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Lee Radford believes Hull FC's knockout rugby experience can provide the edge as they aim to topple Super League leaders Castleford Tigers in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Castleford may be six points clear at the top of the league but Radford feels Hull can fall back on their tremendous experience gained from a famous journey to win the Cup last year.

Daryl Powell's men are heavily favoured to succeed at the KCOM Stadium, with Radford knowing only FC's best will allow them to progress through to the final four.

Hull's taskmaster insists his troops must take their opportunities to keep up with free-scoring Castleford in what he describes as the club's most important match of 2017 to date.

"I'm really looking forward to this game. Castleford have been the most consistent team throughout the season so far but in knockout rugby we are a good side on our day," Radford told the Mail. "We are expecting to be at our best tomorrow.

"You don't need any prods to get up for this match that's for sure. You get one shot at it ultimately and if you get that wrong, you get some free weekends. We don't want that option of time off because we want to be involved in this Cup competition as long as we can.

More news: Steve Michaels staying with Hull FC in 2018?

"Catalans in the last round was the biggest game of our season and now this is by far. I cannot wait. We must take our opportunities and that's huge. Each knockout game was slightly different last year and it was the same when I played with Bradford and FC.

"The fact that a large contingency of our 17 performed in the knockout games last season was really important in the run to Wembley.

"That's what we are striving for. I'm hoping Castleford bring their best and we bring ours."

Radford, who welcomes back influential trio Mark Minichiello, Danny Houghton and Scott Taylor into his squad, says Hull must be strong in defence when Castleford are coming out of their own end to succeed.

"Castleford are playing good rugby. I've seen a lot of comments saying they are reinventing the game but they're just playing good rugby," Radford added.

"Offensively they are a brilliant side so if we invite them down our end, particularly for sustained periods, it will be a difficult afternoon. The key to playing these blokes is to make them come off their own try-line repetitively.

"To do that you need patience, discipline, and good execution - we've got all that in abundance."

More news: Details of Hull FC legend Arthur Bunting's funeral announced

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Lee Radford believes knockout experience can give Hull FC edge ... - Hull Daily Mail

HARRISON, N.J. Was it the appetizer to the main event next Saturday or just a different flavor to the budding rivalry between the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC?

Whatever you want to call it, the first-ever U.S. Open Cup match between the two and by default the first knockout game helped take this derby to another level.

Red Bull Arena wasnt quite packed to the gills,but both supporters sections were boisterous throughout the game. Both teams also put out strong starting lineups, further proof that nothing short of a victory would be acceptable in this midweek tangle.

I think it does [add something to the rivalry]. I dont think theres two ways about it, Red Bulls coach Chris Armas, who led the team with Jesse Marsch suspended, said. Theres no escaping that. Were red, theyre blue. The whole thing is going. Its been tremendous for our league, New York and New Jersey, for any soccer fan in our area. Typically, a [fourth] round Open Cup, you dont see a crowd like that and the energy with our fans and their fans.

The rivalry is still one-sided, with the Red Bulls winning six of the seven all-time meetings and every encounter at Red Bull Arena. But under Patrick Vieiras guidance and with some roster additions, NYCFC is closing the gap.

I think NYCFC has gotten better since years past so it was a very difficult game for us, Red Bulls captain Sacha Kljestan said. They altered a few things about them, maybe its just the personnel on the field, but theyre a good team. We have a lot of respect for them. We know its a big contrast of styles playing against each other.

One defensive mistake on a ball played from Sean Johnson to Frederic Brillant changed the course of this game. Bradley Wright-Phillips forced Johnson off his line, the ball popped up in the air and Daniel Royer clinically finished with a first-time volley for the lone goal.

Johnson said theres positives, and lessons as well, NYCFC can take into the first of three regular season showdowns on June 24 at Red Bull Arena.

Oh yeah, well be ready when we come back, Johnson said. For sure everyone has a sour taste in our mouth now. I can speak to myself, it didnt feel good to walk off that field without a win. I feel we have the talent to get results against this team. We respect them as a team, but I feel confident well definitely work hard to make amends for today.

For Vieira, trying to change the color of this red-dominated rivalry is the ultimate test.

Its a fantastic challenge, a really good challenge for myself, for the players because when you look at our record, we played them seven times and we had six losses and only one win, Vieira said. That will make the next games more exciting and more challenging for us. As a football coach, as a club and as a player, this is the type of challenge that can be really exciting.

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US Open Cup clash deepens NY Derby ahead of MLS regular season showdowns - MLSsoccer.com

After nearly three years of warming relations between the United States and Cuba, President Donald Trump has announced that his administration will unravel many of his predecessors policies on the communist state.

Speaking in Miami, Florida, Trump announced changes to President Barack Obamas historic rapprochement with Cuba -- fulfilling a promise to the anti-Castro voting bloc he believes helped his campaign clinch the state, but stirring fear among others he could set back business interests and Cubas potential for a more prosperous private sector.

The Cuban government said in a statement published in the state-run newspaper Granma, "Again, the United States Government resorted to coercive methods of the past, adopting measures to intensify the blockade, in force since February 1962, which not only causes damage and deprivation to the Cuban people and constitutes an undeniable obstacle to the development of our economy, but also affects the sovereignty and interests of other countries, inciting international rejection."

The statement continues, "The Cuban Government denounces the new measures to tighten the blockade, which are destined to fail as has been shown repeatedly in the past, and which will not achieve its purpose to weaken the revolution or to defeat the Cuban people, whose resistance to the aggressions of any type and origin has been proven over almost six decades."

In one form or another, the embargo on Cuba has been in place since the Eisenhower administration. But beginning in late 2014, Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro began a process that gradually thawed diplomatic tensions and eased commercial and travel restrictions between the two countries.

This process culminated in significant economic opportunities for both the U.S. and Cuba. American businesses, including airlines, cruise lines, and telecommunications companies, earned 26 agreements with the Cuban government from 2015 to 2017.

Hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars flowed into privately owned businesses in Cuba, The Associated Press reported , spurring the growth of a nascent middle-class that could thrive independent from the government.

For Cuba, there have been tangible benefits in tourism and telecommunications. According to the Cuban Ministry, 74 percent more American citizens visited the island in 2016 than in 2015 and, following through on a pledge to Obama, Castro opened nearly 400 new public Wi-Fi access points around Cuba.

However, the U.S. International Trade Administration told ABC News it hasn't yet released its 2016 statistics on outbound travel and therefore could not confirm those numbers from the Cuban Ministry on U.S. tourism.

While Obama did not end the embargo on Cuba, since only Congress has that power, the U.S. and Cuba reopened embassies in each others capitals for the first time since 1961. The U.S. and Cuba have also signed multiple bilateral agreements to work together on everything from human and drug trafficking to maritime security and migration.

Finally, Obama ended the "wet foot, dry foot" immigration policy that applied only to Cubans. Previously, Cubans who reached U.S. shores earned automatic visas. Now, Cubans have to follow the same process as other refugees and immigrants.

Trump is not reversing all of Obamas changes, but he is redefining what it means to be part of the Cuban military, which could prevent U.S. companies from doing business in Cuba. The White House explained in a fact sheet released earlier today that the policy aims to keep the Grupo de Administracin Empresarial (GAESA), a conglomerate managed by the Cuban military, from benefiting from the opening in U.S.-Cuba relations.

The profits from investment and tourism flow directly to the military. The regime takes the money and owns the industry, Trump said. The outcome of last administration's executive action has been only more repression and a move to crush the peaceful democratic movement. Therefore, effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba.

This comes amid concerns that the Cuban military could be the beneficiary of increased American private investment, at a time when Castro has failed to take action on human rights. In 2016, there were 9,940 short-term detentions of protesters, up from 8,899 in 2014, the AP reports.

According to senior White House officials, Trump is also revisiting trade and travel policies toward Cuba, clamping down on individual people-to-people travel. There will still be certain exceptions under which Americans can travel to Cuba and family travel will continue to be authorized. Importantly, no changes will go into effect until the Treasury and Commerce Departments issue new regulations that conform with the administration's policy.

Trump continued, We will not lift sanctions on the Cuban regime until all political prisoners are free, freedoms of assembly and expression are respected, all political parties are legalized and free and internationally supervised elections are scheduled.

The changes will certainly harm relations between Cuba and the U.S. In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson explained, "The general approach, if I can say that, is to allow as much of this continued commercial and engagement activity to go on as possible because we do see the sunny side, as I described it. We do see the benefits of that to the Cuban people."

But then Tillerson qualified his statement. "On the other hand, we think we've achieved very little in terms of changing the behavior of the regime in Cuba and its treatment of people," he said, "and it has little incentive to change that."

Senior White House officials say that Trump will not close the newly re-opened U.S. Embassy in Havana. He will also not reinstate the "wet foot, dry foot" policy.

To avoid alienating the Cuban-American community, which largely votes Republican, Trump will not re-implement limits on remittances -- U.S. based money transfers -- that Cuban-Americans can give their families back on the island. But if the administration follows through on redefining what it means to be part of the Cuban military, that could affect policies on remittances down the line.

Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, both Republican, Cuban-American hardliners, lobbied Trump hard toward reversal. Importantly, the Trump administration wants to build good rapport with both. Rubio sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is currently looking into the Trump campaigns supposed contacts with Russian officials. He spoke in Miami briefly before Trump took the stage.

Rubio and Diaz-Balart won out, though theres no shortage of actors lobbying the White House the other way. Last week, a group of House Republicans sent a letter to Trump opposing "reversing course" on Cuba. A similar group of Senate Republicans wrote to Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, citing the entrepreneurial and national security benefits of continued engagement. Airbnb, Google and other notable businesses have also spoken out recently in support of maintaining current policies.

Tillerson had privately expressed support for Obamas Cuba policy during the transition, according to sources. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, when governor of Georgia in 2010, led a delegation to Cuba and said at the time to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "I think business cures a lot of ills."

Leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have also urged the administration to keep Cuba open.

"More travel, more communications access, and more dialogue with Cuba are the way forward for human rights in Cuba," Amnesty International wrote in a blog post, adding that Obamas trip to Cuba last year opened the door to scrutiny and transparency of human rights on the island for the first time in nearly 10 years.

Reversing policy is bad for Cubans, Human Rights Watch said in a statement, "and insisting on human rights progress as a precondition to a new policy is unlikely to bring about change."

During the campaign, Candidate Trump slammed Obamas Cuba policy, telling a crowd in Miami: "All the concessions that Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order, which means the next president can reverse them. And that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands."

But at the same time, Trump often criticizes regulations on the business community as "burdensome" and "job-killing.

Delivering a speech at the historic Manuel Artime Theater in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, Trump made his policy known in the center of the Cuban-American community. The president fed off of a boisterous, rowdy crowd, seeming to even attempt a Cuban accent, shouting Little Havana! when he took the stage. By rescinding certain Obama-era Cuba policies, he went against the advice of Democrats, Republicans and business interests. He did, however, fulfill a campaign promise.

ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Serena Marshall and Adam Kelsey contributed to this report.

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Trump 'canceling' Obama's Cuba policy but leaves much in ...

An Obama-era immigration program intended to protect parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents from deportation has been formally cancelled, fulfilling a key campaign promise from President Trump, the Homeland Security Department announced late Thursday.

Homeland Security John Kelly formally revoked a policy memo that created the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program. The revocation came on the fifth anniversary of another effort that has protected hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.

The program to protect parents was announced by President Obama in November 2014 but was never fully launched because it was blocked by a federal court, according to Reuters.

It was intended to keep the immigrant parents safe from deportation and provide them with a renewable work permit good for two years, but it was blocked by a federal judge in Texas after 26 states filed suit against the federal government and challenged the efforts legality.

Republicans decried the effort as backdoor amnesty and argued that Obama overstepped his authority by protecting a specific class of immigrants living in the United States illegally.

The protection program for parents, like the one for young immigrants, was created with a policy memo during the Obama administration. Both programs required that participants meet certain conditions, including not having a criminal history. As part of the expansion to protect immigrant parents living in the United States illegally, the Obama administration also sought to provide the young immigrants with work permits good for three years at a time. That provision was also blocked by the Texas judge.

Revoking the memo and ending the stalled program fulfill a key campaign promise by Trump, who pledged to immediately cancel both efforts. Trump has not said what he plans to do about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but so far most immigrants protected by the effort have not been targeted by stepped-up efforts to find and deport immigrants living in the country illegally. As of March 31, about 787,000 young immigrants have been approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to government data.

Arrests of immigrants in the interior of the country have increased under the Trump administration, but deportations are slightly down as fewer people have been caught crossing the Mexican border into the United States illegally.

Trump has made immigration enforcement a top priority and has vowed to continue a crackdown on those living in U.S. illegally and those trying to sneak into the country.

Reuters reported that Trump previously said that his administration was considering different options.

They shouldnt be very worried, Trump told ABC News in January, referring to DACA recipients. I do have a big heart.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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WASHINGTON To the list of things former President Barack Obama did that President Donald Trump is undoing, go ahead and add Cuba.

Two and a half years ago, Obama, with great fanfare, announced an easing of the decades-long travel and trade restrictions on the island nations authoritarian regime, arguing that the policies had not worked and were only punishing ordinary Cubans.

At a speech Friday afternoon in Miamis Little Havana neighborhood, Trump is expected to reverse at least some of Obamas changes, despite public opinion nationally and even among Cuban-Americans that shows support for more ties with Cuba, not fewer.

Ive never seen a coalition this broad and it have no influence, said Marguerite Rose Jimnez, who helped craft the Obama policy at his Department of Commerce and is now with the Washington Office on Latin America advocacy group. This is not a move thats supported by a majority of the Cuban-American community.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

But it is supported by the veterans of the failed 1961 CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro. The group endorsed Trump last fall, becoming one of the few Latino organizations to support the Republican nominee.

The president was honored and humbled, said a senior administration official who, along with two other officials, explained the coming policy Thursday on the condition that their names would not be used. The official said that Trump promised the group he would restore tougher restrictions and that his actions fulfill that promise.

Specifically, the changes to be announced Friday would eliminate a provision that Americans have used to visit Cuba on their own. They would also make it illegal for Americans to do business with entities controlled by the Cuban military or intelligence services. This would prohibit individuals from staying at state-owned hotels and would ban U.S. businesses from trading with state-controlled enterprises.

That would be our guiding principle, said a second administration official, who added that the policy would be lifted if Cuban President Ral Castro institutes reforms including free elections and the release of political prisoners.

Trumps new policy will not prevent U.S.travelers from bringing back Cuban rum and cigars or stop airlines and cruise ships from offering routine service. It would also not restore the immigration advantage Cuban refugees have had for decades if they managed to reach dry land in the United States the wet foot, dry foot policy.

Nor will Trumps policy restrict visits by Cuban-Americans to their relatives or reverse the reopening of formal diplomatic ties, the second official said. You cant put the genie back in the bottle 100 percent, the official said.

The crackdown on travel will end what had become an easy way for Americans to visit Cuba: Declare an individual people-to-people educational exchange. A third administration official said group trips will still be permitted for cultural visits and charitable efforts but that the crackdown would make sure visitors are actually fostering closer ties with the Cuban people and not just drinking daiquiris on the beach.

Supporters of Obamas changes, while grateful Trump does not plan to reverse everything Obama did, nevertheless criticized the policy as a step in the wrong direction. Jimnez said that the way the Cuban economy is structured, with so many enterprises tied to the military, blocking trade with entities connected to the Cuban military would basically block trade, period.

Thats a backdoor way of effectively stifling all commerce, she said.

Toward the end of his campaign last year, Trump promised to help the people of Cuba stand up to their government and to make a good deal with Castro to replace the bad one he said Obama had made.

Little Havana is home to much of the one constituency that continues to favor a hard line toward Cuba: the older generation of refugees who left in the 1960s and 70s following Fidel Castros 1959 revolution overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictator.

That generations children and grandchildren are much more inclined to support Obamas moves to increase tourism and trade opportunities with the island as a way of building a society that will bring democratic and human rights reforms.

A nationalpollof Cuban-Americans at the time Obamas policies were announced in December 2014 showed 47 percent to 39 percent support for easing sanctions. Four months later, support had grown to 56 percent to 35 percent.

One prominent Cuban dissident, though, argued that, while he had initially supported Obamas new policy, he has concluded that it is not working.

Reality has proved otherwise, wrote Jos Daniel Ferrer Garca, general coordinator of the Cuban Patriotic Union, in an open letter to Trump. Castros tyranny has been benefiting from the good will of the US government without giving up a bit in their repressive attitude.

Arrayed against Ferrer and Little Havanas community of hard-line emigres are a host of human rights and pro-engagement groups. The U.S. business community has also long supported ending the sanctions because of the opportunities presented by a new commercial market so close to Miami.

All the business entities have made their views known to the administration, said Pedro Freyre, a Miami lawyer who has worked with a number of clients with interests in Cuba, including a handful of cruise lines.

Polling also shows overwhelming support in the general public for easing the restrictions. In a recent Morning Consult poll conducted for Engage Cuba, 65 percent of voters nationally support the Obama policy, while only 18 percent oppose it.

Engage Cubas Madeleine Russak acknowledged an enthusiasm gap in those numbers, however. Those who support the more relaxed rules dont feel that strongly about it, while the pro-embargo side is passionate, she said.

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who like many Republicans from rural states supports lifting restrictions that make it harder to export agricultural products to Cuba, said Trump has not been well-served by listening to a small group of pro-embargo lawmakers.

Were on the wrong side of history when it comes to this, Emmer said.

Trump, like many Republicans, promised his supporters to undo much of what Obama was able to accomplish over two terms. Trump is pushing legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Obamas signature achievement. He is working to scrap Obamas Clean Power Plan to restrict carbon emissions, trying to undo workplace rules, repeal banking regulations and is withdrawing the United States from a near-unanimous international agreement to combat climate change.

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Trump Will Add Cuba To List Of Obama Achievements Hes Taking ...