Striker Paul Mullin was hospitalized with a punctured lung after a collision with Manchester United goalkeeper Nathan Bishop in a friendly on Tuesday night.
Wrexham won 3-1 in front of a record crowd of 34,248 at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium in the third of four matches on a US tour.
Mullin was attempting a header when Bishop challenged him just outside the box in the 11th minute and the two went down. Mullin immediately grabbed his head with his right hand and his left hip with his left hand, and was clearly in pain. He was down for about 7 minutes.
Photo: AFP
A stretcher and a cart were sent out and Mullin was surrounded by medical personnel, but he eventually got up and slowly walked off with assistance while wearing an oxygen mask.
Manager Phil Parkinson called it a small puncture and said the team did not immediately know how long Mullin would be out.
Ryan Reynolds, who owns Wrexham with fellow actor Rob McElhenney, wrote on Twitter that “Paul Mullin puts his last drop of blood into everything he does” and that the entire Wrexham community was hoping for a speedy recovery.
Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA Today
“Obviously it’s a massive blow for us,” Parkinson said. “Injuries are part and parcel of football and you’ve got to deal with them as a group and we’ll come out stronger.”
The regular season starts on Aug. 5 for the Welsh club, which recently earned promotion to English soccer’s fourth tier.
Bishop was not injured and was booed every time he touched the ball after the collision.
“I’m fuming,” Parkinson said. “It was a clumsy, reckless challenge, pre-season game. I’m not happy with it at all.”
Wrexham supporters often serenade their team’s best player with a song called Super Paul Mullin.
There was no score when Mullin was hurt. Wrexham scored twice in a seven-minute span and led 2-1 at halftime.
“The way the lads responded after that I thought was honestly outstanding,” Parkinson said.
Wrexham, the oldest club from Wales, finish their tour on Saturday against Philadelphia Union II.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS