United ‘Not Favorites’ for Top Four Spot, Says Rangnick

Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)
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United ‘Not Favorites’ for Top Four Spot, Says Rangnick

Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick said they are "not favorites" to finish in the Premier League's top four after slipping to seventh with a 1-1 draw against Leicester City.

The Old Trafford club are three points outside the top four with eight games left.

"It doesn't help at all to look at the table every weekend and speculate and anticipate what might happen, how many points might we need," Rangnick told reporters. "Right now we are not the favorites, for sure, for number four.

"I'm not a fortune teller, so I don't know where Manchester United will be next season. For us, it's my job, our job ... to finish the season on the highest and best possible note."

United play at Everton on Saturday and Rangnick said getting the three points was their only focus.

"The season is not over. We still have another eight games to play and I think then it's time to draw the right conclusions and take the right decisions for next season," he added.

"Right now, it's about how can we possibly get three points against Everton."



South Korea Expresses Regret after Its Athletes Introduced as North Korea at Opening Ceremony

 Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)
Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)
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South Korea Expresses Regret after Its Athletes Introduced as North Korea at Opening Ceremony

 Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)
Athletes of South Korea travel by boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)

South Korea expressed regret that its delegation of athletes at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday was introduced as from rival North Korea and has demanded assurances from organizers the mistake will not happen again.

As the boat carrying South Korean athletes passed on the Seine, the announcer introduced them as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" - the official name of North Korea - in French and English.

The announcer used the same introduction when the North Korean delegation passed.

South Korea's vice minister for sports and culture, Jang Mi-ran, who was in Paris, had requested a meeting with International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach, the ministry said in a statement.

"We express regret that the country was introduced as North Korea at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games when the athletes of the Republic of Korea were entering," it said.

South Korea's National Olympic Committee immediately referred the incident to the Games' organizers and requested that the error will not be repeated.

South Korea's delegation includes 143 athletes competing in 21 events. North Korea, which is returning to the Games for the first time since Rio 2016, has sent 16 athletes.