Men are airing their annoyance at plans to make a bronze statue to celebrate the Matildas at the World Cup. The Matildas, who came fourth in the Women’s World Cup, were celebrated in Brisbane on Sunday and handed the Keys to the City by the Lord Mayor. During the celebrations, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed that a statue will be built in honour of the team. “We’re going to increase the legacy funding for women’s football including upgrades to major venues where football is played across Queensland,” Palaszczuk said. “But wait there’s one more thing. As a lasting tribute to 2023 Matildas we will build a statue at Suncorp Stadium. “There are plenty (of statues) there, celebrating our male sporting champions, it’s time we celebrated women as well… you deserve your place amongst the greatest.” British TV host Piers Morgan was one of the first to complain about the announcement, retweeting the news writing: “A statute for coming 4th? Is this a joke?” Sky News Australia host Laura Jays responded to Morgan, offering to explain what the team means to Australia. “Long lunch and I’ll explain the Matildas effect,” Jays said. “Half the country watched the match. This is a country that is dominated by men’s AFL and NRL.” “It’s a big deal. And the start of something very big for women’s sport.” However, she failed to get Morgan to consider her, and millions of Matildas’ fans perspective, simply replying to Jays with: “Never had you down as a participation prize fan.” Many also disagreed with Morgan in the comments, sharing how ‘proud’ they are of the Matildas, and that they had united the country. However, it seems Morgan isn’t the only man frustrated the idea of the statue writing. Former Australian NBA star Andrew Bogut wrote on Twitter: “Matildas did well… Statue? No. A Gold/First Place is a statue and over the top celebration worthy achievement,” he wrote. Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios shared his opinion about the news: “Agree. Great effort! Statue for fourth is nuts but they had us all on the edge of our seats! Next time.” Morgan later doubled-down on his comments, responding to some on Twitter by saying, “mate, no offence but the Matildas got beaten by England, and even lost the 3rd/4th play-off.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Unai Emery urged Aston Villa to finish the job after they booked their spot in the Europa Conference League knockout stages. The manager wants to seal top spot in Group E following Thursday’s 2-1 win over Legia Warsaw. Alex Moreno’s winner – on his first appearance since May following a hamstring injury – earned victory after Moussa Diaby’s opener was cancelled out by Ernest Muci in the first half. Victory came after Legia fans clashed with police before the game – injuring three officers – which saw the supporters barred from Villa Park. Villa moved above Legia at the top of the group and need a point in Mostar, the final group game, next month to guarantee their last 16 spot. Emery said: “I’m really happy because we started this competition losing in Warsaw. We wanted to show how we have improved after that match and we played well. “We were professional, feeling good, feeling strong and we want to finish first. It’s not complete yet but we are close to it. “This competition is very important, it’s a trophy and trying to get minutes for some players. Alex Moreno has come back, Jacob Ramsey, Jhon Duran got 90 minutes and as a team we had to get performances with every player.” Diaby struck after four minutes when he was sent scampering down the right by Youri Tielemans before cutting inside and finding the corner. Jhon Duran went close to adding a second before Legia cashed in on a terrible error by Boubacar Kamara after 20 minutes. The midfielder received the ball from Robin Olsen on the edge of the box but passed straight to Muci, who found the top corner. Encouraged, Legia settled and went close three minutes into the second half when Gil Dias’ header hit the bar. But it sparked Villa back into life and, after Kacper Tobiasz denied Diaby, Moreno netted a 59th-minute winner when he volleyed in Douglas Luiz’s free kick. Legia, who beat Villa 3-2 in the opening game in September, are three points behind and are now facing a last 32 tie against a side dropping down from the Europa League in February. Boss Kosta Runjaic said: “It’s the expected result but we faced it in a pretty good way. Villa have a lot of power at home and are unbeaten since February. “The first half was equal, we tried to play with courage and scored a fantastic goal. Villa played a good game but we could have defended their free-kick better and in the end it was a deserved win for Villa. “Now we have one game left, we will be well-prepared.” Read More You’ve got to dream big: Lewis Dunk eyes Europa League glory with Brighton David Moyes urges West Ham to finish the job and top Group A Five bad weeks do not define a team – England’s Ben Duckett Daniel Levy ‘proud’ as report reveals Tottenham’s investment in local community Wales call on Chris Coleman in bid to boost Women’s Nations League hopes The key talking points ahead of England’s Women’s Nations League double-header

Gary O’Neil asked “what is the point in VAR?” after his Wolves side conceded a controversial late penalty during a 3-2 defeat at Craven Cottage. VAR sent referee Michael Salisbury to the screen to award a penalty after Joao Gomes brought Harry Wilson down in the box, Willian scoring his second spot kick of the game to seal all three points for Fulham. O’Neil highlighted the decisions involving the late penalty, Carlos Vinicius’ alleged headbutt on Max Kilman and why Tim Ream did not receive a second yellow for a foul on Hwang Hee-Chan. The Wolves boss criticised the decisions during the game and believes VAR has not helped the referee. I think the ref would have done a better job on his own. I don't think VAR helped him but in fact it hindered him Gary O'Neil O’Neil said: “I don’t think it’s helped the game, “I think the ref would have done a better job on his own. I don’t think VAR helped him but in fact it hindered him. “Sending him to the screen for one and not to the other, not advising him there is a headbutt or that Tim Ream should receive a red card. What is the point in VAR? “They said they got the Harry Wilson one right (last penalty decision). There’s minimal contact and I don’t think there’s enough.” O’Neil, who spoke to the referee after the match, also felt aggrieved about Fulham’s first penalty awarded for a foul by Nelson Semedo on Tom Cairney. He told Sky Sports: “Nelson plays the ball, doesn’t touch Tom Cairney. I watched it back with the referee, and to be fair to him he says he thinks they’ve got that wrong and he should have been sent to the monitor.” Fulham boss Marco Silva lauded his side’s mentality to end a run of four games without a win and to go ahead in the game on three separate occasions. He said: “We knew Wolves would show resilience tonight again and they brought it back twice and we showed team spirit and I really believed we deserved three points. “It is important to express ourselves on the pitch. We had some very good spells in some times in the game. “But the mentality, team spirit and it was a game we had to win and we did it.” Willian scored his second and third of the season from the spot and Silva praised the experienced 35-year-old. “He is really important for us and we know the quality of Willian,” Silva added. “My decision last season to change the taker because he is a player who needs more importance and confidence and it was nice to see him take responsibility with two very good moments from him. “Overall his performance was very good. Two chances he must score and he did it in very good style, I must say.” Read More Gary O’Neil says Wolves loss at Fulham may have ‘finally turned him against VAR’ Carolina Panthers sack head coach Frank Reich after one win in 11 games Mike Phelan warns Man Utd not to get distracted by fierce Galatasaray atmosphere Late Willian penalty earns Fulham victory in five-goal thriller against Wolves RB Leipzig hoping to restore some pride at Man City after 7-0 loss – Marco Rose Forest investigating allegations of homophobic abuse by fans at Brighton game

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