success

After guiding Dungannon to their first-ever Irish Cup success last season, plus securing a top-six place in the league and European football, Swifts manager Rodney McAree does not give the impression of a man who is happy to rest on his laurels.

The Stangmore club’s 4-3 penalty shootout win over Cliftonville in the showpiece decider at Windsor Park last May sparked huge celebrations among all connected with the county Tyrone outfit.

Now the Dungannon boss is eyeing a possible retention of the trophy as his side prepare to begin the defence of the cup at home to Championship side Ards on Saturday.

“It’s exciting, it’s strange times for Dungannon Swifts to be going in as holders of the cup,” said McAree.

“We look forward to it, it’s going to be a challenging game, a difficult match, but one that we believe we can win, and we want to progress and we want to try and start to dream again.

“We’ll embrace the challenge. To win it last year was unbelievable, remarkable, but we want to try and do it again.

“Once you taste that level of success then you want to taste it a lot more than we have done in the past. We won the League Cup in 2018 and when you achieved that the next thing you wanted to win was the Irish Cup.”

Barcelona begin the defence of their Spanish Super Cup crown against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said that retaining the Spanish Super Cup this week would be a boost for his team’s other ambitions this season.

The record 15-time champions face Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday in a semifinal clash at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Barca won the competition last season as the first part of a domestic treble, the first triumph of Flick’s reign, followed by triumphs in La Liga and the Copa del Rey.

“This tournament is a little bit different [to the equivalent competition] in Germany, but I like it,” said former Bayern Munich coach Flick.

“For us to win the Super Cup [last season] gave us a lot of energy for the rest of the season, and this is also what we want this year.”

Even though significant questions remain about their defending, Barcelona are the favourites to win the Super Cup and lead La Liga after nine consecutive top flight victories.

Despite being outplayed by neighbours Espanyol in a tense derby clash on Saturday, late goals and a sensational performance from stopper Joan Garcia helped the Catalans claim a 2-0 victory.

Flick insisted his team had to perform better at the back if they were to succeed in the sixth edition of the tournament in Saudi Arabia.

“It will not be an easy match [if] we make the same mistakes as on Saturday; it will not be easy, so we have to work on our things,” continued Flick.

“We have to play much better in the defence; we have to play connected as one team, and this is what I missed on Saturday, so we have to make things much better.”

Barcelona target Cancelo could be on the move from Saudi Arabia

Central defender Ronald Araujo could return to action this week after an extended mental health break.

The Uruguayan was granted leave for about a month following a red card in Barcelona’s 3-0 Champions League defeat by Chelsea in November.

“We will see this training [session] today, and I will also want to speak with him, so we have not decided how to do it tomorrow,” said Flick.

“I think it takes time, so if he feels ready for tomorrow, maybe we will change something, but at the moment, it’s not our plan to do this.”

Flick confirmed that Barcelona were close to signing Joao Cancelo from Al-Hilal, who is on loan until the end of the season, but the deal has not been completed.

“With Joao, maybe he can give us more options also as full-back, both sides in the offence, good quality, but [as far as] I know, it’s not done,” said Flick.

Cancelo spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Barcelona from Manchester City.

Athletic, eighth in La Liga, last won the Super Cup in 2021, beating Barcelona in the final, and have lifted the trophy on three occasions.

Only the Catalans and Real Madrid, with 13 triumphs, have a better record. On Thursday, Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid face city rivals Atletico Madrid in the other Super Cup semifinal.

It’s the final days before the Alamo Bowl, the last gasps of USC’s football season, and Rock Hanson is still getting over a fever.

For USC offensive line coach Zach Hanson and his wife, Annie, who previously was Trojans recruiting director, the timing isn’t ideal to be tending to a sick 1-year-old. The Trojans are shorthanded in trying to finish out a 10-win season on Tuesday against Texas Christian. The transfer portal opens three days after that. And the coaching carousel is already in full swing, with one assistant already gone and Zach garnering outside interest, namely from his alma mater, Kansas State.

But they’ve been parenting long enough now to know not to stress over a fever. And they’ve been working in college football long enough to know the timing is never ideal. Their past decade together has been a testament to that. Last December, Rock was born on early-signing day, hours after Annie had wrapped up USC’s 2025 recruiting class. Two weeks after that, Zach was thrust into a new role as USC’s offensive line coach. They spent the bowl season in a Las Vegas hotel, walking the Strip with a three-week old, in a new-parent-induced delirium, their whole lives having suddenly turned upside down.

“It was a lot of learning on the fly,” Zach said. “We were figuring all of that out together.”

Rock Hanson, son of USC assistant coach Zach Hanson, wears a Trojans jersey while sitting on the team’s practice field.

(Courtesy of Hanson family)

There aren’t many in college football who have navigated all that the Hansons have during the past two seasons at USC. But their resilience has been the beating heart behind an unexpectedly strong season for a Trojans offensive line that overcame its own harrowing hurdles. Even as injuries forced USC to reshuffle the line on a near weekly basis, Zach still guided the group to its best season since 2022.

“To lose all that we lost, then to have all the reshuffling on the offensive line we had, normally that could almost be a death sentence for an offense,” coach Lincoln Riley said. “We’ve had some big challenges. We’ve been able to respond.”

That’s a credit not only to Zach, who has become one of the most critical assistants on USC’s coaching staff, but also to Annie, who has remained an essential part of the program, albeit now in a more unofficial capacity.

That they’ve proven so adept at navigating such adverse circumstances should come as no surprise considering the uphill climb they faced from the start of their relationship. When they first met on a blind date at an Eric Church concert in 2014, Annie worked at Oklahoma in the development office. Zach was a graduate assistant at Kansas State, a five-hour drive away in Manhattan, near where Annie grew up. They hit it off so well right away that both knew they had to make it work. A year in, just as Zach planned to propose, Annie got a job in Chapel Hill, N.C., leading the Tar Heels recruiting office.

For years, they toiled away, rising through the ranks, hoping their paths would converge. They never did for long. They spent the 2015 season apart, before Zach got the job as North Carolina’s special teams assistant coach in 2016. They spent a year together, then hired Annie was hired to run recruiting at Oklahoma in 2017. They spent another season apart, before Zach returned to Kansas State and that same five-hour drive into Oklahoma.

When Kansas State coach Bill Snyder retired, Zach joined Riley’s staff as a grad assistant in 2019, finally back at the same school as his wife. But in 2020, Tulsa offered him a job two hours away, coaching the offensive line. He took it. They bought a house. And Annie drove two hours every day, there and back, to work in Norman.

It felt, by then, like a blessing.

“You just find a way, right?” Annie says.

Zach dreamed one day of being a head football coach. Annie had gotten into college athletics to someday be an athletic director. At USC, they could pursue those paths for the first time together. Zach coached tight ends while Annie ran the recruiting office. For the first time, it felt like they might stay in the same place for a while. They decided to start a family.

Annie got pregnant in 2024. Then last September, just before the start of the football season, she started to experience serious pain in her leg. One doctor brushed it off. But eventually she went back to the hospital. Another doctor discovered a significant blood clot running from the middle of her calf, all the way up near her belly.

Emergency surgery was scheduled for the very next morning. Annie spent the next six weeks relegated to a wheelchair or a walker. With her husband in the throes of the football season, the Riley family insisted Annie live in the casita of their Palos Verdes home. So for six weeks, while she recovered, Riley’s wife, Caitlin, waited on her every need. “I mean, [she did] everything you could think of,” Annie says, still blown away by the kindness.

After all that, having a baby didn’t feel so daunting. Riley told her to take the time after Rock was born. She still worked from home, setting up recruiting visits for January. She didn’t want other women in the business to think you couldn’t have a baby and run recruiting for a major college football program. But one day, she came into USC’s football office and set Rock up in a pack-and-play in one room while she ran a staff meeting in another. As she spoke to her staff, Rock wailed silently on the baby monitor app on her phone. She couldn’t take it.

USC assistant coach Zach Hanson embraces his wife, Annie, and son, Rock, share a hug on the field at the Coliseum after a USC football game.

(Courtesy of Hanson family)

“I turned to my counterpart [current director of USC recruiting strategy] Skyler [Phan] and said, ‘Girl, it’s your turn. You’ve got it,’” Annie recalled.

She’d already told Riley she was thinking about stepping away. Actually doing so “was incredibly difficult” for Annie, Zach said.

She made it official in March; though, she maintains it’s just temporary.

“My time in college football is not over,” Annie says. “I truly believe whenever I do return, I’ll be a much better leader now that I’m a mom.”

Just as Annie stepped away, Zach set out to put his imprint on USC’s offensive line. Immediately upon taking over the group, he started switching up combinations, to ensure that each linemen learned multiple positions, never knowing which combinations he might need.

He’d also learned over the course of his career how critical chemistry could be up front. If it was off, it could sink the whole season. So he made a concerted effort from the start to bring the group together outside of football.

USC offensive line coach Zach Hanson; his wife, Annie; and son, Rock, join linemen and staff for a group photo in the Trojans’ locker room.

(Courtesy of Hanson family)

“One of the coaches I worked for several years ago told me, the players aren’t just going to come to you,” Zach said. “You’ve got to bring them in.”

So they hosted dinners at their house. Annie baked every lineman their favorite cake on their birthdays. They wanted the linemen to know that they cared about them as more than just football players.

“He’s a great coach,” guard Alani Noa said. “There’s nothing too personal. There’s nothing out of whack. Everything is open as far as conversations.”

They’ve even taken to holding Rock, who’s now already 33 pounds.

“It’s so important to Zach,” Annie says, “that those kids understand, like, ‘You can do this, and we believe in you, and we are going to prepare you to a point of trusting your training. So when you get out on that field, like there’s not even a question, you know, and I think that those guys very much played that way this year.”

USC was without stalwart left tackle, Elijah Paige, for half the season. Starting center, former walk-on Kilian O’Connor, played in eight games. And just two of its starting lineman — Tobias Raymond and Justin Tauanuu — started all 12 games heading into the Alamo Bowl.

USC offensive lineman Alani Noa (77), Amos Talalele (75) and Kilian O’Connor (67) warm up before facing Notre Dame at the Coliseum on Nov. 30.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“This is a position group where it’s not always the most talented guys you throw out there,” Zach said. “It’s the five guys who played best together.”

Zach managed to keep finding those five all season, keeping the front steady all season in spite of injuries. USC gave up just 15 sacks, fewer than all but 14 teams in college football. The line also cleared the way to average 5.29 yards per carry, the highest rushing clip at the school in over a decade.

Other schools are starting to notice. At Kansas State, his alma mater, Hanson’s name has been mentioned as a potential offensive coordinator under newly hired coach Collin Klein, who Hanson described to The Times as “one of my best friends” whose “family is like family to us”. Annie’s family also hails from just outside of Manhattan, Kan.

“That place is certainly a place that’s special to us,” Zach said of Kansas State.

But in the same breath, Zach says he’s “extremely happy [at USC] doing what we’re doing.” It’s not lost on the Hansons how much the Rileys have done for them.

In the coming days, those questions will surely come up again. But for now, the Hansons were more preoccupied with kicking a 1-year-old’s fever and preparing USC to play Texas Christian without three of its top seven linemen.

“Our philosophy has always been, as a family, we’re going to be all in no matter where we’re at,” Zach says.

At USC, that has certainly been the case. That includes Rock, who is a perfect 9-0 at USC games he’s attended heading into Tuesday’s Alamo Bowl — and can now say the word “ball.”

Whether he’ll get to build on that record beyond the bowl game remains to be seen. But there have been other options elsewhere before. Options closer to family, for childcare purposes.

But USC, Annie says, “has made our experience so incredible and worth the sacrifices.”

“We’ve chosen to stay because of how special this place is, you know?”

Has there been a year this decade when we’ve been sad to see it go?

I thought about that while reading our “25 ways to banish this no good, very bad year” list, which contains some terrific ideas, and I’d be very happy to watch you jump into the Pacific on New Year’s Day, if you feel so inclined. But they’re all predicated on the idea that this year has given off a stench that needs to be smothered, the same way you’d cleanse your dog in tomato juice after an encounter with a skunk.

And this is true. Even Game 7 of the World Series can’t erase the heartache that 2025 has inflicted upon us, though props to Kiké Hernández for doing his best to distract from the headlines.

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter, wishing you and yours a better new year. It’s a low bar. I’m optimistic we can jump it.

Predicting ‘Avatar’s’ Oscar chances

Did anyone really want to see a third “Avatar” movie?

Sure, someone must have. It sold $89 million in tickets last weekend, though that number fell short of analysts’ forecast for James Cameron’s three-hour movie. For comparison, 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” brought in $134 million in its opening weekend. That movie, like the series’ 2009 first film, built its $2-billion-plus box office over time.

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” may well do the same.

Still, doesn’t it feel like there should be more excitement to go see a movie that might gross $2 billion worldwide? Maybe you were among the first in line to see it last Friday. No judgment. I’ve seen every Cameron movie in a theater, a streak I suspect will continue as long as he’s making films.

The thing is, Cameron himself is giving the distinct impression that he’s ready to move on from “Avatar,” even though he has already written scripts for the fourth and fifth entries in the franchise. He has other projects in the works, adapting “Ghosts of Hiroshima,” which revolves around the true story of the only survivor of both atomic bombs dropped on Japan. And he has teased a “Terminator” reboot.

Cameron is 71, a kid compared to Ridley Scott (88) and Martin Scorsese (83), but still … the clock is ticking.

Do you want him devote another three years (or more) to the lush, gorgeous world of Pandora?

Maybe if “Avatar: Fire and Ash” had spent less time repeating the same themes — and, sometimes, the same scenes — almost beat for beat from the “The Way of Water,” I’d feel differently. The new movie is, of course, a visual feast, though with just three years between the second and third films, the technological advances don’t feel as awe-inspiring this time around. Cameron remains adept at world-building and creating tense action set pieces. He’s also unrivaled at serving up lumpy dialogue, and the new film has serious pacing issues. “Fire and Ash” feels every bit like a 197-minute movie.

When I did my last set of Oscar best picture power rankings on Nov. 3, I put “Fire and Ash” at No. 10, sight unseen. This was in part because Cameron is Cameron and deserves respect and also because would-be contenders like “A House of Dynamite,” “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” “The Smashing Machine” and “After the Hunt” weren’t connecting with voters.

But the franchise fatigue with “Avatar” feels real. It’ll still probably win the visual effects Oscar and pick up a nomination for sound. But I suspect it’s going to fall just outside the 10 movies nominated for best picture.

If that happens, will anyone cry “snub”? Likely not. “Avatar: Fire and Ash” can still inspire wonder, but for the first time in his career, Cameron is spinning his wheels. It feels like he’s ready to return to Earth.

More coverage of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’

Liverpool and Egypt star forward Mohamed Salah is centred on winning his first Africa Cup of Nations title.

Egypt captain Mohamed Salah ‌has put aside his travails at Liverpool and is focused on Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) ‍success with his national ‍team, coach Hossam Hassan said on Sunday.

Egypt’s talisman is at the tournament in Morocco on the back of a fiery outburst after being dropped by the Premier League champions, but his comments and subsequent apology to teammates have had no impact on his form, Hassan ⁠said ahead of Egypt’s opening Group B match against Zimbabwe in Agadir on Monday.

“Salah’s morale in training is ​very high, as if he were just starting out with the national team, and ‍I believe he will have a great tournament with his country,” said the coach.

At 33, it is arguably Salah’s last chance to win an elusive trophy with Egypt and add international honours to an impressive collection of medals at club ‍level.

“I believe Salah ⁠will be among the best players at the tournament, and he will remain an icon and one of the best players in the world.

“I support him technically and morally, because we cannot forget that Salah needs to win the Africa Cup of Nations,” Hassan added.

Liverpool struggles on the backburner

Salah goes into Monday’s match having last started for Liverpool in their 4-1 home loss to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League at the end of November.

He was dropped for the next game against West ​Ham United, and after a draw with Leeds United on December 6, lashed ‌out at the club and Liverpool coach Arne Slot, telling journalists he felt he had been made a scapegoat for their poor start to the season and suggested that he may not have long left at Anfield.

Hassan said he had kept in ‌touch with his captain throughout the controversy.

“There was constant communication with Mohamed Salah during what I don’t want to call a crisis because any player ‌can have a difference of opinion with his coach at his ⁠club.”

Salah has not scored since Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa at the start of November, including an outing with Egypt in a friendly against Uzbekistan last month.

“The same situation happened with Salah when he went through a period of not scoring goals with ‌Liverpool,” Hassan told reporters.

“Then he returned to the right path through the national team, and as a result, he came back at a level even better than before. I believe he will deliver a strong ‍tournament alongside his teammates.”

Salah has twice been a Cup of Nations runner-up, in 2017 and 2021. Egypt have won a record seven AFCON titles, but their last success was in 2010.

In a national address, US President Donald Trump claimed the Gaza truce he helped broker brought peace to the Middle East “for the first time in 3,000 years.” Trump’s statement comes despite ongoing Israeli ceasefire violations and near-daily attacks on Gaza.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia finished second in Heisman Trophy voting to Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

That, of course, is quite an accomplishment.

But Pavia apparently felt otherwise. After the results were announced Saturday in New York, the 23-year-old senior posted a photo of himself with his offensive linemen on his Instagram Stories and gave it a profane caption.

“F-ALL THE VOTERS,” Pavia wrote, followed by a thumbs-down emoji, “BUT ….. FAMILY FOR LIFE”

On Sunday night, Pavia posted a lengthy apology on X.

“Being a part of the Heisman ceremony last night as a finalist was such an honor,” he wrote. “As a competitor, just like in everything I do I wanted to win. To be so close to my dream and come up short was painful. I didn’t handle those emotions well at all and did not represent myself the way I wanted to.

“I have much love and respect for the Heisman voters and the selection process, and I apologize for being disrespectful. It was a mistake, and I am sorry.”

Heisman Trophy finalists, from left to right, Notre Dame‘s Jeremiah Love, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin pose with the trophy before the award ceremony Dec. 13 in New York.

(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Associated Press)

Mendoza received 643 first-place votes and 2,362 overall points to Pavia’s 189 first-place votes and 1,435 points. Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love finished third in voting (46 first place, 719 points), and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin was fourth (eight first place, 432 points).

Indiana (13-0) is the top team in the College Football Playoff rankings and will play the Oklahoma-Alabama winner in the Rose Bowl. Mendoza has played a large role in the Hoosiers’ success. He completed 71.5% of his passes for 2,980 yards with a national-best 33 touchdown passes and six interceptions. In addition, Mendoza rushed for 240 yards and six touchdowns.

“Fernando Mendoza is an elite competitor and a deserving winner of the award,” Pavia wrote. “I have nothing but respect for his accomplishments as well as the success that Jeremiyah and Julian had this season.”

Pavia also put up huge numbers for Vanderbilt (10-2), which was No. 14 in the final CFP ranking and will play Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 1. He completed 71.2% of his passes for 3,192 yards with 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions and rushed for 826 yards and nine touchdowns.

A former walk-on at New Mexico Military Institute, Pavia played two years at New Mexico State before transferring to Vanderbilt in 2024. Leading up to the Heisman ceremony, Pavia declared himself the best college football player of all time. He recently told Sports Illustrated, however, that his self-confidence should not be mistaken for arrogance.

“As an underdog paying to walk on to JUCO, you kind of have to be your own cheerleader,” Pavia said. “And it just never left my head, to be like ‘Oh I arrived, I don’t need to do that anymore.’”

Pavia reflected on his past in his apology post.

“I’ve been doubted my whole life. Every step of my journey I’ve had to break down doors and fight for myself, because Ive learned that nothing would be handed to me,” he wrote. “My family has always been in my corner, and my teammates, coaches and staff have my six. I love them — I am grateful for them. — and I wouldn’t want anything to distract from that. I look forward to competing in front of my family and with my team one more time in the ReliaQuest Bowl.”