The English Football League has criticised the “undermining” of the Carabao Cup after it was forced to compromise on the date of Crystal Palace’s quarter-final because of fixture congestion.
Palace will now face Arsenal in the last eight at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, 23 December at 20:00 GMT.
The other three quarter-finals take place the previous week but the Eagles’ commitments in the Uefa Conference League – they host Finnish club KuPS at Selhurst Park on 18 December – has left them with four games in nine days.
Palace host Manchester City on 14 December and are away to Leeds on 21 December, either side of the KuPS game.
A statement from the EFL was critical of the “expansion of European cup competitions” which it believes was “implemented without adequate consultation with domestic leagues”.
The EFL said it had “shown a willingness to compromise” but scheduling conflicts are “now entirely unavoidable”.
“To continue making endless concessions only serves to undermine the reputation of the EFL Cup,” said the statement.
“It also challenges the traditional scheduling of the English football calendar and strength of our domestic game.”
Uefa’s European calendar now stretches across 10 midweeks, rather than the six of two seasons ago, with the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League each given a standalone week for exposure.
It has caused a huge logistical headache, with the third round of the EFL Cup having to be seeded and played across two weeks to keep clubs in the Champions League and Europa League apart.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner said last week it would be “irresponsible” if the club were forced to play two games in three days.
The EFL said it shared the “frustration and concern” of managers and players concerning the congested programme which deprived clubs of the “necessary time for preparation” and ability to “field their strongest line-ups” in the EFL Cup.
Boxing Day fixtures have been a long-standing tradition in English football but this year the only Premier League game will be Manchester United’s home match with Newcastle United (20:00 GMT).
Luton Town reach the FA Cup second round with an injury-time winner after Forest Green Rovers stage a remarkable comeback from three goals down in a thrilling first-round encounter.
Kai Trump, President Trump’s eldest granddaughter, a high school senior and University of Miami commit, has secured a sponsor invitation to play in an LPGA Tour event Nov. 13-16.
The 18-year-old will compete in the Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. She currently attends the Benjamin School in Palm Beach and is ranked No. 461 on the American Junior Golf Assn. rankings. She also competes on the Srixon Medalist Tour on the South Florida PGA. Her top finish was a tie for third in July.
“My dream has been to compete with the best in the world on the LPGA Tour,” Trump said in a statement. “This event will be an incredible experience. I look forward meeting and competing against so many of my heroes and mentors in golf as I make my LPGA Tour debut.”
Sponsor invitations have long been used to attract attention to a tournament through a golfer who is from a well-known family or, in recent years, has a strong social media presence. Kai Trump qualifies on both counts.
She is the oldest daughter of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-wife, Vanessa, and has nearly 8 million followers combined on Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube and X. In addition to posting her own exploits on and off the course, she creates videos playing golf with her grandpa and chronicled their visit to the Ryder Cup.
She also recently launched her own sports apparel and lifestyle brand, KT.
“Kai’s broad following and reach are helping introduce golf to new audiences, especially among younger fans,” said Ricki Lasky, LPGA chief tour business and operations officer, in a statement.
The oldest of the president’s 11 grandchildren, Kai became known nationally when she made a speech in support of her grandfather’s campaign at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Her parents divorced in 2018, and her mother has been dating Tiger Woods for about a year.
West Midlands Police said the upcoming game has been classified as “high risk” following a “thorough assessment”.
A spokesperson said: “This decision is based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.
“Based on our professional judgement, we believe this measure will help mitigate risks to public safety.
“While the safety certificate is issued by Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Police supports the decision to prohibit away supporters from attending.”
Football’s European governing body Uefa said it wanted fans to be able to travel and support their team in a “safe, secure and welcoming environment”.
Uefa told Reuters: “In all cases, the competent local authorities remain responsible for decisions related to the safety and security of matches taking place on their territory.”
Arrests were made after violence broke out before the match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in November last year.
Amsterdam officials described the violence as a “toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger” over the war in Gaza, Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.
WASHINGTON — The State Department said Wednesday that it has fired a U.S. diplomat over a romantic relationship he admitted having with a Chinese woman alleged to have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The dismissal is believed to be the first of its kind for violating a ban on such relationships that was introduced late last year under the Biden administration.
The Associated Press reported earlier this year that in the waning days of President Biden’s presidency, the State Department imposed a ban on all American government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens.
Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement that the diplomat in question was dismissed from the foreign service after President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed the case and determined that he had “admitted concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national with known ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Under Secretary Rubio’s leadership, we will maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any employee who is caught undermining our country’s national security,” Pigott said.
The statement did not identify the diplomat, but he and his girlfriend had been featured in a surreptitiously filmed video posted online by conservative firebrand James O’Keefe.
In Beijing, a Chinese government spokesperson declined to comment on what he said is a domestic U.S. issue. “But I would like to stress that we oppose drawing lines based on ideological difference and maliciously smearing China,” the Foreign Ministry’s Guo Jiakun said at a daily briefing.
Lee writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.
Italy host Israel in a World Cup qualifier on October 14, in Udine where the stadium only holds 6,000 spectators.
Published On 7 Oct 20257 Oct 2025
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Israel’s World Cup qualifying match in Italy next week is expected to attract more pro-Palestinian protesters outside the football stadium in Udine than ticket-holding spectators inside the arena.
Protesters already approached the gates of Italy’s training centre in Florence last week to demand that the match not be played because of the war in Gaza — part of a national strike that saw millions of activists take to the streets.
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“It’s not going to be a calm environment,” Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso acknowledged Tuesday from inside the Coverciano training centre that was targeted. “There will be 10,000 people outside the stadium and 5-6,000 inside the stadium.”
As of Monday, only 4,000 tickets were sold for next Tuesday’s match at Stadio Friuli.
While UEFA had been considering suspending Israel over the war and Udine Mayor Alberto Felice De Toni had called for the game to be postponed, with Italy desperately attempting to avoid failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, the four-time champion team doesn’t plan to risk not playing.
“We have to play this match. Because if we don’t, we’ll lose it 3-0,” Gattuso said, referring to the rule for forfeited matches. “[Italian Football Federation] president [Gabriele] Gravina explained that very well.”
There was also tension on the field between the two squads after the final whistle when Italy edged Israel 5-4 in a nine-goal thriller last month in neutral Hungary — where Israel has been playing its “home” matches during the war.
The protesters in Italy and elsewhere have also been reacting to an international aid mission blocked by Israeli forces.
“It’s upsetting to see what’s happening to innocent people and children,” Gattuso said. “It hurts your heart.”
Italy and Israel are level six points behind group leader Norway, with only the first-place finisher in the group to qualify directly for next year’s tournament in North America.
The second-place finishers progress to a playoff — the stage where Italy was eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia and ruled out of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.
“Considering that we’re trying to get to the World Cup and we need to give our absolute all, I’m sure you can understand that I would have preferred to play a home game with the enthusiasm that we saw in Bergamo a month ago,” Gattuso said, referring to a 5-0 win over Estonia.
Israel could also face protests during a visit to Norway on Saturday.
The Norwegian soccer federation pledged to give its profits from ticket sales for the game in Oslo to humanitarian work in Gaza by Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym, MSF).
Italy played Israel in Udine last October in the Nations League. That game went off without incident amid a heavy police presence and despite a pro-Palestinian demonstration before the game. Italy won 4-1.
The Italian Football Coaches’ Association (AIAC) wrote to the Italian Football Federation in August, in a letter to be forwarded to European and world football’s governing bodies, calling for Israel to be suspended from international competition due to its war on Gaza.
Italy are due to play Israel in a FIFA World Cup qualifier in Udine but there have been calls for a boycott.
Published On 3 Oct 20253 Oct 2025
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Pro-Palestinian protesters approached the gates of the Italy football team’s training centre on Friday to demand the cancellation of its upcoming World Cup qualifier against Israel due to the war on Gaza.
The protest was part of a national strike that was reacting to Israeli forces’ interdiction of an aid flotilla.
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Italy is scheduled to host Israel in Udine on October 14. But UEFA is considering suspending Israel over the war. The players were not at the Coverciano training centre in Florence, but the squad will convene there on Monday.
Protesters appeared to behave peacefully on the opposite side of the street from the football complex, holding aloft a banner that read in Italian, “Let’s stop Zionism with the resistance.” A protest leader grabbed a microphone and shouted, “How can you still allow Israel, a Zionist and criminal state, to play football games?”
Dozens of protests have erupted across Italy since Wednesday night, after the Israeli navy intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, detaining its activists.
On Friday, workers and students took to the streets after the country’s largest unions called for a one-day general strike in solidarity with the Palestinians and the flotilla. Hundreds of trains were cancelled or delayed, as were several domestic flights, and many private and public schools closed.
The Italian Football Coaches’ Association (AIAC) pushed in August for Israel to be suspended from international competition for its war on Gaza.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Brandon Aubrey and Brandon McManus traded short field goals in overtime, and Micah Parsons’ highly anticipated return to Dallas ended with the Cowboys and Green Bay Packers in a 40-40 tie Sunday night.
Dak Prescott and Jordan Love had three touchdown passes apiece in regulation, which included seven consecutive lead-changing TDs before McManus’ tying 53-yard field goal as time expired.
McManus kicked a 34-yarder as the clock hit 0:00 in overtime, after Love’s pass into the back of the end zone fell incomplete with just a second remaining.
What started as the hyped return of one of the game’s elite pass rushers exactly a month after the Cowboys (1-2-1) traded Parsons to the Packers (2-1-1) ended up as the second dramatic duel of quarterbacks in two home games for Dallas.
The Cowboys beat the Giants 40-37 in overtime two weeks earlier when Russell Wilson was starting for New York.
The second-highest scoring tie in pro football history, behind the Raiders’ 43-43 draw with the Boston Patriots in the AFL in 1964, was the first for Dallas since 1969. The Packers last tied in 2018.
The Cowboys had a first down at the Green Bay five-yard line to start overtime after Prescott ran away from pressure from Parsons for a spectacular 34-yard completion to Jalen Tolbert, who came back for the throw and just barely got his feet inbounds.
The drive stalled with help from Parsons, who caught Prescott from behind for no gain and was credited with his first sack of the game. The Cowboys settled for Aubrey’s 22-yard field goal.
Love completed a 14-yard pass to Matthew Golden on fourth-and-6 and led the Packers to a first down at the Dallas 12 before that drive stalled as well. The Packers QB was fortunate he still had a second remaining after he waited for Golden to get open in the back of the end zone and threw incomplete.
Romeo Doubs caught all three of Love’s TD passes and finished with 58 yards on six catches. Josh Jacobs rushed for two touchdowns and finished with 157 total yards. Love threw for 337 yards.
Javonte Williams powered in from the 1 in the wildcat for Dallas after Prescott split wide. The Cowboys took a 30-27 lead on Williams’ plunge with 4:50 remaining. Three more TDs would follow.
Prescott threw for 319 yards and ran for a score, and George Pickens had eight catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns with No. 1 receiver CeeDee Lamb sidelined by a high ankle sprain.
Parsons’ OT sack was the only one given up by a Dallas offensive line missing two starters. The banged-up Green Bay front was equally effective.
The only sack of Love came on a fumble that led to the second Dallas touchdown in the final 41 seconds of the first half.
The Packers were up 13-0 after Love’s second TD toss Doubs when Juanyeh Thomas blocked Brandon McManus’ PAT kick and Markquese Bell returned it for a two-point conversion, the first such 2-point play in Dallas franchise history.
That three-point swing was still the difference when Dallas took a 23-20 lead into the fourth quarter moments after Prescott’s eight-yard scoring toss to Jake Ferguson.
Scott Parker’s team have beaten Derby County in this season’s Carabao Cup after entering at the second-round stage, while Cardiff have seen off Swindon and Cheltenham to set up the trip to Lancashire.
“I am really excited to go to a Premier League team in a competition where we have produced really good performances,” Barry-Murphy added.
“It’s a good test for our players. Burnley have a super-talented squad and to test ourselves in that stadium against them will be very good for us.”
Cardiff have fitness concerns over Ronan Kpakio, who came off during the Bradford loss with a foot problem, and Dylan Lawlor, who missed the Bantams’ visit with a groin injury.
“We have a group we really believe in,” Barry-Murphy said. “We will see who is OK and then pick a team.”
Those who deliver the news can’t always break the news, even when it concerns themselves.
Molly Qerim discovered that firsthand when it was reported that she would be leaving the ESPN morning staple “First Take” after serving as host since 2015.
She acknowledged as much Tuesday, writing on Instagram, “Now that the news came out earlier than I intended, and not in the way I hoped…
“After much reflection, I’ve decided it’s time to close this incredible chapter and step away from First Take. Hosting this show has been one of the greatest honors of my career. Every morning, I had the privilege of sharing the desk with some of the most brilliant, passionate and entertaining voices in sports — and with all of you, the best fans in the world.”
Although reports indicated Qerim, 41, had turned down a contract extension but would remain on the show until the end of the year, she was not present Tuesday morning. Longtime “First Take” analyst Stephen A. Smith praised Qerim in her absence.
“She’s hosted ‘First Take’ for 10 years and elevated the show with her grace, her expertise, her incomparable kindness,” Smith said. “She’s been an enormous part of our success for a decade. Not only did she keep me and many others in line, she did it with dignity, class and kindness to say the least.”
Qerim’s exit is the second this summer on “First Take.” ESPN cut ties with Shannon Sharpe, a regular analyst, in July after he settled a lawsuit brought by an ex-girlfriend who accused him of sexual assault.
Qerim first worked at ESPN from 2006 to 2010 before leaving for stints at CBS Sports and NFL Network. She returned to ESPN in 2015 to host “First Take.”
No replacement for Qerim has been chosen, although a leading candidate likely is Courtney Cronin, who has guest-hosted “First Take” while also appearing on “SportsCenter” and “Around the Horn” in addition to her primary role of covering Chicago teams.
Qerim’s next step hasn’t been announced, although she made it clear that her experience on “First Take” was a positive one.
“I’m so grateful for what this journey has given me: lifelong friendships, unforgettable memories, and the chance to be part of something truly special,” she wrote on Instagram. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for welcoming me into your homes.
He scored 15 goals in 58 games last season, with Los Blancos losing the league title to Barcelona and knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Arsenal.
Bellingham’s fellow Englishman Trent Alexander-Arnold is also in the squad for the visit of the Ligue 1 side.
Former Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold played the last eight minutes of their 2-1 win over Real Sociedad at the weekend having struggled to displace experienced Spain full-back Dani Carvajal in the starting line-up.
Alonso said Carvajal’s “competitive spirit” and “the influence he holds as a captain” are a vital asset for Real.
“He [Carvajal] was still recovering while we were in the United States, but now he’s fit enough to play, you can see what a positive impact he has on everyone around him,” added Alonso.
“We need to have those kinds of leaders in a dressing room, they’re crucial. Carva is an example of that. There are lots of others and we need that strong core to guide the rest.”
Political analyst Matthew Dowd lost his contributor role at MSNBC because of comments he made about Charlie Kirk after the young right-wing activist was murdered Wednesday.
Shortly after Kirk was shot to death while speaking on stage at Utah Valley State University, Dowd told MSNBC anchor Katy Tur that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which then lead to hateful actions.”
The angry reaction on social media was immediate after Dowd’s comments suggested that Kirk’s history of incendiary remarks led to the shooting.
MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler issued an apology Wednesday night.
“During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable,” Kutler said in a statement. “There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”
The network then severed ties with Dowd, according to a person briefed on the decision who was not authorized to comment.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Charlie Kirk,” Dowd later wrote on his Bluesky account. “I was asked a question on the environment we are in. I apologize for my tone and words. Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack.”
Dowd is a political consultant who served as the chief strategist for George W. Bush’s successful 2004 presidential reelection campaign. Dowd broke away from the Republican party due to his unhappiness with Bush’s handling of the Iraq war.
Dowd previously served as a political analyst for ABC News.
TOKYO — The leaders of China, North Korea and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder Wednesday as high-tech military hardware and thousands of marching soldiers filled the streets of Beijing.
Two days earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping huddled together, smiling broadly and clasping hands at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The gatherings in China this week could be read as a striking, maybe even defiant, message to the United States and its allies. At the very least, they offered yet more evidence of a burgeoning shift away from a U.S.-dominated, Western-led world order, as President Trump withdraws America from many of its historic roles and roils economic relationships with tariffs.
Trump himself indicated he was the leaders’ target in a message on social media to Xi: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”
But China’s military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the earlier economic gathering, is also simply more of the self-interested, diplomatic jockeying that has marked regional power politics for decades.
Each of these leaders, in other words, is out for himself.
Xi needs cheap Russian energy and a stable border with North Korea, his nuclear-armed wildcard neighbor. Putin is hoping to escape Western sanctions and isolation over his war in Ukraine. Kim wants money, legitimacy and to one-up archrival South Korea. Modi is trying to manage his relationship with regional heavyweights Putin and Xi, at a moment when ties with Washington are troubled.
The events highlight China’s regional aspirations
China is beset with serious domestic problems — stark economic and gender inequalities, to name two — and a tense standoff with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. But Xi has tried to position China as a leader of countries that feel disadvantaged by the post-World War II order.
“This parade showcases the ascendancy of China propelled by Trump’s inept diplomacy and President Xi’s astute statecraft,” said Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian studies at Temple University Japan. “The Washington consensus has unraveled, and Xi is rallying support for an alternative.”
Some analysts caution against reading too much into Russia-China-North Korea ties. China remains deeply wary of growing North Korean nuclear power, and has long sought to temper its support — even agreeing at times to international sanctions — to try to influence Pyongyang’s pursuit of weapons.
“Though the Russia-North Korea tie has resumed to a military alliance, China refuses to return to the year of 1950,” when Beijing sent soldiers to support North Korea’s invasion of the South and the USSR provided crucial military aid, said Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Relations of Nanjing University. “It is wrong to believe that China, Russia and North Korea are reinforcing bloc-building.”
Russia looks to China to help ease its isolation
For the Kremlin, Putin’s appearance in Beijing alongside major world leaders is another way to shrug off the isolation imposed by the West on Russia in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It has allowed Putin to take to the world stage as a statesman, meeting a host of world leaders, including Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. And Putin’s reception by Xi is a reminder that Russia still has major trading partners, despite Western sanctions that have cut off access to many markets.
At the same time, Russia does not want to anger Trump, who has been more receptive than his predecessor, particularly in hearing out Moscow’s terms for ending its war with Ukraine.
“I want to say that no one has been plotting anything; no one was weaving any conspiracies,” Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said about Trump’s social media message. “None of the three leaders had even thought about such a thing.”
Kim Jong Un walks a diplomatic tightrope in Beijing
The North Korean leader’s trip to Beijing will deepen new ties with Russia while also focusing on the shaky relationship with his nation’s most crucial ally, and main economic lifeline, China.
Kim has sent thousands of troops and huge supplies of military equipment to help Russian forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion on their territory.
Without specifically mentioning the Ukraine war, Kim told Putin on Wednesday that “if there’s anything I can do for you and the people of Russia, if there is more that needs to be done, I will consider it as a brotherly obligation, an obligation that we surely need to bear.”
The Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with South Korea’s spy agency, said in a report this week that Kim’s trip, his first appearance at a multilateral diplomatic event since taking power in 2011, is meant to strengthen ties with friendly countries ahead of any potential resumption of talks about its nuclear program with Trump. The two leaders’ nuclear diplomacy collapsed in 2019.
“Kim can also claim a diplomatic victory as North Korea has gone from unanimously sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council for its illegal nuclear and missile programs to being embraced by UNSC permanent members Russia and China,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
India’s Modi is playing a nuanced game
Modi is on his first visit to China since relations between the two countries deteriorated after Chinese and Indian soldiers engaged in deadly border clashes in 2020.
But the tentative rapprochement has its limits. Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the Indian leader did not participate in Beijing’s military parade because the “distrust with China still exists.”
“India is carefully walking this tightrope between the West and the rest, especially when it comes to the U.S., Russia and China,” he said. “Because India does not believe in formal alliances, its approach has been to strengthen its relationship with the U.S., maintain it with Russia, and manage it with China.”
Even as he takes some steps toward China, the United States is also on Modi’s mind.
India and Washington were negotiating a free trade agreement when the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the combined tariffs to 50%.
Trade talks have since stalled and relations have significantly declined. Modi’s administration has vowed to not to yield to U.S. pressure and signaled it is willing to move closer to China and Russia.
But Donthi said India would still like to keep a window open for Washington.
“If Modi can shake hands with Xi five years after the India-China border clash, it could be far easier for him to shake hands with Trump and get back to strengthening ties, because they are natural allies,” he said.
Klug writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Kim Tong-hyung and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Ken Moritsugu in Beijing; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
On a night the Dodgers had a stadium-wide giveaway promotion for the anime show “Demon Slayer,” the club slayed a few recently troublesome demons of its own.
In the opening game of this season’s biggest series to date, they finally found a way not to trip over themselves.
By beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 at Dodger Stadium, the club moved back into a tie with the Padres for first place in the National League West.
They got six strong innings from Clayton Kershaw; plus, in a refreshing change of pace, plenty of crisp, clean defense behind him.
And though a lineup that lost Max Muncy to the injured list with an oblique strain before the game was largely contained by the Padres (who had to go with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Michael King was shelved with a shoulder injury), the Dodgers still managed to break their four-game losing streak thanks to their biggest weakness of late.
For the first time in what felt like several weeks, a scuffling bullpen finally didn’t cough up a late, narrow lead.
The Dodgers (69-53) came into this weekend’s rivalry series reeling in a way that once seemed impossible for this year’s $400-million team.
Since July 4, they were just 12-21. What had been a nine-game division lead then was transformed into a one-game deficit to the Padres, who came to Los Angeles riding high thanks to a monster trade deadline and a recent 14-3 streak.
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More dark clouds formed a few hours before first pitch when Muncy (who missed Wednesday’s game with side soreness) was placed on the injured list with a Grade 1 oblique strain, sidelining him for at least the next several weeks.
And though the Dodgers had taken five of seven games from the Padres (69-53) earlier this season, they suddenly felt more like an underdog now, searching for answers to their recently inconsistent offense, unsound fundamentals and untrustworthy bullpen (which had squandered five games in the past two weeks).
“I don’t like to be embarrassed. I don’t think our players do [either],” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “So this series, I’m expecting high intensity and high performance.”
The Dodgers delivered on both.
Kershaw set the tone, displaying a vintage demeanor even with his ever-diminished stuff. Before the game, he marched through the clubhouse and hunched over his locker, leafing through a scouting report while teammates carefully tip-toed around him. Between innings, he quietly paced in the dugout while avoiding almost any human contact. And when he was atop the mound, he pounded the strike zone and executed pitch after pitch, yielding his only run in the second inning when Ramón Laureano (one of several sizzling San Diego deadline acquisitions) clipped the outside of the left-field foul pole to open the scoring.
“There’s just no one more intense or focused than Clayton,” Roberts said. “He has a way of elevating people’s focus and play.”
It certainly appeared that way. Defensively, the Dodgers helped Kershaw out by turning several tough plays around the infield — from Freddie Freeman picking a ball in the dirt the second inning, to Alex Freeland and then Kershaw himself making tough plays in the third and fifth, respectively.
At the plate, the Dodgers also managed to capitalize on a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the third, after singles from Michael Conforto and Freeland were followed by a popped-up Miguel Rojas bunt that Padres third baseman Manny Machado couldn’t catch with a dive.
The Dodgers didn’t get another hit in the inning, but Shohei Ohtani drove in one run by beating out a potential double-play ball. Mookie Betts then added a go-ahead sacrifice fly.
The score remained 2-1 until Teoscar Hernández belted an opposite-field homer in the seventh, producing a massively important insurance run.
Then, it was up to the bullpen, which was asked to protect the kind of slim late-game lead they’ve squandered all too often during the team’s recent skid.
Dodgers relief pitcher Jack Dreyer celebrates after the final out of a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Ben Casparius pitched a scoreless seventh inning, stranding a two-out double from Jackson Merrill.
Alex Vesia created a jam in the eighth by hitting two batters and loading the bases on a walk. But the Padres only managed one run, with Vesia getting Luis Arraez to hit a sacrifice fly before Blake Treinen came on and retired Manny Machado on a first-pitch pop-up.
In the ninth inning, surprisingly, Roberts didn’t stick with Treinen — who they’ve been wary of using for multiple innings as he continues to work his way back from an early-season elbow injury.
The move might’ve been questionable. But, at long last, the result didn’t backfire.
Alexis Díaz and Jack Dreyer pitched around a single from Merrill in the ninth.
The Dodgers finally held on to a late lead. And after spending the last 48 hours in second place, the team climbed back to the top of the division standings, exorcising the close-game demons that had so dauntingly haunted them over the last several weeks.
On Tuesday, New York City radio host Sid Rosenberg asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio about whether the State Department intends to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as terrorist organizations. Rubio responded that “all of that is in the works,” although “obviously there are different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, so you’d have to designate each one of them.”
Logistics and bureaucracy aside: It’s about time.
For far too long, the United States has treated the Muslim Brotherhood with a dangerous combination of naiveté and willful blindness. The Brotherhood is not a random innocuous political movement with a religious bent. It is, and has been since its founding about a century ago, the ideological wellspring of modern Sunni Islamism. The Brotherhood’s fingerprints are on jihadist groups as wide-ranging as Al Qaeda and Hamas, yet successive American administrations — Republican and Democratic alike — have failed to designate its various offshoots for what they are: terrorist organizations.
That failure is not merely academic. It has real-world consequences. By refusing to label the Muslim Brotherhood accurately, we tie our own hands in the fight against Islamism — both at home and abroad. We allow subversive actors to exploit our political system and bankroll extremism under the guise of “cultural” or “charitable” outreach.
Enough is enough.
Founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood’s stated mission has never wavered: the establishment of a global caliphate governed by sharia law. The Brotherhood has always attempted to position itself as a “political” organization, but it is “political” in the way Lenin was political. Think subversion through infiltration — or revolution through stealth.
Consider Hamas. Hamas is not merely inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood — it is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian-Arab branch. The link is unambiguous; as Article Two of Hamas’ founding charter states, “The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine.” And Hamas’ charter also makes clear its penchant for explicit violence: “Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”
This is not the rhetoric of nuance or moderation. This is the ideological foundation of contemporary jihadism. Yet, while Hamas is rightly designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department, other branches of the Muslim Brotherhood remain off the list.
Why? Because Western elites have allowed themselves to be duped by the Brotherhood’s two-faced strategy. Abroad, they openly sow the seeds of jihad, cheer for a global caliphate and preach for the destruction of Israel and Western civilization more broadly. But in the corridors of power in the U.S. and Europe, they and their Qatari paymasters don suits and ties, rebrand as “moderates” and leverage media credulity and overly generous legal protections to plant ideological roots.
What’s more, CAIR — an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history — has extremely well-documented ties to the Brotherhood. And yet CAIR agents continue to operate freely in the United States, masquerading as civil rights advocates while pushing Islamist narratives that undermine the core constitutional principles of equality that they purport to champion. Today, almost two years after CAIR-linked Hamas executed the Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel, CAIR remains in good standing with many elected Democrats.
It shouldn’t be so. In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist organization, citing its links to the Brotherhood and Hamas. And the Brotherhood itself is recognized as a terrorist organization by at least Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and Russia. Jordan also banned the Brotherhood earlier this year. Put bluntly: There is absolutely no reason the United States should have a warmer approach toward CAIR than the UAE or a warmer approach toward the Brotherhood than Saudi Arabia.
The first Trump administration flirted with the idea of designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. It was the right impulse. But the effort was ultimately bogged down by internal bureaucracy and international pressure — most notably from Qatar and Turkey, both sometime U.S. partners that harbor strong Brotherhood sympathies and bankroll Islamist causes. And the second Trump administration’s troubling embrace of Qatar may well nip any designation in the bud before it even takes off.
Critics argue that such a designation would complicate relations with countries where Brotherhood affiliates participate in local politics. But since when did the U.S. place a premium on building alliances with the ideological cousins of Al Qaeda and ISIS?
Moreover, designating the Muslim Brotherhood would empower domestic law enforcement and intelligence agencies to go after its networks and financial infrastructure. It would send a clear signal that the U.S. government no longer accepts a claim of “nonviolent Islamism” as a pass when designating terrorist groups.
In a time when the threat from Islamic extremism remains global and decentralized, we can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the architects of the movement. The Muslim Brotherhood is not, as “Arab Spring” boosters risibly claimed a decade and a half ago, a Western partner in “democracy.” It is the mother’s milk of modern Sunni jihadism.
The question is not whether we can afford to designate Muslim Brotherhood offshoots as terrorist organizations. It is: How much longer can we afford not to?
Josh Hammer’s latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer
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Ideas expressed in the piece
The Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, ending what the author characterizes as a dangerous combination of naiveté and willful blindness toward the group. The organization has served as the ideological wellspring of modern Sunni Islamism since its founding in Egypt in 1928, with stated goals of establishing a global caliphate governed by sharia law.
Hamas represents a direct branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, as explicitly stated in Article Two of Hamas’ founding charter, which declares “The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine.” This connection demonstrates the Brotherhood’s clear ties to recognized terrorist organizations, yet other Brotherhood branches remain undesignated.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) maintains well-documented ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and was an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history. Despite these connections, CAIR continues operating freely in the United States while pushing Islamist narratives under the guise of civil rights advocacy.
Multiple American allies have already taken decisive action, with the United Arab Emirates designating CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014, and countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, and Russia recognizing the Brotherhood itself as a terrorist organization. Jordan banned the Brotherhood earlier this year, making American inaction increasingly inconsistent with international consensus.
Designation would empower domestic law enforcement and intelligence agencies to target Brotherhood networks and financial infrastructure while sending a clear signal that claims of “nonviolent Islamism” no longer provide protection from terrorist designations. The failure to act has real-world consequences, allowing subversive actors to exploit the American political system and bankroll extremism through supposed cultural or charitable outreach.
Different views on the topic
The search results do not contain substantial opposing perspectives to the author’s position on designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that designation efforts are “in the works” but acknowledged significant legal and bureaucratic challenges that complicate the process[1].
Procedural complexities present obstacles to designation, as each regional branch of the Muslim Brotherhood must be formally designated separately due to the organization’s decentralized structure. Rubio noted that “we have to be very careful, because these things will be challenged in court” and emphasized the need to “show your work like a math problem” to withstand legal scrutiny[1].
Federal judicial oversight poses potential barriers to implementation, with Rubio expressing concern that “all you need is one federal judge—and there are plenty—that are willing to basically try to run the country from the bench” through nationwide injunctions that could block designation efforts[1].
A storybook ending. A cathartic late-game breakthrough. The kind of dramatic, momentum-shifting triumph to finally give the Dodgers some much-needed life.
In the top of the ninth inning at Angel Stadium on Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani lifted the team to the verge of a narrative-changing victory, breaking a tie score with the kind of swing that could have catapulted them into the season’s closing stretch.
With former Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen on the mound, and a split crowd in Anaheim rising to its feet, Ohtani blasted a go-ahead home run deep to right field. He flipped his bat and emphatically smacked his hands together. He screamed toward a euphoric Dodgers dugout that was going raucously wild.
“Big hit right there,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously, you felt it in the dugout.”
What the Dodgers felt next, however, might last much longer.
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SPARKS
From Ira Gorawara: Almost hidden in a mocha pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt, and wearing those same fire-red Air Jordans from his Aug. 4 return to Los Angeles, Clippers royalty Chris Paul adorned the Sparks’ bench.
And though the 20-year veteran barely lifted a palm — leaving the cheering to his wife and daughter — Paul’s court savvy still seemed to seep across the hardwood, finding its way to the Sparks’ Kelsey Plum.
Plum, who can very well be the tale of any Sparks game, but “chooses to win,” as coach Lynne Roberts says, seemed to be scoring and assisting at will through a coast-to-coast battle against the New York Liberty, a tug-of-war that stayed taut until the rope finally slipped from the Sparks’ grasp, 105-97.
About three minutes before halftime, Brink sat on the bench while trainers wrapped her left ankle during a Sparks timeout. She never joined the team’s halftime huddle as play resumed after the break, and when she finally emerged at the 6:17 mark in the third quarter, she watched the rest of the game from her seat.
From Eduard Cauich: Jaime Jaquez Jr., who is preparing for his third season in the NBA with the Miami Heat, and his sister Gabriela Jaquez, a standout player for the UCLA Bruins and the Mexican national basketball team, set aside their own workouts to lead others through some familiar drills.
The siblings recently hosted a summer camp for about 180 participants ages 6 to 16 at the Sports Academy facilities in Thousand Oaks. The three-hour camp aimed to promote basketball skills, discipline and a passion for the sport among children and teens. Some participants traveled from other states to attend the camp.
“It’s good to come back and give something back to the community, especially in a place where we grew up. Being able to do this is special,” said Jaime, who grew up in Camarillo, shone for four years at UCLA and has represented Mexico in international tournaments.
As a rookie, Ladd McConkey studied Allen’s practice film on his team-issued iPad, trying to absorb lessons from one of the league’s best route runners — the very player whose rookie records for receptions and receiving yards McConkey would eventually surpass.
“You sit in team meetings, pull up your iPad and just watch,” McConkey said. “Watching his one-on-one stuff from previous years, when he was here. I’m going to check this out, see what he’s got.”
Now, the 33-year-old Allen and 23-year-old McConkey are inseparable on the field. Throughout practice, McConkey picks the veteran’s brain — something he says “would be dumb if I didn’t.”
From Kevin Baxter: The Galaxy are the worst team in Major League Soccer. That’s not subjective opinion, it’s objective fact. Just look at the MLS standings, where the Galaxy are dead last after Sunday’s 4-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders, a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score would indicate.
But the Galaxy are also one of the four best teams in Major League Soccer. That, too, is not subjective opinion but objective fact because, after an unbeaten run through Leagues Cup group play, the Galaxy are one of just four MLS teams to advance to the tournament quarterfinals.
How can both things be true simultaneously? That’s a good question — and one that can be only be answered subjectively.
“It takes time for a group to come together and a team to find out who they are,” Galaxy general manager Will Kuntz offered. “We had to discover ourselves a little bit.”
1919 — Upset scores a win against Man o’ War in the Sanford Memorial Stakes at Saratoga. The defeat is Big Red’s only loss in 21 starts.
1933 — Gene Sarazen wins the PGA Championship by defeating Willie Goggin 5 and 4 in the final round.
1935 — The first roller derby begins in Chicago by promoter Leo Seltzer.
1987 — Jackie Joyner-Kersee equals the world record in the women’s long jump — 24 feet, 5½ inches — in the Pan American Games at Indianapolis. She matches the mark set in 1986 by Heike Dreschler of East Germany.
1995 — Cuba’s Ana Quirot, severely burned in a 1993 kitchen accident, wins the 800 meters at the world championships at Gothenburg, Sweden.
1995 — Steve Elkington shoots a final-round 64 and birdies the first playoff hole to beat Colin Montgomerie and win the PGA Championship. The 64 is the lowest final round by a PGA Championship winner.
1997 — Wilson Kipketer topples Sebastian Coe’s 16-year-old record in the 800 meters, finishing in 1 minute, 41.24 seconds in Zurich, Switzerland. Haile Gebrselassie also shatters his own 5,000 record with a time of 12 minutes, 41.86 seconds.
2002 — Natalie Coughlin breaks the 100-meter backstroke world record, timed in 59.58 seconds at the U.S. national championships. She is the first American to hold the world record since Catherine Ferguson in 1966.
2008 — Michael Phelps swims into history as the winningest Olympic athlete with his 10th and 11th career gold medals and five world records in five events at the Beijing Games. He wins the 200-meter butterfly and swims leadoff for the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team.
2016 — The U.S. women’s 4×100-meter medley relay team of Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer and Simone Manuel — winners at the Rio Games — delivers the nation’s 1,000th gold medal in Summer Olympics history.
2016—Michael Phelps closes the Rio Olympics with a gold medal in the butterfly leg of the 4×100 medley relay. Phelps finishes his career with 28 medals, having won five golds and a silver at these games.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1910 — The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates played to an 8-8 tie. Each team had 38 at-bats, 13 hits, 12 assists, two errors, five strikeouts, three walks, one hit batsman and one passed ball.
1921 — George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns became the first batter in American League history to hit for the cycle twice. Sisler went 5-for-5 and drove in three runs in a 7-5, 10-inning win over the Detroit Tigers.
1921 — John “Mule” Watson of the Boston Braves pitched two complete-game victories over the Philadelphia Phillies.
1931 — Tony Cuccinello of the Cincinnati Reds had six hits in six at-bats in the first game of a doubleheader at Boston. Cuccinello had a triple, two doubles and three singles to knock in five runs as the Reds won 17-3. Cuccinello hit a three-run homer in the eighth of the nightcap to give the Reds a 4-2 win.
1939 — The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics 21-0 to equal the major-league record for lopsided shutouts. Every batter in the Yankees lineup hit safely. Joe DiMaggio and Babe Dahlgren had two home runs apiece, each hitting an inside-the-parker. Pitcher Red Ruffing had four hits and drove in three runs.
1948 — Satchel Paige, 42, pitched his first major league complete game against the Chicago White Sox. Paige gave up five hits en route to 5-0 Cleveland victory.
1957 — Milwaukee pitcher Lew Burdette hit his first two home runs to lead the Braves to a 12-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
1969 — Jim Palmer of the Orioles, plagued by arm trouble the year before, threw an 8-0 no-hitter against the Oakland A’s in Baltimore.
1979 — St. Louis’ Lou Brock reached 3,000 hits with an infield hit off Chicago Cubs pitcher Dennis Lamp. St. Louis won 3-2.
2004 — Kansas City rookies Abraham Nunez and John Buck hit grand slams to lead the Royals past the Oakland Athletics 10-3.
2005 — New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera blew his first save since April 6 in a 7-5 win over Texas. Rivera had converted a career-best 31 consecutive saves before allowing Kevin Mench’s two-run, tying single in the ninth.
2013 — Paul Goldschmidt hit the first pitch of the 11th inning for a game-ending home run after leading off the ninth with a tying homer, to help Arizona beat Baltimore 4-3 with a winning blast for the second straight night.
2015 — The Toronto Blue Jays won their 11th straight game, beating the Oakland Athletics 4-2. The AL East leaders also won 11 in a row in June, becoming the first team with winning streaks of at least 11 since Cleveland in 1954.
2016 — Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge became the first teammates to hit home runs in the first at-bats of their major league debuts in the same game, sparking the New York Yankees to an 8-4 win over Tampa Bay.
2018 — Ronald Acuna Jr. hit leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader for the Atlanta Braves.
2020 — Mookie Betts hits three home runs for the sixth time in his career in an 11-2 win over the Padres. The three home run game ties Betts with Johnny Mize and Sammy Sosa for the most all-time although Betts reached the total in 813 games while Mize needed 1,884 and Sosa 2,364.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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Until the Angels rewrote it with a walk-off ending.
In the top of the ninth inning at Angel Stadium on Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani lifted the Dodgers to the verge of a badly needed win, breaking a tie score with the kind of moment that could have jump-started the stretch run of their season.
With former Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen on the mound, and a split crowd in Anaheim rising to its feet, Ohtani blasted a go-ahead home run deep to right field. He flipped his bat. The Dodgers’ dugout went wild. After so many recent blown leads and late-game meltdowns in recent weeks, the team was three outs away from finally turning the tide.
Instead, the Dodgers found yet a new way to crumble.
Once again, they let a winnable game go meekly by the wayside.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Angels tied the score after Alex Vesia gave up a leadoff single, a walk and an eventual Nolan Schanuel sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the 10th, they sealed their fifth-straight victory over the Dodgers this season on Jo Adell’s big-bouncing, walk-off RBI single.
Now, the Dodgers have lost three in a row and 20 of 32 since July 4. Now, what was once a nine-game lead in the National League West has been completely obliterated. The Dodgers and San Diego Padres are tied atop the standings. The Padres will come to Dodger Stadium this weekend with all the momentum, where a scuffling Dodgers club will await them.
Tuesday featured many more deflating subplots for the club.
Emmet Sheehan gave up five runs in a five-inning start. The team erased one early two-run deficit, only to go down two runs again. The lineup left the bases loaded with the score tied to end the top of the fifth inning. Ohtani lined into a soul-crushing triple-play with two aboard in the sixth.
But nothing will sting like the final two innings — when a potential turning-point moment instead resulted in more familiar heartache.
