When Hope Powell reminisces about the childhood she spent scurrying across the streets of south London, she thinks of football. Perhaps that is no surprise: over the past 40 years, it has given her a career of firsts – after a trophy-laden playing career, she became England’s first female coach, first Black coach and youngest coach. Today, the 54-year-old is the manager of Brighton in the rapidly growing Women’s Super League.
Over the course of Powell’s career, the women’s game has evolved beyond recognition. Her football education began in the late 70s, just a few years after the Football Association lifted its ban on women’s football, in 1971. She idolised Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins but had no female players to look up to. Sh…
Best odds: 7/10
Bookmaker:
Inter Milan and Torino, both sitting on 11 points in the Serie A table, are set to meet at San Siro on Saturday evening.
Inter, the reigning Serie A champions, have regained momentum with back-to-back victories, while Torino, one of the season s surprise packages, recently lost their grip on the top spot. Adding to their frustration, Torino were also knocked out of the Coppa Italia not long ago, further motivating them to bounce back against their formidable opponents.
Inter Milan
After overcoming a difficult spell, Inter Milan are gradually finding their rhythm again, highlighted by recent victories against Udinese and Red Star Belgrade. Simone Inzaghi s men bounced back from a tough Derby della Madonnina defeat to AC Milan b…
The seventh day of Euro 2008 produced two games of the highest quality. The games were a joy to watch and gave a perfect example of why we call football, ‘the beautiful game’.
The first game saw Italy fighting for survival in the competition after their comprehensive defeat at the hands of the Dutch. They knew that another defeat here, against Romania, would mean them seeing their friends and family again a little sooner than they would have hoped.
Romania, on the other hand would have been buoyed by their draw against France and were seriously looking at how they might be the surprise qualifiers from the so called ‘group of death’.
After watching Romania play in an organised, somewhat defensive way a…
Michael O Neill is excited to build upon Northern Ireland s Euro 2016 foundations with a training camp in Turkey in the coming week.
Northern Ireland s appearance in France was their first at a major tournament in 30 years and they made a name for themselves with a surprise run to the last 16 before losing out to eventual semi-finalists Wales.
O Neill had a number of inexperienced players – including Tom Flanagan, Shay McCartan and Paul Paton – in his squad for Friday s 1-0 home victory over New Zealand, but he still sees evidence of the team spirit taken away from the European Championship.
Ahead of next Saturday s World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan in Baku, Northern Ireland will conduct their preparations in Turkey – something O Neill hopes can improv…
Saturday s match up sees high flying Chelsea take on a struggling Everton team who find themselves in the wrong half of the table and with injuries to key players to boot.
Chelsea have been in devastating form this season and despite their surprise loss at home to Manchester City last week, they still sit at the top of the Premier League with a two point cushion between themselves and last years champions Manchester United. Chelsea will be looking to bounce back from their loss to City and will see this as an eminently winnable game. Recent injuries to John Terry and Michael Essien will rob the team of two key players this week but the sheer size and quality of Chelsea s squad means that this can be overcome. With Joe Cole and Frank Lampard both back to form and fitness I expec…
First place in the AFC North standings will be on the line when the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals meet at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday. The Bengals beat up on the Ravens when these teams met on October 24, as Joe Burrow & Co. earned a 41-17 victory as 6.5-point road underdogs.
Will Baltimore get revenge on Cincinnati by earning a road win of its own? You’ll want to keep reading our Week 16 betting picks and predictions for Ravens vs. Bengals to see how this one might play out.
…
The same situational angles we highlight for NFL betting each week are out there lurking for the average person during Thanksgiving Week.
Travel troubles and scheduling nightmares are abundant. Look-ahead spots are too, with big plans in place for family and friends. And even letdowns are looming, as you remember why you live on the other side of the country and rarely keep in touch with your hometown crowd.
Ah, the holidays.
I chow down on the always-tricky NFL Week 12 slate and highlight similar pitfalls in three NFL spot bets to consider when capping the odds.
…
A pair of division leaders in the AFC will meet in the wind (and possibly rain) in Week 15 odds as MVP-hopeful Lamar Jackson takes the Baltimore Ravens into Jacksonville as NFL odds favorites opposite the Jaguars.
With so much on the line, should bettors be backing Jackson on the ground in a setting that could suppress passing volume in the SNF odds?
Find out in my NFL picks for Ravens vs. Jaguars on December 17, and be sure to check out our SNF prop picks and Lamar Jackson spotlight as well!
Ravens vs Jaguars odds
Ravens vs Jaguars predictions
THE BLITZ projects Lamar Jackson to reach 72.95 rushing yards, far surpassing his current rushing total of 47.5. With wild wind conditions in play, this coul…
This Saturday we see the Panthers vs Bills in Buffalo, with both teams hoping to finish their preparation for the regular season in style. Given the early team news out of both camps, our Panthers vs. Bills predictions focus on the total.
Find out why my NFL picks are backing the Under on Saturday, August 24.
Panthers vs Bills prediction
My best betUnder 31.5 (-109 at BetRivers)
My analysisThe markets have seen a lot of movement for the Carolina Panthers at Buffalo Bills since opening with news impacting the potential for this game. As always preseason is about how much we’ll see from the starters and in particular the quarterbacks.
Heading into this game we’ve had Dave Canales confirm that the Panthers st…
When Hope Powell reminisces about the childhood she spent scurrying across the streets of south London, she thinks of football. Perhaps that is no surprise: over the past 40 years, it has given her a career of firsts – after a trophy-laden playing career, she became England’s first female coach, first Black coach and youngest coach. Today, the 54-year-old is the manager of Brighton in the rapidly growing Women’s Super League.
Over the course of Powell’s career, the women’s game has evolved beyond recognition. Her football education began in the late 70s, just a few years after the Football Association lifted its ban on women’s football, in 1971. She idolised Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins but had no female players to look up to. Sh…