We quizzed about a dozen Essendon supporters outside the MCG if they wanted James Hird to return as coach. Their answers differed vastly to our poll findings.

British Airways Cancellation Policy: A Complete Guide for Travelers by FlyAirlinesPolicy Things do not always go as planned when you travel. A trip might have to change because of a sudden event, a new plan, or just because you feel like it. That is why it helps to know about an airline’s cancellation rules. If you understand them, you can save both your money and your time. At...

Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey will not play in his team's World Cup opener Wednesday after Canada denied his visa application while he awaits trial in London on multiple charges of rape. FIFA said Friday in a statement that the 32-year-old Partey wont be able to travel from his team's base camp in Smithfield, Rhode Island, for Ghana's opening match with Panama in Toronto. "His visa application has been refused by the Canadian government," the governing body of world soccer said. "FIFA is not involved in the immigration processes of host countries, including the adjudication of visas. As with previous FIFA events, the host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and is admitted into the country." Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Nor did the Ghana soccer association. Partey was traveling back to Ghana's base camp in Rhode Island after his visa denial. He will be able to play June 23 when Ghana plays England in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Ghana concludes group play June 27 against Croatia in Philadelphia. Partey is scheduled to stand trial in November or later on allegations dating to his time with English club Arsenal from 2020-25. Partey, who now plays in Spain for Villarreal, has pleaded not guilty. A second World Cup player, Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi, is awaiting trial on similar charges in Paris. Ghana is making its fifth appearance in the last six World Cups. Reporting by the Associated Press.

SportsLine's Jon Eimer reveals his Paraguay vs. USA best bets for World Cup 2026 action on Friday

Constant rains throughout the week have postponed a weekend boxing match.Originally scheduled for Saturday, June 13, the Rumble on the River boxing match is going to be pushed back several months. The new date is now Saturday, Sept. 19 at Sparrowhawk.With already high and muddy water on the Illinois River, more rain is expected to hit Cherokee County, Thursday, June 11 at night and Friday, June 12, in the morning.The event was scheduled to be headlined by local boxers from Booyah Boxing: Phoenix LaRoque and Isaiah Ruiz.Ruiz was set to fight Josue Mendoza Ortiz from Liberty, Kansas. LaRoque was set to fight Josue Hernandez from Tulsa. But with the move, the card is subject to change.This marks the second straight weekend the Booyah Boxing duo has had an event moved. Last Saturday, June 6, the pair was supposed to be involved in the Oklahoma Junior Olympics, but that was also pushed back to September due to a lack of officials.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson emphasized his belief in De'Aaron Fox on the heels of his rough showing in Game 4.

Lalas, who played 96 times for his country, is one of the network's main analysts for the tournament, but he could find himself in hot water on just the second day after his remarkable faux-pas.

Sitting among a pint-raising crowd at a Manhattan soccer bar on the first day of the World Cup, George Carson described himself as a huge soccer fan who hopes to catch all 104 games of the global tournament.But on Saturday?We got to watch the Knicks, he said. In most nations hosting the World Cup, soccer is a fixation. But with the New York Knicks holding a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals against San Antonio and one win from their first title since 1973, attention is surely going to be split this weekend. The Knicks can clinch with a victory in Game 5 on Saturday night. Tipoff will come shortly after Brazil and Morocco wrap a World Cup match in New Jersey, and it will directly overlap with a showdown between Scotland and Haiti.I want to watch all the World Cup games, but for us, the Knicks is still a priority, the 38-year-old Carson said while he and a friend viewed the World Cup opening ceremony at The Football Factory at Legends, a soccer bar near Madison Square Garden. Ill probably catch the (soccer) recap after.The Knicks have gripped New York, but even some diehard fans already have divided attention. Hours before sitting courtside for the Knicks' historic Game 4 rally at MSG, film director Spike Lee was clad in green and gold for a visit to Brazil's training facility in New Jersey on Wednesday.Brazil plays Morocco in its opener at East Rutherford, New Jersey, at 6 p.m., a match slated to end about 30 minutes before the NBA game starts in Texas. Scotland-Haiti in Massachusetts starts at 9 p.m.The Football Factory has 20 screens, enough to satisfy all fandoms.I hope they put it to bed Saturday night, so we can just say, well done, Knicks. Have your parade, and thats it. Now we can concentrate on the soccer," said Jack Keane, the Irishman who owns The Football Factory. Keane's bar hosts supporters groups from Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Leeds and AC Milan. He estimated more than 2,000 people come through his bar on Wednesday night, when the Knicks won Game 4.The Knicks crowd was the same as the Champions League final crowd," he said.Keane's bar was charging a $20 cover, with one drink included, for the Mexico-South Africa opener.A 10-minute walk south and east, fans also were lined up to enter Smithfield Hall, which hosts the supporters clubs of Manchester United, West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Roma and Marseille.Usually for American sports, because theyre longer, people dont like to stand, said Kieron Slattery, an Irishman who is Smithfield's co-owner. For the Knicks right now, theyre standing. Its like a soccer game atmosphere.Most of the fans watching Thursday were New Yorkers, many of them originally from elsewhere. Ryan Cole, a 44-year-old from Britain's Southampton who has lived in New York for a dozen years, wore an England jersey and hopes to come up with a ticket for The Three Lions' group-stage game against Panama on June 27. His grandfather, William Cole, was an English League linesman he has a program with the grandpa's name from a Manchester-Chelsea match in 1952.You just see a wave of jerseys everywhere, which is amazing, he said of the soccer kits and Knicks gear. Its just amazing to be in New York all the time, but now in particular with the Knicks, with the World Cup, with summer, couldn't be happier.One of his friends, 46-year-old Joel Ramirez, is a New York transplant from Dallas with Mexican parents. During the 2022 World Cup, he watched games at different ethnic restaurants that had ties to a team involved in the match, such as Brooklyn's Sunset Park for Mexico. He thinks the soccer supporters will have greater numbers in the bars Saturday than Knicks fans.There's going to be pound for pound a lot more football fans in the city, he said. I'll be watching both."New York City soccer bars open early on weekends for fans to watch lunchtime matches in England and Europe. The World Cup is different."When you look at the Premier League, its a niche market, still. Theres people who watch it, people who dont, Keane said. The World Cup is the big one. Its the big party. Everyones got a shirt in the closet. Everyones going to claim either their own identity or a parent or a grandparent, get on the bandwagon.___AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty pointed to the fans filling up Sutter Health Park before the Athletics took on the New York Yankees in a recent series, including several wearing jerseys with Sacramento on the front.A region that has often been considered minor league in comparison to bigger California markets like the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego is relishing its role as a way station for the vagabond As and hopes one day to have a Major League Baseball team to call its own to go along with the NBAs Kings.It would mean everything, McCarty said. I think weve always fancied ourselves as a big league city. Having a team here in Sacramento would mean a lot to our city, bring a lot of economic groups to both sides of the river.The region is making what it has dubbed the Sacramento Pitch to be considered for expansion, announcing late last month a commitment of $1 billion in public funding and nearly $800 million more in private investment to the effort. There are still major parts missing in the plan. Most notably, the search for a lead investor to own the team has just started with several candidates expressing interest. There's also uncertainty about if and when MLB plans to expand, and where Sacramento stands on the list of possible candidates.What we have is just only one major league team here. So we have definitely room for having another team," West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero said. We have a strong media market, the population is growing. We have a good economic growth here as well. We have the potential to develop a strong market for a Major League Baseball team here."Sacramento has one major team in US's 20th biggest marketSacramento is the 20th biggest television market in the country and is the largest with only one team in either MLB, the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS and WNBA. There are about 2.7 million people in the metropolitan area that is still viewed by some as an offshoot of the more glamorous San Francisco Bay area.The region is getting a trial run as a major league city as the temporary home of the As, who are playing their second of three planned seasons in West Sacramento after leaving Oakland and waiting for their new stadium to be built in Las Vegas. The A's are set to play one more season here before the move, and the team is already playing two series this week in the Las Vegas area.Attendance has risen from 9,487 fans per game last season to 10,820 through 28 home dates this season, with 12 announced sellouts in a ballpark that can fit a little more than 12,000 fans a game. But local officials are confident a full-time team would have even more support at a new stadium built right next door to the existing Triple-A park.From our perspective, landing Major League Baseball is really a market demonstration statement about who we are, said Barry Broome, the President and CEO of Greater Sacramento Economic Council. We do love baseball. Everybody deep down inside prays well get a phone call from (A's owner) John Fisher and he says, Psych, Im staying.' No one wants to admit they pray for that every day. But we love the Athletics. Itd be awesome, but we didnt. Theyre going to Vegas, so we have to bring in our own team which is fine with us. Sacramento has $1.8 billion in commitments for a new stadiumThe group in Sacramento has raised $800 million in land near the current minor league ballpark and private investment and has access to $1 billion in public funding that comes mostly from property taxes in the area.While economists have expressed doubts about the value of public investment into stadiums and McCarty himself voted against funding Sacramento's NBA arena when he was on the city council, he believes this plan makes more sense. That was more of an impact on the general fund, he said of the plan that led to building Golden 1 Center that opened in downtown Sacramento in 2016. This one I think is the fairest deal for taxpayers and partners to do big projects that we have on the books.There's no timeline yet for MLB expansionMLB's first priority is negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the union. Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week that MLB has told interested cities that a decision on whether to expand won't come until the CBA is complete. Among the other cities vying for a team if it does happen are Charlotte, North Carolina; Montreal; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; and Salt Lake City. Sacramento's biggest competition would likely be the other cities out West.I think the size and scope of the market is really our key advantage, Broome said. Weve also demonstrated we have a turnkey stadium deal now. That can happen under the mayor and the city managers signature. We dont have to pass a bond or anything like that. It took us four months to raise $800 million. I think people underestimate Sacramento. Theres a lot of money in this town. There is a lot economic power in this town. We can do this.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb