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Pep Guardiola has said not even winning the FA Cup can save Manchester City's season.
City booked their place in the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Plymouth Argyle at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Guardiola's team have reached the last eight of the competition for the seventh year in a row. But he admits not even lifting the trophy will make up for relinquishing the Premier League title and their early exit from the Champions League.
"It's better to win the treble or quadruple, come on," said Guardiola.
"This season, especially in two competitions, we've not been good. And that's the reality.
"We didn't qualify for the first time [for the last-16] of the Champions League since we are here, and in the Premier League with 13, 14, 15 games left we have no chance of winning [the title]. It's never happened. The season has not been good."
City had to fight back from a goal down against Plymouth, conquerors of Liverpool in the last round, after Maksym Talovierov gave the Championship side the lead.
Nico O'Reilly, playing as a makeshift left-back, equalised just before half-time and added a second after the break. Kevin De Bruyne wrapped up the result with a third goal in the final minute.
O'Reilly, 19, was the subject of interest from Chelsea in the January transfer window before City decided to rebuff a late bid.
"Sometimes you take a good decision, otherwise he would not score two goals today," said Guardiola.
"He's not a typical academy player. He's a physical presence, a number 10, I would say. He can play in a few positions. He's a threat from set pieces because he's strong. I'm really pleased for him because he helped us a lot."
San Diego FC coach Mikey Varas and sporting director Tyler Heaps expressed disappointment and anger after their club's inaugural home match was marred in the second half by three occurrences of the homophobic chant frequently heard at the Mexican national team's soccer matches.
The club uniformly decried the notorious one-word Spanish chant both during and after San Diego finished a scoreless draw with St. Louis City SC on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium, which was packed with 34,506 fans celebrating the arrival of Major League Soccer's 30th team.
Varas opened his postmatch news conference by condemning the fans who made the chant despite repeated warnings against it on the scoreboard and over the public address system. Varas delivered his statement in both Spanish and English.
"The chant that was heard tonight is unacceptable," Varas said. "It's outside of our value system. It doesn't represent the players, myself or the club, and it certainly doesn't represent San Diego or Baja California. It's not a reflection of who we are. We're a community full of love, of support, and we believe in the power of diversity."
Varas emphasized that the chant wasn't made by San Diego FC's main supporter section, the group known as La Frontera.
"This came from more the general population in the seats, and it wasn't everybody," Varas said. "I understand that, but it was enough people, and I just want to make very clear that it has no place here. If they're going to continue to come to the game and make that chant, it's better that they don't come here."
The one-word slur is typically made by fans while an opposing goalkeeper takes a goal kick, and it regularly occurs in both club soccer and national team soccer in Mexico. It's also become a regrettable staple in the Mexican national team's matches in the U.S.
The Mexican national team has been fined repeatedly by FIFA for its fans' behavior regarding the chant, which has forced both stoppages in play and the shortening of a match between El Tri and the U.S. national team in recent years. The chant nevertheless persists, and it seems likely to be an issue at North America's 2026 World Cup, which will feature 13 matches in Mexico.
"It's totally against our values as a club, but also who we are as people," Heaps said.
"One of our core values is to be a good person, and I think that's what we'll continue to stand behind. It's totally unacceptable, and obviously us as a club, we'll make sure it does not continue into the future."
Cheatle's deflection secures New South Wales WNCL title
New South Wales 215 (Learoyd 80, Parsons 3-29, Hamilton 3-57) beat Queensland 194 (Redmayne 97) by 21 runs
New South Wales snared their 21st WNCL title after defeating Queensland by 21 runs, and it was largely thanks to a freakish run-out.
Queensland's tail didn't last much longer, with NSW players celebrating wildly when Queensland were bowled out for 194 in the 47th over.
It marks the first time NSW have lifted the Ruth Preddy Cup since 2018-19.
Cheatle, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Sam Bates and captain Georgia Adams all played important roles with the ball for NSW. Queensland were left kicking themselves after slumping from 135 for 2 in the 30th over.
Redmayne was in fine form, but Sianna Ginger (36) and Charli Knott (14) were the only other batters to make it to double figures for Queensland.
NSW veteran Sarah Coyte now has 10 WNCL titles across three different states. The 33-year-old won six competitions with NSW between 2010 and 2015, one with South Australia after that, then a further two with Tasmania.
Her latest triumph is extra special, given the long wait between drinks for a NSW organisation accustomed to success.
Nair, Malewar and bowlers lead Vidarbha to third Ranji Trophy title
Vidarbha 379 (Malewar 153, Nair 86, Nidheesh 3-61) and 375 for 9 dec (Nair 135, Malewar 73, Sarwate 4-96) drew with Kerala 342 (Baby 98, Sarwate 79, Nalkande 3-52)
There were several such moments Kerala could look back on. All told, they would be richer with the experience of playing in their first final. That their coach Amay Khurasiya walked all the way to the center and took a fistful of a crumbly top surface of the Jamtha deck for posterity told you how much it meant to him.
This feeling got even more stronger when Wadkar was bowled by one that scooted low. Sarwate, who had celebrated many special moments with Wadkar by his side in the Vidarbha dressing room, celebrated wildly now at having dismissed him. Sarwate had three wickets suddenly, and all of Kerala's prayers behind him.
At 2.20pm, with tea looming, the stumps were drawn on an exhilarating season as Vidarbha were officially crowned champions. Having got to the semi-final on the back of the joint-most wins - alongside Mumbai - by a team in a season, they finished it off in typically khadoos style. It was a stonewalling effort led by Nair, whose fourth hundred of the season - and ninth overall, across formats led the way. There was also a half-century from the industrious Malewar, their 21-year-old batting hope.
They had more than made up for the first-innings lapse, when Nair was run-out after a mix-up with Malewar. That moment had the potential to be game-changing. For Vidarbha, it wasn't. Because theirs was an effort beyond just Nair's or Malewar's.
Warriorz, Giants seek consistency as WPL arrives in Lucknow
Who's playing
UP Warriorz vs Gujarat GiantsEkana Stadium, Lucknow, 7.30pm IST
What to expect: Little room for error
Warriorz are playing their last three league games of this season at the Ekana Stadium and will be keen to maximise the home advantage. Their last match against Mumbai Indians saw Warriorz rejig their batting line-up with Grace Harris opening with Kiran Navgire and Vrinda Dinesh moving down to No.3. The move seemed to work with both Harris and Dinesh chipping in with crucial 46 and 33 respectively. However, they have struggled to capitalise on the starts with the bat and have either left it too late for some lower-order hitting from Chinelle Henry and Sophie Ecclestone or ended up with below-par totals. The middle overs is the phase where they are most vulnerable and Giants might look to exploit that. Warriorz have lost the most wickets (24) in the middle overs (7 to 16) in this WPL so far and have been the slowest (6.72) in that phase too.
For Giants, while the bowling department looks largely sorted in terms of role clarity, there are still question marks over their top order. They have used three different opening pairs in five games with only Beth Mooney remaining the only constant at the top. D Hemalatha batted at No.3 in the first three matches in Vadodara was dropped after low scored before being promoted to open against RCB. Harleen Deol started this season in the middle order and then opened with Mooney before she was asked to bat at No. 3 in their previous game. Giants, however, have strengthened their middle order by having left-hander Phoebe Litchfield along with two star allrounders Ash Gardner and Deandra Dottin. Litchfield also played at No.3 for one game before moving down to No. 5 against MI where she looked at ease, scoring an unbeaten 30.
UP Warriorz LWL (last three matches, most recent first) Gujarat Giants WLL
The Lucknow surface is generally known to assist slower bowlers. Warriorz might be tempted to play an extra spinner in Alana King and drop Tahlia McGrath, who has been struggling with both bat and ball this season.
UP Warriorz (likely XI): 1 Kiran Navgire, 2 Grace Harris, 3 Vrinda Dinesh, 4 Deepti Sharma (capt), 5 Shweta Sehrawat, 6 Uma Chetry (wk), 7 Chinelle Henry, 8 Saima Thakor, 9 Alana King, 10 Sophie Ecclestone, 11 Kranti Goud
Giants might also bring back the left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad in place of fast bowler Meghna Singh.
Gujarat Giants (likely XI): 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 D Hemalatha, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Ash Gardner (capt), 5 Phoebe Litchfield,6 Deandra Dottin, 7 Kashvee Gautam, 8 Bharti Fulmali, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Meghna Singh/Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Priya Mishra
Players to watch: Grace Harris and Kashvee Gautam
Commanders trade gives Jayden Daniels another weapon
ASHBURN, Va. -- The film suggests Washington Commanders receiver Deebo Samuel still has something left in the tank.
He can still turn shorter catches into long runs. He can still play physically. He can still create chances for teammates because of the way opposing defenses must account for him. And, perhaps most importantly, he can add an element Washington has sorely needed.
"[He's] so damn tough," one NFC coach said.
The coach raved about Samuel's balance through contact and called him a "total baller" on offense.
But then came the big caveat.
"Can he be healthy and available?" the coach asked.
And that's the big question no one can answer until Samuel suits up for the Commanders after being traded from the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday. It's not that Samuel misses a lot of games -- he has missed a combined nine in the past four years. It's about the cumulative toll of his physical style as he creeps into his 30s. And it's ultimately why Washington only needed to send a fifth-round pick to acquire the former All-Pro from the 49ers.
But Washington has bet on veteran stars before -- and it paid off. Last offseason, the franchise signed linebacker Bobby Wagner, tight end Zach Ertz and running back Austin Ekeler. Wagner and Ertz started every game and all three were productive, with Wagner earning second-team All-Pro honors. Ekeler also had strong numbers, though he did miss five games.
Samuel, 29, is eight months younger than Ekeler, and arrives with an intriguing skill set that can be enhanced, or at least properly utilized, under Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. He and quarterback Jayden Daniels had the NFL's fifth-highest-scoring offense last season.
Kingsbury coaxed production out of the likes of receivers Olamide Zaccheaus (career-high 45 receptions, 35 more than the previous year) and Dyami Brown (career-high 30 receptions, 18 more than his previous best).
With Samuel, Washington now has a mobile chess piece for Kingsbury to utilize. Samuel can line up all over the field as a receiver and he can align in the backfield, where he's capable of running the ball or a route. Washington can also pair him with Ekeler in the backfield, giving defenses two pass-catching threats who can also run.
"It's just his ability to just find things that people are really good at," Ertz said of Kingsbury late in the 2024 season. "He uses guys to their strengths, which seems very simple and would be common sense, but it's just not the case.
"He's not going to ask you to do something that you don't feel comfortable with or don't feel confident in, and he's going to use guys in any which way if they have one really good trait. You see that with guys that haven't had a lot of success."
The quarterback throwing the ball to those targets helped as well. Daniels was named the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year and led the Commanders to their first NFL title game since the 1991 season. As one NFC coach said, Samuel is a "super version" of Zaccheaus. And there's a thought that, as well as San Francisco's Brock Purdy has played, being with Daniels will boost Samuel even more.
Samuel's addition also serves as a balance to star wide receiver Terry McLaurin's game. McLaurin is a major downfield threat. He was tied for seventh with seven catches on throws that traveled 25 yards or more last season. Since 2019, McLaurin has 41 career receptions of that length or more (third-most in the NFL, five behind leader Tyreek Hill), while Samuel has nine such plays.
Samuel does his work after the catch, averaging 9.0 such yards in his career, and can provide a physical underneath threat who can be explosive for Washington's offense. That should help when teams focus more on McLaurin, as they often do.
Samuel doesn't solve all of Washington's receiver issues. As of now, the Commanders don't have a deep unit as Zaccheaus, both Browns and Jamison Crowder -- four of their top six last year -- are free agents. They could use another deep threat.
Daniels' second season will be about how he can build on his first. But adding talent around him also will help both the quarterback and the entire offense as a whole.
Samuel is coming off an interesting year: In his first eight games, he recorded two 100-yard games and finished six games with at least 54 yards. In his final seven, he had six games with 22 yards or less. But he also was impacted by calf, wrist, oblique and rib injuries.
That final stretch is why questions will follow Samuel into the season.
This is the second time general manager Adam Peters has traded for a veteran with injury concerns. He sent two draft picks to New Orleans in exchange for corner Marshon Lattimore. The success of that move remains to be seen.
But if Samuel stays healthy, then Washington will have boosted an offense that did quite well with lesser all-around talent.
Catalano Takes Third Win Of VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Season
AUSTIN A wild ending in Saturdays first race of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race at Circuit of The Americas snapped Valentino Catalanos overall and P3 class winning streak, but the German returned to his winning ways on Saturday afternoon.
Driving the No. 30 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08, Catalano started the race from the pole position and remained out front for the duration of the 45-minute race to record his third victory in four races this season. Catalano beat teammate Oscar Tunjo to the checkered flag in the No. 31 Gebhardt Duqueine by 48.813 seconds.
This morning we were a bit unlucky, said Catalano, who along with his teammate, seemingly ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap of Race 1. I mean, it is racing and sometimes that happens, but we knew that we were quick. I felt comfortable with the car. The car felt well. So we just kept our focus for the next race.
In Race 2, we just brought it together and it worked out, so Im really happy about showing my potential and getting the result for it.
Tunjo followed closely behind Catalano for much of the race before fading in the closing laps. He also incurred a 10-second post-race penalty for passing under a local yellow, but it did not affect his finishing position.
Third place in P3 went to Jonathan Woolridge in the No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 for his third consecutive podium result. Woolridge scored his second series victory in Race 1 and vaulted into second place in the P3 point standings with a solid weekend in Texas. He trails Catalano by 110 points, 1310-1200, with four of 12 races now in the books.
Brian Thienes took his third consecutive P3 Bronze Cup victory in the No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P320.
Walker Sweeps COTA Weekend in No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW
Jake Walker had a perfect weekend at Circuit of The Americas. The young Pennsylvanian started both races from the GTDX class pole position, claimed his first series victory on Saturday morning and made it a clean sweep with a victory in Race 2 aboard the No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
Walker made a quick getaway at the drop of the green flag to pull into the class lead and controlled the race from the front. Although his gap narrowed a bit toward the end of the race, Walker was never in any jeopardy of losing the race and finished 10.759 seconds ahead of AJ Muss to win the race.
In the beginning, we got a good run, Walker said. We got ourselves a gap and we just kept picking away at the GT4s (GSX cars) and LMP3s and catching the lapped traffic navigating it and keeping the car clean. That was mainly our race.
Muss drove the No. 66 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 to his second runner-up result of the day and his fourth GTDX class podium in as many races this season. As a result, Muss now finds himself atop the class point standings by 10 points, 1260-1250, over Adam Adelson, who encountered an early issue in his No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R that dropped him far behind the field. He eventually battled back to finish sixth in class.
Matias Perez Companc made it two Af Corse Ferraris on the podium with a third-place performance in the No. 50 Ferrari.
Samantha Tan capped off a successful COTA weekend with her second Bronze Cup class victory and a fourth-place GTDX class result in the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3.
Porter Claims Breakthrough Victory in GSX in No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota
A RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 has been out front for all of the GSX class season thus far.
However, when the checkered flag fell on Race 2 at COTA, it was not the No. 8 Supra driven to three consecutive victories by Kiko Porto. This time, it was Ian Porter, who claimed his maiden series victory aboard the No. 68 Toyota.
For the first 39 minutes of the 45-minute race, Porto was having another dominating performance. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, an unspecified mechanical issue reared its ugly head at the most inopportune time, forcing the No. 8 machine to slow dramatically on course and eventually pull off in a safe location trackside.
That opened the door for Porter who was having his own adventures in the No. 68 Supra but not enough to keep him from the top step of the podium for the first time in his VP Racing SportsCar Challenge career.
That was probably the scariest race Ive ever driven because were doing multi-class (racing) and I had no left mirror, Porter said. I had no right mirror. The rear camera was way, way too dark for how bright it was. And then you cant see anything out of the top mirror, so it was a terrifying situation to try to figure out where the GT3s (GTDX cars) are. A lot of it, I was actually just doing by sound because I had no visuals.
In addition to the GSX class victory, Porter also claimed Bronze Cup honors in the class.
This is my second year racing and its an incredible feeling, he said. I mean, that was an actual battle to pass every single car that I had to pass, so it was very refreshing, especially coming from iRacing and online. Thats what Im used to and now Im just seeing this in real life and through my own two eyes and its just wild. Im 15 months in and got an IMSA victory under my belt, so its nice.
Chris Walsh wound up second in GSX aboard the No. 10 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW M4 GT4 EVO, coming home 9.107 seconds behind Porter. Steven Clemons finished third in the No. 76 BSI Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 despite crossing the finish line just 0.827 seconds behind Porter as he was assessed a 10-second post-race penalty for multiple track limits violations early in the race.
Despite the setback, which saw Porto finish last in the GSX class, the Brazilian still has a fairly comfortable, 150-point lead, 1270-1120, in the championship standings.
The Chicago Blackhawks sent defenseman Seth Jones to the defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers in a blockbuster trade Saturday night.
The Panthers acquired Jones, 30, and a 2026 fourth-round draft pick from the Blackhawks for goaltender Spencer Knight, 23, and a 2026 conditional first-round pick. Chicago is retaining part of Jones' contract through 2030, bringing his annual cap hit for the Panthers to $7 million. Jones makes $9.5 million against the salary cap and is in the third year of an eight-year contract. The Blackhawks will retain $2.5 million on Jones through 2030.
The first-round pick slides to 2027 if the Panthers trade their 2026 first-rounder before this year's draft.
Jones is in his 12th NHL season, having played for the Nashville Predators, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Blackhawks. He has 27 points in 42 games, skating 24:30 per game. Chicago acquired him from Columbus in 2021. Jones was selected No. 4 in the 2013 draft by the Predators.
"Seth is an elite veteran defenseman and a proven leader in our league," said Florida general manager Bill Zito, who was with the Blue Jackets when they picked up Jones from the Predators. "He has been one of the most consistent players of the past decade, serving as a reliable workhorse on both sides of the puck, and he will help our club continue to compete at the highest level."
Jones revealed recently that he had spoken to the Blackhawks about a trade out of Chicago, which has been in a prolonged rebuild. He had become more vocal recently about his dissatisfaction with the direction of the franchise.
"We're the exact same team right now as we were Game 1. It's pretty evident out there. We haven't made any strides to be a better, more simple hockey team, and it shows. We don't get a lot of wins because of that," Jones said this week after a 2-1 loss at the Utah Hockey Club. "This has been almost four years of bottom of the league."
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson, in speaking with Chicago Sports Network, said that Jones' comments in Utah resonated, and helped to move the deal forward. "I felt a little more urgency, I would say, once that became public," he added.
Knight, the No. 13 pick in the 2019 draft, is in his fourth NHL season. He is 12-8-1 in 23 appearances with a .907 save percentage.
"No trade's easy," Davidson said. "But I think we landed in a great spot for the organization."
Kumble: 'Quality and variety' make South Africa a complete bowling attack
"I think one good thing about South Africa is that all three of their fast bowlers that played today - of course Mulder is the one who bowls the middle periods - but if you look at the three tall fast bowlers, all of them are really tall. And all of them are different," Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo's Match Day show.
"Their angles are very different. Rabada is very classical whereas Ngidi is pretty awkward to face with his action and Marco Jansen comes at such height. So all three are very different. So that's the nature you want in a one-day. That's the variation.
"Even on a flat track, it's not easy for the batters to line up because all three are very different. And that's something that South Africa can certainly feel [confident] they have this kind of a quality and also the variety going into the business end of the tournament."
Kumble: Jansen the 'complete package for South Africa'
Jansen set the tone in South Africa's win against England, dismissing their top three inside seven overs with his bounce. He also took three catches, including one off his own bowling.
"I think he's still very young, although he has played quite a lot of cricket. He has certainly matured," Kumble said. "I'm sure these three wickets [will give him confidence], and also you can see his athleticism in the field with all those catches.
"He has improved a lot with his batting as well. He has contributed with the bat on many occasions for South Africa. So in that sense he's a complete package for South Africa at No. 7 or No. 8.
"And with the ball, with the new ball he can bring the ball back in. He's tall so it's not easy for the batters to just get under him," he said. "We saw that with Phil Salt, it just took off. It was quite steep, the bounce, and he couldn't get over it. You need that variety in your bowling attack and that's something that South Africa have in plenty."
Jofra Archer a flicker of hope amid England's gloom
"He's been out of competitive cricket for a couple of years," McCullum said. "I think it's taken just a little bit of time to get that rhythm of gameplay back but I think he's been really good. He's bowled high pace, he's played a lot of cricket, he's been able to get significant workload under his belt throughout this time and we've seen moments of how great Jofra is, even tonight, a couple of wickets he took the other night against Afghanistan, three with the new ball.
"We know how great a player Jofra is at the very top of his game and to have him back and to have him fit and excited about playing is a real win for English cricket."
With one English eye perpetually on the Ashes, his ability to tolerate increased workloads is bound to raise hopes he can feature prominently in the five-match series at the end of this year. McCullum looked to balance hope with guarded optimism.
"We've got to make sure that we're always doing the right thing by Jof as well and understand the risks involved," McCullum said. "But I'm pretty sure he's pretty keen to play Test cricket and you look at someone like Jof - and if you can add him to the battery of fast bowlers you're trying to build, that can only strengthen this squad. We'll wait and see, but overall, I'm really pleased with where Jof's at and it's great to see him back playing and injury free at the moment."
That, however, is where the positives end. It has been little short of a horror start to his all white-ball stint for McCullum, winning three and losing eleven games, including the last seven on the bounce: England's longest such streak in ODI cricket since 2001. While McCullum said on Thursday England may quite plausibly have won each of their first two games, the crushing loss at South Africa's hands has left little doubt about the true state of their current ODI side.
"We weren't good enough across, obviously very disappointed," McCullum said. "We had high hopes of being able to finish the tournament with a bit of a bang, but we were very poor and we've got a lot of work to do. We'll put our thinking caps on over the next few weeks and start to try and navigate our way through what an improvement looks like across our white-ball cricket and make sure we try and be pretty thorough with that and work out a way that we can get ourselves back to where we should be."
His final innings as captain was a pale shadow of the player who will likely go down as the greatest white-ball batters in England's history. It ended when he tentatively pushed a Lungi Ngidi delivery straight to mid-off; he had scored 21 in 43 deliveries without hitting a single boundary - his second-longest such innings without sending a ball to the fence.
McCullum reiterated his plans to keep Buttler around England's white-ball side. "We still see Jos as obviously a big player within that and he's got a huge role to play. He cared so much about it and he admittedly said that he wasn't able to get the best out of the guys at this stage. I thought it was a brave decision to make and it gives us now an opportunity to be able to start to plot and plan our way forward.
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