Scott Murray's Blog, page 15
August 16, 2024
Manchester United 1-0 Fulham: Premier League – as it happened
Joshua Zirkzee scored on debut to decide a scrappy opening game at Old Trafford
Here we go, then, as Fulham get the first match of the new Premier League season underway. But not before the knee of justice is taken. Andreas Pereira with 2024-25’s first kick of the ball. “I don’t have any Man U or Fulham defenders in my FPL team, so I’m confident of a 6-6 draw,” predicts Chloë Vaughan.
The teams are out! Expectation crackles around a packed Old Trafford as United and Fulham take to the field in their fetching new Adidas strips. Three bars ahoy! Trefoils to come. The hosts in red, the visitors in white, a classic look that acts as balm for tired eyes. There’s been plenty of noise ever since United’s quartet of new signings – the aforementioned Mazraoui, De Ligt and Zirkzee, plus the crocked Leny Yoro – were announced to the crowd a few minutes ago. The 2024-25 Premier League season kicks off in two or three of your Lancastrian minutes!
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August 14, 2024
Real Madrid 2-0 Atalanta: European Super Cup – as it happened
Kylian Mbappé scored on his debut as Real Madrid won a record sixth Super Cup in Warsaw
6 min: De Ketelaere slips Zappacosta into space down the right with a cute pass. Zappacosta reaches the byline but can’t work out whether to cross or shoot, and eventually does neither. Lookman is then harshly penalised for a nudge on Militão in the middle, and the whistle goes. A first flash of promise for the Italians, though.
5 min: Mbappé gets his first meaningful touch, just inside the Atalanta box on the left. He’s crowded out of it by De Roon and Hien, but the sense of expectation was palpable when the new man took up possession.
Continue reading...July 21, 2024
The Open 2024: final round – as it happened
Matthew Jordan’s approach into 1 is gathered up by the bunker guarding the front left of the green. Never mind! The links expert – he grew up playing at Hoylake, where he finished tied for tenth last year – nearly holes out with a delicate splash. The ball stops on the lip. The shot deserved more, but he’d have taken par when watching his ball disappear into the trap. He remains at level par, unlike his poor playing partner Justin Thomas, who ends up with a triple-bogey seven, his bid over after one hole. He’s +3, and it’s been a topsy turvy week for JT all right. An opening round of 68, a 67 yesterday, and a 78 in between that was a microcosm of the entire week in itself: 46 out, a battling 33 coming back to survive the cut. If the 31-year-old American can rediscover some consistency, he’ll become his old super-dangerous self once again. But this week is over.
A nightmare start for the two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas. A wild slice, and his drive goes sailing towards the beach. That’s not necessarily the worst opening tee shot at an Open Championship – Ian Baker-Finch (below) has JT’s back – but it’s up there. So far off beam. Thomas’s second finds a fairway bunker, from which he’ll be forced to chop out sideways. A triple bogey looks on the cards now. His hopes and dreams – he’d started the day at level par - over in a matter of seconds.
By the time of the 1995 Open at St Andrews, [Ian Baker-Finch’s] confidence was twisted almost beyond repair. He stood on the 1st tee, paired with the legendary Arnold Palmer, having not made a single penny in prize money all year. Then came the sort of mistake even a weekend hacker would have trouble making. Standing in front of the widest fairway in championship golf, Baker-Finch snap-hooked his ball straight over the parallel 18th fairway and out of bounds, nearly 180 yards to his left. Baker-Finch shot 77, six shots better than his playing partner Palmer, but then Arnie was 65 years old.
Continue reading...July 20, 2024
The Open 2024: third round – as it happened
The rain is beginning to come down now. Umbrellas up. The greens suddenly not running quite as quickly as they were. Russell Henley, coming off the back of a birdie blitz at 4, 5 and 6, tries to make it four in a row at 7, but leaves his 20-foot putt a couple short. He remains at -1. See also the in-flight Thriston Lawrence, whose 30-foot birdie attempt up 12 stops one full rotation short. He’s still -4.
It’s difficult to keep these things going, mind. Justin Thomas had been going along like a train until dropping his first shot of the day at 13; now he’s shipped another, the result of driving into a bunker at 15. He’s back to level par for the tournament and just (just!) four under for his round.
Continue reading...July 19, 2024
The Open 2024: second round updates – as it happened
Shane Lowry leads at the halfway mark, two shots clear of Dan Brown and Justin Rose at Royal Troon
Marcel Siem keeps on keepin’ on! A sensational shot into the Postage Stamp lands pin high and screeches to an immediate halt, six feet from the flag. He’s left with a straight putt, and in it goes for a fifth birdie in eight holes! Things may start to get a little trickier now with the wind slowly picking up, though it’s not expected to become a proper game-changer until around midday, by which time the German will be long back in the hutch.
-6: Brown
-5: Lowry
-3: Siem (8), Thomas
-2: Noren, N Hojgaard, Rose, Henley, Schauffele, Hughes, Dean
The Open 2024: second round updates – live
Marcel Siem keeps on keepin’ on! A sensational shot into the Postage Stamp lands pin high and screeches to an immediate halt, six feet from the flag. He’s left with a straight putt, and in it goes for a fifth birdie in eight holes! Things may start to get a little trickier now with the wind slowly picking up, though it’s not expected to become a proper game-changer until around midday, by which time the German will be long back in the hutch.
-6: Brown
-5: Lowry
-3: Siem (8), Thomas
-2: Noren, N Hojgaard, Rose, Henley, Schauffele, Hughes, Dean
July 18, 2024
The Open 2024: McIlroy slumps as Brown takes lead – as it happened
Rory McIlroy’s Open hopes were left in tatters after a 78 as Dan Brown birdied the last to take a surprise lead on 6-under
Adam Scott came so close to lifting the Claret Jug in 2012. It wasn’t to be, and those closing four bogeys at Lytham will have left a scar. He had the Scottish Open snatched from under his nose last week by Bob MacIntyre, too. But there’s little that vexes the genial Aussie too much, and here he his holing out from one of the deep bunkers guarding 1. An opening birdie, and while there are 71 holes still to play, we’re allowed to dream. It’s free.
-1: Song (2), Kinoshita (2), Scott (1)
Continue reading...The Open 2024: first round updates – live
Adam Scott came so close to lifting the Claret Jug in 2012. It wasn’t to be, and those closing four bogeys at Lytham will have left a scar. He had the Scottish Open snatched from under his nose last week by Bob MacIntyre, too. But there’s little that vexes the genial Aussie too much, and here he his holing out from one of the deep bunkers guarding 1. An opening birdie, and while there are 71 holes still to play, we’re allowed to dream. It’s free.
-1: Song (2), Kinoshita (2), Scott (1)
Continue reading...July 12, 2024
England 2-1 Republic of Ireland: Euro 2025 qualifying – as it happened
2 min: Williamson rakes a glorious long diagonal pass towards Le Tissier on the right flank, but there’s nobody in the middle to find and the England right-back is forced to turn tail. Shame: what an assist to the assist that Williamson pass could have been.
Both sets of players take the knee of equality, love and respect, then England get the ball rolling. The rain keeps falling.
Continue reading...July 6, 2024
Netherlands 2-1 Turkey: Euro 2024 quarter-final – as it happened
Mert Müldür’s own goal proved the difference after a breathless quarter-final contest in Berlin
58 sec: Netherlands have already held out longer than Austria did in the last round …
Netherlands get the ball rolling. The Olympiastadion is rocking. “They also suffer who sit and wait (and watch the appallingly tedious quarter-finals so far),” begins a jaded Charles Antaki. “If there’s any justice in the football world, then this will be a rip-roarer of a game, with goals, near-misses, diving headers, 60-metre dribbles and a fist-fight in the dugout. But since there actually isn’t any justice in the football world, it’ll be another 1-1 going to penalties. Pshaw.”
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