second quarter, Cleveland took advantage of the Lakers’ MVP’s absence, with Jarett Allen attacking the Los Angeles defense. In the first half, he went 10-11 from the field and led the Cavs by 22 points.

How did the Lakers react? With LeBron. The King has proven that he is still an effective player against his hometown team; He led all Lakers with six points in the quarter and helped the Lakers stay afloat. It wasn’t sustainable for the entire quarter, however, as the effect of the departure of two big men (Davis and Wenyen Gabriel) showed up as the Cavs retreated in the closing minutes of the quarter and the Lakers led 57-49 at half.

As the Lakers stared at their first loss of the road trip, they came out and took control to start the third. Bryant continued to attack the boards and grab buckets, Damian Jones finally got some playing time and did the little things to lengthen games, and Bron added ten points in the quarter to keep the offense moving. Cleveland struggled to score in the minutes without Donovan Mitchell, and Jarett Allen settled down and scored zero in the third. Despite the struggles, Cleveland was able to stay in control and maintained a two-point lead in the final quarter.

Without his co-star, could James do enough to grab another road win? Not quite. The Cavs went on an 8-0 run midway through the final frame, and despite a valiant effort from Bryant and Damian Jones, the lack of size and rim protection was evident and the scoreboard reflected that. Donovan Mitchell became a flamethrower from deep, ending a night he started slowly with 43 points. The final nail in the coffin came at the 8:32 mark when Cleveland went on a 21-8 run after the score was tied at 92. Mitchell hit a dagger three and Darvin Ham cleared the bank. That’s all she wrote.

The central theses

It was impressive that the Lakers lost the rebound fight by just an AD margin, but their constant turnovers frustrated that effort. The Lakers had 16 compared to Cleveland’s eight and with the margin for error on the road and without their star so svelte, it’s hard to overcome giving away so many possessions.

The Lakers won’t have to wait long to try and put this one behind as they take on the Raptors tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. PT in Toronto. AD’s status is obviously up in the air, but stick to Silver Screen and Roll for updates.

For more lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed iTunes, Spotify, stapler or Google Podcasts. You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.

As we wrote in the hours after the Tennessee Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson, it was clear that he and head coach Mike Vrabel just weren’t on the same page.

And thanks to AtoZ Sports Nashville’s Buck Reising, we have more details on what exactly some of their disagreements were.

Reising reports that Vrabel didn’t agree with trading for Julio Jones, trading AJ Brown, or releasing veteran player Brett Kern.

According to multiple league sources, Robinson and Vrabel have had several notable disagreements over the past few seasons over key player decisions. Trading Brown, trading Jones, and releasing former punter Brett Kern were some such decisions.

As Reising notes, the pair have had “several notable disagreements over key player decisions” in recent seasons, so it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

That Vrabel disagreed with the Brown trade is no surprise, as the Titans head coach showed clear frustration with the draft when it happened, and that was after he was adamant about not trading Brown.

As for those three choices, Robinson defeated Vrabel in one of them as Ryan Stonehouse turned out to be a really good player despite the pain of parting with a franchise legend.

However, that success pales in comparison to the failures of the Brown and Jones trades, both of which blew up the Titans. And interestingly, the earlier move set Brown up to put the finishing touches on Robinson’s tenure at Nashville.

The more we learn about Robinson’s time with the Titans, the more sense the shot, the timing and everything makes.

Robinson was at odds with a head coach who was doing his job better than the former Titans GM at his, with owner Amy Adams Strunk, and the team as a whole just wasn’t moving in the right direction.

Now Vrabel will have the opportunity to shape the roster exactly how he wants as the team is reportedly said to give him “significant power” going forward.

Titans are without Tory Carter under five roster moves

Show 5 items

Fans were eager to hear the Committee for the Contemporary Era of Baseball’s position on the Hall of Fame eligibility of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro. The answer was sharp. Each of the Diamond’s three previous glories received only four or fewer votes out of a possible 16.

So we are only talking about 25% of the votes, while the required percentage to be elected is 75% (12 votes out of 16).

Bonds, Clemens and Palmeiro will pay for using illicit drugs for the rest of their lives. It might be her last chance to enter the Pantheon.

Bond’s candidacy will be reconsidered in 2025. But if we trust what’s being written and said across the United States, he’s likely to be ignored again.

13 baseball heads on the panel

Formerly known as the Veterans Committee, the six former players on the committee are all generally members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

This year featured Greg Maddux, Jack Morris, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Frank Thomas and Alan Trammell, all playing around the same time as Bonds, Clemens and Palmeiro.

The committee also included seven past or current managers in the major leagues, the most notable being Paul Beeston, past president of the Toronto Blue Jays; Theo Epstein, architect of the 2004 and 2007 Boston Red Sox and the 2016 Chicago Cubs; and Kim Ng, general manager of the Miami Marlins.

Rounding out the panel were a baseball historian and two reporters who have followed MLB activity for decades.

The result of the vote was positively received by a large majority of people in the baseball world.

Money, always money!

The Bonds and Clemens cases are particularly worrying. They already had their ticket to Cooperstown before they fell into the potion.

If they pose as victims of a smear campaign, it’s their own fault.

It’s true that baseball turned a blind eye when steroids roamed the locker room.

The race for the most home runs in a season between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa allowed MLB to bring back thousands of fans who had left stadiums after the damn players’ strike in 1994.

McGwire and Sosa have seen their salaries grow at the same rate as their arms.

This dark chapter in baseball history didn’t stop then-Commissioner Bud Selig from being elected to the Temple.

Only the baseball monks were missing to open the gates of Cooperstown to Donald Fehr, general manager of the Players Association.

We’re talking about the same man waiting to learn the identity of his successor in the National Hockey League Players Association so he can enjoy a golden retirement.

Rose is also cooked

These two figures deserve no more than Pete Rose, who recently begged current Commissioner Rob Manfred to lift the lifetime gambling ban Bart Giamatti imposed on him in 1989.

Rose knew who he was exposing himself to. The ban on betting for players and coaches is a fundamental rule in all sports.

Baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, did neither a nor two after the Chicago White Sox scandal.

Despite a court acquittal, the eight White Sox players suspected of receiving money to rig the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds were banned by Landis for life.

The sport needs to take action to stop this happening.

SAN DIEGO — The Cubs entered this offseason with a goal of adding at least one hitting arm to a rotation full of question marks. Focused on free agent Jameson Taillon from the jump, the North Siders pushed a deal to the finish line late Tuesday night.

In the closing hours of day two of these winter meetings, Chicago ended a busy 24 hours by agreeing to a deal with Taillon, sources told MLB.com. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the four-year contract is valued at $68 million, according to a source.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday night, Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins noted that the search for rotational help is well underway.

“You can never have enough pitches. That’s pretty tried and true,” Hawkins said. “We would very much like to add as many as possible. I think we already have great internal options that we want to keep giving innings to.

“But there are other people out there that we would like to bring on board and further complement these employees. We are definitely active in this market.”

Sources told MLB.com that the Cubs have been aggressive in their pursuit of Taillon since the beginning of the free-agent stint. They were also the only organization to personally meet with the pitcher.

In his last two seasons with the Yankees, Taillon re-established himself as a solid major league starter after his second Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2019 season and sidelined him through 2020. The right-hander had a 3.91 ERA in 32 starts last season and finished with 151 strikeouts against 32 walks (career-best strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.72) in 177 1/3 innings.

The Pirates traded Taillon to the Yankees in January 2021. With New York, Taillon went 22-11 combined with a 4.08 ERA across 61 starts while posting an exact league average of 100 ERA+ 100 in both seasons. He was a bit prone to homers and allowed 50 overall, but Taillon kept extra runners off bases by being in the 94th percentile in walk rates in 2022.

The Pirates made the 6-foot-5-waist — who hails from a Texas high school — the No. 2 pick overall in the 2010 draft, right between Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. He was a highly touted talent rising through the Pirates’ system, making his debut with Pittsburgh in June 2016. From then until his elbow injury, he made 82 starts with a 3.67 ERA (112 ERA+).

Taillon is now 31 years old and no longer has overwhelming things. He tracks hitters with a choice of six pitches: four-seam fastball, slider, curveball, sinker, cutter, and changeup. In 2022, he threw everyone at least 8.5 percent of the time. The curve was his best weapon for missing bats, as batters hit .168s against it with 43 strikeouts and wheezed on 32 percent of their swings.

As things stand, Taillon will join a rotation led by Marcus Stroman, who signed a three-year, $71 million deal in free agency last winter. Chicago also has veteran Kyle Hendricks, coming off injury 22, and leftwing Justin Steele, who cemented his place on the staff with a strong performance last season.

Behind that group, the Cubs have right-handers Keegan Thompson, Adbert Alzolay and Adrian Sampson presenting options as starters or multi-inning relievers. Rookies Hayden Wesneski and Javier Assad also put themselves on the map in late 22, while potential Caleb Kilian touched the majors and was able to put more into the 23 picture.

The Cubs lost 88 games last season, but the rotation recorded a combined 2.89 ERA in the second half. Only the Astros and Dodgers fared better in that range. That’s something the Chicago front office can point to when trying to sell free agents like Taillon with the idea that the Cubs can build a competitive club in 1923.

“There’s a few different ways to do better next year, right?” Hawkins said. “There are new additions coming next year. There are people we already have that are getting better. There are people that we already have in the farm system that are coming.

“And you paint this picture and you talk about the things that we do. I think the players saw the second half last year and the competitive team we put on the pitch every day.”

By: Carlos Salinas, Special Representative.

Although Cristiano Ronaldo was on the bench for most of the game, Portugal They defeated Switzerland 6-1 and finished last in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

Fernando Santos He decided to put Gonçalo Ramos in the place of ‘CR7’ and boy did he exceed expectations. The 21-year-old forward scored the opening goal in the 17th minute with a devastating shot against goalkeeper Sommer’s post.

After the Benfica player’s goal, the Portuguese took control of the game and in the 33rd minute took advantage of another opportunity. By taking a corner kick Bruno Fernandes, Pepe extended the lead in the ball and Portugal went into half-time with a 2-0 lead.

The goal party did not stop at the addition, since ramos (51.) scored again after a low cross from Dalot for the third goal for the Portuguese.

In the minutes that followed, Switzerland conceded another goal from their rivals, this time from Raphael Guerreiro (55′), who went hand in hand with the goalkeeper and scored with his left foot to make it 4-0.

The Portuguese won their key in the round of 16 by overwhelmingly beating the Swiss. Photo: EFE

The led by sure They managed to discount with 58 minutes thanks to Manuel Akanji, but it would do little to avoid their eminent defeat.

Ramos shone again in the 67th minute after receiving an exquisite pass from Joao Felix to spear the ball over Sommer, sealing his hat-trick in the biggest game of his career.

As if that wasn’t enough, Santos decided to move the bench and among the proceeds was Ronaldo, who was desperate to score his ninth goal at the World Cup to take on Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé.

Raphael Leo He was selected to score the final goal of the game at 92 minutes with an angle shot, confirming Portugal’s pass to the next round of the World Cup. The Portuguese are highly motivated and preparing to face Morocco on Saturday 10 December.