List of All Articles with Tag 'sports'

Watch the moment Lionel Messi was subbed on for his Inter Miami debut, before scoring a stunning free-kick winner against Cruz Azul deep in stoppage time. Seven months after the Argentine captain lifted the World Cup, all eyes were firmly on Florida as the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner made his eagerly anticipated first appearance in the US. Messi’s first match was certainly worth the wait too, as the legendary forward curled a stunning free-kick into the top corner of the Cruz Azul net with seconds to spare. His late heroics secured Inter Miami a 2-1 win in the Leagues Cup.

With the retirement of England’s record goalscorer Ellen White in the wake of last summer’s Euros triumph, much of the responsibility for providing the side’s attacking threat could now fall upon the shoulders of Alessia Russo. Russo, 24, who has just moved from Manchester United to Arsenal on a free transfer, grew in influence as that tournament progressed, regularly emerging from the bench to replace White and scoring twice in a 5-0 thrashing of Northern Ireland, as well as netting arguably the goal of the tournament in the semi-final: an utterly outrageous backheel to embarrass Sweden. Born and raised in Maidstone, Kent, Russo is of Sicillian heritage and took to football from an early age, both her father Mario and older brother Giorgio having played at non-league level. Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest updates as England face Haiti Rising through the youth ranks of first Charlton Athletic and then Chelsea, she briefly appeared for Brighton and Hove Albion in 2017 before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she spent two years playing college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels alongside Lotte Wubben-Moy, scoring an impressive 28 goals across 58 games over two seasons before having to curtail her time in the United States because of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Subsequently signing for Manchester United, she has scored 22 goals in 48 games for the Red Devils over the last three seasons, form that has earned her the attention of Sarina Wiegman and a move to the multiple title-winners, where she will link up next season with Lionesses’s teammates Leah Williamson, Wubben-Moye and Beth Mead and European greats Vivianne Miedema and Stina Blackstenius. The goalscoring form of both Rachel Daly and Bethany England last season means Russo’s place in the starting lineup as White’s natural replacement is by no means a given, however. 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? Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today

Kenya's Faith Kipyegon smashed the women's mile world record by almost five seconds at the Monaco Diamond League on Friday.

Rain has prevented play from starting on time on Day 4 of the fourth Ashes cricket test between England and Australia

Chloe Kelly has already secured her place in English football history after coming off the bench in last summer’s Euro 2022 Final to stab home the winner in extra-time as Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses beat Germany 2-1, tearing off her shirt and whirling it maniacally in the air in one of the most instantly-iconic celebrations Wembley has ever seen. Kelly had almost missed the tournament with a knee injury but returned to triumph, her moment of euphoria as joyous and empowering a moment as any sport anywhere has ever produced. Since then, she was England’s top scorer in February’s Arnold Clark Cup and scored the winning penalty against Brazil to win the Finalissima, proving once again that she is a big game player of the very highest calibre. Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest updates as England face Haiti Still only 25, the Londoner grew up in Hanwell, just a bus ride away from the national stadium, the youngest of seven siblings who credits her career to playing street football with her five brothers from a young age. Starting out at Queens Park Rangers, she was soon spotted by Arsenal and progressed through the Gunners’ youth ranks to make her senior debut against Watford at 17, scoring just 22 minutes into that match. In 2016, she was loaned out to Everton, who later made the signing permanent. She would score 16 times for the Toffees in 45 appearances before moving to Manchester City in 2020, where she has since netted another 16 in 48. At international level, she has worked her way up from under-17s to the senior squad, making her Lionesses debut versus Austria in November 2018 in a 3-0 win. With Beth Mead ruled out, Kelly will be competing with the likes of Lauren James for a starting place on the right-wing for England in Australia and New Zealand this month, where her directness again promises to terrify opposition defences. 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

Like international teammate Chloe Kelly, Manchester United midfielder Ella Toone will forever be remembered for scoring in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley last July. While Kelly’s winner and celebration made the headlines, in truth it was Toone’s equaliser that was the finer finish, the substitute staying onside to beat the German defence, latching onto an exquisite pass from Keira Walsh and delicately lofting the ball over Merle Frohms into an empty net. She had already netted a crucial equaliser against Spain in the quarter-finals of the same tournament when the Lionesses were beginning to look beaten and has since scored in another final for England, the Finalissima to be exact, setting her side on the path to a 4-2 win on penalties over the South American champions Brazil. Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest updates as England face Haiti Growing up outside Wigan, Toone, 23, began her playing career with Astley and Tyldesley Girls, where she was spotted by United and drafted into its youth set up in 2007 at the age of just eight, her potential obvious even then. However, after finding her opportunities for advancement limited, she left in 2013 at 14 to join Blackburn Rovers, breaking into the first team in 2015 and scoring an impressive 13 goals in 20 appearances. Between 2016 and 2018 she was with Manchester City, but played for them just five times before returning to United for its inaugural season in the FA Women’s Championship. She has gone on to play 99 times for the Red Devils and score 34 goals, appearing to particularly relish turning out against Leicester, having scored four against them and then five over the course of two separate encounters in 2019. Like Rachel Daly, it was Phil Neville who first called her up for England duty and nurtured her talent at international level, work that has continued under Sarina Wiegman and which has seen her bag two hat-tricks in qualifying for the World Cup against Latvia and North Macedonia. She will be expected to start this time around in place of the injured Fran Kirby. 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

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

With the Lionesses’ Euro 2022-winning captain Leah Williamson forced to miss out on the World Cup through injury, coach Sarina Wiegman has entrusted the responsibility for leading the team to experienced Chelsea centre back Millie Bright. Bright has been passed fit for England’s match against Haiti after recovering from knee surgery and the defender will lead the Lionesses in their Group D opener. Now 29, Bright grew up in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, overcoming infant pneumonia and asthma to enjoy a career as a top level athlete, although her first love was equestrianism, not football. Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest updates as England face Haiti Showing early promise when she did take to the field aged nine, she was soon scouted playing for Killamarsh Dynamos by Sheffield United and joined their academy before moving to Doncaster Rovers Belles aged 16 in 2009. Making her debut that same year and scoring on her first start, Bright spent a year on loan at Leeds Ladies before establishing herself at Doncaster, where she played with future Lionesses Mary Earps and Bethany England. In December 2014, she signed for Chelsea and has remained with the West London club ever since, picking up four Barclays Women’s Super League titles, three FA Women’s Cups and reaching the UEFA Champions League Final, scoring 14 times across 218 appearances. For England, she was an essential part of the side that reached the semi-finals of the last FIFA World Cup in France in 2019 and of last summer’s triumphant Euros team. She has represented her country, to date, 66 times and scored five international goals, striking up solid defensive partnerships with Williamson and Houghton during that time and posing a significant aerial threat from set plays. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup?

Hinata Miyazawa scored a pair of goals and Mina Tanaka and Jun Endo each added a goal and an assist as Japan beat Zambia 5-0 to open Women’s World Cup play for both sides

Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy was a squad player with England’s triumphant Euro 2022 side but will be ready to step up to the first team at the World Cup should Sarina Wiegman call upon her, with a number of high-profile defensive injury concerns making that increasingly likely. The Londoner, born to Dutch and English parents in Bow, has been with the Gunners since she was a child except for a stint in US college soccer with the North Carolina Tar Heels between 2017 and 2020, where her roommate was Alessia Russo, with whom she has just been reunited at club level. By enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the pair were following in the footsteps of fellow Lioness Lucy Bronze, but there time in North America was sadly curtailed by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which at least enabled her to return to North London. Now 24, Wubben-Moy has played 66 times for the Gunners over the course of her two stints with the club since 2015, scoring five times and counting England colleagues Leah Williamson and Beth Mead among her illustrious teammates. She was also captain of England’s successful under-17s side between 2015 and 2017 and has since picked up 10 caps for the senior side, a total she will be hoping to add to in Australia and New Zealand. However, perhaps Wubben-Moy’s biggest contribution to the Lionesses came immediately after the Euros, and off the pitch. While the Lionesses have become an important voice in asking for better for women in sport, and for inclusion in general, Wubben-Moy has been at the forefront of it. A player who understands her role in society, was her idea to demand equal access to sport for girl’s in school after the Euros final, leading to £600m of funding being pledged by the Government. Wubben-Moy’s affinity for Arsenal and the local area is well known – and her new deal with the club includes a commitment to support upcoming local community projects. The centre-back also spoke out against the hosting of the Qatar World Cup due to the country’s laws on homosexuality. Wubben-Moy is in a relationship with the professional cyclist and former Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart. Read More Keira Walsh: England’s deep-lying playmaker in profile Millie Bright: England women’s football captain in profile England women World Cup fixtures and route to the final

Break out the brellies

England begin their Women’s World Cup campaign against Haiti as the Lionesses look to follow up last summer’s Euros triumph with another major tournament victory. Sarina Wiegman’s side come into the World Cup as one of the favourites, despite losing stars Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby to injury, and are expected to get off to a winning start in Group D against debutants Haiti. With Williamson out, her centre-back partner Millie Bright will captain the side in Australia and the Lionesses have been boosted by the news that their stand-in skipper is fit to start. Haiti, who are ranked 53rd in the world, are joined by China and Denmark in Group D. England’s build-up to the World Cup has come amid a row with the Football Association over bonus payments and other commercial concerns, but the players have agreed to pause discussions during the tournament. Follow live updates as England take on Haiti at the Women’s World Cup. 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? Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today