Scouting report on Flamengo midfielder Lorran, who is attracting interest from Man Utd & Brighton.

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has insisted “nothing is impossible” as he plots Euro 2024 qualifying victories over European superpowers France and the Netherlands in September. Kenny’s men belatedly opened their Group B account with a 3-0 victory over Gibraltar at the Aviva Stadium on Monday evening to ease at least a little of the disappointment of Friday night’s 2-1 defeat in Greece. Ireland’s hopes of securing one of the top two spots look forlorn unless they can pull off a series of shock results, but that is exactly what Kenny intends to do. Asked what his message was to the players, he replied: “It’s a seven-day window just, it’s a short window. It’s France on a Thursday night in Paris and Holland on a Sunday night here in the Aviva Stadium, so it’s a really, really exciting window. “They’re two really tough games, there’s no doubt about it, but very exciting games. We’ve just got to make sure we’re well prepared for them. They’re epic games. “At the same time, nothing is impossible, that’s how we feel about it. “Obviously we pushed France very close [at home]. I know this is different in Paris, but it will be an interesting game for us and very exciting, the two games.” For 45 minutes, Ireland hammered away at the visitors, but without the craft, pace or guile to break them down, although it took a fine reaction save from goalkeeper Dayle Coleing to deny Jamie McGrath seconds before the break. The game changed, however, with Celtic winger Mikey Johnston’s half-time introduction and he had already sparked terror in the Gibraltar defence on three occasions when he ran on to Will Smallbone’s half-blocked free-kick and stabbed into the empty net for his first senior international goal. Evan Ferguson increased the lead within seven minutes and substitute Adam Idah finally opened his Ireland account in stoppage time to secure the first points of the campaign at the third attempt. Asked if Johnston, whose four caps to date have come from the bench, could make a similar impact over 90 minutes, Kenny said: “He’s been terrific. Definitely he can start matches. I had it in my head that probably he was going to start, but it didn’t happen for him in Greece. “We’re still obviously a bit disappointed about Greece, we’re not getting away from that, we were disappointed with that. It wasn’t his night, certainly, when he came on, but he has terrific talent, I really appreciate his talent. “He’s a Celtic player and it will be interesting if he goes back there or not, we’ll see how his career goes over the summer.” Victory over the team ranked 201st in the world – Gibraltar have now lost 3-0 to all four of the other teams in the group – is unlikely to silence Kenny’s critics, but it at least gets them off the mark. Kenny said: “We obviously made life difficult for ourselves after Friday night. But Greece are a good team. They have to play Holland twice, we have to play Holland twice, and France in France. We still have every chance and we just have to back ourselves in those windows. Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny “In my opinion, France will win the group, so we just have to have good September and October windows. “The return game with Greece will be a different game, and obviously tough games against Holland and France. But we still have every chance and we just have to back ourselves in those windows.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live ‘Exceptional’ Bukayo Saka lauded by Gareth Southgate after England romp Rob Page insists Wales can still qualify despite Turkey defeat Michael O’Neill feels Northern Ireland did not deserve to lose to Kazakhstan

Despite being a Manchester City fan so committed to the club that she had pet goldfish named Shaun Goater and Nicolas Anelka as a child, Keira Walsh was also a keen student of “tiki-taka”-era Barcelona growing up in Rochdale, admiring the total control demonstrated by Pep Guardiola’s sides through elegant possession football. These days, Pep is managing City and it is Walsh herself sitting at the heart of Barca’s midfield. She made that move last summer for a world record fee after starring for the Lionesses at Euro 2022, pulling the strings at the centre of the park like another of her idols, David Silva, always knowing precisely when to play the killer pass. Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest updates as England face Haiti There was no finer example of this than the perfectly-weighted long ball she dinked into Ella Toone for England’s opener against Germany in the final, for which she was deservingly named player of the match. Another famed instance of Walsh’s artistry in action came at the SheBelieves Cup in Japan in 2019, when she played in Beth Mead with a pass that took out no fewer than eight separate opposition players in one move, a clip of which swiftly went viral. Her performances during the Euros inspired French journalist Julien Laurens to hail her as “the best player in the world”, an accolade that will place renewed pressure on her to stamp her authority on the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer. Walsh, now 26, abandoned youthful passions for badminton and cricket to commit to football, emerging from Blackburn Rovers’ youth system before transferring to her beloved City in 2014, where she made 118 appearances and became known to the club’s Oasis-besotted fans as “WonderWalsh” in tribute to her dependable presence. Former teammate Jill Scott, incidentally, has said her nickname among the Lionesses is “Sat Nav Foot” for the extraordinary precision of her passing. For England, Walsh has effortlessly succeeded Fara Williams in central midfield, having been handed the captain’s armband in just her seventh outing for the Lionesses, aged 21, and is no doubt the first name on Sarina Wiegman’s team sheet these days. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

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England defender Alex Greenwood is confident vital new connections are forming in camp that will see an improved display when the Lionesses take on Denmark in their second World Cup game on Friday. Georgia Stanway’s retaken penalty was enough to secure England a nervy 1-0 victory in their opener against underdogs Haiti, but did little to ease concerns about their attack as it extended the streak without a goal from open play to three matches. Yet this is a much-changed line-up from last summer’s European Championship triumph, with Sarina Wiegman’s starting line-up in Brisbane showing five changes from the one that lifted that trophy almost a year ago. Greenwood, who replaced now-forward Rachel Daly at left-back against Haiti, said: “I was prepared. I knew my role in the team and whether that’s centre-back or that’s left-back, we’ve all played in those positions before whether that’s at club or country. “We might not play together every week at club level, but we’re very familiar with each other. “And that’s in training, we’ve been in training camp for three weeks together before the tournament started, and that’s enough time to prepare for your partnerships. “You build up relationships, but as a tournament starts those things develop naturally as well. So for us, again, it’s just about keeping doing that in training, keeping forming those partnerships and eventually it will come together. “I think it’s a case of coming together and trying different things with different people. Everyone has different strengths, and our wingers are all so gifted in different ways. “Whoever you play with you try and play to their strengths.” Greenwood will hope it comes together sooner rather than later as the world number four Lionesses now face much higher-ranked opponents than debutants Haiti, number 53 in FIFA’s global table, in 13th-placed Denmark. England’s defence face a particularly potent challenge in ex-Chelsea forward Pernille Harder, while Wiegman’s forwards will need to find the finishing touch after squandering numerous chances in their opener. While she would not speculate over potential changes to the starting line-up, Greenwood added: “I don’t know about changes in personnel, but I think for us coming away from the game, we definitely created chances and had chances to score more goals. “That’s not a concern. We know we’ve got to put the ball in the back of the net when we have those chances and I think that will come. “We’ve got enough players, enough quality in this team to create the chances and to put the ball in the back of the net.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Declan Rice excited by chance to help Arsenal ‘get back to the big time’ Mark Cavendish reveals depths of depression in new documentary Seamer James Anderson still hungry to play Test cricket for England

Sin bins should be trialled at higher levels of football following their successful implementation in the grassroots game, the sport’s lawmaking body has agreed. Temporary dismissals of players for offences such as dissent and specific tactical fouls were backed by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) at its annual business meeting. IFAB board members also supported a proposed trial whereby only the team captain may approach the referee in certain major game situations. Tuesday’s meeting in London will shape the agenda for the organisation’s annual general meeting, which will be held on March 2 in Glasgow, where any proposed changes to the laws of the game will be considered for approval. Protocols and a system for trialling will now be developed. Board member Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the Football Association, said: “When we were looking at sin bins – protocol clearly has to be developed – the areas we were looking at were dissent, where it’s worked very, very well in the grassroots game in England. “We’ve also spoken about other areas, particularly tactical fouls. We're then looking at whether we should extend it into other areas, such as tactical fouls Mark Bullingham on the use of sin bins “I think frustration for fans watching games when they see a promising counter-attack that’s ruined by that and the question of whether a yellow card is sufficient for that has led to us looking at whether that should be involved in the protocol as well. “The starting point was looking at player behaviour and dissent – we’re then looking at whether we should extend it into other areas, such as tactical fouls, as well.” Sin bins were introduced across all levels of grassroots football from the 2019-20 season in an attempt to to improve levels of respect and fair play in the game. The rule change was implemented up to step five of the National League system and tier three and below in women’s football. Read More Top two tiers of women’s football poised to break away from Football Association Tom Daley back on British Swimming’s World Class Programme in Olympic boost ECB boss admits challenges remain for cricket after positive impact report Former Sheffield United and Everton defender Phil Jagielka announces retirement Bruno Fernandes excited for ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Galatasaray Man City unveil statue of club greats Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell and Francis Lee

Nebraska defensive back Myles Farmer wasn't on the 120-man roster when the Cornhuskers opened practice and his return is uncertain

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Korean Twitch streamer and YouTuber, Gamst, is going viral for his reaction to Manchester United conceding their fourth goal to Copenhagen. Kicking his chair over, throwing a giant stuffed animal, and generally just trashing the room he was in, Gamst made his feelings clear, screaming to the camera. 'That's how we all feel', one fan joked in the comments, while another added: 'Typical United fan'. The game finished up 4-3 to Copenhagen. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The Las Vegas Aces had a nine-game winning streak snapped by the Dallas Wings in their last game, but they are still favored on Sunday against the Minnesota Lynx.The Lynx have been hot, winning five straight games to move into third in the Western Conference. The team – led by Napheesa Col...

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