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EDITOR PICKS

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

Soccer

Mbappe, Pulisic, Rashford among 25 contenders for 2017 Golden Boy award

The shortlist featuring football’s most promising young stars vying to win the 2017 Golden Boy award was revealed Tuesday, with prodigies Kylian Mbappe, Christian Pulisic, and Ousmane Dembele highlighting the group.

The award crowns Europe’s most impressive player under the age of 21, with the contenders expected to dominate the sport for the next decade.

Winners are voted on by a panel of 30 journalists selected by Italian newspaper Tuttosport. Renato Sanches claimed the prize in 2016, but the Portuguese international isn’t in contention this year, presumably due to a lackluster season with Bayern Munich.

Instead, budding stars such as Gianluigi Donnarumma, Gabriel Jesus, and Marcus Rashford will attempt to become the latest to win the honour since its inception in 2003.

Other previous winners include Paul Pogba, Isco, Lionel Messi, and Wayne Rooney.

Full list of nominees:

Aaron Martin (Espanyol), Jean-Kévin Augustin (RB Leipzig), Rodrigo Bentacur, (Juventus), Steven Bergwijn (PSV Eindhoven), Dominic Calvert-Lewin, (Everton), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Amadou Diawara (Napoli), Kasper Dolberg (Ajax), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Benjamin Henrichs (Bayer Leverkusen), Borja Mayoral (Real Madrid), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) Emre Mor (Celta Vigo) Reece Oxford (Borussia Monchengladbach), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Allan Saint-Maximim (Nice) Dominic Solanke (Liverpool) Theo Hernandez (Real Madrid) Youri Tielemans (Monaco) Enes Unal (Villarreal), Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham).

NFL

It wasn't a fluke: Giants' offense wasn't ready for 2017

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As he marched onto the MetLife Stadium field Monday night, Tom Coughlin did not come across like a man one day removed from losing a football game by three touchdowns. The overlord of the Jacksonville Jaguars had two good reasons to project the radiant, puffed-chest vibe of someone who had just won the Super Bowl:

1. He would hold the Lombardi Trophy in his hands during a halftime ceremony honoring the 10-year anniversary of his New York Giants’ epic victory over the 18-0 New England Patriots.

2. He would watch live as the former assistant who replaced him, Ben McAdoo, coached like a hopeless rookie at the start of his sophomore year.

  • The Giants were held to fewer than 20 points for the eighth consecutive game and seemed to struggle to make even the simplest plays.

  • Giants coach Ben McAdoo, asked what happened during a key fourth-and-goal play at the Lions’ 2-yard line in which New York took a delay of game penalty and had to kick a field goal, called it simply “sloppy quarterback play.”

1 Related

Coughlin isn’t enthusiastically rooting for McAdoo to lose the way the New York Giants coach lost the home opener to the Detroit Lions by a 24-10 count. But people who know the 71-year-old Jaguars executive say he was more devastated than he publicly let on when he was forced out after the 2015 season. Coughlin is human, and it’s perfectly human for a two-time Super Bowl champ separated from a job he adored to hope his successor reminds everyone why he was so valuable in the first place.

On that front, McAdoo is making Coughlin more popular with New Yorkers now than he was during his final four playoff-free seasons.

“Put this game on me,” the Giants coach told his players in the locker room.

“Put this game on me,” the Giants coach told the reporters in the interview room.

Actually, we’ll do McAdoo one better. We’ll put the entire 0-2 start on him, even though the hobbled Odell Beckham Jr. couldn’t go against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 and couldn’t rise even halfway to his otherworldly standards against the Lions on Monday night. The Giants have scored 13 points in eight quarters of play; they haven’t scored fewer points in their first two games since they managed seven points in the first two games of 1947, when you could buy a gallon of gas for 15 cents.

So far, McAdoo’s offense is worth less than that in 2017.

The coach asked for the blame Monday night, but then he placed full culpability for the fourth-and-goal, delay-of-game flag squarely on Eli Manning’s shoulder pads.

“Sloppy quarterback play,” McAdoo said of the penalty that turned a touchdown attempt into a field goal. Although Manning later admitted that the quarterback is always at fault on delay-of-game calls, McAdoo didn’t need to fire that spiral into the back of a two-time Super Bowl MVP who is usually among the league leaders in all accountability metrics.

Bottom line: McAdoo did not have his team ready to start the season. Cast as credible contenders, the Giants were outclassed by the Cowboys on the road last week and by the Lions at home on Monday. They have the same record as their tanking co-tenants, the New York Jets, and they’re the only team in the NFC East that isn’t 1-1.

“We talk about playing complete, complementary football,” McAdoo said. “By no stretch of the imagination did we get that done tonight.”

Giants head coach Ben McAdoo reacts after failing to convert a fourth down against the Lions during the fourth quarter of Monday night’s loss. Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

The Giants were an undisciplined, inefficient mess. They recovered a Matthew Stafford fumble in the second quarter and on the very next play handed the ball back to Detroit on a Manning interception. Brandon Marshall dropped a perfectly thrown deep ball down the sideline that helped kill a fourth-quarter possession, and two plays later, the Lions’ Jamal Agnew was taking a punt back 88 yards for a score.

Left tackle Ereck Flowers was regularly steamrollered by Ezekiel Ansah, who was responsible for three of Detroit’s five sacks. The Giants’ running backs managed a grand total of 62 yards after opening with 35 against Dallas, leaving them one fullback dive short of 100 for the year. Fans booed McAdoo’s decision to run the ball on third-and-13 on the Giants’ opening series and booed again throughout the night. The one time the coach and the crowd were in agreement — on McAdoo’s choice to go for it on fourth down at the 2 — Manning’s apparent preoccupation with a potential blitz pickup rained on the parade as the play clock bled to zero.

“I’ve got to call a timeout or get it snapped,” the quarterback said.

At 36 years old and trying to get by without a healthy Beckham, a productive running game and a functioning line, Manning has looked like a shadow of his former self. But until he plays a full season at this level, Manning has earned the benefit of the doubt. He did once win a championship after an 0-2 start, with the same 2007 Giants who were honored at halftime.

“The defense is playing tough,” Manning said. “The offense has got to do our part. We’ve got to make the plays, and we’ve got to handle our part of the equation to fix this.”

When asked earlier how the offense can be fixed, Manning said, “We’ve just got to figure out what’s our best personnel, what’s our best style, how we’re going to be able to move the ball.”

That sounds like McAdoo’s job, and nobody knows if he’s capable of doing it. He was never a head coach on any level — high school included — before taking over the Giants. Upon arriving in New York as offensive coordinator in 2014, McAdoo’s claim to fame was serving as Aaron Rodgers’ quarterbacks coach in Green Bay. Of course, being Aaron Rodgers’ quarterbacks coach would’ve been a little like being Luciano Pavarotti’s vocals coach. There are only so many ways to screw that up.

Right now, McAdoo is running a McAdon’t offense that is almost impossible to watch. The Giants have failed to score 20 points in eight consecutive games. They’ve failed to score 30 points in any game with McAdoo as head coach.

“The whole offense needs work,” he conceded. “We’re not in rhythm right now. … We have to analyze everything we’re doing. I mean, we can’t pull points out of a hat.”

McAdoo said he will consider personnel changes. Asked if he will consider surrendering his playcalling responsibilities, McAdoo said, “We’ll consider everything. Yep.”

His time for considering is up. McAdoo needs to come out from behind his ever-conspicuous chart, hand over the playcalling to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan and focus on the big-picture issues weighing down his team. He needs to be less of a system operator and much more of a motivator and manager.

He has already compromised this year’s long-term goals of a deep playoff run and of perhaps winning a title for the first time since Coughlin won his second after the 2011 season. The Giants face three of their next four games on the road against Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Denver. If McAdoo doesn’t grab hold of his team sooner rather than later, he won’t have to bother asking people to assign him the blame.

Soccer

'No Dutch fans will be welcome' for match between Napoli, Feyenoord

Feyenoord Rotterdam’s fans won’t be crossing Europe.

On Monday, Feyenoord received a copy of a document issued to SSC Napoli by the Prefetto della Provincia di Napoli, confirming “no Dutch fans will be welcome in Stadio San Paolo” for the Champions League game between the two clubs on Sept. 26.

“It is much to Feyenoord’s regret that coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side will not benefit from the support of the club’s fans in the second Champions League Group F match,” Feyenoord said. “In response to the decision of the Italian authorities, the club has decided not to organise a trip for the Feyenoord Business Club. The squad will be accompanied by no more than a small group of officials.”

In 2015, before a Europa League match between Feyenoord and AS Roma in Rome, 23 of the Dutch club’s supporters – 6,500 of whom were thought to have descended upon Italy’s capital – were arrested, and 19 were charged. Drunk fans caused damage to buildings and hurled bottles at riot police. The return leg in the Netherlands was then overshadowed by crowd trouble and included an apparent incident of racism, as the game was suspended when an inflatable banana was thrown on the pitch.

NFL

Marshawn Lynch, Michael Crabtree key Raiders' laugher over Jets

OAKLAND — Marshawn Lynch got hyphy on the sideline, the Oakland native dancing and celebrating his homecoming and a big Raiders lead with more than 12 minutes to play Sunday. It only got better from there for the Raiders in a 45-20 victory over their old AFL rivals, the New York Jets, with Lynch scoring his first touchdown since 2015 and receiver Michael Crabtree tying a career best with three TD catches.

What it means: The Raiders are 2-0 for the first time since 2002, when they started out 4-0 en route to a Super Bowl appearance. They also served notice to the rest of the NFL that they are, indeed, a force to be reckoned with this season. Because, sure, Oakland was a two-touchdown favorite over the woebegone Jets, but the Raiders again excelled in all three phases of the game — Lynch, Crabtree, the offensive line and quarterback Derek Carr doing their thing, the defense stifling the Jets and gunner Johnny Holton forcing and recovering a muffed punt when the Raiders needed a spark.

What I liked: The Raiders brought the heat to Jets quarterback Josh McCown, sacking him four times. Mario Edwards Jr. had 1.5 sacks, giving him two in two games, and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack had a devastating “full eclipse” sack in the third quarter, the All-Pro edge rusher seemingly stripping the ball from the Jets quarterback mid-sack. Alas, McCown was ruled down. The Raiders, who had a league-low 25 sacks last season without a single sack coming from a defensive back, also blitzed strong safety Karl Joseph, who recovered a fumble he caused. Denico Autry shared a sack with Edwards.

What I didn’t like: The preponderance of flags thrown at the Raiders, who had four personal fouls in the first half alone and finished with nine penalties for 79 yards. Bruce Irvin’s slam tackle of Matt Forte jump-started the Jets after the Raiders jumped to a 14-0 lead, and New York closed to within 14-10 shortly thereafter. The Raiders led the NFL in flags (181), penalties accepted against (155) and penalty yardage (1,310) last season. Still, they had only five penalties in the season opener last week at Tennessee.


• Statistics
• Scoreboard
• 2017 schedule, results
• Standings

Fantasy fallout: If you started Crabtree as a receiver, you are grinning larger than maybe even he was after each of his three TD catches, from 2, 26 and 1 yards. It was the second time in his career he caught three touchdowns passes in a game; he also had three against the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 2 last year.

Gareon Conley’s debut: The Raiders’ first-round pick did not start; he entered the game in Oakland’s nickel defense as the right outside cornerback as starter TJ Carrie slid inside. Conley showed some volleyball skills in breaking up a long ball down the left sideline, timing his leap perfectly and essentially spiking the ball toward an oncoming Reggie Nelson, but hit it too hard.

What’s next: The Raiders travel across the country for a Sunday night prime-time game at Washington. Oakland leads the all-time series 7-5, though Washington has won the past two meetings, both in Oakland. The Raiders won 16-13 at Washington in 2005, Norv Turner’s final win as Raiders coach.

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Soccer

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

  • Police arrest dozens of ticket-less fans at Wembley final

  • Dortmund boss Terzic lauds 'brilliant' Sancho after UCL defeat

  • Modric, Kroos among Madrid stars to make history with latest UCL triumph

  • Madrid's inevitability is a superpower no rival can match

  • Transfer window preview: 50 players who could move this summer

  • Vinicius Jr. named Champions League Player of the Season

“If you think about it, I've never held a job in my life. I went from being an NFL player to a coach to a broadcaster. I haven't worked a day in my life.”
-John Madden


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