World football mourns Eusébio; Manchester United among FA Cup casualties; Pacquiáo may fight Mayweather
Australia required just three of the allotted five days to put England's demoralised cricketers out of their misery in Sydney, a 281-run victory confirming a 5-0 Ashes clean sweep and closing the book on one of the tourists' most humiliating Test series losses in living memory. Alastair Cook, the England captain who has redefined the art of stoically concealed fury in successive post-match press conferences, refused to quit. "There is anger in me and frustration," Cook said, twitching an eyebrow imperceptibly, "because for whatever reason we haven't played very well and the buck stops with me on that front." The series now moves on to the one-dayers, which if nothing else should allow England to lose in even quicker time.
*Eusébio's legacy will live on*
* *
World football sadly mourned the passing of a player considered to be one of the game's greatest ever, the former Benfica and Portugal striker Eusébio, who died last Sunday aged 71 after suffering a heart attack at home in Lisbon. Born in Mozambique – then a colony of Portugal – Eusébio became the first black African global football star, scoring 679 goals in 678 official games. He will be best remembered for helping Benfica to several European Cup finals in the 1960s and for his wonderful performances in the 1966 World Cup finals in England. Portugal held three days of official mourning.
**United see red in FA Cup**
Ah, the romance of the FA Cup. Third-round weekend failed to disappoint, with Wilfried Bony's late header earning Swansea a famous 2-1 win at Manchester United, for whom a fourth home defeat in a month left their red-faced manager David Moyes looking increasingly like his red-faced predecessor Alex Ferguson. "We feel we have let the manager and the fans and everyone down," said United midfielder Darren Fletcher – omitting to mention, of course, that most of all they had let the whole school down. Elsewhere, League One Sheffield United pulled off a 2-1 win at Aston Villa, and Championship side Nottingham Forest dished out a 5-0 thrashing to Premier League strugglers West Ham.
**Mayweather-Pacquiáo on?*
*
Considered to be the holy grail of modern boxing, a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiáo match-up may finally become reality in 2014. According to YouTube boxing channel 78Sports TV, which has correctly broken news of several big fights in the past, a deal has already been agreed and the fight will take place in September. Pacquiáo, a former champion in eight divisions, has fought back to be the No 1 contender for Mayweather's WBC welterweight title after consecutive defeats by Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Márquez.
Graham Snowdontheguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.
Australia required just three of the allotted five days to put England's demoralised cricketers out of their misery in Sydney, a 281-run victory confirming a 5-0 Ashes clean sweep and closing the book on one of the tourists' most humiliating Test series losses in living memory. Alastair Cook, the England captain who has redefined the art of stoically concealed fury in successive post-match press conferences, refused to quit. "There is anger in me and frustration," Cook said, twitching an eyebrow imperceptibly, "because for whatever reason we haven't played very well and the buck stops with me on that front." The series now moves on to the one-dayers, which if nothing else should allow England to lose in even quicker time.
*Eusébio's legacy will live on*
* *
World football sadly mourned the passing of a player considered to be one of the game's greatest ever, the former Benfica and Portugal striker Eusébio, who died last Sunday aged 71 after suffering a heart attack at home in Lisbon. Born in Mozambique – then a colony of Portugal – Eusébio became the first black African global football star, scoring 679 goals in 678 official games. He will be best remembered for helping Benfica to several European Cup finals in the 1960s and for his wonderful performances in the 1966 World Cup finals in England. Portugal held three days of official mourning.
**United see red in FA Cup**
Ah, the romance of the FA Cup. Third-round weekend failed to disappoint, with Wilfried Bony's late header earning Swansea a famous 2-1 win at Manchester United, for whom a fourth home defeat in a month left their red-faced manager David Moyes looking increasingly like his red-faced predecessor Alex Ferguson. "We feel we have let the manager and the fans and everyone down," said United midfielder Darren Fletcher – omitting to mention, of course, that most of all they had let the whole school down. Elsewhere, League One Sheffield United pulled off a 2-1 win at Aston Villa, and Championship side Nottingham Forest dished out a 5-0 thrashing to Premier League strugglers West Ham.
**Mayweather-Pacquiáo on?*
*
Considered to be the holy grail of modern boxing, a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiáo match-up may finally become reality in 2014. According to YouTube boxing channel 78Sports TV, which has correctly broken news of several big fights in the past, a deal has already been agreed and the fight will take place in September. Pacquiáo, a former champion in eight divisions, has fought back to be the No 1 contender for Mayweather's WBC welterweight title after consecutive defeats by Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Márquez.
Graham Snowdontheguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.