Coveted duo Eze and Guehi to play in Europe for Crystal Palace

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner says Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi will start the Uefa Conference League play-off tie against Fredrikstad as they remain “committed to the team”.

Liverpool and Palace have held talks about a possible £35m deal for England defender Guehi, 25, to go to Anfield before the transfer deadline.

Meanwhile, Tottenham want to sign Palace’s England forward Eze, 27, before the 1 September transfer deadline.

Both players started the 0-0 draw at Chelsea last Sunday and will feature again when Norwegian side Fredrikstad visit Selhurst Park on Thursday (20:00 BST).

“Many of you were surprised he [Eze] and Marc [Guehi] started against Chelsea, you may be surprised they start tomorrow, but they are committed to the team,” said Glasner on Wednesday.

“They will play a crucial part for as long as they are here, they are committed to the team.

‘Trust the manager’

Eze and Guehi were key as Palace won the FA Cup last season, the first major honour in the club’s history.

Their departures would be a blow but goalkeeper Dean Henderson is confident that the team can kick-on and have a successful season if they both leave.

“We have lost players in the past and we survived through that,” said Henderson.

“And we brought the best times to this football club.

“Even when we lost Michael [Olise], we followed it up with the best-ever season in 119 years of the club.

‘We will enjoy Europe’

Glasner said that Palace are determined to “enjoy” playing in the Conference League after losing their appeal against being demoted from the Europa League.

The Eagles qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup last season but were punished by Uefa for breaching multi-club ownership rules.

“This is the last time I will respond to this question,” added Glasner at his pre-match news conference.

“We shouldn’t talk about it any more, we can’t change it.

“We deserve to play Europa League, we are the FA Cup champions. But, it was decided we would be demoted, so we will prepare.

“It is the first time European football will be played at Selhust, this is our reward for winning the FA Cup and we will enjoy it.

“Many fans did not expect us to play European football, so this is our approach.”

Related topics

  • European Football
  • Premier League
  • Crystal Palace
  • Football

Coveted duo Eze and Guehi to play in Europe for Crystal Palace

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner says Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi will start the Uefa Conference League play-off tie against Fredrikstad as they remain “committed to the team”.

Liverpool and Palace have held talks about a possible £35m deal for England defender Guehi, 25, to go to Anfield before the transfer deadline.

Meanwhile, Tottenham want to sign Palace’s England forward Eze, 27, before the 1 September transfer deadline.

Both players started the 0-0 draw at Chelsea last Sunday and will feature again when Norwegian side Fredrikstad visit Selhurst Park on Thursday (20:00 BST).

“Many of you were surprised he [Eze] and Marc [Guehi] started against Chelsea, you may be surprised they start tomorrow, but they are committed to the team,” said Glasner on Wednesday.

“They will play a crucial part for as long as they are here, they are committed to the team.

‘Trust the manager’

Eze and Guehi were key as Palace won the FA Cup last season, the first major honour in the club’s history.

Their departures would be a blow but goalkeeper Dean Henderson is confident that the team can kick-on and have a successful season if they both leave.

“We have lost players in the past and we survived through that,” said Henderson.

“And we brought the best times to this football club.

“Even when we lost Michael [Olise], we followed it up with the best-ever season in 119 years of the club.

‘We will enjoy Europe’

Glasner said that Palace are determined to “enjoy” playing in the Conference League after losing their appeal against being demoted from the Europa League.

The Eagles qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup last season but were punished by Uefa for breaching multi-club ownership rules.

“This is the last time I will respond to this question,” added Glasner at his pre-match news conference.

“We shouldn’t talk about it any more, we can’t change it.

“We deserve to play Europa League, we are the FA Cup champions. But, it was decided we would be demoted, so we will prepare.

“It is the first time European football will be played at Selhust, this is our reward for winning the FA Cup and we will enjoy it.

“Many fans did not expect us to play European football, so this is our approach.”

Related topics

  • European Football
  • Premier League
  • Crystal Palace
  • Football

US-led coalition captures a senior ISIL (ISIS) member in Syria: State media

A US-led coalition has captured a senior member of the ISIL (ISIS) group in northwest Syria, the SANA state news agency and a war monitor have reported, while another Syrian security source and Syria’s state-owned Al-Ekhbariya said the man targeted was killed as he tried to escape.

It was not immediately clear on Wednesday if the man might be ISIL’s supreme leader. Two years ago, ISIL announced that a man called Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was named as its new leader after Turkish authorities killed his predecessor. The United States military did not respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press news agency.

The operation that included landing troops from helicopters occurred before dawn in Atmeh town near the Turkish border, and an ISIL commander known as Abu Hafs al-Qurashi, an Iraqi citizen, was taken away while another Iraqi citizen was killed, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

SOHR said the man captured had a French-speaking woman with him, and it was not immediately clear if she was taken by the US forces or by Syrian security forces who later cordoned off the area.

Syrian state TV on Wednesday quoted an unnamed security official as saying the Iraqi man targeted in the operation is known as Ali, adding that his real name is Salah Noman. The report said that Noman was living in an apartment with his wife, son and mother. It said he was killed in the raid. There was no immediate clarification about the difference in names reported by state media and the war monitor.

It was the second known raid in northern Syria by US troops since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December. The government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, which replaced him, has pledged to prevent a resurgence of ISIL and is part of an anti-ISIL alliance that includes the US-led coalition fighting the group.

In late July, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces killed a senior ISIL leader and his two sons affiliated with the group in Syria’s Aleppo region, the US military has said. CENTCOM said at the time that it “conducted a raid resulting in the death of senior ISIS Leader, Dhiya ‘ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, and his two adult ISIS-affiliated sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani”.

In late May, &nbsp, ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack on the Syrian army, representing the armed group’s first strike at government forces since the fall of al-Assad, according to analysts.

In a statement regarding that attack, ISIL said its fighters had planted an explosive device that struck a “vehicle of the apostate regime” in southern Syria.

ISIL, which views the new government in Damascus led by al-Sharaa as illegitimate, has mainly concentrated its activities against Kurdish forces in the north.

At its peak, ISIL ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom, spanning across Iraq and Syria, with Raqqa in the latter being the capital of the armed group’s self-declared “caliphate”.

The group was notorious for its brutality, carrying out massacres of Syrians and Iraqis and beheading of foreign captives. Taus of Yazidi people were among the massacres carried out by ISIL, as were thousands of other Yazidi women. The Yazidis, a long-held sect whose religion is rooted in Zoroastrianism, are still recovering from the horrors of ISIL’s 2014 atrocities against their community in Iraq’s Sinjar district.

ISIL’s fighters and affiliated groups continue to launch deadly attacks in both countries and elsewhere, including in Africa and Afghanistan, despite having been defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria two years later.

At least 25 people were killed in a deadly attack on Mar Elias Church in Damascus in June when a man with a rifle entered and shot at worshippers before exploding a suicide bomb.

Cutting two of Wales’ four pro teams is WRU’s ‘radical’ option

Huw Evans Picture Agency
  • 605 Comments

The Welsh Rugby Union insists cutting the number of professional clubs from four to two is the “radical step” needed to save the game in Wales.

The governing body has unveiled its controversial plan for the future of the elite game that puts Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets at risk.

Among four models being considered is the “optimal choice” of halving the number of professional teams, but with no detail on where they would play.

“Not everyone is going to be happy but I don’t think carrying on as we are is the right thing for fans either.

” We had to do something radically different to get us to a better place and that everyone can get behind, and we hope people will step out of their corner. “

The options for professional clubs are:

The WRU has not indicated its preferred locations for clubs or names and insists no decision has yet been made.

The timescale for any changes will be dictated by its chosen option.

A consultation period will begin on 1 September before a recommendation is sent in mid-October to the WRU board to make a final decision that month.

But the proposal is set to be met with fierce opposition from three of the regions, while Cardiff have been owned by the Union since a financial rescue in April.

Ospreys have already announced plans to redevelop St Helen’s in Swansea for the 2026-27 season, while Scarlets unveiled new proposed investors earlier this month.

Dragons ‘ owners stated earlier this week that elite rugby must continue in Gwent.

” We are clear that the current rugby model in Wales is no longer delivering what our game needs, “said Tierney.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

What are the different options?

The WRU has put three other proposals forward in addition to its” optimal solution”.

Model A is four clubs with unequal funding – two elite sides with a budget of £6.7m and two developmental clubs on £5.2m.

Models B and C would see four cut down to three, with B featuring equal funding of £6.9m and C having two elite clubs on £6.9m and a development side on £5.4m.

The preferred Model D would give the two clubs a playing budget of around £7.8m and increased squad sizes of 50 senior players, plus academy talent.

For comparison, England’s Prem Rugby salary cap is £7.8m per team each season, but that also allows extra funding for one marquee player per side, while France’s Top 14 sides are instructed to operate within a budget of £9.2m per season.

” We have put a clear vision out about where the future could lie, “said WRU director of rugby and elite performance Dave Reddin.

” We are asking people to let go of the past and the present and imagine a completely different future. “

The new models would involve the WRU funding all rugby operations, with private investors having responsibility for commercial operations.

The WRU also has the long-term ambition of building a national campus that would be the base for the two professional teams under its optimal system, plus the national teams and academies.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

‘ There to be shot at ‘

The governing body start its consultation on 1 September – the date that new Wales head coach Steve Tandy officially starts – and meetings have already been set up with the four regions, the Welsh Rugby Players Association (WRPA), supporters, WRU member clubs, and representatives from the United Rugby Championship (URC).

” All the fans that I speak to, and I speak to a lot, agree that we need to do something radically different, “said Tierney.

What are the challenges?

The WRU currently has a legal dispute with Scarlets and Ospreys over its takeover of Cardiff after the team temporarily went into administration, with the governing body confident of avoiding more issues.

” We have contracts with the clubs called the Professional Rugby Agreement and we have made it very clear to the clubs that we will stick by our obligations in those agreements, “said chairman Richard Collier-Keywood.

Dragons and Cardiff signed a new PRA in May but Scarlets and Ospreys remain on the old version after issues over the WRU being in charge of the capital club.

The governing body believes the consultation process deals with any potential challenge under competition law and it believes its transparency as a board deals with any issues regarding” malfeasance or unfairness”.

Avoiding strike action

The WRU’s favoured model would lead to fewer opportunities for professional male players.

However, the governing body is hopeful that there will be no repeat of the 2023 crisis that saw Wales ‘ Test players threatening to go on strike ahead of the Six Nations fixture against England.

The URC season gets under way during the consultation process and the final decision will be announced ahead of the autumn internationals.

” We want to closely engage with the players so that they understand the perspective and the opportunity, “said Reddin.

” I would hope, and early indications are positive, that people really want to listen and be engaged in what a great Welsh system can look like.

“We want to work really closely and communicate with them because a strike would be a disaster for everybody, I experienced that with England rugby many years ago, and I don’t think it would take our agenda forward.

What are the plans for the women’s game?

The WRU currently runs two teams in the Celtic Challenge – Gwalia Lightning and Brynthon Thunder – and a recent tender process attracted expressions of interest from the current four professional teams.

” Reforming the structure of Welsh rugby creates an opportunity to accelerate growth and success in the women’s game in Wales through significant investment, “reads the consultation document.

Related topics

  • Dragons
  • Welsh Rugby
  • Cardiff
  • Scarlets
  • Ospreys
  • Wales Sport
  • Rugby Union

Cutting two of Wales’ four pro clubs is WRU’s ‘radical’ option

Huw Evans Picture Agency
  • 605 Comments

The Welsh Rugby Union insists cutting the number of professional clubs from four to two is the “radical step” needed to save the game in Wales.

The governing body has unveiled its controversial plan for the future of the elite game that puts Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets at risk.

Among four models being considered is the “optimal choice” of halving the number of professional teams, but with no detail on where they would play.

“Not everyone is going to be happy but I don’t think carrying on as we are is the right thing for fans either.

“We had to do something radically different to get us to a better place and that everyone can get behind, and we hope people will step out of their corner. “

The options for professional clubs are:

The WRU has not indicated its preferred locations for clubs or names and insists no decision has yet been made.

The timescale for any changes will be dictated by its chosen option.

A consultation period will begin on 1 September before a recommendation is sent in mid-October to the WRU board to make a final decision that month.

But the proposal is set to be met with fierce opposition from three of the regions, while Cardiff have been owned by the Union since a financial rescue in April.

Ospreys have already announced plans to redevelop St Helen’s in Swansea for the 2026-27 season, while Scarlets unveiled new proposed investors earlier this month.

Dragons’ owners stated earlier this week that elite rugby must continue in Gwent.

“We are clear that the current rugby model in Wales is no longer delivering what our game needs,” said Tierney.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

What are the different options?

The WRU has put three other proposals forward in addition to its “optimal solution”.

Model A is four clubs with unequal funding – two elite sides with a budget of £6. 7m and two developmental clubs on £5. 2m.

Models B and C would see four cut down to three, with B featuring equal funding of £6. 9m and C having two elite clubs on £6. 9m and a development side on £5. 4m.

The preferred Model D would give the two clubs a playing budget of around £7. 8m and increased squad sizes of 50 senior players, plus academy talent.

For comparison, England’s Prem Rugby salary cap is £7. 8m per team each season, but that also allows extra funding for one marquee player per side, while France’s Top 14 sides are instructed to operate within a budget of £9. 2m per season.

“We have put a clear vision out about where the future could lie,” said WRU director of rugby and elite performance Dave Reddin.

“We are asking people to let go of the past and the present and imagine a completely different future. “

The new models would involve the WRU funding all rugby operations, with private investors having responsibility for commercial operations.

The WRU also has the long-term ambition of building a national campus that would be the base for the two professional teams under its optimal system, plus the national teams and academies.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

‘There to be shot at’

The governing body start its consultation on 1 September – the date that new Wales head coach Steve Tandy officially starts – and meetings have already been set up with the four regions, the Welsh Rugby Players Association (WRPA), supporters, WRU member clubs, and representatives from the United Rugby Championship (URC).

“All the fans that I speak to, and I speak to a lot, agree that we need to do something radically different,” said Tierney.

What are the challenges?

The WRU currently has a legal dispute with Scarlets and Ospreys over its takeover of Cardiff after the team temporarily went into administration, with the governing body confident of avoiding more issues.

“We have contracts with the clubs called the Professional Rugby Agreement and we have made it very clear to the clubs that we will stick by our obligations in those agreements,” said chairman Richard Collier-Keywood.

Dragons and Cardiff signed a new PRA in May but Scarlets and Ospreys remain on the old version after issues over the WRU being in charge of the capital club.

The governing body believes the consultation process deals with any potential challenge under competition law and it believes its transparency as a board deals with any issues regarding “malfeasance or unfairness”.

Avoiding strike action

The WRU’s favoured model would lead to fewer opportunities for professional male players.

However, the governing body is hopeful that there will be no repeat of the 2023 crisis that saw Wales’ Test players threatening to go on strike ahead of the Six Nations fixture against England.

The URC season gets under way during the consultation process and the final decision will be announced ahead of the autumn internationals.

“We want to closely engage with the players so that they understand the perspective and the opportunity,” said Reddin.

“I would hope, and early indications are positive, that people really want to listen and be engaged in what a great Welsh system can look like.

“We want to work really closely and communicate with them because a strike would be a disaster for everybody, I experienced that with England rugby many years ago, and I don’t think it would take our agenda forward.

What are the plans for the women’s game?

The WRU currently runs two teams in the Celtic Challenge – Gwalia Lightning and Brynthon Thunder – and a recent tender process attracted expressions of interest from the current four professional teams.

“Reforming the structure of Welsh rugby creates an opportunity to accelerate growth and success in the women’s game in Wales through significant investment,” reads the consultation document.

Related topics

  • Dragons
  • Welsh Rugby
  • Cardiff
  • Scarlets
  • Ospreys
  • Wales Sport
  • Rugby Union