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The San Diego Padres and Athletics have engaged in a blockbuster MLB trade deadline deal with multiple significant moving pieces.

The Padres have now shored up their starting rotation and back end of the bullpen for the closing stretch of the season, as they are set to acquire Athletics closer Mason Miller and starting pitcher JP Sears, according to a report from ESPN's Jeff Passan.

In return, the the A's will receive the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball – shortstop Leodalis De Vries, as well as three pitchers – RHP Braden Nett, RHP Henry Baez and RHP Eduarniel Nunez – in exchange for Miller and Sears.

Miller, a 2024 All-Star, has posted a 3.76 ERA in 31.1 innings pitched this season, while accumulating 20 saves. While it's a bit of a step back from his All-Star form last season, he's tough to navigate when he's right.

Sears will provide depth to the starting rotation. He's 7-9 this season with a 4.95 ERA across 111.0 innings of work.

The Padres are 60-49 on the season, and sit three games out of first-place in the NL West.

Lionel Messi and Argentina have been told that they were “lucky” to savour World Cup glory at Qatar 2022. All-time great Messi completed his medal collection at that event, as he inspired the Albiceleste to a global title. Wesley Sneijder has suggested that the South Americans were fortunate to claim that crown, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal considered to have a better chance of landing the same prize in 2026.

Will Messi & Ronaldo grace the 2026 World Cup?

The countdown is on to another meeting of the best players on the planet. FIFA’s flagship event is preparing to head to the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer – with 48 teams taking part in an expanded format.

The expectation is that Messi and Ronaldo will form part of that gathering. CR7 has stated that he expects his sixth World Cup to be his last, as he will be 41 by the time that the tournament gets underway, but has been showing no sign of slowing down with Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr.

Messi is yet to confirm that he will form part of Argentina’s title defence, with the 38-year-old now plying his club trade in MLS for Inter Miami. Many are tipping him to make Lionel Scaloni’s squad, with a 200th international cap in the process of being chased down.

AdvertisementGettyGot lucky: Why Sneijder is backing Ronaldo over Messi

Messi has already reached the pinnacle of world football, having got his hands on the trophy that he coveted most in 2022, with the all-time great caring little what the likes of Sneijder think about his glorious achievement.

The ex-Netherlands and Real Madrid playmaker has, however, told when turning the clock backwards and forwards: “Portugal have a very strong team. For me, they are one of the favourites so then I would say Cristiano Ronaldo has the stronger chance of winning the next World Cup compared to Lionel Messi. It was a great World Cup for Argentina in Qatar but they were a bit lucky as well. I think overall Portugal is a better team.”

Should Messi have eight Ballons d'Or? Sneijder thinks not

This is not the first time that Sneijder has questioned Messi’s claims to the most prestigious of honours. The Dutchman helped Jose Mourinho’s legendary Inter side to a Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League treble in 2010 and believes those exploits should have earned him a Golden Ball.

Sneijder has previously said: “It was a little unfair that I was not crowned with the 2010 Ballon d'Or and Messi won it. Although I'm not the guy who cries about that: the Ballon d'Or is an individual award, and what I prefer is to win collective trophies. If I had to choose between the Champions League and the Ballon d'Or, I would choose the Champions League that I won. I am very happy with that title.”

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Getty/GOALGOAT targets: Messi & Ronaldo tipped to reach 1,000 goals

Sneijder has seen Messi move on to eight Ballons d’Or, while Ronaldo has five in his collection. They are both still going strong, with there individual targets for them to chase down.

Ronaldo has made no secret of the fact that he wants to reach 1,000 career goals, with Messi also being backed to hit four figures in that department before history-making boots are hung up for the final time.

Sneijder has said: “I think that's the next goal for both of them, 100%. Cristiano won’t stop before reaching the thousand goals. Messi has signed another two year deal. He will definitely reach one thousand goals as well.

“It's nice that we are still talking about this rivalry with one in MLS and the other in Saudi. They are two big stars and now they’re chasing a different goal of reaching 1,000 goals. Amazing. Maybe we see about counting their assists to find out who can get to 2,000 first.”

Ronaldo has committed to a contact at Al-Nassr that is set to keep him into the Middle East until the summer of 2027. Messi, meanwhile, has agreed fresh terms with Inter Miami through the 2028 MLS season.

Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl lost for the second time in as many matches in charge of the club in the Europa League against Roma on Thursday night.

The Italian giants came to Ibrox and won 2-0 under the lights, thanks to two first-half strikes, to make it three defeats in five matches for the new Light Blues boss.

It is hard to blame the former Sheffield Wednesday tactician for that dismal start to his career at the club, though, as he has had a tough run of fixtures, including this clash with Roma and a League Cup semi-final against Celtic.

Rohl has inherited a team that struggled badly under former manager Russell Martin, who only won five matches in all competitions during his time in Glasgow.

However, the German boss does have a chance to make it three wins out of three in the Scottish Premiership when his side travel to play Dundee away from home on Sunday.

With that match in mind, the Ibrox head coach must ruthlessly ditch centre-forward Youssef Chermiti from the starting line-up after an underwhelming performance on Thursday night.

Why Youssef Chermiti should be dropped by Rangers

The £8m summer signing from Everton has now produced one goal and one assist in 12 appearances in all competitions for the Light Blues in the 2025/26 campaign.

His goal, as shown in the clip above, was aided by some fairly questionable goalkeeping, and his assist was a simple pass to Danilo, who took a brilliant touch and scored from the edge of the box.

The Portugal U21 international has not provided enough quality in the final third to justify his price tag, yet, and his performance against Roma did little to convince supporters that he has been a good addition to the squad.

Roma had Artem Dovbyk leading the line for them at Ibrox and the gulf in class between the Ukraine international and Chermiti in their respective displays was staggering.

Whilst the Serie A marksman, who scored 17 goals for Roma last season (Sofascore), provided the perfect foil for his team to build attacks from, Rangers could not rely on Chermiti to bring others into play.

Minutes

73

86

Big chances missed

1

0

Passes completed

8

19

Pass accuracy

67%

100%

Key passes

0

4

Assists

0

1

Possession lost

8x

5x

As you can see in the table above, Dovbyk was almost perfect in possession and created four chances for his team on the night, including one for the second goal, whilst the Gers striker did not create any chances for his side and was a bit loose with his passes.

The former Everton forward also struggled in the 3-1 loss to Celtic at Hampden Park on Sunday. Pundit Michael Stewart bemoaned his “poor” finishing after the attacker spurned two huge opportunities to find the back of the net in the first half.

Therefore, Rohl should drop him from the starting line-up to take on Dundee in the Premiership on Sunday and unleash Danilo, who has scored in each of his last two appearances in the Premiership under the German head coach.

Chermiti is not the only underperforming Rangers player who should lose his place in the starting XI for that trip to Dundee before the international break, though.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

The former Bayern Munich and Southampton assistant manager should also ruthlessly ditch left-sided defender Jayden Meghoma from the side, after another disappointing showing.

Why Danny Rohl should drop Jayden Meghoma for Rangers

Rohl should drop the defender from the team after he decided to withdraw him from the game at half-time in order to change formation and move Max Aarons to left-back.

The Rangers head coach opted to move away from a 3-4-2-1 formation to chase the game with a 4-3-3, which meant that Aarons moved from right wing-back to left-back and James Tavernier moved from right centre-back to right-back.

Rohl deciding to move Aarons, who is a right-footed right-back, over to left-back instead of moving Meghoma back into a left-back position in a back four suggests that he was less-than-pleased with the Brentford loanee’s contributions in the first half.

Minutes

45

Pass accuracy

79%

Key passes

0

Successful dribbles

0/1

Tackles won

0

Interceptions

0

Ground duels won

0/2

Aerial duels won

0/0

As you can see in the table above, it is easy to understand why the manager may not have been too impressed by the wing-back’s first-half showing, as the 19-year-old flop failed to win a single duel.

Meghoma offered very little to the team in or out of possession in the opening 45 minutes, with no key passes, dribbles, tackles, interceptions, or duels won for the Scottish giants.

The Scotsman handed the youngster a player rating of 4/10 for his performance against Roma and wrote that he looked ‘out of his depth’ as an ‘untested’ youngster, which is hard to disagree with, given Rohl’s decision to withdraw him at half-time and his dismal statistics.

After the 3-1 loss to Celtic in the League Cup last weekend, Football FanCast suggested that the left-back may be on borrowed time in the starting XI because he was caught out defensively for the opening goal from Johnny Kenny, as shown in the clip below.

Meghoma was also caught out aerially from a set-piece in the 3-0 defeat to Brann in Rohl’s first match in charge, when he allowed Jacob Lungi Sorensen to get the run on him to score from a free-kick.

The teenage defender, who has won 25% of his aerial duels in the Premiership (Sofascore), has not proven that he can be a reliable option for the Light Blues at this moment in time, and the change at half-time on Thursday suggests that the manager trusts Aarons ahead of him in a back four.

Danny Rohl now orders Rangers to make three January signings, priority revealed

The new manager is looking to strengthen his squad considerably this winter.

ByDominic Lund Nov 5, 2025

Therefore, Rohl should ruthlessly ditch Meghoma and Chermiti in order to unleash Aarons at left-back in a back four and Danilo up front against Dundee on Sunday.

Sussex skipper registers the only half-century of the match as draw looms at Hove

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay17-Sep-2025Sussex 232 for 8 (Simpson 66, Milnes 3-80) lead Yorkshire 194 (Lyth 47, Hudson-Prentice 3-33, Unadkat 3-36) by 38 runsCaptain John Simpson made the only half-century so far in a bowler-dominated contest as Sussex and Yorkshire battled for supremacy at Hove.Simpson’s 66 on a day when only 51 overs were possible because of rain and bad light helped Sussex to 232 for 8, a lead of 38.With a day to go a draw still seems the likely outcome – a result which would suit both teams bearing in mind the struggles two teams below them in the table, Hampshire and Durham, are having in the penultimate round of matches.Having started the day on 84 for 4 and still 110 behind, Sussex will be pleased with their efforts in conditions which were never great for batting with a grey canopy of low cloud all day and the ball doing enough off the pitch to keep the seamers interested before Dom Bess, belatedly introduced to the attack, spun two balls sharply to take two wickets in eight balls.Simpson, in two hours and 40 minutes of patient accumulation, offered just once chance after reaching the 60th fifty of his first-class career when he was on 53 and Adam Lyth put him down at slip off George Hill.When play started at 11.45am after overnight rain Simpson and Tom Alsop extended their fifth-wicket stand to 42. That it took 19 overs reflected the quality of the seam bowling, notably from Matt Milnes and Hill.Milnes made the breakthrough when he switched ends although Alsop could consider himself very unfortunate when he defended deep in his crease and the ball rolled onto the stumps, gently dislodging the leg bail. Nonetheless his 36 in two hours was an important contribution.After lunch Simpson and Carson went on the attack, adding 52 in 12 overs before Carson played at an outswinger he could have left from Hill and Lyth held on at second slip.There was another good partnership for the seventh wicket for nearly an hour between Simpson and Fynn Hudson-Prentice and it was the introduction of off-spinner Dom Bess that brought Yorkshire some relief.In his second over Bess turned one sharply to hit Hudson-Prentice’s off stump and he claimed the key wicket of Simpson in the next over as he was pushed forward and was beaten by one which turned to hit off stump, from a round the wicket line. It was a fine ball to end a quality innings, which included eight fours and took Simpson to 952 runs for the season. He will be confident of reaching 1,000 for the third time in his career with potentially three innings to play.Drizzle forced the players off shortly after tea and frustratingly, when they resumed at 5.05pm, only three balls were possible before bad light forced another delay. Umpires Tom Lungley and Jack Shantry finally called it a day at 5.50pm.