“If I ended up playing in a World Cup, all this hard work would be worthwhile.”

Head coach Philip Doyle made 10 changes to the starting side after their historic World Cup win against New Zealand.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has backed moves to snub the World Cup in Russia - if Kremlin links are proven in the Salisbury contamination scare.

Australia’s chances of toppling Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup semi-final have improved after David Pocock and Israel Folau were passed fit for the Twickenham showdown.

Stuart Lancaster has been appointed as England’s new permanent head coach on a four-year contract, the Rugby Football Union have confirmed.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has dismissed Spanish media reports linking David Villa with a move away from the Nou Camp in the January transfer window.

Germany coach Joachim Low was satisfied with the way his players bounced back from the horror show against Sweden to end 2012 on a positive note in Holland last night.

Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley has welcomed Sepp Blatter’s pledge to reform the way World Cups are allocated.

Bookmaker William Hill today said half-year profits leapt by a quarter as online punters piled into pre-match and in-play offers.

Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey today announced his international retirement.

The Portuguese Football Federation want Jose Mourinho to take charge of the national team for their next two Euro 2012 qualifiers in October, according to a report.

Montenegro will be spying on England in Switzerland this week even if Fabio Capello is not putting a similar watch on them.

Germany striker Lukas Podolski insists he and his team-mates will not get carried away by their convincing triumph over Australia in their World Cup opener.

Landry NGuemo has urged Celtic to make his loan move from Nancy permanent before he goes to the World Cup.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini expects Wayne Bridge to answer England’s World Cup call.

Liam Lawrence was handed the task of shoring up the Republic of Ireland’s right flank in their World Cup play-off with France.

Sunderland midfielder Andy Reid insists next summer’s World Cup finals are not on his mind.

Former Uruguay international Gus Poyet has defended Luis Suarez for the goal-line handball which helped the South Americans advance to the World Cup semi-finals, saying the forward “took one for the team”.

Fulham are hoping to sign South Korea international Lee Chun-Soo on a season-long loan with a view to a permanent transfer, according to reports in Korea.

Former Pakistan cricketers have appealed to their government to send lawyers to the West Indies to assist the team after Jamaican police confirmed national coach Bob Woolmer had been strangled.