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Bournemouth want ref's comments investigated

Published in Soccer
Wednesday, 12 February 2020 04:12

Bournemouth have asked the Premier League to investigate comments made by referee Jonathan Moss towards the club's players during their 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United on Sunday.

In an interview with the Bournemouth Echo, midfielder Dan Gosling said Moss showed no respect towards players and mocked them about their relegation battle.

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"I thought it was very disrespectful what he was saying," Gosling said.

"It was just the little niggly ones and then the little sarky comments.

"The officials talk about respect at the start of the season and there was zero respect from Jon Moss on Sunday.

"I thought he was a disgrace. The comments that he made especially to me and one other player -- talking about the relegation zone and 'you're still in the relegation zone,' 'you're having one,' 'your team's having one' this and that and it was very, very disrespectful."

Bournemouth are yet to file a formal complaint but have had discussions with the Premier League about the incident.

The defeat on Sunday leaves Bournemouth in 16th place in the Premier League, only two points above the relegation zone.

Martial: I was desperate to prove Mourinho wrong

Published in Soccer
Wednesday, 12 February 2020 03:57

Manchester United striker Anthony Martial has said he was determined to prove former manager Jose Mourinho wrong during the second season of his Old Trafford reign.

Speaking with RMC Sport, in an extract taken from an interview that will air as part of a film about the Portuguese coach, the France international said Mourinho's methods are designed to provoke a reaction from his players.

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"It is true that I prefer to be told to my face," Martial said. "There is no need for it to be said in front of everybody. Certainly, after that, you want to prove him wrong.

"He did not play me during the first matches of the season. Each time I came on, I scored, and he eventually said to me [smiling]: 'you see, now you understand what I am after.'

"It can sting, but you just want to show him that you should be on the pitch."

Martial started just three of the opening 11 Premier League games during the 2017-18 campaign -- Mourinho's second season as United boss. He finished the term with nine goals in 30 league appearances.

Mourinho is now in charge of United's Champions League qualification rivals Tottenham Hotspur after he replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November.

Can Inter complete perfect week with Coppa win?

Published in Soccer
Tuesday, 11 February 2020 12:59

MILAN -- It will come as scant consolation to Milan, a quantum of solace to help them as they prepare for Thursday's Coppa Italia semifinal against Juventus. (Stream in U.S.: 2:45 p.m. ET, ESPN+)

"We were in great difficulty in the first half," Inter coach Antonio Conte said in reflection following Sunday's Derby della Madonnina, which Inter won 4-2 despite trailing 2-0 at the break. "Perhaps like never before so far this season. There was a risk of the floodgates opening."

Stefan de Vrij, the Man of the Match, concurred. "Things went wrong in the first half. Milan were deservedly in front." Fellow scorer Romelu Lukaku also "congratulated" Inter's 'cousins' for the manner in which they rattled his team in the opening 45 minutes.

It was the best Milan have played all season. Zlatan Ibrahimovic called the first half "almost perfect." It wasn't so much that he delivered a goal and an assist under the Curva Nord, becoming the oldest scorer in the history of this illustrious rivalry; it was the dominance Milan achieved by neutralising Marcelo Brozovic and overrunning Inter, particularly down the left, where the tandem of a reborn Ante Rebic and top scorer Theo Hernandez greatly agitated Conte.

Knowing Conte and what awaited his players in the dressing room at the interval, everyone expected a reaction from Inter in the second half. Still, few people would have dared predict Milan losing this fixture after establishing a two-goal lead. After all, it hadn't happened in more than 70 years. "It's tough to explain this derby," Ibrahimovic admitted. The sight of him at the centre circle, hands on hips waiting for the restart, staring up at the scoreboard after Lukaku made it 4-2, left a strong impression.

"We lost confidence when the first goal went in. We played without any belief. We stopped pressing. At 2-2 we collapsed," Ibrahimovic added.

For a high to swing so suddenly and violently low, the second half evoking memories of the 5-0 defeat to Atalanta in December, the anger was understandable in Stefano Pioli's voice. His players had "compromised everything." If they'd "respected orders," the outcome would have been different. "I'm embittered because this team has to understand if we are to get to a certain level, determination and focus are very important."

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Results had gone Milan's way earlier in the weekend, piling further importance on the derby. Roma lost on Friday, before Cagliari and Parma failed to pick up points on Sunday. Pioli and his players could begin to see Europe on the horizon. Sixth and unbeaten in 2020 when referee Fabio Maresca blew for half-time in the Madonnina, this week could have been euphoric. Instead, doubt is creeping back in, vulnerability is showing and, Ibrahimovic aside, this young Milan side still needs time to mature. But dwelling on Sunday's defeat isn't an option and Juventus' visit to San Siro this week doesn't allow for it.

The Coppa Italia is another gateway for Milan to get back into Europe, and the way things are playing out, we could well have a Derby di Milano in the final, with chances for redemption and revenge abound.

Oddly for a team top of the league and 22 points ahead of Milan, the mood isn't too different at Juventus. Four defeats since December, continued and uncharacteristic defensive frailties and the inability to either see games out or kill them dead have rocked a normally solid club. Patience in Maurizio Sarri is beginning to fray. Juventus should be miles out in front after Inter's sticky patch through mid-December into January. Instead, the Old Lady finds herself level on points and the momentum isn't with them.

Shortly after the season began, captain Giorgio Chiellini tried to manage expectations, insisting we wouldn't see the "real Juventus" until after Christmas. As was the case at Chelsea, the magic of Sarri's Napoli has yet to be repeated elsewhere and supporters are growing restless, but a single outstanding player is keeping them respectable.

At Stamford Bridge, it was Eden Hazard. In Turin, it's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored in each of his last 10 league games and is responsible for 71 percent of Juventus' goals since setting off on this club's record scoring streak. It begs the question: If the style of football hasn't dramatically improved with respect to last season, then what was the point in moving on from Max Allegri?

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In fairness to Sarri, the characteristics of the squad are -- as he keeps reminding us -- more conducive to an altogether different style from the one he became famous for at Napoli. The player who excites him most after Ronaldo (a certain Douglas Costa) keeps getting injured, and Chiellini's ACL tear in August diminished the leadership and aggression in defence. Merih Demiral's blown-out knee cut short a period in which Juventus' backline finally started to look at ease playing higher up the pitch and with the required pressure and compactness to both asphyxiate opponents and facilitate the quick short passes that distinguish Sarri's brand of football.

It was at this stage, in the first half of the season, when Miralem Pjanic in particular reached a state of grace and emerged as Juventus' best player. He has since faded and is back taking too many touches at the centre of a midfield in which his teammates spend more time covering for Ronaldo than creating.

Other than winning, Allegri's Juventus teams had no identity. He was pragmatic and expedient, choosing his system and players according to both the opponent and the moment. Sarri would, instead, have been keen to inherit a squad with a specific style and two players per position in support of it. Aware he'd need to adapt, the compromises he has struck have yet to convince.

In Serie A right now, Juventus neither have the best defence nor the best attack. Fifteen of their wins this season have been by a single goal, and teams know that if they go behind, Juventus will give them a chance to get back into the game. Wojciech Szczesny called their failure to manage the game against Verona "embarrassing," and without his saves this season, we perhaps would have been having this conversation about Sarri and Juventus a little earlier.

Thursday's Coppa Italia game will inevitably be seen through the prism of Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic. The years pass and decisive they remain, a pair of box-office attractions. Yet neither of them is enough on his own to make Juventus and Milan feel completely comfortable about who they are right now. As the season enters a critical phase, both remain a work in progress.

Vernon Philander has admitted that interference in selection ahead of the 2015 World Cup semi-final, and the recent crises at Cricket South Africa (CSA) both contributed to hastening his retirement, which took place last month. In an extensive interview with Afrikaans weekly Rapport, Philander confirmed he would have considered playing longer but opted to end his international career and sign a Kolpak deal, because "too many things went wrong" in the country's cricket administration.

"As a player you get to the point where you've had enough," Philander said. "Cricket SA's previous administration only looked after themselves; the players were the last people they worried about. Too many things went wrong and I had to decide what was the best way forward for me. I am 34 and have a good career behind me, but I would have considered playing longer if it wasn't for the chaos in our cricket administration."

Though CSA's long-running battle with the South African Cricketers' Association, which centred on the now-scrapped proposed domestic restructure, ended last week, the relationship between players and administrators has been strained for several years. In 2015, trust between players and administrators severely broke down when, on the eve of South Africa's semi-final against New Zealand, former CEO Haroon Lorgat contacted the national team selectors to remind them of their transformation commitments. Ultimately, that resulted in Kyle Abbott, South Africa's best bowler at the tournament, being left out and Philander, who had nursed a hamstring injury throughout the competition, included in the starting XI.

Speaking for the first time on the incident, Philander revealed he didn't think he should have played. "It's difficult for me to look back on that," he said. "I blatantly and openly told the coach that the best player must play. He told me, 'you're the best man for the day, you play'. But they were clearly not open and honest with me and Kyle. There were things happening behind closed doors."

South Africa lost the match on the penultimate ball, ending what was considered by many to be their best chance to win a World Cup. Philander only played three more ODIs, later in 2015, and was not considered in the format again. And in early 2017, just as Abbott had nailed down a regular Test spot, he signed a Kolpak deal and ended his international career.

Philander traces those repercussions back to what happened before the semi-final and although he and Abbott remain friends, neither felt the same about CSA since. "When I go to Durban, I have a beer with Kyle. There are no hard feelings between us two. But the point is: Cricket SA must sort out their stuff. What happened was a knock to both of us."

"I blatantly and openly told the coach that the best player must play. He told me, 'you're the best man for the day, you play'. But they were clearly not open and honest with me and Kyle"

Performance-wise, they have both recovered, with Abbott dominating on the county scene - including 17 wickets in one match for Hampshire against Somerset last summer - and Philander finishing as South Africa's seventh-highest Test wicket-taker, but South Africans may always wonder if there could have been more from both of them.

Philander, in particular, struggled with his fitness towards the latter stages of his career and seems to have grown increasingly disillusioned with the way the team was handled during former coach Ottis Gibson's tenure, which ran from 2017 to 2019. "The administrators became too involved with the game and the players," he said. "It was also easier for them to target Ottis because he's a foreigner. They could tell it him, "Do this, do that."

The transformation targets, specifically the black African component, has been highlighted in the last two years with former CEO Thabang Moroe understood to have wanted a significant say in team composition. Moroe currently faces allegations of mismanagement and his position is occupied by acting CEO Dr Jacques Faul, under whom large-scale changes have taken place.

Former captain Graeme Smith is acting as director of cricket and is likely to accept the job permanently post a commentary stint at the IPL, Mark Boucher has been appointed head coach until 2023 and "credibility", in Philander's words, is returning, but too late for him to reconsider.

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"Hopefully we will see a turnaround in the administration and on the playing field," he said. "We must put out heads together and decide which direction we are going in. Hopefully we can make the path for younger players better."

That suggests Philander is still interested in staying involved in South African cricket in some capacity, something Smith was at pains to say he would welcome. Philander has committed himself to Somerset for the upcoming English summer but with Kolpak deals set to be nullified at the end of the year, he may be available for the South African set-up sooner than expected, if the money is right.

"In successful teams like Australia, England and India, former players are involved but in South Africa, we lost our former players to other countries where they do coaching because the money is much better," Philander said. "We have to decide what we are willing to pay to keep former players in the country and ensure that our cricket goes forward again."

Even if Philander is not absorbed into CSA's systems, he will continue to do work through his foundation which seeks to use sport to provide alternatives to young people in previously disadvantaged areas of the Cape. Philander is from that part of South Africa and said his background of "learning to survive" is behind his drive to make a difference.

"We try to give children other routes away from gangs, drugs and alcohol. I say to myself that I can't help everyone in the whole world but if I can help one or two, it's something."

Interim coach James Pamment has put down USA's five-match losing streak to poor administrative handling from the fallout of a drinking incident on the side's tour of the UAE last December. He also criticised the lack of proper structures put in place by the national board and said recent pay hikes for the players were only part of the overall development of professional cricketers.

His comments came on Wednesday, after USA were bowled out for 35 in just 12 overs - the joint-lowest total in ODIs as well as the shortest completed innings in the format.

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"I think it actually goes back to the previous tour when we had an incident that impacted our final performance in the UAE and that wasn't dealt with properly, administratively or from the team point of view," Pamment said in reference to an incident in which multiple players, including vice-captain Steven Taylor, showed up drunk to a team meeting on the eve of an ODI loss to Scotland in Dubai at the end of 2019.

"People like yourself then get the opportunity to put that in the media, which these players are not professional players so they don't know how to accept and handle that.

"Some of the things are the truth and you can't hide away from that but some of the things, the innuendo and the lies that are spoken about them, it impacts on them. As you're starting to prepare to play a game of cricket, sometimes you don't always have the strong connection that you require to bring your best tactical and technical performance and then that's party to what I guess has happened here and we found that we haven't had the connection strong enough."

Though Pamment claimed that USA's players were not professional enough, USA Cricket has gone through great lengths since July 2019 to emphasise how they had professionalised the players by bringing in high-level coaches including Kiran More, under whom Pamment initially served as an assistant before he took over in October. Part of that professionalisation was putting the majority of USA's regular players on central contracts.

According to a USA Cricket press release dated August 17, up to 20 players were put on central contracts in which "the highest tier contracts are in excess of $90,000 per year." That figure would make some of USA's players by far the highest-paid Associate cricketers in the world, with most of the other players on the other six ODI teams in CWC League Two earning less than half of that amount, if they are on a contract at all.

However, Pamment said that there was a lot more to making a player a professional than handing them good money. He claimed that proper structures have not been put in place by USA Cricket administrators in order to ensure continuity of preparation and training in between tours. Pamment was also initially only contracted through the end of 2019, but USA's search for a permanent head coach has dragged on since September and he said he was only re-contracted 10 days before the Nepal tour to continue in an interim capacity.

"From series to series, they just go back to their home base and don't do any work because the facilities are not there for them, the coaching is not there for them," Pamment said. "So when they get together prior to the start of a series, it's almost like you're starting again.

"For this series, in particular, with myself only being engaged 10 days before the start of the series, you've got no chance to build up the work that's required to take on these conditions and two fine teams in these conditions. We've been exposed and we have to take the consequence of that, which today is embarrassment but overall is no points from four games."

Pamment, who had previously coached Northern Districts in New Zealand before taking on his full-time role as fielding coach at Mumbai Indians in the IPL, also refused to criticise the pitches in Nepal for USA's batting meltdowns.

"I've had the pleasure of working at the Full [Member] level and wherever you go, you find different surfaces and different conditions,"Pamment said. "These conditions here over this last 10 days have been fine. I'm not going to criticise the conditions. They're different. We had some wickets that turned a little bit down in Florida. In the UAE, the wickets were more conducive to pace bowling.

"These conditions here are different, but there's certainly nothing wrong with them. It just means that you have to bring a different skillset and we saw the Omani guys yesterday play extremely well and get a really good score. We saw them chase down a good score against Nepal on the weekend. So, the conditions are fine."

In an unusual development, Parth Jindal, the director of JSW Sports and co-owner of Delhi Captials, has questioned the exclusion his franchise players - Rishabh Pant and R Ashwin - from India's limited-over teams.

Describing both of them as "X-factor" players in a series of two tweets, Jindal said not playing Pant in the limited-overs leg of the New Zealand series "made no sense" while he failed to understand the "aversion" to a "wicket-taker" like Ashwin.

Jindal's comments, which he tweeted on Wednesday, are uncommon because IPL team owners do not usually voice their opinion on national selection matters. In the past, reactions on selection matters have mostly come from IPL team coaches. Pant was the subject of debate last year when former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who happens to be the head coach at the Capitals, wondered how India could have left him out of the initial World Cup squad.

The debate over Pant continues to rage. Doubts have persisted both about his wicketkeeping in the limited-overs format as well as his batting. He suffered concussion during the first ODI in Mumbai in the three-match home series against Australia, and KL Rahul kept wicket when India took the field. Since then, Pant has been on the bench for all nine of India's limited-overs matches across formats. Virat Kohli has also said since that India now favour Rahul, who has been in rich batting form, as the first-choice wicketkeeper in white-ball cricket.

Jindal remarked that instead of staying in the reserves during the limited-overs legs of the New Zealand tour, Pant should have ideally played for India A, which was on a shadow tour at the same time.

Jindal also questioned why the visitors could not find a place for Pant in the final matches of the T20I and ODI series after India and New Zealand had won the respective series by then.

"And why carry @RishabhPant17 only for him to warm the bench?," Jindal said in one of his tweets on Wednesday. "Surely he would have benefited from paying against New Zealand A or domestic cricket? To see a player as talented as him not play the 5th T20 and now the 3rd ODI makes no sense #Xfactor."

Jindal's first tweet concerned Ashwin, one of Capitals' new acquisitions.

"Don't know why @ashwinravi99 is not in this team! There seems to be an aversion to wicket takers! After white washing the kiwis in T20's the Kiwis showing India that the semi final victory in the World Cup was no fluke. India needs wicket takers and players with X factor."

Ashwin, India's premier Test spinner, was one of the biggest trades in the IPL last year after Kings XI Punjab - whom he had captained in the previous two seasons - allowed him to shift to Capitals. Alongside Harbhajan Singh, Ashwin has consistently remained one of the best fingerspinners in the IPL. He is only one of nine spinners in the IPL with an economy rate of under 7 (min. 500 balls), and has the second-best economy rate - 6.38 - in the powerplay phase, behind Sunil Narine (min. 300 balls). He is also the seventh-highest wicket-taker (125) in the tournament's history.

Despite that, Ashwin's last game for India in limited-overs cricket was in July 2017. The selectors have since preferred to bank on the wristspinning pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav and, recently, Ravindra Jadeja.

Last March, at the outset of the IPL, Ashwin said he was "no slouch" and was sitting out only because of the "perception" created "about wristspinners being required in modern one-day cricket."

Having missed out on getting picked for the 2019 World Cup, Ashwin could once again remain hopeful during the upcoming IPL, with the T20 World Cup taking placed in October in Australia. IPL form, India head coach Ravi Shastri has stressed, will remain a key factor for selection.

Fast bowler Mark Adair has been sidelined from Ireland's tour of India for three T20Is against Afghanistan with an ankle injury. Shane Getkate has been called up as a like-for-like replacement. The Durban-born Getkate has played 14 T20Is so far, picking up eight wickets at an economy rate of 9.22.

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Adair's enforced exit is the only change to the squad that toured the Caribbean in January earlier this year.

"While it is unfortunate Mark Adair will not be travelling, this opens up an opportunity for Shane Getkate, who missed out on the Caribbean tour," Andrew White, the chairman of selectors, said.

"We are confident that we have selected a well-balanced side, but we will be looking for greater consistency as the year progresses. The last tour gave us an insight into this Irish side's potential - by beating the World Champions in their own backyard, but there is no doubt the players will be keen to show those performances on a more regular basis."

Ireland had sprung a surprise on the reigning T20I champions in the T20I series opener in Grenada, but the second match was washed out by rain and West Indies hit back to level the series in the third.

The first of the three T20Is against Afghanistan will be played on March 6. Greater Noida will host all the three games. This will be Andy Balbirnie's second international tour as captain. He had led both the limited-overs sides in the Caribbean.

Squad: Andrew Balbirnie (capt.), Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.

England won toss and elected to field vs South Africa

England have signalled their intentions to continue to use Jos Buttler as an opening batsman in T20I cricket, after picking him at the top of the order for the first game of their three-match series against South Africa in East London.

Buttler has not played a T20I since October 2018, and while the vast majority of his recent short-form opportunities have come as an opener, it had been suggested that England's surfeit of top-order options might see him used better as a middle-order floater or a specialist finisher.

Jonny Bairstow was named at No. 3, with Joe Denly a surprise inclusion, carded at No. 6. That meant no place for Dawid Malan, despite his punchy Sky Sports column on the eve of the ODI series in which he wrote: "I don't know how you can be under pressure with numbers like that", referring to his average of 57.25 and strike rate of 156.31 from his nine T20Is.

South Africa sprung few surprises, though the inclusion of Temba Bavuma to open the batting with Quinton de Kock was unexpected. Dale Steyn was included to play his first game of international cricket in 11 months, and forms part of a strong seam attack alongside Beuran Hendricks, Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo.

"The wicket looks really good," said Eoin Morgan. "There's not a lot of data behind games that have been played here. We'll have to manage dimensions and the wicket. I've never played here before, so it'll just be a matter of adapting conditions as we go on.

"There's a huge amount of context with the World Cup just around the corner, and the senior players come back into the side. Having them back in is extremely valuable to us."

"It think it's going to be quite a good surface, but could be a little bit slow," said Quinton de Kock. "The old man [Steyn] is back, he's been bowling really well of late in the Mzansi [Super] League and the Big Bash. Temba's going to open up with me - me and him bat really well together. Dwaine [Pretorius] - we all know the value of an allrounder so it's nice to have him back."

South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (capt, wk), 2 Temba Bavuma, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Jon-Jon Smuts, 5 David Miller, 6 Dwaine Pretorius, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Beuran Hendricks, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Tabraiz Shamsi, 11 Lungi Ngidi.

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Joe Denly, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Tom Curran, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood

Chinese GP postponed due to coronavirus

Published in Breaking News
Wednesday, 12 February 2020 04:37

Formula One has postponed the Chinese Grand Prix because of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

As previously reported by ESPN, the Shanghai event -- set to be the fourth of a record-breaking 22 races on the F1 schedule this year -- will not go ahead as planned on April 19. The race promoter, Juss Sports Group, requested the race to be postponed, which was accepted by F1.

In a statement Wednesday, F1 said it is working with the promoter and local authorities to study "the viability of potential alternative dates for the Grand Prix later in the year should the situation improve."

The congested nature of the rest of F1's 2020 calendar makes rearranging the event a tricky proposition.

With China not taking place, there will now be a four-week gap between the two new races, the Vietnam Grand Prix on April 5 and the Dutch Grand Prix on May 3. However, it's unlikely F1 will find a replacement race for that date at such late notice.

Speaking at an event in Baku, Azerbaijan, before the news was made official, F1 boss Chase Carey said the decision had to be made for safety reasons.

"We're not going to do something that isn't good for us or the teams," he said.

He also said F1 is monitoring the status of Vietnam, which shares a border with China.

"The reality of today, in most other countries [away from China], the number of people affected is a handful," he said. "But we don't know what it will be in a week or two."

This is the first F1 race to be canceled since the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix, which was called off because of civil unrest.

As of Wednesday, the death toll from coronavirus has risen past 1,100, with over 44,000 reported cases. The World Health Organisation has declared it a global health emergency.

The outbreak of the flu-like virus has canceled a number of sporting events, including the scheduled Formula E race in Sanya, China, in March.

Many other events in Asia have also been affected. Olympic qualifying events in soccer, boxing, basketball and badminton that were scheduled in China in February already have been moved to Australia and Serbia. The World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing have been postponed by a year to March 2021.

AB: Didn't realize 'how good I had it' with Big Ben

Published in Breaking News
Wednesday, 12 February 2020 08:09

Antonio Brown's apology tour continued Wednesday morning with an Instagram post directed at quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver posted a photo of Roethlisberger smiling and slapping the back of Brown's helmet when the two played together, along with a caption that praised Roethlisberger.

"Mostly you a little bit of me !" Brown wrote. "Yee yee !! I never realized how good I had it, got caught up in my emotion with everyone coming after me I really apologize for my actions sincerely man ! It's never been another connection like what we done in the past decade. I appreciate you. Sincerely AB."

The apology and gratitude from Brown is a significant change in tone from previous social media posts directed at Roethlisberger. The pair's relationship deteriorated throughout Brown's final season with the Steelers in 2018.

Roethlisberger called Brown out on his weekly radio show following a loss to the Denver Broncos for running a bad route. After the season, Brown said Roethlisberger had an "owner mentality" in a February 2019 tweet responding to a fan asking what caused the conflict between them.

"No conflict just a matter of respect! Mutual respect! He has a owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches," Brown wrote. "Players know but they can't say anything about it otherwise they meal ticket gone. It's a dirty game within a game."

In August, Brown sent another tweet telling Roethlisberger to "shut up already," after the quarterback said in an interview he regretted calling Brown out for the poor route and that it ruined a friendship.

In the past, Brown referred to Roethlisberger as his best friend on the team, a relationship that clearly changed in the wide receiver's final years with the Steelers.

Brown has publicly apologized to the Steelers, the NFL and the Hollywood (Fla.) Police Department since his January arrest for allegedly attacking a delivery truck driver. He sat down with ESPN's Josina Anderson just before the Super Bowl to express remorse for some of the things he had done on and off the field in the past year.

"I think I owe the whole NFL an apology and my past behavior," Brown told Anderson. "I think I could have done a lot of things better."

In addition to the arrest, Brown also unleashed an explicit tirade at the Hollywood Police when they responded to a separate domestic disturbance at his house in January.

Brown -- who played in only one regular-season game in 2019, with the New England Patriots -- is being investigated by the NFL over accusations of sexual misconduct that were made by two women.

"I feel like I never really got in a conflict with no woman," Brown told Anderson. "I just feel like I'm a target so anybody can come against me and say anything [that] I have to face. There's no support, there's no egos, there's no rules in it, anyone can come after me for anything. No proof or whatever. 'He said, she's saying.'

"The media will run with it, so even if I'm not guilty, I already guilty because they already wrote it, put it on TV and put that in people minds. So for me to have to sit here and hear those the allegations of me is just unfair to me every time."

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Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  • NBA

    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

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