Brazil goalkeeper Ederson has said he is honoured to be a part of Pep Guardiola's project at Manchester City but admits the Spanish coach can be "sometimes annoying."

Éderson, on international duty with Brazil, has worked under Guardiola since 2017 and won 18 titles, including six Premier League titles and one Champions League trophy.

While taking part in an event for Children's Day in Brazil, Ederson was asked by one child if Guardiola is nice, annoying or angry.

"You're going to get me in trouble," Éderson, 31, told ESPN Brasil. "He's all three ... He's a nice guy, he's sometimes annoying, in the sense of [being] demanding, because he has to [be] demanding to a professional [player], and he's also angry when he has to be angry.

"So he has a mixture of all three. But he's a nice guy off the pitch, and he's a very, very demanding guy on it. And he's also a guy who gets angry like any other person, like any other coach, when things don't go well, when the team doesn't play well.

"Of course, we know that we're not going to be able to play 70 games at a brilliant level, of course, in one game or another, there's going to be a dip."

Since arriving at City in the summer of 2016, Guardiola has been named Premier League manager of the season five times.

Under Guardiola, City became in 2023 the only English club in history to hold all five trophies -- Champions League, Premier League and England FA Cup, Super Cup, Club World Cup -- in a calendar year.

Guardiola had previously achieved success in impressive stints with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Éderson believes Guardiola has changed Premier League football.

"I've been able to play a big part in the project," he said. "You take everything Guardiola has built up with the group, with the squad and everything he's been able to reformulate practically. You see every Premier League game today, how the teams try to play more football, have more possession, it's completely different from when he arrived.

"So to be able to be part of this project and achieve everything I've achieved, I feel very honoured, it really is a childhood dream."

Éderson, meanwhile, has faced talented opposition but admitted he was relieved when England forward Harry Kane left Tottenham to join Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023.

"Man, I've faced a few strikers, especially in the Premier League," Éderson said. "But I think the most difficult one, the one I've seen with the most quality, is Harry Kane.

"He has an absurd quality, both inside the box and outside, when he comes out to receive play, he has a lot of quality.

"So, from my point of view, he was one of the best strikers I've ever faced."

Wesley Fofana has come out in defence of France captain Kylian Mbappé after reports emerged that the Real Madrid forward had been in a nightclub in Sweden on the night of his team's UEFA Nations League win over Israel.

Mbappé had already been criticised in some corners for skipping Les Bleus' games against Israel and Belgium while being available to play for Real Madrid even before Swedish publication Aftonbladet said the former Paris Saint-Germain player had been in a nightclub in Stockholm as his compatriots romped to a 4-1 win on Thursday.

The forward picked up a muscle injury in September but made an earlier-than-scheduled return to the pitch in the Champions League on Oct. 2 as Madrid suffered a shock defeat to Lille, and started their subsequent LaLiga game against Villarreal after being omitted from Didier Deschamps' squad over a lack of preparation.

"People can do what they want with their free time," Chelsea defender Fofana told a news conference Saturday. "It isn't something we [the France squad] have talked about today, I hadn't heard about this story.

"He does what he wants; he is a great guy and a great professional. Are we making too much of it? I don't know. He's the best French player, so it's normal that it is very publicised.

"I think that from time to time [the media] go a little too far. You should ask Kylian Mbappé for more information."

Lazio midfielder Matteo Guendouzi also addressed the reports as he spoke with media.

"We have no doubts about Kylian. ... There is no question about his passion [for his country]," he said. "He loves his country; he will continue to help us. We must stop talking about it too much.

"He has days off; he can do what he wants."

France sit second in Nations League group A2. They play Belgium in Brussels on Monday.

Belal Muhammad (24-3) will make the first defense of the welterweight championship against the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.

Muhammad, 36, recently won the 170-pound title by defeating Leon Edwards by unanimous decision at UFC 304 in July. His first test as champion will be against a man with a 100% finishing rate.

Rakhmonov, 29, is the UFC's No. 3 ranked welterweight and has a perfect record of 18-0 with all of his wins coming by knockout or submission. Rakhmonov is coming off of a submission victory over Stephen Thompson in December 2023.

UFC CEO Dana White announced the main event on social media and revealed the co-main event, which will see flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja defend his championship against Kai Asakura.

Asakura, 30, will be getting a UFC title shot in his debut with the promotion. Pantoja, 34, will attempt to defend his title for the third time. In his recent outing, the Brazilian defeated Steve Erceg to retain the title at UFC 301 in May. Pantoja (28-5) is currently riding a six-fight winning streak.

The UFC signed Asakura in June after a long tenure in RIZIN, where he was the promotion's bantamweight champion. He enters the UFC with a pro record of 21-4.

White also announced the return of Nick Diaz (26-10), who will face Vicente Luque (22-10-1). It will be Diaz's first fight since losing by stoppage to Robbie Lawler in September 2021. The promotion attempted to put the fight together for August in Abu Dhabi, but Diaz was pulled due to a "travel issue."

San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL draft, has been placed on injured reserve and will miss at least the next two games.

Celebrini was put on IR on Saturday, two days after he made history in his NHL debut, scoring a goal and recording an assist in the Sharks' 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues.

He had been dealing with a lower-body injury during training camp and the preseason and missed Friday's practice. Coach Ryan Warsofsky didn't provide additional comment on Celebrini's injury Friday.

The earliest Celebrini could return is for Thursday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks and 2023 No. 1 pick Connor Bedard. Players on injured reserve must miss seven days from the last game they played in.

Celebrini's goal was the second fastest for a No. 1 pick in his debut, bested only by Mario Lemieux's score 2:59 into his first game for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Celebrini was the sixth-youngest player, at 18 years, 119 days, to score in his NHL debut.

The Sharks recalled defenseman Jack Thompson from the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League in a corresponding move. Thompson, 22, has yet to record a point in three career NHL games with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Sharks.

Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has voiced his support for general manager Trent Baalke and coach Doug Pederson after the team's 1-4 start.

Khan told the Florida Times-Union in an interview in London that while he's disappointed with the way the season has started he's more concerned with how the team finishes the season, beginning with Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"I still believe in them," Khan told the newspaper Saturday. "I believe in the players, I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Trent [Baalke]. Obviously, the results are disappointing for all of them, just as well as me or any other Jaguar fan, but, the key thing one has to understand [is] we have evolved and really got to a level. I think we've got the players, we've got the coaching, we've got the facilities."

Other than a 47-10 blowout at Buffalo on "Monday Night Football" in Week 3 -- which Khan called embarrassing -- the three other losses have been one-score games by a combined 12 points.

The Jaguars got their first victory last week against Indianapolis, but the team needed a 49-yard field goal by rookie kicker Cam Little with 17 seconds remaining to win 37-34 after blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.

"So, to me, every game you go to, you want to do everything to win it and this is the NFL, that's hard," Khan told the newspaper. "Every game is competitive. A loss is a loss, but [it's about] how you lose. To me, the three games we lost early in the season, it's disappointing, [but] we could have won them."

Khan told the team the night before training camp that this is the best Jaguars team ever assembled and that "winning now is the expectation." However, only one team has made the playoffs after an 0-4 start: the 1992 San Diego Chargers, who won 11 of their next 12 games to claim the AFC West title and beat the Kansas City Chiefs in a wild-card game before losing to the Miami Dolphins in the divisional round.

The Jaguars did rally from a 2-6 start in 2022 to win the AFC South and make the playoffs, but it might be tough to pull off a similar comeback this season with games remaining against Green Bay, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Detroit and the New York Jets -- especially with a long list of injuries and the way quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the offense (until last week) underperformed.

Pederson is 19-20 in his three-plus seasons with the Jaguars, but that includes a 2-9 record in the team's last 10 games dating to the start of December 2023.

However, the Jaguars won five in a row to end 2022 with a 9-8 record and duplicated that mark in 2023, which marks the first time the Jaguars have posted back-to-back winning seasons since 2004-05.

But the Jaguars also were 8-3 and in contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC last season before finishing 1-5, a stretch that coincided with injuries to receiver Christian Kirk (abdomen/groin) and Lawrence (ankle, concussion and shoulder).

Still, finishing with winning records the past two seasons is significant progress for a franchise that had lost 10 or more games 10 times in an 11-season span from 2011-2021, and Khan acknowledged that to the newspaper.

"I expect us to be competitive and winning every year and we have graduated to that point and not be someone we don't know," he said. "So, sharing my expectations, I believe that. The coaches who are there, players who are there, they're coming here to win and if they're not comfortable with that, they shouldn't be here. That's the team institution we want to be."

LONDON -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expects some offseason tweaks to the new kickoff rules but said that, on the whole, "it's working."

The new rules have made kickoffs relevant again, he said, and the early data on injuries is promising.

Just over 30% of kickoffs have been returned this season compared with 20% last season, he said.

"With that increase in returns, it's giving us more data to determine whether we can do it more safely. It actually is incredibly promising. We're seeing lower impacts that have led to less severe injuries and less number of injuries. So, I think it's working," Goodell said Saturday at a fan forum in London, the site of Sunday's game between the Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On average, kickoff drives are starting just past the 29-yard line, compared with just past the 24 previously, he said.

"I think what we'll see ultimately is a change in the offseason," Goodell said. "Once we know it's a safer play, it will encourage more kickoffs. That could happen in a couple of ways. You could move the kickoff line back, so that they can't kick it out as easily. You could also say the penalty for kicking it out is going to go to the 35 instead of where we're at, the 30."

He said the "great thing" about the new system is "one little crease develops and that guy is gone. That's what I'm looking for is that long kickoff return to return to the game. I think we had four or five last year. We're already at that number at Week 6. That's pretty good."

Goodell also spoke about growing the game outside of the United States, including potentially holding a Super Bowl outside of the U.S. for the first time.

Goodell has shot down the idea in the past, but he told the fan forum Saturday that it's a possibility.

"We've always traditionally tried to play a Super Bowl in an NFL city -- that was always sort of a reward for the cities that have NFL franchises," he said in response to a question about moving the neutral-site game internationally. "But things change. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that happens one day."

Goodell floated the idea as he outlined a plan that could include playing 16 international games every year if the regular season expands to 18 games. Sunday morning's game between the Jags and Bears will be the second game in London in as many weeks and the league's third outside the United States this season.

Goodell added that he has "no doubt" that Ireland will host a game soon. He named Rio de Janeiro as a likely new host and said the Jaguars are considering increasing the number of games they play in London during their stadium renovations at home.

This season's Super Bowl -- the 59th edition -- will be played in New Orleans. In 2026, Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, will host, followed by SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, California, in 2027. Kansas City's 25-22 overtime victory over San Francisco in the last Super Bowl was the most-watched program in U.S. television history.

Team owners already have authorized up to eight international games, but Goodell said they could double that number -- creating a scenario where all 32 teams could play an international game each year.

The key is expanding the regular season by one game and reducing the number of preseason games to two.

"If we do expand our season -- our regular season -- to an 18-and-two structure, I see us going to 16 of those games being in international markets," Goodell said.

He added that the plan could include a second bye week in the schedule.

"A lot of that depends on -- can we continue to make the game safer, can we continue to modify the way we conduct the offseason as well as the training camp and as well as the season, so that these guys feel comfortable being able to play that period of time," Goodell said.

Under that scenario, he said, the season would start around Labor Day and conclude around Presidents Day -- the third Monday of February.

Moving to an 18th game is seen as inevitable. The players union has indicated it is open to an agreement before the current labor deal expires after the 2030 season.

There are five international games this season, and Goodell said the league wants to increase to eight "quickly."

Dublin has been seen as the next likely host -- after Madrid gets its first game in 2025.

"I have no doubt that we're going to be playing in Ireland. I don't know if it will be next year, but it's coming soon," Goodell said at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

He cited Rio de Janeiro as the possible host of the next Brazil game -- Sao Paulo staged one this season.

London, which could get a night game at some point, has hosted regular-season games since 2007 and Germany since 2022.

"We're looking at other markets in the other direction, toward Asia," he said. "There's probably more interest than we can handle."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame welcomes its latest inductees, with former NBA stars Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups headlining the 13-member class.

The class of 2024 also includes Los Angeles Lakers legends Jerry West and Michael Cooper. West will become the first person inducted three times, with his latest election coming as a contributor to the game.

The 2025 group of inductees will be announced in April at the NCAA Division I Final Four in San Antonio, but with no certain Hall of Famers becoming newly eligible next year, let's also look at the previous candidates on the ballot who might make it.

As for the 2026 class, there will be at least one likely first-time selection when Carmelo Anthony is on the ballot. LaMarcus Aldridge has an interesting case for 2026, as does his former Brooklyn Nets teammate Blake Griffin for the 2027 class.

Projecting Hall of Fame inductees isn't always easy because of the lack of transparency in the process -- as explained previously by ESPN's Baxter Holmes -- conducted by committees with unknown members behind closed doors. Still, we'll do our best to consider who might soon be getting the call.

Looking to next year and beyond, let's consider which former NBA players will be on the ballot four years after their retirement as we project classes in 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Newly eligible in 2025

None

The best player who retired from the NBA after 2020-21 was Marc Gasol, although he continued to play in Spain for the club he founded, Basquet Girona, until this January. The Hall hasn't been consistent in terms of how it has handled such appearances in terms of the timeline for eligibility, but I don't think Gasol will be on the ballot until 2028. His brother Pau Gasol was inducted in 2023.

New Lakers head coach JJ Redick is the next-best candidate. Without an All-Star appearance or a title, Redick's candidacy would rely heavily on his accomplishments as a college player at Duke.

Newly eligible in 2026

1. Carmelo Anthony

The only retired member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary team who has yet to be chosen for the Hall of Fame, Anthony will join the rest of that group as soon as he's eligible. Anthony retired ninth in career NBA scoring with 28,289 points and was a 10-time All-Star, in addition to making six All-NBA appearances.

2. LaMarcus Aldridge

Will Aldridge's career merit first-ballot selection? Whether it's in 2026 or later, Aldridge will surely make it by virtue of checking the boxes both in terms of awards (seven All-Star appearances and five All-NBA picks) and career scoring (20,558 points). Although scoring at least 20,000 points no longer assures selection, every eligible player who has scored more than Aldridge is in the Hall.

Newly eligible in 2027

1. Blake Griffin

The No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft will be an interesting case for the Hall of Fame. His accolades -- six All-Star games and five All-NBA seasons (three second-team and two third-team nods) -- would typically merit selection, but Griffin's prime was shortened by injuries. He played just 765 games and finished with fewer than 15,000 career points. When Griffin's impact as a college star at Oklahoma and 2011 slam dunk contest champion are added, I think that pushes his candidacy over the top.

2. Andre Iguodala

If Michael Cooper can reach the Hall of Fame on the strength of winning five NBA championships and making the All-Defensive team eight times without ever being an All-Star, Iguodala should be an easy choice to add to the ballot. Iguodala made a single All-Star appearance (and was All-Defensive just twice), but advanced stats indicated he was among the league's top perimeter defenders and underrated as a star. Add in Iguodala's role in the Golden State Warriors' four titles, including winning Finals MVP in 2015, and I like his odds.

3. John Wall

On an ESPN broadcast during the NBA summer league, Wall said he still hopes to return to the NBA after last playing 34 games for the LA Clippers in 2022-23. Assuming that comeback never comes to fruition, Wall will be another No. 1 pick with a strong peak (five All-Star appearances) whose prime was interrupted by injuries. Wall played just 647 games, 118 fewer than Griffin, and made only one All-NBA team. I think he's unlikely to make it.

Holdover candidates

Given the way the Hall of Fame operates, it makes the most sense to look at the finalists who have not made it in recent years to see which eligible players have a chance of filling out future classes. Remarkably only one NBA player to reach that stage in the past 15 years has thus far not eventually been selected: Kevin Johnson, last a finalist in 2016.

1. Marques Johnson

Johnson has been a finalist three of the past six years and with no likely first-time selections, 2025 seems as if it could be his year. Johnson's career totals were limited by injury, but he's a five-time All-Star who was also a legend at UCLA, where he helped John Wooden to his final championship in 1975 and later won national player of the year honors as a senior in 1977.

2. Amar'e Stoudemire

Like Griffin, whose career was remarkably similar, Stoudemire is on the borderline. He also had six All-Star appearances and five All-NBA selections, but the long-term effect of microfracture knee surgery also shortened Stoudemire's prime. He finished with 15,994 points, a total that ranks 128th in league history. I would bet on Stoudemire making it, but he was not among the nominees for this class in what appeared to be his first year of eligibility.

3. Joe Johnson

Although Johnson hasn't yet been nominated, as I noted during his playing career, his resumé is more typical of a Hall of Famer than you might think. Every eligible player with at least seven All-Star appearances in the modern era has made it, as have nearly all players with at least 20,000 career points (Tom Chambers and Antawn Jamison, the two players to clear the bar with fewer points than Johnson, are the exceptions). At some point as scoring proliferates, we might have to revisit the 20,000 mark as a Hall of Fame standard but given Johnson's broad career similarity to Hall of Famer Mitch Richmond (six All-Star appearances, 90 fewer career points), I think he'll eventually make it.

Who else should the Hall consider?

1. Shawn Marion

Thus far, Steve Nash is the only member of the "Seven Seconds or Less" Phoenix Suns that includes Marion and Stoudemire to reach the Hall. I tend to prefer Marion, who had the longer career and rated better than Stoudemire by advanced stats when they played together in Phoenix, but a heavier emphasis on awards would favor Stoudemire. Add in Joe Johnson and it's amusing that three of the six players I've listed were teammates on the 2004-05 Suns.

2. Horace Grant

If the Hall wants to reward a defense-minded role player on championship teams, I think Grant is a better choice than new inductee Michael Cooper. He was an All-Star once, in 1993-94, and his career would perhaps be viewed differently had there been more emphasis on efficient scoring during Grant's heyday. Per Basketball-Reference.com, Grant's 118 career wins shares rank second among eligible players not in the Hall behind Buck Williams (120).

3. Jimmy Jones

The Hall did well recently to expand its ABA representation with the inductions of Indiana Pacers teammates Roger Brown (2013), Mel Daniels (2012) and George McGinnis (2017). That leaves Jones as the most deserving ABA candidate remaining. A six-time All-Star and three-time All-ABA first-team pick, he was also added to the ABA All-Time team. However, Jones' short post-ABA career with the Washington Bullets and lack of an ABA title (his teams lost in the 1968 and 1974 ABA finals) has been difficult to overlook.

NEW YORK -- Kodai Senga will start Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza announced. Sean Manaea will start Game 2 on Monday.

Game 1 starter is the spot the Mets envisioned for Senga when they reported for spring training with the right-hander as their ace. Getting there, however, went sideways.

Senga didn't make his season debut until July 26 after beginning the season on the injured list with a strained posterior capsule in his right shoulder. He exited that July outing in the sixth inning with a strained calf that knocked him out for the remainder of the regular season. Only the Mets reaching the postseason could offer Senga a path back to the mound in 2024.

That happened, and Senga returned to toss two innings in Game 1 of the NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. He allowed one run -- a leadoff home run in the first inning to Kyle Schwarber -- and had three strikeouts in the Mets' 6-2 road win.

This time, Senga will encounter a dangerous Dodgers lineup in Los Angeles with a longer leash. Mendoza said Senga could log at least three innings. Senga declined to put a limit on his start.

"There's not a number I have in mind," 31-year-old Senga said. "I'm going until they take the ball away from me. And I'm going to go 100% until then."

The Mets chose to have Senga start Game 1 over Manaea, the team's ace since July, on regular rest after the left-hander held the Phillies to one run over seven innings in their NLDS-clinching Game 4 win over Philadelphia.

"From the beginning, we wanted to put our guys in what we felt was the best position to have success," Mendoza said, "considering where they are physically."

One factor in the decision, Mendoza noted, was keeping Senga, a very routine-oriented pitcher, "as close as possible to his routine." But that could change later in the series. Senga has been tasked to pitch on normal rest -- four days between starts -- in just three of his 31 starts since joining the Mets last season from Japan. He posted a 4.61 ERA across 13 innings in those outings. The fourth time could come in Game 5 at Citi Field -- if there is a Game 5.

"I'm ready for anything," Senga said. "I don't anticipate getting to 100 pitches tomorrow. And how many days I have in between it, it doesn't matter at this point. We need to win the game, so whenever they call on me, I'm ready."

Gauff, who beat Sabalenka to win the 2023 US Open, took a 4-2 lead in the second set after an early break as she continued her form from the first set.

But Gauff's service game suddenly collapsed, allowing the Belarusian world number two to record successive breaks as she won four games in a row to take the second set.

Gauff's service game deteriorated further in the decider and the American's anger at failing to see out the match threatened to spill over.

Sabalenka, who has never lost in Wuhan, extended her winning run to seven games in a row by taking the first three games of the third set,

Gauff showed her resilience by winning four of the next five to level at 4-4.

But, after Sabalenka held her serve, Gauff double faulted on match point to hand the former world number one the win.

"Coco is an incredible player," said Sabalenka.

"We've had a lot of tough battles in the past. She's in great shape and I knew going into this match that it would be tough and that I would have to work really hard to get the win.

"A couple of mistakes from her and and I felt I probably still have chances."