Category: Sports

After 120 minutes and a penalty shootout, the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup dream came to a crushing end in Prague with “pain” the overriding emotion for manager Heimir Hallgrimsson.

From the high of their stunning last-gasp victory over Hungary in November that sent them into the play-offs, the mood was in stark contrast for the Irish as hosts Czech Republic fought back on this occasion to force extra time and then prevail on spot-kicks.

It was a night that promised so much as the Republic of Ireland found themselves two goals to the good after 23 minutes thanks to a Troy Parrott penalty and own goal from Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar.

But the hosts grabbed a lifeline from a Patrik Schick penalty soon after before captain Ladislav Krejci nodded home four minutes from time to force extra time.

Hallgrimsson’s side could have been out of sight but for the post which denied Jason Molumby in the second period and Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar who clawed away a Parrott header.

The Irish held the advantage in the penalties when Caoimhin Kelleher saved from Mojmir Chytil, only for Kovar to save from Finn Azaz and Alan Browne before Jan Kliment won it for the hosts who now face Denmark for a place in the World Cup on Tuesday.

“I feel pride in the performance as they gave it their all,” a crestfallen Hallgrimsson told reporters.

“I feel gratitude to the supporters who showed up and supported the team throughout and even after the loss, but I and I know the players feel only pain.”

Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola, who was at the game for BBC Sport, was particularly impressed with the Charles brothers, Shea and Pierce, who he described as “brilliant”.

“This national team has a very good future, they have potential and they need to keep growing and improving.

“When they get something more in the final third of the pitch there will be a big improvement”.

Those are big words from a player and pundit of Zola’s stature, and O’Neill echoed those thoughts.

He described 20-year-old goalkeeper Pierce, who missed the entire group campaign through injury, as “magnificent”, while midfielders Shea and Ethan Galbraith “could both play at a higher level” than Championship clubs after impressing against Tonali, Andrea Locatelli and Nicolo Barella.

O’Neill said he could praise every player in his team for how they adapted on a big stage.

“The saves that he made at key moments, but his [Pierce’s] decision making was excellent,” O’Neill said.

“He doesn’t bring any pressure onto his back three, which I think is rare in a goalkeeper of that age. He’s got a brilliant temperament.

“There were great performances all over the pitch tonight, but Pierce in particular had a very strong performance.”

The difficulty is, as I say, is having depth in our squad to deal with when players are not available to us. And that’s something that will take a bit of time. There’s no way to fast track that. We just have to be patient. And as I say, you know,

Graham Potter’s Sweden are one win from qualifying for the World Cup after Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick in their 3-1 play-off semi-final win over Ukraine.

The Arsenal forward had not scored in 2026 qualifying before Thursday’s game in Valencia, Spain.

But Gyokeres went home with the match ball after scoring in the sixth and 51st minutes, before completing his treble with a 73rd-minute penalty.

Sweden will face Poland in their play-off final on Tuesday, 31 March, after they also came from behind to overcome Albania 2-1, with veteran forward Robert Lewandowski, 37, among the scorers.

Kosovo, who are 78th in Fifa’s world rankings, will make their debut at this summer’s tournament if they beat Turkey in Pristina on Tuesday after twice coming from behind to stun Slovakia 4-3.

Turkey beat Romania 1-0, with Brighton full-back Ferdi Kadioglu scoring the only goal of the game in Istanbul.

And Denmark won 4-0 against North Macedonia in Copenhagen, with all four goals coming in the second half and Brentford’s Mikkel Damsgaard claiming the opener and Arsenal midfielder Christian Norgaard the fourth.

Elsewhere in the race to qualify for the World Cup, Northern Ireland’s World Cup dream ended with a 2-0 defeat away to Italy, while Wales were taken to extra-time by Bosnia-Herzegovina after their tie ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.

The Republic of Ireland led the Czech Republic 2-0 in Prague before the hosts fought back to draw level and take the game into extra time.

More to follow.

Thomas Tuchel says Ben White must “clear the air” with his England team-mates after returning to the squad for the first time in four years.

The Arsenal defender last played for his country in March 2022 and was called up for the Qatar World Cup later that year, but left the camp for “personal reasons” after a disagreement with then-assistant manager Steve Holland.

White, 28, then made himself “unavailable for selection” for the rest of former England manager Gareth Southgate’s tenure, which ended after the Euros in July 2024.

“I think everyone deserves a second chance,” said current boss Tuchel, when asked why White was considered for selection again.

“I don’t know exactly what happened. I was not 100% interested in that as I wanted to open a new page.

“Once I asked Ben if he would be ready to play for me and for England he straight away, and without hesitation, said he would love that and he was desperate to come back.

“I think it’s necessary he clears the air with team-mates and I think he will when players come back, who were in the World Cup with him.”

England have friendlies against Uruguay and Japan at Wembley in the last international break before Tuchel names his squad for the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada this summer.

The German said White, who can play at right-back and centre-back, did not hesitate when offered a recall.

“When the chance opened up for him with the injury to Jarrell Quansah very late, the reaction came within seconds, and was very euphoric, and very positive and he was emotional about it, which shows me that he really means it,” he added.

“The way he behaves and has trained in camp has been very good and shows his quality.”

Tuchel has named a 35-man squad for the matches against Uruguay on Friday (19:45 GMT), and then Japan on Tuesday (19:45 GMT), with 11 players – including captain Harry Kane, and Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice – joining on Saturday morning after being given time off to rest.

Refereeing mistakes on the field and through the video assistant referee have risen across most categories in this season’s Premier League.

The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel declared another four errors by referees in its latest report, taking the total to 54.

At the same stage last season there had been 44 wrong or missed VAR interventions, or on-field mistakes which did not reach the threshold for a video review.

Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) says the general trend is positive, with 70 mistakes after 30 games of the 2023-24 campaign.

But there have already been as many VAR errors this season (18) as in the whole of the last campaign – although with a quarter of the season left, that figure is much lower than the overall total for 2022-23 (38) and 2023-34 (31).

One area of improvement has been incorrect VAR reviews, which have fallen from four to three.

However, season-on-season there have been more missed VAR interventions (15), on-field errors (25) and incorrect second yellow card decisions (11).

In the round of matches between 14 and 16 March, the KMI Panel determined that three penalties should have been awarded, but the VAR was correct not to step in.

Arsenal should have been given a spot-kick against Everton for a foul by Michael Keane on Kai Havertz while Chelsea defender Reece James pulled back Newcastle United’s Malick Thiaw inside the area.

There should also have been a penalty for Brentford, when Kevin Schade was held by Wolverhampton Wanderers‘ Andre.

The fourth error was an incorrect second yellow card for Leeds United‘s Gabriel Gudmundsson at Crystal Palace. This was not reviewable by VAR, but will be from next season.

The KMI Panel is an independent, five-person body which assesses all incidents from each round of matches.

There have been fewer VAR interventions this season, down from 89 to 83. PGMO says this indicates better on-field decision making to the intended high bar.

It adds that delays because of VAR have improved by 25% over the last three campaigns. Stoppages have fallen from 64 seconds in 2023-24 to 48 seconds this season, which includes announcements inside stadiums.

On-field accuracy – which excludes VAR interventions to correct errors – has remained consistent at about 86% since the 2023-24 season.

Arsenal captain Kim Little has signed a one-year contract extension with the club.

The 35-year-old is one of the north Londoners’ most successful players of all time and has spent almost 15 years at Arsenal during two spells.

She led the squad to Women’s Champions League glory last season as they defeated Barcelona in Lisbon to lift their second European title.

The midfielder, widely regarded as one of Scotland’s greatest female footballers, has netted 177 goals in 405 Arsenal appearances.

She has won every trophy with the club, winning five league titles, three FA Cups and seven League Cups, along with last season’s Champions League and this term’s Champions Cup.

Little first joined Arsenal at the age of 17 in 2008 and spent five years in London before moving to Seattle Reign and later Melbourne City.

She returned to Arsenal in 2017 and was named captain a year later, helping them win the Women’s Super League title in 2019.

Her decision to retire from international football in 2021, after scoring 59 goals in 140 Scotland appearances, has helped prolong her club career.

Arsenal currently sit fourth in the WSL table with two games in hand and have a 3-1 advantage in their two-legged Women’s Champions League quarter-final tie with rivals Chelsea.

Fifa has begun disciplinary proceedings against three senior members of Congo-Brazzaville’s football federation, Fecofoot.

They include Fecofoot president, Jean-Guy Mayolas, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment, along with his wife and son, after being convicted of embezzling funds provided by the world governing body.

Mayolas and his family were tried in absentia, with their whereabouts currently unknown.

The Brazzaville criminal court found Mayolas, Fecofoot general secretary Wantete Badji and the federation’s treasurer Raoul Kanda guilty of money laundering, forgery, use of forged documents and embezzlement on 10 March.

Badji and Kanda received five-year prison sentences, while all three men are now being investigated for financial misconduct after Fifa’s ethics committee said it received “information and documents” during a review.

In a statement, external, Fifa listed forgery, conflicts of interest and offering and accepting gifts among the charges.

The criminal trial claimed that $1.3m (£950,000) in Fifa funds had been misappropriated, with the bulk of that money earmarked for a training centre and women’s football, as well as Covid relief.

A declaration signed by the presidents of every women’s club in the country’s top flight, sent to Congolese authorities, insisted that only a tiny percentage was ever paid out.

This is not the first time Mayolas and Bandji have fallen foul of a Fifa investigation, having received six-month bans in 2015 for breaking rules around gifts and benefits. Mayolas was Fecofoot vice president at the time.

Fecofoot was suspended by Fifa in February last year for political interference, following the Congolese government’s dismissal of Mayolas.

The national team was forced to forfeit two 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Zambia and Tanzania.

The ban was lifted in May after certain conditions were met, including the return of full control of the federation’s headquarters and other facilities to Fecofoot’s executive committee.

Paris St-Germain’s French league match against Lens, which was set to take place between the two legs of their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool, has been postponed.

The decision has been taken so the defending champions can “prepare in the best conditions” for the tie.

Ligue One leaders PSG were scheduled to visit second-placed Lens on Saturday, 11 April – three days after hosting Liverpool and three days before the second leg at Anfield.

Following PSG’s request to postpone the match, France’s Ligue de Football Professionel (LFP) has agreed to move it to 13 May.

RC Strasbourg’s Ligue 1 match at Stade Brestois on 12 April has also been moved to 13 May because of the French club’s Conference League quarter-final tie with Mainz.

The first leg is due to take place at Mainz on 9 April with the second leg at Strasbourg on 16 April.

“At the request of Paris St-Germain and RC Strasbourg in order to prepare in the best conditions for their respective quarter-finals, the board of directors of the LFP has unanimously decided, apart from the clubs concerned, to postpone the matches,” the LFP said.

The LFP added that the decision was in line with its “strategic direction” to “enable France to retain its fifth place in the Uefa coefficient”.

The performances of clubs in European competitions largely determines how many qualification places a league receives for Europe in future seasons, with France currently holding four Champions League spots.

When PSG made the request to postpone the match Lens, who are one point behind the French champions in Ligue One, said they were strongly against the idea and that the French league is in danger of being reduced to “an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some”.

On Thursday, once the decision was anounced, Lens said: “While expressing its disagreement with the unanimous decision of the LFP board of directors to postpone the match against Paris St-Germain, RC Lens acknowledges it responsibly and reaffirms its determination to pursue its sporting objectives.”

The LFP has also asked Lens to move their home game against Nantes on 9 May forward by one day if PSG qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Manchester City midfielder Rodri does not believe being a former Atletico Madrid player rules him out of joining Real Madrid and has said “you can’t turn down the best clubs in the world”.

The 29-year-old Spain midfielder, who has made 293 appearances for City since joining from La Liga club Atletico in 2019, will be out of contract next summer.

The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner says he “needs to sit down and talk” with City but added he would one day “like to come back” to Spain.

Despite making 47 appearances for Atletico, Rodri said he would consider joining city rivals Real.

“There have been many players who’ve gone down that path,” Rodri told Spanish media.

“Not immediately, but over time. For me, you can’t turn down the best clubs in the world.”

Players who have featured for both Real and Atletico include Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Spain forward Alvaro Morata – both of whom played for Chelsea between their spells at the Madrid clubs.

Rodri has won 12 major trophies with Pep Guardiola’s side, including four Premier League titles and one Champions League.

He has featured in 18 Premier League games this season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in 2024.

When asked what he thought of Real president Florentino Perez’s reported admiration for him as a footballer, Rodri replied: “I don’t know – they don’t talk to me directly. They’d talk to my agent.”

Rodri has been named in Luis de la Fuente’s Spain squad for upcoming friendlies against Serbia and Egypt as he targets a spot for this summer’s World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Rodri has made 59 appearances for his country and won the European Championships in 2024 and the Nations League the year before.