Mamadou Sakho says his drugs ban was the reason he was not selected for France s Euro 2016 squad.
The defender tested positive for the fat burner higenamine in April last year and was handed a 30-day suspension, although it has since transpired that the substance was not on WADA s banned list.
Sakho, who is on loan at Crystal Palace from Liverpool, missed the Europa League final due to his ban and believes he would have been picked for Euro 2016 were it not for the suspension.
I worked so hard to prepare myself for the European Championship, to help my country, to wear the France shirt in a tournament on home soil, Sakho told the Guardian. Now I ll never do that.
Whatever they say or do, they cannot replace what they took away from me. My lawyer …
Spain midfielder Santi Cazorla said on Friday he sees Sunday s Euro 2008 final against Germany as too close to call, telling reporters there s no favourite.
The 23-year-old Villarreal star was a surprise inclusion in the squad of coach Luis Aragones. But he has seized his chances, coming off the bench in four games to take his cap tally to six and getting two-and-three-quarter hours of action.
Cazorla says that the 3-0 destruction of Russia in the semis gave the team a great feeling but that the squad say they know they have achieved nothing yet.
We celebrated but remained calm. Because we have a match to play Sunday, he noted candidly, both feet planted firmly on the ground.
Now we re going to stay and rest up in the hotel. We have to retain our en…
Manchester United completed the signing of Harry Maguire from Leicester for £80million on this day in 2019.
The England international, then 26, signed a six-year contract at Old Trafford with the option of a further year in a deal that involved a world-record fee for a defender.
Maguire was strongly linked with both Manchester clubs but Leicester held out for their valuation and the fee surpassed the £75million Liverpool paid Southampton for Virgil van Dijk in January 2018.
Maguire told United’s official website: “I am delighted to have signed for this great club. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Leicester and would like to thank everyone at the club, and the fans, for their fantastic support over the past two seasons.
“However, when Mancheste…
The touchdown market has become one of the most popular and potentially profitable props in the NFL betting world. Each week, we’re going to throw down three to four units as we try to uncover some of the best weekly NFL TD props and dig into the matchups that surround them.
We learned something in Week 3: picking four square TD props is hard to come out even on. We went 1-3 SU for -1.95u last week but had two players lead their teams in receiving yards yet fail to score. TD props are hard to hit, so finding value and the best price is very important in the long haul. Onto Week 4.
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With a record 31.4 million Americans expected to bet on tonight’s Big Game, the best Super Bowl bonuses continue to roll in. FOX Bet has put its best foot forward with a simple offer any sports bettor can appreciate — a $5 free bet for new and existing customers.
Here’s everything you need to know about FOX Bet’s free Super Bowl 56 bet.
How to claim a $5 free bet from FOX Bet
Claim FOX Bet’s Super Bowl promo here if you are located in Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania. If you are registering an account with FOX Bet for the first time, be prepared to share some personal information and confirm your location before gaining access to the free wager.
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Super Bowl betting is a weird and wild two-week wait until the Big Game, with the odds analyzed and over-analyzed by just about every bettor with a dollar to burn. The most important action, however, shows up in the first few hours after the Super Bowl odds hit the board.
If we look at the past 15 Big Games, the early action and initial line move has been on the right side of the Super Bowl odds in 11 of those contests. So pay close attention to the opening spread and where that bad boy moves first.
If you’re looking to take the fight to the bookies for one last time this football season, make sure you get the best odds for your opinion on either the Eagles or Chiefs. Here are the Super Bowl odds to bet now, and the odds to bet later.
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The New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars kick off NFL Week 7 odds in the Thursday Night Football spotlight, but Trevor Lawrence’s knee injury at the weekend has brought some gloom, with the NFL odds in limbo.
Lawrence hasn’t missed a game since being drafted by the Jaguars and the smart money says he’ll be under center, but his health for this showdown has removed a little of the gloss for a Jacksonville team riding a three-game win streak and sitting at 4-2.
After playing four of their first six games on the road, the Saints are an uneven 3-3 but they’ll still be one of the more popular NFL picks this week as the tiniest of home favorites in our Thursday Night Football odds.
If the Lawrence uncertainty steers …
It’s a classic Week 18 NFL odds battle between Sam Darnold and Carson Wentz as a pair of playoff-bound NFC West teams wrap up the regular season with the San Francisco 49ers sitting as a 4-point favorite vs. the visiting Rams, who are content sitting every important starter.
The 49ers have the No.1 seed in the NFC locked up but with the bye looming, Kyle Shanahan is giving many of his key starters some early snaps which is why the 49ers to cover the first half has become a very popular bet for a wild Week 18 slate.
I break down the Week 18 NFL odds and offer my free NFL picks for Rams at 49ers on Sunday, January 7.
Rams vs 49ers odds
Rams vs 49ers predictions
It’s a play…
It was a wild Week 2 in the National Football League as we saw plenty of upsets, plenty of long-scoring plays, and nearly 4,000 people knocked out of the $1 million Circa Survivor pool after the 1:00 p.m. batch of games. The point-spread picks fared slightly better, but only just.
This week, there are just two spreads bigger than a touchdown, with seven of the remaining 14 games sitting at a field goal or less.
If you’re looking to pad the lead or get back into the race for your season-long office pool, I give you my NFL picks against the spread for Week 3.
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Millie Chandarana has come a long way since that rather unfortunate day when she had a trial for the boys’ school team. “I was eight years old and I scored a goal from the halfway line … but into the wrong net,” she says, laughing. “Afterwards my teacher told me I was good enough to join the local girls’ team but not the boys’ team just yet.”
Chandarana did not let that mishap deter her. Only a few months later she had convinced the coach for the boys’ team at school that she was good enough to play with them. The rest, as they say, is history and she now plays for UPC Tavagnacco in Italy.
The midfielder is one of few British Asian women – or men – who has made it to the top in football but she…