Michael O’Neill could point to individual and collective mistakes after Northern Ireland lost 4-0 to Finland in their penultimate Euro 2024 qualifier but the inexperience of his young squad played a major role in Helsinki. Northern Ireland played well for much of the first half but fell behind to Joel Pohjanpalo’s penalty just before the break, and Daniel Hakans then doubled the lead three minutes into the second half before substitutes Teemu Pukki and Robin Lod added to the score late on. Ross McCausland made his debut from the start only days after being drafted in as injury cover on Monday, and there was also a late debut for Michael Forbes with O’Neill trying to make up for the raft of missing players. But it was a sadly familiar story as O’Neill’s men were unable to capitalise on early chances before being punished at the other end. “We played very well for 40 minutes in the game I thought,” O’Neill said. “We had a plan to make ourselves difficult to beat and to contain Finland and we did it very well, I can’t remember them having any opportunities in that period… “We created one or two half chances we could have done better with. Then the penalty, for all the work you do in the first 40 minutes you end up going in 1-0 down at half-time because of a penalty.” Isaac Price clipped Nikolai Alho on the edge of the box before Pohjanpalo sent Conor Hazard the wrong way. “Probably it’s a challenge he’s better off not attempting,” O’Neill said. “There’s not a lot of contact but there’s enough. The player wasn’t really in a position to shoot, we could possibly have been able to block the shot… “I was really pleased with the first 40 minutes but obviously by 48 minutes you’re in a really difficult position.” Hakans’ strike was in many ways the killer blow, coming so early in the second half. The Valerenga winger skipped through four challenges before exchanging passes with Glen Kamara, beating Hazard at his near post. O’Neill was disappointed with his stand-in goalkeeper, but also accepted more experienced players might have stopped the run by fair means or foul much further from goal. “It’s a shot that I would not expect to beat my goalkeeper at the near post,” O’Neill said. “You have to recognise the danger and there’s points in the game where maybe you have to make a technical foul as they call it and we didn’t do that. I felt probably that was something that if I was to be critical of, we didn’t win enough of those types of challenges through the 90 minutes.” When Finland then introduced Pukki off the bench, with the former Norwich striker scoring the third and creating the fourth, the game quickly went away from Northern Ireland. “That has been the big difference, the attacking players some of the opposition have had and we saw that tonight with goals three and four,” O’Neill said. “We’ve got a group of players where a lot of them are new to international football. This is their first campaign. They’re coming into games and the games are going away from them. As a manager I have to support them and back them. “They have to learn on the job and they’re having to learn quickly.” The good news is that this miserable qualifying campaign is almost over, with only Monday’s match at home to Denmark remaining. “When you come out of a defeat you look at the game from a tactical point of view and a performance point of view but what’s most important as a staff and a coach and a group of players is that people don’t question your character or mentality,” O’Neill said. “That’s what we have to show again on Monday night.” Read More Finland put Northern Ireland to the sword in Helsinki Trent Alexander-Arnold receiving the keys to England’s midfield suggests one thing England labour to win over Malta in front of bored Wembley crowd Finland put Northern Ireland to the sword in Helsinki Jarell Quansah keen to become ‘top centre-back’ after Liverpool breakthrough On this day in 2004: John Toshack becomes Wales boss on five-year deal

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Brazil and Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. has been tasked with leading a special player-run Fifa anti-racism committee. The committee will look to advocate for more stringent punishments for any displays of racism within football, a long overdue need. Vinicius Jr, arguably the face of LaLiga, recently came under attack when he experienced chants from Valenica’s fans in May during a 1-0 away defeat at the Mestalla. The incident accounted for the ninth time the 22-year-old star had reported racial abuse this LaLiga campaign alone. Support around the world came in for the Brazilian star who blasted the Spanish league after the events that unfolded. Vini Jr. made his feelings clear about his experience so far in LaLiga stating that he believed racism like he experienced at the Mestalla had become “normal” all around the top flight. The Brazilian didn’t hold back in expressing his thoughts, stating that in Brazil, Spain is regarded as a country of racists. Javier Tebas, LaLiga’s president, didn’t take kindly to Vinicius’ criticism of Spain. The Costa Rican-born Tebas failed to reinforce support for the abused star, criticising the Brazilian’s reaction to the terrible events. Although LaLiga has had extreme numbers of incidents with racist fan behaviour over the past year, the issues extend beyond Spain. Joelinton, a fellow Brazilian and Newcastle United midfielder, recently revealed that he had his own experience with racism following Newcastle’s defeat to Arsenal. The newly created committee is an important step in the right direction and, at the very least, demonstrates that Fifa is no longer willing to passively observe their players suffer with no consequences. Gianni Infantino, Fifa’s president, spoke with the Brazilian national team in Barcelona encouraging the players that football will no longer deal with racism and stated to Reuters: “There will be no more football with racism in it. The games should be stopped immediately when it happens. Enough is enough.” Infantino stressed the importance of not just punishing fans within the scope of football but expanding the punishments beyond the stadium and pursuing legal action. The president continued: "An act of racism is a criminal act... From now on, Fifa will take legal actions with local authorities too, we will join complaints filed in local justice.” Football has no room for racism and incidents such as Vinicius’ should not have to occur to move the needle. However, the appointment of a player like Vinicius to lead the new committee, who has personally experienced racism in football at its most extreme, brings hope for creating a safer environment for players all around the world. Read More Gordon McQueen: The tough defender who starred for both Leeds and Man United Kompany eager for ‘perfect’ season start when Burnley face Man City Former Scotland defender Gordon McQueen dies aged 70

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Kris Jenner's latest Instagram post has posed a few questions about her flawless appearance. The reality star and famed momager of the Kardashian-Jenner clan took to the app on Monday (28 August) to showcase a glam look by make-up artist Samer Khouzami. The clip shows the 67-year-old innocently smiling for the camera – but many have gone as far as to accuse her porcelain skin as being "AI". One person hit back at MUA Khouzami: "Please post an unfiltered photo so we can see her true beauty. Being a master makeup artist this just gives clients the wrong illusion and this is things they expect instead of seeing pours which is totally normal." Another added: "She is f***ing stunning - but please show us this look without the ridiculous filter though? She doesn’t need it." "What the hell is happening that’s not her face," one fan quipped. Meanwhile, the editing app Facetune, which has become a popular hit among influencers and celebrities, snubbed: "This is a great time to tell everyone we have Facetune for videos." This isn't the first time eagle-eyed fans have accused the family of editing their photos online. Kim Kardashian even admitted to one hilarious mishap that got the internet talking. In a post last year, the SKIMS founder confessed to replacing Kylie Jenner's daughter, Stormi, with Khloe Kardashian's daughter, True. At the time, Kim shared the original image at Disneyland to her Instagram story, writing: "The original pics were Stormi! However, I asked @kyliejenner if I could post them and she said [insert crying face] she wasn't really feeling posting at the moment and so I respect that! But it wasn't going to mess up my IG feed. Chi was wearing pink and it matched perfectly." She continued: "It wasn't the aesthetic I was going for and I can own up to that! You know how much a good aesthetic means to my soul and I will be dammed if Kylie will ruin that for me and mess up my IG grid. So thank you True for taking one for the team!" Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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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You know how anytime you go onto Wikipedia you're asked to donate? Elon Musk could get rid of that once and for all, on one condition. Wikipedia is run by a team of volunteers and is free to access. Volunteers help keep the site up to date as well as write numerous translations for various articles to increase the accessibility. Now, Elon Musk is offering the site $1 billion dollars, but only if they change their name. Musk, who clearly has the same humour as a 12-year-old, is prepared to give out a large cheque if Wikipedia becomes... 'D**kipedia'. Musk was seemingly inspired after seeing the standard appeal for donation on the site, although was unsure why the site was asking for money. "Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation ants so much money?" The Twitter/X CEO asked. "It certainly isn't needed to operate Wikipedia. You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone! "So, what's the money for? Inquiring minds want to know..." But a quick Google and Musk could have found the answer himself. Samantha Lien, a spokeswoman for the Wikimedia Foundation, told The Washington Post: "Based on guidance from the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, our reserve amounts to one year of operating budget. "If there were circumstances that affected our ability to raise those funds during that period, we could end up in an urgent situation - the reserve is a safety net to protect Wikipedia against such as possibility." Although, the large donation perhaps isn't the best use of Musk's money after his wealth dropped by $16 billion after shares in Tesla dropped by 9.3 percent since the company released its 2023 third-quarter earnings report. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.