Arsenal forward Beth Mead hopes she did enough in her long-anticipated comeback to show Sarina Wiegman she is fit to play for England this month. The Euro 2022 Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament winner, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) last November, was greeted with thunderous applause on her return in the 88th minute at the Emirates on Sunday, where two stoppage-time goals completed a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory against Aston Villa. Mead looked sharp from the moment she stepped onto the pitch – observed by England boss Wiegman from the stands – and provided the assist to set up Alessia Russo’s winner, which came moments after Katie McCabe had cancelled out Maz Pacheco’s opener. “I am ready to compete,” said Mead. “If Sarina thinks so or not is a different story, but in my own head I am ready to compete. I’m a hopeful person. Hopefully I get a chance to speak to Sarina at some point in the next few days and we will go from there. Unfortunately I am not a mind reader, I don’t know where her brain is at the moment.” Wiegman will name her squad for this month’s UEFA Nations League home and away legs with Belgium tomorrow at 4.15pm BST. England will first host the Group A1 leaders at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on October 27 before travelling to Leuven for the Halloween return fixture. The new tournament serves as UEFA’s Olympic qualifier and also has implications for teams’ Euro 2025 qualifying campaigns. England, as the nominated home nation to qualify a Team GB for next summer’s Olympics in Paris, are hoping to secure one of two available berths, and would most likely need to reach the tournament final to do so. Third place could be enough if France, automatically qualified as Olympic hosts, reach the final themselves. The Lionesses need to top their League A group to advance but currently sit third after opening their tournament with a 2-1 victory over Scotland before losing away to the Netherlands. Both Mead and fellow European champion Fran Kirby, who also missed the World Cup due to a knee issue and surgery, have now made their club comebacks and will be itching to crack Wiegman’s October squad. For Mead, who also lost her mum June to ovarian cancer in January, Sunday’s return was an emotional one. She added: “(It was) pretty amazing. It’s been a long, long time coming. There have been a lot of hard days, a lot of good days. “I think, ultimately, you want to do your job, you want to do something you love – and that had been taken away for such a long time. So to be able to get out there, with that type of reception from the fans, was pretty incredible.” Read More Mohamed Elneny daring to dream about leading his new club to the Premier League Owen Farrell deserves more credit from England fans – Richard Wigglesworth Biggest game of my life – Danny Care excited for England’s South Africa showdown Harry Wilson fully behind Wales boss Rob Page after ‘noise from the outside’ New sports given go-ahead for Olympic Games in 2028 Lacrosse’s Olympic return hailed as ‘immense’ and ‘watershed moment’ for sport

There could be a new celebrity power couple in Hollywood, after reports emerged that Tom Cruise and Shakira are dating. However, some of the language used on social media has raised a few eyebrows – with some suggesting the speculation reads more like transfer rumours than your standard showbiz fare. It comes after reports surfaced that Cruise was “extremely interested in pursuing” the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer after the two were photographed together at the 2023 Formula One Grand Prix in Miami over the weekend. “He is extremely interested in pursuing her. There is chemistry,” a source told Page Six on 9 May. “Shakira needs a soft pillow to fall on, and that could be Tom,” they added, referencing the singer’s split from Gerard Pique. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Football journalist Nooruddean Choudry joked about some of the coverage, and questioned whether the headline had been written by transfer story specialist Fabrizio Romano. The post included a screenshot of a headline that read: “Tom Cruise is ‘extremely interested in pursuing Shakira.” Others replied with football transfer cliches of their own, with one writing: “Cruise eyes Shakira swoop.” “He’s monitoring the situation closely,” another said. “3 year contract, plus the option for one more year! Shakira is ‘excited about the Tom Cruise project’” another joked. One more social media user wrote: “Won’t believe it till she’s holding the shirt.” It comes after Cruise was up in the skies for his coronation concert cameo recently, which looked awfully similar to his MTV Movie & TV award acceptance speech. While airborne and flying his Top Gun Warbird plane, the 60-year-old 'Top Gun' actor invited King Charles III to be his "wingman," in his pre-recorded video message for the new monarch. “Pilot to pilot. Your Majesty, you can be my wingman any time," Cruise said before he saluted and flew off. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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