Sport shorts: English FA launch first Women’s Football Weekend and Roy and Overton are dropped for 5th Ashes Test

Ten things from the world of sport on Wednesday 11 September

Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League on 7 September
Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League on 7 September 
(Image credit: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

1. Weekend of women’s football

The English Football Association (FA) has announced the launch of the inaugural “Women’s Football Weekend” on 16-17 November.

Taking place during the men’s international break it will look to build on the record crowds that attended the opening fixtures of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League season.

The highlight of the Women’s Football Weekend will be a north London derby between Spurs and Arsenal at the 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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On Merseyside Liverpool will play Everton and in west London Chelsea will host Manchester United.

2. Beckham wants Messi in Miami

David Beckham has reportedly approached Lionel Messi about making a sensational move to Major League Soccer (MLS).

Beckham’s Inter Miami will join the MLS in 2020 and the former England captain, president of the Florida franchise, is keen to make Barcelona striker Messi the club’s marquee signing.

Lionel Messi to Inter Miami? David Beckham ‘reaches out’ to Barcelona superstar

3. 93 goals and counting for Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo found the net four times last night as Portugal eased to a 5-1 win over Lithuania in group B of Euro 2020 qualifying.

Portugal captain Ronaldo opened the scoring with a penalty on seven minutes and in the second half he added goals on 61, 65 and 76 minutes.

The 34-year-old has now scored 93 international goals in 160 games for Portugal and is just 16 goals behind the record set by Iran star Ali Daei.

Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo head-to-head: all-time career goals, international records, awards, hat-tricks

4. ‘Solheim Cup win bigger than Women’s Open’

Team Europe captain Catriona Matthew says winning the Solheim Cup in Scotland would be bigger than her Women’s British Open victory in 2009.

Europe take on the United States at Gleneagles this week and Matthew told the BBC: “To be a winning captain here [at Gleneagles] would probably rank just above my British Open win.”

5. Video: All Blacks get a ‘mind-blowing’ welcome

Two-time defending champions New Zealand were given a memorable welcome to Japan as they arrived for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Schoolchildren in Kashiwa gave a performance of the Haka at the All Blacks hotel. Kiwi head coach Steve Hansen said: “A fantastic welcome, mind-blowing really.”

See more

6. Kompany ruled out of his own testimonial

Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match tonight will see a Manchester City Legends team take on a Premier League All-Stars XI at the Etihad Stadium (7.45pm, live on Sky Sports).

City legend Kompany left the EPL champions at the end of last season and money raised from his testimonial will go towards Tackle4MCR - an initiative he set up with Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to help the homeless in the city.

Kompany won’t play in his own testimonial though because of injury. The 33-year-old, who is now player-manager at Anderlecht, said: “Unfortunately I won’t be starting tonight or playing. It’s typical of me, right? I’ve got a slight hamstring injury. I couldn’t risk it.

“We’ve got plenty of awesome players to be watching today and in many ways it is about a celebration to say goodbye, it doesn’t need to be on the pitch as such.”

Current City boss Pep Guardiola will manage the City Legends while Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez will be in charge of the Premier League All-Stars.

Manchester City Legends squad: managed by Pep Guardiola

  • Joe Hart, Costel Pantilimon; Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, Kolo Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Richard Dunne, Gael Clichy; Nigel de Jong, Samir Nasri, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stephen Ireland, David Silva, Dietmar Hamann, James Milner; Craig Bellamy, Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Benjani

Premier League All-Stars XI squad: managed by Roberto Martinez

  • Edwin van der Sar, Shay Given; Phil Neville, Gary Neville, John O’Shea, Wes Brown; Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs, Rafael van der Vaart, Cesc Fabregas; Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie

7. Roy and Overton dropped for 5th Ashes Test

England have dropped Jason Roy and Craig Overton for the fifth Ashes Test against Australia starting tomorrow at The Oval. Sam Curran and Chris Woakes are named in the team.

Australia are 2-1 up in the series and retained the urn after winning the fourth Test at Old Trafford.

England team for the 5th Ashes Test

  • Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes

8. Wolff: don’t write off Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel had a race to forget at the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix last weekend but the Ferrari driver is being tipped to bounce back by Toto Wolff.

Mercedes team principal Wolff said after the race at Monza: “I would just say don’t write him off. Because he’s a four-time world champion and the difference between the great ones and the good ones is that the great ones are able to get back up again. And I have no doubt that he can do that.

“He had a spell of bad races and now it will be about the ability to get himself back where he deserves to be and today for sure is a bad day for him.”

F1: Red Bull to decide 2020 driver line-up after the US Grand Prix

9. United want £179m for Paul Pogba

Manchester United have told Real Madrid that they’ll have to stump up £179m if they wish to sign Paul Pogba.

The Daily Mirror reports that the Red Devils “won’t indulge in any business with the Madrid giants in the new year unless their valuation of £179m is met”.

10. Southgate slams England mistakes

Gareth Southgate savaged his players for their “crazy” mistakes despite the fact England put five goals past Kosovo to move closer to Euro 2020 qualification.

Speaking after the 5-3 win the Three Lions boss said: “Ridiculous mistakes, poor decisions, lack of covering back, so we made the game really uncomfortable for ourselves.

“Whether it was the intensity of the game, whether it was the pressure, I don’t know. We’ve got to reflect on that but they were such basic errors, really, that you have to learn from. We’d just made some crazy errors.”

Today’s back pages

England are ‘Kosmic’ in attack, terrible in defence

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