Author: INDEPENDENT

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Turkey were supposed to be Euro 2020’s dark horses. Maybe everyone whose predictions looked hideously bad when they crashed out with no points and a lone goal merely got the wrong tournament. Three years later they are quarter-finalists, with a plausible route to the final. If Austria were perhaps the best side of the group stages, Spain apart, they were swept out of Euro 2024 by Vincenzo Montella’s team, subjected to an assault on the eardrums from…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailJoe Biden claims the reason for his poor performance at last week’s presidential debate was due to being tired after traveling “around the world a couple of times” in the days before the deabte.The 81-year-old said he “almost fell asleep on stage” on Thursday during his clash with Donald Trump. It comes as many, including those from his own party, have further questioned the president’s cognitive ability and whether he would be up to the role for four…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Former Manchester United player Jeff Whitefoot, one of the original ‘Busby Babes’, has died at the age of 90, the club have announced.Whitefoot won the First Division title twice under Sir Matt Busby, in 1952 and 1956, before going on to enjoy FA Cup success with Nottingham Forest in 1959.The England Under-23 wing-half became United’s youngest league debutant when given his opportunity, aged 16 years and 105 days, in April 1950.He left the club for Second Division…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailHunter Biden has joined White House meetings with his father Joe Biden and top aides in the wake of the president’s panic-fuelling appearance during last week’s debate against Donald Trump.The president’s son, who was convicted on gun-related charges in federal court last month, has attended meetings with the president and his staff to prepare for Biden’s speech in response to the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity.Hunter traveled back to the White House with his father after the…

Turkey celebrate the opening goal of Merih Demiral (AFP via Getty Images)Austria take on Turkey in the round of 16 after topping a ‘group of death’ including France and the Netherlands at Euro 2024.Ralf Rangnick’s tenure at Manchester United might not have been an overall success, but his Austria side have impressed, including a thrilling 3-2 win over the Dutch. Austria have not won a group since in the major tournaments since the 1978 World Cup, and the unorthodox 4-2-2-2 system has reaped its rewards. Turkey’s journey to the knockout stages has not been as fluent, but they have been…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsDear England playwright James Graham has revealed that the forthcoming BBC adaptation of his acclaimed football play will be updated to include Jude Bellingham’s 96th-minute equalizer against Slovakia at Euro 2024.Graham, 41, told Variety that it “feels likely and necessary to feature Jude, and his incredible balletic moment of pure theatre.”Harry Kane described the last-gasp goal that rescued England from elimination from the tournament as the “best in England’s history.”Dear England, which premiered at the…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US The sounds that filled the Mad Butcher grocery store on Tuesday — the beeping barcode scanners, the rattle of shopping carts and cash register drawers opening — were familiar ones for customers and employees of the only grocery store in the small Arkansas town of Fordyce.But this was not a normal day for the store, which reopened 11 days after a shooter killed four people and injured 10 others in Mad Butcher and its parking…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Euro 2024 nears the quarter-final stage after 16 of the 24 teams made it out of the groups, with eight more falling in the last-16.While none of the heavy pre-tournament favourites fell at the first hurdle, World Cup 2022 semi-finalists Croatia did exit after Mattia Zaccagni’s 98th-minute equaliser broke their hearts, while the likes of Ukraine, Poland, Albania and Hungary all showed flashes of potential but weren’t able to translate that into a last-16 spot.England have laboured…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USA mom who murdered her two young sons 30 years ago has reportedly been giving phone sex to sugar daddies from prison.Susan Smith, 52, was jailed in 1995 for drowning her two sons Michael, three, and Alex, 14 months, in a South Carolina lake in 1994.She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, meaning she could be released this year. Her family members have said she has spent the…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Jude Bellingham and his England team-mates enjoyed a much-needed rest day at Euro 2024 following the “emotional rollercoaster” victory over Slovakia on Sunday.The Real Madrid midfielder spoke of the mixture of feelings after his last-gasp overhead kick took the last-16 meeting into extra-time before Harry Kane headed home to seal a quarter-final against Switzerland.With the tie taking place in Dusseldorf on Saturday, manager Gareth Southgate gave his players and staff the day off on Tuesday after he…