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ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC has admitted he turned down an offer to play for David Beckham’s new Miami-based MLS franchise to join Manchester United. GETTYZlatan Ibrahimovic signed a one-year deal with Man United earlier this month The Sweden international was linked with a move to the USA after leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season. But he instead signed a one-year deal with United to link up with his former boss at Inter Milan Jose Mourinho. XPOSUREPHOTOS.COM And Ibrahimovic has now revealed he turned down the chance to join David Beckham’s MLS franchise to move to United because he wanted to work with Mourinho again. The 34-year-old told Goal: "David is a good friend of mine, and he has asked me to play for his [Miami] team. "For now, I want to achieve big things with Manchester United, but I have a lot of respect for the MLS, and anything is possible. "I am not ruling out the MLS. "Once I had decided to leave PSG there were many offers, but with Zlatan t...

A statement from the sports ministry said Mikel was chosen because of his role as a patriotic International footballer while Oshonaike was chosen because of her experience. Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi has been named Captain of Team Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Olympics. The Chelsea midfielder who will be appearing at his first Olympics as part Samson Siasia’s 18-man squad will be assisted by female table tennis star Funke Oshonaike. He is one of the two over aged players alongside South Africa Based Goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi in Siasia’s squad. A statement from the sports ministry said Mikel was chosen because of his role as a patriotic International footballer while Oshonaike was chosen because of her experience. The statement read, “Mikel is a young, patriotic footballer of international status and we believe he will be a role model to the upcoming athletes while Funke Oshonaike is experienced and is one of the oldest athletes in the team. “We believe that their combined efforts wi...

Yuliya Efimova won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the 2015 world championships in Kazan and is preparing a lawsuit over her Rio ban. Photograph: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images The 28 sports federations which hold the fate of Russia’s Olympic athletes in their hands have been warned they face “huge damage claims” if they block anyone from competing who has not been sanctioned for doping. On Tuesday modern pentathlon, canoeing, sailing and rowing joined swimming in barring those Russians mentioned by the independent investigator, Richard McLaren, as “protected athletes” – those who had positive results covered up by the state – in his report to the World Anti-Doping Agency last week. However in another sign of the chaos and confusion resulting from the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban the entire Russia team on Sunday, the Guardian has learned at least one international federation is so worried about being sued it is considering waving through tho...

Arsène Wenger during an Arsenal training session at San Jose State University in California. Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images Arsène Wenger has revealed Per Mertesacker will be out of action for “a few months” with a knee injury. The German centre-half suffered the problem during Friday night’s friendly against Lens and was then left out of Arsenal’s pre-season tour of the United States. There were reports that the injury would rule out the 31-year-old for up to five months but Wenger could only confirm his defender – who was likely to be Arsenal’s new captain for the season – would miss a good chunk of their Premier League campaign which gets under way when Arsenal host Liverpool on 14 August at the Emirates. Speaking during a press conference before the club’s friendly against the MLS All Stars, Wenger confirmed that Mertesacker would miss a “few months” of action. Arsenal will play a side featuring Kaka, Didier Drogba, Andrea Pirlo, Didier Drogb...

Burnley and Bolton both gained some more valuable minutes on the pitch after their hard fought 1-1 draw at the Macron Stadium. The Clarets went ahead in the 16th minute through Andre Gray, who made it five goals in four matches during pre-season from the penalty spot after he was brought down in the box by David Wheater. However, Bolton equalised in the 49th minute through their captain Jay Spearing after the former Liverpool midfielder smashed a fantastic first-time effort into the corner from range. In a game that struggled for any fluency due to a number of substitutions and injuries, 19-year-old Josh Ginnelly made the most of his opportunity after finishing brilliantly from a tight angle late on. More to follow 

Phil Brown will be looking to lift Southend up the EFL ladder this season, and he has started pre-season with an ascent of his own. The former Hull City boss watched his side's friendly against Newcastle from the TV gantry at Roots Hall, after making a perilous climb up a ladder before the game. Brown, who will serve a touchline ban for the first four games of the season, was thought to be testing out the vantage point ahead of his side's League One campaign kicking off. And he saw his side, who finished 15th in League One last season, put in an encouraging display against Newcastle, before succumbing to a 2-0 defeat. MATCH FACTS  Southend United (4-2-3-1): Oxley; White, Trialist A (Trialist C 46 mins), Barrett (Thompson 46), Coker (Kyprianou 79); Bridge, Leonard (Bedford 82); Atkinson (Batlokwa 79), McGlashan, Williams (Cox 62); Trialist B (Mooney 62) Subs not used: Smith, Demetriou, O'Neill, McLaughlin, Wabo Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): Darlow...

Premier League new boys Hull City left Oakwell with a share of the spoils after leaving it late to equalise against Barnsley. Jarrod Bowen proved the visitors' hero with just four minutes remaining of the pre-season friendly on Tuesday night. The result sees the Tigers remain unbeaten ahead of the upcoming campaign - following wins at Mansfield and Scunthorpe United earlier this month. MORE TO FOLLOW MATCH FACTS  Barnsley: Townsend, Bree, Roberts, Mawson, White, Hammill, Hourihane, Scowen, Watkins, Bradshaw, Winnall. Subs: Davies, Yiadom, Moncur, Lee, Nyatanga, Payne, Tuton, D'Almeida, Evans. Goal: Bradshaw 31 Hull City: Kuciak, Elmohamady, Tymon, Davies, Clackstone, Diame, Clucas, Maloney, Odemwingie, Diomande, Luer. Subs: Jakupovic, Robertson, Barkworth, Batty, Olley, Bowen, Hinchliffe, Ter Horst, Hernandez. Goal: Diomande 16

Unmoved by Bernie Sanders' plea for party unity behind Hillary Clinton, several hundred Sanders supporters chanting "Bernie or bust!" took to the streets under the hot sun Tuesday for another round of protests on Day 2 of the Democratic convention. They held a midday rally at City Hall, then made their way down Broad Street to the convention site. By early evening, a crowd of thousands had gathered outside the subway station closest to the Wells Fargo Center as the delegates inside the hall were on the verge of nominating Clinton for president. The crowd consisted of an assortment of protesters espousing a variety of causes, but mostly Sanders supporters and other Clinton foes on the left. Some gathered around a radio to hear what was happening inside the hall, and when Clinton's name was placed in nomination, a chant of "Nominate Sanders!" went up. Earlier in the day, participants at the rally charged that Sanders was cheated out of the nomina...

The Bayelsa governorship election tribunal sitting in Abuja has upheld the election of Seriake Dickson, incumbent governor of Bayelsa state. Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had challenged the victory of Dickson after losing the governorship election last year. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Dickson, winner of the election, announcing that he polled 134,998 votes to defeat Sylva, a former governor of the state, who scored 86,852 votes to place second. Sylva had asked the tribunal to declare him the duly elected as governor, after tendering the evidence of a video showing electoral malpractice allegedly perpetrated by the Dickson and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). After the judgement, Felix Okoroti, counsel to Sylva, told journalists that he would discuss with his client on the next line of action. On his part, counsel to Dickson, Aliu Umar praised the tribunal for its judgement on the matter.

The campaign is part of MoveOn.org Political Action's #UnitedAgainstHate campaign. "We believe it is our responsibility to use our platforms to bring attention to the dangers of a Trump presidency, and to the real and present threats of his candidacy," says an open letter signed by the celebrities. "Donald Trump wants to take our country back to a time when fear excused violence, when greed fueled discrimination, and when the state wrote prejudice against marginalized communities into law .... Some of us come from the groups Trump has attacked. Some of us don't. But as history has shown, it's often only a matter of time before the 'other' becomes me." Among the communities it says Trump has attacked are: Mexican and Latino people, black people, LGBTQ people, women and their health care providers, Asians, refugees, people with disabilities, working class people, American prisoners of war, and others. "We call upon every Ameri...

Okay, VMAs, let's get in formation. MTV announced the nominees for this year's Video Music Awards on Tuesday, and two of music's most popular female artists lead the list. Beyoncé tops all nominees with a career-best 11 nominations, while Adele is close behind with eight nominations. Queen Bey's much talked about "Formation" video, and Adele's "Hello" -- viewed more than 1.6 billion times on YouTube -- are nominated for the biggest prize of the event, Video of the Year. Justin Bieber's "Sorry," Drake's "Hotline Bling" and Kanye West's "Famous," are also nominated for Video of the Year. Traditionally, the VMAs are more about the spectacle -- and downright insanity of the show -- than who takes home the MTV Moonman trophy. (Just ask Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift.) With West in the mix, this year should be no exception. West, The Weeknd, Calvin Harris, Bryson Tiller and Drake will battle it o...

  It’s a pivotal fortnight in recovery of the Brazil national football team. The Selecao will be hosting the tournament at the Rio Olympics hoping to wash away the memories of a disastrous home World Cup in 2014 and more recently their dismal showing in the Copa America. Under a new head coach, the Brazil fans will Rogerio Micale can harness the talents of Neymar and Manchester City target Gabriel Jesus to fire the hosts to a maiden Olympic gold medal. Brazil will face South Africa in their opening Group A match before taking on Iraq and Denmark on home soil. Barcelona forward Neymar fired in 31 goals for the La Liga giants last season and will head into the Olympics refreshed having skipped their calamitous Copa America showing, which ended in the group stages with defeat to Peru and the dismissal of boss Dunga. Micale, who has spent his entire career working on the development of young players from his country, will be looking to make history with Brazil as ...

A 23-year-old Colombian model was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday and ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 yuan (£2,284) after being caught carrying cocaine in Guangzhou, China. Juliana Lopez, winner of a Colombian beauty pageant, seemed to have the world at her feet, running a trendy boutique and hosting a television show as well as being a well-known professional football player. She was allegedly on her way to buy items for her shop on July 18, 2015, when she was discovered at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport with the powder inside a plastic bag, hidden inside her laptop. Scroll down for video  Chinese media have reported that she was carrying 610 grams of white powder which when tested was 49 percent cocaine. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug smuggling and ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 yuan (£2,284) by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on July 25, according Chinese state-run media. When Ms Lopez was first arrested, i...

The manager to the trio of pre-teen girls that became a viral sensation when they performed the pro-Trump anthem “Freedom’s Call” at a rally earlier this year, plans to sue the GOP candidates’ campaign after they failed to pay them. Jeff Popick told the Washington Post that the Trump campaign repeatedly failed to fulfill promises that they could perform at subsequent rallies, something they agreed to in lieu of paying them. “We are owed compensation or, as the agreement is, a performance. That’s what the agreement was,” Popick, who is also the father to the youngest member of the girl group, told the Post, adding that the agreement was never written down. “In lieu of compensation, in lieu of monetary compensation, that we would have this performance. It was largely a verbal contract, but a contract nonetheless and on two different occasions,” he said. The USA Freedom Kids have been around for nearly three years but became an internet hit when they appeared at a Jan. 13 ...

Federer has won seven Wimbledon titles, but lost in this year's semi-final after a heavy fall in the fifth set Swiss tennis great Roger Federer will miss the Olympics and the rest of the season with a knee injury. The 17-time Grand Slam champion said he needs "more extensive rehabilitation" if he wants to prolong his career. Federer, 34, had knee surgery in February before missing May's French Open with a back problem. Federer said on his Facebook page he was "extremely disappointed" to not be representing Switzerland in Rio and it was "tough" to miss the rest of 2016. "I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017," he added. Federer twice required treatment during a five-set semi-final defeat by Canada's Milos Raonic at Wimbledon this month, but found a "silver lining" in his injury-troubled year. "This exp...