Republic of Ireland coach Vera Pauw admits her players “feared for their bodies” in their abandoned Women’s World Cup warm-up match against Colombia on Friday. Midfielder Denise O’Sullivan was taken to hospital with a shin injury and the game was halted after just 20 minutes following a number of rough challenges, with the Football Association of Ireland describing it as “overly physical”. Scans have revealed the North Carolina Courage captain has not sustained any fractures but the extent of a soft tissue injury has still to be discovered. “It was something I had never experienced before in my 47 years being involved in football, not as a player, not as a coach,” Pauw told Sky Sports. “It started lively, a good game, normal, and then the atmosphere built up to becoming over-physical. “Then there came a huge challenge on Denise, a challenge not within the rules of the game and she was in awful pain. “I went to the coach of Colombia and I said: ‘I need help from you, we need to calm this down. We all want to go to the World Cup’. The players were extremely upset and had fear for themselves. Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw “The players were extremely upset and had fear for themselves. We are not a team who fear tackles or challenges. “I took them away to calm things down, brought them to the bench. We discussed it and there was contact with the president and the CEO of the FAI. “Collectively we knew it would not come right any more and if it went on we would put our players into a potentially-serious situation. “We had a calm discussion with the ref and they called off the game.” Ireland open their World Cup campaign against Australia and Pauw remains optimistic O’Sullivan will be fit. “We have hopes she can make the game but we need to see, the first 48 hours are very important in these soft tissue injuries,” she added. The Colombian Football Federation (FCF) released a statement which said, while the training of its teams was “framed within the rules of the game, healthy competition and fair play”, it respected Ireland’s decision. “The Colombian Football Federation informs that the friendly match… between the Colombia women’s national team and Ireland was suspended because the Irish national team preferred not to continue playing when 23 minutes of the first half had elapsed,” said the statement from the FCF, which has been contacted for further comment. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Declan Rice confirms ‘tough’ West Ham departure with Arsenal move imminent Declan Rice leaves West Ham for record fee with Arsenal move imminent Alex Greenwood happy with ‘humble’ England’s chances at Women’s World Cup

Ange Postecoglou is excited about the role “leader” James Maddison will play in helping implement his style of football at Tottenham. Maddison completed a transfer worth £40million plus add-ons to Spurs last month after five years with Leicester where he won the FA Cup and scored 55 goals in 203 appearances. England midfielder Maddison had been tracked by Tottenham since he was a teenager at Coventry and officially begins work with the club on Wednesday when the next group of international players, including Harry Kane, return. His new boss feels the playmaker will be key to the sizable task of getting a squad accustomed to pragmatic, counter-attacking football now in sync with the aggressive, possession-based style set to be used by the Australian. Postecoglou said: “Really excited to get James as part of the group. “Any manager will tell you that part of the key to being a dominant team is having multiple attacking threats and having a midfielder who can score and create goals. “They’re not easy to come by. He’s proven himself at that level in the last few years as somebody who can do that. “When you look at Tottenham the last few years, they’ve been really reliant on the front three to get their goals. “I thought it was a really good fit for us to look for a player like James – even better if we could get James, so we ended up getting James. “I was really pleased and the fact we did it early was great because it allows him to have a break. He’s had the birth of twins so I don’t know what shape he’ll be in when he gets here! “But once we get him in, it means he can come on the tour with us and I know he’s really excited about joining the group. “He obviously knows a few of the lads and I think he’s in a stage of his career where it feels like he can be a leader, which is great as well because we need players who want to embrace that responsibility within this group. “Whether it’s their first year in or they’ve been here for ages, we’re going to need leadership on the field and he feels like he can be a player who does that.” Postecoglou held his first press conference since switching Celtic for Spurs on Monday and struck the right chord between confidence alongside realism. Tottenham finished eighth in the Premier League last season – using three different head coaches – but more significantly have spent the last four years playing counter-attacking football. Gradually it wore down a disgruntled fanbase impatient for success with no trophy since 2008 and while a return to an aggressive, front-foot style will be welcomed, Postecoglou is aware rebooting a squad used to a certain way will be no mean feat. He added: “Absolutely that will be the biggest challenge and that’s what I’m concentrating on at the moment. “We don’t have the whole group here but the guys we have, it’s about changing that mindset and changing the way the players see the game and maybe their roles within in. “Because even with the positions they play, there’s going to be adjustments in how I want them to do things. Again, I love that. That’s why I’m here. “If it was just me rolling up and they’re going out there, doing their thing, it wouldn’t excite me. That’s part of the challenge – it will be a shift from the way the club has played for three or four years. “In terms of how quickly the players embrace that, the new players coming in will help. That’s the part I have control over, whether that’s James Maddison or Guglielmo (Vicario) in goal. “They’re players who fit in the direction I want to go in, which helps. Then it’s about seeing with the existing group how many of them are able to adjust and embrace the way we’re going to play.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lotte Wubben-Moy excited about England’s potential ahead of World Cup England retain Jonny Bairstow in unchanged squad for fourth Ashes Test Royal Birkdale to host Open Championship in 2026

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Pep Guardiola insists all thoughts of Manchester City’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid have been put to one side ahead of Sunday’s trip to Everton. City will hope to claim a place in the final when they host the Spanish giants next Wednesday after drawing 1-1 in the first leg of their last-four tie on Tuesday. Yet the Premier League leaders have little opportunity to ease up beforehand as they face the relegation-threatened Toffees in a clash crucial at both ends of the table. Guardiola said at a press conference: “My thought is just Everton – no more than that. “It’s 11 months working for the Premier League. We don’t have much time to Madrid because we play Sunday – thank you so much – but it’s a real, real priority, Goodison Park.” Real have an extra day’s rest before the second leg as they are in action on Saturday this weekend. Guardiola would have preferred to play on Saturday too but says he is beyond complaining about the schedule. He said: “I can’t understand it but I’m not going to fight it anymore. “I don’t understand it but we have to adapt. The schedule, it is what it is.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

LGPA Tour trailblazer Lexi Thompson will compete against men at the PGA Tour's upcoming stop in Las Vegas

What the papers say The race to sign Brentford’s Spanish goalkeeper David Raya has stepped up with Bayern Munich the latest strong pursuers. The Guardian reports the German club are looking to sign the 27-year-old, who is also wanted by Arsenal, after having a loan offer turned down. England defender Harry Maguire’s future remains in doubt. According to the Daily Mirror, West Ham have ended their interest in taking the 30-year-old from Manchester United due to the price tag and wage demands. Tottenham defender Sergio Reguilon, 26, could be on his way out of the Premier League. The Daily Mail reports the Spanish full-back is a target for Real Sociedad. Across London, Arsenal are looking to add to their summer signings. According to the Daily Express, Ghanaian midfielder Mohammed Kudus, 22, from Ajax is on their list of targets. Social media round-up Players to watch Kylian Mbappe: Chelsea are the latest club reportedly interested in taking the France forward, 24, from Paris St-Germain after weekend reports linking him with Liverpool. Alex Scott: Wolves are being linked with a final offer for the midfielder, 19, after Bristol City turned down bids of £18 million and £20 million.

Lando Norris raised hopes that he could challenge Max Verstappen for pole at the Japanese Grand Prix by finishing final practice within three tenths of the Red Bull driver. Verstappen’s record 10-race winning run and Red Bull’s unbeaten season came to an end in Singapore last weekend. He had set a blistering pace on Friday to suggest the team have put their struggles in the city-state behind them. The Dutchman’s margin in opening practice was a huge 0.626 seconds over Ferrari’s Singapore-winner Carlos Sainz before beating Charles Leclerc by 0.320sec in P2. That raised fears that Verstappen, who is closing in on a hat-trick of world titles, could dominate the weekend in a Red Bull car which Lewis Hamilton predicted would be “phenomenal” around the high-speed corner track at Suzuka. But Norris finished just 0.240 seconds adrift of the 25-year-old and just 0.048 ahead of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri as the British team continued to show strong pace. Mercedes pair Hamilton and George Russell enjoyed a more promising session but remained off the pace of Red Bull and McLaren. Hamilton in particular struggled badly in Friday’s two practice sessions, finishing 16th and 14th, with the seven-time world champion admitting Mercedes had work to do before qualifying. The 38-year-old finished seventh in P3, albeit 0.892sec behind pace-setter Verstappen, with Russell eighth. Mercedes are battling with Ferrari to finish second in the Constructors’ Championship. Ferrari, who are running a new floor at Suzuka, claimed the edge by finishing fifth and sixth but were over half-a-second adrift of the two McLarens. Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull claimed fourth, 0.737sec behind his team-mate. A large number of the teams are struggling with tyre degradation due to the higher-than-usual heat at Suzuka, with a track temperature of over 48 degrees Celsius recorded during P3, raising the possibility of a three-stop race on Sunday. Qualifying gets under way at 1500 local time (0700 BST). Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Max Verstappen returns to form in Japanese Grand Prix practice Lance Stroll to sit out Singapore Grand Prix after huge crash in qualifying ‘You can forget about that’ – Max Verstappen rules out another win in Singapore

Jurgen Klopp’s seasons at Anfield have tended to end with everything riding on the last game: Champions League qualification or winning the Champions League. Even the one that didn’t, in 2020, could culminate in a celebration, with Liverpool already champions of England for the first time in 30 years. Now comes a rare meaningless match, with Southampton certain to come bottom and Liverpool guaranteed to end up fifth, and a chance to reflect on what might have been. Last season threatened to be Liverpool’s greatest, when they closed in on a quadruple. After the false dawn of an emphatic Community Shield win over Manchester City, things soon started to go awry. “It was clear from a specific point on it would not be a historically good season,” said Klopp. Perhaps that specific point was the opening league game, and a disjointed, disappointing first hour against promoted Fulham. Or maybe their first match at Anfield, when Darwin Nunez, the flagship summer signing, was sent off on his home debut for headbutting Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen. Or possibly their third outing: a defeat at Old Trafford that kickstarted Erik ten Hag’s reign at Manchester United and to a team who ultimately pipped them to a top-four finish. For three-quarters of a season, Liverpool only mustered three away wins and did not muster three victories in a row, except when those fixtures were separated by a World Cup. Klopp nevertheless felt, and the facts supported him, that the mid-season break brought an improvement. “After the training camp during the World Cup, it was not that everything was great but the amount of points we have won since then is pretty good,” he said. “If we could have done that over the whole season, we would be in a different place.” He is right: only the Manchester clubs have more points over the last six months. However, it still went wrong over the course of Liverpool’s first 29 matches, when they dropped 43 points and were left at the risk of their lowest league finish since promotion in 1962. “I think we said everything about it, we are absolutely not happy with it,” said Klopp. “We made mistakes, we couldn’t deliver often enough and were not consistent enough.” Three particularly damning results, symptoms of that inconsistency and which could cost them Champions League football, were the defeats to Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, all then in the relegation zone. That they lost to Forest six days after beating City and were beaten at Bournemouth six days after scoring seven against United make each missed opportunities to generate momentum. “I really think this was not a season we will talk about,” reflected Klopp. “Maybe about parts but we failed to give the people more to enjoy.” Perhaps he was doubly wrong: Liverpool’s shortcomings can always bring anguish and anxiety while, amid mediocrity, there have been genuine highs: at Anfield against both Manchester clubs, winning home and away against Newcastle, the contrasting double against Tottenham, thrashing Leeds 6-1 and Rangers 7-1 on the road, the 9-0 demolition of Bournemouth. Yet each illustrated what could have been, not what ultimately was. There were causes. A crippling injury list felt a constant, with midfield the most affected department but lengthy absences of Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota feeling particularly telling in attack. There was the already infamous decision not to buy a midfielder last summer, which was compounded by Fabinho’s awful form, Naby Keita’s seemingly never-ending injuries, Thiago Alcantara’s perhaps predictable absences and signs of ageing from Jordan Henderson. There were mix-and-match combinations from Klopp all season, casting around in search of a solution before a late-season switch to bring Trent Alexander-Arnold infield alongside Fabinho and behind Curtis Jones and Henderson worked. It reflected two enduring issues: Alexander-Arnold’s defensive deficiencies at right-back had felt more pronounced when he was afforded less protection and the 4-3-3 formation that had served Klopp so well for years brought a rethink. There were flirtations with 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 before a spring switch towards 3-2-4-1. Klopp has started to argue that at most clubs, the manager changes inside seven-and-a-half years; at Liverpool, the manager is belatedly changing things. Maybe the most damaging change was not of his own volition. Sadio Mane’s move to Bayern Munich has worked out for neither club nor the player. Without him, with Roberto Firmino starting only 12 league games, there has been a different dynamic in the attack. In part the story of the season has lain in the erratic, compellingly watchable Nunez; thus far, he has been an imperfect fit in different combinations and, with decidedly mixed finishing, one of the great expected goals underachievers while Liverpool have struggled to press as rigorously. Maybe it is no coincidence their surge of 22 points from their last eight games came with Nunez largely a substitute. Transition was perhaps never going to be easy for Liverpool but has been jarringly awkward at times this season. And yet that recent run engenders optimism. Liverpool may have turned a corner; they never became as fractured as some of their rivals. “The dressing room is not in a bad mood,” Klopp said. “We have learned to deal with the situation. We didn’t get divided in one moment between manager and team, which is super helpful. We didn’t point fingers at each other.” They ended up seemingly pointed further forward than he had wanted, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner, Keita and Firmino all going, when Klopp had wanted to keep two of them. There will be Europa League football at Anfield next season, perhaps further sightings of Alexander-Arnold in midfield. But as the German’s worst year in England comes to an anticlimactic conclusion, it is with the last few weeks offering renewed hope it will be a one-off. Read More Jurgen Klopp: ‘If a player wants to leave Liverpool because of Champions League, I will drive them’ Mohamed Salah ‘devastated’ as Liverpool fail to qualify for Champions League Jurgen Klopp has ‘no worries’ over Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool Jurgen Klopp: ‘If a player wants to leave Liverpool, I will drive them’ Jurgen Klopp reacts to Mohammed Salah’s ‘no excuse’ tweet

The takeover of Everton FC by 777 Partners is facing increasing scrutiny from Premier League officials studying the