Latest news with #WorldCup.The
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Paton keen to extend Motherwell stay as he eyes 2026 World Cup
Harry Paton says he "would love to extend" his Motherwell stay as he has his hopes set on the 2026 World midfielder's deal expires at the end of the season, but the 26-year-old believes staying at Fir Park would give him the best chances to earn a place in the Canada squad. The club also hold an option to retain his services."I just want to focus on the rest of the season and finish on a strong note, it's a little bit out of my hands, but I'm going to keep doing my thing and hopefully see what happens," said Paton."But I've really enjoyed my time here and would love to extend it, 100 per cent."You can see the aspirations of the new management team coming in and how close we were to the top six this year, and definitely the goals will be increasing next year."From a personal note, I've really enjoyed it. He's so passionate about what he wants to bring to the team."It kind of fits my style as well – speed, playing a lot of attacking football, playing forward, the league really suits my style."Also, tying in with Canada, I've got my opportunities through the club here and that's a big aspiration for myself next year with the home World Cup in Canada."That's a goal I want to achieve and definitely if I'm here, I can definitely have a good shot at getting in there."
BBC News
29-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
England coach Mitchell to stay past home World Cup
England women's head coach John Mitchell will stay on even if the Red Roses fail to win this year's home Rugby World Cup, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) has RFU revealed Mitchell, 61, and his England coaching staff all have contracts until 30 June 2026, regardless of the outcome of the World Cup that starts in who last won the World Cup in 2014, have lost the past two finals to New director of rugby performance Conor O'Shea said: "Results are important, but you don't want people thinking about what their next job is by having a contract finishing at that time."There will be no thought for anything until we get through the World Cup and Six Nations." Mitchell was part of the coaching staff when Eddie Jones's England lost the 2019 World Cup final to South Africa and O'Shea backed him to handle the inherent pressure that comes with leading a side at a home World Red Roses lost the 2010 World Cup final on home soil to New Zealand, while the men's team failed to get out of their pool at a home World Cup in 2015."The process that Mitch [John Mitchell] will bring the group through over the next four or five months will be to attempt to take that pressure away from them, but also deal with it and rationalise," O'Shea added."Anyone who has coached the All Blacks, England, the United States and Japan to the levels he has will have the battle scars to understand how to block out noise, but also use that pressure in a really good way."England comfortably won their opening four games of this year's Women's Six Nations, before holding on to defeat France by a point in a 43-42 thriller at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on victory secured a fourth consecutive Grand Slam and seventh Six Nations title in a row to extend their winning run in all competitions to 25 Red Roses's last defeat was by the Black Ferns at the World Cup final in 2022, with the match against Les Bleues the closest that sequence has come to ending."Anyone that thinks you are going to go into a World Cup and roll teams over because you are the hosts is deluding themselves," former Harlequins director of rugby O'Shea added."It's going to be an unbelievable summer for that group of players. The carrot is huge, but you don't write your own script. In sport, you never do." Women still loss-making England's women are still yet to return a profit, with the RFU continuing to invest £15m there are green shoots with a 391% increase in ticketing in the last four years, compared to the four previous the women's game making an overall loss they have collected £2.4m from ticketing revenue in the last season Teasdale , the RFU's director of the women's game, told the BBC: "It's not all about making money. I think ultimately we're here to be able to grow the game."There was a crowd of 37,573 at Allianz Stadium for last Saturday's win over France, a significant drop from the 58,498 who attended the same match in Teasdale is not concerned by the figures, adding: "We have got Rugby World Cup tickets on sale at the moment as well."I think a really interesting kind of stat from this season is that between Premiership Women's Rugby and the RFU, we sold 250,000 tickets for (women's) rugby in England this year."Then you add the Rugby World Cup tickets on top of that (275,000) and we're in for over half a million tickets this year."One small success story from the Allianz fixture was the sale of 500 red cowboy hats in the official stadium shop and hats stem from a small group of Red Roses players, including Ellie Kildunne and Megan Jones, who self-styled themselves as the hats sold out nearly two hours before kick-off, with Teasdale adding the volume would need to "significantly" increase for the World Cup."The cowboy hats I think are just a really important moment in us trying to create a really strong fan engagement piece, as we know the Red Roses are very strong on their kind of country background and influences," she added."Seeing those hats around the ground, I think it's going be something to 'see' at the Rugby World Cup if we can get enough of them out there."
BBC News
24-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
World Cup spot with NI would be 'special'
Conor Bradley says it would be the "things of dreams" to help Northern Ireland to a World 21-year-old, who could earn a Premier League winners' medal with Liverpool this weekend, has become a key figure for Michael O'Neill's side and served as captain on two occasions during last year's Nations he missed the most recent friendly games against Switzerland and Sweden last month, he will be expected to play a huge role in the side's efforts to become the fourth Northern Ireland side to reach the World Cup when qualifying for the 2026 tournament begins in September."That's everyone's dream," said Bradley, who has been named International Personality of the Year by the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association."We know how difficult it is because not many Northern Ireland teams have done it, we know how special it would be."It would be unbelievable, the things of dreams. Hopefully one day we can get there and if we keep working hard, I'm pretty sure we can."Northern Ireland have lost the likes of Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas and Jonny Evans to retirement, the latter solely in the case of international football, since their last attempt to qualify for a World their stead, Michael O'Neill has relied upon younger players like Bradley, Shea Charles, Isaac Price and Trai Hume."We've got potential, but we need to fulfil that," Bradley added."Obviously we're still really young as it is, we've lost a lot of experience."We have to keep getting experience together and keep improving together, hopefully there'll be good things around the corner."
BBC News
24-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Potential injury scare for Wood
Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood limped off less than 10 minutes into the second half as New Zealand beat New Caledonia 3-0 on Sunday to qualify for the 2026 World 33-year-old was forced off with an apparent hip injury, with Forest facing Brighton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday before a return to Premier League action against Manchester United on 1 has scored 18 Premier League goals for Forest this season, a tally bettered by only Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland and Alexander replacement Taiwo Awoniyi has only started two of his 22 league appearances in 2024-25, scoring once.
BBC News
24-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
When Wales were grounded by a lost passport
2026 World Cup qualifying: North Macedonia v WalesVenue: National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje Date: Tuesday, 25 March Kick-off: 19:45 GMTCoverage: Watch on BBC One Wales, iPlayer, BBC Sport website & app, plus S4C via iPlayer. Text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website & app. Listen live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra A missed flight and an absent manager on the eve of a World Cup Wales take on North Macedonia on Tuesday as part of a campaign they hope will result in a trip to north America next summer, they return to the city made memorable for the time Chris Coleman forgot to check his is 12 years since Skopje was the setting for one of the more bizarre tales of Welsh football history, one that drew sniggers and sneers, not to mention damning headlines for their under-pressure while it will be long remembered as the time the Wales manager lost his passport – before losing the game – it was also the night the team found their with it, discovered a path to qualification they still travel upon today. 'Where's the manager?' "Good to see you Kit, but with the greatest respect, where's the manager?"It is September 2013 and Kit Symons had just taken his seat in front of the waiting media at the Tose Proeski Arena, the same venue Wales will play on Tuesday former Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Fulham defender had been part of the backroom staff since Coleman had accepted the unenviable task of replacing his close friend Gary Speed in the most trying of was little more than 24 hours until Wales – including a soon-to-retire Craig Bellamy and Gareth Bale just weeks into his status as the world's most expensive player – were to face Macedonia at the tail-end of a failing campaign to reach the 2014 World inquisitor already knew the answer. As did most in the room."Skopje wasn't quite as developed as it is now, but it was a glorious day and we had walked along the river from the city to the stadium," recalls newspaper journalist Neil Moxley, who had covered Wales for several campaigns. "As we walked, I can remember thinking what kind of questions we were going to ask Chris Coleman, who was a great guy to work with but hadn't had the easiest of rides."You had the Bale angle, but it was a bit of a dead-rubber of a game – and then the whispers had started. The manager had forgotten his passport and hadn't travelled."As the team – Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Ben Davies and all – began to train on the uninviting pitch the other side of the wall, Football Association of Wales (FAW) officials were simply saying Coleman was delayed by "passport issues"."That's all I was told I could say," laughs Symons now, having had the uncomfortable job of trying to show all was normal. "It was going to be resolved and he'd be there in plenty of time for the game – but I knew I was going to get battered." Coleman had realised his "passport issue" the previous night, but Symons only knew the former Fulham and Crystal Palace defender's dash to the nearby Newport passport office for an emergency replacement was in vain when he was not boarding the chartered flight in the a convoluted alternative flight with stops via other European hubs awaited Coleman, as did the a football nation still smarting from some of the mockery of the years under Bobby Gould – with training ground wrestling and practice matches on prison grounds – the words embarrassing and farcical again found their way into the copy filed."We knew what was coming, but in reality all your work is done by that point," recalls Symons. "The training the night before a game is by and large a stretch of the legs after travelling. "You don't even go through set pieces or shape because you know some of the locals will be watching."It didn't really matter – but it didn't look good either."Not when Bale's presence alone - followed all week by Spanish photographers with his move to Madrid still fresh – put a global focus on certainly not for a manager still trying to win over critics and chief executive Jonathan Ford had conceded defeat on trying to downplay things on the night, but later put it: "We've all misplaced wallets or passports or whatever, it's just when you're in the position of national team manager you do it with a megaphone."And, even in the early days of social media, the unusual tale had long since found its way back home."Sometimes you write stories with a heavy heart because you like them as a person," adds Moxley. "They try and say there's no new stories in football – but an international manager missing the night before a game because he'd lost his passport? This was definitely one." 'You won't write about that!' "Do I have anything to say? No, but you have obviously. You write it. We are building a good little team here, but you won't write about that."Chris Coleman was not so much defensive as on the attack as he faced up to questions over his blunder in the aftermath of a 2-1 had a point too; performances had been increasingly promising and there had been signs of a team and manager finding their feet together."That was the thing, we actually played well that night and deserved something from the game," recalls midfielder Joe Ledley. "I remember the conditions being quite difficult; the pitch was really dry and bobbly, and they were really physical against us as a relatively young side."The manager not being there the night before didn't make any difference – we didn't even really notice until we were on the plane, and even then we had a bit of laugh about it."We lost and were gutted, but I remember feeling we still felt we were progressing and getting close to being where we wanted to be and taking the next step to achieving what we wanted."But it's Wales for you - nothing's ever straight forward." A deflected free-kick had given the hosts the lead before Ramsey won and converted a penalty to equalise, only for Aleksandar Trajkovski to make the most of a late lapse of had hit the squad too. Bale's only involvement in the game was to fend off a couple of local autograph hunters who rushed onto the pitch at half-time. Not able to shake off a foot problem, he had been named on the bench by Coleman - but only to keep the opposition guessing, something that had confused result officially ended 2014 World Cup qualification hopes and – with a new contract still not agreed between the FAW and the manager – some wondered if it would be the end of his reign, well before the Euro 2016 success that was to come."We had been going along nicely, but I'd brought it upon myself and I was angry that I'd done that," said Coleman a few years later. "I'd messed up but I just knew if they could stay with me, then we could be ready to take things on in the next campaign."Bellamy – who would call time on his Wales playing days the following month – spoke glowingly of Ramsey's potential, as the playmaker showed he was back to his best form since his horrific leg break a few years it was what players said in private to officials and the media in the hours afterwards that was most the publication of the headlines which hit out at Coleman for the defeat and his passport gaffe, a number of senior players made their feelings known that – after some initial struggles together – they were fully on board with Coleman and his aims. Captain Ashley Williams was one of those who texted out his feelings to "lay off the gaffer", saying the players should not escape criticism but together they would get it right."We loved him [Coleman] and nights like that when he was under pressure, which we thought was unfair, made those bonds stronger," says Ledley, one of the players from that night who went on to reach the semi-finals of the Euros less than three years later."We knew we were onto something. It had been difficult for us and him after Gary, but we could see he was the right person."Coleman was unaware of the texts of support that made their way to journalists that night but officials picked up on the fact senior players were now clearly behind the manager. A new contract was offered and signed."He had such a strong relationship with the players," said Symons."He knew he messed up and what people would think on the outside but inside he had their trust and those messages showed they wanted to protect him"People talk about Together Stronger for Wales, and that was it there."And because we all know what happened after, you can smile at it – and probably helped."No laughing matter at the time, Coleman has since raised a smile at the events of Skopje that started with shambles but eventually led to a sense of where Wales were going under his charge."It didn't mean we didn't give him loads of stick about it," laughs adds that every subsequent away fixture would see scores of smiling team officials ask Coleman to check he knew where his passport it does not diminish the tale's claim to be won of the more weird and wonderful in Welsh football."I've been privileged enough to cover some incredible moments and occasions following Wales," adds Moxley. "But that trip to Skopje was the stand out story – especially when you know what happened next."
