All you need to know about the first Soccer Ashes match. Read...

If you were paying extra for ESPN+, you might not need to anymore. That’s one key takeaway from the launch of ESPN’s standalone streaming service, which includes all the network’s cable channels along with the service formerly known as ESPN+ (and now called ESPN Select). As more TV providers start bundling ESPN’s new streaming service, they’re essentially adding ESPN+ at no extra charge. So, if your TV package includes ESPN Unlimited, take a minute to make sure you’re not subscribed separately to ESPN+. You’ll only be paying more for the same exact programming. ESPN+ vs. ESPN Select vs. ESPN Unlimited First, a quick refresher on ESPN’s confusing streaming plans: ESPN+ was the previous name for ESPN’s $12-per-month subscription service. It mostly covers live sports that do not air on ESPN’s cable channels, including out-of-market NHL games, La Liga and Bundesliga soccer, and Major League Rugby. ESPN Select is the new name for the subscription with just ESPN+ content, which still costs $12 per month. (The network says it will continue to mark this content with ESPN+ branding.) ESPN Unlimited is the new $30-per-month plan for all of ESPN’s cable programming, including live sports on ABC, extra channels such as ESPN2, and the ACC and SEC college networks. It also includes the full ESPN+ catalog. ESPN Unlimited is a big deal because it means you don’t need a big pay TV bundle to access the network’s cable programming anymore. Even so, several pay TV providers have started boasting about making the service available to their customers. In practice, this just means they’re bundling ESPN+ and allowing customers to stream through the ESPN app. Which pay TV providers include ESPN Unlimited? ESPN’s website maintains a list of providers offering ESPN Unlimited. Here they are as of September 3, 2025: Spectrum TV Select Signature and Select Plus (activate here) Fubo base plans and Sports plan (activate here) Hulu + Live TV (log into the ESPN app with your MyDisney account) DirecTV MySports and Signature plans (streaming only for now, activate here) Starting on September 4, Verizon will also offer ESPN Unlimited to all customers who get ESPN as part of a Fios TV package. DirecTV says it will bring ESPN Unlimited to satellite and U-Verse customers later this fall. What if my TV package doesn’t include ESPN Unlimited? Other providers, such as YouTube TV, Comcast, and Sling TV, haven’t announced any plans to include ESPN Unlimited. But if you don’t care about ESPN+ programming, that’s not a problem. Just like before, you can access ESPN channels via your TV provider’s menu system or log into the ESPN app with your pay TV account. The only practical difference is that you won’t have access to ESPN+ content, which costs $12 per month on its own and doesn’t require a full ESPN Unlimited subscription. Just don’t pay for ESPN+ twice For TV packages that didn’t already include ESPN+, the addition of ESPN Unlimited means you’re essentially getting it for free. Spectrum, for instance, had only offered ESPN+ with its TV Select Plus package, which costs $130 per month. A spokesman confirmed that Spectrum’s $125-per-month TV Select Signature plan now includes ESPN Unlimited as well. DirecTV, Verizon, and Fubo, meanwhile, had not included ESPN+ in any of their standard streaming packages. All three companies confirmed that ESPN+ content is part of their ESPN Unlimited offerings. So if you were paying $12 per month for a standalone ESPN+ subscription, you should be able to cancel it and get the same content through the above TV providers. Likewise, if you’re paying for Disney’s “Trio” bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, you can save $6 per month by paring back to the “Duo” bundle instead. Occasionally auditing your subscriptions is always a smart idea, but it’s especially important now as programmers start re-bundling their programming in new ways. Otherwise, you might end up paying for duplicates. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more money-saving streaming advice. Read...

Antonio Arena has “intrigued” renowned coach Gian Piero Gasperini at AS Roma – but Australia’s latest soccer prodigy is representing Italy at junior level. Read...

When Argentina’s rugby players take the field against the Wallabies on Saturday, they will have their nation’s world champion soccer stars in their corner. Read...

As a soccer and Gaelic football sensation in Northern Ireland, GWS star stared down racism and the sectarian divide. It gave him the mental toughness to go with his prodigious athletic ability. Read...

Tony Popovic reveals a new look Socceroos squad to take on New Zealand in the Ashes Soccer series next week. Read...

With an average age of 24, Tony Popovic’s squad for Australia’s Soccer Ashes showdown with New Zealand suggests a new dawn is upon the national team, as the fight for World Cup spots begins. Read...

You probably already know that a password like 123456 is bad. It’s so simple and predictable that even other humans can easily guess it. But do you know all the other passwords that are just as weak? AI search analytics firm Peec AI recently looked at a small portion of stolen password data, dating from 2019 until now. And while its analysis yielded similar results to what security researchers have already uncovered from far larger amounts of data, the findings proved the point: people really suck at creating their own passwords. In Peec AI’s slim data set of about 100 million unique passwords, common themes we’ve seen time and time again popped up once more: Simple number strings: 123456 is always a top weak password—about 6.6 million in this data slice. Trailing behind is 123456789 at 2.2 million, with 111111 coming in at almost one million. Easily guessed: Password, qwerty, and abc123 all came close to one million uses each. Common names: English language speakers leaned most on familiar names, with this data’s top 10 coming in as Michael, Daniel, Ashley, Jessica, Charlie, Jordan, Michelle, Thomas, Nicole, and Andrew. Four-digit years: 2013, 2010, and 1986 appeared the most frequently, with years in the 1980 range the most popular. Millennials likely haven’t changed old, outdated habits of adding a memorable number string to strengthen passwords. Sports: People love football, baseball, and soccer. Soccer teams in particular get tapped for password duty: Liverpool, Chelsea, and Barcelona cropped up as often as 70,000 times. Band names: Apparently this set of hacked accounts had a lot of blink-182 fans (84,000!). People’s tastes run the gamut, though, because Justin Bieber made this particular list. Fictional characters: DC fans have strong representation in this data set, with Superman appearing 86,900 times. Batman came in second with over 50,000 uses. Seasons: Everyone’s favorite time of year is apparently summer. This chart shows how a fast consumer-grade PC could crack a password. Dedicated hackers can choose to devote more resources to their efforts.Hive Systems Guessable and known passwords can be cracked fast by a computer, sometimes instantly if they’re particularly weak—and pretty much everything in the list above is. And usually, most people who use 123456 or michael will reuse passwords, which leaves them vulnerable to credential stuffing attacks, too. (That is, when an attacker will try your leaked or stolen username and password on other services.) Security experts (and yours truly) recommend unique, random passwords for this reason. Ideally, you want a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Switch to this style of password, and even a shorter eight-character one theoretically would force a hacker to spend years attempting to crack it. Keeping track of unique strong passwords for dozens (or hundreds) of accounts is difficult, which is why a password manager comes in clutch. Different types exist, ranging from the simple but convenient services built into Google and Apple’s ecosystems, cloud-based providers like Dashlane and Bitwarden, and local apps that store an encrypted vault with all your details to a single device. A password manager may sound less secure to some ears, but trust me—it’s a heck of a lot more secure than guessable words, phrases, or number strings as passwords. Even if they’re not common ones or the exact types found on this list, you’re still scraping the bottom of the security barrel. Read...

The actual football was pretty good, but this year’s tournament proved Gianni Infantino’s relentless expansionism fails to recognise the law of diminishing returns. Read...

Australian soccer’s giant-killers from Heidelberg United did not only topple another top-flight team on Tuesday night, they trounced them. Read...