The 25th "Tour of Magnificent Qinghai" International Road Cycling Race has concluded in northwest China, drawing 154 riders from 22 teams across 12 countries and regions.
Founded in 2002, the race is one of the country's earliest and Asia's most influential high-altitude professional road cycling events, and stands as the world's highest-average-elevation multi-day road cycling benchmark race.
- Sports China
FIFA World Cup 2026 final carries added significance for Lionel Messi, who came close to committing his international future to Spain during the early years of his career.
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| Lionel Messi in action © AFP |
After more than a month of intense competition, Argentina and Spain have emerged as the two finalists of the FIFA World Cup 2026. The tournament, which began with a record 48 teams, has now come down to a highly anticipated title clash between the two football giants, set to take place on Monday in New Jersey. For Argentina captain Lionel Messi, the occasion marks a full-circle moment. The 39-year-old is set to play in his third World Cup final during his sixth appearance at the tournament. However, this final carries added significance for Messi, who came close to committing his international future to Spain during the early years of his career.
In September 2001, Messi arrived in Barcelona at the age of 13 to join the club's famed La Masia academy. He would go on to spend 21 years with the Catalan giants, developing into one of the greatest footballers of all time before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
Yet despite spending most of his formative and professional years in Spain, Messi's dream was always to represent Argentina on the international stage-a decision that ultimately shaped one of the most iconic careers in football history.
Former Argentina coach Jose Pekerman, who handed Lionel Messi his senior international debut, once revealed that he first learned about the youngster from members of Argentina's coaching staff during the 2003 U-17 World Cup.
Back in 2002, then-national team coach Marcelo Bielsa and his assistant Claudio Vivas came across information about the Barcelona prodigy while visiting Spain to monitor several Argentine internationals playing there.
However, the story took a different turn when one of Messi's early representatives, Horacio Gaggiolo, shared an incident about the VHS tapes.
"That was [Messi's dad] Jorge's idea. He told me: "Horacio, the Argentine national team is coming to Barcelona, can you get them some footage of Leo?" Leo wasn't well known in Argentina. We had a video that I was given by Barca with some plays, and I went to the Hotel Princesa Sofia in Barcelona where they were staying. I asked for Vivas, who was Bielsa's assistant," Gaggiolo told ESPN, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
"When Marcelo renewed his contract with Argentina, we toured Europe to explain to the players why we had renewed after the South Korea-Japan World Cup [in 2002]. During that stop in Barcelona, an Argentine man approached me," he added.
"I told Marcelo about him and he asked: "Does he play well?" I said: "He doesn't just play well, he's incredible!" "Let me see, play a little bit of it," Marcelo said, adding as I played the tape: "But play it at normal speed, you can't see anything like this." I said: "Marcelo, it is at normal speed, I just pressed play." He said: "But this kid is unbelievable!"
However, by the time the video footage reached Hugo Tocalli, Argentina's youth team coach, preparations for the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Cup were already at an advanced stage. As a result, Tocalli chose not to include Messi in the squad. Argentina eventually suffered a 3-2 defeat to Spain in the semi-finals. Following the tournament, a member of Spain's team staff told Tocalli that Argentina would likely have beaten Spain had Messi featured in their lineup.
Edwin Valero was one of the most destructive punchers in modern boxing history. Born in Venezuela in 1981, he turned professional in 2002 and immediately became known for his frightening power and relentless pace. Valero began his career with a streak rarely seen in the sport, winning all 27 of his fights by knockout. His southpaw stance, violent combinations, and refusal to back down made him a fan favorite and a rising superstar. He captured world titles in two weight divisions and seemed destined for legendary status.
However, outside the ring, his life began to unravel. Reports of erratic behavior, substance abuse, and domestic violence painted a darker picture of the undefeated champion. In April 2010, Valero was arrested after confessing to killing his wife, Jennifer Viera, in a hotel room in Valencia, Venezuela. Less than twenty-four hours later, he was found dead in his jail cell, having taken his own life.
The tragedy of Edwin Valero remains one of boxing’s most haunting stories. His unmatched knockout streak and explosive talent were eclipsed by personal demons, mental instability, and violence that ultimately destroyed everything he had achieved. What was once a tale of dominance and potential became a chilling reminder of how greatness can collapse when power and pain intertwine.
#knockout #boxing #suicide #death #boxing
SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will face two of the three host countries of the next FIFA World Cup in away friendly matches this fall, the sport's national federation said Wednesday.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said South Korea, coached by Hong Myung-bo, will play the U.S. team at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, at 5 p.m. on Sept. 6 (6 a.m. on Sept. 7, Korean Standard Time). Then South Korea will play Mexico on Sept. 9 at a venue to be determined later.
The United States and Mexico will be co-hosts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, along with Canada.
These will be the first set of away friendly matches for South Korea since they played Wales and Saudi Arabia in Wales and England in September 2023.
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| Members of the South Korean starting lineup pose for photos before taking on Jordan in their Group B match in the third round of the Asian World Cup qualification at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on March 25, 2025. Top row (L to R): Hwang In-beom, Park Yong-woo, Cho Yu-min, Kwon Kyung-won, Jo Hyeon-woo and Son Heung-min. Bottom row (L to R): Lee Dong-gyeong, Lee Tae-seok, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Jae-sung and Seol Young-woo. (Yonhap) |
South Korea last played the U.S. in February 2014, when the Americans prevailed 2-0. The U.S. are No. 16 in the current FIFA rankings, seven spots ahead of South Korea. But South Korea hold the all-time edge with five wins, three draws and three losses.
The previous meeting between South Korea and Mexico came in November 2015 in Austria, where Mexico had a 3-2 win. South Korea have had four wins, two draws and eight losses against Mexico, currently world No. 17.
South Korea are on the verge of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. In the ongoing third round of the Asian qualification, they are leading Group B with 16 points with two matches to go, three points ahead of Jordan and four better than Iraq. And with the top two teams booking their tickets to the World Cup, South Korea can grab one with at least a draw against Iraq in their next qualifying match on June 5.
The final qualifying match will be at home against Kuwait on June 10.
The KFA said Hong will announce his squad for those matches May 26.
South Korea have played in every World Cup since 1986, including as a co-host alongside Japan in 2002.
- Yoo Jee-ho
Full name: Nwankwo Kanu
Date of birth: 1 August 1976
Height: 1.97 m
Place of birth: Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
🏆 UEFA Champions League (Ajax 1994/95)
🏆 UEFA Europa League (Inter Milan 1997/98)
🏆 UEFA Super Cup Winner (Ajax 1995)
🏆 Intercontinental Cup (Ajax 1995)
🏆 Premier League 2x (Arsenal 2001/02, 2003/04)
🏆 English "FA Cup" 3x (Arsenal 2001/02, 2002/03; Portsmouth 2007/08)
🏆 English "Community Shield" (Arsenal 1999)
🏆 Dutch "Eredivisie" 3x (Ajax 1993/94, 94/95, 95/96)
🏆 Nigerian Premier League (Iwuanyanwu Nationale 1992/93)
🏆 Olympic Medalist (Nigeria Olympic Team 1996)
CAREER STATS
1. Iwuanyanwu Nationale (1992 - 1993)
🎬 25 Appearances
⚽️ 15 Goals
2. Ajax Amsterdam (1993 - 1996)
🎬 75 Appearances
⚽️ 27 Goals
🎯 15 Assists
3. Inter Milan (1996 - 1999)
🎬 20 Appearances
⚽️ 1 Goals
🎯 - Assists
4. Arsenal (1999 - 2004)
🎬 197 Appearances
⚽️ 44 Goals
🎯 35 Assists
5. West Bromwich Albion (2004 - 2006)
🎬 57 Appearances
⚽️ 9 Goals
🎯 3 Assists
6. Portsmouth (2006 - 2012)
🎬 166 Appearances
⚽️ 28 Goals
🎯 14 Assists
7. Nigeria (1994 - jul, 2010)
🎬 84 Appearances
⚽️ 12 Goals
🎯 4 Assists
8. Nigeria Olympic Team (jul - Aug, 1996)
🎬 6 Appearances
⚽️ 3 Goals
🎯 2 Assists
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| Arsenal aren't the only team benefitting from set piece prowess this season, but they've been one of the best. Alex Pantling/Getty Images |
André Onana, the Manchester United goalkeeper, was preparing to defend against a free kick in a Premier League game last December when he realized someone was behind him. It was Leon Bailey, the Aston Villa winger. Onana regarded Bailey with confusion. How could Bailey be standing there, between him and the goal, during a free kick?
Then Bailey began to sing. "Ohhhh-na-na, look what you started," he teased -- the chorus of "Na Na," Trey Songz's 2014 hit. "Oh-na-na! Why you gotta act so naughty?" Bewildered, Onana complimented his voice. Bailey responded with a little dance. "The whole point was for me to distract him," Bailey says now.
Bailey's positioning had been choreographed by Austin MacPhee, Villa's set piece coach. Earlier that week, MacPhee had called Jonathan Moss, then the Premier League's supervisor of referees, to ask whether positioning a player behind a goalkeeper during a free kick would be legal. It was, but only if the player didn't physically impede the keeper, remained out of his line of sight, and was uninvolved in the play that followed. MacPhee then met with Bailey at the canteen at Villa's Bodymoor Heath training facility to discuss the role he'd scripted.
Bailey was into it. "I just thought it was something new and interesting," he says. "I said to Austin, 'I'm going to go behind him. And then I'm going to sing a song.'"
As John McGinn approached the ball, Bailey dashed out from behind Onana to remove himself from the play. Simultaneously, Jacob Ramsey ran down the right flank, presumably McGinn's target. Amid the confusion, McGinn bounced a kick a few feet in front of Onana, who flailed at it as it skidded past and into the net. In the coaching box beside Villa manager Unai Emery, MacPhee broke into a grin.
MacPhee is one of several designated set piece coaches who are quietly having a profound impact on the Premier League. For the clubs that use them the most, perhaps only the manager or head coach is more important. Nicolas Jover helped guide Arsenal to 22 goals from set pieces last season -- nearly all in-swinging corners -- to match a Premier League record. In 2022-23, Antonio Conte's Tottenham Hotspur led the Premier League with 19 set piece goals under the tutelage of Gianni Vio, a set piece pioneer who now works at Watford and with the United States men's national team.
At Brentford, Keith Andrews has made a specialty of the opening kickoff as a scripted play. Earlier this season, his club scored from the opening whistle in three consecutive games. The streak ended against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Oct. 5, "but only because we lost the coin toss," insists Thomas Frank, Brentford's manager. When Wolves took the lead in the game's second minute, the Bees scored off the ensuing kickoff. Frank counts that as four in a row.
MacPhee, who played college soccer at UNC-Wilmington from 1999 to 2002, has pushed things the furthest, his set pieces unfolding like touch football plays drawn up in the dirt on Thanksgiving morning. "It's exciting as a player to go into his meetings and see what he has up his sleeve," says AFC Bournemouth's Ryan Christie, who experienced MacPhee's flights of imagination over the past three seasons with the Scotland national team. "You want to work at it, and you want to be part of it."
At one point last season, MacPhee spent long hours plotting how to have someone who began a free kick with his back to the goal end up taking it. When it was ready, he used it against Brighton & Hove Albion.
It unfolded like a typical set piece. McGinn waited on one side of the ball, Lucas Digne on the other. One of the two would take the kick; the other was clearly a decoy. But which was which?
About 10 yards in front of them, Douglas Luiz stood with his back to the goal. He started to drift back upfield, toward his own end. Simultaneously, McGinn and Digne began running forward. Luiz passed them heading in the opposite direction, like cars on a highway. When he reached the ball, he pivoted and lofted a pass to Moussa Diaby, who had snuck through the wall and emerged in front of goalkeeper Jason Steele. Diaby was knocked to the ground and no penalty was called, but the play had led to an opportunity, which is all MacPhee can try to control.
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| Set piece specialist Austin MacPhee, left, consults with Aston Villa boss Unai Emery midgame. James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images |
That set piece didn't lead to a goal, but 25 of MacPhee's did last season. Villa scored more from free kicks and corners than any other team in Europe's five biggest leagues -- more than a quarter of their goals across all competitions. Not coincidentally, they earned a place in the UEFA Champions League for the first time. Then they scored off their first corner in their Premier League opener this year, and scored again in the first corner of their first Champions League game. In Birmingham, the free-spirited MacPhee has become a cult figure. There's even a supporters' song about him at Villa Park.
Free kicks and corners have long been perceived as almost random exercises. The goal is to put the ball near the box, then hope someone is agile or tall enough to get it into the net. These specialists are changing that.
"Until very recently, most teams didn't spend any time practicing set pieces" says Ian Graham, who ran Liverpool's analytics department from 2012 to 2023 and now runs his own consulting firm, Ludonautics. "Maybe you'd do it for 10 minutes before an important game, but it wouldn't necessarily be informed by any kind of analysis."
With the ready availability of data, it has become clear that optimizing set pieces can yield a dozen or more goals annually. But you won't get those goals, Brentford's Frank insists, without hiring someone who concentrates on that and nothing else. Since arriving at Brentford in 2018, Frank has used a dedicated set piece coach. He insists he will never again work without one. "In my opinion, you can't," he says. "Not if you want to be successful."
In 2015, Brentford was playing in the Championship, not long removed from League Two, when the club hired Vio to only handle set pieces. A former banker, Vio had written a treatise on them for his UEFA coaching badges. Putting even a little forethought into free kicks and corners, he wrote, would be the equivalent of adding a 15-goal striker. "The difference is," he says now, "that striker can be injured or suspended."
Brentford's squad responded to Vio with general bemusement. There were no set piece specialists at any club in England, as far as anyone knew, and only a handful anywhere in the world. When Vio was brought on at the end of training sessions to explain what he was looking to implement, there was grumbling. "The modern player wants to train and get off the pitch," says Stuart Dallas, who was at Brentford at the time. "The set piece coach needs 20 or 25 minutes extra."
But Dallas had been working with a set piece coach while representing Northern Ireland. That coach happened to be MacPhee.
"He was the first person I saw on a football pitch with an iPad," Dallas says. "He would chart the topspin and the ball speed and all that. We were a small country that wasn't blessed with so much quality, so we had to take advantage of every small gain we could." By 2016, Northern Ireland had scored 11 of their 17 goals from corners or free kicks, qualifying for the Euros for the first time in their history.
Dallas thought Vio could do the same for Brentford. Like Northern Ireland at the international level, Brentford didn't have the resources of the biggest Championship clubs. They needed an edge that relied on strategy rather than talent. "We need to buy into this," he told his teammates. "This can be the difference that gets us in the playoffs or promoted."
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| Former Tottenham staffer Gianni Vio now works for the USMNT and Watford. John Dorton/Getty Images for USSF |
"Set pieces are a different moment than the normal game," Vio explains. "In the normal game, the two teams are playing together. But when there is a set piece, we are the owner of the time. That changes everything. I can decide how many players are in the box, when everyone is where, and what happens in the first moment."
That Brentford were the first club in England to use a set piece coach was hardly a surprise. "The general DNA of the club is both innovative and about the marginal gain," Frank says. "We try to find areas where we can tweak just a little bit. But actually, set pieces is more than just a marginal thing. I think it's a big thing. And it surprised me that it took so long for more clubs to follow."
In Brentford owner Matthew Benham, a professional gambler, Frank works for someone who understands that set pieces are the cheapest way to obtain goals in the world marketplace. ("It's far cheaper to buy height in center backs," Graham confirms, "than it is to buy finishing skills.") To underscore the club's commitment, players were awarded bonuses based on how many goals were scored from corners and free kicks -- not just the goal scorers but the entire squad. "It's not about one player," Vio stresses. "When we score goals off set pieces, all the players recognize that."
At the start of the 2021-22 season, only Brentford, Arsenal and Aston Villa employed dedicated set piece coaches among Premier League clubs. Now there are at least a dozen. (Liverpool and Manchester United hired one for the first time before this season, while Tottenham, Brighton and Newcastle United still don't have one.) Nearly all of them are kept under the radar. They're rarely allowed to be quoted. They don't get publicized on official websites. They're treated as stealth weaponry, human equivalents of wearable monitors or proprietary algorithms.
But then the team lines up to do a free kick. Suddenly the head coach gives way to some other guy waving a clipboard and exhorting the players. At Villa, for example, MacPhee is the only assistant allowed to join Emery in the coaching box or even stand up during a game. At Brentford, Frank disappears during set pieces. "I do nothing," he says. "I just sit back."
Inside the game, these coaches are coveted. Vio eventually went to Leeds United and, later, AC Milan and Tottenham. His replacement at Brentford, the German-born Jover, stayed until Manchester City swooped in the way it might for a talented young winger or striker. That hiring, in 2019, was engineered by Mikel Arteta, then an assistant under Pep Guardiola. When Jover's contract at City expired in June 2021, he left to join Arteta at Arsenal.
Jover's set pieces look deceptively normal. They just tend to work: Arsenal has scored a league-leading eight goals off set pieces in the Premier League this season, including their past three. In Europe, too, Jover's work is paying dividends, most recently with a Gabriel Jesus header off a Declan Rice corner in a 5-1 dismissal of Sporting Clube de Portugal on Nov. 26.
During a recent Carabao Cup tie at Preston North End, Arsenal won a free kick to the right of keeper Freddie Woodman. Gabriel Martinelli sent a ball over the scrum assembled in front of the goal to Jakub Kiwior, who nodded it into the box. It landed at the feet of Gabriel Jesus, who banged it into the net.
It wasn't scripted like the plays MacPhee creates but rather was a tactical construct designed to maximize opportunities. "Coach Nico is brilliant," Jesus gushed after the game. "We have good headers, a tall team, a strong team. He gives us the right structure, and we just follow what he says."
When Jover left Brentford, he was replaced by Bernardo Cueva, who helped engineer the club's promotion to the Premier League, only for Chelsea to snatch Cueva up this past summer. Andrews, a former Wolves captain, had been scouted by Phil Giles, Brentford's director of football, while working in a variety of roles at Sheffield United. At Brentford, he has one role. "We, of all clubs, know how much a set piece is worth," Frank says.
Brentford practice set pieces at the end of every training session. "We put so much energy into this," forward Bryan Mbeumo says. "To see it pay off is good for us."
But whoever thought of a kickoff as a set piece? "It's harder to score from a kickoff," acknowledges Mbeumo, who has done that inside the game's first minute twice this season. "We have the ball in the middle of the pitch, and you have to pass it back. There's a certain amount of luck involved."
Maybe there was luck on Sept. 14 when Yoane Wissa scored in the first minute at Manchester City. That goal involved a headed cross that Ederson, City's goalkeeper, dove for and deflected into the air for Wissa to flick home. But a week later at Spurs, a stolen pass, a feed to Keane Lewis-Potter on the wing, a cross, and then an acrobatic left-footed strike by Mbeumo into the upper corner gave Brentford another instant lead. A week after that, at home against West Ham United on Sept. 28, Mbeumo scored another in the opening minute: another left-footer off another stolen pass.
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| Bryan Mbeumo and Brentford have turned the previously benign kickoff into a dangerous set piece. Rhianna Chadwick/PA Images |
This hasn't gone unnoticed around the Premier League. "It was an important part of our preparation, to be honest," said Kieran McKenna, Ipswich Town's manager, after his team managed to successfully avoid allowing an early goal at GTech Stadium in late October. McKenna had studied tape, his coaches had studied tape, and they'd spent hours assessing how to thwart the threat.
"The most common mistake teams tend to have made is getting caught on that second ball, and trying to complete passes in the first couple of seconds," McKenna explained. "We were prepared for that part of the game."
After deciding on a defensive strategy, McKenna and his staff needed to download it to the team. As it turned out, all four of Brentford's goals in their 4-3 victory over Ipswich were scored in open play, but that doesn't mean those scripted kickoffs had no impact. Preparing for them used up time, a finite resource, leaving less of it to spend on everything else. In a one-goal defeat, that might have been the difference.
MacPhee was playing at Forfar Athletic, in the nether reaches of the Scottish football pyramid, when he was recruited by UNC-Wilmington. After college, he drifted from Romania to Japan and then back to Scotland, where he attained his coaching badges. At that time, the value of set pieces hadn't yet penetrated his consciousness. But by the time he came to Villa from Danish side Midtjylland in 2021, he had made them his specialty.
That same year, he agreed to work for Scotland. In the 24 games before he arrived, Scotland scored one goal off a set piece and conceded six. In his 24 games with the national team before leaving this past summer, they scored 16 and conceded four.
Such success has given MacPhee license to basically create what he wants. Emery gives him all the time he needs on the training pitch twice a week to make those vectors and dotted lines come to life. When they lead to a goal, the result is a unique sense of satisfaction for everyone involved. MacPhee compares the meticulous planning and precise execution to robbing a bank, a phrase that has been adopted by the Villa players. "When one of [those plays] works," Bailey says, "we all celebrate."
Before any of that can happen, MacPhee spends hours watching videos of the coming opponent -- but these days, so does everyone in his position. All that scouting has almost reached diminishing returns; each coach knows that the opposition coach knows what he knows. The psychological warfare that ensues can approach the level of Mad Magazine's old Spy vs. Spy cartoons.
Heading into Villa's game against Bournemouth, MacPhee was sure that Shaun Cooper, the Cherries' set piece specialist, had come across video of a free kick routine that involved McGinn running down one side or the other, then stopping at the opponent's wall to serve as a screen while a trailing player hustled past. MacPhee also had used a variation of the play for Scotland, so he figured Bournemouth's Christie would also remember it. To remind him, he used it again during a Champions League game against Bologna four days before the Bournemouth fixture.
So when McGinn ran down the left side and stopped, Christie was ready. "Go! Go!" he shouted. A Bournemouth player who was serving as the draft evader behind the wall scrambled to his feet and ran out to meet McGinn. But this time, the maneuver was a fake. "Smoke and mirrors," Christie says now. Instead, Villa's two tallest players, Amadou Onana and Ezri Konsa, ended up unmarked on the opposite side. Only an acrobatic save prevented a goal.
Occasionally, the process does break down. Against Liverpool in early November, all four of Villa's first-half corners resulted in clear chances. Two ended in acrobatic Caoimhín Kelleher saves of headers by Onana and Diego Carlos, but the other two chances were Liverpool's. It doesn't take a set piece coach to notice that Villa's players all push forward during corners, leaving the back exposed. Villa's first two led to breakaways in the other direction, one that Darwin Núñez converted, and one he missed.
After Liverpool won 2-0, the MacPhee cult was ridiculed on talk shows and podcasts. Villa's players were philosophical about the breakdowns. "Sometimes you have to risk to get rewarded," Bailey explained. "We've been doing that, and we'll keep doing that. He won't change anything," he said about MacPhee. "He doesn't need to change anything."
Despite their success, Aston Villa remain undermanned for an elite Premier League club. Villa don't have a player whose wages rank among the Premier League's 45 highest, for example, but goals from set pieces are a crucial equalizer. After the loss to Liverpool, Emery pointed out that Villa easily could have added another two.
Through 15 games, MacPhee's free kicks and corners had created 7.94 xG (expected goals) in the Premier League -- second only to Arsenal's 8.84. If his club's set pieces continue to provide opportunities like that, Emery knows the rest will take care of itself.
- Bruce Schoenfeld
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| AP photo by Jason Allen / Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale receives recognition for being the team's Roberto Clemente Award nominee for 2024 before the start of a home game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sept. 15 at Truist Park. |
Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal have a lot in common: left-handed, pitching Triple Crown winners, former Tommy John surgery patients. And now, first-time Cy Young Award recipients.
Sale's comeback season with the Atlanta Braves ended with the National League honor, as he received 26 of the 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America to finish ahead of Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler, who received the other four, and Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes.
Skubal, the ace for the Detroit Tigers, won the American League award in unanimous fashion, with Kansas City's Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) finishing a distant second in the voting. Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (47 saves) was third.
It was only the third time two left-handers won Cy Young honors in the same season, with Steve Carlton and Sparky Lyle winning in 1977 and Randy Johnson and Barry Zito in 2002.
Sale, 35, finished 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts -- leading the NL in wins, ERA and strikeouts. He and Skubal were the first pitchers to win the Triple Crown in a full season since Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander did it in 2011 (Shane Bieber did it in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season).
A pitching Triple Crown has happened 25 times, and a Cy Young Award has followed each time.
Sale's resurgence was a blast from last decade, when he was one of the top starting pitchers in the sport. He had battled a series of injuries since 2019, including Tommy John surgery in March 2020.
"To be able to show my sons the hard work, the dedication, not giving up. My wife having my back the whole time. I'm sure I was real peachy at times during those injuries," Sale said. "I was talking to my dad the other day and whether it did or didn't happen, he was proud of me."
From 2020 to 2023, Sale made only 31 starts, although 20 of those came with the Boston Red Sox last season. The Braves took a chance and acquired him in an offseason trade.
"The biggest thing is health," said Sale, who was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year last week at Major League Baseball's All-MLB Awards Show. "I was healthy earlier in my career and I was able to sustain some success and stay out on the field. Ran into a buzz saw over the past handful of years. Just couldn't stay healthy, couldn't stay on the field, and you're not doing anything when you're not on the field."
He responded with a season that looked like his prime years with the White Sox and Red Sox from 2012 to 2018, when he received Cy Young votes all seven seasons -- finishing second, third, fourth, fifth (twice) and sixth (twice). He had been tied with Mike Mussina and Nolan Ryan for the most top-five finishes (six) without winning.
In 2024, Sale made his most starts and pitched his most innings since 2017, not missing a start until the final week of the season, when he was scratched in a crucial season-ending series against the New York Mets because of back spasms and then sat out the Braves' wild-card series loss to the San Diego Padres.
Along the way, Sale won his final eight decisions as the Braves won a wild-card berth, overcoming a disappointing first half to make a late run and capture a playoff spot on the final day of the season. The Braves went 12-2 over his final 14 starts, with Sale posting a 1.93 ERA.
He not only led the NL in the Triple Crown categories but also led in ERA+, fewest home runs allowed per nine innings (0.5), strikeout rate (32.1%) and most strikeouts per nine (11.4). He led all pitchers in FanGraphs WAR (6.4) while ranking third behind Skubal and Cincinnati's Hunter Greene in Baseball-Reference WAR (6.2).
Sale's ERA was the lowest for a Braves left-hander in the expansion era (since 1961).
It was the eighth Cy Young for the Braves' organization, and the first since Tom Glavine won for the second time in 1998.
With his signature unorthodox sidearm delivery, Sale's stuff hasn't lost anything from his prime, despite all the injuries. He averaged 94.8 mph on his fastball, and batters hit just .171 with one home run in 280 at-bats off his slider.
"It's special and I appreciate it," Sale said. "It wasn't just me rolling out there and throwing the baseball. There were a lot of people who got me here: teammates, family, training staff. For me to go out there and do what I was able to do, I wouldn't have done it without them. The last few years were tough, so to go through what I went through with the support I had, I'm very thankful."
Skubal, who celebrated his 28th birthday Wednesday, had the breakout season that many saw coming after the second half of the 2023 season. He finished 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 2024. He was certainly the team MVP for the surprising Tigers, who had a historic surge over the final seven weeks of the season to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
"It was a ton of fun to be part of," Skubal said. "The last two months of our season and even the postseason was very special. The memories and the experience will obviously help our club going forward, and I'm glad we got to experience it as a team and as a young team."
Skubal, who had Tommy John surgery in college at Seattle University, was a ninth-round pick of the Tigers in 2018, but he climbed quickly through the minors and reached the majors in 2020. After a solid rookie season in 2021, he battled injuries in 2022 and '23, but he posted a 2.80 ERA in 15 starts last season, including 2.15 over his final 10 outings.
That carried over into 2024. Skubal won his first six decisions, posting a 1.80 ERA, and made his first All-Star team. With the Tigers under .500 as the trade deadline approached, Skubal's name was mentioned in trade rumors, but the Tigers kept him -- although they did trade Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
An unlikely run to the postseason followed. The Tigers were 55-63 on Aug. 10 but went 31-13 in their final 44 games. Skubal went 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA over that stretch, including two 2-1 victories.
His ERA was the lowest for a qualified Detroit starter since Mark Fidrych in 1976, and he's the Tigers' first Cy Young winner since Max Scherzer in 2013. Verlander, Willie Hernandez and Denny McLain (twice) also won the award with Detroit.
Skubal has a five-pitch repertoire, and his four-seam fastball averaged 96.8 mph and ranked in the 99th percentile of all pitchers in Statcast run value. He mixes in a changeup, sinker, slider and knuckle-curveball. Overall, batters hit just .201 against him with a .558 OPS.
"It's special," Skubal said. "All the hard work, all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, moments like this make it extremely worth it."
Skenes, the 22-year-old who won the NL Rookie of the Year award Monday, finished third in the NL Cy Young balloting -- just the fifth rookie to finish among the top three. Only Fernando Valenzuela won both awards in the same year, in 1981 with the Dodgers in the NL.
Clase, with a 0.61 ERA in 74⅓ innings over 74 games, is the first reliever to finish among the top three in Cy Young voting since San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman came in second for the NL award in 2006.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior Writer
The funeral of Sven-Göran Eriksson, the first foreign manager to coach the England national team, was held on Friday in the small Swedish town of Torsby where he grew up before embarking on an illustrious career at the pinnacle of European football.
A soft-spoken but determined coach, Eriksson guided teams in Sweden, Portugal and Italy, winning major trophies in the 1980s and 1990s before taking on the England job in 2001, managing stars such as David Beckham, who was among the attendees at the service.
Eriksson announced in January that he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer and spent much of the following months reconnecting with many of the places and people central to his career before he died last month.
He fulfilled his dream of managing Liverpool, after leading the club in a charity legends game against Ajax at Anfield in March.
The funeral took place in Torsby, a rural town of less than 5,000 people near the border with Norway, and was attended by several hundred people inside the church.
Some 200 seats in the neo-Gothic church from 1898 were reserved for his family, friends and players from his career in the football world, according to his agent. The remaining seats were open for the public, according to Eriksson's wish
Others followed the service on a big screen set up outside and the funeral was given blanket coverage by Swedish media.
The wooden coffin was wheeled in by pallbearers at the church Friday morning. Next to the casket was a photo of Eriksson on a small table. The floral wreaths included ones sent by FIFA and Lazio, the Italian team that Eriksson led to the Serie A title in 2000.
Others attending the funeral included the Swedish coach's longtime partner Nancy Dell'Olio.
Tributes flowed in from prime ministers, clubs and former players following the news of his death while national teams including England and Sweden played with black arm bands during the the September international break.
Eriksson, known in Sweden simply as "Svennis," led England to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup quarterfinals, and to the 2004 European Championship, managing a golden generation of players that besides Beckham included stars such as Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard.
He began building his international reputation when he guided Swedish club IFK Gothenburg to the UEFA Cup in 1982 and went on to win silverware as coach of Portugal's Benfica and Italian clubs Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Sampdoria.
Unable to end England's trophy drought, he left the helm of the national side in 2006, going on to coach Manchester City and Leicester City as well as Mexico and Ivory Coast and clubs in China and Philippines.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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| AP Photo |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Giants and longtime public-address announcer Renel Brooks-Moon are parting ways after the sides failed to reach agreement on a contract extension.
The Giants said Monday there were “extensive discussions” about a new deal after Brooks-Moon’s contract ended in December, but instead “they mutually and amicably agreed to part ways.”
Brooks-Moon was one of baseball's first Black female PA announcers and now will be the club's public address announcer emeritus, still representing the Giants in the community as a volunteer, activist and mentor.
The booth at Oracle Park will be named in her honor.
Brooks-Moon thanked fans and wished her successor well, along with new manager Bob Melvin as the team prepares for the 2024 season.
“As a Bay Area native, it has been the honor of my lifetime to serve on the mic, and in the community for the Giants for 24 years,” Brooks-Moon said in a statement. “My very first game on April 11, 2000, I shall never forget because the job has always been bigger than me. Representation matters, and it is my great hope that my time in the booth has inspired little girls, young women and people of color to pursue their dreams even if those dreams seem impossible, because impossible dreams can come true."
Brooks-Moon became the first female public-address announcer for a World Series in 2002, and she also was the first woman to work the PA mic for a championship in any major sport.
“Renel has been the familiar and inspirational voice for generations of players and fans at Oracle Park,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said. “As an ambassador for the organization and a respected leader, Renel has been a Giant voice in the ballpark and in the community, and will be a Forever Giant. It will be a fitting tribute to name the PA booth in her honor.”
30.06.2002 - 🏟️ International Yokohama
Brasil 🇧🇷 2-0 Germany 🇩🇪 (⚽ Ronaldo 67' & 79')
