Robbie Kruse says Australia are focused on creating history by becoming the first Australian men s team to win the Asian Cup.

Australia forward Robbie Kruse claimed Ange Postecoglou s team have targeted a maiden Asian Cup triumph since the start of the continental championships.

Two goals from Tim Cahill helped to see off China 2-0 in the quarter-finals on Thursday, setting up a last-four showdown against the United Arab Emirates away in Newcastle on Tuesday, following the latter s shock penalty shootout victory over Japan.

Postecoglou s side are just 90 minutes away from reaching a second consecutive final in the Asian Cup and Kruse acknowledged the chance to write their names into the history books was a strong motivator.

Australia s women s team won th…

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We re into the quarter-final stage of the Africa Cup of Nations, and we ve got a nice mix of dark horses and favourites as we look ahead to the final few games of the tournament. The game we re going to be taking a look at today will be contested between Madagascar and Tunisia, who find themselves in very different positions. Madagascar are on an absolute dream run through this tournament, whereas Tunisia haven t really been able to live up to the hype and yet, they re still hanging on in there.

Madagascar

When you qualify for a tournament for the very first time in your history, you need to make sure that you take advantage of the opportunity that is in front of you. It s safe to say that Madagascar have …

Marcus Rashford has returned to training with Manchester United following successful shoulder surgery.

The England international missed the start of this season after recently undergoing an operation on the long-standing issue.

Despite his shoulder problem, Rashford was part of the Three Lions side that reached the Euro 2020 final, although he missed a penalty in the defeat by Italy at Wembley.

Just over six weeks later, the 22-year-old was back on the pitch at Carrington as he stepped up his recovery.

Look who s back

Fantastic to see you on the mend, !

— Manchester United (@ManUtd)

Although he is not expected to return to first-team action until October, Rashford took part in running exercises while also conducting ball work wi…

Jean-Luc du Plessis kicked a penalty at the death as Stormers grabbed a surprise 19-19 draw against the Crusaders at Newlands, while the Lions beat the Highlanders in an entertaining Super Rugby encounter.

Defending champions the Crusaders extended their lead atop the New Zealand conference to nine points, but had to settle for their second draw in their last three matches after a dramatic finish ended a seven-match winning streak against Saturday s opponents.

Siya Kolisi s early converted try along with a penalty from Joshua Stander had the Stormers in a surprise 10-0 lead, though the visitors were in front by half-time courtesy of Matt Todd and David Havili going over.

Braydon Ennor s converted try early in the second half had the Crusaders nine points in fro…

Defender Lucy Bronze revealed England would have failed to live up to their own expectations had they not reached the World Cup semi-finals.

Alessia Russo guaranteed the Lionesses would finish no lower than fourth in the 2023 tournament when her second-half goal completed a 2-1 comeback against Colombia in Saturday’s quarter-final to set up Wednesday’s meeting with co-hosts Australia.

Third place would see England equal their best-ever finish from eight years ago in Canada, but Bronze insisted reaching this stage for the third time in the European champions’ history was the bare minimum.

“If we hadn’t have gotten to the semi-final, I would have said that we would have underperformed,” said Bronze.

WE ARE SEMI-FINALISTS!

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Market: Both teams to score

Odds: 8/11 @

In a battle between two of the summer s Premier League returners, Brentford will welcome Watford to west London when this weekend s Premier League fixtures get underway.

Starting with the hosts, suffering last-gasp heartbreak on their travels last weekend, there is no doubt that Brentford will be seeking an immediate bounce when they return to west London on Friday night. Eventually watching Leeds snatch a 98th-minute equalizer at Elland Road, the Premier League debutants have shown some recent inconsistencies. While Thomas Frank s men might have gained a host of plaudits when opening the 2021/22 campaign, the Bees have now managed to win just one of their previous eight top-flight outings, a run that stems back to Octobe…

Sunderland manager Martin O Neill believes record signing Steven Fletcher is worth every single penny of the 12 million pounds paid by the club.

The Scottish striker joined Sunderland from relegated Wolves and eyebrows were raised when O Neill elected to splash out a significant figure to secure his signature.

But after scoring three times in his first two games, including Saturday s opening goal in their 1-1 draw against Liverpool, O Neill believes his decision to bring in the forward is proving a good call.

So far, he has been absolutely terrific, I am just delighted with him, he told reporters. I just couldn t be more pleased.

All sorts of figures seem to be bandied around I heard we paid 14 million for him it was 12 million, but he seems to be wort…

Aston Villa midfielder Fabian Delph is adamant he wants to have a big impact at the club this season.

The 21-year-old has endured a tough start to his career with the Villans, with injuries limiting his playing time, making just 41 appearances for the club since his eight-million-pound move for Leeds in 2009.

In early 2012 he spent time on loan at his former club to get games under his belt and is now determined to make an impression at Villa Park under new boss Paul Lambert to help his side move up the Premier League table.

I feel good and I feel stronger than I have in the past, he told the Birmingham Evening Post.

I started the season then ended up out of the team but I ve been working hard and managed to get back in.

I m pleased with that …

Arjen Robben has revealed that he wishes to stay at Bayern Munich for the rest of his career.

The winger has spent time at numerous clubs around Europe including Real Madrid, Chelsea and PSV, but joined Bayern for a reported 27 million euros in 2009.

Despite an alleged bust-up with team-mate Franck Ribery towards the end of last season, Robben insists he would love to spend the rest of his playing time with the Bundesliga giants.

Can I envisage staying at the club for the rest of my playing days? Yes, of course I can, he told tz-online.de during an interview.

Obviously it depends on my personal health and my performances on the pitch, but I hope it happens. I have a contract until 2015, so we will see.

Munich is a great city. I have lived in m…

Dunga has been named as coach of Internacional, his first role since being fired by Brazil at the end of 2010 World Cup.

The former Brazil captain led the national team for four years, winning the Copa America in 2007 and the Confederations Cup in 2009, but was sacked after a quarter-final exit to Netherlands in South Africa.

The most important thing is to put the ideas into practice. I want a vibrant and competitive team, Dunga told reporters at his unveiling.

Inter have a battling team and in football we can always learn.

Dunga, who had began and ended his playing career with Internacional, went on to voice his opinion that he had landed one of the most exclusive roles in the game.

The Internacional job is like the Brazil job; you do not go…