Aaron Ramsey has pulled out of Wales squad for their Euro 2020 qualifier against Azerbaijan next month.
The 28-year-old has been recovering from a hamstring injury sustained while playing for Arsenal in April and missed his new side Juventus Serie A opener against Parma on Saturday.
He played 20 minutes of the Bianconeri s pre-season friendly against Triestina on August 17 but will stay in Italy to work on his recovery rather than team up with Ryan Giggs squad.
Manchester United youngster Dylan Levitt has been called up from the Under-21 squad to replace Ramsey.
Wales host Azerbaijan on September 6 in Group E before taking on Belarus in a friendly three days later. Giggs side sit fourth in their group after away defeats to Croatia and Hungary in June.
Luis Suarez marked his Gremio debut with a first-half hat-trick to set his new side on the way to a Recopa Gaucha triumph.
Uruguay striker Suarez joined the Brazilian club this month after helping boyhood club Nacional win the title back home in a brief spell ahead of the World Cup.
The 35-year-old promised goals as he signed a two-year contract at Gremio, and his bow certainly delivered that.
Facing Sao Luiz in a one-off match for the Recopa on Tuesday, Suarez s three goals had a 4-1 win wrapped up before half-time.
It was the first time Suarez had scored a first-half hat-trick in almost 10 years, last doing so for Liverpool against Norwich City in December 2013.
Luisito s story couldn t start better here, read Gremio s Twitter page after Suarez…
Nottingham Forest full-back Harry Toffolo has been given a suspended five-month ban after admitting 375 breaches of Football Association betting rules.
The FA said the 28-year-old had also been fined £20,956.22 by an independent regulatory commission.
Toffolo was charged by the FA in July, and the player has admitted breaches of FA betting rules between January 22, 2014 and March 18, 2017. The ban is suspended until the end of the 2024-25 season.
— FA Spokesperson (@FAspokesperson)
The FA said the written reasons in the case would be published in due course.
The sanctions on Toffolo follow the imposition of an eight-month ban on Brentford striker Ivan Toney in May for breaches of FA betting regulations.
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Spain plans to bid for the right to host the 2018 World Cup finals, the head of the country s football federation said Monday following his re-election.
Angel Maria Villar, who has headed the federation since 1988, was re-elected to a four-year term.
Villar, a former player with Athletic Bilbao, said one of the main objectives would be to bid to host the World Cup finals in 2018.
The next World Cup finals, in 2010, will take place in South Africa, and Brazil will host the 2014 edition. The finals were held in Spain in 1982.
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A late Erik Huseklepp strike salvaged a 1-1 draw for Norway in Saturday?s Euro 2012 qualifier with Denmark, while Cyprus and Iceland drew.
Veteran winger Dennis Rommedahl fired Denmark into the lead with a well-struck volley in the 27th minute, but Huseklepp guided a left-footed shot home nine minutes from time to grant the hosts a point that stretches their lead atop Group H to three points.The home side failed to carve out clear-cut chances throughout the encounter and opted for a direct route to goal, with towering Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland a constant menace for the Danish defence from set pieces. Olympiaklos winger Rommedahl netted the opener somewhat against the run of play, firing home a fierce volley into the top-right corner after Norway?s defence failed to cle…
Nottingham Forest left nothing to chance as they overcame Burnley 2-1 to cap off a difficult Premier League campaign.
Forest’s safety was not mathematically confirmed heading into the final day, even though it was never likely that Luton Town would manage to flip the goal difference in their favour.
But 17th-placed Forest ensured they did their bit regardless against the already-relegated Clarets, with Chris Wood’s first-half double doing the damage at Turf Moor.
Josh Cullen’s deflected attempt gave Burnley hope, but the visitors held firm to finish six points clear of the bottom three.
Forest needed just 76 seconds to open the scoring – Anthony Elanga bursting down the right flank and sending a low cross into the six-yard box, where Wood was wait…
Lee Carsley suggested he would be happy to go back to coaching England s Under-21s in the wake of the Three Lions defeat to Greece.
England lost to Greece for the first time as a double from Vangelis Pavlidis, who netted the winner in second-half stoppage time, claimed a famous 2-1 victory for the visitors at Wembley.
Jude Bellingham had slammed in an 87th-minute equaliser, which was England s first shot on target since the third minute of Thursday s Nations League match.
Interim manager Carsley, who led the Under-21s to Euros glory last year, picked an attacking line-up that featured Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka, but without a recognised striker in the absence of Harry Kane, England floundered.
While the match stats…
FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan insists his side cannot feel sorry for themselves as they look to keep pace at the top of the Eastern Conference table.
The Orange and Blues were beaten 2-1 by New England Revolution last time out, not helped by the sending off Obinna Nwobodo three minutes after Yamil Asad had halved the deficit for the home side.
Cincinnati travel to FC Dallas this Sunday, and Noonan expects his players to give their supporters a much-improved display to ensure they remain within touching distance of league leaders Inter Miami.
We didn t give (the fans) much to cheer about in the first 45 (minutes), Noonan said. But it starts with me. I don t think that was a version of our group that we should have seen tonight, so I can t blame those guys …
Aaron Rodgers believes his budding chemistry with Garrett Wilson can transpire into something special after he led the New York Jets to victory on Thursday.
After suffering a ruptured Achilles at the start of last season, Rodgers orchestrated a commanding 24-3 triumph over the New England Patriots in his first home start since the injury.
The 40-year-old ended the contest at MetLife Stadium with an impressive stat line of 27 completions on 35 attempts, yielding 281 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went to Wilson in the third quarter.
Rodgers back-shoulder throw was perfectly delivered into the hands of Wilson, whose game had been subdued until then.
And speaking after the game, Rodgers was excited about what the future may bring for his improving re…
Manchester United winger Ashley Young believes England have what it takes to be successful at Euro 2012.
The former Aston Villa man pointed to England s excellent record in qualifying as reason to be confident going into the tournament in Ukraine and Poland.
He told talkSPORT: If you look at the way we qualified out of the group it wasn’t an easy group but we qualified in some style.
Some of the football we played and some of the wins we had were fantastic and I think when the tournament comes around everyone is going to be fully fit, prepared in the right way and I think we can do really well.
As long as everyone is going to be at it and everyone is pulling in the right direction like we were during qualification it will be a fantastic tournament. <…