Messi starts but Argentina bench De Paul, England make 3 changes for semifinal

Itauma faces Hrgović for vacant IBF title Reality check: just how good is Itauma? Reach out to Bryan on Bluesky or by email Elsewhere in England, Caroline Dubois has retained her WBC and WBO lightweight titles with a unanimous-decision win over Amelia Moore in Birmingham. Dubois dropped Moore in the fifth round before the challenger rallied to make the fight more competitive than the 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91 scorecards suggested. Afterwards, Dubois became embroiled in a heated exchange with Alycia Baumgardner, the WBA, WBO and IBF champion at 130lb, adding the latest chapter to the simmering war of words between the promotional stablemates that has been building for the past year...

If ever you wanted to understand the distinction between ‘winning the transfer market’ and winning an actual football match, then this was the game for you. Tottenham’s first home fixture of the Premier League season began with adulatory focus on all their new players. It ended in decisive defeat to Newcastle as recruit after recruit failed to make their presence pay, while Newcastle’s forgotten forwards made hay. “Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again”, sang the Toon Army as if it needed pointing out. Tottenham should have taken the lead in the first half they had the better of, but they had no response to impressive second-half strikes by first Anthony Elanga then Yoanne Wissa. What had looked like green shoots of positivity withered into nothing. For a Newcastle team itself a work in progress under Matthias Jaissle, this was a heartening victory achieved with still many of their own additions to come in...

Perhaps last week’s triumph was not a one-off. Hull backed up a shock victory against Manchester United by maintaining their 100% start to the Premier League by condemning Coventry to successive defeats. “We’re gonna win the league,” was the glorious chant raining down from the Hull support after Liam Millar’s 82nd-minute strike. The goal was a sucker-punch for Coventry, who were pushing for a winner themselves and looked set to at least earn their first point of the season. Frank Lampard, arms folded, was unmoved as the away end rejoiced...