Opening their European qualifying marker with a major statement on Friday night, France cruised their way to a 4-0 romp against the Netherlands in Paris.

While Les Bleus might have suffered World Cup final heartbreak out in Qatar over the winter, Didier Deschamps men certainly laid down what could be a crucial marker on home soil.

Opening the scoring after just two minutes as Antoine Griezmann got France off to a flying start, the former European champions really couldn t have wished for a better display here.

Storming their way to a 3-0 half-time lead as Kylian Mbappe and Dayot Upamecano helped Deschamps side make a real statement, it was their new skipper who will certainly steal most of the headlines.

With Mbappe eventually leaving Paris with yet anot…

Arsenal will play five Women’s Super League games at the Emirates Stadium next season and are committed to hosting all Champions League fixtures there should they qualify for the group stage.

Jonas Eidevall’s side have played three WSL fixtures at the stadium this season, setting a new league attendance record when they beat neighbours Tottenham 4-0 before selling over 86,000 tickets across matches against Manchester United and Chelsea.

Five of their Women’s Champions League games were also staged at the Emirates, including the semi-final second-leg sell-out against Wolfsburg, which saw the German side win in extra-time.

Same fixture. 10 years difference.

2013: 1,406 2023: 60,063

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC)

Arsenal are in a tu…

England manager Gareth Southgate is facing the unwelcome prospect of some potential members of his Euro 2024 squad flying halfway across the world for a post-season friendly.

Tottenham and Newcastle confirmed on Monday evening that they will face each other at Melbourne Cricket Ground on May 22.

Newcastle’s FA Cup exit last weekend opened the door for the Magpies to face Spurs in the friendly, which will see the two clubs jet off for Australia immediately after their final Premier League game of the season on May 19.

We will return Down Under in May as we head to Melbourne, Australia for a post-season visit, capped off by a friendly against Newcastle United

Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Wednesday 22 May, kick-off 7:45pm local time

— Tottenh…

A Paddy McCourt-inspired Northern Ireland cruised to a 4-0 home win over the Faroe Islands in Euro 2012 qualifying in Belfast on Wednesday.

The victory was the first in nine matches for Nigel Worthington s side as they moved to third in Group C.

Fulham s Aaron Hughes opened the scoring from close range after just five minutes but it took over an hour for the second goal to come.

The visitors were still in the game until Steven Davis 66th-minute drive from 25 yards found the back of the net, before Paddy McCourt made sure of the victory with a late double.

The Celtic midfielder starting his first international at the age of 27 netted after 71 and 88 minutes to put the polish on a valuable victory.

His first was a curling finish from Jonny Evans ba…

With officially getting underway on June 14th when host nation Germany welcome Scotland to Munich, all of Europe’s elite will be looking to write their own piece of history this summer.

With many tipped the Three Lions’ current crop as a real golden generation, the likes of former world champions also boast a string of attacking icons.

Ahead of what promises to be a month of non-stop Euro 24 action, we have taken a look at the three striking superstars that are pencilled in as the leading contenders to lift this summer’s Golden Boot.

Harry Kane England Bayern Munich

While Bayern Munich might have endured a real domestic nightmare this season as they relinquished their Bundesliga crown to a record-breaking Bayer Leverkusen, enjoyed what was a stunning m…

The draw for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations has taken place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, revealing the make up of the four pools.

The countries were seeded based on their performance in the last three Cup of Nations tournaments, with Ivory Coast and Ghana finding themselves among the top four seeds alongside co-hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Group A of the tournament in January and February puts Equatorial Guinea with southern African hopefuls Zambia, the Teranga Lions of Senegal and Libya.

The latter have done a fantastic job of qualifying for the tournament in January and February 2012 despite the political turmoil and civil war that they have had to endure this year.

Ivory Coast and Angola will be meeting in Group B, where they will be joined by…

The World Cup draw was made in Moscow s Kremlin Palace on Friday as the 2018 finals move ever closer.

Though for the most part the heavyweights that could have faced off in the group stage avoided each other, there are still some tantalising matches to look forward to.

Here we look at five of the most intriguing contests of the group stage.

Uruguay v Russia June 25, Samara

If fans of the host nation were looking for a glamour tie in the group stage, then this is it.

Egypt are no pushovers but Russia s meetings with the seven-time African champions and Saudi Arabia will be ones they will be expected to win. Should they do so, then a game in Samara against Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani will carry the extra appeal of potentially deciding …

Belgium are not concerned about the lack of people touting them as one of the favourites to win Euro 2024, according to full-back Timothy Castagne.

Belgium s so-called golden generation have flattered to deceive at recent tournaments, a bronze medal at the 2018 World Cup being their best finish at any competition since they were runners-up at Euro 1980.

They were stunned by Wales in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, beaten by Italy at the same stage at Euro 2020 and succumbed to a group-stage exit at the last World Cup in Qatar.

They topped their qualification group for Euro 2024 – the sixth successive campaign in which they have done so – and are now unbeaten in 40 World Cup/Euros qualifiers (35 wins, five draws).

But with Thibaut Courtois left out of…

Lionel Messi set his sights on MLS Cup success after leading Inter Miami to the Supporters Shield.

Messi scored twice as Miami beat the Columbus Crew 3-2 on Wednesday and secured the Supporters Shield for the first time in their history.

The regular-season points record in MLS is also on the cards for Miami, though they must win their remaining two games before the playoffs in order to surpass the tally of 73 set by the New England Revolution in 2021.

And Messi is now focused on the next task at hand.

We suffered until the end, Messi told MLS Season Pass. It shows what this team is about.

In quotes reported by BBC Sport, Messi said: The first objective has been achieved and now we have to think about what s next.

The first round is thre…

Lionel Messi was left very angry with his miss in Argentina s penalty shoot-out victory over Ecuador in the Copa America quarter-finals.

La Albiceleste progressed to the semi-finals after a dramatic contest at the NRG Stadium in a game where Kevin Rodriguez s injury-time leveller ensured the contest would go the distance in a 1-1 draw after Lisandro Martinez s first-half opener.

The legendary Messi was first to step up for his team but saw a dinked penalty hit the crossbar. Thankfully for the 37-year-old, Emiliano Martinez saved penalties from Angel Mena and Alan Minda as Argentina triumphed 4-2 in the shoot-out.

Speaking after the game, Messi told reporters: I was very angry, I was convinced that I would take it like that.

I had spoken with Dibu (Martin…