Technologies

Man United vs. Newcastle Livestream: How to Watch Carabao Cup Final Soccer From Anywhere

The first silverware of the English season is up for grabs at Wembley, as the Red Devils take on the Magpies.

The first showpiece final of the 2022/23 English domestic season takes place on Sunday as a resurgent Manchester United face off against high-flying Newcastle United for the Carabao Cup at Wembley.

Both teams will be looking to end long waits for silverware. United last claimed a trophy in the 2016-17 season when the Red Devils won this very tournament, as well as the UEFA Europa League, under the management of Jose Mourinho. Newcastle, meanwhile, haven’t tasted glory since winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (a precursor of the Europa League) all the way back in 1969.

The big question coming into this English Football League cup final is just how much Man United’s big Europa League win over Barcelona on Thursday has taken out of Erik ten Hag’s side. While their opponents have had just two days to recover from their European exploits, Newcastle have had all week to prepare for this huge game, having not been in action since last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool.

In-form Man United striker Marcus Rashford is a major doubt, after limping off with an injury against Barcelona. Newcastle are without goalkeeper Nick Pope, thanks to his suspension for a red card against Liverpool. With his backup Martin Dubravka ineligible, Magpies boss Eddie Howe will turn to third choice Loris Karius, offering the former Liverpool goalkeeper a chance at big-match redemption. The 29-year-old German was famously at fault for two goals that gifted Real Madrid a win against the Reds in the 2018 Champions League final, a performance that derailed his career.

Could Karius prove to be an unlikely hero on Sunday? Below, we’ll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch the game live wherever you are in the world.

Newcastle goalkeeper Loris Karius looking to the left. — Could Sunday’s EFL Cup final provide redemption for Newcastle goalkeeper Loris Karius?

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United/Getty Images

Man United vs. Newcastle: When and where?

The Carabao Cup final between Man United and Newcastle takes place at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday, Feb. 26. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. local time in the UK (11:30 a.m. ET, 8:30 a.m. PT in the US, and at 3:30 a.m. AEST on Monday, Feb. 27 in Australia).

How to watch the Man United vs. Newcastle EFL Cup Final online from anywhere using a VPN

If you find yourself unable to view the game locally, you may need a different way to watch the game — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.

With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, nonblackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.

Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.

Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.

Sarah Tew/CNET

ExpressVPN

Best VPN for streaming

ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It’s normally $13 per month, and you can sign up for ExpressVPN and save 49% plus get three months of access for free — the equivalent of $6.67 per month — if you get an annual subscription.

Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

See at ExpressVPN

Livestream the Man United vs. Newcastle game in the US

Sunday’s Carabao Cup final is streaming exclusively live in the US on ESPN Plus.

ESPN Plus

Watch the Carabao Cup in the US from $10 per month

ESPN’s standalone streaming service costs $10 a month or $100 for an annual subscription. With it, you’ll be able to watch Sunday’s big game at Wembley, as well all of this season’s FA Cup fixtures. Read our ESPN Plus review.

See at ESPN

Livestream the Man United vs. Newcastle game in the UK

Live broadcast rights for the Carabao Cup final in the UK are with Sky Sports. Sunday’s match will be shown on its Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels. If you already have Sky Sports as part of your TV package, you can stream the game via its Sky Go app, but cord-cutters will want to get set up with a Now account, and a Now Sports membership, to stream the game.

Now

Watch the Carabao Cup in the UK from £12

Sky subsidiary Now (formerly Now TV) offers streaming access to Sky Sports channels with a Now Sports membership. You can get a day of access for £12, or sign up to a monthly plan from £26 per month right now.

See at Now

Livestream the Man United vs. Newcastle game in Canada

If you want to stream the EFL Cup final live in Canada, you’ll need to subscribe to DAZN Canada. The service has exclusive broadcast rights to this match as well as every UEFA Champions League and Europa League match this season.

DAZN

Watch the Carabao Cup in Canada from CA$25 a month

A DAZN subscription currently costs CA$25 a month or CA$200 a year and will also give you access to the Champions League, Europa League and EFL Championship soccer, plus Six Nations rugby and WTA tennis.

As well as dedicated apps for iOS and Android, there’s a wide range of support for set-top boxes and smart TVs.

See at DAZN

Livestream the Man United vs. Newcastle game in Australia

Football fans Down Under can watch the EFL Cup final on streaming service beIN Sports, which has exclusive broadcast rights to this tournament in Australia this season.

beIN Sports

Watch the Carabao Cup in Australia from AU$20 a month

beIN Sports is available via pay TV packages such as Foxtel, but cord-cutters can also sign up to beIN Sports as a standalone streaming subscription.

Priced at AU$20 per month, beIN is currently offering a free two-week trial. As well as Carabao Cup action, a subscription will also give you access to Ligue 1, Serie A, Bundesliga and EFL football coverage.

See at beIN Sports

Quick tips for streaming the Carabao Cup final using a VPN

With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — your experience and success when streaming Sunday’s final at Wembley may vary.
If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the «search for city or country» option.
If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Feb. 21

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 21.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s the long Saturday version, and some of the clues are stumpers. I was really thrown by 10-Across. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: «Jersey Shore» channel
Answer: MTV

4A clue: «___ Knows» (rhyming ad slogan)
Answer: LOWES

6A clue: Second-best-selling female musician of all time, behind Taylor Swift
Answer: MADONNA

8A clue: Whiskey grain
Answer: RYE

9A clue: Dreaded workday: Abbr.
Answer: MON

10A clue: Backfiring blunder, in modern lingo
Answer: SELFOWN

12A clue: Lengthy sheet for a complicated board game, perhaps
Answer: RULES

13A clue: Subtle «Yes»
Answer: NOD

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: In which high schoolers might role-play as ambassadors
Answer: MODELUN

2D clue: This clue number
Answer: TWO

3D clue: Paid via app, perhaps
Answer: VENMOED

4D clue: Coat of paint
Answer: LAYER

5D clue: Falls in winter, say
Answer: SNOWS

6D clue: Married title
Answer: MRS

7D clue: ___ Arbor, Mich.
Answer: ANN

11D clue: Woman in Progressive ads
Answer: FLO

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 21, #516

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 21, No. 516.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. I actually thought the purple category, usually the most difficult, was the easiest of the four. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Old Line State.

Green group hint: Hoops legend.

Blue group hint: Robert Redford movie.

Purple group hint: Vroom-vroom.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Maryland teams.

Green group: Shaquille O’Neal nicknames.

Blue group: Associated with «The Natural.»

Purple group: Sports that have a driver.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is Maryland teams. The four answers are Midshipmen, Orioles, Ravens and Terrapins.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Shaquille O’Neal nicknames. The four answers are Big Aristotle, Diesel, Shaq and Superman.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with «The Natural.» The four answers are baseball, Hobbs, Knights and Wonderboy.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports that have a driver. The four answers are bobsled, F1, golf and water polo.

Technologies

Wisconsin Reverses Decision to Ban VPNs in Age-Verification Bill

The law would have required websites to block VPN users from accessing «harmful material.»

Following a wave of criticism, Wisconsin lawmakers have decided not to include a ban on VPN services in their age-verification law, making its way through the state legislature.

Wisconsin Senate Bill 130 (and its sister Assembly Bill 105), introduced in March 2025, aims to prohibit businesses from «publishing or distributing material harmful to minors» unless there is a reasonable «method to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the website.»

One provision would have required businesses to bar people from accessing their sites via «a virtual private network system or virtual private network provider.»

A VPN lets you access the internet via an encrypted connection, enabling you to bypass firewalls and unblock geographically restricted websites and streaming content. While using a VPN, your IP address and physical location are masked, and your internet service provider doesn’t know which websites you visit.

Wisconsin state Sen. Van Wanggaard moved to delete that provision in the legislation, thereby releasing VPNs from any liability. The state assembly agreed to remove the VPN ban, and the bill now awaits Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’s signature.

Rindala Alajaji, associate director of state affairs at the digital freedom nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, says Wisconsin’s U-turn is «great news.»

«This shows the power of public advocacy and pushback,» Alajaji says. «Politicians heard the VPN users who shared their worries and fears, and the experts who explained how the ban wouldn’t work.»

Earlier this week, the EFF had written an open letter arguing that the draft laws did not «meaningfully advance the goal of keeping young people safe online.» The EFF said that blocking VPNs would harm many groups that rely on that software for private and secure internet connections, including «businesses, universities, journalists and ordinary citizens,» and that «many law enforcement professionals, veterans and small business owners rely on VPNs to safely use the internet.»

VPNs can also help you get around age-verification laws — for instance, if you live in a state or country that requires age verification to access certain material, you can use a VPN to make it look like you live elsewhere, thereby gaining access to that material. As age-restriction laws increase around the US, VPN use has also increased. However, many people are using free VPNs, which are fertile ground for cybercriminals.

In its letter to Wisconsin lawmakers prior to the reversal, the EFF argued that it is «unworkable» to require websites to block VPN users from accessing adult content. The EFF said such sites cannot «reliably determine» where a VPN customer lives — it could be any US state or even other countries.

«As a result, covered websites would face an impossible choice: either block all VPN users everywhere, disrupting access for millions of people nationwide, or cease offering services in Wisconsin altogether,» the EFF wrote.

Wisconsin is not the only state to consider VPN bans to prevent access to adult material. Last year, Michigan introduced the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act, which would ban all use of VPNs. If passed, it would force ISPs to detect and block VPN usage and also ban the sale of VPNs in the state. Fines could reach $500,000.