What should be a little more straightforward is giving Kieron Bowie another start.
The Sassuolo striker was sacrificed just over 10 minutes into his first Scotland start to make space for Welsh in defence.
His partnership with Oli McBurnie showed promising signs in the 20 minutes or so they were together in Slovenia, but there was little time to build on that cameo against the Swiss. Surely he and the Hull City striker will get another chance?
If there were any concerns McBurnie wasn’t up for the fight – five years on from his last international involvement – they have been quashed in these past two games.
His work-rate as a largely solo striker – hauling his team up and holding the ball in – was commendable. If only Bowie was still on the field for the flurry of flick-ons he won in the first half.
Pocognoli has inherited one of the overriding problems Clarke wrestled with during his spell – scoring goals. That’s four games now without one, and the Scots are just 25 minutes away from setting a new – unwanted – record for failing to score.
In 1970-71, they went 447 minutes without finding the back of the net – it’s been 422 minutes of football since McGinn’s deflected strike against Haiti in Boston.
Nairobi, Kenya – With less than nine months until the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are entering the most demanding phase of preparations: completing and testing the stadiums, training grounds and supporting infrastructure needed to host the tournament.
The tournament, scheduled for June 19 to July 17, 2027, will be the first Africa Cup of Nations jointly hosted by three countries and the competition’s return to East Africa since Ethiopia staged the finals in 1976.
A Confederation of African Football (CAF) delegation spent eight days inspecting facilities across the three host countries earlier this month, assessing stadiums, training grounds, hotels, airports and other infrastructure. The delegation included officials responsible for competitions, safety and security, transport, media, television and logistics.
Kenya: Talanta takes centre stage
In Kenya, the biggest project is the newly built Talanta Sports International Stadium in Nairobi.
The 60,000-capacity stadium is intended to be the country’s flagship AFCON venue and was inspected by CAF earlier this month. During a subsequent visit, CAF President Patrice Motsepe said he was impressed by the progress at Talanta. He also visited Kasarani Stadium, where work remains to be completed.
But Kenya’s preparations extend well beyond its new flagship stadium.
CAF’s inspection also covered training venues, hotels, airport infrastructure and other sites supporting the Nairobi tournament operation.
Nicholus Musonye, chairman of Kenya’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee, told Al Jazeera that the country was addressing the outstanding requirements.
“I want to assure Africa, and I want to assure the world, that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, we are ready to host AFCON,” Musonye said.
He said work on Kasarani’s pitch should be completed by the end of October, with the venue planned to be ready for handover in December.
But concerns remain about some of the facilities that will support the tournament.
Kelvin Kimaru, a Kenyan football fan, told Al Jazeera that training grounds remained a concern.
“We are not yet ready because the training grounds for the coming teams are not yet ready,” Kimaru said.
Moses Kamalik, an executive member of the Boxing Federation of Kenya, said other venues also needed work, including Nyayo Stadium and Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret.
The challenge for Kenya is broader than completing Talanta; it needs a network of match venues, training grounds and supporting facilities capable of operating together when teams and supporters arrive.
Tanzania: the race extends beyond stadiums
Tanzania is also entering the final stretch, with preparations covering stadiums, training grounds and the infrastructure connecting them.
Neema Msitha, chief executive of the country’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee, told Al Jazeera that the country’s stadiums were more than 80 percent complete on average and expected to be ready for handover to CAF in January.
“All these stadiums are almost ready. If you grade them on average, all of them are almost above 80 percent,” Msitha said.
Training facilities are being developed alongside the main venues, with five facilities being prepared in each host location. Msitha said they were about 75 percent complete.
The three East African hosts are moving from construction to testing and operational preparations as the 2027 tournament approaches [Hafsa Abdiwahab Sheikh/Al Jazeera]
The Tanzanian government has also applied pressure to accelerate the work.
In August, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba ordered work on AFCON training grounds to speed up, saying the facilities needed to be completed on time and meet CAF standards. He issued the directive after inspecting the Farasi and Leaders Club training grounds in Dar-es-Salaam.
Road infrastructure is also part of the preparations. In June, Works Minister Abdallah Ulega ordered contractors working on roads linked to the tournament in Arusha to operate around the clock to meet deadlines and international standards.
Msitha pointed to regional airlines, Air Tanzania and ferry services between Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar as part of the transport arrangements being developed for teams, officials and supporters.
CAF’s September inspection included Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam and other key facilities in Tanzania as the governing body continued to assess preparations across the three hosts.
Uganda faces its own deadlines
Uganda is working towards the same year-end push.
Patrick Ogwel, a CAF infrastructure monitoring officer, told Al Jazeera that infrastructure development was expected to be ready by December 31.
Hoima City Stadium has been completed and commissioned, he said, while Akii-Bua Olympic Stadium in Lira is due to be completed and commissioned by December.
Uganda’s Local Organising Committee has identified Akii-Bua, Hoima City Stadium and Mandela National Stadium as its three main stadiums. It expects 10 of the country’s 12 training facilities to be ready by the end of the year.
The organising committee said after CAF’s latest inspection that all three stadiums remained on course for completion by the end of December, while some training facilities were planned to be completed in January 2027.
But the deadlines are not without pressure.
On September 24, Uganda’s State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang directed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces to accelerate work on several AFCON training facilities, citing concerns about the pace of construction at sites including Pece Stadium in Gulu, Lira and Gulu University.
After its September inspection, the CAF delegation also briefed President Yoweri Museveni, with challenges outside Kampala among the issues raised during the assessment.
From construction to tournament readiness
The coming months will test whether the three hosts can turn construction progress into a functioning tournament operation.
AFCON requires stadiums and training grounds that can handle teams and spectators while meeting requirements for broadcasting, media, security, transport, hospitality and match operations.
A completed stadium is only one part of the equation.
CAF inspections are now focusing on whether venues and supporting facilities can meet the operational demands of the continental tournament [Hafsa Abdiwahab Sheikh/Al Jazeera]
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have already gained experience from jointly hosting the 2024 African Nations Championship, which allowed the three countries to work together on a major continental tournament. CAF has also involved representatives from the three local organising committees in an observer mission at the recent AFCON in Morocco.
But AFCON will be a larger undertaking, with 24 national teams competing across the three countries for almost a month.
The coming months will determine whether the work under way across the three countries can be completed, verified and brought into operation before teams and supporters begin arriving.
For supporters in East Africa, the tournament represents more than a test of stadiums and infrastructure. It is also a chance to experience Africa’s biggest national-team competition on home soil.
Gilbert Okeya, a Kenyan football fan and Football Kenya Federation referee, told Al Jazeera:
“We are happy because we are going to host, and we are going to have an opportunity to have live matches for AFCON in our country.”
South Korea calls for a formal apology from North Korea over the DMZ explosion that injured three soldiers.
Published On 30 Sep 202630 Sep 2026
South Korea’s military has demanded an apology from North Korea over landmine explosions earlier this month in the border zone between the two countries that wounded three soldiers.
Three South Korean soldiers were injured in two explosions on September 21 near the military demarcation line in the western section of the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified border buffer zone between the Koreas that is commonly known as the DMZ.
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Kang Hyunwoo, the South Korean joint chiefs of staff’s director of operations, said the military “strongly urges” North Korea to apologise for the blasts and take “responsible measures” to prevent a recurrence.
“This is a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement and undermines the spirit of existing inter-Korean agreements; it must be stopped immediately,” he said on Wednesday, adding “we strongly urge an apology and responsible measures”.
Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul said South Korea would consider unspecified “corresponding measures” if a complete investigation confirms the North was responsible.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the South Korean assessment is a “conspiratorial farce” and accused Seoul of making groundless claims to create a pretext for provocation against Pyongyang.
She also criticised the South for broadcasting warnings and firing warning shots at North Korean troops conducting front-line fortification work, adding “our soldiers have never crossed the border”.
“If the [South Korean] military gangsters fire at our soldiers carrying on the permanent project for the southern border, not warning shots, our border units will take immediate and merciless retaliatory action,” she said.
The United Nations Command said on Wednesday it had “identified an active Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea’s) anti-personnel mine on the ROK side of the Military Demarcation Line”, in a joint investigation with Seoul’s military.
“Based on the findings of the investigation, UNC determined that an Armistice Agreement violation occurred,” it added.
The UN Command is a US-led multinational military force charged with overseeing the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the Korean War and administers the southern side of the DMZ.
Once a year, leaders from across the globe meet face-to-face at the UN General Assembly, and Al Jazeera’s journalists were there covering daily developments. Here’s a look at what it was like behind the scenes of the coverage you saw online and on TV.
For the first time in 315 days, Northern Ireland are back in Belfast.
Michael O’Neill’s side welcome Hungary to Windsor Park for a Nations League Group B2 contest on Monday night, just 51 days shy of a year since a Jamie Donley penalty saw the side to a 1-0 win over Luxembourg in their previous home fixture.
In the interim, they have played five times on their travels, a run that began with World Cup play-off defeat by Italy in Bergamo in March and concluded with victory over Georgia on Friday night.
If that win in Tbilisi represented a something of a breakthrough in terms of away performances – they had won just two of their previous 12 competitive away games – form back at Windsor has been strong despite the sporadic fixtures.
Since losing to Slovenia in October 2023, only Germany have left Belfast with a win and that a 1-0 triumph on a night the hosts missed numerous good chances.
A run of seven wins in nine home games is in stark contrast to what went before when, in the preceding nine at Windsor Park, Northern Ireland had beaten only San Marino and Kosovo, the latter courtesy of a 94th-minute winner.
O’Neill said he does not put much stock in such runs of form given the changing squads in international football, but acknowledged his team are in “a really good phase” at Windsor Park.
“This is a new team, so they’re not saddled by the performance of previous teams,” he said.
“They love playing here at the stadium. You know there was a period where the team of 2016 [who qualified for the European Championships of that year] didn’t enjoy playing at home.
“Then suddenly they started to win games and they loved playing at home. Teams go through phases and at this moment in time this team is in a really good phase in terms of the home form.”
They will at least have home advantage at Cardiff City Stadium as they prepare for the remainder of the current international break, with matches against Norway on Thursday, 1 October, and then Denmark the following Sunday.
Captain Davies felt Wales were being taught some harsh lessons in what is their second stint in the top tier of the Nations League.
“It was a tough game. They are a good team and made it a hard game for us,” the Spurs defender told BBC Match of the Day Wales.
“It was really frustrating to concede from two set-pieces. The Nations League games are against the best teams in Europe, it was always going to be tough.
“If you’re not at 100% then you are going to get punished at this level. We have to regroup and go again on Thursday.”
Despite the setback in the Danish capital, winger Sorba Thomas echoed Bellamy’s sentiments.
“Thankfully we’ve got two games at home still to come. We’ll have home advantage so we need to show a reaction,” he told BBC Match of the Day Wales.
“We are just going to get better. We are a small nation but we’ve got big hearts and beliefs and for us it’s about showing that more on the pitch.”
Ireland’s players wore black armbands in support of Palestinians, bowed their heads during the Israeli anthem, and refused pre-match handshakes.
Published On 27 Sep 202627 Sep 2026
The Republic of Ireland has won the first of two football matches against Israel at the UEFA Nations League, defeating the Israeli team 3-0 after calls to boycott the match drew international attention.
Ireland’s players wore black armbands at the game in Hungary on Sunday in support of Palestinians killed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Irish players also bowed their heads during Israel’s national anthem and did not shake the hands of the Israeli team. Ireland’s captain, Dara O’Shea, has also pledged to donate all of his earnings from the match to aid Gaza.
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On Saturday, Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive David Courell said the players would wear black armbands “in recognition of all lives lost in the conflict” as he confirmed that the match would take place after hours of talks and a vote among the team. Israel was informed in advance by the FAI that Ireland’s players would not shake hands, and UEFA accepted the arrangement.
After the FAI confirmed that it would participate in the match, the Republic of Ireland’s first-choice goalkeeper, Gavin Bazunu, became the only player to publicly opt out of the fixture.
Bazunu posted a statement on social media on Saturday, saying he felt “it would be wrong to participate in the upcoming fixtures against Israel”.
He withdrew from both legs of the fixture, including the next match set to take place on October 4 in Backa Topola, Serbia.
Fans protest an upcoming match between the Republic of Ireland and Israel during the international friendly match between the Republic of Ireland and Qatar on May 28, 2026, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland [File: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images]
The match on Sunday proceeded despite months-long pressure on the FAI to boycott the match due to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Since May, leading Irish footballers have joined a campaign run by Irish Sport for Palestine, urging Ireland to boycott the match against Israel. More than 160 Irish athletes signed an open letter urging the FAI to reconsider its decision to proceed with the games.
The campaign says Israel has breached UEFA and FIFA statutes by allowing teams to play on occupied Palestinian land and should be stripped of its membership at both football bodies.
The Republic of Ireland and Israel players did not shake hands with each other before Sunday’s controversial Uefa Nations League game in Hungary.
After walking on to the pitch at Nagyerdei Stadion, the Republic of Ireland squad stood for their national anthem and appeared to bow their heads before Israel’s anthem.
Following the anthems, the two teams did not line up for the traditional handshakes.
There was also no exchange of pennants between Republic of Ireland captain Dara O’Shea and Israel skipper Manor Solomon, who did not shake hands.
The fixtures have been embroiled in controversy since February when the two teams were drawn to play each other in Group B3.
The Republic of Ireland players have faced calls to withdraw from the games because of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war with a “Stop The Game” campaign – organised by the pressure group Irish Sport for Palestine – gathering pace.
However, the players voted to fulfil the fixture during a lengthy meeting at the team’s hotel in Debrecen on Saturday.
Later on Saturday, goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu confirmed he had withdrawn from the squad, saying he felt it “would be wrong to participate” in Sunday’s game and the return fixture in Serbia on 4 October.
Who: Norway vs Portugal What: UEFA Nations League 2026-2027, Group A4 match Where: Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Norway When: Sunday at 7:45pm (18:45 GMT) How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up and live updates from 15:45 GMT.
Record two-time UEFA Nations League champions Portugal continue their title defence on matchday two with a trip to Oslo against an exciting Norway side.
Spearheaded by Erling Haaland, arguably one of Europe’s most dangerous strikers, and captained by midfield maestro Martin Odegaard, Norway made a winning start too, beating their Scandinavian rivals Denmark 3-2 in a thrilling opener.
Frustrated after a string of missed chances in the first game, Portugal’s talisman Cristiano Ronaldo will hope to rediscover his form as the team embraces a new chapter under coach Jorge Jesus, whose first game in charge was on Thursday against Wales.
What is the UEFA Nations League?
The UEFA Nations League was founded in 2018 to reduce the number of meaningless friendlies and give nations competitive matches against equally ranked teams.
In this competition, countries from across Europe participate in a league structure that features promotion and relegation.
When did Norway and Portugal last meet?
The teams last met in a 2016 international friendly in Porto when hosts Portugal defeated Norway 3-0.
Norway vs Portugal: Head-to-head
Matches: 11
Norway’s wins: 1
Portugal’s wins: 8
Draws: 2
Norway vs Portugal: Form guide
(Last five games, latest results first)
Norway: W-L-W-W-L
Portugal: W-L-W-D-W
Who are the top players to watch?
Haaland and Oscar Bobb (Norway): A double from Haaland and another goal from Bobb set Norway on course for a winning start, and the attacking pair should be in the limelight in front of their home crowd this weekend. Manchester City’s Haaland, especially, has been in top form this term with an incredible seven goals in as many games across all competitions.
Ronaldo and Joao Felix (Portugal): Portugal’s striking pair of Ronaldo and Felix ought to be careful in the final third this time out after Felix’s lone strike in the opening win in Lisbon. Ronaldo had a goal ruled out and was among the players who missed a flurry of chances as Portugal registered a whopping 23 total shots but with only five on target, of which just one hit the back of the net.
On average, Erling Haaland scores more than one goal a game for Norway [File: Marius Nordnes/Nordnes Foto via Getty Images]
Will Haaland, Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes play?
Both forwards are fit to play, but Portugal will miss the services of their talismanic midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who is injured.
Fernandes has played in all seven of Manchester United’s matches this season and featured from the start for Portugal against Wales before being withdrawn in the 90th minute.
Jesus said he doesn’t want to “risk” the player against Norway.
“Against Wales, we went in with practically everyone physically available and came out with a complicated problem with Bruno Fernandes,” the coach said.
“He’s coming off an injury at United, and he told me he’s been playing with that pain for the last three games, which is hindering him.
“It was one of the factors that prevented Bruno from playing at his best against Wales. I’ve already spoken to him, and I prefer not to risk it in this game, so he’s fully fit for the Denmark match.”
Haaland: The King of the North
Haaland’s double against Denmark on Thursday marked another milestone in the 26-year-old striker’s enviable career. He is now the highest-scoring Nordic man in international football history, surpassing Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Haaland’s goal tally for Norway stands at 64 goals compared with Ibrahimovic’s 62. Incredibly, Haaland has shattered that record in 56 appearances – less than half of the 122 matches Ibrahimovic needed.
“It is not possible to explain nor is it possible to learn. He is born with it. It is instinct,” Norway manager Stale Solbakken said about Haaland.
Having made his senior debut in 2019, Haaland boasts a record of scoring more than one goal per game for Norway.
“It’s madness,” midfielder Sander Berge said about Haaland’s talent. “It’s everyday business that Haaland scores goals, so it’s reasonable that he is up there, but it’s powerful.”
What have the coaches said?
Jesus: “Norway are one of the strongest teams in Europe. They have players we know like Haaland and Odegaard who play at a very high level in England. They will create more goalscoring opportunities against us than Wales, and I hope we have the defensive capacity.
“There’s not much to improve. We’ll evolve the game we’ve already played, but I trust that the team will respond defensively and will be more creative offensively.”
Solbakken: “They changed the coach, and if you look at what he did at his previous clubs and the football they played, the way they played against Wales was a little different to what it was with [Roberto] Martinez. There were players in other positions, and we took that into account in our game plan. Obviously, they have good players all over the field. We expect a close and balanced game. It’s our home game, so we’ll try to stop their biggest assets, but it’s also important for us to play our game and be loyal to the way we’ve been playing in recent years.”
Have Haaland and Ronaldo ever played each other?
No, the 26-year-old and 41-year-old greats have never crossed paths. Norway and Portugal have not played each other frequently either.
As the UN General Assembly wraps up with mixed diplomatic outcomes, Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Qasem reports on how US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Russia and Germany have re-established high-level talks, and China has criticized Washington’s approach to the region.
