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Max Johnston has been called into the Scotland squad for the first time ahead of the friendly against France on Tuesday night. The 19-year-old defender, who joined Austrian Bundesliga club Sturm Graz from Motherwell in the summer, replaces skipper Andy Robertson and Aaron Hickey, who have both been withdrawn. Left-back Robertson injured his shoulder in the 2-0 defeat by Spain in Seville last week, while Brentford full-back Hickey’s issue is unspecified. Johnston, son of former Scotland attacker Allan Johnston, has been capped up to Under-21 level with Scotland and played – and was sent off late – in the 3-1 win over Hungary at Fir Park on Friday. Scotland take on France knowing they are going to Germany for the 2024 European Championships next summer. Steve Clarke’s men qualified for their second successive Euros on Sunday night when Norway were defeated 1-0 by Spain in Oslo. Read More Scotland’s record at major tournaments as Steve Clarke’s men seal Euro 2024 spot Mohamed Elneny daring to dream about leading his new club to the Premier League Owen Farrell deserves more credit from England fans – Richard Wigglesworth

The border crossing with Egypt is the only point of exit for Palestinians looking to flee Gaza.

Scotland’s Euro 2024 place was secured on Sunday night by Norway’s defeat to Spain as Steve Clarke’s side continue to impress. Having also reached the Covid-delayed Euro 2020 finals, Clarke has re-established Scotland’s men’s team on the international stage and here, the PA news agency looks at their major tournament record. Back in the big time Clarke said after Spain’s win in Oslo on Sunday: “To qualify for successive Euros after more than 20 years is phenomenal.” Scotland reached four out of five major tournaments from the 1990 to 1998 World Cups. That included the 1992 and 1996 European Championships – their only appearances in the Euro finals prior to 2020. They had been present at six World Cups out of seven to that point including five in a row from 1974, the only exception being 1994. They have since missed six World Cups in a row, and the first five Euros of the new century before Clarke oversaw their resurgence. Alongside their Euro qualifications they have been promoted twice from League C in the inaugural 2018-19 Nations League to the top tier for 2024-25. The trip to Germany for Euro 2024 will also allow the Tartan Army to travel to a tournament in numbers, after Euro 2020 was played under Covid restrictions with two of Scotland’s games taking place at Hampden Park and the other at Wembley. Best record in prospect Clarke’s side are set for their best ever record in a qualifying campaign, for either a European Championship or World Cup. Before losing 2-0 to Spain last Thursday, they won their first five games – scoring 12 goals and conceding only one, an Erling Haaland penalty in the 2-1 win over Norway. Top spot is still to be decided between Scotland and Spain but next month’s games against Georgia and Norway are, relatively speaking, dead rubbers with Scotland already qualified. One win would make it six out of eight games, a 75 per cent rate that would be Scotland’s best in a qualifying campaign – beating their seven wins out of 10 en route to both Euro 96 and then France 98. Should they win both, it will be only the fifth time they have won seven or more games in qualifying with all the previous examples coming in campaigns of at least 10 games. They narrowly missed out on Euro 2008, with eight wins from 12 including a double over France, and last year’s World Cup when they won seven of 11 before losing a play-off semi-final to Ukraine. Chance to break new ground Having qualified, the next target will be to make it out of a major tournament group stage for the first time. Scotland’s three previous trips to Euro finals have brought just two wins and two draws from nine games, their best return coming in 1996 when they beat Switzerland and drew with the Netherlands, who then eliminated them on goals scored only thanks to Patrick Kluivert’s consolation in a 4-1 defeat to England. They have only four wins in 23 games at World Cup finals and have never won more than once at a single major tournament. The expansion of the final tournament to 24 teams, introduced in 2016, increases the chances of making it through the group, with all six winners and runners-up joined by four third-placed teams in the last 16. Four points has been enough to get through at both of the 24-team tournaments to date, with Northern Ireland and Portugal in 2016 and Denmark and Ukraine last time out advancing with three. Scotland propped up Group D on one point at Euro 2020. 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

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

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Mohamed Elneny is no stranger to people baulking at his footballing ambitions – which is why he is happy to declare he wants to take his newly-founded club all the way to the Premier League. The Arsenal midfielder announced the launch of Elneny FC last week, a new team which he hopes will give a chance to players who have fallen through the cracks of pre-existing clubs. A number of try-outs across north London and Essex have been planned, with the hope of finding enough players of the desired quality to train and play in friendly matches for the next year before Elneny FC enters the football pyramid. For Elneny, though, the dream is to then lead his eponymous club to the very top and defy any critics – much like his earlier playing days. “I remember one journalist was talking to me in Egypt and he asked me, last question, he said to me: ‘Mo, where you do you want to play?’,” Elneny said. “I was playing for a club (Al Mokawloon) in the middle of the table in Egypt but I said to him ‘I want to play at the Nou Camp in Barcelona’. “I swear to you, he just walked off and didn’t continue the interview with me, no thank you, no goodbye or anything, he just walked off. If you don’t dream big in football you will not get anything. If you dream big at least you’re going to be close Mohamed Elneny “My friend said ‘look where you are. Look where you are in the middle of the table in Egypt, how are you going to get to one of the best teams in the world’? “If you don’t dream big in football you will not get anything. If you dream big at least you’re going to be close. This is what I really believe.” After a stint in Basel, Elneny joined Arsenal and went on to play – and score – in a Champions League tie against Barcelona in their iconic stadium. Now the 31-year-old will set out to prove any doubters wrong once again as he aims high with his own club. “I have told so many people and they are just laughing at me because when I say I want to play in the Premier League one day, they just say ‘How? The Premier League is the best in the world and you want to get there from zero?’ he added. “Some people just don’t get the idea but for me, I love to dream, that is why I need good people around me. “I think the players we sign will be excited and then I am going put the idea every time when we train them: ‘we want to be in the Premier League one day’. “Of course, it could take 15 years, 20 years but we have the target where we want to be. “I love to dream. What am I going to lose? I’m going to work every day about this (Elneny FC).” Elneny is hoping to get some crossover support from the Arsenal fanbase and also arrange coaching sessions with some of his Emirates Stadium team-mates and one day hopes Elneny FC will meet the Gunners in the FA Cup. The Egypt international believes his club will only tighten his close ties to north London, with Elneny currently Arsenal’s longest-serving player. He admits to shedding a tear when the club offered him a one-year extension towards the end of last season – despite the fact he was absent with a serious knee injury that was not healed until his old deal would have expired. “It was one of the happiest days in my life, really,” he added. “The way they talked to me, the way all the club was happy about this decision, they made me cry this day. I said ‘oh my God’. Arsenal Football Club, they know I love them 100 per cent so much, they know I don’t want to leave. I want to stay and finish my career there.” Read More 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 The sporting weekend in pictures

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said higher interest rates may persist, while insisting the US economy is “in a

Wales hero Harry Wilson has backed manager Rob Page and says he has the full support of his players while taking an apparent swipe at the Association’s chief executive Noel Mooney. Page’s position came under the spotlight before Wales’ stunning 2-1 home win over Croatia in Euro 2024 qualifying on Sunday. Mooney revealed that Page’s future will be reviewed next month should Wales fail in their bid to qualify automatically for next summer’s tournament. Captain Ben Davies said on the eve of the Croatia game that Mooney’s comments were “not helpful”, a point picked up on by Wilson after the Fulham forward had scored twice to lift Wales into the second automatic qualifying spot in Group D. “We’re 100 per cent behind the manager,” Wilson told S4C after Wales’ win over the world’s sixth-ranked team. “We know there’s been a lot of noise from the outside and some comments that weren’t helpful for us in our preparation from people we didn’t really expect the comments to come from to be honest.” Wilson marked his 50th Wales appearance with a first brace for his country, a deft chip over Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic and a glancing header from Daniel James’ cross taking his goal tally to eight. It came 10 years to the day since Wilson made his debut against Belgium to become Wales’ youngest-ever player at the age of 16 years and 207 days. Wilson said: “It was a big night for me personally, representing my country 50 times is something I couldn’t have dreamed of. I’m super proud of that. “But it wasn’t about me, it was about the team and putting on the performance we all wanted.” Wales’ victory over the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists puts automatic qualification for the European Championship in their own hands going into the final two group games. They meet Armenia in Yerevan on November 18 before hosting group leaders Turkey in Cardiff three days later. Turkey’s 4-0 win over Latvia on Sunday secured qualification for next summer’s showpiece in Germany. Wales will join them by winning their final two games, even if Croatia do likewise against Latvia and Armenia next month. Teams are ranked according to their head-to-head performance if level on points. Wales drew 1-1 away to Croatia in March and took four points from them – and would actually top the group by winning their final two games. Wilson said: “We watched their game on Thursday night (Croatia lost 1-0 at home to Turkey) and the result went against us. So we knew we had to produce something special and thankfully we’ve done that.” Read More New sports given go-ahead for Olympic Games in 2028 Lacrosse’s Olympic return hailed as ‘immense’ and ‘watershed moment’ for sport The sporting weekend in pictures PA Sport Trivia (16/10/2023) Peter O’Mahony proud despite Ireland’s World Cup disappointment Rob Page delighted with Wales response after speculation over future