Just over a year ago, England’s qualification for the World Cup was greeted with yawns and a barrage of paper aeroplanes from fans disillusioned by decades of underachievement. read more

Critics of the Nations League were handed healthy helpings of humble pie after England and Croatia served up a thriller in their Group 4 decider, Harry Kane’s late winner booking the Three Lions a place in the Finals. read more

Croatia would also be relegated with a goalless draw, while a score draw would see England drop down to the league below. read more

Tin Jedvaj scored his second goal three minutes into stoppage time to earn Croatia a 3-2 victory and a first win in a competitive match since beating England in the World Cup semifinals. read more

Kylian Mbappe was voted Young Player of the tournament and has since become Ligue 1’s leading scorer with 11 goals as Paris Saint-Germain run away with the French title. read more

Roger Federer will play the winner of the tie between France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Croatia’s Milos Raonic on Wednesday after recieving a bye in the first round. read more

England’s top flight began on Friday August 10, less than a month after England had been knocked out by Croatia in the semi-finals in Russia. read more

Eric Dier and Harry Kane headed against the woodwork for the visitors while Marcus Rashford spurned two clear opportunities as England missed out on a first win in the new competition. read more

For all the progress made by the Three Lions in a glorious Russian summer, a familiar lack of midfield authority ultimately undid England as Croatia’s Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic took control of their semi-final to come from a goal down in Moscow. read more

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Igor Akinfeev, 32, said after 15 years with the national side he had decided to give way to his younger colleagues and to focus completely on his club duties. read more

Argentina, 2016 victors, and Britain, who won the previous year, have been selected to join the four semi-finalists from this year’s edition -- holders France, finalists Croatia, Spain and United States -- in the climax to the 2019 event. read more

Under a format proposed by the Kosmos group, and adopted by the International Tennis Federation in August, the competition will bring together 18 nations in one place for a week at the end of the tennis season. read more

Luka Modric ended Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s decade-long domination of football’s individual awards by being crowned FIFA’s best player of the yea read more

Midfielder Saul Niguez scored in his home city of Elche by heading home midway through the first half, giving Spain the lead against the run of play after Croatia had made a bright start and missed two good chances. read more