Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to break up pro-Palestinian protests at Israel’s World Cup qualifier against Italy. Defeat for Israel in the match effectively ended the team’s hopes of automatic qualification.
Published On 15 Oct 202515 Oct 2025
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BOURNEMOUTH goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic was lobbed from near the HALFWAY LINE in Serbia’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Andorra.
The former Chelsea star was caught cold by Andorra forward Guillaume Lopez from inside the CCentre D.
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Serbia midfielder Aleksandar Stankovic’s wayward loose pass was eagerly intercepted by Lopez from 35 yards inside 17 minutes.
Lopez then had the presence of mind to drill a shot over helpless Premier League stopper Petrovic, who was way out of his six-yard box.
Petrovic, 26, flippantly dived backwards, but was unable to stop the ball from hitting the back of the net.
But Serbia hit back instantly through Christian Garcia’s own-goal, before Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic gave them the lead in the 54th minute.
Both teams are in England‘s Group K, with Serbia sitting third outside the play-off spots and Andorra rock bottom.
Since leaving Stamford Bridge for the Vitality Stadium in July, Petrovic has started all seven games for Andoni Iraola‘s side.
Petrovic was left out of Chelsea’s Club World Cup squad in June before securing his £25m exit to the south-west.
He replaced fellow former Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga who joined Arsenal in a £5m deal this summer.
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He earned national hero status after saving a penalty in the World Cup qualifier against Albania – a match charged with a lot of tension, because of politics and history.
The Serb, who joined Chelsea from New England Revolution in a £14m deal in 2023, spent last season on loan at French club Strasbourg.
He was named player of the season as Strasbourg secured a Europa Conference League spot by finishing seventh in Ligue 1.
Portugal maintain winning record in qualifying despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s second-half penalty miss against Ireland.
Published On 11 Oct 202511 Oct 2025
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Portugal’s Ruben Neves scored a stoppage-time goal to snatch a 1-0 win over Ireland, which preserved Portugal’s 100 percent record in World Cup qualifying Group F and consolidated the top spot.
Portugal moved to nine points at the halfway stage of the campaign, with a five-point lead over second-placed Hungary, who they host on Tuesday, when they could secure qualification.
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Neves headed home a minute into added time on Saturday at the Estadio Jose Alvalade for his first international goal.
It was a poignant tribute to close friend Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident in July and whose No 21 jersey Neves wore in Portugal’s first home game since the Liverpool player’s death.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a penalty saved earlier in the match as Ireland threatened to hold the hosts to a draw, but the late strike kept the Irish at the bottom of the standings with one point.
Follow our live build-up, with team news, ahead of our full text commentary stream of the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifier.
Published On 11 Oct 202511 Oct 2025
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When the qualifying draw was made in December, there was an understandable assumption that Germany would top the group and seal automatic qualification with Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Luxembourg fighting among themselves for the play-off spot afforded to the runner-up.
Slovakia’s victory over the four-time World Cup winners to kick things off last month has instead opened up myriad possibilities.
Friday night’s visitors to Windsor Park, who followed up their shock result against the Germans with late victory in Luxembourg, know that another three points in Belfast would be a huge step towards booking their place at next summer’s World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
While the side ranked 42nd in the world did not make the tournament in 2022, they reached the European Championships either side and were beaten by England at the last-16 stage in 2024 only after Jude Bellingham’s spectacular 96th-minute overhead kick.
Manager Francesco Calzona is the first foreign boss in the country’s history and came recommended by Slovakian legend Marek Hamsik from their time together at Napoli, where the Italian was an assistant coach.
Ties to the Serie A champions do not stop there with midfielder Stanislav Lobotka the side’s key player. The 30-year-old, however, has emerged as a major injury doubt for the game on Friday.
Another with recent Champions League experience, Atletico Madrid full back David Hancko, is another who could miss out.
While O’Neill said he would not believe their absences until the pair were missing when the anthems are played at Windsor Park, should Slovakia be without both then Middlesbrough striker David Strelec will be expected to carry a greater load.
The performances of 19-year-old Feyenoord winger Leo Sauer for the national side have sparked excitement too.
Published On 10 Sep 202510 Sep 2025
Portugal earned a 3-2 victory at Hungary in their UEFA World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, with Joao Cancelo scoring a late winner, two minutes after the hosts had equalised, to put them in control at the top of Group F with two away wins from two.
The visitors came from behind to lead thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty, but almost let the three points slip when conceding late on before Cancelo’s goal rescued the win to add to their 5-0 success in Armenia on Saturday.
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Hungary took the lead in the 21st minute when Barnabas Varga met Zsolt Nagy’s inch-perfect cross into the box with a header which went in off the upright, before Portugal drew level 15 minutes later through Bernardo Silva’s close-range effort.
Portugal went in front after Varga handballed a Ronaldo flick-on in the area, and the 40-year-old buried his spot kick into the bottom corner.
The goal took Ronaldo level with Guatemala’s Carlos Ruiz as the joint-top scorer in World Cup qualifiers on 39. He also extended his international record to 141 in 223 games.
Hungary, who drew 2-2 away to Ireland on Saturday, looked to have done the same in Budapest when Varga headed his second of the night six minutes from time, but the hosts were unable to hold on.
Two minutes later, Cancelo struck a first-time shot from outside the area after a Bernardo Silva pass to leave Portugal top of the group standings on six points.
“It’s never easy once you fall behind, and we showed a lot of character, just like against Germany and Spain [in the Nations League] in June when we were losing but managed to come back,” said Silva.
“Today, once again against a tough team, we managed to come back. Even when they scored after 80-something minutes, we still managed to score the winner.”
Armenia, who beat Ireland 2-1 earlier on Tuesday, are second with three points, with Hungary and Ireland on one point.
Norway’s Erling Haaland scored five goals and substitute Thelo Aasgaard added four more as they hammered hapless Moldova 11-1 to take another huge step towards qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
With five games played, the Norwegians top Group I on 15 points, six ahead of second-placed Italy, who have a game in hand. Moldova’s worst defeat leaves them bottom of the group with no points.
The group winners qualify automatically for next year’s World Cup, while the runners-up go into a playoff.
Haaland’s beautifully cushioned pass teed up Felix Horn Myhre to break the scoring deadlock with a sixth-minute tap-in, and Martin Odegaard should have made it two a minute later, but he blazed the ball over from close range.
The Norwegians did not have to wait long for another goal as Haaland rattled home in the 11th minute, snapping up a loose ball in the box and sweeping it into the far corner.
Haaland slotted home his second to round off a Norwegian counterattack in the 36th minute and completed his hat-trick before halftime.
Moldova keeper Cristian Avram forced him to go wide, but Haaland recovered the ball and chipped it brilliantly in at the far post to make it 4-0.
Odegaard netted a fifth in first-half stoppage time, and seven minutes into the second half, Haaland struck again, scoring his fourth with a header as Norway ran riot in front of their home fans.
Substitute Aasgaard struck twice, either side of an own goal by Leo Ostigard, and he got his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 79th minute before Haaland added the 10th, his ninth goal in five World Cup qualifiers.
Aasgaard completed the rout with a flicked finish in second-half stoppage time to complete a rare double-digit margin of victory.
England took a huge step towards automatic qualification for the World Cup, with captain Harry Kane paving the way for an impressive 5-0 victory away to main Group K rivals, Serbia.
Criticised for a laboured home win over Andorra at the weekend, England produced their best display under Thomas Tuchel to take full advantage of a timid Serbia display and maintain their 100 percent record in the group without conceding a goal.
Kane headed England’s opener from Declan Rice’s corner in the 33rd minute, and minutes later Noni Madueke scored his first senior international goal to double the lead.
Seven minutes after the break, it was Ezri Konsa’s turn to open his England account and put the visitors in cruise control with a close-range finish.
Serbia’s night went from bad to worse when Nikola Milenkovic was sent off in the 73rd minute for a foul on Kane, and from Rice’s resulting free kick, Marc Guehi arrived to make it 4-0.
Substitute Marcus Rashford rounded it off with a late penalty after a foul on Ollie Watkins as England moved to 15 points from five games and a seven-point lead over Albania.
Serbia’s first defeat in the group leaves them third on seven points, with a game in hand.
The group winners qualify for next year’s finals, with the runners-up going into the playoffs.
Watch highlights from Scotland’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Belarus. The game was played behind closed doors in Hungary because of Belarus’ support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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READ MORE: Scotland’s solid start continues with Belarus win
OK, first of all some context and stats.
England have only lost four World Cup qualifiers in the past 30 years.
They are currently unbeaten in these matches since 2009.
To compare, in Europe only Spain (one) and Germany (three) have lost fewer during that period.
Adding European Championships, since qualifying for Euro 2004 England have played 108 qualifiers, winning 84 and losing only six. They have scored 292 goals and conceded just 51.
That is a points-per-game ratio of 2.5. In other words, if it was a Premier League season over 38 games, that would yield 95 points, enough to win the title in all but three seasons.
So you would think there would be lots of good memories – but qualifiers rarely produce raw excitement. They are usually the means to an end. In England’s case an unfulfilled struggle to win the World Cup which has eluded the men’s team since 1966.
England’s first international at Villa Park for 20 years, a 2-0 win on Saturday, ended in front of thousands of empty seats as Andorra mounted a damage limitation exercise in the face of inevitable defeat.
There are outliers, such as captain David Beckham’s sensational last-minute free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford in October 2001 that gave England a 2-2 draw and sent them to the following summer’s World Cup in Japan.
And in April 2003 when a stunning full debut from the 17-year-old Wayne Rooney helped England beat Turkey 2-0 in a Euro 2004 qualifier at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.
One searing memory is the ill-fated Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia at Wembley in November 2007 when Steve McClaren’s England, needing only a draw, lost 3-2 to a nation who had nothing to play for having already qualified.
It was the night McClaren left out goalkeeper Paul Robinson for Scott Carson, the replacement fumbling Niko Kranjcar’s early shot to gift Croatia the lead.
This writer, contributing to an early iteration of BBC Sport’s live text commentaries, offered up these words when watching Carson warm up in a Wembley deluge before kick-off.
“As he [Carson] looks dubiously at the penalty areas, he may just be thinking these are nightmare conditions for any keeper.”
And indeed they were.
The Wembley downpour also produced the defining image of McClaren’s time as England manager as he sheltered under an umbrella, meaning he will forever be known in that particular context as the ‘Wally With The Brolly’ – and the label stuck via a national newspaper headline.
Who: South Africa vs Nigeria
What: CAF qualifiers for FIFA 2026 World Cup
Where: Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, Free State province, South Africa
When: Tuesday at 6pm (16:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 13:30 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
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Nigeria travel to South Africa looking to get their FIFA World Cup 2026 Confederation of African Football (CAF) qualifying chances back on track against the Group C leaders.
Nigeria, the three-time African champions, are currently third in the group, but they could move as high as second with a victory on Tuesday in Bloemfontein and keep alive their country’s qualifying hopes.
Making the Super Eagles’ task all the harder is that South Africa are unbeaten at home during the group phase with victories against Benin (2-1), Zimbabwe (3-1) and Lesotho (3-0).
Here is all to know about the high-stakes matchup between two of Africa’s most high-profile footballing nations:
After seven matches, South Africa have opened up a wide points gap between themselves and the five other teams in the group:
African World Cup qualifying is arranged into nine groups of six nations.
The nine CAF group winners secure direct entry to the World Cup 2026 while the four best runners-up will participate in an intercontinental playoff for the possibility of securing a 10th spot at the tournament.
Of the nine African groups, only Morocco have already qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in North America.
CAF World Cup 2026 qualification dates:
Nigeria could still reach the World Cup finals, but they will be dependent on other teams to finish top of their group.
They need to win against leaders South Africa (Matchday 8), then secure victories in their final two matches (Matchday 9 and 10) against Lesotho and Benin and hope South Africa lose one of their final two games to even have a mathematical chance of directly qualifying as the Group C winners.
If South Africa was to lose one of their final two matches and Nigeria wins both, the teams would be tied on 19 points at the end of the first round with the group winner being decided on goal difference. If they are tied on goal difference, then the two teams’ head-to-head record would be a factor in deciding the group winner.
If Nigeria finished second in Group C, they could potentially qualify as one of the four best runners-up for the intercontinental playoff. If they won the playoff, they would be admitted to the World Cup finals as the 10th African team.
Head coach Hugo Broos will be without his first team defenders Nyiko Mobbie and Thabo Brendon Moloisane after both were injured against Lesotho on Friday. Kaizer Chiefs’ Thabiso Monyane has been called up as a possible replacement for Mobbie against Nigeria.
Burnley forward Lyle Foster, who scored and assisted in the 3-0 home win over Lesotho, is again expected to lead the line against Nigeria.
Head coach Eric Chelle will be without his talismanic striker Victor Osimhen, who was ruled out of the South Africa fixture after suffering a chin bruise during a 1-0 win over Rwanda on Friday.
Osimhen, who plays for the Turkish side Galatasaray, was considered the biggest goal threat for the Super Eagles, and his absence creates a selection dilemma for Chelle, who is tipped to go with Tolu Arokodare to lead the line, although Cyriel Dessers and Samuel Chukwueze would also be in contention.
In Osimhen’s absence, Moses Simon, Ademola Lookman and Alex Iwobi could all be deployed further forward to add attacking punch to the lineup.
South Africa have appeared in the FIFA World Cup finals on three occasions: 1998, 2002 and 2010.
The last time the Bafana Bafana successfully qualified for the World Cup through the CAF qualifiers was in 2002. In 2010, they were awarded automatic entry as the tournament hosts.
Nigeria have been to six FIFA World Cup finals but missed out on the most recent tournament in Qatar in 2022.
The last time South Africa and Nigeria met in Bloemfontein was during a competitive fixture at the 2019 AFCON qualifiers with the Super Eagles winning the away fixture 2-1.
South Africa: Williams (goalkeeper); Mdunyelwa, Ndamane, Monyane, Modiba; Mokoena, Mbatha; Nkota, Mbule, Appollis; Foster
Nigeria: Nwabali (goalkeeper); Aina, Fredrick, Bassey, Onyemaechi; Onyedika, Ndidi, Iwobi; Simon; Lookman, Arokodare
South Africa and Nigeria have played 13 times since 2004.
Nigeria have won six times while South Africa have only one victory.
The sides have played out six draws.
South Africa
W-W-W-W-W (all competitions, last result on the right)
Nigeria
D-W-D-D-W
A hat-trick from Mikel Merino, a brace from Pedri and a Ferran Torres strike condemn Turkiye to a shellacking at home.
Published On 7 Sep 20257 Sep 2025
Mikel Merino’s hat-trick helped Spain to thrash hosts Turkiye 6-0 in a World Cup qualifier as the European champions remained firmly in control of Group E.
The hosts had no answer to Spain’s dominance on Sunday, undone time and again by the visitors’ speed and finesse, with a helpless Turkish defence torn apart on every counterattack.
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Spain lead the group with six points from two matches, while Turkiye and Georgia sit on three points from the same. Georgia beat Bulgaria 3-0 earlier on Sunday.
The visitors struck early as Pedri found the net in the sixth minute, slotting past goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.
Merino doubled Spain’s tally in the 22nd minute, finishing off a slick passing move inside the box with a simple unmarked strike past the Turkish defence.
In first-half stoppage time, Merino struck again, this time latching onto a pull-back and firing home to give Spain a three-goal cushion at the interval.
The onslaught resumed eight minutes into the second half when a Turkish corner backfired, Ferran Torres led a rapid counterattack and finished off a sharp exchange inside the box to make it four.
Brimming with confidence, Merino completed his hat-trick just four minutes later, capping another breakaway with a stunning left-footed curler from distance that flew into the top corner for Spain’s fifth.
Pedri added another one for Spain in the 62nd minute, arriving unmarked at the end of another swift break to slot home his second for the night.
Elsewhere in the UEFA qualifiers, four-time world champions Germany struggled for more than an hour against Northern Ireland, before scoring twice in three minutes in the second half to earn a 3-1 victory on Sunday.
With the score level at 1-1, a tap-in by substitute Nadiem Amiri in the 69th minute and a free kick from Florian Wirtz made sure of Germany’s first win in Group A.
It was also the first victory for Julian Nagelmann’s team in their last five matches, and followed their shock 2-0 loss to hosts Slovakia on Thursday – their first ever away defeat in a World Cup qualifier – in their opening group match.
In Sunday’s other Group A game, Slovakia eked out a 1-0 win away at Luxembourg.
In Brussels, meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne underlined his talismanic role for Belgium with a stunning goal to break the deadlock and set his side on their way to a comfortable 6-0 win over Kazakhstan in their World Cup qualifier on Sunday.
It was threatening to become a frustrating night at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium for the Belgians before the 42nd-minute strike, but after that, they were able to go on and register a comfortable victory with both De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku scoring twice.
Belgium have 10 points from four games in Group J, ahead of Wales on goal difference but trailing leaders North Macedonia, who beat Liechtenstein 5-0 earlier on Sunday by a point. North Macedonia and Wales have played five matches each, however.
Elsewhere, Memphis Depay set a new scoring record for the Netherlands as his double ensured they survived a scare in beating Lithuania 3-2 away in their qualifier on Sunday.
Two goals for the 31-year-old Depay took his national team tally to 52, moving ahead of Robin van Persie’s previous record, and putting the Netherlands at the top of the Group G standings with 10 points from four games – ahead of Poland on goal difference after the Poles won 3-1 at home to Finland on Sunday.
Follow the build-up, analyses and live text commentary of the game as Turkiye host Spain for a Group E qualifier.
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Follow our live build-up, including team news, ahead of our text commentary stream of the FIFA 2026 qualifying event.
Published On 6 Sep 20256 Sep 2025
Published On 5 Sep 20255 Sep 2025
Who: Armenia vs Portugal
What: UEFA qualifiers for FIFA 2026 World Cup
Where: Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan, Armenia
When: Saturday, September 6 at 8pm (16:00 GMT).
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 13:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
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Portugal begin their quest to reach the FIFA 2026 World Cup when they travel to Armenia on Saturday for their UEFA qualifying match, but much of the focus is on the first match for the Portuguese since the passing of their forward, Diogo Jota.
Portugal midfielder Ruben Neves will wear the number 21 jersey of his late friend, Jota, during games for the national team and has revealed a tattoo on his left calf in honour of the former Liverpool striker, who died in July.
“I and the entire national team will do everything we can to keep Diogo here with us, on our team,” Neves said late Tuesday at a ceremony at Portugal’s training base held ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers against Armenia and Hungary. Republic of Ireland are the other team in Group F
Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, died in a car accident on July 3.
Neves, who plays for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, was very close to Jota – they played together at English club Wolverhampton and Portugal – and spoke on behalf of the Portugal squad about his former teammate at the ceremony, which was also attended by Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Luis Montenegro, the recently appointed prime minister.
The Portuguese federation posted a video on X of Neves with a tattoo that shows him embracing Jota, who was wearing the number 21 jersey.
𝗡𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗡𝗼𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗿. Por ti, Diogo Jota 🤍 pic.twitter.com/Qy56zijvNP
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) September 2, 2025
Tuesday’s ceremony was also a tribute to Jorge Costa, the former Portugal international who died last month of cardiac arrest.
Pedro Proenca, president of the Portuguese Football Federation, described Jota and Costa as men “who loved football; who loved their country; who loved their national team; men who defended, with courage and dedication, the colours of our flag”.
Jota and Costa were posthumously honoured as Commanders of the Order of Merit and awarded medals, which were accepted by family members.
The federation said the squad was made up of “23 (+1)” players – in another nod to the memory of Jota.
Portugal, along with 23 other teams, are only joining the qualifying programme for the World Cup now due to the progress of some of the top seeds in the 2025 Nations League, which culminated in June.
Portugal were crowned champions as they beat Spain 5-3 on penalties in the 2025 final.
Portugal beat Germany in the semifinal, while Spain overcame France. The rest of the qualifiers for the latter stages of that tournament are also only entering the World Cup qualifiers now.
This is the seventh meeting between the countries, with four Portugal wins and two draws recorded previously.
The last meeting came in a Euro qualifier in 2015, which the Portuguese won 3-2 in Armenia.
Narek Grigoryan is injured, while Norberto Briasco misses out due to a family issue.
Lucas Zelarayan and Grant-Leon Ranos are both, however, back in the first-team plans.
Rafael Leao is out with a calf injury, while Diogo Dalot has a muscle problem and has been forced to withdraw.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored five goals in four games against Armenia, including a hat-trick in the last meeting between the sides.
Cancarevic; Hovhannisyan, Mkrtchyan, Arutyunyan, Muradyan, Tiknizyan; Iwu, Dashyan; Bichakhchyan, Zelarayan; Barseghyan
Costa; Cancelo, Dias, A. Silva, Mendes; Fernandes, R. Neves, Bernardo; Conceicao, Ronaldo, Neto
Follow our live build-up, with team news, ahead of our live text commentary stream of the qualifier for the 2026 event.
Published On 5 Sep 20255 Sep 2025
After a final sense check of the schedule and plans, camp begins as players walk through the door at the Vale Hotel on the outskirts of Cardiff, where the FAW offices and training ground are also housed.
One by one squad members arrive, handing over a passport to be checked and receiving a room card.
The days of the likes of Chris Gunter and Aaron Ramsey sharing are over, with every player allocated single rooms which are mapped out and planned – though there is scope for players who are particularly close to be housed near one another.
Players have their own WhatsApp group, but another for information and key reminders rolls over from the previous international.
There is no room for sympathy, either, with dropped or injured players removed from that group to prevent sensitive information being leaked by accident.
It is safe to say that in the months after the 2022 World Cup, the words “Gareth Bale has left the group” rammed home the reality of his retirement.
Daily meetings with other departments – from media to medical – are held by Bellamy before breakfast, with each one laying out plans for the day and making sure everyone remains on the same page.
As training begins, an advanced party heads to Astana via Azerbaijan.
As well as a final check on facilities and security, meeting rooms at the hotel are decked in Wales team branding ready for the team’s arrival.
Among the early travellers is the team chef, who – after liaising with the performance team – has prepared and sent a menu to the hotel a month prior to arrival.
Menus are adapted if certain produce cannot be sourced or is out of season. Recipe cards are provided if local staff cannot quite get used to making staple foods like porridge at breakfast.
With players’ habits and even superstitions in mind, extensive options for food the day before a game and in the final hours before a match are provided – including those baked beans.
If you’re just hearing about the British underdog who has caught Wimbledon’s imagination, then there’s one thing he would like you to know – he’s Ollie, not Oliver, Tarvet.
“I usually only get called Oliver when my mum is annoyed at me. So you know, I try to avoid it at all costs,” the 21-year-old said.
He added that when he heard “Oliver” being shouted from the stands of court four during his first-round victory on Monday, it made him think he had “done something wrong”.
The fans could be forgiven for not knowing – after all, he is the world number 733 making his Grand Slam debut.
But he is quickly carving a name for himself and is unfazed by what lies ahead in the second round – namely, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz on Centre Court on Wednesday in front of 15,000 fans.
Should the US college student win, it would mark the biggest upset in Wimbledon history. But he is not ruling out his chances, choosing to see it as an opportunity not an experience.
“I don’t really like the word ‘experience’ because I feel like then you’re just there to almost just spectate; you don’t really have the expectation to win,” he told BBC Sport.
“And, obviously, I’m not saying that I expect to win. But at the same time I feel like I’ve been quietly confident this whole tournament and it’s got me to where I am.
“A big thing for me is just playing the ball, not the player.”
For his father Garry, it is a moment he can scarcely believe.
“What a mouth-watering prospect,” he said.
“A week of qualifying, a round one win. And this is just too much. It is going to be fun because Ollie has played in front of big crowds – 700 or 800, maybe 1,000. To go in front of 15,000, that is quite a step up, isn’t it?”