Sports

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…

Mbappe was involved in the decisive moment, his penalty kept out by Sommer as France failed to reach the quarter-final stage of a major tournament (European Champion and World Cup) for the first time since the 2010 World Cup.

Very difficult to turn the page, Mbappe – who has had more shots (14) without scoring than any other player at Euro 2020 – said in a post shared on Instagram. The sadness is immense after this elimination, we were not able to achieve our objective.

I am sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but I failed. It will be hard to sleep but sadly these are the risks of this sport that I love so much.

I know that you the fans are disappointed, but I would still like to thank you for your support and for having always believed in us…

Will it be Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane? Italy or Portugal – or indeed neither? Can Canada end their long wait, and are the United States and Australia at risk of missing out?

Those questions and plenty more are set to be answered over the next week or so as World Cup qualifying concludes for many nations.

Just 15 of the 32 participants have so far been confirmed for Qatar 2022, leaving 48 teams battling for the 17 remaining spots.

Fourteen more countries will be assured of a finals berth come the end of next week in what is very much crunch time for those still in contention.

Stats Perform looks at the key talking points.

Egypt seeking revenge in AFCON final repeat

Less than two months on from meeting in the Africa Cup of Nations final, …

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has no plans to end his glittering career anytime soon as he prepares to take charge of Los Blancos for the 300th time, versus Alaves in LaLiga on Tuesday.

Ancelotti has taken charge of Madrid 299 times across two spells, overseeing 119 games between 2013 and 2015, winning the Copa del Rey in 2013-14 and also leading the Spanish giants to their long-awaited 10th European Cup/Champions League crown.

Since returning to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2021, Ancelotti has overseen a further 180 matches, leading the side to two more Champions League successes, two domestic title triumphs and a further Copa del Rey win.

Ancelotti – who last season became the first coach to win the European Cup/Champions League on five occasions – turned 65…