There is much here in which England deserve to revel, but the most gratifying aspect of all must be that they did not let Germany limit them to a galling draw. While a misunderstanding between the captain John Terry and the substitute goalkeeper Scott Carson allowed an equaliser, the visitors pulled out of any descent into self-pity. They clinched a fully merited win against feeble opponents.With six minutes left, Terry more than atoned for any error. The captain climbed to head home a free-kick from the outstanding Stewart Downing. The team had been on the verge of re-establishing the lead before that, when Shaun Wright-Phillips hit a post from 20 yards. In one form or another, the whole side was predatory. Few had supposed that Gabriel Agbonlahor's debut here would come with a place in...

Ravi Bopara, the wild child of English cricket, will be given a chance to open the batting in the third ODI in Kanpur on Thursday as England gamble on his burning desire to succeed to pull back a 2-0 deficit in the seven-match series.For England, this is a classic case of: "Go on then, get on with it, show us what you can do.'' Bopara has not been slow to express his frustration at his limited opportunity to fulfil himself. Now he has a chance to demonstrate his talent.It is questionable whether the opener's role really suits him. He would doubtless be happier at No4. But he will grab his chance to exchange places with Matt Prior, who has played too conservatively in an opener's role where he was expected to strut. Prior will drop to No8 in a straight switch with Bopara. It is quite a...

The best pictures from around the world in the last 24...

7:40pm: "The stakes are not as high as a big World Cup or European Championship confrontation," smarms Steve Ryder on ITV. You see, that's why they pay him the big bucks. 7:35pm: "That looks like a mighty light German squad," bellows Tarek Hamze. "Who the hell is Compper? Jones isn't even a regular starter at Schalke. Friedrich and Mertesacker are little more than immovable marble columns, with impassive expressions that fit the bill too." 23-year-old Marvin Compper is one of Hoffenheim's wunderkind's, I believe, and tonight is his debut.7:30pm: "Well the banter has started early, with the German TV analyst saying that as it's a friendly they are robbed of the usual fun of the penalty shootout," reports Xavier Vermeren. "The pundit on German TV is 'laugh-a-minute' Oliver Kahn by the way....

Off-spinner Graeme Swann hopes to offer some fresh impetus into the England team in the third ODI against...

Theo Walcott has become the latest casualty of a friendly international already denounced as meaningless by some Premier League managers after the Arsenal winger dislocated his right shoulder in training last night. The youngster will play no part against Germany tonight and, if the injury requires surgery, will face up to 10 weeks out of the game.The teenager fell awkwardly under challenge from Scott Parker on a sodden pitch and, although he was initially able to continue with the practice session, the shoulder popped out of its joint shortly afterwards. He was helped to the touchline and eventually carried from the arena on a stretcher with England's medical staff holding the damaged arm above his head. The shoulder was put back into place at a local hospital and a decision will be made...

The England manager, Martin Johnson, has given his players a vote of confidence after their defeat to Australia by making only one change to the team that will host South Africa on Saturday. Wasps flanker James Haskell is the only newcomer, replacing Leicester's Tom Croft at No6.Meanwhile, South Africa have delayed their team announcement until Thursday because of injuries. Their coach, Peter de Villiers, had been due to finalise his squad this morning but has not had "sufficient time to assess the injury situation and confirm the availability of players". Hooker Bismarck du Plessis and prop Gurthro Steenkamp are both definitely out of the match at Twickenham with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively, while scrum-half Fourie du Preez is a doubt after withdrawing from the 14-10...

Dramatic pictures of the ancient sport of kushti...

Didier Drogba has admitted a charge of violent conduct after throwing a coin at Burnley fans at Stamford Bridge last...

Podcast: James Richardson and co review the big games across Europe and ask if keepers are more touchable in some countries than...

…time for divorce proceedings. ‘Arry was right it was as far as he could take them, a bottle of ketchup, an arm round the shoulder, a pep talk and telling someone to run around a bit is all well and good but it’ll get you nowhere against the likes of Fulham Confidence, it’s a funny thing in football, Spurs needed it and needed it desperately but it reaches a level where it’s a detriment to the team as it moves into arrogance and it’s quite easy for your average footballer to end up there. More man management is required because it’s losing points to the likes of Fulham, who while having an excellent home record and the jinx over us in the last few years, that will keep Spurs in the relegation mire - back down to second bottom. But divorce...

The injured Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard will be replaced in Fabio Capello's England squad by Jimmy Bullard and Scott...

The best pictures from the sporting world in last 24...

Acclaim will again be lavished on Yuvraj Singh, who this time added four wickets to a second successive century, but for England defeat in the second ODI in Indore carried more ominous implications, exposing their entire India strategy as misconceived.England can lavish praise upon Yuvraj as "a gamebreaker'' - the term used by their captain, Kevin Pietersen - and take comfort from Pietersen's understandable belief that their 54-run defeat was a "remarkable improvement'' on the 122-run thumping that they took in Rajkot only three days earlier.Or they can come to terms with the painful realisation that they will never win a one-day series in India with their strategy of not fielding a frontline spinner and with a batting top three that lacked the necessary dynamism when chasing an...

Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton will be sidelined for up to eight weeks after damaging his knee...

BBC Watchdog Uncovers Accusation Of Some Piss In Some Boots Following what can only be described as the most tenacious under-cover investigation the UK has ever seen from a group of TV journalists, BBC Watchdog has found that a young boy’s Nike football boots were accused of smelling of cat piss. Young Man Tormented By Accusations of [...]...

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Emanuel Steward has said that he would 'love' to see his former charge Lennox Lewis fight Vitali Klitschko...

Fabio Capello risked straining his relationship with the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benítez, last night by insisting that Steven Gerrard link up with the England squad at their Hertfordshire hotel despite the midfielder having apparently been ruled out by his club for up to 10 days with a torn muscle in his right leg.Gerrard, who sustained the injury at Bolton, reported to the 23-man squad and will be assessed by England's own medical staff today, with the likelihood of him travelling to Germany tomorrow for Wednesday's friendly at the Olympic stadium in Berlin still slim. A statement released by Liverpool suggested a scan undertaken yesterday had revealed "a tear in the adductor magnus muscle in his right leg", a prognosis the Football Association's medical team will look into today.The...

During our time away, we re-discovered our love of tennis. When you can't stand Tim Henman or Andy Murray, it's not always such a pleasure to follow British tennis coverage. But with a particularly good Wimbledon and the Olympics this year, it was too hard to resist the lure of some old (and new) favourite players. Between June and October, we must have collected a good five thousand pictures from the various tournaments. It was a big job, but we've now uploaded the vast majority of them to the site. Today's update is therefore tennis themed, but there are plenty of other goodies further down the page for those of you who - for some odd reason - don't like to look at Spanish beefcakes or girls in short dresses who don't mind grunting loudly in public.Firstly, we've added four new pages to...

Stephen Ireland scored twice as Manchester City drew 2-2 with Hull at the KC...

England's greatest challenge in India will be to rid themselves of the ever-present distraction of the Indian Premier League after two days of negotiations between the England and Wales Cricket Board and their Indian counterparts on the involvement of top English players such as Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff failed to reach agreement in Mumbai.The ECB had hoped to reach agreement with the Indian board on three key issues, leaving England free to concentrate on a demanding tour involving seven ODIs and two Tests. Predictably they did not - and if they do not tell the England players that it is a cunning Indian tactical ploy to unsettle them then they are missing a trick.Paul Collingwood, England's former one-day captain, warned in Indore today, before tomorrow's second ODI, of the...

It's amazing what you can stumble across purely by accident or through google alerts to be honest. The end result is that I'm considering coming out of retirement to take part in the inaugural West Lothian half marathon next May. As the initial even it to be held in Bathgate, I shouldn't have far to go to the start line. So I'll be dusting off buying new running shoes. It will be the first...

A leg injury picked up against Bolton means that Steven Gerrard will miss the midweek friendly in...

England's strategy for getting Monty Panesar into tip-top form for the Test series against India next month has fallen into ruins for a second time after his new bowling coach, Mushtaq Ahmed, was withdrawn from the tour because of work permit regulations.Mushtaq, the former Pakistan and Sussex leg-spinner, was controversially recruited by the England and Wales Cricket Board at the end of the season to fill their problematic role of spin bowling coach - with the fine tuning of Panesar regarded as his most immediate priority.But the ECB has still not secured a work permit for Mushtaq, who now cannot join Panesar as intended when the England performance squad leaves for an Indian training camp at the end of this week.Now Panesar must work under the advice of several Indian spin-bowling...

Novak Djokovic won the Masters Cup in Shanghai with a 6-1,7-5 victory over Nikolay...

At the same venue that David Haye finished his days as the world's best cruiserweight by destroying Enzo Maccarinelli in two rounds, the 28-year-old began his permanent step-up to heavyweight with a convincing - and at times electrifying - fifth-round knockout of Monte Barrett.Although Haye did not have it completely his own way, the display had enough power and menace to have his opponent down five times, including with the right and left that finished the American after one minute and 28 seconds in that decisive round.It was also the kind of pulsating tear-up that will have caught the notice of the America TV audience and the boxing world, which for so long has lacked a true performer in its most glamorous division.Haye had spent the build-up talking of defeating both Klitschko brothers...

A Gabriel Agbonlahor strike and a Gael Clichy own goal consign Arsenal to a home defeat against Aston...

Australia gained a measure of revenge for last year's World Cup defeat with a 28-14 victory at Twickenham today.England gave away two silly penalties early on as Matt Giteau put the Wallabies 6-0 up. Delon Armitage, the London Irish full-back, soon lined up a long-range drop-goal though to peg the visitors back. The Wallabies were on the front foot and earned two penalties in quick succession, which Giteau slotted after England had been caught with their hands in the ruck and then offside.England responded in typical Johnson fashion, keeping the ball tight and driving straight towards the Australian posts. Sheridan ploughed through three defenders but he was narrowly short of the line. Sheridan went off to have a cut dressed but England's pack set the platform and No8 Nick Easter was...

Goals from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard helped Liverpool to maintain their momentum at the top of the Premier...