Matthijs de Ligt has emerged as the hottest property in Europe during this summer's transfer window after captaining Ajax to the Champions League semifinals at just 19 years old.

The centre-back, who is also a regular in Ronald Koeman's Netherlands team, has been mainly tracked by Barcelona, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, with speculation also linking him to Juventus, Manchester City, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. De Ligt has said he will now decide his next move while on holiday this month, but with the world at his feet and Europe's top clubs all queuing up to sign him, which would be the best move in terms of progressing his career?

ESPN FC has weighed up the pros and cons of each potential buyer.

THE CLUBS CHASING DE LIGT

BARCELONA

PROS: First of all, you get Lionel Messi as a teammate, and that is a huge selling point, but with Gerard Pique now 32, Barca need to rebuild at the back.

De Ligt could develop into the kingpin of the Barcelona defence for the next 10 years and moving this summer means he could also take his game to another level by playing alongside Pique for at least one season. At Camp Nou, De Ligt would be virtually guaranteed to win big trophies and play in the Champions League every year alongside his Ajax and Netherlands teammate, Frenkie de Jong.

CONS: De Ligt has shown himself to be vulnerable on the turn when being attacked by quick, nimble forwards, and La Liga is not short on attacking players who could expose his shortcomings.

There would be no guarantees of regular football at Camp Nou either, with the likes of Pique, Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet all capable of keeping him out of the team. At right-back, where he can also operate, he would be up against the impressive Nelson Semedo. There are also long-term questions about how well Barca are equipped to succeed without Messi. The Champions League defeat against Liverpool was a humbling loss and it showed that even with Messi, Barca might be set for a period of transition.

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PSG

PROS: Sources have told ESPN that PSG have moved ahead of Barcelona in the race to sign De Ligt, who knows he would win a stack of domestic medals with the Qatari-owned French champions. Learning the game alongside Thiago Silva would also appeal to De Ligt, who would be confident of regular football both in Ligue 1 and the Champions League. While he will not be short of big offers this summer, a move to PSG would perhaps be the most lucrative of all.

CONS: From a football perspective, De Ligt would not be playing in one of Europe's top leagues and he would risk his development stalling due to a lack of competitiveness in France. Ligue 1 lacks the kudos of the Premier League or La Liga and PSG are also a club that can't match their European rivals when it comes to history or tradition either.

Neymar and Kylian Mbappe have both gone to Paris for big money in recent years but could depart for a greater challenge outside the one-horse race of French football.

MAN UNITED

PROS: A move to Old Trafford would be hugely lucrative for De Ligt, and he would go there knowing he would play every week and have the defence built around him.

United are in a difficult place right now but they are still one of the three biggest clubs in the world, alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona, and De Ligt could be enticed by the challenge of leading the team back to the summit of the game. For a player blessed with such imposing physical attributes, the Premier League would be perfectly suited to his game.

CONS: United appear to be locked in a downward spiral, with the team facing a lengthy rebuild after six years of bad decisions since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. Domestically, Liverpool and Manchester City have left United trailing in their wake and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team are not even in the Champions League next season.

A move to Old Trafford right now makes little sense for De Ligt, although at 19, he could spend two years at United and still be able to get out with his best years ahead of him if the move failed to work out.

MAN CITY:

PROS: Vincent Kompany's decision to leave City for a move into management with Anderlecht has opened up a vacancy for a commanding centre-back at the Etihad.

The opportunity to work under coach Pep Guardiola would be another attraction for De Ligt and, with City at the peak of their powers, he could look forward to winning major honours in the blue half of Manchester. City have become a major force under Abu Dhabi ownership and the Dutchman would be joining one of Europe's most powerful clubs.

CONS: The struggles of John Stones at City, who has fallen out of favour under Guardiola despite arriving to great fanfare in 2016, might be a warning to De Ligt that the City manager's patience does not always give a young player time to develop.

There would also be concerns over whether De Ligt's playing style would fit into Guardiola's high-intensity approach. His upbringing at passing football specialists Ajax would help but he might not be what the manager is looking for.

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LIVERPOOL

PROS: The prospect of forging a defensive partnership with Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk at Anfield would be a compelling one for De Ligt. And, as Champions League winners, Liverpool can offer him the chance to sign for the best team in Europe and one that seems to be on the brink of a successful new era under Jurgen Klopp.

Liverpool are a young, exciting squad and De Ligt could take himself, and the team, to a new level if he moved to Anfield.

CONS: It's difficult to find a downside of moving to Liverpool right now, although the one area where they may struggle to compete with their rivals is on a financial level. De Ligt could guarantee bigger wages elsewhere.

Despite winning the Champions League, Liverpool have not won the league title since 1990, and if Manchester City continue to dominate, the defender might find it easier to win major honours elsewhere.

BAYERN MUNICH

PROS: Playing for the biggest and wealthiest club in Germany would guarantee De Ligt both a bulging pay packet and a well-stocked trophy cabinet. Bayern are pretty much a certainty to play in the Champions League every season and they also expect to win it, so De Ligt would be in the shake-up for big honours. And although Bayern are in a rebuilding process, their dominance of German football ensures that he would still be winning during their transitional period.

CONS: In a similar fashion to PSG in France, Bayern have killed off domestic competition in the Bundesliga (though only just this season), so De Ligt might be moving to a comfort zone if he chose to leave Ajax for them.

There is uncertainty over the long-term future of coach Niko Kovac and the departures of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, and the potential sale of Mats Hummels, have left several question marks hovering over the Allianz Arena.

JUVENTUS

PROS: Just as signing for Barcelona would enable De Ligt to play with Lionel Messi, a move to Juventus would give the youngster the opportunity play and train with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Defensively, a move to Turin would be like going to a finishing school for centre-back by learning from Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci. Financially, Juve are big payers, and their dominance of Serie A should ensure plenty of winners' medals for De Ligt.

CONS: The appointment of Maurizio Sarri as Juventus coach has raised eyebrows due to his playing style and lack of a title win on his C.V., so De Ligt could be moving to Juve just as their domestic dominance begins to wane.

As he displayed at Chelsea, Sarri prefers experienced players to emerging youngsters, so De Ligt might find himself relegated to a watching role behind Chiellini and Bonucci.

VERDICT

Wherever De Ligt ends up this summer, he will find himself at a major club and with a hugely increased pay packet. But if he could hand-pick his best destination, Liverpool would be top of the pile due to the strength of the team and the opportunity to play alongside international teammate Van Dijk.

The smart money is on De Ligt moving to PSG, who look to have outbid Barcelona, but Liverpool would be the best option for the Ajax defender.

One Friday evening late last month, after the rain had come and gone, Freddy Adu drove his black Cadillac sedan into a parking lot in the Locust Point neighborhood of South Baltimore. He walked to a field where some 13-year-old boys in red and white jerseys were kicking around a soccer ball. "There's Freddy," one of them said. "Hey, Freddy!"

Soon Adu was leading them through a drill. Each would take a turn sending him a pass and then sprinting off to the right. With a single deft touch, Adu would redirect the ball to their feet. "In front of you," Adu said. "Not too far. Run at it full speed, Kevin! Run at it, and then shoot."

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Although he hasn't played for a top-tier team anywhere in seven years, Adu remains one of the most famous soccer players in America. Fans everywhere know his name. If you aren't a fan of the sport, he might be the only American soccer player you do know.

Adu was the phenom who would save American soccer from irrelevance. At 14, in 2004, he started playing for Major League Soccer's D.C. United. He starred in a commercial for Pepsi's Sierra Mist brand with Pele, who compared Adu to Mozart. He signed a Nike deal. He did a "Got Milk?" ad. He was on the cover of a cereal box, and the cover of Time magazine. In 2006, he trained briefly with Manchester United, then the world's most important club. All of that was years ago, but he's still recognized in airports.

"It wasn't like people forgot about him," says Tommy Olsen, who played with Adu last summer on the Las Vegas Lights of the second-tier United Soccer League Championship. "Everyone still knows who he is."

As a player, though, Adu's career didn't work out as everyone expected. He was supposed to be the next Pele. Instead he became a vagabond, traveling the world in search of a team where maybe he could thrive. In the 13 years since leaving D.C. United, he has played for 13 other teams. Two of them, Philadelphia and Real Salt Lake, were in MLS. Two more were big European clubs: Portugal's storied Benfica and France's AS Monaco. Mostly, they were in places you'd end up if you had nowhere else to go.

Adu played for Aris in Greece and Rizespor in Turkey. He played one game for a Serbian team. He played in Finland for KUPS and, after that, for its developmental affiliate. He went to Brazil for two games. He played in the minor league NASL for Tampa Bay. He had unsuccessful trials with Blackpool in England and Stabaek in Norway, with AZ Alkmaar in Holland and MLS' Portland Timbers. He flew to Poland to sign a contract only to learn that he'd been brought in without the manager's consent. He tries not to talk about those years in which he was floating from team to team, leaving each under a shadow of disappointment. "You have to have amnesia," he said. "Otherwise, you'll torture yourself."

He ended up in Las Vegas for the 2018 season as a last resort. It was a chance to resurrect his career at 28. That didn't work out, either. "The fans would chant his name, 'Freddy! Freddy!'" said someone affiliated with that team's management. "Then they'd see him play, and they wouldn't chant anymore."

Adu wanted to return to Las Vegas this year, especially after Eric Wynalda, the former U.S. national player and Fox commentator, was hired to manage. Wynalda turned him down.

"The reason that Freddy's not here now, there are six or seven guys getting their first chance or their second chance," Wynalda said. "He's on his fourth or fifth. It's their turn, not his."

Wynalda, too, had hoped Adu's career would have turned out differently. "He's a lot better than what we think he is," he said. "There's a lot more to him. But we never saw it."

Adu was sitting at home in suburban Washington this past November when two friends persuaded him to help their youth club, Next Level Soccer. The plan was that he would come to workouts through the winter and teach the kids how to shoot. It's June now, and he's still driving nearly an hour each way to practice sessions near Baltimore, two and three times a week. For the first time in years, he says, soccer is fun.

"This is literally grassroots," he said, sitting on the bench during a break in the practice. "None of that other stuff. Just the good parts of the game."

Still, Adu wants to be clear. "Until," he said. "That's how I've been thinking about this." In two days, he would turn 30. "I'm still plenty young. I'm not ready to give it up. Things haven't gone the way that I would have wanted them to, obviously. But I love the sport too much to say I'm ready to give it up." He still gets inquiries on Facebook, and occasionally through his agent, about his availability.

"I'd like to stay in the States," Adu said. "I've been to some obscure places in my career. I'm not sure if I want to keep doing that. I'd like to play, but I'm hoping that it's here."

As he talked, players from Next Level's under-14 team lined up to kick a ball on a diagonal toward an undersized net some 30 yards away. Most of them looked scrawny. It is hard to fathom, even after all these years, but when Adu was exactly their age, he was starting his pro career. Now he walked over to give them instruction. Strike the ball this way, he said, not like that. Several of the boys were able to get shots close to the goal. One bounced a shot off the near post, but most of them continued to miss by several feet.

Adu stepped up to demonstrate. He sent a kick on an arc. For a moment, the ball shone against the darkening sky. Then it curved into the net. Adu threw his hands into the air. He did a dance, shuffling his feet. "Golazo!" he shouted. "Go-la-zo!"

What went wrong for Freddy Adu? Arnold Tarzy thinks he knows.

Tarzy is the Maryland insurance agent who discovered the 8-year-old Adu playing with older kids in a neighborhood league. Only a few months before, Adu's family had won the right to emigrate from Ghana in a green-card lottery. Tarzy, who hadn't played competitive soccer beyond junior high school and started coaching only a few years earlier, became a mentor for Adu, leading him step by step.

In October 1999, the United States Soccer Federation staged a loosely organized youth game on the practice field at American University in Washington. The ostensible purpose was to identify emerging talent for Project 2010, a quixotic effort meant to result in a World Cup victory within a generation. But maybe it was just to see Adu, who at 10 already had made a name as a phenom.

Tarzy was at the game, watching with Bob Jenkins, a USSF staff coach at the time. It had become clear to Tarzy that Adu scored goals simply because he was better than everyone around him. If he had the ball and a defender, or even three of them, to elude, he was almost impossible to stop. But when he didn't have the ball, he stood around and waited for someone to pass it to him.

Nobody wanted Adu to succeed more than Tarzy. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that Adu's efforts were almost exclusively confined to taking the ball and putting it in the net. He turned to Jenkins. "It doesn't bother you that he doesn't work that hard on the field?" he asked.

Jenkins shook his head. "He's only working as hard as he has to."

Jenkins was referring to the game unfolding in front of them, but Tarzy was on to something. "It's a matter of habits," he says now. "He never had the work rate. He never had to. Things always came easy."

That would be Adu's undoing. Against better competition, he foundered. He scored 15 goals in 16 games for the U.S. under-17 national team, and 16 more in 33 games for the under-20s. "He was unbelievable," said Sammy Ochoa, who played with him at the under-20 World Cup in 2006. "He was great. Skillful. Quick. At that time, there was nobody like him." But in 17 appearances for the senior national team from 2006 to 2011, Adu only scored twice.

His club career ran a similar course. There were 11 goals to celebrate for D.C. United from 2004 to 2006. But since then, Adu has scored a total of 17 times. That's 17 goals over the past 13 years, playing across various levels in Europe, Asia, South America and the United States. As a kid, he'd get that many goals in a weekend.

Adu was an attacking midfielder and occasionally a winger, not a striker. "I'm more quick than fast," he said. But he considered himself a finisher, not a creator. When he wasn't scoring, he wasn't doing much of anything. "He saw himself as the luxury player, the skill player," Wynalda said. "'Give me the ball and I'll make something happen.' 'OK, I screwed up, give it to me again.' 'OK, again. Just keep giving it to me.' And eventually it's like, 'You know what? I'm going to give it to some other guy.'"

Everywhere he went, Adu was his usual easygoing self. He made friends, not enemies. But that sense of entitlement undermined him in locker room after locker room. Since 2006, only two of the 13 teams he played for brought Adu back for a second season. "I think people still see me as that spoiled 14-year-old who came into the league," Adu says now. "And I did not do myself any favors."

It wasn't all his fault. American soccer was still seeking its first international star. Adu happened to be anointed. At the same time, the idea of a 14-year-old playing in a top league against adults captured the imagination of the broader public. "Everyone told him, 'You're great. You're amazing. You got it,'" Wynalda said. Adu signed a $1 million deal with Nike. His D.C. United contract paid him $500,000 more.

"He was touted before it was deserved, and before he was ready to handle it," said Jason Kreis, who was Adu's teammate and then his manager at Real Salt Lake in 2007, and now coaches the U.S. U-23 team. "He couldn't cope with it. He believed what he was reading. He believed he was worth all the money he was being paid."

Adu left Salt Lake in 2007 after Benfica recruited him. But he wasn't yet good enough to play at Europe's highest level, so he was loaned out to AS Monaco, which wanted him mostly because his fame had spread. He barely played there, either. That fall, he went to Portugal to find stability. He landed at Belenenses, which was in the midst of relegation and the hiring and firing of 10 different managers over three years. Finding a place for the young American was the least of the club's problems.

"Maybe sometimes I should have picked a team that was not so quote-unquote glamorous so I could get better as a player," he said. "Rather than going for the glamour and never getting to play."

He had another stint in MLS, two full seasons in Philadelphia. Then he drifted to and from five teams in four countries. He hadn't played in a year when Las Vegas made contact. "This is my last shot," he told Olsen. "I'm going to do it."

The Lights play in a minor league baseball park a few miles from the Strip. Pitcher's mounds remain along the sidelines. It's Las Vegas but feels more like Albuquerque. Under the guidance of Jose Luis Sanchez Sola, the former Mexican League manager known as "Chelis," last year's team employed a pressing, high-energy style. Adu was at least 10 pounds overweight when he signed, and that's being gracious. He was supposed to use the prolonged scrimmages during practice sessions to work himself into game fitness. Instead, he'd wait to receive passes that almost never came. Still, he showed flashes of brilliance, enough of them so that a one-month trial became a full season.

"A normal player might touch the ball 50 times during one of those scrimmages," said Isidro Sanchez, Chelis' son, who coached the club when his father was suspended for eight games after an altercation with a fan, and then again after Chelis gave up and returned to Mexico. "Freddy would take the ball two times. Literally two times. But those two times!"

By the end, Sanchez believed that Adu was finished as a player. "He was a body without a soul," Sanchez said. "Without spirit, without hunger. You'd see him walking, he had no energy. He said, 'I want to return to MLS. I want to do it.' But he walked like an old man. Like an ancient body."

Early on, when Adu had been in Las Vegas for only a few weeks, the Lights played a friendly against D.C. United. Adu was still on a temporary contract, but Chelis decided to start him against his former MLS team. In the 89th minute, with the Lights losing 3-2, he received a long throw-in. Suddenly, 15 years melted away. He directed a volley toward the goal from 20 yards that sailed over the bar by maybe 2 inches. When you consider the excitement it generated, its potential for glory and its ultimate fruitlessness, it might as well be a metaphor for his career.

The day of the 2018-19 Champions League final on June 1 was the last day of Freddy Adu's 20s. Only a few years ago, it seemed likely that by now he would have appeared in a final, the sport's biggest stage outside the World Cup. "It was one of my goals," he said. "I'm sure there are kids who grow up wanting to play in the MLS Cup. I had bigger dreams."

At Benfica, he dressed as one of seven potential substitutes for group-stage matches against Celtic, AC Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk. He didn't get into any of the games, yet those remain among the best memories of his soccer career. He was 18. Everything still seemed possible. But he never came close to the Champions League again.

By the time Adu arrived in Laurel, Maryland, the second half was already starting. Next Level had fallen behind 2-0. Adu watched for a while. Then he walked over to the coach, Rafik Kechrid, who was crouched in front of his team's bench. "My two cents," Adu said. Put Kevin back in the game, he advised, but on the wing. Move Diego, the fastest player, up top. Get Ollie outside so he could have some space.

Kechrid made the changes. Next Level scored. Then scored again. And here's the strange part: Watching from the sideline, Adu almost felt like he was scoring those goals himself. "Wow, that feels really good," he said. "Because you're the one putting them in the positions to succeed. And you're proud. It's like, 'I helped them to get there. I helped them to do that.'"

Over the past few months, something else has become clear. Kevin, Ollie and Diego are helping him, too. Because now that he's coaching, Adu is able to see the game like a coach. When he looks back on how he played over the past 15 years, he understands why his career unfolded the way it did. He says that he wishes he could call up all the coaches he played for over the years, one time zone to the next, and apologize to them.

"I saw my game in a certain way," he said. "They saw it as, 'You can give so much more to the team.' And I wasn't doing that." He shook his head, thinking about the years he lost, wearing uniform after uniform but often barely playing at all. "My 20s," he said. "The prime of my career."

Adu believes that several of the players at Next Level have significant potential. He knows now, though, that potential only sets the starting line. "Growing up, I was always the best player," he said. "Guys who were way below me at the time, you'd say right now had better careers than I did."

If he'd had a Freddy Adu working with him, an elite-level player there to explain what it meant to succeed, he would have developed a different attitude. "So when I see a kid who's really talented, clearly above the rest, and he's just coasting, trying to get away with his talent, I say, 'No, no, no. That can't happen! You can't let that happen! They will surpass you.' Because I was that kid."

Ask anyone who played with Adu in Las Vegas and they'll tell you he's through. Adu doesn't believe it. In the coming months, he's determined to get in shape. He will drop from 162 pounds to his playing weight of 150. "The best that I ever played," he said, as though he was only just realizing it, "was when I was the fittest. Most of my problems in Las Vegas was that I never got fit."

In recent years, he has spurned any offer that sounded suspiciously like he was being used to sell tickets or generate publicity. He refused all interviews for the same reason. "It had to be about soccer," he said. "About what I could do on the field." Now he knows that he can't be as choosy. If the time has come to trade on his name as a way to get back on the field, if that's the card he needs to play to pull on a uniform again, well, he'd be foolish to rule that out. "I'd be more open to that than I would have been before," he said. Because he still has more to prove. He can't have his career end this way.

He vows that the next time, his last last chance, will be different. "I know that for a fact," he says.

The film Jaws starts with a couple going for a flirtatious moonlit swim; the film Psycho starts with a couple enjoying a lunchtime tryst; the film Friday the 13th starts with a couple stealing away to a cabin to attend to some private business.

The point of all this (apart from cinema's insinuation that sex is a lethal business) is that sometimes danger lurks in unexpected places. So, relatively comfortable though England's progress may have been to this stage of the tournament, there are a couple of warning signs ahead of their match against Afghanistan that might, just might, turn out to be significant over the coming weeks.

The first of these is simply what we have learned from history. Nobody who has watched England for any period of time can have any level of complacency going into Tuesday's game. They will have seen England lose limited-overs matches to the Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland - all teams which failed to qualify for this tournament - in recent years and they will have seen them heavily beaten in the longer formats in Australia, India, the UAE and the Caribbean.

They will have noted, too, the nature of this Old Trafford surface. The match is to be played on the same track on which India beat Pakistan on Sunday. Meaning it is the same track on which Kuldeep Yadav turned one between the bat and pad of Babar Azam and conceded just 32 from his nine overs. While Eoin Morgan, England's captain, suggested that turn could have been produced by a surface that was "tacky" - ie damp - rather than dry, the fact is, whether it is dry, damp or at all worn, it will please Afghanistan.

Afghanistan certainly have the attack to exploit any help that may be available. In Rashid Khan, Afghanistan have a legspinner who has been rated the world's No. 1 bowler in both ODI and T20I cricket, while England's record against spin - while improving, particularly in ODIs - is not infallible. It's not so long since the Test side lost eight second-innings wickets to Roston Chase, after all. And Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman - Afghanistan's other spinners - have been as high as No. 6 in the ODI rankings, too. The sight of Merlyn, the spin-bowling machine, at England's training session on Monday, suggested they know the challenge awaiting them.

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At the same time, England have lost the services of one of their best players. Jason Roy has suffered a hamstring tear - and the ECB's reluctance to confirm the grade of tear suggests that, in the best-case scenario, he has a chance of being somewhere near fit - not necessarily match fit - for England's penultimate group match, against India, on June 30. Bearing in mind his last hamstring injury kept him out of action for seven weeks, however, and that he sustained another injury when he returned, it is hard to be wildly optimistic.

England's policy makes sense, though. Roy's ODI form is exceptional - he is averaging 77.12 at a strike-rate of 120.50 this year and has made three centuries and three half-centuries in his last eight games - and England will hope they can get through the next week without him. They face two of the weaker sides in the competition, after all (Sri Lanka are next, at Headingley on Friday), and they have a decent deputy in James Vince.

But England will want Roy back after that. Their final group games - against Australia, India and then New Zealand - are tough and England are likely to need to win at least one of them if they are to guarantee their place in the semi-finals. And if they are to prosper in the knockout stages, they will clearly want the services of one of their most dominant batsmen.

The potential loss of Roy is exacerbated by concerns elsewhere. Moeen Ali may have enjoyed excellent form in the IPL, but he is struggling to adapt to batting at No. 7 - he is averaging 16.77 in ODI cricket since the start of 2018 - which has given England's batting line-up a slightly less daunting impression than has been the case in recent years. There is no Alex Hales, Joe Clarke (both deemed unavailable for selection) or Sam Billings (injured) to call up, either. As a result, their bench strength isn't quite as strong as it has been. With respect to Dawid Malan and Joe Denly, neither have scored ODI half-centuries this decade. They are, of course, fine players. But they're not Jason Roy.

On the other hand, England's bowling has been impressive. But there are still concerns about Mark Wood's ankle - England had originally hoped to rest him here, but that now seems unlikely after Liam Plunkett missed training on Monday due to illness - while Adil Rashid has been struggling with a shoulder injury for some months. Morgan insisted Rashid was completely recovered now but tournament figures which show two wickets at a cost of 101.50 tell a different story. And we haven't even mentioned the concerns over Morgan's back (or finger) or Chris Woakes' knee. None of this means there are fatal holes in England's plans. But there are little cracks.

Perhaps this seems overly pessimistic. Perhaps it reflects the scars of watching England's last World Cup campaign (it should probably be spelled cam-pain) in Australia and New Zealand. This new England side has proved they are made of sterner stuff than their predecessors, after all, and they really should be expected to win both their next games pretty comfortably.

But there are several ingredients for an upset at Old Trafford on Tuesday. And with that tough finish to the group stages, an England team with several walking wounded cannot afford a slip.

Lungi Ngidi is fit and ready to bolster the South Africa pace attack as they continue their string of must-win matches. Ngidi injured his hamstring and couldn't bowl his quota in the match against Bangladesh, who stacked up 330 at The Oval to beat them and derail South Africa's World Cup campaign. Two days before the crucial match against New Zealand in Birmingham, Ngidi cleared a fitness test. South Africa have three points from five matches, and have New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia left to play.

Ngidi confirmed he had no reason to worry about his hamstring now. "It's 100%," he said. "That's how the fitness test goes. If you are not bowling at 100% then you are obviously not ready to play. Today was as hard as I could go, at match-intensity."

Ngidi spoke about the feelings of watching Bangladesh score all those runs even as he was off the field with his injury. "On that day, we went a lot shorter [with our length] than we should have," Ngidi said. "That happens on the day. Credit to them, they took advantage of that and they were able to post a decent total and defend it. With me going off, obviously, I didn't bowl my full quota of overs and someone had to fill that in, so that didn't work out in our favour.

"Not that I wanted to get injured, but I felt like I let the team down a bit. We probably should have still tried as best as we could to restrict them to under 300 but it happens, it's cricket. On the day they were better than us and they won the game."

That can lead to mental strain on a cricketer but Ngidi said he has had the support staff to help him out with it. "It's been tough," he said of sitting out. "Injuries are never nice but with the support staff I've had around me, it's been pretty decent. Other than being off the field, I've been all right. Just frustrated by not being able to play a few games."

Ngidi said South Africa needed to get around to the basics of testing batsmen's techniques. "The one thing I have always been told by Ottis [Gibson, the coach] is holding my length and with the first game, it wasn't ideal for me up front," Ngidi said. "I didn't do that. I didn't execute the skill I am in the team to do. That would pretty much be it now, just making sure I am putting batsmen under pressure within the Powerplay, testing their techniques."

That's where opportunity lies for South Africa. Their opponents New Zealand are yet to be defeated in the tournament, but South Africa know that when Bangladesh put their middle and lower middle order under pressure, they did show signs of vulnerability. "I don't think their middle- and lower-order batsmen have been tested enough," Ngidi said. "Most of the guys who have scored the runs are at the top of the order. Maybe one or two [wickets] up front, get those guys, get their middle order in as early as possible, and you could be looking at a different situation when it comes to their batting."

Do South Africa want a turning track at Edgbaston or don't they? Against New Zealand, is spin an opportunity or a threat?

On one hand, they have Imran Tahir, easily the most fearsome of the spinners in either squad - his average of 24.28 is at least 10 better than that of Mitchell Santner, the New Zealand spinner with the best numbers. On the other hand, their middle order has proven incontinent in the face of high quality spin during this tournament. In the match against India, they lost four wickets to legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, one to left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, and essentially surrendered the game in a four-over period in which they lost three batsmen.

Tahir, at least, seems to be in wicket-taking form. Although he was unsuccessful against India, he had taken two wickets apiece against England and Bangladesh, before running through Afghanistan - his googly flummoxing several batsmen - as he claimed 4 for 29. The tawny colour of the Edgbaston surface suggests there could be some turn on offer, and if there is, Tahir is best-placed among the potential participants in this game to exploit it.

"Imran has been a star for this team," spin coach Claude Henderson said. "He has proven to world cricket how well he can perform, even when he is under pressure. He is in a good space, he is bowling well, and he is excited. This is his last World Cup, but he is loving every minute still, which is amazing. He's got great passion and what an example he is for any young cricketer."

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But how will their own batsmen fare, if there is turn to be had here? Although they were successful in denying Rashid Khan a wicket on a green surface in Cardiff, South Africa's record against spin over the past two years is not encouraging. Their team average against spin over the past two years is 35.97, which places them seventh out of the 10 sides at this World Cup. New Zealand, meanwhile, are up at fourth with an average of 40.35 against spin in the same period.

"We chat a lot about playing spin, because spin bowling has had a big effect on the one-day game," Henderson said. "It might be that at Edgbaston that's the case, because of the slowness of the wicket. It's also a case of confidence. We played some good cricket against Afghanistan, and had some good practices. We'll be staying positive."

Against wristspin, South Africa's numbers over the past two years are even worse. They average 25.21 against legspinners and left-arm wristspinners through this period. They are worse only than Sri Lanka and Afghanistan out of teams at this tournament. Should the conditions allow, perhaps New Zealand will consider deploying legspinner Ish Sodhi for the first time in this World Cup.

"Ish Sodhi is a good bowler, and he has showed in the past that he can also take wickets," Henderson said. "We definitely don't underestimate him. Santner is a good spinner as well. It's nice to have Imran but from a batting point of view, our preparation is knowing exactly what we are going to face and understanding the conditions."

England have called spinner Linsey Smith into their squad for three T20 internationals against West Indies. She replaces Bryony Smith, who made her ODI debut last week, in the 15-woman group.

Linsey Smith has taken 11 wickets at 15.09 in her eight T20I appearances, having made her debut at last year's Women's WT20 in the Caribbean, where Mark Robinson's side were beaten in the final.

After blanking West Indies 3-0 in the ODIs, England have now won 13 games in a row - they whitewashed Sri Lanka in ODI and T20Is on tour earlier this year, as well as beating India 3-0 in a T20I series. Next month they will attempt to reclaim the Ashes from Australia.

"It's great to set records and break new ground, it's something we talked about as a team when Robbo came in," captain Heather Knight said. "What's great is that a winning run requires a lot of hard work and a lot of ruthlessness - it won't continue if we become complacent or begin to let our own standards slip.

"We've got three games against the West Indies, and three chances to further improve our T20 form. If we can be at our best across these matches that will set us up well for the Ashes."

England squad to play West Indies: Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone, Jenny Gunn, Amy Jones, Laura Marsh, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Linsey Smith, Sarah Taylor (wk), Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield, Danni Wyatt

Bangladesh 322 for 3 (Shakib 124*, Liton 94*, Tamim 48) beat West Indies 321 for 8 (Hope 96, Lewis 70, Hetmyer 50, Mustafizur 3-59, Saifuddin 3-72) by seven wickets

As it happened

Shakib Al Hasan produced one of the great World Cup performances, stringing a domineering 124 not out to his two-wicket haul as he anchored Bangladesh's highest chase in an ODI. In the process, he reached 6000 ODI runs, became Bangladesh's highest run-scorer at a World Cup, the second after Mahmudullah to make two centuries for Bangladesh in the tournament, and added his name to yet another one of the six Bangladesh century stands in World Cups. That apart, he also took Bangladesh past West Indies' 321 with 8.3 overs to spare in Liton Das' company.

Shakib came in, as he has done all tournament, at No. 3 despite Liton's inclusion in Bangladesh's XI. At 52 for 1, Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar had provided a start similar to the one during their win against South Africa; this held true both in terms of the scoring rate as well as the kind of new-ball bowling they had faced. Going in with five fast bowlers, West Indies were bowling decidedly short, with little to indicate a Plan B.

This played into Bangladesh's hands on a ground with short boundaries. Tamim led the initial attack, slashing and pulling boundaries, and occasionally jumping on top of the bounce to punch on the rise through the off side as West Indies counted on persistence rather than adaptability with their tactics. According to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data, 112 balls were short or short of a good length. Bangladesh made 177 runs against those deliveries and lost two wickets.

It took a sharp piece of fielding from Sheldon Cottrell in his bowling follow through to provide West Indies a half-chance, one that he took as he tore down the stumps at the striker's end even as Tamim fell short looking to dive back into his crease. It was about when rain made its first appearance, but not enough to force the players off. Shortly after, Bangladesh lost Mushfiqur Rahim caught down the leg side with an over left for the 20-over DLS cut-off. But as they navigated that situation, staying narrowly ahead of the DLS par score, the sun crept out. And with it came a step-up from Shakib.

It was not, strictly speaking, a silken innings. But that was down to West Indies' lengths. The pull was Shakib's staple, but not the high-scoring option that it usually is. It mostly helped him get off strike, off the toe and off the under-edge most often. But in the middle of this arduous accumulation, Shakib played some powerful cuts, and produced several brilliant punches down the ground to find boundaries. In all, six of his 16 boundaries came between wide mid-off and mid-on. In essence, he blunted West Indies' attack at his ribs, while staying prepared for scoring opportunities on the front foot. With the erratic spells Shannon Gabriel and Oshane Thomas bowled, the absence of a spinner, and a limping Andre Russell for fifth bowler, West Indies lost their grip through the middle overs.

That made it even easier for Shakib and Liton, whose freedom led to some risk-taking. But top-edges fell between converging fielders, edges flew either side of the keeper - apart from those that were helped past him - and by the time West Indies had begun processing what Shakib had done, Liton himself had raced to fifty on World Cup debut.

The 189-run fourth-wicket stand was built largely on a blueprint of progressive attacking until the 38th over, which began with three sixes off Gabriel, all of them off the back foot from Liton. The first and third were bouncers, sent in deep square-leg's direction, while the second was a slug over mid-off to a full ball. By the end of it, the two were doing whatever they wanted. Twenty-four came off that over, this World Cup's most expensive one, and Bangladesh were 294 for 3. There were no hiccups from there on.

The day had begun with a win at the toss, and a maiden over to Chris Gayle, who was threatened enough by Mohammad Saifuddin's inswinger to stay inside the line and edge behind in the fourth over for an 11-ball duck. It was the perfect start. And then Saifuddin didn't bowl for the next 25 overs.

What they missed out on from Gayle, West Indies gained from their persistence with Evin Lewis. Having fallen for single-digit scores in both matches before this one, Lewis finally found some rhythm as the pressure was almost immediately released after Gayle's dismissal. He was watchful to some extent, with hardly any swings through the line, and kept the rate up as Shai Hope dug into another laborious ODI innings. Like West Indies, Bangladesh also bowled predominantly short or short of a length - the spinners and the seamers - and this allowed Lewis and Hope to set their own pace in a 116-run stand. Just after getting to his fifty, Lewis decided to pick up his scoring; a couple of sixes ensued before slicing a full one to long-off off Shakib.

An induced slice is how Shakib also dismissed Nicholas Pooran, who went too hard with his slog sweep, having just smacked Mehidy Hasan onto the roof of the straight boundary. In both cases, Shakib had exploited the dip and drift he got from bowling into the wind, a plan far removed from the other spinners on the day.

Shimron Hetmyer attempted three sweeps off his first three balls, a signal that was received by Hope at the other end as he forced Mustafizur Rahman to bowl three short balls at the start of the 35th over - only two of which were legal - that cost 15 runs. Hetmyer soon connected a few slogs over the leg side against Saifuddin, and then neutralised Mehidy's offbreaks as well on his way to a 25-ball fifty.

But there was to be a comeback from Mustafizur; Tamim, diving, held on to a miscued slog from Hetmyer and two balls later, Mustafizur got Russell to edge an offcutter behind. This briefly halted West Indies' charge, but Jason Holder used his reach to cart an 18-ball 33, six of which came with a 105-metre hit over midwicket. His innings, too, ended early though. Early enough for West Indies to stray towards caution in the 44th over; with Darren Bravo at No. 8, this would have seemed strange, but for all practical purposes, that's where West Indies' batting ended. And so, Hope, who barely struck at more than 80, had one more reason to try and bat longer. He didn't manage it, falling to Mustafizur for 96 off 121 with three overs to spare. West Indies only managed 61 off their last eight overs - Holder said after the match that they were 40-50 short.

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After a circuitous career that began 17 years ago in Arizona, quarterback Josh McCown is retiring from football, he announced Monday on The Players' Tribune.

McCown, who turns 40 on July 4, spent the past two seasons with the New York Jets. He made the decision to retire after consulting with his family for the past few months. His body feels fresh -- he appeared in only four games last season -- but he decided to move on to the next chapter.

"I guess it just goes to show that you don't always get to choose your own path," McCown wrote. "But looking back, I'm proud of how my career has gone. I don't shy away from the journeyman label. I embrace it, full force.

"Because it's been one heck of a journey."

Later Monday, it was announced that McCown is joining ESPN as an NFL analyst. He will make his debut Wednesday on NFL Live.

"I am excited to make the transition into broadcasting with ESPN which will allow me to still be involved with the game I love. I look forward to bringing ESPN viewers the unique insights that I have gained throughout my career," he said in a statement.

Jets coach Adam Gase, speaking at the start of the offseason, left open the possibility of McCown's return, but the team opted to sign Trevor Siemian as Sam Darnold's backup.

McCown never was a star player in the league, but his career is extraordinary in its own right. He played for eight teams over 17 years, beginning with the Arizona Cardinals in 2002; in fact, he was the last player from the 2002 draft to still be active. He spent four seasons with Arizona, then played for Detroit, Oakland and Carolina. He also spent time with Miami and San Francisco, but never played in games for them.

After one season out of the NFL, McCown restarted his career with the Chicago Bears (2011 to 2013), enjoying a terrific 2013 season in which he threw 13 touchdown passes and only one interception.

He spent most of his career as the proverbial "bridge" quarterback, bouncing from one rebuilding situation to another. That was his role with the Jets; he also was heavily involved in mentoring Darnold.

After enjoying a career year in 2017, McCown lost his job in the preseason to Darnold, a first-round pick. It wasn't much of a competition. McCown spent nearly the entire preseason watching from the sideline as Darnold was given a clear path to the starting job.

McCown embraced his role as Darnold's mentor. When McCown re-signed in March 2018 (one year, $10 million), he knew there was a good chance the team would draft a quarterback in the first round. The Jets wanted him back because of his unselfish attitude and willingness to help young quarterbacks. It was costly from a financial standpoint, but it was "money well spent," Jets CEO Christopher Johnson said.

"I think it was just awesome to be able to learn and watch him," Darnold said of McCown, who lived in the same building as the young quarterback and spent countless hours with him outside the team's facility.

Well-traveled McCown was pressed into starting duty for three straight games when Darnold was out with a foot injury, weeks 10 to 12, but he wasn't able to recapture his 2017 form. He struggled mightily, completing only 54.5 percent of his passes for 539 yards, with one touchdown and four interceptions. The Jets lost all three games.

McCown signed with the Jets in 2017 after starting 22 games over the previous three seasons for Tampa Bay and Cleveland. He landed the Jets' starting job by default, as young quarterbacks Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty struggled in the preseason. McCown wound up setting career highs for completions (267), yards (2,926) and touchdown passes (18). The players voted him team MVP even though he missed the last three games with a broken hand.

"No matter what team I was on, I tried to serve it to the best of my ability, and I tried to influence my team in a positive manner," McCown wrote on The Players' Tribune. "I hope I did that. And I made sure that when my number was called, I was prepared, and I gave it everything I had, every time."

For his career, McCown has 17,707 yards, 98 touchdown passes, 82 interceptions and a 79.7 passer rating.

The Golden State Warriors took out a full-page ad in Monday's edition of the Toronto Star to congratulate the Toronto Raptors on their NBA title.

"The Golden State Warriors congratulate the Toronto Raptors on their historic achievement and bringing the 2019 NBA championship to the City of Toronto," the ad reads.

The ad appeared in the sports section on the day when the Raptors held their victory parade through the streets of Toronto.

The Raptors completed their six-game series victory in the NBA Finals with a win Thursday in Oakland, California.

The team was initially expected back in Toronto on Saturday, but instead most players stayed an additional night celebrating in Las Vegas.

LaMelo Ball has joined the Illawarra Hawks of the Australian National Basketball League, he announced on ESPN's The Jump on Monday.

Ball, a 17-year-old point guard, played for a year in Lithuania in 2018, so it's unlikely that he could play in college under NCAA eligibility rules.

The NBL has become a destination for players looking for a year of competitive play before they are eligible for the NBA draft. It's a nine-team league that begins play in early October and ends in late March. Ball agreed to a two-year deal with NBA out clauses.

"My agents did a ton of research on the options I had to play this coming season, and Australia really made sense for me," Ball told ESPN. "They have a really strong league, with excellent coaches and great players, including former and future NBA players, and great strength and conditioning programs. My goal is to be the top pick in next year's draft, and I feel they can help me reach that goal. Also, the timing of the season works well with the timing of next year's draft."

Ball, the No. 21 prospect in the ESPN 100 class of 2019, will join ESPN No. 5 prospect RJ Hampton as American teenagers who elected to spend their one-and-done season between high school and the NBA in the NBL. Hampton signed with another NBL team, the New Zealand Breakers, in late May. Both players were brought in under the NBL's Next Stars program, which has emerged as a competitor with college basketball and the G League as pathways to the NBA.

"I had already decided to play in the NBL prior to RJ's decision, I just hadn't yet narrowed down the team," Ball said. "But having RJ there only adds to the excitement. I think it will be a good experience for both of us to be there at the same time and to be able to play against one another."

LaMelo's brother Lonzo was the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA draft and a key component of the Anthony Davis trade between the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers that was agreed to this weekend.

LaMelo Ball spent four months in Lithuania at the beginning of 2018 with BC Vytautas. He averaged 6.5 points and 2.4 assists in 13 minutes over eight games in the Lithuanian first division, despite being only 16 years old at the time. His best game of the season came against Lithuanian league champion Zalgiris -- a team that qualified for the EuroLeague Final Four later that year -- with 19 points and six assists in 27 minutes.

"I am really looking forward to playing professionally this season, so that I can focus all of my time and energy on basketball," Ball said. "My experience in Lithuania will help make the adjustment easier. Playing overseas professionally at just 16 years old put me in a place where I had to figure things out quickly, and I think that experience will make a huge difference for me in Australia."

While no ruling was made, Ball was considered unlikely to be eligible to play college basketball because he was tied to Vytautas, was represented by an agent and has his own sneaker line, which he promoted using his likeness. All those things could violate NCAA eligibility rules.

Ball returned to the United States this season to play high school basketball at Spire Academy in Ohio, where he was coached by former NBA player Jermaine Jackson. Jackson -- who played 130 games over five seasons in the NBA and also played internationally -- will accompany Ball to Australia to assist him with the transition.

"Having JJ with me has been incredible," Ball said. "His experience, guidance and mentorship has been a huge benefit to me, and having him there in Australia will only continue to help my development on and off the court."

Ball was ranked as the No. 7 prospect in his high school class, according to ESPN recruiting rankings, when his father, LaVar, abruptly withdrew him from Chino Hills High School shortly after his 16th birthday. Ball was committed to UCLA at the time. LaVar's off-the-court actions -- which included starting his own sneaker company, basketball league and a reality TV show on Facebook -- have drawn a significant amount of worldwide attention, helping LaMelo build a global following that includes 4.5 million followers on Instagram. From a marketing standpoint alone, Ball's signing is a boon to the NBL, which currently sports 78,000 followers on Instagram.

Ball will join one of the smaller-market teams in Australia. The Hawks play in Wollongong, a blue-collar, working-class city of 300,000 people located 55 miles south of Sydney. The team finished last season tied with the Breakers for sixth place in the NBL. Ball is expected to compete for significant playing time at both guard spots.

"The conversations with the team really made me feel like this is going to be a great fit," Ball said. "I felt they understood my goals and have a plan for me in terms of growth and development, and I was really excited about their goals for winning."

"We couldn't be more excited to have LaMelo coming to join the NBL this season," NBL CEO Jeremy Loeliger told ESPN. "I think it's a real win-win situation for everyone involved. It gives him a fantastic opportunity to play against some hardened professionals, which I think will do wonders in terms of getting him ready for his rookie year in the NBA. He'll get the chance to answer a lot of questions being asked by a lot of people -- and everything I've seen makes me think he's going to take a lot of them by surprise."

Illawarra's new head coach, Matt Flinn, echoed those thoughts: "The Illawarra Hawks have a long history of developing great young players, many of whom have gone into great things in Australia, Europe and the NBA, and the signing of LaMelo is testimony to that," Flinn said. "Together we will work hard so he can achieve his ultimate goal."

At 6-foot-7, Ball has unique talent for the modern NBA game with his size, creativity, ballhandling, passing ability and deep shooting range. Scouts will want to evaluate his thin frame, unorthodox shooting mechanics, casual style of play and inconsistent effort defensively. The NBL is known for its physical play and will pose a significant challenge for the 17-year-old, who doesn't possess much experience against higher levels of competition.

Ball has impressed this summer with his performances at the Drew League, a pro-am summer tournament that draws some of the best talent from Los Angeles but is played at all-star-style pace. Before this news, Ball was ranked No. 33 in ESPN's most recent 2020 mock draft, partly because of the uncertainty surrounding his playing situation for 2019-20. He will be projected as a first-round pick in the next ESPN forecast released after the NBA draft on Thursday.