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Penalty shootout defeats are still defeats. It’s time to count them as such

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Penalty shootout defeats are still defeats. It’s time to count them as such

Manchester City are a brilliant football team.

Since Pep Guardiola took charge in 2016, his side have collected more Premier League titles (six), points (736), wins (231) and goals (774) than any other team in the country.

They have conceded fewer goals (258) than any side that has spent all nine seasons in the top flight and played some exhilarating football along the way.

Yes, there is a cloud cast by their ongoing legal case with the Premier League — but add in two FA Cups, four Carabao Cups and a Champions League, and it paints a clear picture of Guardiola’s side as one of the greatest to grace the English game.

They are so good that they do not need spurious records to prove their greatness.

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So, let’s be clear, Manchester City did not break a Manchester United record in Europe this week. Manchester City are not “unbeaten” in 26 Champions League games.

City lost in last season’s quarter-finals to Real Madrid. You know that because Madrid progressed to the semi-finals (and ultimately won the trophy against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley) while City bowed out, free to focus on their relentless and successful pursuit of a fourth successive domestic title.

It is hard to think of a clearer definition of defeat than that: one team continues, the other exits.

The fact that City’s loss to Carlo Ancelotti’s team was sealed by a penalty shootout after an absorbing 4-4 draw on aggregate is irrelevant. A defeat is a defeat, no matter how it comes.

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Real Madrid celebrate their win — and it was a win — at City (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

But IFAB — the law-makers of the world game — do not agree. In law 10.2, penalties are simply one of three “permitted procedures to determine the winning team”, along with away goals and extra-time. Which means a team that are beaten in a shootout after drawing when the final whistle sounds are still able to claim they have not ‘lost’.

It’s a strange state of affairs. While away goal ‘wins’ are a grey area according to the record books, nobody disputes that the team which emerges triumphant at the end of extra-time has won the game. So why not apply the same thought process to penalties?

We have come a long way since the pre-shootout days when drawn ties were sometimes settled by entirely arbitrary coin tosses. Penalty shootouts, which were introduced in the early 1970s, are far from that kind of “lottery” — the cliche that attached itself to them for so long — or just a convenient and relatively quick way of settling a game between two evenly-matched teams, as the IFAB law suggests.

They are supreme tests of nerve and skill, and the best teams practise them as assiduously as they do their tactical shape and set-piece routines.

“There’s more to it (than luck),” former Croatia goalkeeper Joey Didulica told Omnisport in 2018. “The mental game, you’ve got to be confident. A lot of it comes down to research as well.

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”You’ve got to know who’s kicking the penalty, the way they’ve approached the penalties before, where they slow down, if they’re going to slow down, which corner.

“As much as people think it’s 50-50, amateurs say that. I think at the highest level, a good goalkeeper definitely can have a better chance than 50-50 in a shootout. Your best keeper normally can win it for you.”

There are now reams of analysis that help inform penalty shootout methodology.

In 2022, the Barca Innovation Hub compiled data on how to increase chances of success, suggesting that taking the first penalty, celebrating successful kicks enthusiastically, delaying run-ups after the referee’s whistle and putting a team’s best penalty takers on the first and fifth kicks enhanced the possibility of winning.


Penalties are a serious test of skill and nerve (Luciano Bisbal/Getty Images)

None of that suggests penalties are a game of chance. On the contrary, while they might require different disciplines to the free-flowing action during a game, penalties still act as an ultimate stress test for a player’s ability to think clearly and execute their skill under the most intense pressure. We’re not talking about settling a game by rock, paper, scissors, here.

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They also feel part of, or an extension of, the game we have just witnessed in a way that other random deciding factors — like the coin toss — could never be. And generally speaking, the better team wins because they are also better at taking penalties.

That was perhaps more arguable in the City-Madrid game last season, when two superb sets of players went head to head and there was barely anything to choose between them. But there is no disputing that Real Madrid won that game, and City lost it.

That does not change the fact that Guardiola’s City are among the finest sides the English game has produced. But it does mean that their latest “record” is a false one.

They are a team for the ages with a glittering array of trophies and records. They can manage just fine without fake ones.

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(Top photo: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

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Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa

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Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa

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New York sports radio icon Mike Francesa claims differing views on President Donald Trump created a divide within the Mets clubhouse. 

Francesa said on his podcast Tuesday that a feud between shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who was recently traded to the Texas Rangers, was ignited by politics. Francesa did not disclose which player supported Trump and which didn’t. 

“The Nimmo-Lindor thing, my understanding, was political, had to do with Trump,” Francesa said. “One side liked Trump, one side didn’t like Trump.”

 

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New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York City. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

Francesa added, “So, Trump splitting up between Nimmo and Lindor. That’s my understanding. It started over Trump… As crazy as that sounds, crazier things have happened.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mets for a response.

DODGERS LAND ALL-STAR CLOSER IN RECORD-BREAKING DEAL AFTER BACK-TO-BACK WORLD SERIES WINS: REPORTS

New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) and Brandon Nimmo (9) celebrate after a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 27, 2023, in New York City. The Mets won 7-2. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

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Nimmo was traded to the Rangers on Nov. 23 after waiving the no-trade clause in his 8-year, $162 million contract earlier that month. 

The trade of Nimmo has been just one domino in a turbulent offseason for the Mets, which has also seen the departure of two other fan-favorites, first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Edwin Diaz. 

All three players had been staples in the Mets’ last two playoff teams in 2022 and 2024, playing together as the team’s core dating back to 2020.

Brandon Nimmo #9 of the New York Mets celebrates an RBI single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning in Game One of the Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Heather Barry/Getty Images)

In return for Nimmo, the Rangers sent second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets. Nimmo is 32 years old and is coming off a year that saw him hit a career-high in home runs with 25, while Semien is 35 and hit just 15 homers in 2025. 

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Many of the MLB’s high-profile free agents have already signed this offseason. The remaining players available include Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette and Framber Valdez. 

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FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with $60 prices

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FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with  prices

FIFA announced an affordable admission pricing tier for every nation that’s qualified for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The supporter entry tier will make tickets available at a fixed price of $60 for every match, including the final, for each nation’s participating members associations.

The new tier comes after supporters’ groups from Europe called out FIFA on the dynamic pricing of tickets, which changes the value based on the popularity of the teams playing in each match.

“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely supporter value tier (40%) and the supporter entry tier (10%),” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The remaining allocation is split evenly between the supporter standard tier and the supporter premier tier.”

FIFA will also waive the administrative fees for fans who secure participating member association tickets. But if their teams do not advance, they can seek refunds.

Tickets sales were rolled out by FIFA in phases, with a third of the tournament’s inventory claimed during the first two phases. The third phase started on Dec. 11 and will go through to Jan. 13. During this period, fans have the opportunity to allocate tickets for a match based on a random selection draw.

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Before the new tier was introduced, the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey would cost fans more than $4,000. The high prices raised concerns among European supporters.

“The prices set for the 2026 World Cup are scandalous, a step too far for many supporters who passionately and loyally follow their national sides at home and abroad,” the FSA, an organization of supporters for England and Wales, said in a statement posted on its website on Dec. 12. “Everything we feared about the direction in which FIFA wants to take the game was confirmed — Gianni Infantino only sees supporter loyalty as something to be exploited for profit.”

FIFA previously stated it adopted the variable pricing because it was common practice for major North America sporting events.

“What FIFA is doing is adapting to the domestic market,” a FIFA official said in the conference call. “It’s a reality in the U.S. and Canada that events are being priced as per the demand that is coming in for that event.”

A FIFA official told reporters before the first tickets went on sale that world soccer’s governing body expects to make more than $3 billion from hospitality and tickets sales and is confident the tournament will break the all-time World Cup attendance record set in 1994, the last time the men’s competition was held in the U.S.

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That 1994 World Cup featured just 24 teams and 52 matches. The 2026 tournament will be twice as large, with 48 teams and 104 games.

FIFA said it received 20 million requests during the random selection draw sales.

SoFi Stadium will host eight matches, beginning with the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12. The Americans will finish group play in Inglewood on June 25, playing the winner of a March playoff involving Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania. Two Group G matches — Iran versus New Zealand on June 15 and Iran-Belgium on June 21 — also will be played in SoFi, sandwiched around a Group B match between Switzerland and the winner of another European playoff, this one featuring Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland.

The teams for the three knockout-stage games to be played at SoFi Stadium — round-of-32 games on June 28 and July 2 and a quarterfinal on July 10 — haven’t been determined, but the possibilities include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria.

Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.

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Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers

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Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers

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Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons ripped into those who burglarized his home while he played against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

There were “at least six suspects” who burglarized Simmons’ Nashville home, which came shortly after 7 p.m., the Metro Nashville Police Department told ESPN.

That was the exact time frame the Titans were facing the 49ers in the Bay Area.

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Jeffery Simmons of the Tennessee Titans looks on during halftime against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 30, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jeff Dean/Getty Images)

“What if any of my family members was in my house??” Simmons wrote on social media while showing security camera footage of the burglars trying to enter his home. “All that materialistic s—- you can have but this is crazy!”

Simmons also called the burglars “f—ing cowards,” though he was complimentary of the Metro Nashville PD.

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“I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Titans’ security team for their professionalism and swift response,” Simmons said in a statement. “Their dedication to ensuring the safety of our entire Nashville community does not go unnoticed. I remain thankful for God’s protection and grace.”

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The suspects were said to have gained entry to Simmons’ home “after smashing out window glass,” while “multiple items were taken” in the process.

It’s unclear exactly what was taken from Simmons’ home.

Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) reacts after sacking Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 7, 2025. (Scott Galvin/Imagn Images)

Meanwhile, Simmons was able to find the end zone despite the loss to the 49ers, so a good personal performance came to a screeching halt once he found out the news.

But unfortunately, Simmons isn’t the only NFL star who has been burglarized while playing a game.

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Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had it happen last season, as did Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. All of those burglaries were in connection with a South American theft group that was specifically targeting NFL and NBA players.

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Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders also saw $200,000 worth of property taken from his residence while they were playing the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season.

The Titans’ security team said it is “actively working” with local police to recover the stolen items.

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