US women's national team captain Lindsey Horan opened her time to reporters by addressing the backlash to her comments about US fans' knowledge of football, made in an interview with The Athletics published earlier this month.

“First and foremost, I would like to apologize to our fans,” Horan said during a virtual availability ahead of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. “Some of my comments were poorly worded and a huge lesson was learned for me.”

In her interview with The Athletics, Horan shared his frustrations with the way match viewers took commentary at face value before joking that her mother did it while watching USWNT matches. On Thursday, she took the time to clarify and express her appreciation for the fans.

“When I think about our fans, I love them so much. The team loves them so much, and I can't explain how much they mean to us. Every time we go out and practice, every time we go out and play games, you know we're playing for you guys,” Horan said. “You are our inspiration, our motivation, and seeing you wear our jerseys and seeing you shout our names and sing USA, that's what we play for and I never wanted to take that away.

“If we continue to do that, the culture of football in America is changing and growing in such a positive way. For me to experience that firsthand, playing for this U.S. Women's National Team, but also in the NWSL and for the Portland Thorns, is something so amazing. It is my absolute honor, and I will always say so, to wear this emblem every day. To be in this environment, to play in front of our fans and represent this national team, that's something – again, it's my greatest honor. … The last thing I ever wanted to do was offend someone like that. So again, my sincerest apologies.”

When asked to elaborate on what she wanted to express with her original comments, Horan responded that she didn't think “what I meant really matters at this point.” She said she is just “a soccer brain” who likes to watch as much soccer as possible.

“I like talking about it and the way people talk about Man City, Arsenal and the old Barcelona,” she said. “That's what I want people to say about us. I want people to talk about how great we are on the ball, the possession, the style of play, the technical ability, the tactical changes mid-match, these kinds of things.

Horan said she apologized for how she felt and wanted to “express how much the fans mean to me personally.”

Speaking about the tournament ahead – the inaugural W Gold Cup – Horan joked that the goal is “the trophy.”

More seriously, she said the team's main goal is to win, but it is also perfect preparation for the Olympics because of the tournament format and timing. “What we do here can really train us and prepare us mentally for what we may face in France,” she said. “We're taking every game at a time and we're getting better and better as the tournament goes on. Now we're just continuing to do more and more of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to play.”

Horan emphasized multiple times that she believes every player on the roster should be used during the Gold Cup to get some players tournament minutes and more time on the field – and that the USWNT should collectively take advantage of this time on the field ahead of the Olympics To play.

“It's not just the new youth, it's all of us,” she said. “We all move forward together and we remain a team. Everyone has to get on the same page as we go to the Olympics, but first the first match here at the Gold Cup.”

(Photo: Brennan Asplen, Getty Images)

It's USWNT captain Lindsey Horan's last morning in the United States before she flies back to France to rejoin Lyon, her club team. She spends it in a hotel lobby, tucked away at a table, talking The Athletics for an hour about her time as a manager of a team that is in the spotlight, how she sees her role in this time of transition, and above all one thing:

“Can we think about football?”

Horan was speaking almost exactly five months after he was named national team captain alongside Alex Morgan by then-USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski (Horan gets the armband if both are on the field at the same time). The role is the fulfillment of a life goal, but it also seems like a natural outcome, given how often and how intensely she thinks about the game.

Her first five months in that leadership role were full of notable exits: her World Cup team, Andonovski's and the retirements of Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz. It ended with a big addition: US Soccer's announced hiring of Emma Hayes as head coach.

Horan, now 29 years old and with 139 national team caps to her name, is part of an intermediate camp: too experienced to be a newcomer, and too new to be on the way back. It is her generation – which also includes Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett and others – that must keep the team's signature fire, that USWNT DNA, burning, even as the team undergoes a serious rethink after its worst-ever World Cup finish .

“We have to continue with that,” she says of herself and her fellow intermediaries. “You have to be with this team for a while to know what it takes… it is one of the most competitive national teams to be a part of.”

No one on the team is talking about starting from scratch. They just need more ways to win. More than mentality or fitness level, more than a 'never-say-die' approach. That's what Horan said her early conversations with Hayes were about. And that's why she wants to talk about football, and how the USWNT can bounce back – not just by playing better, but by thinking more.

“We've been so successful for so long in a certain way of playing, attacking and passing,” Horan said. “We've had individual brilliance. We've had footballers on the field and real players who want to play and it all fit together, otherwise it would always work out, or our DNA would take us to this place where we came out on top because that's how our mentality was. it is well.”

The game is changing, and Horan recognizes this. She praises Portugal's level of play at the World Cup, the investment in the game in Spain and other European countries, and the high level of emerging American talent (particularly citing 19-year-old San Diego Wave forward Jaedyn Shaw). . If there was a theme for Horan and the rest of the USWNT in that final camp of the year, it was a repetitive one: No one really knows this team's ceiling.

“Even in the last few games you don't see many glimpses of that, but it's the end product, that stays that way throughout the game, that gets everyone on the same page, not just four or five players,” she says. “If you can develop that more, and it's inherent to every player in the team, do you want to play the combinations, all these things? No idea what this team can do.

“Then there is the mentality aspect, where if the football doesn't go well, we know we can go crazy. to go. We have players on the pitch who are faster, stronger and more capable at the back, and we are going to get them out, right? The world will be very afraid.”

Those words could cause an uproar. In 2019, Ali Krieger suggested that the USWNT substitutes could take on and beat several other teams at the World Cup, and it was a huge point of contention for a team that received far more criticism from across American culture even as it was celebrated for its third time. consecutive title.

“We have to be one of the most talked about teams,” Horan said. “We are always under the magnifying glass of everything we do or say.”

Individual players can be victims of that magnifying glass just as much as the team. There is a clear, but understandable, frustration from Horan with the way her own performances are understood, even by the USWNT's own fan base. To illustrate her point, Horan points out that many viewers take a television commentator's analysis at face value.

“American football fans, most of them are not smart,” she says. “They don't know the game. They don't understand. (But) it's getting better.”

She pauses for a moment and senses that those words will also cause a stir.

“I'm going to piss off a few people,” she continues, “but the game is growing in the US. People are more and more knowledgeable, but people often take what the commentators say, right? My mother does it!” She bursts out laughing. “My mom says, 'Julie Foudy said you had such a good game!' And I'm here just saying, 'I was fucking today.'

When you play with Lyon in France, Horan says, things are different.

“From what I've heard, people understand my game a little better, a feeling for my football and the way I play,” she says. “It's French culture. Everyone watches football. People know football.”

However, none of that compares to Horan's experience at the 2023 World Cup. The outside commentary, including from her own former teammate Carli Lloyd, the entry into stadiums in their tailor-made suits; the tone used in interviews; the body language. Everything was scrutinized. This time, however, the lecture was accompanied by poor performance and poor results.

Horan says she wasn't bothered by the outside criticism, but found that no one other than the players could understand what it was like to be on that team. Ultimately, she says it felt “perfectly fine” that people would find something to talk about.

“If you don't support it on the field, people will come and talk about what you're doing, where your priorities are,” she says. “Like, 'Are you getting ready for the game? Do you care more about this…?'

Horan again returns to a small, seemingly innocuous detail: the traditional photo of the starting team before the match. In the NWSL, more and more teams have started using the opportunity for various pranks; something that Horan's European teammates bring up as an example of Americans not taking their business seriously. It's clear that it gets under her skin too.

“I want professionalism,” she admits. “Those little things, they really annoyed me. I don't think I could, and maybe I'm wrong in saying that, I don't know. It just bothers me. We put so much into this game, and sometimes it seems like a joke.”

She's quick to point out that if it works for others, she won't be the one to shut it down. That's not what she's trying to say. It's just that for her, at the end of the day, it's about football.

“We have to get back to football. Football is the most important thing,” says Horan. “So maybe we should turn some of those things off for now. We have to focus on the game, we have to focus on being the absolute best we can be.

As captain, Horan can help make that happen. It's a role she's clearly grown into, even if she's struggled to understand it in the months between Andonovski's departure and Hayes' hiring.

Hayes has not officially started yet and will only coach in matches after her job as Chelsea head coach ends along with the European season in May. But Hayes' visit with Horan and the rest of the team in December helped clarify the process, Horan says. It also gave Horan a chance to open the lines of communication, to admit that sometimes she didn't feel like she was in full control, that she hadn't been given the reins.

“I always felt like I was someone who could really touch any player, get the best out of them and make them the best they could be,” Horan said. “I'm not going to be like the rah-rah speeches, all that nonsense. Becky (Sauerbrunn) and I are probably a bit similar in that way. I'm probably a little crazier on the field. I want to make sure I am the leader I want to be, and no one is trying to make me something different.”

Before Andonovski gave her the bracelet — a move made in part because longtime captain Sauerbrunn missed the World Cup due to a lingering foot injury — Horan told him that getting the bracelet wouldn't change her, or how players could talk to her. What it would change, she told him, is the tone it would set. She wanted to be a role model.

“I'm not going to be a coach's captain, I'm going to be a player's captain,” she told Andonovski. So if that wasn't what he wanted, then he shouldn't make her captain.

Horan has made good on her word since interim head coach Twila Kilgore stepped in, leaning on Morgan, Lavelle and Sonnett to make them part of the transition process. She has also empowered the team's relative newcomers. Normally reserved 23-year-old center back Naomi Girma said Horan “encouraged me to find my voice.”

“A lot of these new young players will be playing big, crazy roles, even in these Olympics,” Horan says. “How on earth do we get the best out of them to put us on stage? It was a crazy place, but this is a very exciting role for me because I felt like this is what I have to do.

The team has four months until Hayes takes over, and six until the Olympics. The sprint is in full swing for this huge group project to get the team back to the top, before looking ahead to 2027 and a World Cup that could be hosted at home. Every voice matters to Horan, from Horan to Lavelle to Morgan to Girma to Shaw and many more.

“We have to do everything we can to improve, make each other better and meet the standards,” says Horan. “We have to change every bit of culture we had before the last World Cup and the Olympics because we have to win. And that starts now.”

(Photo: James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Lindsey Burrow has revealed the “emotional and physical” strain of caring for her husband, Rob Burrow, whose life has been devastated by motor neurone disease.

Since former Leeds rugby star Rhino was diagnosed with the incurable and life-limiting condition in 2019, Lindsey has acted as his carer, while simultaneously caring for their three children and continuing to work for the NHS as a physiotherapist.

'Being a caregiver is tough and comes with enormous emotional and physical challenges. “I think a lot of caregivers you talk to will say you're losing friends,” she said.

The 40-year-old is not alone in her struggle. In tonight's ITV documentary, Lindsey Burrow: Who Cares for Our Carers?, she examines the impact on unpaid carers in England and Wales who provide care worth an estimated £162 billion a year. years, the equivalent of a second NHS.

“I've been an unpaid caregiver for almost five years,” Lindsey said.

'My husband Rob was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019. Since then I have balanced caring for Rob with caring for our three young children and continue to work for the NHS as a physiotherapist.

'But although I'm proud to be able to do that, it has had a huge impact on my life.'

The couple shares three children together: Macy, 11, Maya, eight, and Jackson, four.

Rob, who was diagnosed in December 2019 when doctors warned he may have only two years to live, is unable to feed, dress or go to the toilet on his own.

In addition to her hectic schedule, Lindsey ran the Leeds Marathon last year, which Rob founded with his best friend and former teammate, rugby union coach Kevin Sinfield, to raise awareness of motor neurone disease.

Last month, the Prince of Wales, 41, awarded Rob and Kevin a CBE for their efforts to raise awareness of motor neuron disease.

In her mission to uncover the hidden demands unpaid caregivers face in their daily lives, Lindsey visited Dame Arlene Phillips, 80.

Arlene cared for her future father, Abraham Phillips, for 12 years while he suffered from Alzheimer's disease, which eventually meant he could no longer recognize Arlene.

At the time, Arlene was juggling her father's needs with her West End job on Starlight Express and raising her two daughters.

“I didn't feel supported at all,” Arlene said. 'I try not to think of myself as stupid, but I have become one of the bewildered.

“What I became was a wreck, an angry wreck.”

Arlene stressed that those taking on unpaid caring responsibilities must learn on the job, saying: 'Where is caring training? People are just going to do it.”

She added: “Where does all this information come from? It's like a mysterious world that you enter, and what you discover is that your world has been turned upside down.'

Elsewhere in the show, Lindsey met Chrissie, whose 17-year-old son Alex was born with a rare genetic condition and requires a lot of care.

Chrissie revealed that services in her region were cut and never recovered from austerity policies.

Previously, she took Alex once a week to a day center for disabled children, the Belvidere Center, where she gave herself a break.

Now due to budget cuts, Alex can only enjoy the center once a month, meaning Chrissie struggles to find time for herself.

Lindsey also chatted with Iqbal, a caregiver for both his elderly mother and her husband, who had recently suffered a life-changing stroke.

The mother-of-three traveled to Touchstone, a carer support group for black, Asian and minority ethnic people in West Yorkshire, where carers can talk about the additional barriers BAME carers can face.

In line with the documentary, ITV surveyed 2,000 people in the UK and found that 72 percent of participants said unpaid carers in Britain are undervalued, while 66 percent said the government is 'doing a poor job'. ' in supporting unpaid informal caregivers.

A government spokesperson said: 'Unpaid caregivers play a vital role in the lives of their families and friends. That's why we've increased the carer's allowance by almost £1,200 since 2010. Carers may also be eligible for financial support through Universal Credit, including up to up to £2,200 extra towards their caring responsibilities.

'Local authorities are responsible for assessing unpaid carers in their area who need support and we have earmarked £327 million this year through our Better Care Fund to provide carers with advice, support, short breaks and respite services.'

Lindsey Burrow: Who takes care of our caregivers? – Tonight, ITV1 8.30pm and ITVX

By Sam Joseph Semon for Dailymail.com

Published: 11:37 PM EST, January 29, 2024 | Updated: 00:17 EST, January 30, 2024

Top Republicans including Senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz admitted that the predicted ‘red wave’ had not materialized as Democrats were victorious in crucial House races and won a Senate seats  in Nevada.

‘Definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure,’ GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told NBC News just hours after the GOP started the night strong with Ron DeSantis’ landslide victory in the Florida Governor race.

And Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said: ‘It hasn’t been as big of a wave as I’d hoped it would be. We’ve had some close races go the other way so far.’ 

Republicans were still predicted to take the majority in the House, but the Senate is set to go down to the wire.

Democrats appeared to take one of the biggest prizes of the night, when CNN called Pennsylvania for Democratic  Lt. Gov. John Fetterman over Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. That would represent a takeaway over a Republican-held seat – substantially improving the Democrats’ chances of keeping the chamber under party control. 

Voters were still coming in from the West, where Democrats were fighting to protect seats in Arizona and Nevada, with a key race in Georgia too close to call. 

And even with a GOP House takeover, Republicans could be looking at a narrower majority than they were expecting – and one that might strain splits within the Republican Conference.

Meanwhile, Republican candidate J.D. Vance, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, won Ohio’s Senate seat against Democrat Tim Ryan. His victory kept the Senate seat in the GOP column. 

His was among the most high-profile races in the country. But New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan was able to hang onto her seat, depriving the GOP of a potential pickup opportunity as part of its hope for a takeover. 

And Democrats were heartened when they held onto two out of three Virginia House seats that were heavily targeted by Republicans: Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton won their races while Democrat Elaine Luria fell to her GOP competition.

Luria’s seat – along with a victory by GOP candidate Andy Ogles in Tennessee’s 5th district and two Florida House seat wins – has the House majority within Republicans’ grasp.

In another good sign for Democrats, their candidate Seth Magaziner won in a Rhode Island House seat that was heavily contested by both parties. And Democratic Rep. Andy Kim hung on in New Jersey in what was seen as a close race.

President Joe Biden made a series of congratulatory calls to Democrats on Tuesday night, including Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who was in a tough than expected re-election campaign. 

Republican Ted Budd won retiring Sen. Richard Burr’s Senate seat in North Carolina, keeping it in GOP hands by defeating Democrat Cheri Beasley, 51 to 47 per cent with 95 per cent of precincts reporting. 

But other key Senate races in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin are too close to call.

In other election news:

• Republicans took a few important early wins with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio racking up victories in Florida 
• Democrat Josh Shapiro won election for governor in Pennsylvania 
• Democrat Wes Moore will be the first black governor of Maryland 
• Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders won Arkansas’ governor race 
• Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott held off a challenge from Democat Beto O’Rouke 
• In Georgia’s governor’s race, Stacey Abrams called Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to concede
• Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey is the first open lesbian to be elected governor in the nation

Biden’s calls included  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who won a fifth term and became the longest serving Democratic senator in New York. 

The White House released a photo of Biden on the phone, dressed casually in gray sweatshirt and baseball cap, cell phone in hand. 

And the president spoke with Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey, the first open lesbian to be elected governor; Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee; Senator-elect Peter Welch, Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester; Senator Chris Van Hollen; Colorado Governor Jared Polis; Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker; Senator Tammy Duckworth, Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Pennsylvania Governor-elect Josh Shapiro, according to the White House.

He also called Senator Maggie Hassan, Senator Alex Padilla, Representative-elect Seth Magaziner, Maine Governor Janet Mills, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Maryland Governor-elect Wes Moore, and Representative-elect Emilia Sykes. 

Meanwhile, Republicans have picked up a few House victories. 

In Florida’s seventh district, GOP candidate Cory Mills won the race to replace retiring Democratic Representative Stephanie Murphy. But the district was heavily gerrymandered by Republicans during the redistricting process, making it a hard seat for Democrats to keep in their column. 

And in Florida’s 13th district, Republican Anna Paulina Luna won the seat Democrat Charlie Crist left for his unsuccessful gubernatorial run. 

Democrats retained several Senate seats: Patty Murray in Washington state, Peter Welch in Vermont, Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut, Tammy Duckworth in Florida, and Chris Van Hollen in Maryland.

And Republicans kept several in their column with Tim Scott’s victory in South Carolina, Chuck Grassley in Iowa, John Thune in South Dakota, John Kennedy in Louisiana, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Jerry Moran in Kansas, John Boozman in Arkansas, Todd Young in Indiana, Markwayne Mullin’s in Oklahoma, and Katie Britt’s in Alabama. Britt is the first female elected to the Senate from Alabama.

Republicans took a few important early wins in Tuesday night’s midterm election with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio racking up victories in Florida. 

The DeSantis and Rubio wins in the Sunshine state cemented Republicans’ grip there. Donald Trump has made it his new home state and is spending election night at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

‘Marco had a fantastic evening,’ Trump said in brief remarks where he pointed to a handful of winners he had endorsed, without mentioning DeSantis. 

DeSantis’ win sets up an intriguing dynamic for the next two years. He’s rumored to be considering at 2024 bid. Trump, who helped DeSantis win his first gubernatorial race, will announce his White House intentions next week.

Trump held a campaign rally with Rubio in Miami on Sunday while DeSantis held a competing rally in another part of the state. Still, the former president said he voted for DeSantis when he cast his ballot in Palm Beach on Tuesday morning.

DeSantis defeated Democrat Charlie Crist, who had previously served the state as a GOP governor before he switched parties. Crist campaigned with President Joe Biden last week but that couldn’t help him across the victory line. 

In another governor’s race, Democrat Wes Moore won the gubernatorial race in Maryland. He will be the first black governor in that state. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden campaigned for him on Monday night – their final rally of the 2022 midterm election.

Democrat Josh Shapiro won the governor’s race in Pennsylvania. 

In Arkansas, Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the gubernatorial mansion. Her father also served as governor of the state. Huckabee Sanders became a national figure when she served as White House press secretary for President Donald Trump. 

And, in Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott won a second term, beating Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. 

In Georgia, Democrat Stacey Abrams called Republican Gov. Brian Kemp concede. Kemp held off a second challenge from Abrams – whom he defeated four years ago – and the fury of Donald Trump to win a second term. 

Voters said inflation was their top concern this election year, exit polls found, followed closely by abortion.

As the first polls close across the nation, about 33% of voters called inflation the most important issue as they cast their ballot, according to the exit polls of voters conducted by the television networks, with about 27% citing abortion. 

Other voters cited crime, gun policy and immigration as their chief concerns. 

In troubling signs for Biden, three-quarters of the electorate that voted Tuesday felt negative about the economy and more than three-quarters said that inflation has caused hardship for them and their family over the past year, the exit polls found.

They gave the president a 45% approval rating for his time in the Oval Office, citing their unhappiness with the economy. 

Biden’s low numbers had many Democrats – particularly those in close contests – holding the president at arms’ length as they tried to disassociate their candidacy with his track record.

The exit polls found that about half of voters said that Biden was not a factor in their vote, while about 18% said their vote was to express support for Biden, and about one-third that it was to express opposition to him. 

The midterms arrive at a volatile point in America. 

All 435 seats in the House and one-third of the Senate, along with several governor races, are being decided on Tuesday. Results could take several days to process as votes are counted. Many Senate and governors races were polling within the margin of error. 

Many will see Tuesday’s results a message voters are sending about President Biden’s first two years in the Oval Office. 

In the days leading up to Election Day, Biden stuck mainly to blue areas of the country, trying to get Democrats to come out for the party. 

He spent Tuesday behind-closed-doors at the White House. He called into a morning radio show and did thank you calls to Democratic officials.