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MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City’s fringe players haven’t seen much action recently. And after the 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League, it might be a while before head coach Pep Guardiola uses them again.The City boss made 10 changes in response to Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United. Guardiola said he would have made 11 if he could, but with Rodri still sidelined, Nico González kept his place.It was a gamble that didn’t pay off. With Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, and Gianluigi Donnarumma watching from the bench, the Bundesliga club took advantage of a rusty City…

Jeff KassoufNov 25, 2025, 07:40 PM ETCloseJeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.The Portland Thorns have fired head coach Rob Gale, the club confirmed on Tuesday.Gale took over as head coach midway through the 2024 NWSL season following a strong run as interim head coach. The Thorns finished sixth last year, losing to NJ/NY Gotham FC in the semifinals.- Gotham rides series of magic moments to win NWSL Championship- Emotional Rodman:…

HONOLULU (AP) — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet (122 meters) into the air. The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No homes were threatened. It’s the 37th time Kilauea has shot lava since last December, when the current eruption began. The latest lava display was preceded by sporadic spattering and overflows that began Friday. Each eruptive episode has lasted about a day or less.…

LONDON (AP) — Following weeks of speculation, Britain’s unpopular Labour government will deliver its second budget later Wednesday since it returned to power in a landslide election victory in July 2024 after 14 years in opposition.Treasury chief Rachel Reeves, the first woman to hold the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, is set to tell lawmakers that more tax-raising measures are necessary to plug a hole in the public finances. Reeves said much the same at her first budget a little more than a year ago. That budget, she had insisted, would be the one and only big tax-raising budget…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The soil surrounding the gas facility in Ukraine was once pitch-black before it was burned to a rusty red by a massive Russian drone and missile assault.Scattered remnants of Shahed drones littered the reservoir designated for storing tanks of liquefied propane gas. Nearly a month after the Oct. 30 attack, several tanks lay empty and in ruins.“It hurts to look at all this (damage) because I saw firsthand (the facility’s) establishment, construction and development,” said Victor, who has worked there for 28 years and who cannot be named in full for security reasons. “But we have,…

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip, a pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon that would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history’s first American pope on the road.Leo is fulfilling a trip Pope Francis planned to make, to mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox church in Turkey. In Lebanon, he’ll try to boost a long-suffering Christian community as well as Lebanese of all faiths who are still demanding justice over the 2020 Beirut port blast.Leo, who spent 12…

RIO CAUTO, Cuba (AP) — Thousands of Cubans remain without power, water or proper shelter almost a month after Hurricane Melissa pummeled the island’s eastern region as one of the strongest Atlantic storms in history.By day, families walk toward the nearest river to fill plastic containers with water and by night, they squeeze together to sleep under temporary shelters and tents.“We lost everything in the flood,” 80-year-old Lucía García said. “I am very depressed and very sad here.”García is living in a small classroom with her two sons, ages 45 and 55, and her ailing 81-year-old husband, who remains bedridden.The…

Ahead of Chelsea’s meeting with Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League, the prematch comparisons between teenage phenoms Estevao Willian and Lamine Yamal felt premature. They don’t now.Chelsea’s 3-0 win on Tuesday was the night when 18-year-old Estevao announced himself on the world stage, capped with a stunning goal that put his fellow young winger firmly in the shade.Of course, 18-year-old Yamal won’t be too worried when the dust settles. He is a European Championship winner with Spain, a two-time LaLiga champion and a Ballon d’Or runner-up. The world is at his feet and will continue to sit there for a…

LONDON — Enzo Maresca has warned comparing Chelsea’s teenage sensation Estêvão with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will put “too much pressure” on his shoulders.Estêvão was the Blues’ standout performer, scoring a sublime second goal as Maresca’s side thrashed 10-man Barcelona 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.Jules Koundé scored a calamitous 27th-minute own goal before Ronald Araújo’s rash 44th-minute dismissal left the LaLiga champions a goal and a man down at half-time.- Estêvão has Chelsea looking like a team that deserves ‘world champions’ tagTen minutes into the second half, Estêvão picked up Reece James’ pass on the right flank, jinking past Pau…

Pep Guardiola suggested he had been “too nice” to his fringe players after the decision to make 10 changes to his team contributed to Manchester City’s surprise 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.City lost a home game in the Champions League group stage or league phase for the first time since 2018 thanks to goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick.Editor’s Picks2 RelatedGuardiola admitted afterward that the changes he made to his team were “too much” and hinted that he should have been ruthless in keeping his squad players on the bench.”Too many changes,” said Guardiola. “Maybe it was too much,…