Category: Sports

At the start of February, South African Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie was forced to clarify remarks from his deputy that South Africa was set to step in as Wafcon hosts, adding further fuel to talk of a potential switch from Morocco.

McKenzie went on to say that “South Africa has expressed its willingness to support Caf if required, should alternative hosting arrangements for the 2026 Wafcon become necessary”.

In response, Caf president Patrice Motsepe said “many” other nations were interested in hosting Wafcon but could not because they wanted to alter the dates of the tournament.

Motsepe went on to insist “we can’t change the dates” – a comment which has aged poorly, especially as this is not the first time Wafcon has been shunted around Africa’s footballing calendar, leading to accusations that women’s football is not seen as a priority.

While the men’s Afcon was merely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, Wafcon 2020 was cancelled entirely. The 2024 edition was finally played last July, having been postponed for a year.

This time around, with only 12 days’ notice given, teams were in the final stages of their preparations. Ghana’s players, for example, were already in a training camp in the UAE.

“It just wouldn’t happen for other tournaments in women’s football – and especially in men’s football,” Ashleigh Plumptre told Sportsworld on the BBC World Service.

The Nigeria defender, who was part of the Super Falcons side who secured a record-breaking 10th title last July, says the fact that the 2026 tournament – the first to feature 16 teams – will double up as qualifying for next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil makes the late postponement more distressing.

“Many teams haven’t even been in the Afcon before, never mind had the chance to qualify for a World Cup. It also helps them financially,” Plumptre added.

“All I can do, and I’ve almost probably been forced to be put in this position, is just take day by day and prepare myself in the best way that I can because there’s so many things I’ve had to get accustomed to, and many other players in African football, where you kind of just have to go with it, because you have no other choice.”

He produced some history as well as they became the first Asian nation to reach eight consecutive World Cups, co-hosting in 2002 among those appearances.

These are the types of games Clarke wants his players to pit their wits in, against opponents they seldom get the chance to face, with Ivory Coast next on Tuesday.

This match is also important to the visitors as they prepare for games against the Netherlands and Tunisia in the summer, with a further European nation joining them from the play-offs for their games in Arlington and Guadalupe.

Japan are without three star men for the game at Hampden, in Real Sociedad winger Takefusa Kubo and Monaco’s former Liverpool midfielder Takumi Minamino – who are both long-term injured – as well as former Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, now of Ajax.

However, there is still plenty for Clarke to concern himself with as they look to win a Hampden friendly for the first time in a decade, as noted by Brighton & Hove Albion’s Kaoru Mitoma, who is arguably the star turn in Japan squad.

“I think we’ve certainly made people take notice by becoming the fastest nation to qualify, but if we want to take that next step, there’s still a lot of things we need to do,” the winger said on that memorable night in Saitama.

“If we want to win the World Cup, we need to improve our attack, improve our defence, improve plenty of things and there’s still a wall in front of us, but we will do all we can to get over that.”

The votes are in and the journey to crown Scotland’s Most Iconic Goal has begun.

It’s a knockout format leading up to the World Cup – starting with the last 16 – before we crown the most iconic goal just before the tournament kicks off.

In the first knockout match, David Narey strike against Brazil took on Kenny Dalglish’s header against Wales – and Narey’s effort from the 1982 finals squeezed into the quarter finals with 51.7% of the vote.

In this week’s match up, Ally McCoist (goal eight) takes on Leigh Griffiths (goal 12) – and you can cast your vote here. You can also watch every goal below.

England take on Uruguay in a friendly on Friday and to mark the match we’re looking back to the last time the two played each other at the 2014 World Cup.

Luis Suarez starred in the Group D encounter, helping Uruguay to a 2-1 win which, after other results went against England, essentially knocked Roy Hodgson’s side out of the tournament.

It’s not a game England fans remember too fondly, but can you pick out the players who started the match? We’ve given you their positions and clubs at the time as a clue.

England won all eight of their qualifying games, scoring 22 goals and conceding none to finish comfortably clear at the top of Group K.

However, their group opponents were Albania, Andorra, Latvia and Serbia – four sides ranked outside the top 20 in the world.

Indeed their toughest test in terms of ranking last year was a friendly against Senegal, who were 19th in the world at the time. England lost 3-1.

It may have been a non-competitive match, but the Three Lions’ performance in that game was concerning.

“No discernible plan. No identity. No improvement – arguably even a regression – since Sir Gareth Southgate stepped down after defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin,” wrote BBC Sport’s chief football writer Phil McNulty after the game.

“[Tuchel] may offer up mitigating circumstances as he made 10 changes from the World Cup qualifying win against Andorra, plus this was a friendly at the end of a long season. But it was still a sobering, alarming evening as Senegal outclassed England.”

While that result and performance may have been a blip, England needed to face higher-ranked opponents to test them before heading to the World Cup – and they should get that against Uruguay and then Japan, who currently occupy 19th in the world rankings.

The Republic of Ireland are no strangers to penalty pain. But unlike against Spain at the 2002 World Cup and Slovakia in the Euro 2020 play-offs, they led this game 2-0 and now must reckon with how they lost control of their destiny.

“We were in a good spot,” captain Nathan Collins told BBC Sport NI.

“We were playing really well. We were front-footed, creating chances, our press was working, we were hurting them on the ball.

“The timing of their first goal probably affects it a bit and knocks the wind out of you. They had a lot to fight for in the second half, but it’s probably the timing of it rather than the performance.”

There was a kind of twisted inevitability with how the Republic of Ireland’s fate was sealed after Hallgrimsson revealed in the build-up that his squad would not practise penalties.

It at least did not impact Parrott’s coolness from 12 yards. The talismanic striker converted in Budapest and expertly dispatched another for the opener in Prague despite a lengthy wait for the home side’s protestations to subside.

Parrott made no mistake at the start of the shootout, and while Adam Idah and Robbie Brady both followed suit, Azaz and Browne – who also failed to score in the Slovakia shootout – were denied by Kovar.

“They have a lot of thoughts in their head right now,” added Collins, who hit the crossbar early in the game.

“There’s not a lot you can say to a person when they’re in that position. But there are not a lot of people that would stand up and take a penalty.

“It took a lot of bravery for them to do that so there’s no fingers being pointed at them at all.”

Available for 29 days

Delyth Lloyd is at the Cardiff City stadium and it’s heartbreak for Wales as they lost 4-2 on penalties to Bosnia-Herzegovina. The deadlock couldn’t be broken after it finished 1-1 in extra time and Bosnia-Herzegovina will go on to face Italy in the play-off final on Tuesday.

Alistair Bruce-Ball, Tom Lockyer and Dave Edwards dissect the match and how Wales were just four minutes away from the play-off final after the visitors equalized. Hear from the Wales manager Craig Bellamy, Dan James and defender Ethan Ampadu as they reflect on the disappointment of not making it to the World Cup this summer.

Elsewhere Italy ended Northern Irelands dream of reaching the finals with a 2-0 win in the play-off semi-final in Bergamo, hear Michael O’Neil’s thoughts on his teams qualifying campaign.

TIMECODES:
01:30 – Reaction to Wales losing on penalities
07:10 – Dan James
09:50 – Ethan Ampadu
13:00 – Craig Bellamy
18:29 – Northern Ireland reaction Michael O’Neil
23:00 – What next for Wales?

Fri 1945 England v Uruguay
Sat 1200 Everton v Liverpool in the WSL on Sports Extra 2
Sat 1330 Man Utd v Man City in the WSL
Sat 1730 Arsenal v Spurs in the WSL on Sports Extra
Sun 1200 Chelsea v Aston Villa in the WSL
Sun 1500 Leicester v Brighton & Hove in the WSL on Sports Extra 2

Programme WebsiteShow less

Wales’ hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup are ended by Bosnia-Herzegovina in Cardiff as the away side score a late equaliser before winning on penalties in their play-off semi-final.

READ MORE: Wales suffer agonising World Cup play-off shootout loss to Bosnia

Wales manager Craig Bellamy says he’s “disappointed” his side couldn’t hold on for victory in their World Cup play-off semi final against Bosnia-Herzegovina, as they conceded an 86th minute equaliser, before going on to lose on penalties after extra time.

READ MORE: Wales suffer agonising World Cup play-off shootout loss to Bosnia

Substitutions did not help Wales’ cause. With the dangerous Daniel James, scorer of Wales’ spectacular long-range goal, and David Brooks taken off, their replacements Liam Cullen and Mark Harris struggled to influence the game.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Bellamy said. “No, we make changes all the time and we have to.

“We have a lot of players who don’t play 90 minutes at their clubs, so to ask them to come here and play 90 minutes is a lot more difficult. We need a squad.

“I am very proud but definitely disappointed. There was a lot of good, but it wasn’t to be.

“I got what I wanted from my team but, with 20 minutes left, we stopped playing and we just can’t do that, even though it was understandable.

“It was a big lesson for us. We needed to see the game out with the ball.”

As you would expect after such a crushing setback, Bellamy was flat after the game. By his animated standards at least.

He was, however, still able to muster some optimism.

Bellamy never got the chance to play at a major international tournament, and he has failed with his first attempt as head coach.

The next opportunity is Euro 2028, which Wales will co-host with England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

“We’ve got a home nations Euros coming up, what an incredible time,” Bellamy said.

“We wanted to be in a World Cup this summer, but the future is very bright. There are some good years ahead for Wales.

“I’m disappointed for the players we couldn’t get back-to-back World Cups because we are a good team.”

Thoughts of future tournaments can wait. For now, Wales will endure this pain and learn some harsh lessons.

“We’re going to hurt, but there’s a bright future. It’s hard to think about now, even though I’m trying,” Bellamy said.

“I’ll think about that tomorrow morning because that hurt is sinking in now. It will be difficult to sleep off the back of this one but it makes me even more determined.

“Tomorrow the sun will rise and I’m going to watch that sunrise.”