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NFL action is back at the home of English football, with the Patriots and Christian Gonzalez having to “rep Harry Kane at Wembley”

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Patriots locking horns with the JagsGonzalez turned up in England No.9 shirtTaking inspiration from different form of footballFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

As the 2024 International Series continues in American football circles, the Pats are locking horns with the Jacksonville Jaguars in north London. Kane once called that part of the world home, as he became Tottenham’s all-time leading goalscorer.

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He is also a history-maker with England, having taken his tally of international goals to 68 and counting through 101 appearances. Many of those efforts have come at Wembley Stadium, with that a happy hunting ground for Kane – who is captain of his country.

DID YOU KNOW?

With the Patriots in action at an iconic venue, and with Kane being a notable supporter of the franchise, cornerback Gonzalez strolled onto the famous sporting field with an England No. 9 shirt on his back – as he looks to take inspiration from a different form of football.

Ashwin now has 11 Player-of-the-Series awards, the joint-highest with Muthiah Muralidaran

Sampath Bandarupalli01-Oct-202415 – Test matches for India against Bangladesh without a defeat, out of which they have now won 13. Only two teams have played more Tests against an opposition without losing a single game: 20 by Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe and 17 by New Zealand against Zimbabwe.18 – Consecutive Test series wins for India at home, a streak that began with a whitewash of Australia in 2013. England, in 2012, were the last team to defeat India at home in a Test series.India haven’t lost a Test series at home or away since their defeat to South Africa in 2021-22. They have won six of the seven bilateral Test series played in this period.312 – Balls batted by India across the two innings in Kanpur – the fourth-fewest by any team to win a men’s Test. The lowest is 276 balls by England against West Indies in Barbados in 1935, while India batted only 281 balls for their win against South Africa earlier this year in Cape Town.ESPNcricinfo Ltd7.36 – India’s run rate across the two innings in Kanpur, the highest for any team in a Test match where they scored 300-plus runs. The previous highest was 6.80 by South Africa, who made 340 in 50 overs in the only innings they batted in against Zimbabwe in 2005.1040 – Number of balls bowled in Kanpur, making it the third-shortest completed Test match to have gone into the fifth day.The 2000 Centurion Test that ended on the fifth day saw only 883 balls bowled, but both South Africa and England forfeited one innings each on that occasion.England needed only 909 balls to complete a win against South Africa at The Oval in 2022, where no play was possible on the first two days.128.12 – Yashasvi Jaiswal’s strike rate in Kanpur is the third-highest among the batters with fifty-plus scores in both innings of a men’s Test (where data is available). The highest is 137.7 by David Warner against Pakistan in the 2017 Sydney Test, while Harry Brook had a strike rate of 132.59 in the 2022 Rawalpindi Test.1 – Jaiswal is now the first Indian batter to score fifties in both innings of a Test match in fewer than 50 balls. Nine others have had fifties in less than 50 balls in the same Test, with the last being Pathum Nissanka against England at The Oval in September.ESPNcricinfo Ltd8 – Fifty-plus scores for Jaiswal in 13 Test innings at home – all have come in 2024. These are the most fifty-plus scores by any batter in a calendar year on Indian soil in Tests.His 901 runs are also the third-highest in a calendar year in India, behind GR Viswanath’s 1047 in 1979 and Virat Kohli’s 964 in 2016.11 – Player-of-the-Series awards for R Ashwin in Test cricket, the joint-highest alongside Muthiah Muralidaran.7 – Instances of a team winning a men’s Test match despite no player scoring 75-plus runs in an innings and no bowler with a four-plus wicket haul.No Indian took a four-wicket haul in Kanpur despite four three-wicket hauls across two innings, while Jaiswal’s 72 in the first innings was their highest individual score in the match.

Several USMNT players will regret missed opportunities to impress their new coach in a humbling loss to Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Lining up against Mexico in front of a raucous crowd in Estadio Akron, the U.S. men's national team was missing several key stars, including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah. Their absences were felt in a 2-0 defeat, marking Mauricio Pochettino's first loss as U.S. manager.

"It wasn't a great performance," Pochettino said following the match. "It's perfect for us to learn [from]…We started the game well, but after we conceded the goal after 22 minutes the impact was massive for us."

The U.S. struggled in all three phases of the match, with the midfield appearing absent for 90 minutes. With several leading Americans out of the fold, this was an opportunity for players with uncertain roles to make their cases for more playing time.

That was especially true for like Brenden Aaronson, who is shining on the club level but hasn't had a signature moment for the U.S. yet. Based on Tuesday's outing, he will join a few players who failed to take advantage of their chances against Mexico.

"Overall, I think Mexico was a little bit better than us and they fully deserve the victory," Pochettino explained. "But for us, this is a process that we started 10 days ago and today was a great opportunity for our players to [be in] a very difficult place to play and I think we can only improve and learn from this experience."

GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from Estadio Akron.

AFPWINNER: Raul Jimenez

Everyone in this region has known for some time that Mexico striker Raul Jimenez is a monster. It feels like, for a while there, though, people forgot.

This was your reminder, then, that Jimenez is still that guy.

His free-kick goal in the first half might just be the prettiest he's scored for and it sent shockwaves through the Estadio Akron. To have the audacity to even shoot from that distance is impressive. To bury it? That's world-class.

The forward's contribution to the second goal wasn't quality, but rather effort, as he ran Tim Ream down to set up Cesar Huerta's goal. Even at 33, he still brought that energy, and the USMNT never matched it. Even with the rise of Santi Gimenez, it's worth paying a bit more attention to Raul, who will have something to say on the road to the 2026 World Cup.

AdvertisementGettyLOSER: Mark McKenzie

That's some bad luck, isn't it?

Just days after being named U.S. Soccer's Man of the Match against Panama, Mark McKenzie was back in the XI to face Mexico. He was riding high off the best performance of his USMNT career. This game in Guadalajara was his chance to really show Pochettino what he could do.

Then, moments before kickoff, the bad news filtered through: McKenzie was out, with U.S. Soccer saying he experienced tightness in his left groin prior to the start of the match

That's a bad break for a player who had waited patiently for his chance. He played zero minutes at the Copa America, admitting in an interview with GOAL that he was a "fringe player." He's not content with life on the fringes, though.

Unfortunately, a pregame knock robbed him of a big chance on the road, and he was replaced by Miles Robinson. There will be more for him, no doubt, but this could have been a big one.

Getty Images SportWINNER: Mexico

After a poor performance against a rotated Valencia side in a 2-2 draw over the weekend, Mexico could not afford another setback against its fierce rival. Fortunately for manager Javier Aguirre,delivered in an impressive performance against the Americans.

The home side outmuscled the U.S., especially in midfield. Gianluca Busio, Aiden Morris and Yunus Musah were rendered ineffective by Mexico's press. Despite the U.S. leading possession 53 to 47 percent, Mexico was more incisive with its attack when it got the ball. Yes, it took two moments of magic from Jimenez, but Mexico's dominance was evidence by shot attempts where it had 16 to the U.S.'s five.

USMNTLOSER: Brenden Aaronson

It's not even necessarily that Brenden Aaronson couldn't cope with the physicality. Rather, it's that he wasn't really willing to play through it.

Time and time again, Aaronson went down due to some rough play and, time and time again, the referee told him to play on. The USMNT midfielder seemed more frustrated each time as he couldn't get a foul call no matter how hard he was hit.

That's what these games are like, though. Those are the type of calls that don't go your way when playing in a hostile atmosphere. Aaronson certainly knows that, having been through a World Cup qualifying cycle but, even with that knowledge, Mexico was able to rattle him.

As a result, he had a rough night, to put it lightly. He had multiple giveaways in bad spots, as did plenty of his teammates. Aaronson stood out, though, simply because his issues usually ended with him on the ground protesting to the referee.

Aaronson is getting stronger every year, and Leeds is sharpening in the Championship every week. This just wasn't a night for him in any way, shape or form.

On Thanksgiving Thursday in the United States, Celtic supporters across the world are thankful that their side has finally won an away European match.

In the Europa League’s early kick off, despite falling behind inside 11 minutes, Martin O’Neill’s side fought back to beat Feyenoord 3-1; Yang Hyun-jun and then Reo Hatate on target in double-quick time, before substitute Benjamin Nygren lashed home a clinching third late on

Before this, the Hoops had failed to win any of their previous 16 European away matches, dating back to a 3-2 victory over Ferencváros in Budapest in November 2021; Kyōgo Furuhashi, Jota and Liel Abada the scorers for Ange Postecoglou’s side back then.

In the context of this campaign, it takes Celts’ points tally up to seven from five Europa League games, boosting their knockout phase hopes, with fixtures against Roma, Bologna and Utrecht still to come on their schedule.

By the time the current Serie A leaders visit Glasgow in a fortnight, there could well be a new face in the home dugout, so which forgotten figure staked a claim in Rotterdam to be a key figure under Wilfried Nancy?

Reo Hatate's magical night

Plenty of Celtic players deserve praise following a famous win in Rotterdam, but Hatate was the star of the show.

The Japanese midfield maestro spectacularly set up the equaliser, before cooly slotted home the vital go-ahead goal, gently passing the ball into the net having been gifted possession by goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther, after some excellent, trademark closing down by Daizen Maeda.

Since arriving in January 2022, Hatate has been one of Celtic’s best and most beloved players throughout; scoring twice in a thumping Old Firm victory mere weeks after joining helps!

However, his position in the starting lineup has come under scrutiny, given the Celts’ do have other good central midfield options, namely Nygren, Arne Engels, Luke McCowan and Paulo Bernardo.

However, Hatate’s mercurial talent and exquisite ability makes him a dream for any manager and, based on how his Columbus Crew team like to play, Nancy will surely make the Japanese international a central figure in his team, once he does arrive.

Meanwhile, which usually less heralded figure will also surely have impressed the incoming manager with his display at De Kuip?

Celtic's "world class" talent stars vs Feyenoord

There were many heroes bedecked in green and white hoops during Thursday’s victory over Feyenoord.

Teenaged full-back Colby Donovan was immense, Luke McCowan was excellent out of position, despite his inexplicable early miss, while Daizen Maeda worked his socks off as always.

Meantime, one of the surprise starters when the team sheets dropped was Yang, chosen over Sebastian Tounekti, Nygren and Michel-Ange Balikwisha by O’Neill, but the Korea Republic international certainly repaid the manager’s

Yang lashed home Celtic’s equaliser on the half-hour mark, connecting with Hatate’s looping cross, the ball squirming in between Wellenreuther and the post.

This was only Yang’s second goal of the season, also on target against Partick Thistle in the League Cup in September beforehand, but this one was rather more important.

Overall, he was a constant threat at De Kuip.

Goals

1

1st

Attempted dribbles

3

2nd

Completed passes

25

16th

Duels contested

6

15th

Touches

43

15th

SofaScore rating

7.3

4th

Since arriving from Gangwon FC in July 2023 under Brendan Rodgers, Yang has flattered to deceive, showing glimpses of quality but only doing so on a very irregular basis.

Upon making the move, Gangwon’s then-club president Kim Byung-ji stated that he had “world class” potential, backing him to become as good as the national team’s all-time leading scorer Son Heung-min.

Speaking during commentary for TNT Sports, Joe Hart, a former teammate of Yang, said that “there’s an excellent player in there”, but that he just has to show it on a regular basis, while manager O’Neill stated that he needs to now replicate his form in training in matches.

Thus, with Nancy seemingly poised to arrive, every member of the Celtic squad will have a clean slate, which will surely be good news for Yang, looking to become a key figure under the new manager, hoping to force his way into Hong Myung-bo’s South Korea squad ahead of next summer’s World Cup.

Celtic's number 1 target: Nancy could sign £7m "finisher" to replace Maeda

With Daizen Maeda potentially set to leave Celtic in January, could possible new manager Wilfried Nancy sign a “really good finisher” to replace him?

ByBen Gray Nov 21, 2025

The two teams will play three T20Is and two Tests from April 21

Firdose Moonda28-Mar-2021Pakistan will play three T20Is and two Tests in Zimbabwe immediately after their white-ball tour of South Africa, and it has now been confirmed that all the fixtures will take place in a bio-secure bubble in Harare behind closed doors.The series starts with the T20Is, which will be played on April 21, 23, and 25, and will start at 11am local time. The Test matches will follow from April 29 to May 3 and May 7 to 11.Pakistan will travel to Zimbabwe with the same 35-man squad they have taken to South Africa. They touched down on Saturday and began training on Sunday after clearing their Covid-19 tests.This is the second time Zimbabwe and Pakistan are meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic was declared last March. Zimbabwe made a trip to Pakistan to play three ODIs and three T20Is in October-November last year. Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 and the T20I series 3-0. The teams have not played Test cricket against each other since Pakistan visited Zimbabwe in September 2013.Related

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“The Pakistan Cricket Board has been at the forefront of the revival of international cricket in the post-Covid-19 world and the tour of Zimbabwe is another step in that direction,” Zakir Khan, PCB director of international cricket, said in a statement. “We have always maintained that cricket and Covid-19 can co-exist in a safe and secure environment, and we continue to demonstrate this to ensure the game develops and flourishes in these difficult and challenging times.”The tour of our men’s side at the back of our women’s team first-ever visit of Zimbabwe is a testimony that the two boards – the PCB and Zimbabwe Cricket – enjoy excellent relations and are always ready to lend support to each other. Our cricket sides have always enjoyed visiting and playing cricket in Zimbabwe, and though our fans and followers will be unable to watch live-action, I am sure they will continue to support both the sides and their favourite cricketers like they have done since May 2020 through digital media.”The Pakistan women’s side had to leave Zimbabwe early from their tour in February after Emirates Airlines halted service in parts of Southern Africa.Zimbabwe’s Covid-19 situation has been in relatively good control, with the country recording fewer than 37,000 positive cases and just over 1500 deaths. They are in phase two of a vaccination programme and lockdown restrictions, including a curfew, were eased earlier this month.

The India batsman also touched on how the team is managing the pressure of trying to make the WTC final

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-20216:28

Rohit Sharma: ‘Important to keep talking to yourself and be extra focused’

Rohit Sharma, the India opener, spoke to the media on Sunday, three days ahead of the third Test against England in Motera. He touched upon the “twilight period” during pink-ball Tests, World Test Championship and the physical toll it has taken on him to get fit in time for the Australia tour and the current series. Excerpts:How much effort have you had to put in physically over the last few months, right from Australia to here?
It was a long procedure once I came back to India from Dubai [IPL]. I went to the NCA and was there for a month, trying to get fit, trying to see what I needed to do to get fit [from a hamstring injury]. Once I knew I was okay to travel, the hard part was the 14-day quarantine period in Australia. Luckily, both BCCI and Cricket Australia came together and got me a room where I could train, keep fit and get going as soon as my quarantine finished, so that there was continuity to my NCA regime.I knew once I finished that period, I had just five-six days to get ready for the Test. It wasn’t the first time I would’ve had that much time to get ready for a game, so I knew what exactly had to be done. It’s not easy but a lot of people helped me get there. It was a good journey with a lot of learning personally. Also, having been to Australia many times, I knew the conditions well, that helped me prepare. Eventually, when the last ball was bowled in Brisbane, we were so happy to get that victory. It was one of the best wins India have tasted overseas. It was the best feeling to be part of that win. A lot of things were going against us, but we came out really well. Hats off to the squad, management and people who helped each other to get going. I was lucky to be part of it.Related

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Is the twilight period, when the sun sets and floodlights take over, the most challenging period in a pink-ball Test?
I have only heard it kind of plays on the batsman’s mind. I have played in just one pink-ball Test against Bangladesh and haven’t batted at that time when the sun is about to set. I’ve heard from players and have tried to understand what happens during that time.Yes, it’s challenging, and the weather changes slightly under lights so you must extra cautious and focused a little more than you are. During that time [twilight] you’re starting your second session, so it’s important to keep talking to yourself and be extra focused. That’s what players who have played during that phase have told me. All our batters are aware of it. We’ve had separate chats around what happens during that phase. The batsmen are aware.Is the team thinking about the World Test Championship final just yet?
Honestly, the focus is not on the outside. We still need to get the job done on the inside. We want to qualify, yes. We want to be playing the final, but we have to do a lot of things right still to get there. When we’re playing, the focus is on how to win and what we need to do to get the team on top. It’s the little steps we need to take before reaching the final, which is too far ahead. We’ve got two Tests here, so the focus is on that, we’ll see what happens after that.The LED lights here at Motera are a bit like Dubai’s ring of fire. Will it need getting used to?
Getting used to the lights, that’s always a challenge. Tomorrow [Monday], we will train under lights, so the focus ill be on getting used to the lights and the shiny new seats. We will have a long session of slip catching and outfield catching. Every new ground, you need to get used to the light and surroundings. It’s not the first time we’re playing at a nee venue. Everyone will have separate preparation once we do a team fielding session. Everyone will take out 10-20 minutes away from their personal skillsets to get used to the outfield and lights.