England midfielder Ella Toone’s former PE teacher feels it is “not a surprise” that she has reached her first Women’s World Cup final after England beat Australia 3-1 on Wednesday.
Chris Nuttall, PE teacher at Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley, Wigan, who taught Toone from Year 9 to Year 11, said he saw Toone’s potential at school and “could tell” she would achieve great success in football.
The teacher said it was a “surreal” experience watching Toone score the opening goal in the Sydney triumph, but felt her success was expected after she demonstrated strong sporting ability at school.
Nuttal, 38, told the PA news agency: “It’s surreal to see Ella play in the World Cup semi-final, but it’s brilliant now (England) have got through to the final.
“For myself and the rest of the department, it’s not a surprise for us because the way Ella conducted herself and how passionate she was about football throughout school, you could see how determined she was.
“You could tell she was going to go onto great things in terms of her football career.”
Nuttall also described the 23-year-old as a “role model”, beginnning at her old high school after she encouraged more girls to pick up sports.
He explained: “She was the type of student that was a dream for a PE teacher because she was involved in anything, any sport.
“She was a role model in whichever sport that she did.
“She was a big starting point and now we run a number of girls’ teams and we have a lot of girls join football teams, and that all started from Ella.”
The PE teacher expressed his pride in seeing his former student make herself one of the heroes of the day with a brilliant first-half strike, making Lionesses fans believe they could make their first World Cup final.
He said: “You always hope as a PE teacher that one of your students will continue that passion when they leave school.
“For somebody to go onto the level that she has, breaking records… it’s unbelievable.”
Nuttall hopes Toone will score again in England’s final against Spain on Sunday and expects the team to achieve the same result as the semi-final.
He said: “Hopefully, she’ll play some part in that and carry on her goalscoring because she seems to pick up the goals at the most important times.
“Hopefully she’ll score another goal (in the final).”
Toone’s former teacher is confident the Lionesses, who won the Women’s European Championship in 2022, will take home the World Cup trophy.
Nuttall said: “To get through the the World Cup final is amazing for the country, especially after the Lionesses winning the Euros.
“I think they’ll be ready for (the final). Having that experience at the Euros, they know how to prepare now for these types of matches.”
He has wished his former student and the rest of the Lionesses “all the luck” ahead of the final.
He said: “Good luck to Ella. We’re all really proud as a PE department so we wish her all the luck.
“Good luck to the Lionesses – they’ve done the country proud.”
Chelsea academy graduate Tammy Abraham completed a £34million transfer to Roma on this day in 2021.
Abraham, who had spent three spells on loan away from Stamford Bridge, left his boyhood club on a permanent deal after a 17-year association.
Forward Abraham signed a contract with Roma until 2026 after they paid 40million euros to reunite him with old Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.
Abraham had spent time in and around the squad under Mourinho, but it was Gus Hiddink who handed the striker his Chelsea debut in 2016.
With chances hard to come by, Abraham had successful loan spells in the Sky Bet Championship with Bristol City and Aston Villa, sandwiched between a temporary switch to Swansea when they were in the Premier League.
Frank Lampard’s appointment as Chelsea boss in 2019 saw Abraham finally given a consecutive run of matches and he scored 15 goals in all competitions, but starting opportunities were more limited in the 2020-21 season.
Roma’s pursuit of Abraham in the summer of 2021 proved successful with Mourinho praising the “ambition” of his new number nine after he left the Blues following 30 goals in 82 appearances.
Abraham and Mourinho would go on to enjoy success, combining to win the Europa Conference League last year before they made the Europa League final in May.
Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith each had three hits and the Los Angeles Dodgers rolled to their 10th straight victory, 7-1 over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.
Betts had three singles and scored four times, Freeman added a pair of doubles and a single and Smith went 3 for 4 with two RBIs.
Chris Taylor and Miguel Rojas homered as Los Angeles improved to 14-1 in August to open a 10-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West.
The Dodgers have outscored opponents 61-22 during the win streak.
Clayton Kershaw limited NL Central-leading Milwaukee to three hits and one run – Mark Canha’s homer – over five innings with two walks and two strikeouts in his second start back from the injured list.
Rojas’ second-inning home run put the Dodgers up 2-1 and Betts scored later in the frame when J.D. Martinez reached on interference by catcher William Contreras with the bases loaded.
Smith followed singles by Betts and Freeman in the fourth with a sacrifice fly and Freeman doubled home Betts in the sixth before he scored on Smith’s single.
Cubs win on Morel’s walk-off homer
Christopher Morel drilled a dramatic three-run home run in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 win over the rival Chicago White Sox.
The Cubs entered the ninth trailing 3-1 but got a leadoff double from Cody Bellinger against Gregory Santos. After Dansby Swanson walked, Morel drove a 1-2 pitch into the bleacher sets in right-centre field for his 19th home run.
Morel’s blast was the Cubs’ first hit with runners in scoring position all night after they were 0 for 6.
Nick Madrigal hit a pinch-hit home run in the eighth to set the stage for Morel’s heroics.
Gavin Sheets had a two-run homer for the White Sox, who had won six straight at Wrigley Field.
Detmers flirts with no-hitter in Angels’ win
Reid Detmers took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Shohei Ohtani homered in the Los Angeles Angels’ 2-0 win over the Texas Rangers.
Detmers held Texas hitless until Marcus Semien lined a double into the left-centre field gap with one out in the eighth on his 108th and final pitch.
Detmers, who threw a no-hitter last season as a rookie, finished with five strikeouts and four walks.
Ohtani took Jon Gray deep in the first inning for AL-best 42nd home run.
The Rangers were shut out for the ninth time this season and had a nine-game home winning streak snapped.
Norwich boss David Wagner urged Norwich matchwinner Jonathan Rowe not to get carried away after his Carabao Cup first-round winner at QPR.
Rowe’s header in the final seconds at Loftus Road secured a 1-0 victory and an away tie against Bristol City in the second round.
The 20-year-old has scored in all three of the Canaries’ games this season and his manager has challenged him to keep improving.
Wagner said: “It’s great that he scores goals and great for him as an individual.
“If you work hard you will get your rewards and this is what Johnny has done.
“He’s a talent but he has a lot of work to do – keep the feet on the ground and make sure you work hard and continue what you are doing.
“We will support him but we will challenge him as well.”
The game produced very few clear-cut openings before a late Norwich flurry, with Ashley Barnes missing a great chance for the Canaries before Rowe netted.
“I think it was a deserved win and that we were the better team – the team which really chased for the win,” Wagner added.
“It was not a top performance but as the game went on I thought we created opportunities without being clinical in the final third.”
QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth was encouraged by the performance of his young players.
Both managers made several changes and Ainsworth brought on academy products Alexander Aoraha and Rayan Kolli in the second half for their senior debuts.
Ainsworth said: “I got what I needed tonight and that was seeing the commitment and the standard of the players that haven’t been playing.
“We had players on the pitch from the academy during the game and two debutants at the end who are playing against players who have been sold for millions.
“So I’m really proud of the boys, but it is gutting to lose the goal at the end. The boys didn’t deserve that. Gutted but very proud.
“It’s cruel but it’s a lesson for some of our young boys, and the future looks quite rosy here.”
The Chicago Cubs were planning on Marcus Stroman returning from the injured list to pitch Wednesday.
It turns out he will be sidelined much longer.
Stroman has been diagnosed with a right rib cartilage fracture and is out indefinitely.
Already on the IL due to right hip inflammation, the 32-year-old experienced rib discomfort recently during his rehab and the Cubs announced Tuesday he would not be activated to pitch against the Chicago White Sox the following night.
At this point, the Cubs are going to wait until he's pain-free until he resumes throwing.
While the team is not giving a timeline for his return, recovery for such an injury could be anywhere from two weeks to up to six weeks.
With only 6 1/2 weeks left in the season, it's possible he's done for the year.
It's a tough blow for a Cubs team that entered Wednesday 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and one game back of the Miami Marlins for the final wild-card spot in the NL.
Stroman, who was Chicago's opening day starter, was sensational early in the season, going 9-4 with a 2.28 ERA in 16 starts through June 20 and earned his second All-Star team selection. At that time, his ERA was the lowest in the NL among the 37 pitchers with at least 70 innings thrown.
The last two months have not gone nearly as well for him, as he's gone 1-4 with a 9.00 ERA in his last seven outings and landed on the IL on August 2.
Despite his recent struggles, the Cubs were hoping a stint on the IL would help Stroman regain his early season form, but now the team is facing the real possibility he won't be able to pitch the rest of the year.
Jonathan Rowe’s goal in the final seconds gave Norwich a 1-0 win at QPR and a place in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
As the tie appeared to be heading for a penalty shoot-out, Rowe headed home Kellen Fisher’s cross for his third goal is as many games.
The game produced very few clear-cut chances before a late Norwich flurry.
Canaries substitute Ashley Barnes missed a great chance when he sent a free header wide of the target.
Rangers keeper Joe Walsh was then called into action, saving with his legs to deny Gabriel Sara, and City went close again when Przemyslaw Placheta fired narrowly wide.
QPR’s best opportunity fell to Lyndon Dykes, who was unable to react quickly enough after Albert Adomah’s cross had been headed down by Elijah Dixon-Bonner.
Scotland striker Dykes went off in obvious discomfort shortly after the hour mark having appeared to pick a knee injury – a concern for the R’s given their lack of attacking options.
The Canaries will be away to Bristol City in the next round.
Charlie Appleby sent out the winner of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury for a third successive year as Arabian Crown registered a decisive triumph.
Beaten less than a length by the exciting Starlore when sent off favourite at Sandown on debut, the son of Dubawi served notice of his potential with an easy victory back at the Esher track on his second start.
Upped both to Listed Level and a mile, the 85-40 second favourite highlighted his quality in fine style, tracking the pace set by Richard Hannon’s Son before coming forward to take the lead after two furlongs out and galloping on strongly for a two-and-a-quarter-length success over 13-8 favourite Arabic Legend.
Last year’s winner for the stable went on to contest the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket later in the season, while both Paddy Power and Betfair shortened the colt to 20-1 from 33s for next year’s 2000 Guineas.
“It was a lovely performance,” winning rider William Buick told Racing TV.
“It was a nice, even gallop which suited him and suited everyone else, so it was a very fair race and Arabian Crown has gone from strength to strength.
“He is very professional and he has really learned from his last two runs. He had to stand in the gates for quite a long time with some of the others, but he took that well and still broke well and just settled outside of the leader. He dropped his head and was progressive all the way to the line and was strong at the finish.
“I think this is a nice trip for him now as a two-year-old and I’m sure next year he will go further. You would hope that (with) the progress he had made in two runs in novices, he has every reason to improve again.”
Ralph Beckett was on the scoresheet in the other Listed heat as State Occasion ran out an impressive winner of the British EBF 40th Anniversary Upavon Fillies’ Stakes.
The daughter of Iffraaj, who was sent off a 6-1 chance, hit the front a furlong from home in the hands of Rossa Ryan and was not for catching in the closing stages as 6-4 favourite Running Lion gave chase in vain.
Beckett said. “She kept winning valuable fillies’ handicaps last year and then we went to Dundalk and she got drawn wide and missed the break. You run quickly into the bend there over 10 furlongs, so that didn’t work and then I probably ran her one run too many at the back-end.
“She ran well in the Middleton and then she was off colour for a little while after that.
“Then it has just rained and she wants fast ground, it is as simple as that. She hasn’t had any major issues, it has just been wet. We’ve probably only missed one race which was the Lyric at York but it doesn’t matter now.
“She could go anywhere and I haven’t really thought about it long and hard yet. But luckily there is plenty for her and she will be in everything and we will see how it pans out.”
George Ford insists England’s players must take responsibility for accelerating the team’s development into a force for the World Cup.
Steve Borthwick’s men ended a three-match losing run by defeating Wales 19-17 at Twickenham last Saturday but Ireland, the sport’s number one ranked side, are the next assignment on the schedule of warm-up fixtures.
England have yet to fire since Borthwick replaced Eddie Jones in September but with their pivotal Pool C match against Argentina fast approaching on September 9, Ford knows time is at a premium.
“Along with being led by the coaches, it’s the players’ responsibility to grab hold of the team and pull it in the direction we want to pull it in,” the Sale fly-half said.
“Especially when we have got the ball with that amount of experience and those combinations, we see it as our responsibility to get this team going and we have got to do it quicker than we have ever done it before.
“There are two more warm-up games and then there is the first game of the World Cup so we understand there is an urgency about it, but we are going to grab it.”
Since Borthwick took charge England have managed only 14 tries in seven matches, consistently struggling to finish chances or reflect their visits to the 22 on the scoreboard.
“I know the attack is the most spoken about subject at the minute. Let me reassure you we are working hard on it,” Ford said.
“We want to be more dangerous with the ball and cause more problems for the defence with the ball and score more tries, that’s what we want to do. It’s at the forefront of our minds and we’re working really hard to do it.
“My experience is that of all departments of the game, it takes the longest to get the attack functioning.
“We want to speed it up, we want to get there as quickly as possible. We know there’s an urgency that we need to start attacking better and causing problems and scoring tries – we understand that.
“The main thing is how we can be more potent when we’ve got the ball, how we can get the outside backs in space with the ball to create damage and cause chaos.”
By all indications, the women’s 400m hurdles at the upcoming World Athletic Championships in Budapest, Hungary, would appear to offer one key question – how much faster can Femke Bol go?
Following Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s decision not to defend the world title she won in her home setting of Oregon last year, when she left her Dutch rival halfway down the finishing straight as she improved her world record to a staggering 50.68s, Bol’s pathway has now been cleared.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist prepared for the 400m hurdles in spectacular fashion during the indoor season, as she worked on her speed over 400m flat. To such effect that on February 19, she broke the longest standing athletics track record in the book when she clocked 49.26s to win the Dutch indoor title, eclipsing the mark of 49.59s set in 1982.
The high point of her season so far occurred in front of a sell-out 50,000 crowd at the London Stadium on July 23, as she ran a European and Diamond League record of 51.45s.
"I've been wanting to run a 51 ever since Tokyo. I had a feeling I could do it but I still can't believe I've done it," said the 23-year-old.
Her time was one-hundredth of a second faster than McLaughlin-Levrone ran to win the Tokyo Olympic title in a race where Bol finished third behind the defending champion Dalilah Muhammad.
It was only four-hundredths of a second slower than the world record McLaughlin-Levrone set at last year’s US trials in Oregon. But it was the best part of a second slower than the current world mark of 50.68s run by her rival at last year’s World Athletics Championships.
Such is the measure of the challenge for this amiable Dutch athlete.
While McLaughlin-Levrone will be absent from the event – and indeed the championships because of a late knee issue – her predecessor as world and Olympic champion, Muhammad, will be present, albeit that the 33-year-old’s season’s best of 53.53s only has her at fifth place in this season’s world list.
Muhammad’s US colleague Shamier Little, whose 2021 personal best of 52.39s has her at fifth place in the all-time list, will also be a medal contender, as will the Jamaican trio of Andrenette Knight, who has clocked 53.26s this season; Janieve Russell, with a 2023 best of 53.65s; and Rushell Clayton, who has clocked 53.79s.
Look out too for Britain’s Jessie Knight, who has run a personal best of 54.09s this season, and Viktoriya Tkachuk of Ukraine, who has a best of 53.76s.
Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey will miss the start of the upcoming season due to a lingering foot injury that will require surgery.
NFL.com reported Wednesday that Humphrey, Baltimore's top cornerback, is expected to miss about a month and likely will be unavailable for the Ravens' first two games.
Head coach John Harbaugh confirmed that Humphrey will have surgery Wednesday, but was optimistic the seventh-year veteran wouldn't miss a large amount of time.
"It's not going to be a long-term deal," Harbaugh told reporters following Wednesday's practice.
"It's been a lingering thing," Harbaugh said of Humphrey's injury. "It's something we want to take care of now instead of waiting."
The Ravens have already been hit hard by injuries at the cornerback spot this summer.
Damarion Williams, a candidate to be the team's primary slot defender, underwent left ankle surgery earlier this week and is expected to be out until October. Rock Ya-Sin, the projected outside starter opposite Humphrey, has not practised for nearly two weeks due to a knee injury but is expected to be fine for the season's start.
"We have guys ready to play, and we'll see what we can do," Harbaugh remarked.
Humphrey earned his third career Pro Bowl nod in 2022 after recording 71 tackles, three interceptions and three sacks while starting all 17 games. The 27-year-old has started at least 12 games for the Ravens in each of the past four seasons.
World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe believes “real deal” Keely Hodgkinson and sprint star Zharnel Hughes are Great Britain’s best bets for World Championship glory.
Hodgkinson missed out on the world 800 metres title by just 0.08 seconds to American Athing Mu last year and also finished second behind the same athlete at the Toyko Olympics in 2021.
The 21-year-old has been in excellent form this season, setting a world best indoors over 600m in January and defending her European indoor title before beginning her outdoor season by lowering her British record in Paris.
Hughes has enjoyed arguably even better preparation for Budapest, the Anguilla-born star breaking the 30-year-old British records of Linford Christie and John Regis over 100 and 200m respectively in the space of a month.
His 100m time of 9.83 seconds, recorded in New York in June, remains the fastest in the world this year.
Asked if Hughes’s performances had earned the respect of the top sprinting nations and could lead to gold in Budapest, Coe said: “Yes and yes.
“I can give you the feedback from the cradle of sprinting and the NACAC congress in Costa Rica last month.
“People whose judgement I really value, both in Jamaican sprinting and US sprinting, think he can win in Budapest simply because it may not be that fast a race anyway. Their judgement is that he is absolutely a contender.
“The more people coming on the scene and fighting their way into the upper echelons of the sport is terrific and for British sprinting it’s not just a good thing, it’s an important thing.
“And those were good records; John Regis’s 200m record was one for the ages when he set it.”
Hodgkinson has tasted just one defeat over 800m so far in 2023, finishing second behind Kenya’s Mary Moraa, the Commonwealth champion, in Lausanne.
“I think she’s the real deal, I’ve thought that for some time,” added Coe, who also feels Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson will challenge for medals in Budapest.
“At the age of 19 winning a silver in a world championships, similar type of performance at an Olympic Games, she’s outstanding. She’s coached well, she’s grounded and she’s talented.
“She is at this moment in great shape and this is where we’re beginning to see some strength in depth with Jemma Reekie running 1:57 in London. We’ve got depth now and genuine quality and this is encouraging.”
Coe reiterated that no Russian or Belarusian athletes would be competing in Budapest following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a stance that World Athletics is set to maintain for next year’s Olympic Games.
“We’ve taken the view they won’t be in Paris,” Coe said. “We made the decision that we felt was in the best interests of the sport.
“Decisions we’ve made in the past have been tough ones, whether it’s around preserving the female category, transfers of allegiance, the initial suspension of Russia back in 2015 – we’ve done it because it’s been the right thing to do.
“If it has given other sports permission or comfort to feel that they can do the same then that’s a good thing but it’s entirely up to them – we didn’t do it for that reason.
“The nature of these decisions is that the world does change. We are also creating working groups to monitor the situation so we aren’t closing the door forever.
“We’re not the ‘computer says no’ federation and we’ve always, if we could, found the navigable route through.”
Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley aims to become more prolific in front of goal this season.
The 22-year-old Denmark international feels he should have notched more than four last term, but he has already found his scoring touch this time round by netting in both of his team’s league matches so far.
“I haven’t set myself any targets in terms of numbers,” said O’Riley. “Last season I kind of did but at the same time I’m quite young so some of it is trial and error.
“I feel better when I’m coming from a place where I can express myself from quite a free standpoint rather than setting a target and having to go for that because if you’re not getting close to it, you might get a bit of stress over it and lose a bit of calmness and composure.
“I haven’t set myself any targets but do think I can get myself more goals? I’d like to think so. Last season I should have got more goals, I need to be calmer when I’m in those areas.”
O’Riley has made a bright start to the campaign and is enjoying working under new manager Brendan Rodgers.
“I don’t think anything has changed massively, to be honest,” he said. “Maybe I feel better from a mental perspective, which always helps. I’m feeling really good in general.
“We’ve got a slightly new style and my role has changed slightly, but nothing too crazy, I’ve just got myself into the right positions and stayed calm and that’s what it has come down to.
“The manager’s style of management has been good. If there is something that I need to work on or that needs to be addressed then he will pick me up on it and we’ll go through it, especially on the training pitch.
“The other day he pulled me in and went through some little details that can help me. I think he’s good with most players in dealing with them from a personal perspective. Naturally that is going to help on the pitch because you will feel slightly better.
“I think I have been fortunate to have had pretty good managers thus far and feel like I am developing every season.”
Celtic turn their attention to the Viaplay Cup this weekend as they kick off their defence of the trophy away to Kilmarnock, who have started their cinch Premiership campaign impressively by taking four points out of a possible six from matches against Rangers and Hearts.
“It’s definitely a tough draw,” said O’Riley. “Respectfully, if the game is at home it’s probably easier than playing away because it is a tough place to go and we know that from past experiences.
“Other teams have also found it hard there. We have enough to win the game but it’s going to be one we have to be more than ready for.
“We always expect a tough test at Rugby Park and we need to be as prepared as we can be. Last season when we won 5-0 there we took our chances really well and that will be really important again.
“If you score the first goal at a place like that, it helps a lot but at the same time if they score first then I think we have enough in our toolbox to still win the game.”
Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from August 16.
FootballEngland’s players celebrated reaching their first Women’s World Cup final.
View this post on InstagramThe country celebrated the Lionesses reaching the World Cup final.
A tennis great was privileged to be there.
Jurrien Timber has a long road to recovery.
Jose Mourinho counted down to the new Serie A season.
View this post on InstagramDavid Beckham reflected on a big night for Inter Miami.
View this post on InstagramJude Bellingham responded to some teasing.
CricketBen Stokes came out of retirement.
GolfJustin Rose thanked the Chicago Cubs for a fun evening.
TennisRidiculous from Carlos Alcaraz.
Chris Evert enjoyed some tennis.
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