Archive June 1, 2025

After their disappointing Women’s Nations League defeat against Poland, Northern Ireland midfielder Joely Andrews stated that his side “must bounce back” on Tuesday.

Tanya Oxtoby’s side lost 4-0 to Poland at Seaview on Friday night, earning them automatic League A promotion with victory in north Belfast.

If NI can avoid losing to Zenica on Tuesday, which Andrews claims should be their goal, they will finish second overall and advance to the promotion play-offs.

She said, “We will make progress if we finish third in their previous Nations League campaign” and place higher in this group.

We are hoping to get three points on Tuesday for a strong performance.

We have played each other a few times, so it will be difficult, but we both need to be tough on the ball and create chances to break down.

The Hearts midfielder added that while Friday night’s defeat at Seaview “hurts,” their enthusiastic victory in the opener when they almost scored a consolation goal will help them prepare for Tuesday’s crucial game.

We didn’t do enough in the first half, and there were some areas of the game plan that we didn’t stick to, but as players we did that,” she continued.

Desire Doue, the 18-year-old who was hailed as France’s next golden boy, looked out of his depth when he slowly and disconsolately left after only 64 minutes of his first appearance at Arsenal in October.

Fast forward eight months – after a scintillating performance in a Champions League final demolition of Inter Milan – and Paris St-Germain’s brilliant young forward has captured the imagination of Europe.

The 19-year-old has lived up to that title since spectacularly putting the false start behind him for someone whose name means “desire gifted” in English.

In the new league table format of the tournament, Doue lost to Dubai Stadium with a score of 2-0.

Since then, he has matured into a central piece in the new PSG assembled by coach Luis Enrique, performing superbly when Manchester City were beaten 4-2 at Parc des Princes in January, then delivering a brilliant cameo as a substitute before scoring the decisive penalty in the shootout win at Anfield in the last 16.

In PSG’s entrancing 3-1 victory in the quarter-final first leg, he put on a stunning curling equalizer while fending off Aston Villa in the match.

But Doue’s performance in the grandest game of European club football really caught everyone’s attention, scoring twice in the process of scoring the opening goal against Inter in Munich.

“All evening, he had that magic moment. Former Premier League player Chris Sutton, who appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live, praised the player for how he looks.

When Desire Doue is present, who needs Kylian Mbappe?

At 19 years and 362 days, Doue became the youngest player to score two goals in a European Cup or Champions League final, overtaking Eusebio who was 20 years and 97 days old when he did the same for Benfica against Real Madrid in 1962.

In the final of PSG’s Champions League game in Munich, he had 41 touches of the ball, two of which led to his scoring, another an assist, and several more with sublime skill that sparked a roar from the enthralling crowd.

“I have no words, incredible for me. I have no words”, beamed the teenager after PSG’s victory.

Due’s brother Guela, 22, and his cousin Yann Gboho, 22, both played right-back for Strasbourg after leaving Rennes, while his cousin has a strong attacking midfield background at Toulouse.

He is of French-Ivorian descent, making his full France debut in the 2-0 win against Croatia in the Uefa Nations League quarter-final in March, again scoring a penalty as they went through after a shootout.

Brother Guela has won caps for Ivory Coast and other international allegiances.

Under the watchful guidance of father Maho, who regularly organized training sessions for the brothers outside of their jobs at Rennes, they continued to advance and maintain a wise and steadying influence on their careers.

Some eyebrows were raised when PSG paid such a large fee for Doue in the summer, but Rennes are as good at driving a hard bargain as they are producing young gems.

They have a history, selling Ousmane Dembele to Borussia Dortmund, Camavinga to Real Madrid, and Mathys Tel to Bayern Munich, who has previously been on loan at Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Manchester United, Newcastle, and Spurs all expressed strong interest in Doue, but it ultimately fell to PSG or Bayern.

French football expert Julien Laurens told BBC Sport: “PSG probably would have liked to pay about £34m and tried to get it down, while Bayern were happy to pay more than £50m – but he wanted to go to PSG.

There is a premium when you sell from a French club to a French club, just like it was when PSG paid £34 million for Bradley Barcola after six fruitful months at Lyon.

“The secret was that Luis Enrique and Luis Campos were both persuaded that they were producing a superstar,” Enrique said.

” Doue is so talented, strong mentally and physically. Because his lower body is so strong, PSG claims he has rugby players’ legs.

PSG insiders have been incredibly pleased with Doue’s dedication and professionalism despite these new demands.

The club has been very impressed by Laurens’ work in the gym and fitness.

It was the same at Rennes, with former coach Bruno Genesio saying: “Away from the pitch he’s a dream: easy, calm, with a streak of leadership while still asking for advice. He conducts his work with conscientious and carefree attitude. In his head, he already sounds proficient.

Doue first hit the radar when France won the European Under-17 Championship in Israel in 2022, then he was on the bench for the Olympic final in Paris two years later, coming on after 77 minutes when France lost 5-3 to Spain after extra time.

Although his slow start at PSG, which lacked a proper pre-season, may have been a result of his poor management by Luis Enrique, who has worked closely with him and supported him throughout his quiet beginnings.

He started eight Champions League games this season, making eight starts as a substitute and contributing four goals.

It was at Anfield where he made his mark, coming on after 67 minutes to deliver a performance of remarkable maturity, capping it by being entrusted with the spot-kick that sent PSG through.

PSG has shied away from Doue’s attention, but his family’s calm, grounded presence has been a major factor.

“The father, Maho, has a lot of influence in everything they do,” said Laurens. Some families think their son is the next Cristiano Ronaldo, oblivious to everything going on on the pitch, but they were realistic.

They said he wasn’t ready for the big step up another level after the Arsenal game, which did show him to be out of his depth. They understood that he needed to mature and work a lot. They were very realistic about what he had to do. It was very impressive and refreshing. They grasped.

Doue has also had to adjust to life in the Paris goldfish bowl, away from quieter Rennes.

He lives in the posh Boulogne-Billancourt neighborhood, according to Pierre-Etienne Minonzio, who works for the influential sports publication L’Equipe in Paris. When someone spotted him, he was just looking for a book there.

“It was totally normal because he is so young, but maybe he did not understand it is going to be hard for him to be in crowded places in Paris.

In the Champions League game win over Red Bull Salzburg that ended in December, Doue scored his first PSG goal, but it has been lift-off since then.

Everyone in the French football world said that the biggest player born in 2005 was Mathieu Tel, and Minonzio claimed that. “He was born in 2005.

” For his generation, Doue was not the one because he was less talented than Tel, but when you get older the psychological attributes make a lot of difference and Doue has shown incredible mental strength.

Everyone anticipated Tel would be the main protagonist for this generation of players, but Doue is now the subject of conversation.

And to complete his development, Didier Deschamps, France coach, called up Doue, beating out Rayan Cherki and Maghnes Akliouche, both of whom are thought to be potential newcomers.

Laurens said: “It all changed from a wider perspective after his debut for France. Against Croatia, he was outstanding. He demanded the ball, but he didn’t want to lose. This guy had arrived”.

Deschamps left with no choice in France, according to the general opinion.

According to Minonzio, “Deschamps is obsessed with the Champions League. He wants his players to show him their ability in high-level games. He is reluctant to accept players who excel in French league play but don’t participate in the Champions League.

Deschamps had no other choice but to pick him, Deschamps remarked in March.

Now the sky seems the limit, but there is still caution.

“It would have been a few months ago that Warren Zaire-Emery would be the new PSG’s face.” Parisian, 19 years old, and a lot of talent. “says Minonzio.

Everything he did was very impressive, but you have to wait to see how they handled problems.

So there it is, folks. The United Rugby Championship (URC) quarter-final defeat for the Scarlets was followed by another turbulent campaign both on and off the field.

Resignations, administration, wooden spoons, caretaker coaches, contract controversies and more Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) disputes with the regions.

The most recent entry in the tumultuous world of Welsh rugby.

We were concerned about how much Welsh rugby could lose on both the national and international stages when the four professional sides launched the campaign last September.

While there has been a slight improvement from the regions, the dire Dragons apart, the latest campaign has been a disaster on the international stage and in the boardroom with influential figures like Warren Gatland and Nigel Walker departing.

Before a two-test tour of Japan in July, the men’s side are without a permanent head coach. Only two of the 18 internationals were won by the two national sides.

The WRU, who had to apologize to Wales women over player contracts, has had more off-field controversy.

10 games and 10 losses That was Wales’ two national teams’ worst performance at the 2025 Six Nations in 86 challenging days.

From the 43-0 Friday night Paris mauling dished out to Wales ‘ men’s side in January to the 44-12 hammering inflicted by Italy’s women in late April, it proved a miserable three months as both sides finished rock bottom.

Following another clean sweep of Six Nations defeats, Wales men have lost all eight of their matches this year. This is the 17th consecutive time the team has lost.

So it was no surprise when two players, captain Jac Morgan and scrumhalf Tomos Williams, were chosen as part of the British and Irish Lions’ tour group in Australia, setting a record low.

Gatland departed in February, Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt taking charge for the rest of the Six Nations which finished with the record 68-14 home loss to England in March.

Sherratt continues to be in charge of Japan while new performance director Dave Reddin, who may wonder what he has let himself in, is in charge of the selection process for Gatland’s permanent replacement.

After Ioan Cunningham paid the price for the contracts dispute at the end of 2024, the Welsh women have also hired a new coach.

Ironically, Cunningham was the only Wales national coach to gain victories in the regular season with a 19-10 win against Japan in the WXV2 tournament in South Africa and a warm-up win for the tournament against Australia.

Sean Lynn, who helped his club win three successive league titles, took over from Gloucester-Hartpury just one week before the Six Nations began.

As his team became the first women’s team to lose all five of their matches at a Six Nations tournament, Lynn was quickly exposed to the harsh realities. He will expect more during the World Cup in England later this year.

There is some hope. Blair Murray, the find of the season, has been the stoic figure of Wales’ captain Morgan in the face of hardship, whereas Murray has been the stoic figure in Scarlets and Wales.

Wales Under-20s provided arguably the performance and occasion of the campaign.

Results for the Welsh teams were comparable to those from the previous campaign, with one team reaching the Challenge Cup quarter-finals and the URC play-off final eight.

Under the direction of Toby Booth, it was Ospreys who accomplished both of those feats in 2023-24.

This season – with Booth departing just before Christmas and replaced by Mark Jones – Ospreys managed the European knockout stages again but it was Scarlets who reached the league play-offs with a storming finish to the regular campaign before a last-eight defeat at Leinster.

Despite the salary cap being reduced to £4.5 million, there appeared to be a slight improvement in results. Wales teams won 25 games in the 2024-2019 URC season, up from 22 in the previous campaign.

Scarlets (nine) and Cardiff (eight) were the most improved with their win totals improving by four victories each, while Ospreys had three fewer wins than in 2023-24.

The Dragons were another major disappointment, finishing bottom of a nightmare campaign under Filo Tiatia’s replacement Dai Flanagan and holding the record for the worst URC league season with just nine points.

After only defeating Ospreys on the opening weekend of September 2024, the Welsh side lost 17 straight league games.

This year, Welsh rugby has received twice as many negative off-field headlines as it has on the field. Those hoping fresh faces at the top would signify no more controversies will be disappointed.

The managerial change, which has chair Richard Collier-Keywood and chief executive Abi Tierney as the new boss, has so far failed to alter the dreadful state of the Welsh game or have improved the situation.

Old habits were exposed when contract negotiations between Wales women’s players ended and the women’s teams were threatened with withdrawing from the WXV2 international competition and, in turn, this summer’s World Cup.

They were issued with a “final offer” ultimatum on 2 August, saying if they did not sign within a three-hour deadline, planned matches against New Zealand, Scotland and Australia would not go ahead and the contracts would be withdrawn.

Later, the WRU apologised for their actions but refuted sexism claims. According to Collier-Keywood, the row was a “crisis” that the union could have avoided by failing at governance and leadership.

The WRU’s “One Wales” strategy was first introduced in the summer of 2024, and the new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) that was promised to follow soon thereafter will be a key component of the long-term plan.

That has not occurred. The WRU had to cope with Cardiff going into administration in April before the governing body bailed them out.

The WRU and Ospreys and Scarlets are currently at odds with the new PRA due to that incident.

Despite Dragons and Cardiff signing the new agreement, Ospreys and Scarlets failed to comply with Welsh rugby’s deadline of 8 May.

Ospreys and Scarlets say they asked the WRU for assurances the takeover “will not disproportionally benefit Cardiff and disadvantage the independent clubs” but claim they were not given guarantees.

The WRU announced that it would abandon its traditional four-part professional sides and would switch to a new two-tier funding structure after the deadline was missed.

According to Ospreys and Scarlets, this choice has “made our game more destabilizing and debilitating uncertainty”.

Tierney had continually talked about four equal regions being the way forward but the goalposts have moved with the governing body also having to refinance its debt with the bank.

The governing body hasn’t confirmed or refuted the claims that the cash-strapped WRU intends to cut a team from its professional ranks.

Although they hope to have a long-term decision by September, Ospreys and Scarlets, who will represent Wales in the Champions Cup next season, will be on lower terms than their rivals in East Wales.

These events have caused another rift in Welsh rugby that has seen Ospreys and Scarlets ‘ local politicians get involved and could ultimately end up with lawyers.

Players and supporters are more uncertain about what the future holds, with little transparency in Wales and survival battles.

With Welsh rugby’s reputation once more being exposed in public, there are no winners.

Not many dull days in Welsh rugby then with more upheaval to come, which some argue is essential for an upturn in the flagging fortunes.