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The Liverpool defender missed most of Thursday's preparations ahead of the friendly against Norway with an infected toe, with the Manchester United forward also sitting out.
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| Celtic clinched the Scottish Premier League title in style on Saturday, thrashing Kilmarnock 6-0 to reclaim the championship from fierce rival Rangers with a month of the season remaining. Neil Lennon's side needed a point at Rugby Park to claim a first title since 2008 -- and 43rd overall -- and a double from Charlie Mulgrew and other first-half goals by Glenn Loovens and Gary Hooper ensured... |
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Former England manager Glenn Hoddle has said he is available to lead his country again on a caretaker basis at this year's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. Hoddle, 54, was last in charge of England in 1998 but lost the job after the Football Association dismissed...
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| Former England manager Glenn
Hoddle is interested in leading his country again on a caretaker
basis at the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine.
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Once you take the lockout's chunk out of his 2011-12 paycheck, Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans is making just $3.35 million this season. Milwaukee Bucks point man Brandon Jennings is making even less, at around $2.1 million. Quite a hefty haul, for you and I, but that's pretty slim takings by NBA standards; Jennings even plays for less than half of the league's average salary. It's because they're on rookie-deal contracts, scaled out to them when they entered the NBA in 2009, put in place to counter the outrageous demands of players like Glenn Robinson and Jim Jackson when they entered the NBA (ready to feel old?) nearly 20 years ago.
For their production, it's quite the bargain for Sacramento and Milwaukee. It's also why you don't see many young players (unless their name is "Charlie Villanueva") being dealt to other teams while they're still under their rookie deals. It's also why we have no idea why the Kings and Bucks are apparently shopping the youngsters in anticipation of this Thursday's trade deadline .
Not because we're incredibly bullish on either player's game. Jennings has improved by a good margin in his third NBA season, but it's taken this long for him to average 40 percent shooting from the floor, and he's firing over six three-pointers a game despite shooting just 33.7 percent from long range. Evans enjoyed a nice milestone in his rookie season as he averaged 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game; but he's made some poor choices off the court, and he seems to be lost on the court at times if he's not allowed to completely dominate the ball as he did during that rookie season. Still, what are you going to get for them in return, at their limited price?
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| The Calgary Flames' third period tie-breaking goal against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night was an odd one.
Olli Jokinen drove in against the Wild defense, his shot blocked by Steve Kampfer, who lost his stick. Tom Gilbert of the Wild tried to clear the puck from the end boards, but it hit that aforementioned stick and went to Jarome Iginla. As the puck bounced, the Flames captain tried to fire a shot on net … failing epically, as he fell to the ice during his awkward one-timer. But since he's Jarome Iginla, even the worst shot can end up being the best pass:
Curtis Glencross' 25th of the season, from Iginla, gave the Flames a 3-2 lead, which became 4-2 just over four minutes later as Jokinen scored. Calgary won the game, 4-3.
So what did Iggy think of his pass? From the Calgary Herald:
"That was nice, eh?" deadpanned Iginla. "I was about to shoot, then, at the last second, I saw him, so I fanned on it."
Then the Flames captain cracked up. "That was a pretty good break," said Iginla. "I was trying to shoot that, fell on my face, and it went right over to him, right in his wheelhouse. I can't claim I meant to do that at all."
When is an NHL player just going to claim a fortunate blooper was a set play? Because if it's Iginla, we're all liable to buy it. |
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Via Chris Gansen: "Jeff Carter, right after Joey MacDonald made a super ugly but athletic save. Priceless LA feed screenshot."
No. 1 Star: Alex Tanguay, Calgary Flames
The Flames winger had a 4-point night in Calgary's 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. He picked up secondary helpers on goals by Mark Giordano and Matt Stajan (!); a primary assist on Curtis Glenncross's third-period goal; and scored a huge insurance goal in the second period, his 11th of the season. Tanguay now has 13 points in his last 8 games.
No. 2 Star: Johnny Oduya, Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks defenseman helped lead a Chicago rally to a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers. Oduya assisted on Andrew Shaw's second-period goal, using a nasty deke on Artem Anisimov at the blue line to open a shooting lane for a tip-in. In the third, his slapper beat Henrik Lundqvist 1:02 after Patrick Sharp scored to tie the game.
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| The Blues boss believes the right back must improve to beat competition from Tottenham’s Kyle Walker & Liverpool’s Glen Johnson, while the Italian coach targets enhanced away form |
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| Midfielder Ricardo Clark scored
a 97th minute header to give the United States a 1-0 win over
Venezuela in an international friendly match in Glendale,
Arizona on Saturday.
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| The England international has defended his decision to wear his pro-Suarez t-shirt in the warm-up against Wigan on Wednesday night but Paul McGrath believes he was wrong to do so |
