Jack Flaherty escapes a bases-loaded jam in the 1st
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11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What Luke Beveridge thinks about Chris Grant's no-show
There's long been rumours of a rift, but Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says it would have been great to acknowledge Chris Grant's contribution to the club at Monday night's gala celebration. The Bulldogs named their five greatest players at Monday's gala, with Ted Whitten coming in at No.1, ahead of current captain Marcus Bontempelli, Grant, Gary Dempsey and Doug Hawkins. Grant was a notable absentee from the celebrations, with the Bulldogs great still reportedly feeling wounded from his sudden exit from the club eight months ago. 25 of the greatest all together. ❤️ — Western Bulldogs (@westernbulldogs) July 21, 2025 The 52-year-old, who played 341 games for the Bulldogs, was in the director of football role before leaving abruptly in November last year following a reported falling out with Beveridge. It ended Grant's 30-year association with the Bulldogs. Grant has remained silent about the issue that resulted in him leaving, with the club great keen to avoid adding fuel to the fire. Beveridge addressed Grant's absence from the gala when questioned about it during his weekly press conference on Thursday. "It would have been great to have Chris there, for him, especially when you consider the impact he's had on our football club," Beveridge said. "Even in the struggling times when the club wasn't financial and our survival was questioned, Granty was a critical figure on the playing field and through that journey to show his loyalty. "So it would have been great to have been able to acknowledge Chris as part of that recognised 25, but unfortunately he wasn't there. "It didn't diminish the celebration, we celebrated everyone that was there."The ninth-placed Bulldogs (10-8) will be aiming to keep their finals hopes alive when they take on struggling Essendon (6-11) at Marvel Stadium on Friday night. This week's re-signing of Bontempelli until the end of 2029 has given the Bulldogs a pep in their step, and the skipper used the moment to signal his wish for Port Adelaide star Zak Butters to join him at the kennel. Butters, who grew up a Bulldogs fan, will become a free agent at the end of 2026, and Beveridge doesn't mind his players doing their utmost to lure rival stars their way. "I can't stop our players from talking about who they'd love to have as teammates," Beveridge said. "But I've got a personal approach to it. I spoke about Matt Rowell the other week because I knew he was going to re-sign at Gold Coast. "So it wasn't like a public overture. As far as a player like Zak, who every club has a great opinion of, I don't want to be over the top with anything in regards to him. "He's still contracted, so the ball's in Port Adelaide's court."
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Indian football 'hurt, scared' as domestic game hits fresh low
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter once called India a "sleeping giant" of football, but the sport is mired in fresh crisis in the country and faces problems from the top down to grassroots. The men's national team are without a coach and the Indian Super League (ISL) -- India's top competition -- is in danger of collapsing over a dispute between the federation and its commercial partner. "Everybody in the Indian football ecosystem is worried, hurt, scared about the uncertainty we are faced with," Sunil Chhetri, the celebrated veteran striker, wrote on X about the fate of the ISL. The former national skipper unwittingly summed up one of the issues facing Indian football when he came out of international retirement in March aged 40. The striker has 95 goals for his country and is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (138), Lionel Messi (112) and Ali Daei (108) in the all-time international scoring charts. His best days are well behind him, but with no younger replacements coming through he returned to the national side. India's men are 133rd in the FIFA rankings -- their lowest placing in nearly a decade -- and have won just one of their last 16 matches. They have never reached the World Cup and Spaniard Manolo Marquez stepped down this month as head coach after just one year and one win in eight games. His last act was to oversee a 1-0 defeat in Asian Cup qualifying to Hong Kong, population 7.5 million to India's 1.4 billion. - Disarray - The ISL is usually played between September and April. But a rights agreement between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the company which runs the ISL, ends on December 8 and is yet to be renewed. The league is now paralysed ahead of the new campaign and the uncertainty has affected over 5,000 players, coaches, staff and others. National football team director and former captain Subrata Paul is confident the sport in India -- a country obsessed with cricket -- will come out stronger. "Indian football, like any growing ecosystem, will face its share of challenges and transitions," Paul, regarded as one of India's best-ever goalkeepers, told AFP. "I see this as a time to pause, reflect and refocus. Yes, the recent results and the uncertainty around the ISL are difficult for all of us who love the game, but I see a silver lining as well. "It's an opportunity to strengthen our foundation by investing in youth development, infrastructure and quality coaching." The franchise-based ISL started in 2014 as a league that brought global stars including Italy's Alessandro Del Piero to India, and aimed to promote the game in a new avatar. Bur rather than boom, the ISL has seen dwindling TV ratings and falling sponsor interest. - Wenger help and hope - Football's global bosses have long been keen to tap the potential that India has as the world's most populous country. Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and now FIFA's chief of global football development, visited in 2023 to inaugurate an academy. AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey -- who is also a politician with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party -- last month met Wenger, who has backed India's football development, particularly at grassroots level. Chaubey said Wenger believes starting football at 13 years of age, as is the norm in India, is too late. Players should start by eight, he said. While India have never reached the World Cup and again will be absent in North America next year, there has been modest success in the distant past. India qualified for the Olympics four times between 1948 and 1960. At the 1956 Melbourne Games India came fourth after losing the bronze-medal match to Bulgaria. Blatter in 2007 called India a "sleeping giant" -- but it remains in a deep slumber. - 'Own benefit' - Football is a distant third in popularity in India after cricket and hockey, with the eastern city of Kolkata and the southern state of Kerala hotspots for the sport. Compounding that, there has long been mismanagement by Indian football chiefs, said veteran sports journalist Jaydeep Basu. "The fact that the team which was ranked 99 in September 2023 has come down to 133 basically shows poor management," Basu told AFP. "There is a caucus working in the AIFF of two or three people who are running the show for their own benefit," added Basu, who recently authored a book, "Who stole my football?". AFP has contacted the AIFF for comment. fk/abh/pst
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
MLS, playing without Messi, beats Liga MX 3-1 in All-Star Game
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sam Surridge, Tai Baribo and Brian White scored goals and Major League Soccer defeated Liga MX of Mexico 3-1 in the MLS All-Star Game on Wednesday night. Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammate, Jordi Alba, both face possible league suspensions for their team's next match against Cincinnati on Saturday for missing the All-Star game. Liga MX's James Rodríguez also chose not to play in the game played in front of more than 20,000 fans at Q2 Stadium. MLS has defeated Liga MX three times in four tries. Last year Liga MX won 4-1 in Columbus, Ohio. The MLS All-Stars won in 2022 and beat Liga MX on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw a year prior. Messi has yet to appear in an MLS All-Star Game. He missed the game last year with an injury. Messi is tied with Nashville's Surridge for the MLS lead in goals with 18. Surridge scored another goal on Wednesday, from the middle of the box, heading in to the lower right corner a ball directed by LAFC's Denis Bouanga in the 28th minute. The opportunity developed after Bouanga had a point-blank attempt stopped by Liga MX goalkeeper Luis Malagon (Club America). Bouanga hustled to retrieve the long rebound and sent it to Surridge. Before the goal, both teams had attempts rejected with diving stops by Luis Malagón and Austin FC's Brad Stuver in the 13th and 18th minutes. MLS went ahead 2-0 in the 51st minute when Diego Rossi (Columbus) passed ahead to Baribo (Philadelphia), whose right footed shot from the center of the box made it to the lower left corner of the goal. Liga MX closed the gap to 2-1 just 13 minutes later when Gilberto Mora (Club Tijuana) converted a pass from Elias Montiel (Pachuca) from the middle of the box. Liga MX's bid to tie the match was snubbed when a shot by Diber Cambindo (Necaxa) was stopped by Yohei Takaoka (Vancouver) in the 75th minute. White (Vancouver) finished the scoring in the 80th minute. Up next MLS and Liga MX continue their rivalry with the Leagues Cup that begins on July 29 and concludes Aug. 31. The competition features a new format, with all 18 clubs from Liga MX and the top 18 from MLS competing. Last year all 47 clubs from the two leagues were included. ___ AP soccer: Mark Rosner, The Associated Press
