Socceroos eager to disprove World Cup underdog tag, says coach Tony P…

• Australia coach talks up chances against Turkey, US and Paraguay

• Players to assemble in Florida ahead of squad deadline on 1 June

Socceroos’ coach Tony Popovic said he wants to spoil predictions his team will struggle to progress out of one of the World Cup’s most challenging groups, as he named the first players selected for training camp and revealed a shock selection lifeline for Qatar 2022 hero Mat Leckie. sweetbonan.org

Popovic departs for pre-tournament preparations in Florida on Wednesday, and will bring players in as they finish their seasons over the coming weeks, ahead of the deadline for naming squads on 1 June.

A motocross rider said it was a "miracle" that he escaped serious injury after a bike ran over his shoulders and head in a crash.

Calum Mitchell, 24, from King's Lynn, Norfolk, was racing near Shrewsbury two weeks ago as he warmed up for his home round of the British Motocross Championship, when he hit another rider and ended up unconscious.

The third round is being held at Cadders Hill in Lyng, near Dereham, on Sunday, where Mitchell earned his first race victory in the MX2 class last year.

He will not be able to race, but is planning to watch. He said: "I'm really, really lucky. My family and my dad especially, unfortunately he saw me wake up, [I] didn't know who I was or what my name was.

"I was in a really, really bad state... but if you looked at me now, it would be a miracle."

Speaking about the crash, he said: "I got into a little bit of a sandwich, should we say, and I was in the middle.

"I tried doing my best and unfortunately got tangled up with some faster riders, and then luckily enough it was just me that went down... it was just me that got the worst end of it, and unfortunately I did get then run over."

He said he was "severely battered and bruised" and needed oxygen, and was close to having a cardiac arrest.

Despite what happened, Mitchell said he hoped to be back riding again as soon as possible.

"It's nearly two weeks since I crashed and I thought I would be in a better place right now. Unfortunately, I'm not, and I'll just need to listen to my body.

"Lyng was the best performance of my career... it was just a special moment at that time.

"I've got some great people around me that are right behind me in my corner and when I do come back, we'll be coming back stronger."

Do you have a story suggestion for Norfolk? Contact us below.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

You may also be interested in

• Dad runs 5km despite life-changing motocross crash
• Crash teen 'shocked' at having brain surgery

Related internet links

• British Motocross Championship

Five times Paralympic gold medallist Ellie Simmonds has led a beach clean as part of a campaign to prevent a million pieces of plastic getting into the sea.

The swimmer was joined by Team England athletes taking part in the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and volunteers for the clean-up of West Kirby Beach in Merseyside.

Commonwealth Sport has teamed up with the Royal Commonwealth Society to tackle plastic pollution with the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign.

Simmonds, 31, said she was passionate about ocean conservation and said it was "really important" to do our bit to protect our waters and oceans and removing just one piece of plastic could "have a huge impact".

She said little changes such as taking part in a beach clean, thinking about recycling and using less water could make a big difference to the climate.

"We live on an island, we live close to rivers, we live close to lakes, we've also got amazing nature as well and it's really important that we all do our bit to protect our waters, to protect our oceans, to protect our nature so everyone for years to come can enjoy it," she told BBC Radio Merseyside.

Simmonds said images of plastic being tangled around marine life such as turtles showed how "just taking away one piece of plastic can have a huge impact".

Simmonds said the UK had "incredible water life" which we needed to protect.

"We've got orcas spotted off Cornwall, we've got dolphins in Cardigan Bay... and it's thinking about reducing that plastic because it can actually affect the animals and the nature here," she said.

When asked about the Commonwealth Games which starts in Glasgow in July, Simmonds said she was excited but would not be missing competing in it.

The swimmer, who retired in 2021, said: "I've had my time.

"I can stay dry, don't have to have wet hair and I can just enjoy the sport from a spectator's point of view."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

Related stories

• Lottery winners team up to tackle beach litter
• How clean are north-west England's bathing waters?
• 'Blitz Beach' to be bolstered by 400 tons of rubble

Related internet links

• Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign
• 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Allen’s 22‑point, 19‑rebound performance helped Cleveland advance, making him the second player in franchise history with 20+ points and 15+ rebounds in a Game 7. The veteran center, who had his 11th playoff double‑double, noted the unique intensity of his first Game 7 experience.

Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, our writers discuss LIV Golf’s future after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund announced it will cut funding for the rebel league after the 2026 season.

In a press release Thursday, LIV Golf announced new board members as it transitions from “a foundational launch phase to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.” Hours later, its bankroller, the Saudi PIF, released its own statement saying the “PIF has made the decision to fund LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season. The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy.” Now that you’ve had a few days to digest this bombshell — and after a rollercoaster April for LIV Golf — what thought has lingered with you?

Josh Sens, senior writer (@joshsens): That for all the tumult, not much changed, aside from some players getting a whole lot richer. I suppose you could say LIV’s birth shook the Tour out of its complacency, which led to (ongoing) schedule changes and even fatter purses for already extravagantly paid golfers. Beyond that, though, what? Is there now an insatiable demand for team golf? There is not. Is professional golf itself a better product now for fans? I don’t see a ton of evidence of that.

Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): I think Sens pretty much nailed it. What will stick with me long after LIV either morphs into something else or goes away entirely is that money couldn’t buy the parts of professional golf that actually resonate with fans: the tradition, the history and the meaning of the results. Billions of dollars can do a lot, but they can’t speed up time. It takes decades for sports leagues to resonate with fans and to develop a connection. LIV Golf was never going to be able to achieve that goal in a short time frame. In the end, we got a watered-down professional golf product and the players on both sides got richer. As our Michael Bamberger wrote, LIV Golf changed the PGA Tour, but not for the better. And I feel like a reckoning is coming now that the Tour’s great opponent has flamed out.

James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): Good points, gents. My lingering thought was this: We never heard the “don” of LIV Golf, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, say a single word. Whether golf history remembers LIV’s most powerful Saudi benefactor as a hero or a coward (good arguments for both!), it will NOT remember him for saying a single word about the sport. “His excellency” left golf as he entered it: Without a peep.

At Trump Doral for this week’s Cadillac Championship, several players were asked if LIV members should be welcomed back to the PGA Tour, and what types of penalties they should face. If you were PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, how would you handle players’ reintegration? Is it different for everyone? Would you not allow certain players at all?

Sens: Open a pathway for guys to play their way back on, with a point system that has some kind of reward for past performance. So that maybe the likes of Bryson and Rahm and Smith can compete in regular Tour events but not elevated events, which they’d still have to play their way into. The washed-up LIV guys would probably just retire rather than face that grind. And the younger guys would be left to try to earn their cards, which is what they’d probably be doing anyway.

Schrock: It’s going to have to be a case-by-case basis. As Rolapp and Jordan Spieth have noted, the PGA Tour extended an offer to Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith earlier this year and it wasn’t accepted. The next deal shouldn’t be as forgiving. Both Spieth and Rolapp also subtly mentioned the lawsuit that DeChambeau was a key plaintiff in after LIV launched in 2022. That’s a lawsuit that PGA Tour players had to pay to defend, and the road back for those who signed on to sue the Tour should be harsher than those who went to LIV quietly, like Brooks Koepka, and didn’t rock the boat. Rahm will be the interesting case. His exodus came at a time when LIV was floundering, and it gave the rebel league juice and calcified the two sides’ stances in golf’s civil conflict. That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I’m not sure there’s an easy way to bring either of the big names back without upsetting a big portion of Tour membership, but the Tour would certainly benefit economically from reintegrating them quickly. As for the rest of LIV’s roster, some who resigned their membership, like Patrick Reed, can try to play their way back via the DP World Tour or KFT. Many will disappear with their millions and not even knock on the door at the global home. In all honesty, we’re probably talking about 15-20 players in total that decisions need to be made on.

Colgan: I’d give Bryson a path back. His presence would single-handedly change the PGA Tour’s economics, and he’s probably the only LIV player for whom that is true (Jon Rahm probably deserves consideration here as well). Everyone else would be subject to a lengthy (and expensive) return process through the Tour’s strategic partners at the DP World Tour and the KFT, or a short-term retirement.

News

Even if LIV Golf receives alternative funding, with the substantial PIF coffers no longer available, does this end any sort of competition that was remaining with the PGA Tour?

Sens: I think so. If LIV taught us anything, it’s that the world does not need more professional golf. At least not for the money these guys think they deserve to be making. Ironically, the Tour’s real competition for eyeballs these days doesn’t come from a league backed by Saudi billions. It comes from a bunch of YouTube bros producing their own content.

Schrock: Yes. Without the $30 million purses and signing bonuses, LIV will cease to be any sort of threat to the PGA Tour. It sounds like it’s close to a wrap, barring an unforeseen bailout.

Colgan: No fat lady is singing. Yet. But it sounds like she’s warming up.

What’s the best-case scenario for LIV Golf going forward?

Sens: Maybe pivot to crypto?

Schrock: Try to merge with the DP World Tour. Other than that, the last one to leave should turn out the lights. LIV can slink along with limited funds, but the product will be even worse than its current form, and there will almost certainly be a talent exodus once the money dries up.

Colgan: I think there’s a vision that could exist with significantly smaller purses at LIV’s previously successful golf-crazy venues (Korea, Australia, South Africa). The problem LIV is going to run into is that every sports league needs significant TV revenue to survive, and they’re not anywhere close to that right now.

Sunday’s golf slate featured two blowouts, as Nelly Korda won by four in Mexico and Cameron Young won by six in Florida. Both have had fantastic starts to 2026, but which one are you taking as most likely to continue this success through the summer?

Sens: I think they’ll both keep rolling, but Young’s summer is going to stand out just a bit more boldly when he wins his first major at Shinnecock.

Schrock: It’s Korda for multiple reasons. The first is that she’s the unquestioned best player on her tour. Young has been fantastic but has to deal with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the blistering hot Matt Fitzpatrick. Korda changed her mentality after a winless 2025 and has been relentless to start this season. The only thing that can hold her back is a balky putter, but her new putting coach seems to have at least made that a net neutral. I expect her to win at least one more major this year and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a three-major 2026 for Nelly.

Colgan: Cam! He’s a no-doubt top-5 player in the world right now, and a maiden voyage PGA Championship at Philly looms.

The post Tour Confidential: Answering biggest questions about LIV Golf’s future appeared first on Golf.