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Updates from the Matildas’ clash at Stadium AustraliaKick-off time in Sydney is 8pm AEDTAny thoughts? Get in touch with an emailThis will be the 29th time these two sides have met. Japan hold the upper hand with 12 wins to Australia’s eight.The most recent clash was almost exactly one year ago at the SheBelieves Cup in Houston with Japan running out 4-0 winners. Nine of Australia’s likely starting XI started that match, but it did come during the interminable interregnum between Tony Gustavsson and Joe Montemurro when the Matildas were in the midst of a run of five defeats in seven outings. Continue reading...

⚽ News and previews ahead of a busy weekend⚽ Ten things to look out for | Mail matchday liveThere’s a battle going on for Champions League spots in Germany too. And there was a striking result in Friday night’s game when RB Leipzig hammered Hoffenheim 5-0 to jump above their rivals on goal difference and move into third. Leipzig were 4-0 up at half-time in a match which saw Brajan Gruda and Christoph Baumgartner both score twice.Later today, Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich host Union Berlin (ninth) in one of four 2.30pm kick-offs in the Bundesliga. They could stretch their lead at the top to 12 points over Borussia Dortmund, who have a home game against mid-table Hamburg at 5.30pm. Continue reading...

Arsenal and Manchester City meet at Wembley on Sunday. How much do you remember about previous finals? Continue reading...

Paul Robinson, who at 20 was picked by Ruud Gullit ahead of the England captain for a critical 1999 derby, looks backIt was the final shot in a brutal civil war that left Newcastle reeling for a year. For Paul Robinson, though, Ruud Gullit’s decision to start him over Alan Shearer in the Tyne-Wear derby felt like a natural progression.Tensions between Gullit and Shearer had been brewing since the Dutchman replaced Kenny Dalglish on 27 August 1998. Two days short of the first anniversary, everything came to a head when Newcastle’s talisman was not selected to start against Sunderland for the biggest game in the club’s calendar. Continue reading...

Punishment for undeclared payments in the Abramovich era seems pathetically light and diminishes the Premier LeagueYou might feel enough has already been said about the Chelsea huddle. You would be wrong, of course. It is impossible to say enough about the Chelsea huddle. A week on, that moment when the Chelsea players formed a scrum on the centre circle around what appeared at first glance to be a depressed hatstand, but turned out to be the immovable figure of referee Paul Tierney, is still the most moreishly haunting image of the season.What did it mean? Even the basic geometry is fascinating, with its fractal-like symmetries. Here we have the Chelsea players making a circle inside a circle around a sphere on top of a smaller circle, above which a single bald head protrudes like an orbital moon. Continue reading...

World No 1 beats Brazilian 6-4, 6-4 at the Hard Rock StadiumSpaniard says teenager ‘reminds me a lot [of me] when I was his age’As Carlos Alcaraz worked through his service motion midway through his opening match at the Miami Open, a scream pierced the night-time air. One of the 16,000 spectators breathlessly cheering Alcaraz’s demise had attempted to distract the Spaniard just before he struck the ball.In a spectacular atmosphere unlike many other Masters 1000 second round matches in recent memory, Alcaraz maturely navigated both a passionate, adversarial crowd and a prodigious teenage opponent in Joao Fonseca to reach the third round of the Miami Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win. Continue reading...

‘Servebot’ fires down 25 aces to beat British playerKatie Boulter into third round after win over TausonJack Draper suffered a tough defeat in his opening match at the Miami Open as he could do little to ­neutralise a dominant serving performance from Reilly Opelka, who fired down 25 aces in two sets en route to a 7-6(3), 7-6(0) win.The defeat is a difficult setback for Draper, the 25th seed, as he ­continues to navigate the early stages of his return to competition from a bone bruise injury that forced him off the tour for seven months. Miami is just the third ATP tournament of his comeback. Continue reading...

Clot appeared in his arm after injection in wrong place‘I will never let the devil stop me from getting a gold’On a night of dizzying speed and freakish drama, track and field found itself a new sprint sensation. It came in the form of Jordan Anthony, a 21-year-old American with one heck of a story, along with the first global gold medal around his neck.“The devil is always going to try, but I will never let him stop me from getting a gold medal,” he said after winning one of the great world indoor championships 60m races of all time in 6.41secs, the fourth-fastest time in history. Continue reading...

Former boxing world champion’s cause of death was hanging but his intention was unclear, inquest concludesA coroner has said she “cannot be satisfied” that British former boxing world champion Ricky Hatton intended to take his own life.Hatton, 46, was found dead in his home on 14 September, with the inquest concluding that the official cause of his death was hanging.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Everton manager: ‘I don’t think they have explained it well enough’Anger at Everton over perceived double standardsDavid Moyes has called on the Premier League to provide a fuller explanation of why Chelsea were not deducted points for breaking financial rules under the ownership of Roman Abramovich.Everton were deducted 10 points in November 2023, reduced to six on appeal, plus a further two points later that season for breaches of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). Nottingham Forest were deducted four points that season for a PSR breach. The Premier League had argued for a 12-point deduction for Everton over the first offence – a breach of £19.5m over a three-year period – and an eight point deduction for Forest. Continue reading...