Greenwood puts Man United on verge of Champions League berth

Manchester United’s Champions League hopes were given a boost as they fought back to earn a 1-1 draw against West Ham at Old Trafford.nike nfl jerseys cheap paypal

Following their final home game of the season, United edge into the top four of the Premier League and a point ahead of Leicester, whom they face on Sunday knowing a win or draw will see them secure Champions League football next campaign.

After the disappointment of their 3-1 FA Cup semifinal defeat to Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was hoping for a positive reaction from his team but they looked tired and uninspired in what was a poor performance.3

United went behind from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time when Michail Antonio calmly converted past David de Gea following Paul Pogba’s handball.nfl jerseys nike cheap

But they were level on 51 minutes when Anthony Martial combined to great effect with Mason Greenwood and the prolific forward fired past Lukasz Fabianski in the West Ham goal from close range.

That took the 18-year-old Greenwood to 17 goals in all competitions this season and tied him with United legends George Best, Brian Kidd and Wayne Rooney for the most in a season scored by a teenager for the club.

Meanwhile, that draw leaves West Ham on 38 points and means they are mathematically safe going into the final game of the season when they face fellow strugglers Aston Villa.

Premier League games with no fans: How players, coaches cope with the silence

It’s not just the support Richarlison misses but the adulation. “We are used to having fans shouting, asking for pictures, singing our songs,” the Everton forward told ESPN Brasil. “It is a little weird, but we have to get used to this. [Hopefully] we can go through all this soon so that the fans can come [to the matches].”

Welcome to the Premier League in 2020. More specifically, welcome to the coda to a 2019-20 campaign split in two by the coronavirus pandemic and irrevocably shaped upon its return by the absence of fans across all 20 top-flight stadiums.

The scenes outside Anfield on Thursday, as Liverpool clinched their first League title in 30 years, provided a brief snapshot of the passion subtracted from the matchday spectacle as health and safety precautions take priority. Fans at least have the option to watch every game on television with artificial crowd noise, but there is no hiding from football’s new reality for the players. Most clubs have opted to go through the pomp and pageantry of their prematch buildup, with the big-screen action shots and deafening soundtrack ringing hollow across seats adorned with material versions of season-ticket holders and poignant tributes to NHS staff.nike jerseys nfl cheap

Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson has no doubt that though the game is diminished, keeping fans away is the right course of action while people still lose their lives to COVID-19 on a daily basis.3

“It feels good to be able to come back, but I had never experienced that before,” he told ESPN Brasil. “The match itself and the whole environment feels different. It is not the same as playing with a packed stadium.

“However, in the moment that we live, that would not be appropriate. I found the feeling of playing without fans and playing the way we played very different [from the usual] with all the precautions we took before the match, too.”

Temperature checks, elbow bumps, disinfected footballs and sanitised goal frames are all part of the new normal. The prematch handshake has been abolished in favour of two sets of players walking out from two different entrances and taking a knee in support of Black Lives Matter.cheap nike nfl jerseys from china

The games have so far not followed the pattern of other returning European leagues, in particular the German Bundesliga, in which visiting teams have enjoyed a distinct advantage. Of the 22 Premier League games played to date, 10 have ended in home wins, with six draws and six away victories. That doesn’t mean players haven’t noticed changes, even on their own ground.

“It doesn’t have the same feeling, of course,” Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud told ESPN. “It is really strange at first, and then you try to get used to it. It has less charm to play with no fans. Also, the pitch feels much bigger with no fans in the stadium! It is crazy to say because it is the same pitch, but it does feel bigger! The bearings and points of reference are not the same.

“And at least the managers are happy because now we can hear easily everything they tell us, even when they don’t shout!”

Report: Tom Brady part of Bucs’ group workout despite recent positive coronavirus tests

Despite seeing two players diagnosed with the coronavirus and an assistant coach test positive last week, Tampa Bay Buccaneers players are continuing to hold group workouts at a local high school.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that quarterback Tom Brady and several teammates were working out at Berkeley Prep on Tuesday morning, despite the NFL Players Association advising against such workouts.

Brady was seen practicing Tuesday with Rob Gronkowski, Chris Godwin, Scotty Miller, Jamel Dean, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Mike Edwards, Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Griffin and Ryan Jensen.nfl cheap nike jerseys
“Please be advised that it is our consensus medical opinion that in light of the increase in COVID-19 cases in certain states that no players should be engaged in practicing together in private workouts,” Mayer said. “Our goal is to have all players and your families as healthy as possible in the coming months.3

“We are working on the best mitigation procedures at team facilities for both training camps and the upcoming season, and believe that this is in the best interest of all players that we advise against any voluntary joint practices before training camp commences.”

The league office has been made aware of the workouts, as has the NFLPA and the Buccaneers, who officially reopened their team facilities on June 10. Bucs coaches returned to the facilities June 15, but players still are not permitted to enter unless they are receiving medical treatment.
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“Everyone associated with the NFL should follow the recommendations and guidelines of state and local authorities and medical experts, including the NFLPA,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told ESPN. “The league is working with the NFLPA to conclude the remaining protocols and finalize arrangements for the safe opening of training camps next month.”

“We have no further comment at this time outside of the statement we released through Dr. Mayer,” an NFLPA spokesman told ESPN.

Infections in the state of Florida and in the Tampa Bay region are on the rise. The Hillsborough County government released a public service announcement on social media Saturday featuring Bucs coach Bruce Arians encouraging residents to take precautions, just as the state eclipsed 100,000 infections, with a record one-day surge of 4,000 new cases.

“During these difficult times, it is important that we all show we care about our community’s health,” Arians said in the video. “You could spread COVID-19 without knowing it. Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance from each other, stay strong, and go Bucs.”

Since Florida’s reopening, younger people make up a significantly larger portion of new infections. The average age of infections is now 37 in Hillsborough County.

MLB tells teams scouting activities can resume, source says

Major League Baseball informed clubs on Monday that they can resume scouting activities, ending the ban that was instituted on March 19 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a source told ESPN.nike nfl jerseys for cheap

There is a limit of three scouts per MLB club for each event, as a way for clubs to ramp up scouting activity.

Although pro baseball has not resumed, amateur baseball tournaments were playing in multiple states weeks ago, with no MLB scouts or college coaches present.3

With the 2020 MLB draft concluding last week, the summer showcase season begins the formal scouting of the 2021 draft class. The usual first event of the season, Perfect Game National, a showcase with hundreds of the top 2021 prep prospects, is set to begin Wednesday morning in Birmingham, Alabama.

Since the summer events are played with wood bats and feature a much higher level of competition than the spring season, clubs put more value on them. The picks in the 2020 draft were made with little to no spring season information, but clubs were reasonably prepared, given all the work that they do in the summers from showcases, tournaments and college wood bat leagues.nfl nike jerseys cheap

This comes at a key time for scouts, as there were widespread pay cuts and furloughs around the industry at a time when they didn’t have any games to attend. The Los Angeles Angels made the most aggressive move in this area, telling employees on May 19 of plans to furlough their entire scouting staff.

Monday’s memo from MLB also included a loosening of restrictions on international scouting. In-person scouting is still prohibited, but collecting video and data from post-shutdown activity is now permitted while MLB continues to work toward eventually allowing in-person scouting of international prospects.

Lions’ Matt Patricia adjusts to new reality, coaching challenges during coronavirus pandemic

Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia was in the midst of his second full-team meeting of the offseason Monday when the reality of distance learning showed up and sent him into a mini-panic.

“We actually had a technology little mishap, I’ll call it,” Patricia said. “The call dropped and people lost Wi-Fi, and you instantly go into panic mode, like, ‘Now what? How do we get 100 people back on a call?’

“Within two minutes, everyone was back on. So I thought that was pretty awesome.“cheap nike nfl jersey

It’s just part of the overall changes the Lions — like many teams around the NFL — have had to make this offseason. During his first full-team meeting, he swiped through four pages of faces just to see all his players for the first time in months. For their allotted daily hours, Patricia chose classroom work because he has two new coordinators — defensive coordinator Cory Undlin and special-teams coordinator Brayden Coombs — and in a time that is usually about learning and installation anyway, this gave them a chance to really teach.4

The decision to go with classroom learning also forced a change in the team’s plan for strength and conditioning. Instead of keeping players on similar plans and schedules, the Lions have had to go with individualized plans for each player put together by new strength and conditioning coach Josh Schuler.nike nfl jerseys cheap china

They started by surveying each player to see what he did and did not have available, which proved to be a challenge.

“Some of our guys were stuck in apartments in the middle of New York City, Manhattan, and they couldn’t go anywhere,” Patricia said. “That’s a completely different situation than someone who might be in the middle of Arizona and he has a lot of space or a situation where he has a gym down the street he can go into at 6 a.m. when no one is there and have all of the equipment available.

“So we tried to go through and take a gauge of what’s everybody’s situation and also just mark what do you need. ‘Is there something you need that we can help you with from that standpoint to get you going?'”

In some cases, that meant shipping kettlebells, benches and dumbbells across the country. Other players said they were all set and had full gyms available to them. It’s been a constant adjustment.

For instance, Patricia saw a video of running back Ty Johnson pulling a Jeep last weekend and cracked, “I’m just glad he had a helmet on.”

It’s also changed what some players focus on when they are training. If they have limited equipment, maybe they focus more on one body part and try to make sure the rest are worked on more in terms of stability. The Lions also created workouts through apps they can track to see which players are doing which workouts and then suggest a different workout on a different day.

Lions safety Tracy Walker remembers cousin and former high school teammate Ahmaud Arbery as ‘a beautiful soul’

Tracy Walker says he still can’t make sense of it. He has tried for months to understand why his cousin Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed while jogging in broad daylight in their hometown of Brunswick, Georgia. The Detroit Lions safety says he has questions he has been trying to answer.

When the video of his 25-year-old cousin’s killing appeared online, Walker says, he watched it “no exaggeration, over 100 times,” each time leaving him more frustrated, more angry and more “pissed off.”

“Man, he did not deserve that,” Walker told ESPN. “He did not deserve that. And, you know, God has a plan for everybody, man, but, you know, it’s tough. It is. That’s why I watched it so many times. I couldn’t grasp it. It’s such a gruesome video, you want to know why.”cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale

After the video appeared last week, Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault more than two months after Arbery was killed on Feb. 23. Federal prosecutors also are considering hate-crime charges that would allow for a separate case in federal court.3

Walker said he has known Arbery almost his entire life. His second cousin was a year older, played with him at Brunswick High School, always made him laugh after football games and practices, and “was slow as molasses, but he would hit you” on the football field.nike nfl jerseys cheap china
“He was a beautiful soul,” Walker said. “He wasn’t a hateful person. He was not. I can’t name one person he had a beef with growing up. Everybody loved Ahmaud because he was just a clown, a funny guy.”

In high school, they lived across the street from each other. They played basketball in Arbery’s driveway and spent hours after school playing “Call of Duty: Zombies” until it got dark and Walker had to go home.

“He was like, ‘Man, you got to try these Zombies,'” Walker said. “I’m like, ‘Man, what? I don’t play Zombies because I don’t like no scary stuff.’ He ended up getting me to play Zombies, and now I love playing Zombies.”

The two stayed close even after Walker left to play college football for Louisiana-Lafayette and then went to Detroit to play for the Lions. Whenever Walker returned to Brunswick, they caught up. The last time was in February, less than a month before Arbery was killed.

Walker went home for the Super Bowl and to celebrate his 25th birthday on Feb. 1. He and Arbery went out, and Walker bought Arbery a drink. During their conversation, Arbery told Walker how proud he was of his cousin, but he told him to keep working harder, even after he became a starting safety last season. It’s a memory Walker has held on to as he has mourned his cousin.

“It gives me mixed emotions, and the reason why I say that is because it’s sad because that’s the last memory I have of him, but it’s a good memory because he was applauding me and was telling me to keep moving forward and keep doing me, you know what I’m saying,” Walker said. “Keep balling out on that field.

Panthers select Kenny Robinson in NFL draft; safety left college for XFL

The Carolina Panthers drafted former XFL safety Kenny Robinson in the fifth round of the NFL draft Saturday, capping his unique path to the NFL.

Robinson earned all-Big 12 honors at West Virginia in 2018, but he was dismissed from school because of an academic violation. Instead of sitting out the 2019 season as part of a transfer, Robinson decided to sign with the XFL.

He was the only player in the new league who had college eligibility remaining. In five games for the St. Louis Battlehawks, Robinson intercepted two passes.cheap nfl jerseys nike

Robinson said he felt it was important to be honest and shared in The Players’ Tribune a letter to NFL general managers addressing the mistakes he made that took him from West Virginia to the XFL.

“I felt me owning up to my mistakes was a major part of it,” he said. “A lot of people have problems. I felt like I needed to … own up to my mistakes. … I learned from it and became a better person.”4

Robinson said it was a long process deciding what was next after being dismissed from West Virginia. His first thought was to transfer to another college, but he ultimately had to make what he felt was the best decision for him and his family.

Asked what he learned in the XFL that will help him in the NFL, Robinson said: “Just preparing me for being a professional. I was a professional football player the last few months.”

He also said it made him “mature as a man.”nfl jerseys nike cheap

In an interview earlier this month, Robinson said his decision to play in the XFL accelerated his NFL timetable by two years. He had hoped to become a trailblazer for other college players in tough spots, but XFL owner Vince McMahon’s decision to shutter the league means Robinson will be the only player to capitalize.

“Even though it was only five games, I’ve played on a high level that the other college guys haven’t,” Robinson said at the time. “I played with people who were in the NFL. I was coached by [former] NFL coaches. There’s nothing you can replace that with. A lot of guys can’t get that. And I’ve been around veterans and learned from those people.”

On Saturday, Robinson was also happy to say his mother no longer has colon cancer.

“She’s actually doing fine,” he said. “About two weeks into the quarantine she was released from the hospital for the last time and they said she was completely cancer free.”

Robinson will join another prominent XFL player in Carolina, as quarterback P.J. Walker signed with the Panthers last month.

Andrew Bogut says retirement decision could come by mid-May

After 15 years in professional basketball, Andrew Bogut is close to making a decision on when to end his career. The coronavirus and subsequent postponement of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo isn’t making it any easier.

The 35-year-old Bogut, who was the 2005 No. 1 draft pick by the Milwaukee Bucks and won an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, was planning to retire after playing for Australia at the Tokyo Games in three months. Those Games have been delayed until July 2021.nike nfl jerseys for cheap

But Bogut, who has played for Sydney in the National Basketball League the past two seasons, isn’t sure he can take the training and discipline needed to go another year.

“I’m not doing much, I can tell you that,” Bogut told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Offsiders” program, which aired Sunday. “To be able to kiss your kids goodnight and put them down every night … I’ve appreciated doing that.”

Bogut has two boys — Luka, 3, and Nikola, 2 — with his wife, Jessica.4

“I haven’t done any basketball since the season ended, and it feels good waking up, getting out of bed and not feeling like I’m walking on glass,” Bogut said. “It’s [my career] all been thrown into a washing machine, essentially … but there’s a decision to be made probably by mid-May.”

Bogut, who played a key role in Australia’s fourth-place finish at last year’s World Cup in China, has been on the Australian team’s roster since the 2004 Athens Olympics.nfl nike jersey cheap

The Melbourne-born Bogut was named the Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year in 2005 while playing for Utah, just before being chosen No. 1 in the NBA draft by the Bucks.

The 2019 World Cup success for Australia came without NBA All-Star Ben Simmons, who could play for Australia at Tokyo in 2021. Bogut hopes Simmons is on the squad, but whether Bogut is there to partake in the experience is still up in the air.

“We’ve been tantalizingly close, and the squad we’re going to have is arguably going to be the best squad in the history of the Boomers, on paper at least,” Bogut told the ABC program. “To be part of that, selfishly, is something I really want to do, but the body is what it comes down to.

“I can get up for a basketball game any day of the week, but it’s hard to get up for five, six days of training a week and lifting weights.”

Bogut has never been one to hold back on his opinions. After his Sydney Kings refused to fly across Australia to play the Perth Wildcats in the fourth game of the five-game NBL finals because of the coronavirus, a series the Kings trailed 2-1, the NBL awarded the title to Perth. Bogut said the players were “used like pawns” in the process.

He also has had some dust-ups with players and officials on Twitter, including fellow Australian and WNBA star Liz Cambage.

But this past week, in virus-forced isolation, he was more concerned with the location of his television remote.

“OK, a TV remote has been lost,” he first tweeted. “I have a 2 year old and 3 year old. Turned whole kitchen and lounge room upside down. Any guesses to where else these hoodlums could of ‘placed’ the remote.”

Dodgers’ Joe Kelly shatters window while practicing pitch in backyard

Some major league pitchers are working on adding to their repertoire during the coronavirus pandemic, while others are using the downtime to help with projects around the house.

Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly accidentally found a way to do both at the same time on Wednesday.

In an Instagram Live video posted by his wife, Kelly was working on a changeup in his backyard, throwing at a bull’s-eye in a large enclosed target. One throw, however, got away from him, missing the target completely to the right and shattering a window of his house.nike nfl jerseys for cheap

“Wondering how quarantine is going?” Ashley Kelly asks in the video while panning to the broken bedroom window. “Joe was working on a changeup.3

“That’s cool,” she said after another piece of glass fell away from the window. “Rad.”

Joe Kelly joined WEEI’s “The Bradfo Sho” podcast for a video interview Thursday and said he was using a heavy plastic tool called a CleanFuego — which resembles a baseball cut in half — when the accident occurred.

“I’m throwing the changeup and I’m trying to make it gyro,” Kelly told the podcast. “… It catches, turns and hovers and — boom! — it goes through the window.”cheap nfl nike jerseys china

He said there was glass everywhere, but he retrieved the item and returned to the backyard for another 20 minutes to finish his throwing program.

“Got done, came back inside, got my ShopVac, cleaned for 3 hours,” said Kelly, who added that he recruited a neighbor to help patch the window.

It is not the first time that Kelly has made headlines for odd reasons. Kelly, who signed a three-year, $25 million deal with the Dodgers prior to the 2019 season, was scratched from a spring training appearance last year after he hurt his back after standing too long while cooking Cajun food.

Nick Richards is fourth Kentucky player to enter NBA draft

Kentucky forward Nick Richards will enter the NBA draft and forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility by signing with an agency.nike nfl jerseys for cheap

Richards, a 6-foot-11 junior, is the fourth Wildcats starter to make the decision to enter the draft. He is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged 14.0 points per game and was named a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection by The Associated Press and league coaches.3

Richards, who is ranked No. 59 on ESPN’s Top 100 draft prospects, ranked fourth nationally in shooting at 64% and made the SEC all-defensive squad with averages of 7.8 rebounds and 2.13 blocks per game.

He started 30 of 31 games to help the Wildcats (25-6) earn the SEC regular-season title before the postseason was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.new nike nfl jerseys cheap

Richards, from Kingston, Jamaica, thanked Kentucky coaches and teammates for his steady improvement in a statement on Tuesday. He said it’s time to pursue his ultimate dream of being an NBA player and added, “I’m prepared for this step because of my time at Kentucky.”

Richards’ announcement comes a day after leading scorer Immanuel Quickley declared for the draft. Guards Ashton Hagans and Tyrese Maxey also turned pro.