Author: o2@inaim.com

Lise Klavenes doesn’t throw punches. That’s not her style. For some, it’s a problem. For Klavenes, a former national team player and current president of the Norwegian Football Federation, that’s just who she is. So she will appeal to FIFA about its ethical conflict, its treatment of migrant workers in the World Cup project, and the rights of women and gays. She is happy, if necessary, to speak candidly to the (mostly male) officials at FIFA rallies and demand that, as football’s leaders, they hold the sport, and themselves, to higher moral and ethical standards.”Politically, it exposed me a little…

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NBA star LeBron James’ son, LeBron James Jr., was rushed to the hospital for intensive care after suffering cardiac arrest during a practice Monday in Los Angeles, a spokesperson for LeBron James and his wife Savannah said in a statement. Young James, known as Bronnie, is currently in stable condition and is no longer in ICU, the statement said.”LeBron and Savannah would like to publicly express their deep gratitude to USC’s medical and athletic staff for their excellent work and dedication to the safety of our athletes,” the statement said.Bronnie James, 18, will be a freshman at the University of…

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At 8 minutes into the final of the CAN 18 football tournament, a player from the Mauritanian team has scored three goals in a row.A ball hitting the goalkeeper’s small net sounds like a cannonball. boom. boom. boom. His last two happen so quickly that many in the crowd miss them.”Did they score?” asked a stunned Ivory Coast fan crushed next to me. “Yes, twice,” the Mauritanian fan across from me happily replied.It doesn’t take long to realize that the soccer tournaments held each year in the 18th arrondissement of Paris are different. The stadium is a small caged grass…

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World Cup co-hosts New Zealand have a chance to take another big step on Tuesday. Days after clinching the team’s first-ever World Cup win, New Zealand knows that a win over the Philippines in Wellington will virtually ensure the team known as the Football Ferns reach the knockout stages for the first time. In other matches on Tuesday, Colombia and South Korea finished last of the 32 teams, while Norway, after losing to New Zealand in their opening match, will try to bounce back against Switzerland.Colombia vs South KoreaColombia had a good run in the Copa America Championship, beating Argentina…

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Hannah Wilkinson after New Zealand’s 1-0 victory over Norway in the Women’s World Cup earned her first win.credit…Andrew Cornaga/Associated PressWorld Cup co-hosts New Zealand have a chance to take another big step on Tuesday. Days after clinching the team’s first-ever World Cup win, New Zealand knows that a win over the Philippines in Wellington will virtually ensure the team known as the Football Ferns reach the knockout stages for the first time. In other matches on Tuesday, Colombia and South Korea finished last of the 32 teams, while Norway, after losing to New Zealand in their opening match, will try…

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Saudi Arabia’s strong attempt to turn its domestic football league into one of the most attractive leagues in the world of sport has already attracted one of the greatest stars of its generation, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema, who reigns as the world’s best player of the year. But those deals pale in comparison to his most ambitious target to date, Kylian Mbappe.Last weekend, one of the Saudi Pro League’s leading teams, Al Hilal, submitted an offer worth $332 million for the French striker to his current side, Paris Saint-Germain. If the deal goes through, Mbappe would be the most…

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Sport is an event that mysteriously transforms human beings. They change people, the people who play it, and the people who watch it. The pandemic has changed sports, and possibly athletes, possibly Aaron Rodgers. Seeking unorthodoxy, he discovered and embraced atrocity. Perhaps a plan to be traded, and abhorred to be worshiped for the pursuit of a true-looking self. People were puzzled by this too. In professional wrestling, this type of made-up cheating is called a heel turn. It’s baffling if you’re doing it wrong.For now, his heels seem to be softening. So what sort of classification makes sense for…

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A month before the biggest track and field event of the year, a dizzying array of fast-paced performances are heating up local and professional competitions.In the spring, the University of Washington track and field team produced eight under-4-minute Milers. In June alone, four high school runners broke that wall in the same race.3 world records on Pro Circuit Shattered within a week in Paris in JuneFaith Kipyegon of Kenya set new records in both the women’s 1,500m and 5,000m, while Ethiopia’s Ramecha Girma set a new record in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.On Friday night, Kipyegon set another record by breaking…

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Last year, just a few weeks after becoming president of the Norwegian Football Federation, Lise Kravenes decided to start speaking the quieter parts out loud.Rising from his seat at the FIFA annual meeting in Qatar, Klavenes deliberately strode onto a dais where officials for the better part of an hour made little more than perfunctory comments about the men’s World Cup in the Gulf nation later that year. There was talk of procedural issues and an update on financial details.Clayvenes, one of the few women in football’s leadership, had a different theme in mind. On issues that have long haunted…

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Australia’s Sam Kerr (left) attends a team training session in Brisbane, Australia on Sunday.credit…Darren England/EPA via ShutterstockAustralia have been tight-lipped about star striker Sam Kerr’s situation this week, but team officials were ruled out of the first two World Cup games last week. calf injury.Australian officials said at the time that Kerr’s injury would be reassessed after Thursday’s group stage second leg, in which they were hopeful of her return to the field.But one of Kerr’s teammates, 21-year-old midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross, caused a stir on Monday when he told reporters at camp in Australia that Kerr was suffering from a…

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