In the eighth minute of their dramatic 2-1 Group E defeat to Japan, Ilkay Gundogan found himself ransacked in midfield and the Blue Samurai sliced forward. Junya Ito surged down the right and put the ball on a plate for Daizen Maeda, whose eagerness to dine out on a World Cup goal saw him needlessly stray offside. That was the danger. For all of Germany’s technical quality — there were no finer purveyors here than Gundogan, who garnished an astute overall display with the opening goal from the penalty spot, and the lavishly gifted teenager Jamal Musiala — they are a side vulnerable to pace and tenacity in transition, something of an irony given the nation’s traditional footballing strengths....

Following three successive draws, including a 1-1 struggle against the Italians 10 days ago, Germany were keen to put on a show for their home fans at Borussia Park as Timo Werner bagged two goals in as many minutes. Goals from Joshua Kimmich, Ilkay Gundogan and Thomas Muller added to the rout while Italy scored late consolations courtesy of Wilfried Gnonto and Alessandro Bastoni. Italy were second best throughout, with Gianluigi Donnarumma enduring a busy evening between the sticks and performances like this give some indication of why the European champions failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this year....

In the fifth inning of the Pirates’ 4-3 loss to the Reds, Gerrit Cole threw to first to keep Brandon Phillips honest and the ball got away. But it wasn’t because Alvarez whiffed — Cole’s throw went straight through the first baseman’s glove and rolled into foul territory. Alvarez went to the dugout to swap out the wounded mitt. MORE: Trade deadline winners and losers | Reds’ rebuild shows team’s fatal flaws...

Traffic has been the bane of city living for more than 2,000 years. When the streets of ancient Rome grew jammed with carts, vendors and oxen, the caesars banned daytime deliveries altogether–only to have residents complain of being kept awake at night. In the early 1900s, streetcars were buried underground to make way for automobiles and, more recently, cities binged on road building to speed travel from downtown areas to the suburbs and back....

For “NBA 2K18,” the MyCareer story mode joins MyPark, Pro-Am and character customization within a new hub called “The Neighborhood.” This open world area will be populated by other real MyPlayer characters from around the world in what looks a lot like “Grand Theft Auto Online.” Both “NBA 2K” and “Grand Theft Auto” are developed by studios owned by parent company Take Two Interactive. MORE: Breaking down the top player ratings for “NBA 2K18”...

Stroman, 22, had his latest start at Triple-A pushed back a couple days to sync up with the struggling McGowan's start last night, a sign that McGowan is on thin ice in Toronto. McGowan pitched well, turning in a quality start despite taking a no-decision in the 10-7 loss, but his ERA stands at 5.87 through five turns. Stroman, meanwhile, stated his case with six no-hit innings for Buffalo while striking out 10....

Unfortunately, the “plug and play” option didn’t work for add-ons that require a high data-transfer rate, like hard drives and video cameras. Finally, in 1999, Windows-based machines added support for a pair of new peripheral interfaces (those connectors on the front or back of your PC) that were faster and smarter than their predecessors. One was the Intel-developed Universal Serial Bus, more commonly known as USB. The other was IEEE-1394, engineered by Apple....

But one must look at this result with some perspective. Ghana are a seasoned footballing nation and this team consists of some really top talents. To pick one out - captain Eric Aiyah, who has been on the radar of clubs like Manchester City and FC Porto. Incidentally, he would score the two goals that would seal the result on the night against India before his teammates helped themselves to two more late on....

Circuit Judge Alison Nathan’s decision means that Maxwell’s sentencing hearing is likely to move forward on June 28 as scheduled. Last December, Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking and four other charges related to helping her now-deceased former lover Jeffrey Epstein groom and abuse underage girls. Lawyers for Maxwell, 60, had argued that a new trial should be granted because juror Scotty David, also known as Juror 50, had failed to disclose that he had been a victim of childhood sexual abuse on a questionnaire before jury selection....

Playing a rehab game for the Single-A Tampa Tarpons on Wednesday, Stanton hit two home runs. He now has three homers in three games with Tampa. “I felt good, my timing’s getting there,” Stanton said afterward. “I think I’ll play through the weekend in the minors, and then hopefully get back [to the majors] next week.” Granted, minor-league performance doesn’t translate to MLB success, as thousands of hot prospects have shown through the years....

From his go-go gadget blocks, to covering the entire length of the court in two dribbles, to his bulldozing drives, demolishing anyone in his path, Antetokounmpo is an unstoppable force who is trying to put an entire country on his back at EuroBasket 2022. The last time we saw Antetokounmpo on an international stage at the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the superstar forward failed to get Greece past the Group Stage....

Antetokounmpo had never before touched a baseball, but that changed Monday at Yankee Stadium. “It was really heavy,” Antetokounmpo told The Associated Press. “I thought it would be lighter.” The 6-foot-11 forward towered over the Yankees’ players as he got to see the field and also take a few swings in the batting cage. It took a few tries at first. Antetokounmpo swung and missed and barely made contact on his next few attempts, but then he finally hit the ball off the tee, which caused the players who were watching to cheer....

The video was posted to TikTok on January 29 by Heidi (@iamhe1di). So far, the video has amassed more than 19 million views and over 325,000 likes. Heidi’s video isn’t the first snake video to go viral as of late. For example, a resurfaced video that showed a fisherman holding an anaconda gained more than 6 million views on Reddit last month. In the comments section of both the Reddit post and Heidi’s post, some viewers expressed fear; however, the high view count of each video could suggest that people enjoy watching things that scare them....

The incident took place on Monday at the Arena-2000 venue in Yaroslavl, a city in western Russia, northeast of Moscow. The venue is owned by the local hockey club, Lokomotiv, and according to one of the club’s official social media accounts, a crew was working to assemble to structure when something went wrong, causing it to become “uncontrollably transformed and twisted.” Sport.ru reported that the cube fell as it was being lifted up when one of the winches holding it broke....

Pence was hit on the left arm by the Cubs’ Corey Black in the sixth inning of Thursday’s exhibition. MORE: Must-see photos from spring training | Fantasy spin | Updated OF rankings | Yu Darvish has triceps tightness “Hunter, he’s always upbeat, optimistic,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters, per MLB.com . “He was trying to move out of the way and it kind of ran in and caught him there, but hey, it happens....

Daniel Jones found Darius Slayton streaking over the middle of the field on a third-and-15 with 3:07 left in the game and the Vikings out of timeouts. The fourth-year quarterback hit his receiver in stride and it looked like Slayton was going to be able to easily run into the open field for a first down. MORE: Giants ride Daniel Jones’ terrific playoff debut to win over Vikings There was just one problem: He couldn’t make the catch....

Because of that, it’s impossible to see how the Giants can find a way to land on top of this garbage heap at the end of the season. If they can find ways to blow it now — the way they did Sunday in a 20-14 tease of a loss to Washington — they can find a way later. MORE: Absolute NFL shockers | Five things we learned from Giants, Redskins | Week 12 scoreboard...

Manning, 38, threw a pair of touchdown passes as the Giants beat the Dolphins 36-20 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. NFL DRAFT ORDER: Giants’ win over Dolphins improves Bengals’ chances for No. 1 pick In potentially his final home start for the Giants, Manning received a standing ovation after exiting the game with less than two minutes remaining — New York went on to snap a nine-game losing streak....

And, given that kind of support, Madison Bumgarner wasn’t going to ruin the history Brandon Crawford made with that swing. “Give Bum a 4-0 lead, I don’t give a damn. Let’s go spray some Champagne,” Giants right-hander Tim Hudson told the San Francisco Chronicle in the Champagne- (and beer-)soaked clubhouse after San Fran’s 8-0 triumph over the Pirates in Pittsburgh in Wednesday’s NL wild-card game. Bumgarner valued those four runs so much, he made sure the Pirates felt like they were 40....