{"id":27547,"date":"2025-10-12T09:37:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T09:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=27547"},"modified":"2025-10-12T09:37:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T09:37:54","slug":"world-cup-qualifiers-wsl-updates-and-football-news-matchday-live-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=27547","title":{"rendered":"World Cup qualifiers, WSL updates and football news \u2013\u00a0matchday live | Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Scotland fans, what do you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Scotland’s mugging of the Greeks, I suspect the footballing muses have something up their sleeves for Scotland tonight. Fifty years of watching Scotland themselves get mugged, has made me very apprehensive. The bookies are offering Belarus at 18\/1 to win this game. I’m not so sure given Scotland’s self destruction tendencies.<\/p>\n

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Fifa has begun redrafting its regulations on staging domestic league games in foreign countries and is seeking legal advice over whether it can ban them.<\/strong> World football\u2019s governing body would like to outlaw the practice but will be guided by legal opinion in its first review of the relevant regulations for 11 years.<\/p>\n

A source involved in the process said Fifa was working towards making its rulebook more robust with a view to new regulations being ready early next year. This week Uefa blamed the \u201crelevant Fifa regulatory framework\u201d for its decision to allow Villarreal v Barcelona to take place in Miami in December and Milan v Como to go ahead in Perth in February. That is understood to have caused considerable irritation at Fifa because under existing regulations it is not their decision to make.<\/p>\n

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Ahead of today\u2019s game, Scotland manager Steve Clarke<\/strong> said: \u201cI\u2019d be a bit daft if I wasn\u2019t proud because I\u2019m the first guy to reach that amount of games. It\u2019s nice, but that\u2019s a little personal thing at the moment. It shouldn\u2019t be about me. It\u2019s about the team and it\u2019s about trying to get to the World Cup so that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to focus on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brief was to qualify for tournaments. We\u2019ve managed to do that twice, but we want to do it again because we\u2019re all greedy. The expectation was to do as well as I could. I\u2019ve always looked at the players and you\u2019re thinking: \u2018What can we do to improve?\u2019 Did I think it would last this long? Probably not, but here I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to qualify, these are the games you have to win,. You have to give yourself a platform to play against the bigger nations. If you drop points to the teams ranked below you, it makes qualification very difficult. If you look at our barren years, maybe we messed up against opposition we felt we should have been beating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my tenure we\u2019ve done well against the so-called lesser teams in the groups and it\u2019s very important you get the points off these teams. It\u2019s very important we get the points off Belarus. They\u2019ll come here, they\u2019ll be organised, they\u2019ll be difficult to break down and until you break them down it\u2019s a long night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll make it difficult but it\u2019s up to us to make sure that we approach the game properly, which we will. It\u2019s up to us to make sure that we create enough chances in the game to get the crowd excited, which we hopefully will. The crowd need to back the players, the players need to give the crowd something to shout about and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll try to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Steve Clarke will take a moment to celebrate a significant achievement<\/strong> when Belarus visit Hampden Park today. It will be game 72 in office for Clarke, surpassing Craig Brown as Scotland\u2019s longest-serving manager in terms of matches.<\/p>\n

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The Guardian\u2019s fans\u2019 network has assessed the Premier League season<\/strong> so far, looking at the best games and goals, the biggest gaffes and managerial performances.<\/p>\n

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With it being the men\u2019s international break, several club stadiums will be used this afternoon.<\/strong> Aston Villa and Arsenal will continue using Villa Park and the Emirates Stadium respectively.<\/p>\n

Anfield will be the location for Liverpool v Manchester City in the final match of the day, while Everton will host Manchester United at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Everton\u2019s new Hill Dickinson Stadium.<\/span> Photograph: Scott Heppell\/ReutersShare<\/p>\n

With four games scheduled for the 12pm slot<\/strong> this afternoon, I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts on the new broadcast pattern. It seems to be a real opinion-splitter, with several fans complaining about the surge in midday kick-offs.<\/p>\n

Feel free to email us at matchday.live@theguardian.com with your take.<\/p>\n

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Ren\u00e9e Slegers revealed this week that she has been showing her Arsenal players footage of tennis legend Roger Federer<\/strong> in a bid to improve performances. Slegers explained: \u201cIt\u2019s not only about the football. A piece of it is about the psychology as well. How we stay in games, how we react to certain moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at a really inspirational video of Roger Federer. What he did as a tennis player to go from point to point. That\u2019s all we\u2019re looking at and we do that together as a group. This week, everything has been very honest and transparent. We spent a lot of time together. What I see and what I take from it is that everyone wants the same thing, everyone wants Arsenal to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really clear in my head, that\u2019s why I brought it up. We had a look today. He talks about the percentage of games he\u2019s won in his career and the percentage of points he\u2019s won in his career. That\u2019s really interesting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe talks about his mindset. The point he\u2019s playing for at the moment is the most important point. But then that\u2019s done. When that point is over, he goes on to the next one. I think he won, as he says himself, 54% of his points. He\u2019s been one of the best two times at tennis. That says something about how he comes back after points and how he was really good at being good in the most important moments, the points that count. That was good inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also do want to put things into perspective and look at wider things and get inspiration from other athletes and sports teams. Like I just mentioned earlier, all athletes and teams go through different times. It\u2019s about how you come back. That\u2019s why this was brought up because we spoke about Roger Federer this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Renee Slegers in Arsenal training.<\/span> Photograph: David Price\/Arsenal FC\/Getty ImagesShare<\/p>\n

We might be just over one month into the WSL season, but Arsenal find themselves facing a must-win game<\/strong> already. The Gunners dropped points to Manchester United and Aston Villa before losing to Manchester City last week, leaving them fifth in the WSL table and five points behind leaders Chelsea.<\/p>\n

If they lose to Brighton this afternoon, Arsenal could find themselves out of the title race completely.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of former Manchester City managers, our very own Tom Garry spoke to Nick Cushing<\/strong> recently about his time at the club and his new challenge with NWSL side Denver Summit.<\/p>\n

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Gareth Taylor will be looking to impress against his former club this afternoon as Liverpool host Manchester City<\/strong> at Anfield. Taylor was sacked by City in March and is still yet to win a WSL game with Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the game, Taylor told Sky Sports: \u201cThere\u2019s a certain amount of loyalty with my coaching history. I\u2019m not a religious person, but this way and this style is like my religion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt evolves, of course it does. There\u2019s some concepts within the game model that are completely changed from when I first started a head coach role and that\u2019s fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it can be set. Nothing\u2019s ever set where nothing evolves and doesn\u2019t change, and you have to adapt but for me, it\u2019s taking comfort in that also.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always really good to be able to have a way and a style of playing that allows you to review, and we\u2019ve had really good opportunities to review recently. It really is a good template to have to show you where you\u2019ve been successful and where perhaps we need to improve on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brief has to be, can we bring an identity and a style to Liverpool that\u2019s unique to us? And what we\u2019ve seen so far in those difficult moments is glimpses of what that future could look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In other WSL news this week, Rick Passmoor became Leicester City head coach on a permanent basis<\/strong> after a successful interim period. Passmoor signed a three-year deal with the Foxes and said: \u201cI am very privileged and very honoured to be at this club. I want to ensure we continue to progress and further establish ourselves in the WSL.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s history on the men\u2019s side, and we want to make sure we leave a legacy with Leicester Women.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Leicester City Women Unveil New Manager Rick Passmoor at Belvoir Drive Training Ground.<\/span> Photograph: Plumb Images\/Leicester City FC\/Getty ImagesShare<\/p>\n

High-flying Tottenham travel to Kingsmeadow this afternoon to face Chelsea<\/strong> in what could prove to be a very competitive London derby. Spurs have been enjoying a positive run of form following the arrival of new head coach Martin Ho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still a lot of work to do; we\u2019re only five games in,\u201d Ho said before the game. \u201cThe players\u2019 feet are very well grounded. We always look for things we can do better and we have to keep improving.\u201d<\/p>\n

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We might be in the midst of the men\u2019s international break, but the WSL remains in full swing.<\/strong> All 12 teams are in action today, with four games kicking off at 12pm BST.<\/p>\n