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Newcastle United scored four goals in 11 first-half minutes to keep alive their Champions League qualification hopes with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest at St James' Park on Sunday but had to hold on under heavy pressure in the second period.
Newcastle move into fifth place with 44 points from 26 games, outside the top four on goal difference only. High-flying Forest lost for the second week in a row but remain in third with 47 points from the same number of matches.
Forest led early through Callum Hudson-Odoi's long-range strike but Newcastle roared into life with four quick goals from 18-year-old Lewis Miley, Jacob Murphy and a brace from Alexander Isak, the first a penalty, which gave them a 4-1 half-time lead.
Forest were the better side in the second period and created numerous chances against a nervous home team, as Nikola Milenkovic netted and a late goal by Ryan Yates almost earned the visitors what would have been a deserved point.
"It was a brilliant first half, the reaction after conceding was really good," Isak told Sky Sports. "We dropped a bit second half and conceded sloppy goals. I'm obviously happy to win the game.
"The most important thing was to win. We want to win more comfortably but it was a big win."
It was the proverbial game of two halves, with Newcastle utterly dominant in the first but then meek in the second.
Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
The home side had five shots on target in the first half and none in the second in a performance that will give manager Eddie Howe plenty of food for thought despite the three points.
"We made mistakes, Newcastle made mistakes also. But it was two totally different halves. We started well, we scored, and they just rolled over us," Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said.
"There was nothing else in the first half about us. Every time Newcastle had the ball they scored. In the second half we were much better."
Forest led inside six minutes when Hudson-Odoi drilled a low shot from 30 metres into the bottom left corner, before Newcastle seized control with a goal blitz that started midway through the first half.
Miley was picked out in acres of space in the penalty box and fired low into the net, before the home side went ahead when Murphy bundled in the ball at the back post off his thigh.
Newcastle received a penalty when Lewis Hall's cross from the left struck the arm of jumping Forest defender Ola Aina, which was deemed to be in an unnatural position.
Isak went down the middle with his spot kick and while Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels got a strong hand to it, he could not keep out the ball.
The home side added a fourth with Isak scoring his 50th Premier League goal in his 76th appearance. He timed his run into the box to perfection and his shot deflected into the net off the boot of a defender.
Newcastle almost scored a fifth early in the second half when Fabian Schaer's header from a corner came back off the post.
But the hosts inexplicably fell off the pace after that and Forest created chance after chance until Milenkovic flicked the ball into the net from close range.
Yates fired in a third for the visitors as the clock struck 90 minutes but they could not force an equaliser in injury time.
Inter Miami CF head coach Javier Mascherano has praised the team for its "soul" after his players overcame a first-half red card to earn a draw against New York City FC at Chase Stadium on Saturday to kick off the 2025 MLS season.
Tomás Avilés got Miami's season off to the best possible start with his fifth-minute goal, tapping in from Lionel Messi's square pass.
The Herons' first challenge of the night arrived five minutes later, however, when new signing Fafà Picault picked up an injury 10 minutes into game and had to be substituted.
Shortly afterwards, Avilés brought down NYCFC's Alonso Martínez just outside the box and was shown a straight red card.
Mascherano adjusted the line up to continue the match with 10 men, before an injury to Marcelo Weigandt forced Inter Miami to make more tactical changes. NYCFC capitalised on their advantage, with Mitja Ilenic and Martínez scoring either side of half-time to give them a lead that looked like it would hold until the final whistle.
Miami fought back in the dying moments, however, with Messi again providing that pass for Telasco Segovia's equaliser in the tenth minute of stoppage time.
"In the end, the team ends up scoring because it's a team that has soul, that has heart," Mascherano said. "I think we have to stay with that, with the positive. Less than 72 hours ago we played at minus 24 degrees and today they ran like horses. We have to keep jumping through obstacles that we will have on the way.
"But I am one of those who stay with the positive things. And today, beyond the result, which I think was clearly a result that we deserved, or we deserved victory, I stay with a lot of positive things and with the team. The team has soul, the team has life and we are going to fight."
Mascherano revealed Inter Miami requested the match against NYCFC be moved to Sunday to accommodate players after having to face Sporting Kansas City in the Concacaf Champions Cup just 72 hours prior to the season-opener. The league declined the request.
"Tomorrow we will do the most thorough tests to see what Picault and Weigandt have," the Argentine coach said. "This is what happens sometimes when the games move. We had nothing to do with it being less than 20 degrees in Kansas. We asked to play on Sunday, they didn't accept it, we played.
"You play at minus 24 degrees, it's less than 72 hours ago. Then, you travel and you get a three-hour trip. You get there at five in the morning.
"The players are not robots. They are people, they are human beings. And you have to understand that this is about the players. Without players, football doesn't exist. All of us here don't exist without players."
Mascherano added that his former Barcelona teammate and compatriot Messi remains the main man for Miami as they look to better their Supporters' Shield success from 2024.
"Messi is the soul of this team. You saw this on the pitch. He is a kid playing and he doesn't want to lose," Mascherano said. "So for us it's a big big advantage. So we just need to keep him with this spirit. Because it's not just what he does on the pitch.
"It's what he translates to his teammates and all that he does with his 37 years. He's not just playing in attack, he helps us in defense, running the centre-back, running the whole midfield. So he's magnificent."
Inter Miami will now prepare to host Sporting KC on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the second leg of the first-round CCC clash.
Miami triumphed 1-0 over Kansas in the first match via a Messi goal.
Erling Haaland hasn't been named in Manchester City's squad for their clash against Liverpool on Sunday owing to injury.
The Norway international was an unused substitute during City's midweek Champions League loss to Real Madrid after picking up a knock against Newcastle United the previous weekend.
City boss Pep Guardiola confirmed that Haaland was ruled out of the game after undergoing further tests on Saturday.
"During this nine years, we played many seasons. We had really, really important players and we survived. And this season we had a lot, lot of games we could not survive, but in the specific games, we have to do it," he said ahead of the game.
His injury sees Jérémy Doku named in City's starting lineup for the first time in over a month, while Kevin De Bruyne and Nathan Aké come into the XI in place of Ilkay Gündogan and John Stones.
The England international faces a long period on the sidelines, with Guardiola saying the defender might have to undergo surgery.
City will hope Haaland's attacking threat will be compensated by January signing Omar Marmoush, who scored a first half hat trick against Newcaslte last week.
Guardiola's side go into the game in fourth place, 17 points behind Liverpool the top of the Premier League. The visitors can go 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with a win at the Etihad.
Zimbabwe 141 for 7 (Munyonga 43*, Young 4-24) beat Ireland 137 for 8 (Tucker 46, Gwandu 3-24) by three wickets
Their victory with four balls to spare now gives Zimbabwe an unassailable 1-0 lead in the three-game series with the first T20I washed out and the third encounter remaining on February 25.
Young turns perfect replacement
The quick was not in the T20I squad originally, but brought in late to replace the injured Mark Adair. Adair had been Ireland's best bowler in the ODIs, but Young's new-ball spell made up for his absence.
His first ball of the evening was a short ball that Zimbabwe opener Tadiwanashe Marumani half-heartedly pulled towards short fine leg. Three balls later, he dug another one in and took Wessly Madhevere's outside edge to Paul Stirling. Next over, Brian Bennett sliced one to deep backward point and Ireland had the early edge.
Later, when Ireland were desperate for a wicket, his dismissal of Tashinga Musekiwa at what seemed to be a crucial point in the game left him with figures of 4 for 24.
Zimbabwe's lower-middle order steps up
With the early collapse, the experienced pair of Raza and Burl were the perfect batters to follow. Ireland kept the pressure up, but Raza grinded it out with only two fours in his 27-ball 22. He could afford to with a middling target.
Burl's 27 at a strike rate of 135 kept the Zimbabwe innings in touch with the rate. Ireland, though, dismissed both in quick succession with Burl edging Harry Tector behind and Raza hitting down long off's throat to leave Zimbabwe at 64 for 5.
Munyonga, though, showed great maturity in navigating a tricky period by contributing in the 33-run sixth-wicket stand with Musekiwa (15) and another 15 runs with Wellington Masakadza. No. 9 Richard Ngarava struck two crucial fours late in the 19th over off Young before Munyonga hit the winning runs with a thrashing through the covers.
Ireland stutter after rain break
After losing Stirling early, the other opener Lorcan Tucker (46) held fort in the company of No. 3 Tector (28) to lift the innings. Tector, the more enterprising of the two, fell in the eighth over to Raza trying to find a big shot, leaving Ireland at 59 for 2.
But Tucker and No. 4 Curtis Campher failed to gain momentum like Tector, adding only 40 runs in their 5.5 overs together and their dismissals shortly after the rain break came in a phase when Zimbabwe's bowlers kept things tight.
Blessing Muzarabani, Trevor Gwandu and Raza all went for under six an over. Gwandu's dismissals of Tucker, George Dockrell and Neil Rock crippled Ireland's pursuit of a big flourish, while Raza broke two dangerous partnerships. Ireland scored only 16 in the last three overs to finish on a below-par 137 for 8.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
Kohli fastest to 14,000 ODI runs; breaks Tendulkar's record
Kohli began the game against Pakistan 15 runs short of 14,000, and passed the milestone during India's successful chase of 242, leading his team to victory with an unbeaten hundred, his 51st in the format. He reached his century by hitting the winning runs, a cover-driven boundary off part-time spinner Kushdil Shah.
He is currently averaging over 57 in the format, while Tendulkar (44.19) and Sangakkara (41.73) were averaging in the early 40s when they got to 14,000 runs. He is also the fastest to 14,000 runs in terms of balls faced, needing 14984 balls, much quicker than both Tendulkar and Sangakkara, who needed 16292 and 17789, respectively. Tendulkar and Sangakkara also marked their milestones with a hundred, although both came in defeats.
New Zealand aim for semi-finals; Bangladesh aim to stay alive
Big picture: New Zealand primed for semi-finals
Another win against familiar opponents Bangladesh in Rawalpindi will confirm their place (and India's as well) in the semi-final, an admirable achievement after losing several frontline bowlers to injuries pre-tournament.
Towhid Hridoy made his maiden ODI century but suffered from cramps at the end of his innings. Fortunately for him, Rawalpindi will be cooler than Dubai. Bangladesh will also be buoyed by the news that their senior batter Mahmudullah is likely to play against New Zealand after missing out against India with a hamstring niggle.
Bangladesh's bowling was steady against India but they need more from the likes of Taskin Ahmed, Rishad Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. They could also do with more firepower in Nahid Rana, their fastest bowler. New Zealand have never faced him before, so the surprise factor could be to Bangladesh's advantage in a game they must win to keep their Champions Trophy campaign alive.
Form guide
Bangladesh: LLLLL (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
New Zealand: WWWWL
In the spotlight: Towhid Hridoy and Glenn Phillips
Team news: What if Mahmudullah and Ravindra are fit?
Two changes are expected for Bangladesh as they look to include Mahmudullah and Nahid. Who will they replace though?
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 5 Tohwid Hridoy, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Jaker Ali, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Tanzim Hasan, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
New Zealand rested Rachin Ravindra against Pakistan after he was struck on the forehead while fielding during the tri-series just before the Champions Trophy. Since then, Devon Conway has scored of 97, 48 and 10 as an opener while Young scored a hundred in the previous game. So if New Zealand want to bring Ravindra back, who do they leave out?
New Zealand (probable): 1 Will Young, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt), 9 Nathan Smith, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Will O'Rourke
Pitch and conditions: Rawalpindi could be cloudy
This time, there will be no industrial fans and outdoor heaters to dry the pitch, as was the case ahead of the last international match - a Test against England - at this venue. Rawalpindi is generally good for batting, with a bit of help for fast bowlers as long as the ball is new and shiny. The forecast for Monday is cloudy weather with the temperature expected to drop below 20C after sunset.
Stats and trivia: Bangladesh's most frequent ODI opponents
Quotes
"Yeah, we've got a few plans for Bangladesh, but I think we obviously - we have to wait and see what the wicket does. If it is pretty flat I think it is probably similar stuff to what we've been operating in in Karachi. It's hitting that hard length for a long period of time and then we know they have some destructive players in their line-up as well."
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner
"(Preparation time) has to be enough. That's what the tournament gives us. That's what we are using. Yesterday was a good practice. The Islamabad Club ground has really good facilities. We had a good session. We will have a sharp session today, and we will be ready for tomorrow."
Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
Coach Simmons asks Bangladesh's top order to step up against New Zealand
Simmons said Bangladesh had given the game away with their poor starts with both bat and ball against India. "We lost in batting in overs one to ten, and the same in bowling. We have to make sure we win in those areas," Simmons said. "We need to assess and put together our batting better in the first ten overs. The middle and lower order have done really well so it is up to our top-order batsmen to put things together in the first 10 or 15 overs, especially."
Bangladesh had slipped to 35 for 5 in the ninth over in that game in Dubai. Soumya Sarkar fell in Mohammad Shami's first over before captain Najmul Hossain Shanto gave Virat Kohli a catch at cover in the second. Tanzid Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz didn't last too long either, while Mushfiqur Rahim fell for a golden duck.
Bangladesh are facing a familiar opposition in New Zealand - they have faced them most frequently in bilateral cricket than anyone else since 2015. This match will have a different vibe than a bilateral game, though, Simmons said. "All the games in this tournament are pressure games. These are the top-eight teams in the world, and you expect every game to be hard. They are definitely playing well but tomorrow is a new day. We will try to make sure that they don't play as well as they have been playing."
"I think the guys took a lot of confidence in that going into that first game against Pakistan, but then also here into Bangladesh. Again, it's probably a reset, it's a different surface, a different team. But I think the way the guys have been planning and netting and stuff has all been good stuff."
Kohli 100* headlines India's comprehensive win against Pakistan
India 244 for 4 (Kohli 100*, Iyer 56, Afridi 2-74) beat Pakistan 241 all out (Shakeel 62, Kuldeep 3-40, Hardik 2-31) by six wickets
Pakistan were able to produce moments. Shaheen Shah Afridi sending down a 143kph inswinging yorker to shatter Rohit Sharma's stumps. Abrar Ahmed conjuring a carrom ball from hell to get rid of a rampaging Shubman Gill. But when it came to capitalising on them, they just couldn't. The result was a world champion side that was renowned for pulling games out of the fire now seems to do the first part right - they definitely got into trouble in Dubai - but the other part, the important part is going so very wrong. Pakistan were 151 for 2 in the 34th over before they were bowled out for 241 with the most inexperienced member of the India side dictating terms, Harshit Rana and his slower balls were just impossible to hit.
A game in an ICC event and a rivalry with history bursting out of it eventually became so one-sided that its last few moments were dominated by an individual pursuit. Axar Patel turned down an easy two so Kohli could pursue his hundred. The crowd in Dubai loved that. There were 12 runs to get for India's victory and 12 runs to get for their hero's century and they chanted his name over and over. Pakistan were nowhere to be found. Ever since a collapse of 3 for 11 in 19 balls, this game turned pear-shaped for them.
And it kinda did. Rizwan fell trying to hit Axar out of the ground and his wicket triggered a collapse. Shakeel fell in the next over and Tayyab Tahir followed soon after. India, having spent 320 deliveries across two matches searching for a wicket in the middle overs, had found three in the space of four. Pakistan were 165 for 5. Soon they would be 200 for 7, having to negotiate the last 7.1 overs of the innings with their tail exposed.
India's discipline never let Pakistan off the hook and leading the way was Hardik, banging the ball just short of a length on a pitch that was offering a bit of grip and some tennis-ball bounce. He took out Babar Azam at a time when India's lead fast bowler, Mohammed Shami was off the field, with a lovely ball that nipped away after pitching and he did Shakeel for lack of pace just after the left-hander had smacked him for four. He just always knew what to do to exploit the conditions and make the batter's life miserable. On the back of his work, Kuldeep and Rana bowled 6.4 death overs for 28 runs and picked up four wickets.
Gill was the star of India's chase early on, a conscious effort to keep his front foot from moving too far forward and across leaving him excellently placed to take advantage of Afridi and his full length deliveries when there was no swing on offer. When he rammed the Pakistan fast bowler down the ground and then one-upped it by coming down the track and lifting the ball into the sightscreen, it looked like it was going to be his day. Abrar intervened with a ball that drifted in through the air, tempting the right-hander to close the face of his bat, and turned away to rattle middle and off stump. Gill was stunned.
Kohli, too, offered a shrug of his shoulders. He looked vulnerable against Abrar too and was almost bowled playing back to him. But against the quicks, he was vintage. He went past 14,000 runs with a crisp cover drive off Haris Rauf. All of Pakistan's best bowlers offer pace on the ball. And that is Kohli's happy place. A batter of his quality needs to be made uncomfortable at the crease when he is new. He had been dismissed five times in his last six ODIs by legspin. Pakistan had one of those and they felt they couldn't go to him.
It doesn't take long for Kohli to set the tempo when he is allowed to do so. Even though he only hit three of his first 62 balls to the boundary, he already had fifty runs to his name. He knows how to score quickly without looking for big shots. The ball wasn't stopping on the surface as much under lights. Things were working in his favour again. He almost knew he was going to get a hundred. He demanded an explanation when Axar turned down a second run off a wide in the 42nd over when it was clear to everybody else that all he was doing was make sure Kohli had the best chance to get to three-figures with time running out. When he did, off the last ball of the match, Kohli looked to the dressing room and literally said "I told you. Relax". That was how easy this was. That was how inevitable he was.
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Arizona apologizes for fans' chant aimed at BYU
Arizona has apologized for a derogatory chant aimed at BYU following the Cougars' 96-95 upset of the No. 19 Wildcats in Tucson on Saturday night.
Per video of the incident, Wildcats fans chanted an expletive and "Mormons" toward BYU, the flagship school of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as players exited the floor. It capped a chaotic finish that included controversial foul calls and irate coaches and players.
"Following tonight's men's basketball game, it was brought to our attention that an unacceptable chant occurred," Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois said in a statement. "On behalf of the University of Arizona Athletic Department, we apologize to BYU, their student-athletes, coaches and fans. The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened."
Emotions flared at the McKale Center toward the end of a wild game. Down by a point, Arizona's Caleb Love appeared to score and draw a foul with 12.5 seconds on the clock, but officials ruled that he wasn't in the act of shooting when the foul occurred. Unlike the NBA, college basketball does not have a continuation rule. The NCAA rulebook states that "the act of shooting begins simultaneously with the start of the try and ends when the ball is clearly in flight."
Love sank both free throws to give Arizona a 95-94 edge. On the other end, officials drew boos from the crowd when they called a foul on Arizona's Trey Townsend that sent BYU's Richie Saunders to the charity stripe. Saunders made both free throws with 3.2 seconds to play to give his team the 96-95 advantage and seal the win.
Players from both teams had to be separated after the game as they approached the handshake line.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd criticized the foul call that led to BYU's game-winning free throws but also said the call wasn't the reason the Wildcats lost.
"It's a bad call. I mean, like, whatever. What am I going to say?" Lloyd said after the game. "You hate for a game to be decided by that. I mean, [Townsend], I feel horrible for him. Guy didn't play in the second half. I tightened the rotation. He played good defense. [Saunders] is pivoting, pivoting, pivoting. Throws his shoulder at him. Throws up a shot and falls down. It's a foul with two seconds to go.
"Listen, it's the Big 12. That's what I'm told. And the guy who called it is one of the best refs. So we've got to live with it. But step back. They scored 93 points up to that point on our home court. That's the problem."
'Locked in' Luka explodes as Lakers win in Denver
DENVER -- It took Luka Doncic only one quarter Saturday to match his highest scoring output from his first three games with the Lakers, tallying 16 points while Los Angeles built an early lead on the Denver Nuggets.
He kept rolling from there -- and so did the Lakers -- as Doncic finished with a game-high 32 points in a 123-100 win that gave Los Angeles its first victory in Denver in nearly three years.
"It's very tough to play here against that team," said Doncic, who added 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals in his fourth game with the Lakers since being traded earlier this month. "Just to win like that, it's an amazing win for us and gives me a lot of confidence moving forward."
The Lakers ended the Nuggets' nine-game winning streak and snapped an eight-game skid at Ball Arena. The last time the Lakers beat the Nuggets in a regular-season contest on Denver's home floor was April 10, 2022.
Lakers coach JJ Redick challenged Doncic before the game to get so wrapped up in the competition that he has a "blackout episode" where he starts yelling indiscriminately in the heat of battle.
That happened several times Saturday.
"He was super dialed in," LeBron James said of Doncic. "He was very locked in on what he wanted to do out here on the floor tonight. Once he started hitting those step-back 3s and got to yelling and barking, either at the fans or at us, or himself."
Doncic had averaged 14.7 points on 35.6% shooting (20.8% from 3) through his first three games with the Lakers while slowly integrating into the lineup after a left calf injury had kept him sidelined since Christmas with the Dallas Mavericks.
Saturday night, Doncic led Los Angeles in shot attempts, going 10-for-22 from the field, and was tied for the lead in assists.
James had 25 points on 11-for-19 shooting with nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks, and fellow starters Austin Reaves (23 points, 7 assists) and Rui Hachimura (21 points, 4 assists) also topped the 20-point plateau.
Redick said Doncic will see more touches.
"I think Luka needs to be the guy that controls the offense," Redick said. "And Bron and AR, because we're going to stagger everybody, they're going to have their times to be on the ball. But all three of those guys are very intelligent basketball players, and we can create mismatches. We can get teams in the blender."
James, who was the beneficiary of a full-court outlet pass from Doncic to score on a streaking dunk a couple of possessions into the game, endorsed Redick's plan.
"I'm a natural-born wide receiver and he's a natural-born quarterback, so it fits perfectly," James said.
With Doncic's first game against his former team looming Tuesday, when Los Angeles hosts Dallas, the Lakers' new star already sounded convinced he will make an NBA Finals run with his new group, the way he did with the Mavericks last year.
"I think our goal is -- not I think, I know our goal is to win a championship," Doncic said. "That's our only goal. And I think we have the team for that."
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