Mohamed Salah snatched a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Egypt came from behind to beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in their first fixture at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Morocco on Monday.
Egypt’s captain, starting his first game after four successive matches on the bench at Liverpool, fired home a left-footed effort in the 91st minute to earn the seven-time champions a late victory after Zimbabwe had stunned them by going ahead in the first half.
Egypt laid an early siege to Zimbabwe’s goal, but it was the underdogs who netted first through Prince Dube in the 20th minute.
Author: Michael
England captain Ben Stokes (left) consoles Will Jacks following defeat in Adelaide [Getty Images]
Director of cricket Rob Key said he is “gutted, disappointed and sorry” for England being at “20% capacity” in their awful Ashes campaign.
England once again lost the first three Tests in Australia to extend their winless run in this country to 18 matches and remain without a series victory here since 2010-11.
Pat Cummins (left) and Nathan Lyon picked up a combined 11 wickets in the third Test [Getty Images]
Australia captain Pat Cummins and spinner Nathan Lyon will miss the rest of the Ashes series, starting with the Boxing Day Test against England in Melbourne.
Cummins is being rested for the fourth and fifth Tests after rushing his return from a back injury to play in the decisive third Test in Adelaide.
Spinner Lyon had surgery on the hamstring injury he suffered in Adelaide on Tuesday and there is no timeframe for his recovery.
Rob Key has been England director of cricket since 2022 [Getty Images]
England will investigate reports of players drinking excessively during a break from the Ashes series in the beach town of Noosa.
The England squad spent four nights on the Queensland coast between the second and third Tests.
Several outlets, including the BBC, reported that some players were drinking for a significant portion of their time in Noosa, as well as on two previous days in Brisbane, the venue for the second Test.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Dribbling between his legs, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s pump-fake had Olivier-Maxence Prosper go the wrong direction. A spin move helped him tap the ball against the glass. As it ricocheted back to him, he passed it out to Branden Carlson for the corner 3-pointer.
The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away late in their 119-103 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Both teams entered with short-handed rosters as half of their respective rosters sit on the injury report.
Early on, the Grizzlies showed they weren’t going to get walked all over.
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, right, drives to the rim past Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Denver.
It’s Christmas 2025, Sunderland are sat sixth in the Premier League with 27 points from 17 games, we have international players away representing their countries in the Africa Cup of Nations, we still have enough top-class players in our squad to draw away to an established Premier League team like Brighton – and our nearest and dearest rivals are four points and five places below us!
It should be a situation that should fill any Sunderland fan with festive joy.
2025 Season Review: Daejeon Hana Citizen
Daejeon Hana Citizen enjoyed a hugely successful 2025 Hana Bank K League 1 season, finishing second to qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite and setting new club records.
What Went Well
Daejeon finished as runners-up and qualified for the AFC Champions League Elite, so quite a lot went well for the Purples. They found a reliable goalscorer in Joo Min-kyu, they remained mostly consistent throughout the season with no major slumps in form, and they had a good split between their number of home wins (10) and away wins (18).
For those seeking last-minute gift ideas, the 23 December 1950 edition of The Football Echo carried adverts for sporting equipment from Binns and mouth organs from Bergs of Crowtree Road, but the majority of readers were focused on the mood of Sunderland’s favourite cartoon character — and thankfully for them, the “Footy Echo Man” was in high spirits on the back of an encouraging win!
With a string of poor performances feeding into an eye-catching but ultimately disappointing 6-5 defeat at Derby County last time out, Christmas cheer had been in short supply on Wearside.
During the first 32 minutes of Tuesday’s contest between the Magic and Warriors at Chase Center in San Francisco, Orlando and Golden State went back-and-forth up-and-down the court.
To that point, the game was tied 10 times when it featured 13 lead changes with neither side taking a double-digit advantage to that point late in the third quarter.
Then, the tide turned.
The Warriors closed out the third frame on a strong note, opened the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run and never looked back when it held the Magic to 14 points in the final frame en route to a 120-97 victory.