Browsing: display

“What’s the lesson you take away from this? You’re better being lucky than good,” former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart said on BBC Sportsound.

Luck does not last long, though, as Steve Clarke’s side found out against the Greeks in March.

It was a similar story in Athens in the first leg of their Nations League relegation play-off, with Scott McTominay’s first-half penalty earning the Scots a first-leg win.

In the second leg, Clarke’s men were totally outclassed and lost 3-0. Thursday marked the third straight match in which Greece have dominated Scotland.

“We were given a football lesson,” former Scotland defender Willie Miller said. “But we gave a lesson on winning.”

Former Scotland winger Neil McCann added: “Clarke will know that isn’t a vintage Scotland performance, but it was a vintage result.”

Performance aside, with seven points on the board and bottom seeds Belarus to face on Sunday, Clarke’s side have given themselves a great chance of ending the nation’s 27-year World Cup hoodoo.

However, the Scotland boss will be aware that poor displays could catch up on his side. How does he combat that?

Clarke’s Scotland look better when they embrace chaos and do not stand off it, especially in home matches, when they can use a rocking home crowd to their advantage.

For over an hour on Thursday,his team looked like it was playing with the handbrake on against a side ranked 40th in the world, just three places above Scotland.

The Tartan Army will demand a more front-footed approach when Belarus are welcomed to Hampden on Sunday. An expected win in that would put Scotland in a fantastic position.

Clarke will then have a month to address any worries before a potentially tenure-defining camp in November.

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Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, Roberto Clemente … and the Erie Moon Mammoths?

The Minor League Baseball alternate identity cooked up by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver attracted attention from all over the sporting world this summer, and now the team has earned prestige, too. The Erie Moon Mammoths are in the Hall of Fame.

In a manner of speaking, anyway.

Oliver himself has donated a signed Moon Mammoths jersey — the No. 91 uni top he donned on the show and during the Moon Mammoths’ debut on July 19 — and the item is now on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.

Next to the jersey is a placard reading, “On July 19, 2025, the Double-A Erie SeaWolves debuted as the Moon Mammoths. The unusual nickname came about thanks to John Oliver, who chose the club as the winner of a rebranding contest he announced on his HBO show, ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.’ The comedian wore this jersey as he threw the first pitch to honor the club’s alter ego.”

Oliver also donated a signed cap and a Moon Mammoths squishy — the Detroit affiliate’s giveaway item for July 19, at least one of which sold for more than $200 on Ebay the next day.

In another sense, it was an identity over 10,000 years in the making. When announcing the contest, Oliver promised that the rebrand would be done “in the spirit of your team, city and league in which you belong.”

True to his word, Oliver and his team dug into Erie’s local history and discovered a Woolly Mammoth. More specifically, they discovered the discovery of a Woolly Mammoth.

In 1991, an Erie-area citizen named George Moon was scuba diving in nearby Lake Pleasant and discovered the shoulder blade of a wooly mammoth, and 80 percent of that mammoth’s skeleton was recovered. The incident took hold in the imaginations of Oliver and his staff, which unveiled mascot Fuzz E. Mammoth during the on-air announcement. And Oliver’s jersey number — 91 — was inspired by the year of Moon’s mammoth discovery.

During the July 19 debut, Oliver had a hand in just about every aspect of the game experience. In addition to throwing out the first pitch, he worked at a concessions stand, joined the TV broadcast, sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and walked the stands as a vendor.

The rebrand was a mammoth-sized success for the SeaWolves, who suited up as the Moon Mammoths several more times over the course of the season. When “Last Week Tonight” aired its segment on the game, the show revealed that the club sold four years’ worth of merchandise in three weeks’ time.

So, will you be able to catch the Moon Mammoths in action in 2026? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, you can catch them in Cooperstown.

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Pep Guardiola admitted he had no choice but to park the bus against Arsenal, and praised Manchester Cityâ€s defensive resilience despite conceding a late equaliser.

A brilliant lob from the substitute Gabriel Martinelli in the third minute of stoppage time cancelled out Erling Haalandâ€s early strike as Mikel Arteta became the first manager to go five consecutive league games unbeaten against his compatriot. City recorded just 32.8% possession at the Emirates – the lowest in a top-flight match for a team managed by Guardiola – in an uncharacteristically backs-to-the-wall display.

It was not quite enough to secure a first victory against Arsenal since April 2023 but the City manager acknowledged his players showed a different side to their game.

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“Our resilience was fantastic, otherwise we couldnâ€t survive,†Guardiola said. “Last season we lost 5-1; today we were close. Itâ€s by far one of the best teams in Europe. I would prefer to play another way, but when we play a lot of games in 10 years [as City manager], the teams defend deep, deep, deep and take a result of fantastic performance, mindset, strategy … Sometimes it happens. You have to defend, honestly. Itâ€s because the opponent is better. When you have to accept it, you have to survive in that way. And we did it.â€

Asked about the possession statistics, he said: “One time in 10 years is not bad, right? I have to prove myself against another strategy. Now I am a transition team.â€

Having finished as runners-up for the past three seasons, Arsenal are five points behind Liverpool, the league leaders, after five games. Arteta refused to accept criticism over his decision to select Mikel Merino ahead of Eberechi Eze after the England forward came off the bench at half-time and set up the equaliser. But he recognised that service must improve to Viktor Gyökeres, after the new £55m striker did not register a shot during the match.

“To have very big open chances is extremely difficult, but heâ€s certainly trying his best and trying to do that, and we have to provide more for him,†Arteta said. “There were a lot of situations when the chances were there and then especially the final pass was missing today.â€

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