Fabian Hurzeler insisted Brighton will always have setbacks as the German revelled in his side finding their missing confidence after Sunday s comeback victory over Tottenham.

Brighton were outclassed in the first half at the Amex Stadium as Brennan Johnson and James Maddison sent Spurs deservedly leading 2-0 into half-time.

Hurzeler s high line was once again punished at will by the visitors in that opening period, though Yankuba Minteh s blasted finish shortly after the break offered the home side hope.

Georginio Rutter swiftly followed Minteh s strike up with a fine goal of his own, before the former Leeds United man played a key part in the winner as his deflected cross found Danny Welbeck.

Questions appeared to be mounting on Hurzeler after a four-ga…

Chicago Fire head coach Frank Klopas insisted his side must overcome their slow start against D.C. United in order to push for the playoffs ahead of facing the New York Red Bulls this weekend.

Klopas watched on as his side conceded twice in three minutes midway through the first half against D.C. as Christian Benteke and Gabriel Pirani’s struck to secure the triumph for the visitors.

The result leaves the Fire 14th in the Eastern Conference standings, with Klopas stressing the importance of energy from the first whistle to his players.

“We needed to come out with energy. If we did that, I felt that we were in the game,” Klopas said.

“We got that goal. And then, if you see the second half, the amount of possession, and it s a team that was sitting …

Alvaro Morata says he knows why he has been the target of the boo boys during Euro 2020 but is not prepared to talk about the reasons until after Spain s campaign is over.

The Juventus striker has scored twice during the tournament, including a fine effort that put Luis Enrique s side back in front during extra time of the exhilarating 5-3 win over Croatia in the last 16.

At the same time, Morata has missed a glut of opportunities. Indeed, his six missed big chances – as defined by Opta – is the most of any player, and the return lower than an expected goals rate of 3.95.

More may also have been expected given Morata has had 15 shots in total (joint highest with Cristiano Ronaldo), eight of which have been on target – the joint-best with Patrik Schick, who …

CF Montreal full-back Tom Pearce believes his new side have all the capabilities of reaching the playoffs, preaching confidence within the group as key to their recent success.

After back-to-back defeats to New England Revolution and FC Cincinnati, conceding nine goals in those games, this weekend’s hosts have gone three unbeaten in the MLS.

Montreal currently sit 10th in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the Philadelphia Union in the final playoff place heading into the last four games of the regular season.

And Pearce, who joined the club from Wigan Athletic in July, has every confidence his team-mates can pull together to keep their campaign going.

“We’re in a good place after picking up seven points out of nine in one week. It’s a conf…

The next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations will take place in January and February 2024, rather than between June and July 2023, according to CAF president Patrice Motsepe.

Africa s premier international tournament was due to be held in Ivory Coast during the European off-season next year, but the threat of heavy flooding in the country at that time of year means it will again take place midway through the club campaign.  

Speaking in the Moroccan capital Rabat, where a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee was taking place, Motsepe said: We cannot take the risk.

January is not the ideal time because of the European clubs, but it is the only choice we have.

In 2017 CAF announced its intention to play the tournament at the end of the European clu…

The Ukrainian Football Association will appeal to FIFA in a bid to get Iran thrown out of the Qatar World Cup.

A statement from Ukraine’s FA on Monday confirmed its executive committee want Iran to be excluded from the tournament for possible involvement of Iran in the military aggression of Russia against Ukraine .

Ukraine was invaded by Russia in February. The country s football team reached the final stage of UEFA s qualification play-offs but were beaten by Wales in June.

FIFA and UEFA subsequently banned Russia from playing international football.

The chief executive of Ukrainian Premier League side Shakhtar Donetsk, Sergei Palkin, last week urged FIFA to prevent Iran from competing in Qatar, suggesting Ukraine replace them.

A statement on …

Japan s World Cup opener on Tuesday offers the Asian side an opportunity for revenge against Colombia, as they look to finally banish the bad memories of the 2014 edition in Brazil.

Four years ago, Japan met Colombia in their final group outing knowing they still had a chance of reaching the knockout phase, but they were crushed 4-1 by the South Americans.

As it turned out, any victory that day in Cuiaba would have sent the Samurai Blue through at the expense of Greece.

And Eiji Kawashima, who let those four goals in, says it is time to for Japan to make amends, with retribution on their minds ahead of the meeting in Saransk.

Obviously they have a lot of talent, Kawashima said. They ve got a scorer [Radamel Falcao], they ve got a passer [James Rodriguez]…

Manchester United battered Barcelona for nine minutes, with Cristiano Ronaldo roving maniacally in apparent pursuit of some sort of Champions League final shots record.

It was time for Pep Guardiola to again make the switch that helped to destroy Real Madrid earlier that month: Lionel Messi inside to false nine – a long forgotten position his exquisite Barca team and mercurial forward were beginning to revive.

Samuel Eto o shuffled from centre-forward to the right of the front three and duly opened the scoring. Messi belied his diminutive stature to net a wonderful second-half header and Barcelona unseated reigning European kings United 2-0, adding the most satisfying part of a historic 2008-09 treble.

Ten years on, the ripples from that captivating night at Ro…

Covers is throwing an entry into the Circa Million Pro Football contest for the 2021 season and Adam Chernoff has been tabbed to make the weekly picks so let’s dig right in.

Here are his five ATS picks for Week 12 of the Circa Million betting contest.

Week 11 record: 3-2Season to date: 33-22Place: T-428 / 4,086

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Like a wise Chicago high schooler once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

These days, life is moving like Tyreek Hill riding a cheetah jacked up on Mountain Dew with rocket roller skates strapped on its paws. Can you believe we’re making Week 4 NFL picks and predictions already?

The calendar went from September to October in a blink, but as you already know, life seems to speed up the older you get. This phenomenon has everything to do with learning. 

When you’re young, you’re learning how to do pretty much everything for the first time. That keeps your brain active and storing memories like mad. But as you hone those life skills and things become easie…