20:30 Wolverhampton - 30th June 2025 Results
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Rhyl Journal
31 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
‘Healthy competition' can drive England to Euro glory
Sarina Wiegman's side earned a convincing 7-0 victory over Jamaica in their final game before they aim to defend their European crown in Switzerland starting on Saturday against France. Toone got on the scoresheet in an England shirt for the first time since a 5-1 win over Italy in February 2024 as she netted both the opener and third goal from range. Send-off victory 🙌 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) June 30, 2025 There has been significant change in the England side since they reached the World Cup final two years ago but Toone is excited about the squad England have at their disposal for this year's tournament. She told the England website: 'It's nice to send ourselves off to the Euros in that style. 'I've waited a while for another goal in an England shirt and two came today, so obviously I'm really happy with that. But overall, the team performance was great and we're excited now going into the Euros. 'We've got a very talented squad, a very exciting group, and for us, we're going to take each game as it comes, we're going to step out and give our all as we always do, and hopefully we can make the nation proud. 'There's so much talent, there's players who have been to tournaments, players who are going to their first, and no matter what role I have in the tournament I'll make sure that I give my best for the team – we'll all be pushing each other and it's healthy competition.' Georgia Stanway was also on target at the King Power Stadium on Sunday alongside Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo, Aggie Beever-Jones and Beth Mead. The Bayern Munich midfielder missed some of the season through injury but insists she has bounced back stronger. She said: 'I didn't expect to be having surgery at the end of January, it's my first injury in about 10 years so I've had a good innings. Maybe it happened for a reason but I'm feeling good, I'm feeling fresh. 'It's a cliche but I do feel fitter, faster and sharper than I have in a long time. I've timed it perfectly. 'But I think today the main focus was just trying to enjoy it. We've worked hard in training and we wanted to get those actions into the game today.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Brentford show firm faith in their model as Keith Andrews jumps into the unknown
Phil Giles had already given the update on Christian Nørgaard. 'It's more likely than not,' the Brentford director of football said, suggesting that the club captain was close to sealing a £10m move to Arsenal, which is expected to feature £5m in add-ons. Then it was time for Giles to do likewise with Bryan Mbeumo, who is the subject of a bid from Manchester United. Brentford value their 20-goal top scorer from last season at about £65m. United are nearly there with it. 'We've made our point clear,' Giles said. 'If Bryan earned a massive move now and it was right for us financially, we'd be open to it. But if he ended up here with us next season, I wouldn't be massively surprised. We'd be delighted. And it would save me a massive headache, frankly.' With that, Giles glanced at the man to his left – the new Brentford head coach, Keith Andrews, presumably the source of said headache if Mbeumo were to leave. What a summer it has been so far at the west London club. The longstanding manager, Thomas Frank, has gone to Tottenham, together with three key members of staff, including the assistant, Justin Cochrane. Now the team are being picked over. The goalkeeper Mark Flekken has left for Bayer Leverkusen. This is the backdrop to the appointment of Andrews and it is impossible to ignore the elephant in the room at the Gtech Community Stadium; the 44‑year‑old has no previous experience as a manager. But here he is, about to succeed an authentic club legend in Frank and cut his teeth in the 'toughest league in the world' (Andrews's own description). Is Giles completely sure about this? The short answer is yes. The longer one, delivered over 45 minutes on Monday afternoon by him and Andrews, illustrated why there are actually no headaches or stresses. It might look like upheaval but internally at the club it is considered as smooth and easy evolution. At Brentford every player, every member of staff, has a price. Frank's was £10m, which Spurs met, albeit the final portion of his release clause is understood to be payable if performance-related targets are reached. Nørgaard and Mbeumo have theirs. If and when they are triggered, there will be no wailing or soul-searching, only pragmatism; the identification and nurturing of their replacements. It is what Brentford have done for a long time, certainly since Matthew Benham bought in as the owner in June 2012 with the club in League One and began to change everything with his data-based approach. Caoimhín Kelleher, who has joined from Liverpool, looks a smart successor to Flekken. Brentford's faith in their model is unshakable. 'If a club comes in for a player or member of staff and you find yourself saying: 'We cannot sell them under any circumstances,' you probably have to look at yourself as to why you put yourself in a position where that person is so important that it's impossible to do anything about that,' Giles said. 'Most of the time when the big clubs are coming in for your players, it's been an opportunity for them. So, yeah, pretty relaxed about the transfer ins and outs. If the players we've mentioned stay, then great. If they leave, it will be on our terms.' Like Frank before him, Andrews has been promoted from within, having joined last summer as the set-piece coach. It is an interesting detail that the club's past five promotion-winning managers, going back to 1991-92, were internal appointments. Frank got Brentford up and out of the Championship in 2020‑21. Before him, the successes were provided by Mark Warburton, Andy Scott, Ron Noades and Phil Holder. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion 'On the point about it being refreshing to promote from within, Liverpool used to do it for 30 years when they were the best team around and it worked for them,' Giles said. 'I'm not sure when it fell out of fashion. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us.' The important thing to say about Andrews's coaching career is that it has been a long time in production. And he is not just about set pieces, however much he impressed in that area last season – offensively and defensively. He started coaching during his playing days at Blackburn, taking the club's under‑14s at the age of 29. There have been short-lived assistant manager roles at MK Dons in the Championship and Sheffield United in the Premier League, either side of a five-year stint with his native Republic of Ireland, first with the under-21s and then the seniors. Andrews spoke well at his presentation, personable as usual, promising to be himself and draw upon his varied experiences, including those from his 12-club, 16‑season playing career that took in time in all four English divisions and 35 caps for Ireland. It is tempting to say he has seen it all. Except that it is only just beginning.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Strictly Come Dancing hunk 'signs up for Celebrity SAS' just weeks after shock split from fiancée
A Strictly Come Dancing hunk has reportedly signed up for Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, just weeks after his shock split from his fiancée. Ben Cohen, 46, is reportedly gearing up to take on the gruelling Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins challenge. The former rugby player, who is well known for his appearance on Strictly more than a decade ago, is looking forward to 'throw himself into a new challenge' following his split from fiancée of 12 years Kristina Rihanoff. A TV insider told The Sun: 'Ben has had a difficult few months with his split from Kristina, having to sell their home and also having spiralling business debts. 'Celeb SAS is not only a good pay day for him, but it's a new challenge to throw himself into. 'Ben is obviously a sportsman and a very physical, competitive player so if anyone can handle the SAS recruitment process, it's him.' MailOnline have contacted Ben and Celebrity SAS representatives for comment. Ben and Kristina's relationship was the product of the BBC show's infamous curse when he left his then-wife Abby in 2013, before going onto date Kristina, before money troubles reportedly tore them apart. MailOnline was told that it was the severe financial difficulties they had recently experienced are believed to have been behind their split. The extent of the couple's struggles were laid bare in unusual circumstances - during a court appearance last September when Kristina was caught driving without insurance. Giving evidence during the case, England World Cup winning rugby star Ben admitted he had bungled the handling of their car insurance policy and told how he was 'fighting to save his relationship and home'. A friend of the couple said: 'The past six months have been hell for them and it has torn the love they had apart. For the sake of their family, they have chosen to go forward as separate individuals. 'Those close to them who know them as a couple had hoped they would be able to work things out but for now it's over and it looks like there's no going back.' The couple were left with crippling debts after they ploughed every penny they had into a yoga studio which plunged into crisis during the Covid pandemic. According to The Sun, the couple are now left with a crippling £1million debt. In a tortuously frank admission Cohen told the court: 'I get up every day and I fight not to lose everything - to lose my cars and my house and my relationship. I'm so overdrawn.' When questioned about the strains on his and Rihanoff's relationship, he said: 'We're still living together. We're in it financially. 'We're in business together so the problem is that we opened the business before Covid and we got the worst severities of it and in all honestly this is just another problem for me to deal with. 'I've got credit cards that are overdrawn. I'm overdrawn in both accounts. We have got a business debt because of Covid. It's just another problem.' MailOnline was given an insight into the struggles during an interview with the couple in May 2021. They started Soo Yoga Group together in June 2017 - four years after falling for each other when they partnered on the 11th series of the hit BBC show. Companies House records showed that the Soo Yoga Group Ltd was £488,470 in the red in its last submitted set of accounts for the year ending on July 31, 2022. The company was facing being struck off and Cohen has since resigned as a director leaving Rihanoff as its sole director - while other companies linked to the couple were also in difficulties. It was not long before the couple had put their £1.75million five-bedroom home in Sywell, Northamptonshire, where they had lived since 2016 on the market. Cohen resorted to selling topless photos of himself in a bid to raise some much needed cash. Ahead of the new year, he created a calendar with 1,000 personally signed editions selling at £32.95 a time in the hope of raking in £33,000. The couple revealed the irony of how they set off full of hope on a project to improve health and wellbeing only to be plunged into a crisis which left them facing losing everything and damaging their mental health. Russian-born Rihanoff - who left Strictly in 2015 before giving birth to their daughter Mila the following year - had worked hard to retrain as a yoga instructor. But the couple were forced to close their seven-studio yoga centre when the pandemic struck just nine months after opening. The studio offered dance, meditation and pilates classes while Cohen taught high intensity training. Rihanoff told MailOnline: 'The company is a new company we'd just set it up. We invested everything we've ever had. 'It was awful. I put everything into it and you don't even have a chance to develop the business. 'We opened in August after the first lockdown and had a huge spike. It's a family orientated centre. Then November lockdown, December it was awful because we didn't know the end of it. It was forever and ever and ever. Fingers crossed we can go back to normality soon.' She spoke of struggles with depression which has 'skyrocketed through the lockdowns' and admitted they struggled. At that point the couple were able to temporarily run outdoor classes on tennis courts in Northampton but told of their plans to expand the business into a nationwide venture - hoping to emule the success of David Lloyd's sports club empire. Cohen said: 'Yes it's great being outside and doing stuff but it shouldn't be at that point - we haven't earned a penny.' Cohen told how it was 'tough to run a business' but said of his hopes: 'Essentially we want to do what David Lloyd did. Everyone thought he was crazy. David has been helping us with this too. We want to grow this across the country.' The couple appeared to be back on track after getting engaged on a sun-kissed beach in the Maldives in 2022 and told of their hopes of tying the knot in Tuscany or Oxfordshire. Ben told Hello! Magazine in 2023: 'Over the last nine years we've been through the wringer. 'To support each other through difficult times in business is the ultimate test in a relationship. 'I've watched her flourish, from her becoming a mum to growing as a businesswoman, and it has strengthened our bond.' But their ongoing struggles were revealed when Rihanoff, who worked on Strictly between 2008 and 2013, appeared at Northampton Crown Court to unsuccessfully appeal a sentence for driving without insurance. Sobbing throughout the hearing, she told the court it would be financially devastating if she was disqualified. She said she needed to drive to judge ballroom competitions across the country, which earn her around £2,000 a month, and to take Mila to school. MailOnline later revealed the couple's yoga company had plunged almost £500,000 in debt.
