a-league Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Baseball For All's message to women and girls: You don't have to stop playing the game you love
The 29 young women who gathered on the pristine green turf of the Centenary University baseball field in mid-August for Baseball For All’s first-ever scouting combine for women — a group looking to continue their baseball careers into college — all shared commonalities in their individual stories....

HEAR ME OUT: MLB should restructure league like Euro soccer
It’s always neat when a European sporting event comes along and provides some games to watch during the daytime hours here in North America. Right now, it’s the pandemic-delayed Euro 2020 soccer tournament, and while the teams involved are national sides, part of the nature of soccer is that there’s...

J. Cole’s pro basketball career is over — it should never have begun
Dreams are something J. Cole often raps about. It’s the name of his music label — Dreamville Records. But dreams aren’t promised. Sometimes one person’s dream can be another’s nightmare....

J. Cole follows basketball pipe dreams to Rwanda for African pro league
They say all rappers want to be hoopers, and all hoopers want to be rappers....

Why the European Super League is terrible for soccer and bad for pro sports
I got a lot of texts and messages last night from my non-soccer initiated friends. It was surprising how big of a story the formation of “The Super League” became on every U.S. outlet. Obviously European soccer has become a big deal on these shores, but that it hit every major website near the top (...

The day it all fell apart: Deadspin talks to journalists all over the sports world about what they remember when everything shut down
A year ago today was our last “normal” day. At least in the beginning. Only we didn’t know it....

Europa League Qualifying, Of All Places, Has Given Us The Goal Of The Summer
While most of the soccer happening right now is friendlies, MLS, and the African Cup of Nations (the final of which takes place later today), the beginning of the long marathon towards the Europa League group stages is in full swing. And already, Hamed Koné, an Ivorian striker who just joined Maltes...

Mesut Özil Has Become Arsenal's Most Expensive Liability
As he walked off the field in Baku during Arsenal’s embarrassing performance in the Europa League final, the relatively paltry numbers of Arsenal fans in attendance serenaded Mesut Özil with boos. Özil had just put in yet another lackluster performance in a big game for the Gunners, showing once aga...

Eden Hazard Leads Chelsea's Thumping Of Arsenal In Lopsided Europa League Final
It’s probably not surprising that the Europa League final—a match rife with controversy, low attendance, and teams traveling halfway across the world—was a snoozefest, but good God, was this boring. Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 to claim the club’s second Europa League title, lifting a trophy that means ...

The Europa League Final Is Going To Be A Lowly Attended Disaster
The Europa League final is the debacle that keeps on giving. After Arsenal confirmed that midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan would not be playing the final in Baku, Azerbaijan due to his Armenian heritage, reports are coming out that the stadium might be half-empty for what is ostensibly the second bigge...

Arsenal's Henrikh Mkhitaryan Will Not Play In Europa League Final Because UEFA Can't Guarantee His Safety
Arsenal announced on Tuesday that star midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be joining the club in Baku, Azerbaijan for the Europa League final against Chelsea due to safety concerns, depriving the London club one of its best players for what seem to be entirely avoidable reasons....

Hero Goalie Saves Four Shootout Penalties, Scores Spot Kick In A-League Semis
Things have to go horribly wrong for both teams in order to see a goalkeeper step up to the penalty spot during a pivotal shootout, doubly so if the shootout score is only 3-3 at the time. Thanks to Liam Reddy’s heroic performance, though, the A-League’s Perth Glory came out on top after a wild semi...

Arsenal Have One Last Shot To Save Their Topsy-Turvy Season
It shouldn’t have had to end like this for Arsenal. ...

Arsenal And Chelsea Advance To Europa League Final, Making Both European Finals All-English Affairs
Arsenal and Chelsea both qualified for the Europa League final today by advancing past Valencia and Eintracht Frankfurt, respectively. That means both the Europa League and Champions League finals will be contested by English clubs, officially consecrating 2019 as the year of Premier League supremac...

Eden Hazard Is Leaving Chelsea In A Blaze Of Glory
Quick, who is the only player in Europe with 15-plus goals and assists in league play this season? If you guessed Lionel Messi, congratulations, you are as predictable as a Gonzalo Higuaín miss—and also wrong. The only player to manage that feat this year is Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, a one-man hurrican...

Valencia Condemn Fans' Nazi Salutes And Monkey Gestures Towards Arsenal Supporters
Another week, another incident of supporter racism in soccer, this time in jolly ol’ London. After Valencia crumbled away to Arsenal 3-1 in the first leg of the Europa League semifinal, Telegraph journalist Tomé Morrissy-Swan captured a handful of Valencia supporters throwing up the Nazi salute and ...

João Félix Has Arrived
Release clauses in soccer are oftentimes more symbolic than anything else. Clubs with leverage will often drop a sky high release clause (the amount of money they would have to accept for a player, whether they want to sell him or not) on a promising young player mostly just to scare off interest fr...

Here Is An Utterly Maddening Sequence Of Soccer Errors
Unlike most lowlight-reel soccer fuckups, this comedy of errors actually happened in a meaningful game played between two good-ish teams. Standard Liege led Sevilla by a goal in their Thursday Europa League meetup, and they were presented with a perfect opportunity to slam the door shut on the Spani...

Elbows Aren't Supposed To Bend This Way
Don’t watch this video of Lazio defender Riza Durmisi wrecking his arm (early reports say it’s a dislocated elbow) in the Europa League yesterday if you don’t want to see an elbow become double-jointed against its will:...

Soccer Man's Goal Celebration Takes Surprise Detour Into The Twilight Zone
Meet Benjamin Kololli, a 26-year-old soccer player currently plying his trade in Switzerland. Kololli was in Cyprus yesterday, with his squad FC Zürich playing a big match against AEK Larnaca. Kololli is an important player, so he would not have been shocked to have been placed smack dab in the midd...