London (AFP) – Gareth Southgate hailed Ollie Watkins' "fairytale" England debut after the Aston Villa striker scored in a 5-0 win against San Marino in Thursday's opening World Cup qualifier. Just four years ago, Watkins was playing in English football's fourth tier with Exeter. The 25-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise since then, joining Brentford […]

Paris (AFP) – Zlatan Ibrahimovic made a winning return to international football with Sweden on Thursday after nearly five years away as Germany came out for human rights in their opening qualifier for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Ibrahimovic set up Viktor Claesson's 35th-minute winner at the Friends Arena just outside Stockholm in his […]

Granada (Spain) (AFP) – Former champions Spain were held to a 1-1 draw by Greece in their opening 2022 World Cup qualifier on Thursday with the visitors earning a point from a disputed penalty. Luis Enrique's Spain dominated the first half in Granada with Juventus striker Alvaro Morata scoring with a left-foot drive on 33 […]

Stockholm (AFP) – Zlatan Ibrahimovic said it felt like his Sweden debut as he set up the decisive goal in his first international appearance in nearly five years with Thursday's 1-0 home win over Georgia in 2022 World Cup qualifying. Ibrahimovic, 39, played his last Sweden game at Euro 2016 before wearing his country's yellow […]

Berlin (AFP) – Germany's national team lined up in T-shirts which spelled the message 'Human Rights' before their World Cup qualifier against Iceland on Thursday, less than two years before the finals are controversially staged in Qatar. "We have the World Cup coming up and there will be discussions about it.... we wanted to show […]

Duisburg (Germany) (AFP) – Germany cruised to a 3-0 win over Iceland on Thursday to get their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start after their players staged a pre-match demonstration for human rights. The Germans lined up ahead of their match wearing T-shirts that spelled out "human rights" a day after […]

Glasgow (AFP) – John McGinn's stunning overhead kick five minutes from time rescued Scotland from a losing start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Austria at Hampden on Thursday. Sasa Kalajdzic twice put the visitors in front in the second-half with his first international goals, but Grant Hanley's […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – A dour 0-0 Africa Cup of Nations home draw with Togo on Thursday was instantly forgotten by Comoros supporters as they celebrated reaching the finals for the first time. The southeast island state have steadily improved since being humiliated twice by Madagascar when they debuted in the 2010 edition. And the stalemate […]

Parma (Italy) (AFP) – Italy got their World Cup qualifying campaign off the mark with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland in their Group C qualifier in Parma on Thursday. Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile scored in the first half in the Stadio Ennio Tardi as the hosts extended their unbeaten run under coach […]

Stockholm (AFP) – Zlatan Ibrahimovic set up the decisive goal in his first Sweden appearance in nearly five years with Thursday's 1-0 home win over Georgia in 2022 World Cup qualifying. Ibrahimovic had made his last international appearance at Euro 2016 before donning his country's yellow shirt for the 117th time in the Swedes' Group […]

Berlin (AFP) – Germany's national team lined up in T-shirts which spelled the message 'Human Rights' before their 2022 World Cup qualifier against Iceland on Thursday. Joachim Loew's side echoed a similar demonstration from Norway, who on Wednesday donned T-shirts with the message 'Human rights, on and off the pitch' in support of migrant workers […]

London (AFP) – England made a confident start to their World Cup qualifying campaign as James Ward-Prowse and Ollie Watkins scored their first international goals in Thursday's 5-0 win against San Marino. Gareth Southgate's side raced into a three-goal lead before half-time at Wembley in their opening Group I fixture. Southampton midfielder Ward-Prowse started the […]

Prague (AFP) – Slavia Prague and Czech Republic defender Ondrej Kudela will skip next week's World Cup qualifier in Wales over safety concerns following a racism row involving a Glasgow Rangers player. Kudela sparked racist abuse charges from Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara after making comments to him at the end of last week's Europa League […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Record seven-time champions Egypt and minnows the Comoros and the Gambia were among five teams who qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday, and Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea could join them later. Egypt drew 1-1 with 10-man Kenya in Nairobi where an early Mohamed 'Afsha' Magdy goal for the visitors […]

London (AFP) – Celtic captain Scott Brown will leave the Glasgow giants after a success-laden 14-year spell to join Aberdeen next season in a player-coach role. The 35-year-old former Scotland skipper has signed a pre-contract with the Dons to work alongside new manager and his former Hibernian teammate Stephen Glass. Brown signed for Celtic from […]