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England are back in action on Friday and resume their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a trip to the National Stadium in Ta’Qali. There, Gareth Soughate’s side are in action against Malta in Group C - a meeting off top against bottom in the early stages of this series. Two wins over Ukraine and Italy have put the Three Lions well and truly in the driving seat to comfortably qualify for the finals, given the top two in each group will head through to play in Germany. Malta, meanwhile, have lost both their games against Italy and North Macedonia. Key decisions in terms of the team will come over whether to hand a debut to Eberechi Eze and how many of the fringe or inexperienced players get the nod in a game England should be far too strong for their opponents in. Here’s everything you need to know. When is Malta vs England? The Euro 2024 qualifier kicks off at 7:45pm BST on Friday 16 June. Where can I watch it? England’s Euro 2024 qualifiers are free-to-air after Channel 4 secured the rights for all Three Lions games for two years. Fans can stream the match via Channel 4’s app and desktop website. What is the England team news? It’s not yet clear whether Man City’s stars will feature in the match given their Champions League exertions - and subsequent celebrations - but it’s likely Gareth Southgate will offer a chance to a few players who are not habitual starters. Marc Guehi could be in line to win just his fourth cap in defence and Crystal Palace teammate Ebe Eze is hoping for his senior debut with the national team. Jude Bellingham has just completed his transfer to Real Madrid but will not be playing in this break as he recovers from injury. Predicted lineups MAL - Bonello, Attard, Borg, Apap, Corbalan, Muscat, Guillaumier, Yankam, Mbong, Jones, Satariano ENG - Pickford, Trippier, Guehi, Maguire, Shaw, Rice, Gallagher, Eze, Saka, Kane, Maddison Odds Malta 66/1 Draw 18/1 England 1/20 Prediction No contest in terms of the outcome of course, so it’s about how clinical and intense England can be in the humid conditions. Malta 0-4 England. Read More Southgate makes call over Man City stars and warns of ‘line’ in celebrations How to watch Malta vs England Euro 2024 qualifier online and on TV today Malta vs England team news and predicted line-ups for Euro 2024 qualifier England’s future is about to be defined – and it’s out of Gareth Southgate’s control One year to Euro 2024: Who is on the plane for England? Rashford underlines commitment to England after missing recent games

Max Holloway will fight the “Korean Zombie”, Chan Sung Jung, in the main event of UFC Singapore in August. Holloway, a former featherweight champion, has long desired a bout with Sung Jung, most recently calling for the fight after beating Arnold Allen in April. Holloway, 31, outpointed Allen in a Fight Night main event in Kansas City to bounce back from his third loss to Alexander Volkanovski, who took the featherweight title from the Hawaiian in 2019 and has retained the belt against him twice. Sung Jung was also beaten by the reigning champion in his most recent fight, suffering a fourth-round TKO loss to Volkanovski last April. Holloway and Sung Jung are now set to meet in a Fight Night main event at Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday 26 August. Holloway and “Zombie” are both fan favourites, with each having taken on a ‘who’s-who’ of featherweights in the UFC. While Sung Jung, 36, has a somewhat patchy record in the promotion, Holloway has been largely dominant over the last decade – although Volkanovski has been a thorn in his side. The Australian and Dustin Poirier – who beat Holloway with the interim lightweight title on the line in 2019 – are the only fighters to defeat the Hawaiian since 2013. Holloway won the UFC featherweight title by stopping Jose Aldo in June 2017 and retained the gold against the icon six months later – with another TKO. “Blessed” also holds victories over Allen, reigning interim champion Yair Rodriguez, Brian Ortega, Calvin Kattar, Cub Swanson, and former UFC champions Charles Oliveira, Frankie Edgar and Anthony Pettis. The news that Holloway vs Sung Jung would headline in Singapore was accompanied by two further announcements by the UFC. The promotion revealed that Cody Sandhagen would face Umar Nurmagomedov in a Fight Night main event in Nashville on 5 August, and that Ciryl Gane vs Sergey Spivak would be the headline bout at UFC Paris on 2 September. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Conor McGregor denies allegation he sexually assaulted a woman at NBA Finals Conor McGregor announces fiancee Dee Devlin is pregnant with couple’s fourth child Vettori vs Cannonier live stream: How to watch UFC Fight Night online and on TV this weekend

Gareth Southgate had a warning for Jack Grealish over Man City's treble celebrations.

Norway manager Stale Solbakken joked that if Jack Grealish could train for England then he has no cause to worry about Erling Haaland’s treble celebrations ahead of Saturday’s clash with Scotland. Solbakken understood the need for Haaland to revel in his success with Manchester City after last weekend’s Champions League final. Solbakken has taken it easy with Haaland this week, more concerned with ensuring the striker recharges, and believes a homecoming welcome will lift his star man during the Euro 2024 qualifier in Oslo. City celebrated in Ibiza after their Istanbul success against Inter before continuing the party on a bus parade in Manchester on Monday with Grealish throwing himself wholeheartedly into the fun. When asked what the Norwegian people made of the scenes ahead of a big international, Solbakken said: “I think everyone understands that and I also think it’s a good idea to do that. “Because, no matter how good you are, if you say (Pep) Guardiola is the best manager in the world and he has managed to do this treble once in Spain, once time in England, even when he had the best players representing the biggest clubs with the biggest budgets, you could think this would happen more often. But it doesn’t because it’s so, so difficult. “And I don’t think you can postpone a celebration like that. You can’t say ‘let’s meet up in the summer when these national games are over and we party’. It’s not the same because the excitement is a little bit out of your body and you have to do it then. “When he came here, he didn’t look like he had gone the Grealish way. If Grealish managed to train for England the first time, he should also manage to do it for us.” Only one of Haaland’s 53 goals this season has come on the international stage but the 22-year-old has not played for his country since September and Solbakken believes an excited home crowd will help him overcome his heavy schedule. “The biggest gift in that is the love the crowd will give him because it’s a long time since he has played in Norway and he didn’t participate in the two internationals earlier this year,” the former Wolves and Copenhagen manager said. “Obviously the Norwegian people have seen him on telly for a long time without seeing him live. I think he has had one game here in a year. “So that will probably pump him up and give him the five to 10 per cent he probably lacks due to the programme he has been through and all the feelings and emotions he has been through as well.” Haaland was missed in March as Norway took one point from their opening two Group A games against Spain and Georgia, while Scotland sealed maximum return. On the game, Solbakken said: “It’s more crucial for us than Scotland of course but no matter what, before the group started, this would always have been a key game. “But it’s more that Scotland have had a really great start. I think we played two really good games but what messed it up a little bit, even though we only got one point, is that Scotland beat Spain. “That means it looks much better for us if we can beat you and everyone is beating each other. If we win, also Spain are in trouble, because it’s two teams who can catch them.” Read More City soak it in and Nuggets strike gold – Tuesday’s sporting social Cadan Murley suspends loyalty to Man Utd to analyse Erling Haaland’s finishing Jack Grealish revels as Manchester City parade treble Manchester City’s trophy parade in pictures The sporting weekend in pictures Man City match-winner Rodri named Champions League player of the year

Raphinha has confirmed his stance on leaving Barcelona amid Arsenal & Newcastle interest. The 26-year-old scored ten goals and contributed 12 assists in his first season at Camp Nou.

Today's USMNT news includes the remarkable reports that Gregg Berhalter is set to return to his role as head coach for the Stars and Stripes.Elsewhere, Folarin Balogun has been linked with Inter Milan and Jozy Altidore could be on his way to Greece.USMNT news: Gregg Berhalter returnsThe USM...

When the Toronto Blue Jays head down south to face the Texas Rangers for a weekend series, Game 1 will feature two very good veteran pitchers coming off very bad outings. Kevin Gausman comes into this one with a 3.12 ERA in 14 starts with a record of 5-3. On the other side Martin Perez is 6-2, but w...

England forward Alessia Russo will leave Manchester United this summer. The 24-year-old will become a free agent when her contract expires at the end of this month. Russo was the subject of a reported world record £450,000 bid from Arsenal in January but the approach was rebuffed by United at the time. She is again being linked with the Gunners as well as French outfit Lyon and American side Washington Spirit. A United statement read: “Manchester United can confirm that Alessia Russo will leave the football club on completion of her contract at the end of June. “Everyone at the football club would like to thank Alessia for her service and wish her luck for the future.” Russo joined United in 2020 after previous spells with Chelsea, Brighton and North Carolina Tar Heels. She scored 26 goals in 59 appearances for the club and helped them to second place in the Women’s Super League and the FA Cup final last season. Russo said on Instagram: “It’s been the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. @manutdwomen, thank you for everything.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Leeds defender Robin Koch has been discussed by Man Utd & Tottenham, among others.

“I live in the middle of nowhere, literally in the woods. It’s like freakin’ Hogwarts out here,” Modestas Bukauskas says, sounding distinctly more like a Londoner than a Lithuanian. “There’s a bit near my house with no signal, and right before I was about to drive in there, my manager gives me a video call. It was late at night, I freakin’ swerve to the side of the road, completely disregarding that there were about two cars behind me. My manager goes: ‘Bro, you’re fighting in Australia in two weeks – in the UFC.’ I literally broke down into tears.” It was as if the Lithuanian-born Briton had entered a mirrored reality; one year earlier, Bukauskas had been shedding tears over a call from his manager, but the news was altogether less positive. In late 2021, the development was that Bukauskas had been cut by the UFC. Sitting at home recovering from a serious knee injury, and reflecting on a third successive defeat, Bukauskas had in fact seen the news on Twitter before his manager could even confirm it. In the year that ensued, Bukauskas was out of the Octagon, but he was still in a cage. “The amount of pain and struggle, drinking in bed...” The 29-year-old cuts himself off. “I just so many hard f***ing memories, having to go through the deepest and darkest times. I don’t remember a time when I was acting myself. It just seemed like I was in a picture with no colour. Everything was black and white. Mentally, I was broken. I had a lot of things to fix before I could even move forward.” First to be fixed was the knee. Then, somehow, Bukauskus was indeed able to move forward. At first, it might have seemed like moving backwards. In 2019, before joining the UFC, Bukauskas had won and retained the Cage Warriors light-heavyweight title; after leaving the UFC, he turned down other offers and opted to return to the London-based promotion. Perhaps, unknowingly, Bukauskas was shining the glass of that mirrored reality. Within two months, and two fights, he had once again secured Cage Warriors’ light-heavyweight crown. And then came the call – on the side of the road, at the opening of the forest, in the middle of nowhere. “I was absolutely elated,” Bukauskas tells The Independent. “After I got off the phone with my manager, I was playing some, like, war music in the car – a remix of the Witcher video-game music – full blast for the last five minutes back to my house. I was screaming with just... fierceness. I got home and felt kind of dizzy, it was weird. I didn’t feel like I was there. “I went upstairs to tell my step-mum, and she was kind of worried, because I was almost out of breath. Then my dad was chilling in bed after a hard day, and he was like (Bukauskas taps into a Lithuanian accent): ‘What the hell do you need to get me out of bed for?’ I brought them downstairs and told them, ‘We’re back in the UFC,’ just hugged them and broke down in tears again. Over the last couple of years, that’s probably one of the happiest moments I’ve had, just me with my family, hugging each other in our sitting room.” Bukauskas’ father, in particular, understands the struggles that the sport entails. In the 1980s, before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gintas Bukauskas learned to fight on the streets of occupied Lithuania, before going on to work as a mixed martial arts coach. Gintas brought his family to Britain when Modestas was three years old and first introduced his son to combat sports two years later. “I just remember vividly that he would show me some kicks, some moves,” Modestas recalls. “At that age, you’re just like, ‘That looks cool! Look at that kick!’ Literally about a week into showing me some stuff, he goes (Bukauskas dips into that Lithuanian accent again): ‘Okay, now you must train hard.’ My childhood was thrown into strict regime and training. There was kickboxing, sambo. I kind of branched into different sports later – county-level tennis, I went to high school in the US for a couple of years and played basketball and American football – and I took a break from full-on martial arts from 12 to 18. But as a teenager I still became a four-time British kickboxing champion.” Bukauskas’ father was there through it all, and he was in his son’s corner when the 29-year-old’s journey brought him back to the UFC this February, as Bukauskas took on Tyson Pedro on the Australian’s own turf. Fighting in Perth on two weeks’ notice, Bukauskas emerged as a decision winner against Pedro over three rounds, greeting the revelation of the judges’ scorecards with a roar of relief in the RAC Arena. “This is where everything can start to make a solid story,” Bukauskas says. “It’s by no means finished, we’ve got many more things to do, but I’m starting to build a proper comeback story.” That story continues on Saturday, when Bukauskas takes on Zac Pauga at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Bukauskas might live off the map, but he is now firmly back on the UFC’s. Read More UFC 2023 schedule: Every major fight happening this year UFC rankings: The Independent’s pound-for-pound fighters list Former Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler opponent makes prediction for UFC clash MMA fighter skips press conference due to fear of heights Conor McGregor announces fiancee is pregnant with couple’s fourth child Conor McGregor offers update on Miami Heat mascot after punching incident

Friday's football transfer rumours, with updates on Lautaro Martinez, Theo Hernandez, Moises Caicedo, James Maddison & more.

It was the sort of astonishing run the world has come to expect from those who don Argentina's iconic number