Conor O'Neill

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Conor O'Neill

Free kicks on the edge of the box always get fans leaning forward in their seats but when Lionel Messi is taking them, the excitement is amplified. The roar that came after his collision with Porto midfielder Ze Pedro on Thursday was deemed a foul belied the modest crowd of 31,783 inside the 72,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This wasn’t just anticipation, it was expectation.

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Conor O'Neill

With personal terms agreed, Barcelona now lead the race to land Nico Williams, one of Europe’s most in-demand wide attackers. The Athletic Club winger has shone for club and country in recent seasons, dazzling with his trickery and searing pace. The high point of his meteoric rise came with his goal in Spain’s 2-1 win over England in last year’s European Championship final.

1 week ago | duke.rivals.com | Conor O'Neill

Duke lost its baseball coach to another ACC program; it stayed in the ACC — and in the state — to hire its next coach. Corey Muscara has been hired as Duke’s next baseball coach, the program announced Thursday afternoon. He comes to Duke after spending the past four seasons as Wake Forest’s pitching coach; he was named D1Baseball’s assistant coach of the year in 2023.

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Felipe Cardenas |Conor O'Neill

Lionel Messi lit up the Club World Cup with a vintage free-kick goal that sealed a 2-1 comeback win for Inter Miami against Porto. In front of a 31,783-crowd at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium (not bad, with the game kicking off at 3pm local time on a Thursday), Porto led through a penalty inside 10 minutes before Telasco Segovia drew Miami level even earlier in the second half with a thumping finish.

1 week ago | bvmsports.com | Conor O'Neill

Wake Forest's men's basketball team will be in a four-team tournament in which the other three teams were top-five seeds in last year's NCAA tournament. The Deacons will play in the Baha Mar Championship in the upcoming season. Wake's first game will be against Texas Tech at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 20, and the Deacons will play either Purdue or Memphis in the championship or consolation game on Nov. 21, depending on the results.