The 2020 Major League Soccer season is just around the corner, which naturally means a host of new players in the league. But who cares about those guys? We want to talk about what really matters: the coaches.

In the offseason, the Chicago Fire, Houston Dynamo, Inter Miami and New York City FC got new managers -- Raphael Wicky, Tab Ramos, Diego Alonso and Ronny Deila, respectively. There's also some dude named Thierry Henry in Montreal, whom we'll delve into in the coming weeks, and Nashville SC's Gary Smith, a known quantity having managed the Colorado Rapids for years.

We tracked down players who've played for these guys to get a sense of what MLS fans -- and their teams -- can expect from the new guys on the touchline.

Diego Alonso | Inter Miami

What to expect: The first manager of MLS' latest glamour franchise, Alonso's task at Inter Miami may be the toughest he's tackled in some time.

Inter Miami's signing was the biggest name of the four, Alonso having managed Pachuca and Monterrey to CONCACAF Champions League victories and having won Liga MX's 2016 Clausura with Los Tuzos. At his introductory news conference in January, he noted that he's Uruguayan and that Uruguayans are known for fighting and clawing for everything they want. Omar Gonzalez, who played for Alonso at Pachuca, saw this firsthand.

"That's the type of coach he is. High energy, in your face. If he wants more for you, he's going to tell you and he's going to challenge you," Gonzalez said. "He has a passion about him, how he approaches each day. He expects the most out of you each day, and he pushes you with this intensity. It's all because he wants you to be the best you can be. I believe that I am a better player having been coached by him."

- Marshall: Why Pizarro's move to Miami is more important than Chicharito's arrival
- Marshall: Alonso may be just what Inter Miami needs

Kekuta Manneh, who spent 2018 at Pachuca with Alonso, agreed with Gonzalez. "He's very vocal at training and on game days, trying to fire up people and the team," he said. "He's there with the team. He's one of the players who wants to be playing on the field. His passion for the game is something that stands out for me."

Alonso's teams play like Alonso the man: intensely. "He likes to press," Manneh said. "He likes to play off of winning the ball up high and then counter the counter. He loves that. He makes his game plan as he is as a person: aggressive. He likes to attack as quickly as possible and he likes to press the ball as soon as his team loses it. He motivates people to do that on the team." On Gonzalez's 2016 squad, Pachuca boasted Hirving Lozano on the left wing and Jonathan Urretaviscaya on the right, two speedy midfielders. The goal was to get them the ball quickly and break upfield in as few passes as possible, but then maintain possession and enter the box through combination play if the counter wasn't available.

"He will get Miami fired up for the season and players will want to play for him," Manneh said. "He's that type of coach."

Of the four coaches, Alonso has the highest expectations. He's the most decorated new coach in the league (at least as a manager; Henry takes that honor as a player), and Inter Miami is this season's glamour franchise. It's a good roster for an expansion club with high-potential DPs Matias Pellegrini and Rodolfo Pizarro and MLS veterans including Juan Agudelo, A.J. DeLaGarza, Alvas Powell, Luis Robles, Ben Sweat and Wil Trapp. But it's still an expansion franchise, and growing pains will come. Miami could be quite good. It also might fall short of the playoffs if Alonso can't hold things together. This season will be his toughest test in a while.

Ronny Deila | New York City FC

What to expect: Deila's even-keeled nature should serve him well in a league with as much parity as MLS and in a club in as much disarray as NYCFC.

The new New York City FC manager enters a bit of an uncertain situation, replacing Domenec Torrent, who left at the end of the 2019 season. The Norwegian previously managed Brodd, Stromsgodset and Celtic before moving to Valerenga in January 2017. The Oslo-based club finished eighth, sixth and 10th in the Eliteserien during his three seasons in charge.

"He prefers possession-based attacking football," said Samuel Adekugbe, a left-back and Canadian national-teamer who started his career as Vancouver Whitecaps homegrown player before joining Valerenga in 2018. "An idealist. He loves winning but even more so when the team plays beautiful football."

Delia tries to maintain a positive attitude in the locker room and during practice. "His training sessions are intense and very tactical," Adekugbe said. "He's all about improving the way the team plays with and without the ball. Repetition of certain movements that he wants to see. He's very diligent in his approach to the game. Recognizing areas of improvement, showing the team through video footage and working on it during training sessions."

When things go wrong, the manager becomes more process orientated, searching for and analyzing patterns in areas of weakness. These qualities should serve him well in the up-and-down world of MLS.

The good news for Deila is that his new club boasts plenty of attacking talent in Valentin Castellanos, Heber, Maxi Moralez and Alexandru Mitrița. The bad is that NYCFC is a chaotic place. Witness the strange and awkward departure of Torrent as well as director of football operations Claudio Reyna, and also the troubles of City Football Group flagship Manchester City. Not a recipe for success, especially for a manager who didn't exactly shine in his previous job. There's enough ability and home-field advantage to get NYCFC to the playoffs, but it could be a tough year in the Bronx.

Tab Ramos | Houston Dynamo

What to expect: Houston is short on star power, but Ramos has the tools to build the foundations of success for years to come.

The longtime U.S. men's national team player who served as the program's U20 head coach from 2011 to 2019 before joining the Dynamo is one of the most experienced American coaches around. Between his 82 international appearances and his stints as U20 assistant, U20 manager and USMNT assistant, he's spent 22 years involved in the U.S. Soccer setup.

For Philadelphia Union defender Matthew Real, who played for Ramos at the 2019 U20 World Cup, that been-there, done-that quality is a key to Ramos' coaching success. "He's been places in the game for sure," he said. "He brings the same things he brought to the field as a player to his players. It helps when you have someone who's been through these experiences. You can't really go much higher.

"He's not afraid to tell you if you're not playing well," Real said. "In games as well. He has no problem taking you off the field. But he does have patience. He's not just going to scream at you. He's going to make sure you understand how he's trying to play. If you can execute, then you're his guy. He doesn't care who you are. You can be the best player or the worst player and he'll treat everyone the same. He'll bench the best player if he's not performing."

As someone who spent a decade molding youth national-teamers, Ramos understands the qualities of each of his players and helps them build out those traits. For Real, that was his leadership. "He always trusted me as a player, trusted my ability, but he saw me as someone who could be a potential leader for the group," he said. "He brought that voice out in me. I knew I had it, but I didn't know I had it like I showed."

Ramos comes in as the most familiar with MLS and its players, having coached some of them as they came through the U.S. youth system. The version of the once-proud Dynamo that he inherits lacks a big-name star, while transitioning from the sporadic nature of a national team coach to the day-to-day rigor of a club manager will be an adjustment. Ramos loves working with younger players and helping them develop, so perhaps 2020 will be a building year in Houston. That said, if he -- and assistant Pablo Mastroeni, known during his playing days for his tenaciousness -- can get the Dynamo battling for each other, they could push for a playoff spot in the tough Western Conference.

Raphael Wicky | Chicago Fire

What to expect: It's all change in Chicago this season, and if Wicky doesn't get the best out of this reshaped roster, the man in charge of the dugout could change once more this season.

After four years and a single postseason appearance, the Fire finally pulled the plug on Veljko Paunovic, which led them to Wicky, last seen overseeing the U.S. U17 squad to a last-place finish in Group D at the 2019 World Cup. Despite the poor showing, members of that team enjoyed the experience of being coached by the former Swiss international.

"He connects with his players on a personal level," FC Dallas defender Nico Carrera said. "There are coaches who don't care about their players as people, as tools that are used to win. Wicky sees his players as people. He cares about their emotional side. He cares about their mental side. He checks up on you. He talks to you. He makes sure all is fine, not only in soccer but in your life, with your family."

Ricardo Pepi, Carrera's teammate at FCD and on the U17 team, saw those qualities as well. "I thought he was going to be very hard on people and expect a lot from a lot of people, but he was actually kind of laid-back," he said. "The biggest thing with him is that he has a lot of patience for the players. He'd give you opportunities to fix what you needed to fix. But when it comes to you messing up too much, he'll tell you what you did wrong and what you need to fix."

In terms of tactics, Wicky's teams play a possession-based game, mixing control and attacking soccer, while also spending more time than usual prepping for what specific opponents do well and how to exploit their weaknesses. Sessions consisted mostly of on-field work, with only a little bit of video prep to show examples.

The biggest thing, however, is that Wicky is a players' coach, the type to keep in contact with his former players and stay abreast of their lives on and off the field. "When he got the Chicago Fire job, I reached out to him, he reached out to me," Carrera said. "We talked a little bit about how I was doing, how my family was doing, how he was doing.

"Of course, I would love to beat him."

The Fire were better than anyone gave them credit for last season -- advanced metrics loved them -- but the Windy City club lost big names including Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nemanja Nikolic, Nicolás Gaitan, Aleksandar Katai and Dax McCarty in the offseason. This was intentional, a rebuild to go along with the rebrand, but it does leave a lot of question marks for Wicky. Additionally, the new coach's U17 team looked to lack a bit of heart and fight at the U17 World Cup. Perhaps that means nothing. Perhaps it doesn't. MLS is a long, hard season, and if Wicky can't keep his charges motivated, his seat could get hot quickly.

Karachi Kings 201 for 4 (Azam 78, Wasim 50, Hasan 2-52) beat Peshawar Zalmi 191 for 7 (Livingstone 54*, Kamran 43, Asif 2-23) by 10 runs

How the game played out

In the hunt for what would have been just the fourth successful 200-plus chase in PSL history, Darren Sammy and Liam Livingstone nearly got Peshawar Zalmi over the line. But excellent death bowling from Umaid Asif in the final over ensured that Karachi Kings held on for a thrilling 10-run win at the National Stadium on Friday afternoon.

The Kings' victory was set up by a brilliant 97-run partnership between Babar Azam and Imad Wasim. They got together after Cameron Delport fell in the ninth over to a sharply turning googly from Mohammad Mohsin and supercharged the Kings innings. It took an excellent piece of hustle from Tom Banton to run Azam out and break the stand in the 18th over. But by then, the home side had 170 on the board and Iftikhar Ahmed blasted a four and two sixes off the only three balls he faced to put an even more emphatic stamp on proceedings.

Chris Jordan struck a pair of early blows in the chase, getting Banton lbw on review and yorking Haider Ali three balls later. But Kamran Akmal led a revival with 43 off 26 balls before handing the keys over to Livingstone in the 10th over. Zalmi already needed to score two runs a ball at that stage, but Livingstone and Sammy somehow kept up with the rate.

Then, needing 16 to win off the final over, with Sammy on strike, Zalmi's boundaries dried up as Asif kept the batsmen off balance with an array of slower balls and cutters bowled into the pitch.

Turning point

Asif produced a phenomenal effort in the final over, culminating in a sensational return catch to dismiss Sammy.

After a pair of singles and a two brought the equation down to 12 off 3 balls, he banged one in short and outside off. The batsman skied an attempted pull over short midwicket. Asif stopped in his follow-through, changed direction, circled back 20 yards to his right, then lunged forward to complete a very difficult catch.

On strike for the penultimate ball, needing a pair of sixes to win, Livingstone flubbed a knee-high full toss tamely into the covers for a single to effectively seal victory for the Kings.

Star of the day

Azam played a special knock to lead the Kings' recovery after they had been sent in to bat. He was especially fluent through the off side, finding a majority of his seven fours and two sixes there, including perhaps the shot of the day, a blistering six over extra cover off Hasan Ali in the 15th over.

When Wasim started to accelerate alongside him, Azam was happy to rotate the strike and would almost certainly have carried on to reach three-figures if not for Banton's excellence.

The big miss

By umpire Richard Illingworth. Banton has been a rampaging menace on the T20 circuit over the last year. But Jordan had him foxed with a clever offcutter two balls into the fourth over which the batsman swung over the top of to be trapped deep in his crease and in front of middle stump. Jordan flew into an appeal and was borderline apoplectic when Illingworth turned it down. Wasim wasted little time in calling for a review and DRS showed the delivery taking out middle stump three quarters of the way up, allowing the decision to be corrected.

Where the teams stand

Kings moved level with Quetta Gladiators at the top of the table on two points after two games. Zalmi joined Islamabad United on zero points, alongside Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars who are set to play their opening games later on Friday.

Multan Sultans 142 for 5 (Masood 38, Shaheen Afridi 1-18) beat Lahore Qalandars 138 for 8 (Lynn 39, Tahir 2-21) by five wickets

How the game played out

New year, new PSL, new venue. Same old Lahore Qalandars. An unbalanced squad, curiously playing without a specialist spinner, began their fifth PSL campaign with a crushing five-wicket defeat at the hands of Multan Sultans. Shan Masood's side had the composure to see off an early storm from Qalandars' big hitting openers, fully cognizant that once Fakhar Zaman and Chris Lynn were removed, there was little meat on the bare bones the rest of the batting side comprised.

From 59 for 1 in 5.2 overs, Qalandars tumbled top 138 for 8 in their allotted 20, well below par in front of a Lahore crowd that was watching their home franchise for the very first time. They soon realised they hadn't been missing much when the bowlers failed to trouble Multan too much in the run chase, Shan Masood's composed 29-ball 38 anchoring his side towards the perfect in an edition where Multan brim with optimism.

Qalandars' ineptitude should not detract from the glimpses of brilliance that Multan showed in this game. The experienced spin duo of Imran Tahir and Shahid Afridi had combined figures of 8-0-45-2, while Moeen Ali chipped in with a couple of wickets in addition to a brief cameo. Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Irfan were effective at the start and the death, while two wickets from an ever-improving Mohammad Ilyas make him one of the bowlers to watch as this PSL season takes shape.

Multan were less convincing in the chase than they might have liked, with unforced errors giving Qalandars a peek back into the game on a couple of occasions. Moeen's run out buoyed Qalandars, who were looking to Shaheen Afridi to provide them with an explosive start. His perfect yorker to castle James Vince was the ball of the day, but Rilee Rossouw did perfectly what Multan had bought him to do: guide the chase steadily and without dram, and even though Zeeshan Ashraf fell thanks to another run-out, the asking rate kept dipping. There was even time to dust off the old classic: a few lusty blows from Shahid Afridi who knocked off the winning runs.

Turning point

With Fakhar and Lynn at the top of an order where there wasn't much big-hitting to follow, how the opening partnership pans out will be pivotal to Qalandars' chances. Today, it looked like that necessary gamble was paying off when the pair found their range early, with Sohail Tanvir spanked for 18 in his second over, and the 50-partnership brought up in the fifth.

And on came Moeen for the last powerplay over, Lynn poised, as if at the trapdoor like a dragon waiting to breathe fire. Moeen got singed first ball when a full toss was dispatched over long-on. But the next pull, he pulled his line back and took the pace off it. Lynn stepped back in his crease and tried to loft it over mid-off. His timing failed him, and Shan Masood took the catch. Two balls later, Zaman danced down the wicket and heaved Moeen into the onside. The ball nearly went up into orbit, but when it came down, it was still within the confines of the boundary, and Khushdil Shah at cow corner made no mistake with the catch. Multan were into Qalandars' middle order, and in truth, there wasn't much there to worry them.

Multan's two 40-year olds

Dane Vilas smashed a couple of boundaries off Shahid Afridi, but that aside, there was little looseness from him, and, bowling alongside Tahir, he ended his spell at just a shade over a run a ball.

Tahir, if it's possible, was even more effective. He was thrust in during the business end of the powerplay when Lynn was giving the Lahore crowd a taste of his immense power-hitting ability and found himself roughed up in that first over. But thereon in, he was tight, squeezing Qalandars for runs and forcing them into low-percentage shots. Mohammad Hafeez fell to him this way, before Dane Vilas, who looked Qalandars' best hope of a rearguard, dragging a flatter one onto his stumps. If anything, those figures of 4-0-21-2 were a little too harsh on him.

Lahore's beleaguered captain

It may sound like clutching at straws, but Qalandars may take some encouragement from their skipper Sohail Akhtar holding the innings together as wickets fell in clumps during the middle overs, serving as useful foil to Dane Vilas and Mohammad Hafeez, none of whom kicked on in the way Qalandarsneeded them to. It was up to Akhtar himself to provide the big finish, and he did indeed tonk Tanvir for a pair of sixes in the final over to give Qalandars something to bowl at.

Where the teams stand

Multan's convincing win takes them top of the table on net run rate, while Qalandars find themselves at the bottom.

Australia 196 for 6 (Smith 45, Shamsi 2-31, Steyn 2-31) beat South Africa 89 (du Plessis 24, Agar 5-24) by 108 runs

Ashton Agar claimed the 12th hat-trick in T20I cricket and the second for Australia after Brett Lee as South Africa were dismissed for their lowest score in the format to lose by their biggest margin in a thrashing at the Wanderers.

Agar finished with a career-best 5 for 24 to take Australia to an eighth straight T20I win, and to the top of the ICC's rankings. They extend a successful run that dates back to November 2019, and take the lead in the three-match series.

While South Africa's batting implosion will hog the headlines, their fielding should also come under scrutiny after a wayward performance, with too many short, wide deliveries against a rampant Australian line-up. Aaron Finch and Steve Smith galloped along at 10 runs an over in a second-wicket stand of 80 and even though South Africa pulled Australia back, 49 runs in the last five overs left them with a big total to chase.

The home batting line-up, which had a makeshift opener in Rassie van der Dussen, and an emergency replacement in Jon-Jon Smuts (who stood in for Heinrich Klaasen after he injured his hip in warm-ups) never got going. South Africa were 38 for 3 after the powerplay, 44 for 7 after Agar's hat-trick and only had three partnerships in double figures.

Agar, Agar, Agar

Faf du Plessis's inside-out loft over the side found Kane Richardson on the rope to end the most competent innings by a South African frontline batsman at the Wanderers and start a magical run for Australia's left-arm spinner. His next ball was pitched on middle and leg and beat Andile Phehlukwayo's flick and was given out by Allahudien Palekar. Phehukwayo reviewed but ball-tracking showed the delivery was straightening and hitting leg stump. That brought Dale Steyn to the crease, in the eighth over, to face the hat-trick ball.

He was greeted with a ball that was tossed up, went for the drive and outside edged to Aaron Finch, at slip. Agar took off in celebration and South Africa, on 44 for 7, had all but been defeated. Agar could have another hat-trick when he bowled debutant Pite van Biljon at the end of his third over and had Lungi Ngidi caught at long-on with the first ball of his fourth, but his second hat-trick ball of the night missed Tabraiz Shamsi's off stump by a whisker.

Steyn's alive…but so are the lights

Dale Steyn operated mostly behind the scenes in the England series but stormed his way back into the spotlight in the first few balls of this match. His opening delivery was a touch wide and David Warner creamed it through the covers to start with a boundary. That would not have impressed Steyn, who tightened up immediately and sent down a menacing second ball, a bouncer that fizzed up off a length, Warner top-edged and Shamsi collected at fine leg. Steyn celebrated in his customary fashion - the chainsaw - but in slow-motion, perhaps as a nod to his advancing age.

But he won't like the suggestion that his years had anything to do with his inability to repay the favour when fielding in the next over. Ngidi should have had Smith out for a duck when he cut a short, wide ball to third man, where Steyn was stationed. He got himself into position to take the catch but lost the ball in the floodlights at the last moment and it sailed over his right shoulder. When Steyn realised what had happened, he could only smile sheepishly in response. Steyn eventually made up for it in the penultimate over of the match when he made sure Ngidi did not finish wicketless and clung on to a high ball from Mitchell Marsh's bat at square leg.

Slowly does it for South Africa

The spin of Shamsi and Smuts - in addition to Andile Phehlukwayo's change-ups - pulled Australia back in the mid-section of their innings, when they kept big hits to a minimum. The boundary was only breached three times between the end of the sixth over and the end of the 14th, once when Matthew Wade should have been caught on the deep midwicket boundary by van Biljon. Shamsi conceded a slog sweep that went for six towards the end of his spell, where wides were his only weakness, while Smuts' two overs cost just 15 runs and he should have been used a little more. South Africa gave away 61 runs in those eight overs, at a rate of 7.62, which kept Australia under 200. In the end, it was still more than a hundred runs too many.

Starc's crucial breakthrough

With moisture in the air, it was inevitable that would be some swing but it wasn't until Mitchell Starc got hold of the ball that it was on display. His third delivery was directed straight at de Kock, who looked to play leg side, snuck past his attempt and pinged the top of middle stump. That meant South Africa's most in-form batsman of the summer was out, and the rest of the line-up had a mountain to climb.

Agar took the honours but it was Australia's fast bowlers who did the early damage and reduced South Africa to 38 for 3 in the powerplay, leaving them with no way back. After Starc's early strike, Pat Cummins was responsible for the other two wickets and had van der Dussen caught at third man and Smuts caught by Adam Zampa, running circles from short-fine leg. Australia scored 70 runs in their first six overs and South Africa's score, of just over half that, was never going to be competitive enough.

Fielding fumbles and Faf

Steyn's miss was comical, van Biljon's may be explained away by debut nerves but Shamsi's miss in the final over was inexcusable. Agar top-edged Rabada to short third man, de Kock looked to be going for it as Shamsi ran in which made the keeper think twice. At that point, Shamsi should have committed to the catch but he pulled out and the ball fell between him and de Kock.

It wasn't all bad, with du Plessis taking a stunner at backward point when Carey launched one into the night sky, but that was a rare bright moment in South Africa's effort, compared to a clinical Australian display.

Moises Henriques, the Australia allrounder, has signed for defending Vitality Blast champions Essex. Henriques, who recently captained Sydney Sixers to the Big Bash League title, will arrive in late May and be available for the rest of the tournament.

Essex have already re-signed Adam Zampa for this year's Blast, after a successful 2019 in which they also won a second County Championship in three seasons. Neither Zampa nor Mohammad Amir, the club's other overseas signing, were available on Finals Day when Essex lifted the T20 trophy for the first time.

Henriques, 33, has previously played in England for Glamorgan and Surrey, as well as four different IPL franchises.

"I've been following Moises' career for a while now and I think he's exactly what we need going into this year's Blast campaign," Essex's head coach, Anthony Mcgrath, said. "He's been excellent in the IPL and was instrumental for Sydney Sixers in their recent Big Bash success. His runs got them over the line on plenty of occasions and it's clear he's an excellent leader too, so I have no doubt he'll be a great fit in our dressing room."

Capped in all three formats, Henriques last played for Australia in 2017. He scored 267 runs at a strike rate of 148.33 in the 2019-20 Big Bash and marshalled the Sixers to success, having also played a full part in their 2011-12 title win.

Henriques said: "I'm delighted to be joining Essex Eagles for the Vitality Blast. The opportunity to join the reigning Champions and the challenge of defending the title is something I'm really excited about."

South Africa were already in trouble at 42 for 4 chasing 197 when Ashton Agar came on to bowl the eighth over. What followed was almost a dream sequence for Agar, who was twice on a hat-trick and finished with the best T20I figures by an Australian man. Here is how our ball-by-ball commentator saw it...

7.4 Agar to du Plessis, OUT, goes inside out, slugged over the off side... straight to the boundary rider! Du Plessis won't be making any more of a statement today! Agar with a loopy, wide delivery and he couldn't get the timing, plinked off the toe and it almost didn't carry to Richardson on the rope F du Plessis c Richardson b Agar 24 (34m 22b 3x4 0x6) SR: 109.09

Andile Phehlukwayo out, with SA looking to save some face

7.5 Agar to Phehlukwayo, OUT, given lbw first ball! May have been a touch leg side and Phehlukwayo reviews, but the replays quickly show that the ball pitched in line and was straightening bang on leg stump! This innings is quickly going belly up for South Africa!
AL Phehlukwayo lbw b Agar 0 (3m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Agar is on a hat-trick, Dale Steyn the man to face up

7.6 Agar to Steyn, OUT, GOTTIM!! Edged to slip! Tossed one up and Steyn, in no mood for backing down, had a big old yahoo, squirting a thick edge to Finch, who held it well! Agar goes bombing off, what a moment for him, and South Africa are on their knees in the Bullring!
DW Steyn c Finch b Agar 0 (1m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Becomes just the second Australian on this list

Still another 20-odd needed for SA to avoid their lowest T20I score... Lungi Ngidi is out at No.10

11.6 Agar to van Biljon, OUT, pegs back leg stump! That's a bingo for Agar, who has career-best figures! Dirty ole slog across the line from van Biljon, the ball gripping just enough as it skidded on underneath the bat. South Africa eight down and hurting
PJ van Biljon b Agar 16 (26m 15b 2x4 0x6) SR: 106.66

13.1 Agar to Ngidi, OUT, that's five! Plopped into the hands of long-on! Agar can barely believe it, he's king of the 'ring tonight. Misbegotten shot from Ngidi, straight to the man set back L Ngidi c Warner b Agar 1 (5m 5b 0x4 0x6) SR: 20.00

...and he's on a hat-trick again! Tabraiz Shamsi to face

13.2 Agar to Shamsi, no run, so close to hitting off stump! Spinning through as Shamsi tried to cut and missed, nearly Agar's second 'trick of the game!

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Colorado head-coaching job, sources confirmed to ESPN.

Bieniemy's decision, as first reported by 9News in Denver, follows that of Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who also has dropped out of the search, sources told ESPN's Chris Low on Thursday.

Bieniemy starred at running back for Colorado from 1987 to 1990 and finished his career as the school's career rushing leader (3,940 yards). He had two assistant coaching stints with the Buffaloes following his NFL playing career.

He has spent the past seven years with the Chiefs. Bieniemy drew interest from several NFL teams for head-coaching vacancies this offseason, but all went in different directions.

Colorado is looking to fill the vacancy after Mel Tucker left to take the Michigan State head-coaching job earlier this month.

Bret Bielema, the former Arkansas and Wisconsin coach, also has interviewed with Colorado officials for the job and is a prime candidate along with Air Force coach Troy Calhoun.

Darrin Chiaverini has been serving as interim head coach.

ESPN's Adam Schefter and Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.

The NHL-leading Boston Bruins freed up salary cap space Friday by trading veteran forward David Backes and a first-round draft pick to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Ondrej Kase.

Anaheim also acquired 20-year-old prospect Axel Andersson, a defenseman, in the deal completed three days before the NHL's trade deadline.

Kase, 24, drew interest leading up to the trade deadline as a cheaper option for those who couldn't land a big name like the New York Rangers' Chris Kreider. A productive two-way winger when healthy, Kase has another year left on his contract at a manageable $2.6 million, but health has been an issue.

He scored 20 goals in his second season in 2017-18, but a variety of injuries limited Kase to 30 games last season, when he scored 11 goals and had 20 points. He has rebounded this season with seven goals and 16 assists in 49 games.

The Ducks are in rebuilding mode, sitting seventh in the Pacific Division after missing the playoffs last season for the first time in six years.

The Bruins benefit by trading the 35-year-old Backes, who has spent the past month playing in the minors. He is in the fourth year of a five-year, $30 million contract and had just one goal and two assists in 16 games with the Bruins before being demoted to AHL Providence last month.

The Bruins will retain 25% of Backes' salary.

Backes, who was injured in a scary collision with the Ottawa Senators' Scott Sabourin in November and missed almost a month, had just 39 goals and 94 points in 217 games with Boston.

Overall, the 14-year NHL veteran has 245 goals with 309 assists in 944 NHL games, spending the first 10 years of his career with the St. Louis Blues and the past four in Boston. A two-time U.S. Olympian, he was an All-Star in 2011 and was the runner-up in Selke Award voting the next season.

Andersson was playing for Moncton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season and had two goals and 20 assists.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A vote on the proposed collective bargaining agreement will go to the full membership of the NFL Players Association, even if player reps vote not to recommend approval, sources told ESPN's Dan Graziano on Friday.

A simple majority would be required to approve it. Anyone who paid NFLPA dues during the 2019-20 league year is eligible to vote, which is an estimated 2,100 players.

The NFLPA's executive council voted 6-5 not to recommend the proposal, as first reported by the NFL Network and confirmed by ESPN. But sources said the originally scheduled conference call with the player reps was proceeding as scheduled at 1 p.m. ET on Friday and that it remained possible that a body of 32 players still could vote to recommend the deal to the full membership.

Sources told Graziano that there has been a discussion among union leaders and union lawyers on this point for several days, and they settled on having a full vote regardless of the recommendation of player reps.

On Thursday, owners approved the CBA, with more than the required three-fourths of the owners voting to ratify.

According to an NFLPA memo released Thursday, here are some of the proposal's key terms that player reps and the union's executive council will weigh when they meet:

• The elimination of any game suspensions strictly for positive marijuana tests.

• A reduction in the number of players subjected to testing for marijuana.

• "Gambling definitions" that ensure players receive a portion of gambling revenue brought in by the league.

• Alterations to training camp, including the "introduction to a 5-day acclimation period," a limit of 16 days in pads and a limit of four joint practices in a three-preseason-games scenario.

Sources also told ESPN's Adam Schefter that the proposal includes a game-day roster increase from 46 players to 48, with overall rosters going from 53 to 55.

Teams would also be allowed to bring back three players from injured reserve each season, sources said, and practice squads would grow from 10 players last season to 12 in 2020 and 14 in 2022.

One of the NFL's best players, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, took to social media Thursday night to voice his disapproval with the proposal.

Sources previously told ESPN that the proposed CBA would allow the league to expand the regular season from 16 games to 17 at some point in the next four years (although no sooner than 2021) in exchange for financial and other concessions the players have sought in negotiations. One concession is that the preseason would be shortened, sources said.

In addition, sources said that starting in 2020, the playoff field would be expanded to seven teams from each conference, and only one team from each conference would receive a first-round bye as opposed to the two that currently do.

The league's desire to expand the regular season has been met with harsh opposition from many players, who view an expanded season as an unnecessary increase in the risk to players' health and safety. But union leaders have touted to players the benefits of the proposed new deal, which includes a higher percentage of league revenue going to players, improvements in the drug policy and discipline policy, higher minimum salaries, higher per-team spending floors and relaxed offseason work rules -- which were noted in the above-mentioned NFLPA memo.

There are a handful of unforgettable moments that are seared forever into the minds of boxing fans.

There is a discombobulated Mike Tyson on all fours grasping for his mouthpiece and trying to shove it back in before he is counted out in his monumental upset loss to Buster Douglas.

There is Sugar Ray Leonard pouring it on and finishing Thomas Hearns, who is draped along the ropes in the 14th round of their magnificent first fight.

There is 45-year-old George Foreman landing the shortest right hand you've ever seen to knock out Michael Moorer in the 10th round to regain the heavyweight championship almost 20 years to the day after he lost it to Muhammad Ali.

And then there's heavyweight world titlist Deontay Wilder flattening lineal champion Tyson Fury with a massive right hand-left hook combination early in the 12th round, leaving Fury motionless on the canvas, seemingly knocked into another dimension -- until, amazingly, he beats the count and finishes the fight.

It was Dec. 1, 2018, and a worldwide audience had already seen an excellent fight. Fury had outboxed Wilder for long stretches, but Wilder, the sport's most devastating puncher -- and perhaps the best puncher of all time -- knocked Fury down in the ninth round. Then he seemingly knocked Fury out in the final round before Fury miraculously rose from the mat. Once the bell rang at the end of the 12th, judges ruled it a controversial split draw: 114-112 for Fury, 115-111 Wilder and 113-113.

Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs), 34, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs), 31, of England, who have each won two fights since their previous encounter, will meet again Saturday (ESPN+ PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in what is easily the biggest fight of the 2020 schedule so far.

Told to ESPN by those involved, this is the story of the moment that made this fight possible: the unforgettable 12th round of Wilder-Fury I.

Editor's note: Responses have been edited for clarity.

Jay Deas, Wilder's co-trainer and cutman: I think it was one of those historic rounds. It was one of those -- Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield I, Round 10; Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti I, Round 9. It was an ebb-and-flow kind of a thing on a heavyweight scale. It had that remarkable moment where the impossible somehow became possible, for Fury to get up when no one thought that that was possible, including me.

Going into the 12th round, each side had a different view of how the fight was going.

Deas: I thought Deontay got off to a lead in the fight. Fury had closed the gap. Deontay scored the knockdown in the ninth to take us a little bit ahead. Fury came back in 10th and 11th. Going into the 12th, I said to Deontay in the corner, "It's a close fight. Can you give me a big finish?"

Shelly Finkel, Wilder's co-manager: Going into the 12th round, I thought it was close, with an edge to Fury, and I felt the knockdown in the 12th made it a draw, and that it was fair.

Jack Reiss, the referee: I thought it was an extremely close fight, and I didn't know who was winning. I knew it was close.

Wilder: We didn't feel we were behind at all. We did feel it was close, either my way or tied. So we were just getting set for a big finish like I always do.

Ben Davison, Fury's former trainer: I told Fury, "You're winning the fight." I told him, "Don't take no silly risks," and going into the 12th, I said, "You're moving your head a little bit too much. I want you to just nullify him, basically. Nullify him this round, see the round out, and you've completed it." There was no way he wasn't winning the fight. Just stay on your feet, and you've won the fight. And he comes out, and he started boxing. Landed a good one-two. But I was always very wary, and I've always been wary of Wilder when he's on the back foot. He springs into his attacks very well, very fast. And Tyson started pushing the fight toward Wilder, and throughout the fight I'd actually said to Tyson, "Look, don't let him lure you in. I know you can see it." And then Tyson got lured in.

Thirty-five seconds into the round, Fury landed a right hand in the center of the ring, and Wilder responded. He missed with a jab but then landed a dynamite two-punch combination: a massive right hand to the side of the head followed by a clean left hook on Fury's chin that floored him. Fury was motionless. Wilder made a throat slash gesture and shimmied his shoulders while Fury was flat on his back with his right knee bent in the air.

Fury: I remember going out for Round 12, going to put on a show in Round 12. I had a mission to knock him out, and I just got caught by a big punch and got knocked down.

Wilder: The combination in the 12th round, that was maybe 90% of my power.

Davison: Wilder couldn't have chosen a better point in the fight to land that shot, when Tyson was fatigued. Tyson still got up and managed to do what he did. That obviously goes beyond the conditioning involved -- but also mental strength.

Deas: Deontay always had an uncanny ability to deliver big, especially when asked. I expected that it would be that kind of a round and that he could make something dramatic happen. When he landed the right hand, I saw Fury start to teeter, start to fall. I knew it was a great shot. I knew Fury had gotten a little bit squared up, but I knew it was a great shot. Then the left hook came out of nowhere. It almost righted the ship. He was going over to the right, and then all of a sudden the left hook leveled him off, and he landed basically flat on his back.

Davison: Wilder is phenomenally heavy-handed. It's his right hand that puts people over, but I think his left hand is still extremely, extremely heavy-handed.

Wilder: I was more impressed than anything, just to see for a second looking over his body and seeing his eyes going to the back of his head, the veins pulsing out of his neck and the way his body was lying on the canvas. It was very impressive. Even more impressive was because Fury said after the fight that his lights just went out, and he didn't even know how he got on the ground or how he got up. To go through all of that or not even know that you're doing it, it's like a zombie or something. But it was entertaining and made the hype for the rematch that much greater because the first fight was controversial.

Finkel: I thought Deontay knocked him out. I got up, and I went to go up the steps because I thought it was over, but Fury got up, and the ref let it continue.

Fury: I wasn't hurt. I didn't feel anything.

Davison: I thought that the fight was over. Usually when a fighter goes down and they're going to get back up, there's some part of their body that's still moving, whether their hands are moving, their feet are moving, they lift their head up. He was just still.

Wilder: I blew a kiss at my wife, too, so, yes, I definitely thought it was over, for sure, just from what I saw with those split seconds of the head hitting in the canvas, which is a dangerous thing. That's scary. That's a scary moment for a person, and that's why boxing is so dangerous, man.

Deas: I'm not the kind to celebrate or anything because I take nothing for granted in this sport, so my immediate reaction was to point Deontay toward the neutral corner. Even though I thought the fight was over, I wanted to make sure that if it wasn't, we weren't wasting time that we needed, that we'd given Fury extra time. I was pointing Deontay to a neutral corner, and I kept looking back and forth, looking at Deontay, looking at Fury, looking at Deontay, looking at Fury.

Reiss got down on one knee as he counted over Fury's face. At six, Fury rolled over to all fours, and at nine, he was on his feet with 2:11 left in the fight. Reiss pointed to Fury and asked him, "Can you continue? You want to go?" Fury put his arms on Reiss' shoulders. Reiss brushed them away, and following California State Athletic Commission protocol, he pointed to his right and said, "Walk over there, and come back to me." Fury jogged a couple of steps, Reiss wiped off his gloves, and the fight resumed.

Davison: I vividly remember Jack in the locker room [during fighter instructions before the fight] saying, "If you get knocked down, I'll ask you to walk to your left or walk to your right. I'll be checking to make sure that you are OK and that your balance is OK because anybody can just stumble forward." That was what he said, and that's what he did.

Reiss: One of the things I tell these guys in the dressing room before the fight is if you get knocked down -- and I tell everyone the same thing -- and you get up, I am going to ask you, "Are you OK?" I want you to look at me, shake your head up and down, and say yes because then the commission sees his head moving up and down and that he is responding to me. Ninety percent of the guys that get knocked down like that, they get knocked out in the next sequence. So I wanted to make sure people knew I wasn't throwing a lamb to the lions. [Fury] looked great jogging to the side. It was a bonus. I knew for sure he could intelligently defend himself.

Fury: It was like being turned off like a light switch. I didn't feel any pain. There was no feeling. It was just on and off. That was it.

Reiss: When I saw the two punches he got hit with, the right and then the left, I saw that they were thunderous punches, very hard punches, and I said to myself, "Wow, that's a hard knockdown." With my training and my instinct, I realized there wasn't a lot of damage prior to that in the fight. They got hit with a lot of shots, but there were no really hard, devastating knockdowns or head-snapping blows, and I was always taught to count a champion out. Before I waved it off, I wanted to see what I had. I got Wilder to the neutral corner, which he did on his own. I didn't have to do very much. Grabbed the count from the timekeeper. One of the things I noticed is that Fury's right leg was up. To me, that was on his own power, so he wasn't out. I don't know if he was annoyed or taking a rest, but to me if he was unconscious, that leg would have been flopped down. He was holding it up.

Deas: After about the count of five, I remember thinking, how has it not been waved off yet? The guy hasn't moved. Wave it off -- it's over. Then, I think, a split second before it was going to be waved off, he stirs and comes to life. That was like, "Oh, wow, you've got to be kidding me. I cannot believe that he's going to get up."

Fury: I rose from the canvas like a Phoenix from the ashes and got back into it. He hit me with arguably the two best punches he has ever thrown in his career, and it didn't do any good. I just got back up.

Reiss: I didn't think he was out because of his leg, but I expected him to be in bad shape from those punches. I expected his eyes to be closed, but when I got close enough to him, I saw that his eyes were actually open. More importantly than that, as I got down on a knee next to him, he didn't move his head, but his eyes shifted to me. He saw me coming. He looked at me. So I knew he was awake. It makes a big difference. If his eyes were closed, I was waving it off.

Davison: I didn't actually think he was hurt. I just thought he was out. I thought he was out instantly. I thought, "He's out. That's it." And then I actually got into an argument with the commission because I was trying to have a look once he started to get up. Once I started to see Tyson rise, I was trying to assess him. I know Jack Reiss is an experienced referee, but do I need to step in here? I need to assess my fighter. I know that Wilder is a formidable finisher, and the commission started pulling me back. So I got in an argument to say, "Look, I need to have a look at my fighter. Nobody knows him better than me." By this point, by the time I turned back around, Tyson's back on his feet, and Jack Reiss said to him to go to one side, and Tyson just sort of jogged over, and I'm thinking "What the F is going on here?"

Wilder: Honestly, it was a slow count. I think the ref was exaggerating a little bit. Holding eight ... nine. It's seconds. One. Two. Three. It's a second. Not two seconds for each number.

Finkel: Jack is a very good referee, but I felt he made a mistake, not just the count. Fury admitted after he didn't know he got up, didn't know where he was. It was obvious he was concussed, but Jack didn't stop it. And after Fury is up and Jack says do this, do that, 12-14 seconds, for sure. I've never protested, but knowing everything I know, I think he made a misjudgment. But it made the rematch fight bigger.

Reiss: It was the greatest decision I've ever made in boxing. My count was perfect. As I was saying nine, he was rising. And there was no part of his body other than the soles of his feet touching the ground as I was saying nine. He was up. That's it. I've checked it 100 times -- real time with my stopwatch on my phone. It was nine seconds.

Davison: In terms of Wilder's team, I've got a helluva lot of respect for Wilder and his team. I think they're great people, but obviously, what they're arguing over is minimal splits of a second. The actual rule is a 10-second count by the referee's count. It's not a 10-second count. So Tyson doesn't get knocked down as a fighter and starts counting to 10 in his head. He's following the referee's count, and obviously, by the referee's count he's on his feet. Whether it was a split second under, a split second over, we would have had to have respected it if it were the other way around.

Fury: God brought me back and rose me up and let me fight again.

Davison: One thing that Tyson will always, always say is, "You have to nail me to the canvas to beat me." Throughout that training camp, Tyson's best asset is that he was realistic. He'd often say to sparring partners, "Look, if I do get knocked down, I'll wait, get to the eight count, and then I'll stand up. I'll take my time. I'll get back up. But trust me, when I get back up: He'll be in for hell." And he was always very realistic in the fact that that could happen. I'm a firm believer in that by constantly saying that, he subconsciously put into his own head that belief, so that while he's on the ground, it's subconscious for him to say, "Wait till eight. I will be getting up. There's no doubt in my mind that I will get up. If I've got the strength in my body to get up, I'm getting up." And I do believe it was a mix of that and very good conditioning. We trained nonstop for 14 months to get him prepared pretty much every day. And also I do believe that it was an act of God as well.

Reiss: I thought Fury was trying to implore me to not stop this fight, that he was fine when he put his hands on my shoulders. But I didn't want it to appear that he was leaning on me, and that's another reason I made him walk. If, God forbid, I let him go, there's a 6-foot-7, 225-pound tornado about to come bearing down on him. If he gets knocked out or hurt, people will say, "Jack Reiss is an a--hole, Jack Reiss should have stopped the fight, boxing is unsafe." So my job is to convince the doctors and the commission and the crowd that what I am doing is correct, that he is in full control of his body and able to intelligently defend himself.

Deas: Once he got up and Jack started giving him the directions to go left, go right, which we know that's the rule in California -- it's actually a good rule, but it does give you more time to recover. By that point, he was responding. I didn't think he was going to wave the fight off unless Fury stumbled or something like that. At that point, I thought, "OK, we need to go and finish the job."

Fury: Reiss was looking at me like, "Are you OK? Like, you just took massive punches." I said, "Jack, I'm OK." I put both hands on his shoulders to let him know I'm OK. I looked straight in his eyes and said, "I'm OK." Nice and clear so he would let the fight continue. One thing I've always been taught in boxing is if you go down, you have to make sure the referee knows you're OK to continue because at the end of the day, that's the referee's job: to take the safety of both fighters into account.

When the fight resumed, Wilder went into all-out attack mode in an effort to finish Fury, cornering him and landing several heavy shots. But Fury survived and roared back, even stunning Wilder with a right hand. Fury seemed to have cleared the cobwebs from the knockdown, as he was bouncing on his toes and even put his hands behind his back and taunted Wilder with 80 seconds left. As the 10-second warning sounded, Fury was bouncing up and down, and Wilder missed with a big right hand and a left hook at the final bell. They each raised their arms, believing they had won. Fury climbed the ring post, Wilder hugged Deas, and Wilder and Fury eventually had a long embrace before the scores were read.

Davison: I know that Wilder's a formidable finisher, so I'm assessing Tyson and trying to take every little detail in that I can in that last round. I remember a massive left hook landing, and I thought, "Oh, do I need to take action here?"

Deas: Deontay hit him with some shots and backed him up to the ropes and threw an overhand right, and it missed by mere centimeters. It wasn't that Fury dodged it. It was just that Deontay was just a hair -- and I mean a hair -- short on the punch. If it had landed, Fury would have fallen right on his face, and it would have been over.

Fury: The referee was nowhere near stopping the fight. I wasn't hurt. I wasn't hurt at all. Even when he caught me, after he knocked me down, I wasn't shook up. I wasn't even hurt. It was like I was bulletproof. The shots were ricocheting off me.

Davison: I remember shouting out to Tyson and saying, "Grab hold of him. Whatever the ref's doing, it doesn't matter. Do not let him go!"

Deas: Deontay missed the shot, and Fury grabbed him, and when he grabbed him, I thought, "Man, there went our moment. We were on the verge of finishing this thing, but now he's found a way to get through this moment." I was so hopeful. I thought a real significant moment was that moment right there.

Wilder: I didn't know how much time was on the clock. We were just giving them a show. I'm finishing strong, as I was instructed.

Reiss: Any time there's a hard knockdown, where I believe a guy has taken a good shot, when they get up, I change my distance. I stay very close to the action so I can jump in because the percentages are the guy is going to get knocked out. So if you watch it again, you'll see that instead of being 5, 6 feet away, I was right on top of the action.

I wasn't thinking about stopping it. Fury was in full control of his body. He was blocking shots. When a fighter is in trouble, he can do a bunch of things. He can run, hold, take a knee, fight back, bob and weave. The best thing a guy can do for me is run to get the buzz out of his head. If a guy doesn't have his legs, I want him to hold. Tyson moved and held. That told me he was totally conscious of what was going on and trying to survive. Guess what? Twenty or 30 seconds later, Wilder was out of gas from punching him.

Deas: Once Fury did the thing with his hands behind his back, I thought that was completely a mind thing, trying to convince Deontay he was back when I didn't think he was back. I thought we still had a chance for a knockout, but every moment that goes by, Fury is getting a little more clear-headed, in particular when he started firing back. When he's kind of punching between Deontay's punches and somehow is regaining his senses to the point where he's problem-solving, which is the thing you look for with somebody in that situation. I'm thinking I know we got a 10-8 here. I know we got a 10-8 in the ninth. I thought we won the early rounds. I felt really good about it. I thought this was more cementing a victory than salvaging a draw.

Fury: I remember hitting him with some good shots in Round 12. I had him shook up, and that's it. The bell sounded, and I immediately ran around the ring celebrating because me and probably the rest of the world thought I won the fight. I acted like a professional after the fight. It was what it was. Deontay Wilder didn't do anything wrong. He'd done everything he needed to do, and that's it.

Wilder: We were just telling each other "great fight," telling each other we love each other. He was telling me thank you. He was thanking me for the opportunity and different things like that. It was all love.

Davison: That 12th round alone has inspired millions of people across the world in terms of Tyson telling his story [about taking time off to address his mental health] and saying if you get knocked down, you've always got to get back up and keep fighting. It's OK saying that, but it's another thing showing it, and then there's showing it at an elite level, like he did in the 12th round.

Deas: There's no question Tyson Fury is a tremendous fighter and has tremendous resolve and heart to be able to get up from that shot -- not just get up but to be able to get up and somehow work his way back into the round. He's everything we thought that he was. He's a real, real great fighter. That's something we knew anyway, but he showed it. He proved that he's one of the two best heavyweights in the world today. I think you just have to give Fury the credit and say he did something remarkable, and he's a remarkable fighter.

Reiss: Amazing. The only word I can say. Fury truly has an unbelievable heart. He displayed the human spirit that everyone comes to see boxing for -- someone taking a licking and keeps on ticking and refuses to quit. Getting off the mat like that was a really significant moment in boxing history.