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Sergino Dest has joined PSV Eindhoven on loan from Barcelona.

There remains a space above England’s crest, where that star could have been. It was what Lucy Bronze had dreamt of, ever since the moment where she first played for her country and realised England’s men’s and women’s teams don’t share the same badge. The Lionesses had the chance to change that, the opportunity to add their first star, the moment to capture their 1966. But the wait will now go on. After a historic tournament where the Lionesses again made their mark back home and demonstrated the immense power of what they have created, Sarina Wiegman’s side were left with a devastatingly simple conclusion. As a first Women’s World Cup slipped out of reach, the deflating reality was that, on the day, Spain were just better. And as England’s World Cup came to a close, there was no disgrace in that – certainly not against a side as talented as Spain’s, even with their issues. At full time, as the Spanish players celebrated at one end of the pitch, head coach Jorge Vilda and his staff at the other, Wiegman and her team were a picture of unity in the centre. Even in that moment, they realised they had already managed to achieve something far greater. Wiegman told them they could still be proud, that they had given everything not just in the final but on their journey to reach it. The England manager reminded them of the challenges they had been forced to overcome and the togetherness they had shown to grow through the tournament, right until that final moment. There was pride, too, that the team had given its nation reason to love them even more. “We’re the Lionesses,” Georgia Stanway said afterwards, and that term of itself has become synonymous with their ability to inspire and transcend, to bring a country to a halt and take millions along with them. “We’re not done yet,” Stanway continued. “We’ll continue to break barriers, we’ll continue to push on." This isn’t a team who stands still. The Lionesses have created an identity and image that represents the immense change and progress, and whose performances at the World Cup will result in more. If the impact of last summer’s Euros win is anything to go by, then when the WSL returns there will be bigger attendances, more investment, more growth. Eventually, Mary Earps will get her shirt and when she does it will be another moment to symbolise the power of what the Lionesses have done. And, of course, winning the World Cup would have galvanised that further, but when a team and a manager have a purpose like the Lionesses do then it only becomes a step on the journey. “This group of players are so eager to be successful. We want to grab every moment to be better,” Wiegman said. The World Cup turned out to be the ultimate test of just that, an examination of England’s strength, not that it was ever in doubt. England won fans in a different way to last summer. From the dizzying buzz of the Euros, the Lionesses had to grind it out far away from home in Australia. Wiegman said she had “never faced so many problems” during the World Cup, an admission she made after the Lionesses scraped past Nigeria on penalties in the last-16. From the clarity and continuity of last summer’s Euros, England had anything but at the World Cup and at times were vulnerable to an early exit. Amid the shocks and unpredictability of the group stages, enough teams were succumbing to that particular theme of the World Cup to suggest that England could have quite easily become its latest victim. England’s players had set the bare minimum of the semi-finals yet the way the Lionesses played in their first two matches against Haiti and Denmark suggested even that was a stretch. Yet England managed to overturn it – they didn’t accept their fate and instead found something new, creating a new formation that breathed new life into their campaign. In the knockout stages, they showed resilience and mentality, and in the semi-finals against Australia they produced the performance of their campaign, a gutsy win in the back garden of a traditional sporting enemy, and the sort of performance that the nation back home could be proud of. The regret was they were unable to replicate it in the final, even though Wiegman insisted she had none from a final where Spain ultimately showed their class. It spared the grand inquest into England’s World Cup that would have inevitably followed a defeat to Nigeria in the last-16 or Colombia in the quarter-finals. Even without Beth Mead, Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby, England showed where they stand in the power rankings to reach the final. Defeat there is not the end of anything, rather a continuation of a journey. As for what is next, the answer is invariably more football, yet more opportunities. England will need to perform well in the inaugural Women’s Nations League and reach the final in order to guarantee qualification to next summer’s Olympics in Paris, a competition Wiegman is determined to be at after a miserable experience with the Netherlands at the ‘Covid Games’ in Tokyo in 2021. Then it’s 2025, and the defence of the Euros. As England pick themselves to go again, it will be a priority for the FA that Wiegman is there for the next World Cup. Wiegman’s contract is until 2025 and while she has made it clear that she is happy with England and the support of the team, the Dutch coach will undoubtedly attract interest from elsewhere. The FA would be wise to act swiftly. Certainly, when Wiegman is paid an annual salary of £400,000 to Gareth Southgate’s £5m, it is clear where the FA could make a statement of how much they value Wiegman and the job she has done for English football and the exponential growth of the Lionesses. In the aftermath of another World Cup final defeat, after also losing at that point with the Netherlands in 2019, Wiegman admitted that thinking four years ahead was too far away. But the reality is some players may have already had their last opportunity, particularly Bronze. The right-back had reached the semi-finals in 2015 and 2019, then had the historic high of breaking the barrier and reaching England’s first World Cup final, only for it to be followed by the crushing low of losing the ball in the build-up to Olga Carmona’s goal. It’s the cold reality of World Cup finals, where the opportunity to be champions only comes along every four years. It is exactly why it is the game’s greatest stage and why defeat on it, of being so close but remaining so far away, is the most heartbreaking of all. For Bronze and England the chance to claim the World Cup was right there, and, while the Lionesses may bask in the seismic impact of their achievements back home, it is the thought of that missing star that will remain with them for at least another four years. Read More England suffer World Cup heartache as brilliant Spain show Lionesses what’s missing A change too far? England’s last roll of the dice comes up short How not to win a World Cup: Spain, Jorge Vilda and the story of a complicated victory How not to win a World Cup: Spain, Jorge Vilda and the story of a complicated victory The vital lesson England must take to ‘continue breaking barriers’ England players ‘heartbroken’ after World Cup final defeat to Spain

Nia Ali will have her three children who she says are her "toughest critics" in the stadium as she bids to regain her 100m hurdles world title in Budapest...

Newly crowned Women’s World Cup champion Spain has established itself as a team to be reckoned with for many years to come

The New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans have agreed to cancel the joint practices that were scheduled to be held in New Orleans on Thursday and Friday

Aaron Boone, Brian Cashman, and Hal Steinbrenner all met recently before the New York Yankees were swept by the Boston Red Sox.The New York Yankees have tried to keep the faith that they can turn around their disastrous 2023 season. They cited players returning from injury and positives in bruta...

Amine Bassi, Nelson Quiñónes and Corey Baird scored goals in the first 14 minutes and the Houston Dynamo cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Portland Timbers as league play resumed after a five-week hiatus for Leagues Cup play

TL;DR: Livestream the Vuelta a España for free with ExpressVPN. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN

Novak Djokovic defeated Carlos Alcaraz, 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4) on Sunday to avenge his Wimbledon final loss and capture the Western & Southern Open title in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Captain Millie Bright is confident England will emerge a stronger side after processing the gut-wrenching reality of finishing as World Cup runners-up. The Lionesses overcame obstacles and disproved doubters over the expanded month-long competition, which for the first time saw 32 teams whittled down to two, Spain and England, who were both making their debuts in the showpiece final. Olga Carmona’s first-half strike in Sydney proved enough to send La Roja home with the trophy, while England were reminded that football can be a game of cruel inches after Lauren Hemp’s near-opener pinged off the crossbar. Bright said: “The mentality has always been there. The character has been there, too. We show that, day in, day out, and in every game. We’ve just played in a World Cup final, it’s hard to see it like that at the moment. I’m proud of the girls. “We’ve played on the highest stage. We’ve had a shot at competing for the trophy we have always wanted but this isn’t the end of the journey and we will definitely bounce back. For now, though, we’ll let it settle.” While each of Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses will rue and process the loss differently, their skipper is the sole member of the squad for whom the morning after also happens to be a birthday. Bright, who turns 30 today, inherited the captain’s armband before the World Cup from Euro 2022-winning skipper Leah Williamson, who was forced to miss the tournament after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in April. Beth Mead, last summer’s Golden Boot winner, was also unavailable for selection after she was unable to recover in time from the same problem, while Chelsea midfielder Fran Kirby missed out with a separate knee issue. Perhaps some inside the England camp are now wondering what might have been had those European champions been available, or perhaps not, but the only regrets Bright was willing to share after coming so close to bringing the World Cup home to England were the minor moments that made the difference. “There are probably one million different feelings,” said Bright. “Pride, disappointment, heartbroken that we didn’t win. “We came off the pitch holding our heads high, knowing that we have given absolutely everything in the game. In the second half especially we left it all out there. “We didn’t take our chances today and those are the small margins that decide football in a final against a top, top team. “You get those chances and hit the crossbar, the keeper makes saves. They get theirs and put it in the net.” Bright, whose club boss Emma Hayes was an ITV pundit for the World Cup, will soon return to Chelsea where she looks a shoo-in to replace departed captain Magda Eriksson. But before the Blues kick-off their campaign in search of a fifth straight Women’s Super League (WSL) title against Tottenham on October 1, Bright and the Lionesses will face Scotland then the Netherlands in the new UEFA Women’s Nations League in late September. That competition will decide which two European teams will join co-hosts France at the Paris Olympics, which begin in just 340 days. Perhaps next year’s birthday will come accompanied with a fresh gold medal from those Games, but for now Bright is feeling grateful for the support that helped secure her World Cup silver. She added: “It’s been incredible. It’s surreal. Thank you for believing in us. I hope you have enjoyed the ride. It’s been amazing. It’s hard to see it like that. It’s been incredible. We’ve had an opportunity and we’ve gained a medal that not many other players have got.”

The Dallas Cowboys found out that one of their top rookies in training camp, DeMarvion Overshown, is going to be sidelined for quite some time. Sadly, Overshown isn't the only rookie sidelined long-term.The Dallas Cowboys completed their second preseason game on Saturday, where they fell to...

Within the span of hours this weekend, Spain's Women's World Cup hero Olga Carmona experienced a career high and a deep loss, the latter of which was kept from her so she could focus on Sunday's final.