News & Updates

The Olympic Games are just months away but the Great Britain women’s football team are yet to confirm a head coach.

It is not ideal preparation but following Phil Neville’s departure as England coach, the Football Association can finally start making plans.

So what has it done so far? What is the selection criteria for the Team GB squad? And when can we expect it to be announced?

When will the squad be named?

Players from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are available for selection.

The managers who were in charge of all four home nations at the start of 2020 were involved in drawing up a long list of players, which stands at about 50.

Northern Ireland boss Kenny Shiels is the only one of those managers still holding his position. Neville left the Lionesses to join Inter Miami, while former Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr stepped down in December, before Wales’ Jayne Ludlow left by “mutual consent” in January.

That long list is expected to be shortened to a 30-player shortlist in March, before the official squad announcement is made in May.

“It doesn’t mean that when we have that [shortlist in March], somebody can’t drop out,” said Baroness Campbell, the FA’s director of women’s football.

“But it will be a pretty good indicator of the type of player we’re looking for. We will have about 30-32 players, which we’re taking down to about 18.”

How will players be selected?

England interim manager Hege Riise named her first squad on Tuesday for the upcoming friendlies against Northern Ireland and Canada in February.

The selection process for that squad was with Team GB in mind and the FA has pointed out three categories that will be priorities in the summer.

Those include:

• Physical condition – Team GB could play six games in 17 days in Tokyo. The FA is preparing for warm weather, humidity and hectic travelling schedules.
• Mental toughness – focusing on the quick turnaround of games and coping with potential setbacks during the tournament.
• Versatility – juggling a squad of just 18 means selection could depend on players’ ability to operate in several positions.

“People need to be playing week in and week out – that is really important to us,” said Campbell. “If they’re not playing, that conditioning is having to happen away from the games and I think that’s more challenging.

“We need people playing consistently – where they’re getting really good, strong competitive games.”

England midfielder Jill Scott recently joined Everton on loan from Manchester City in search of more game time, while Riise said Arsenal forward Beth Mead’s omission from the England squad had been affected by postponements for her side in the Women’s Super League.

Who will be on the coaching staff?

The biggest question remains – who will be in charge of Team GB?

Neville was set to lead the team before his England departure but his long-term replacement Sarina Wiegman will not join up with the squad until September, after managing current side the Netherlands at the Olympics.

That means interim boss Riise is favourite to lead Team GB and Campbell confirmed she will definitely be part of the coaching staff, though her exact role is yet to be decided.

Assistant Rhian Wilkinson could also be involved, while Northern Ireland boss Shiels and Chelsea manager Emma Hayes are other contenders.

Manchester United manager Casey Stoney has already ruled herself out of the running, saying she has “no intention” of leading Team GB.

Campbell said the head coach decision would be made after this month’s England friendlies.

How will the team prepare?

Unlike world champions the United States, who have had several international camps and will be competing at the SheBelieves Cup in February, the Great Britain squad will not get together until weeks before the tournament.

The FA says two training camps are already planned for and a friendly is in the calendar.

“Obviously, heat training is going to be a big part of that because we’re going to go into a very warm climate and a very humid climate and the players are going to be expected to play six games in 17 days, which is going to be incredibly challenging,” said Campbell.

The Olympic Games are set to start on 23 July and run to 8 August.

MLB released its COVID-19-influenced health and safety protocols for the 2021 season on Tuesday, rules and regulations that have been agreed to by the MLBPA, too.

Most of the bullet points have to do with the dos and don’ts of player behavior, such as where they can eat on the road — outside seating only at restaurants within walking distance of a hotel, for example — and quarantine procedures for spring training. 

MORE: Spring training report dates for all 30 MLB teams

Instead of copying and pasting everything from the release (which you can read here, if you’d like), here are five “highlights” we found most interesting. 

1. Facemask Enforcement Officers are a thing

Here’s the way it’s worded in MLB’s release: “Face coverings must be properly worn at all times when in Club facilities and in the dugout, other than for players on the field during a game or during pre-game warmups. Each club will appoint at least one Facemask Enforcement Officer and automatic fines will be issued for non-compliance during games, with fines collected donated to charity.”

This is a good thing. A very, very good thing. Wear your damn masks, players. And if you can’t be responsible enough to wear a mask in an effort to protect other players and team personnel, then you should get fined. Absolutely, 100 percent.

I, of course, had questions about exactly how this would work for the FEO, so I reached out to MLB. From MLB’s manual on the subject:

2. Magical runners are back!

As was the case in the 2020 season, every extra inning will start with runners on second. This isn’t necessarily a COVID precaution, but a pitcher-safety precaution. The sport is going from a season of 60 games to a season of 162 games, and there are legitimate concerns about how that much longer of a season will affect pitchers. Too many extra innings could increase the workload on pitching staffs, and that’s seen as unnecessary. So, magically, runners will appear on second base starting in the 10th inning with a goal of avoiding any marathon-type games.

3. Seven-inning games are back!

All double-headers will be seven innings each, for basically the same reasons as the extra-innings rule. The goal is to limit the number of potential innings each day. This is reasonable. 

4. Three outs per inning is optional this spring

For games scheduled between Feb. 27 to March 13, the manager of the team in the field can end an inning early, as long as 20 pitches have been thrown. The idea behind this, again, is pitcher safety. If a pitcher is scheduled to throw 20 pitches in a game as part of his training program and he gets to that 20-pitch limit with no outs, two runners on and three runs already in, and the manager doesn’t have anyone ready to go, the manager can just end the inning. Spring training, especially the early games, is about preparing the players to be ready for Opening Day, and having a pitcher throw 30 pitches instead of 20 could invite injury. Having to rush a reliever into action mid-inning instead of starting with the clean inning also could invite injury. It’s just not important, especially early in the spring. 

Also, there’s this: 

5. Another neutral-site October? 

From The Athletic: “With the consent of the MLBPA (which shall not be unreasonably withheld), MLB also has the right to conduct some or all of the 2021 postseason in neutral sites (including other clubs’ home ballparks), or to delay the start of the postseason in order to reschedule championship season games following the completion of the championship season.”

The word “unreasonably” allows for a fair amount of interpretation, doesn’t it? It’s impossible to know what things will be like in October, but it’s reasonable to guess that — hopefully — things could be approaching some semblance of normalcy. Two vaccines have already been approved and are being distributed, and Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine appears to be on the near horizon. If most of the country is vaccinated by August, it stands to reason that teams could host playoff games with fans in the stands (capacity would depend on local rules, of course). 

So maybe this is just MLB giving itself an out should things take an unexpected turn. Considering what’s happened in the past year, that’s smart. Could be that MLB loved 2020’s neutral-site playoffs and wants to make that happen again if at all possible. Logistically, having predetermined sites certainly would be easier for MLB. We’ll see how that works out. 

Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who currently holds titles at 130 and 135 pounds, has indicated both that his recent hand injury from sparring is a non-issue, and that he’s looking at a June return.

On Twitter, he posted X-rays of the hands:

And on Instagram, a quick “June” post:

Davis (24-0, 23 KO) has the WBA’s secondary “world” (regular) title at 135 pounds, and the “super world” title at 130, winning the latter when he knocked out Leo Santa Cruz last October.

There had been talk of him fighting Ryan Garcia, but that has cooled considerably, which frankly probably isn’t a surprise to many boxing fans. If it’s not Garcia or one of the other top young lightweights — titlists Teofimo Lopez or Devin Haney — Davis will, of course, have other options. Probably none as exciting, but other options.

For what it’s worth, the WBA’s top 10 contenders at junior lightweight are Chris Colbert, Xavier Martinez, Rene Alvarado, Abraham Nova, Kenichi Ogawa, Andrew Cancio, Pablo Vicente, Claudio Marrero, Anthony Cacace, and Jaime Arboleda. The most intriguing fight there is Colbert, and that could be a doable fight.

The WBA’s top 10 contenders at lightweight are Rolando Romero (interim champ), Vasiliy Lomachenko, Jorge Linares, Isaac Gonzalez (who is fighting March 13), Robert Easter Jr (supposedly fighting Feb. 20), Jackson Marinez (fighting Feb. 13), James Tennyson, Oliver Flores, Josh O’Reilly (which is an absurd ranking), and Michel Rivera.

If I had to put odds on any of these fighters being Davis’ next opponent, it gets tough, because he probably wants to fight on pay-per-view, and there’s not a single pay-per-view caliber opponent there besides Lomachenko, who is with Top Rank.

Posted on 02/09/2021

By: Sean Crose

First he was going to fight UFC star Conor McGregor. Then he was going to fight rising star Ryan Garcia. It’s now unclear who the 40+ year old legend Manny Pacquiao will face next – but the Filipino icon has indicated via social media that he will be returning to the ring sooner rather than later. “Training camp has begun,” Pacquiao tweeted on Tuesday. “I’m ready to get back in the ring and to further add to my legacy in the sport of boxing. Big news coming soon.” One is left to wonder what the big news is.

With McGregor losing disastrously to Dustin Poirier at a huge UFC event last month and talk of a Ryan Garcia fight cooling down, perhaps only true insiders know who Pacquio’s next opponent will be. There’s plenty of opponents out there – as, even in the twilight of his career, Pacqiuao is still one of the top draws in combat sports. There’s welterweight titlists like Errol Spence and Terence Crawford to choose from. There’s also high end names like Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, and (interestingly) Shawn Porter undoubtedly available. And then, of course there’s the aforementioned McGregor and Ryan Garcia. Both men would clearly be happy to share the ring with the fighter nicknamed “PacMan.”

In truth, the 42 year old future Hall of Famer hasn’t been in the ring since 2019. That most likely has to do with the Covid Pandemic, which has closed or slowed down endeavors throughout the globe over the last year. Pacquiao’s last fight was in summer 2019, when he stunned a whole lot of people by besting younger defending WBA titlist Keith Thurman in impressive fashion. Before that, Pacquiao had bested another younger fighter of note – Adrien Broner. All of this has added to the story of a fan friendly late career resurrection for a fighter many considered past the point of notable wins.

Pacquiao’s first professional fight went down 26 years ago this past January. Since that time he’s gone on to win major titles in eight divisions, a surprising record even in this day and age. What’s more, the man has earned well over half a billion dollars over the course of his long career. Throw in the fact that he’s a sitting senator in his homeland and it’s clear that Pacquiao is one of the most notable participants in one of the world’s most notable sports. With that in mind, it’s hard not to assume that Pacquiao’s career is closing in on its inevitable end. That makes any ring related news from Pacqiuao major news to the boxing world.