Four second-half goals ensured Germany got revenge and became the first country after Qatar to book their slot for the 2022 World Cup.

Germany became the first country to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Monday with Timo Werner scoring twice in a 4-0 win away to North Macedonia.

The fifth victory in five matches under new coach Hansi Flick, matching the record of predecessor Joachim Loew, has given Germany an unassailable lead at the top of Group J.

But that was also due to Armenia losing 1-0 to Romania elsewhere.

Germany dominated throughout against the side who inflicted only a third-ever World Cup qualifying defeat against them at home in March.

But they needed until the second half to make the breakthrough.

Kai Havertz tapped into an empty net to cap a fine counter-attack in the 50th minute to break the North Macedonian resistance.

The lively Werner then smashed a quick-fire brace before teenager Jamal Musiala completed the rout with his first senior international goal.

Germany have 21 points from eight games before concluding the campaign in November at home to Liechtenstein and away to Armenia, who are now fourth on 12 points.

Romania, on 13, are best-placed to secure second and the play-off spot but North Macedonia, above Armenia on goal difference, are also in contention.

“We have now qualified, that is very, very important first of all for us and it gives us confidence for the next games,” Havertz said in an interview.

Team captain Manuel Neuer, back in goals after injury, agreed the team should now have high ambitions.

“If we play for Germany the goal is always to win titles, to reach the highest goals possible. That’s how we will approach it there.”

Flick made five changes to the team which beat Romania last time out, with Mueller and Havertz also coming into the attack and proving decisive.

Home goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski denied first Joshua Kimmich then Werner, who was actually offside, and had help from the post when the Chelsea forward beat him on the stroke of half-time.

It was Werner’s Stamford Bridge colleague Havertz who did find the net when a brilliant pass from Serge Gnabry released Mueller.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s brilliant strike against Millwall in the Carabao Cup is up for Leicester City’s Goal of the Month award for September 2021.

Two minutes to the end of the game, the Foxes doubled their lead as the Nigeria international belted the ball into the roof of the net.

Iheanacho’s effort is on a six-goal shortlist for the monthly accolade, alongside goals from Foxes first teamers Jamie Vardy who has been double nominated, Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes.

Also selected is Leicester City’s development squad midfielder, Tawanda Maswanhise for his effort against Everton U23s.

Last month, Iheanacho figured in five matches for Leicester City in all competitions and had two other goal involvements, bagging assists against Napoli (Europa League) and Burnley (Premier League).

heanacho had a September to remember; featuring in five matches for Leicester City in all competitions and had two other goal involvements.

He bagged assists against Napoli (Europa League) and Burnley (Premier League).

While he was on international duty for the Super Eagles in the World Cup qualifying series last month, Iheanacho scored twice at the Teslim Balogun Stadium against Liberia’s Lone Stars.

His performance saw him picking up the man-of-the-match award which also came with a One Million Naira reward courtesy of 33 Export lager, the Official Beer of the Super Eagles.

For now, Iheanacho is yet to roll in the good times for October having fired blanks in the double-header against the Central African Republic in qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup

Voting for the Goal of the Month closes on Sunday, October 17.

• Deontay Wilder has no plans to retire from boxing, says his trainer Malik Scott
• Bronze Bomber was knocked out for a second time by Tyson Fury on Saturday
• There have been calls for Wilder to hang up his gloves after successive defeats
• The American will now assess his next move in the heavyweight picture 

Deontay Wilder has no plans to retire from boxing despite suffering back-to-back defeats by Tyson Fury his trainer Malik Scott has insisted.

Wilder was stopped in the 11th round of a brutal fight in Las Vegas on Saturday as Fury retained the WBC heavyweight title he had stripped the Bronze Bomber of in February 2020.

Fury floored the Alabama fighter in the third and 10th round, before referee Russell Mora intervened to stop the fight in the penultimate round, leaving many to question Wilder’s future in the sport.

But while it’s now two defeats on the bounce for Wilder, retirement doesn’t seem to be on the agenda just yet.

Deontay has set his family financially secure so he doesn’t have to fight to make a living’

‘But retiring is not in his plans at all and not something we’ve discussed.’

Wilder has won 42 of his 45 fights, with both defeats and the draw on his record all coming against Fury.

While it is another damning defeat at the hands of the Gypsy King, Wilder was able to floor the Brit twice in the fourth round before Fury rallied to turn the tables on his rival later in the fight.

Wilder was stopped by Tyson Fury (left) in the 11th round of a brutal fight in Las Vegas

Wilder’s trainer Scott (pictured) insists there have been no thoughts about retiring just yet

Evidence of his heart and spirit in the Las Vegas blockbuster proves that Wilder deserves to have more high-level fights and be involved in main events, according to Scott. 

‘He will be back in any form he wants to be,’ said Scott. ‘He’s a big-time fighter and he doesn’t belong down there with the other guys, he needs to be in high-level fights and main events. 

‘Deontay was great on Saturday, but Fury was even greater — it was a great night of boxing for the heavyweight division,’ he added.

‘You have to give Fury credit for having a good chin and getting up. Fury is a legend, one of the best in the heavyweight division in any era, and it’s the same about Deontay.’ 

During Wilder and Fury’s second encounter, one member of the American’s corner threw in the towel in the seventh round, bringing an end to his undefeated streak – a decision that lost the trainer his job. 

Wilder, 35, was sent crashing to the canvas on three separate occasions during his title fight

But while Wilder went out on his shield on Saturday, Scott, 40, insists there was no moment that he considered ending the contest.

‘Over the years of me knowing Deontay, he has always said throwing the towel in with a knockout artist like him wouldn’t be tolerated,’ added Scott.

‘It’s something I respected. The last knockdown was the worst knockdown and the ref called it off.

‘Deontay and Mark never had a relationship outside the gym, they never talked for more than five minutes on a phone call. Me and Deontay would never fall out and not speak again – our bond is too tight.’

While Wilder’s camp are adamant that there are no plans to retire, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has claimed that the American should really consider hanging up his gloves.

Hearn said it was not ‘not normal’ for Wilder to be exhausted in the early rounds of his fight with Fury, and has warned it will be difficult for him to continue fighting at the top level because his ‘legs were gone’ by the third round. 

He told iFL TV: ‘His legs were gone after three rounds. It was only his heart and his power that kept him in the fight.

Eddie Hearn has warned it will be difficult for Wilder to continue fighting at the top level

‘Obviously, Fury caught him with a great shot and went down twice. The second one was nothing knockdown, but Fury was still all over the place.’

Hearn added: ‘But Wilder could not stand up, he was exhausted after three rounds, and that’s NOT normal. Some heavyweights have good tanks.

‘Fury’s tank is exceptional, but you can’t just say, “That’s how he is.” You can’t have a championship fight at any kind of pace if you can’t stand up after three rounds.’

Up next for Fury will most likely be fellow Brit Dillian Whyte, who was confirmed as the mandatory challenger to the WBC-belt holder last week, while the win pushed him closer to an undisputed showdown against either Anthony Joshua or his recent conqueror Oleksandr Usyk.

However, for Wilder, he will likely have to wait for the loser of Joshua and Usyk’s rematch, while a heavyweight clash with fellow American Andy Ruiz Jr is also on the cards.

British fans will be desperate to see Joshua regain the WBA, WBO and IBF straps from Usyk in their rematch to set up undisputed title fight with Fury in the future, but should he fail, a match-up with Wilder will be another highly-anticipated heavyweight bout every boxing fan will be pining to see.

Nine-time African champions, Super Falcons will intensify preparations for their 2022 Women AFCON qualifying fixture against the Black Queens of Ghana when they arrive camp in Lagos on Sunday.

Nigeria and Ghana clashed in the Final match of the inaugural edition of Women Africa Cup of Nations in 1998, which the Falcons won 2-0. However, both strong stallions in the African women football race-course have been drawn to play each other for one slot at the next edition to be held in the summer of 2022 in the Kingdom of Morocco.

As part of their preparations for this potentially –explosive qualifying fixture, the Super Falcons featured in the USWNT Summer Series in the United States of America in June, testing their might against Portugal, Jamaica and USA senior women teams, and then featured at the six-nation Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament hosted by the City of Lagos in September. They had earlier taken part in and won all three matches at the Turkish Women’s Cup in Antalya in February.

ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS:

Goalkeepers: Tochukwu Oluehi (Maccabi Kishronot Hadera, Israel); Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC, France); Yewande Balogun (California Storm, USA)

Defenders: Onome Ebi (Minsk FC, Belarus); Glory Ogbonna (Umea FC, Sweden); Osinachi Ohale (Deportivo Alaves, Spain); Ayomide Ojo (Edo Queens); Rafiat Imuran (Rivers Angels); Opeyemi Sunday (Edo Queens); Oluwatosin Demehin (Rivers Angels); Akudo Ogbonna (Edo Queens)

Midfielders: Rita Chikwelu (Madrid CFF, Spain); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid, Spain); Toni Oyedupe Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Regina Otu (Minsk FC, Belarus); Goodness Onyebuchi (Edo Queens); Joy Bokiri (AIK FC, Sweden)

Forwards: Asisat Oshoala (FC Barcelona, Spain); Francisca Ordega (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Gift Monday (FC Robo Queens); Uchenna Kanu (Linkopings FC, Sweden); Desire Oparanozie (Dijon FC, France); Vivian Ikechukwu (Rivers Angels)  

UEFA has unveiled the bidding process for Euro 2028, the tournament which would fall the same year as FIFA’s first biennial World Cup if those plans come to fruition.

The proposals for a World Cup every two years have been strongly opposed by UEFA, as well as the majority of European leagues including the Premier League.

Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s head of global development, suggested the first men’s biennial World Cup could take place in 2028, putting football’s world governing body on a potential collision course with UEFA, who have invited nations to bid to host the European Championships that year.

UEFA said 24 teams will take part in the 2028 tournament, although that could yet be increased to 32.

Joint bids that are “geographically compact” have been welcomed by UEFA, but automatic qualification will only apply to a maximum of two teams, in case multiple associations are looking to share hosting.

Interested parties must have 10 stadiums, with at least one boasting capacity of at least 60,000.

The bidding timeline sees national associations given a deadline of 23 March 2022 to confirm their interest. The bidders will then be revealed by UEFA on 5 April, and they will then have a year to submit their final bid dossier before the hosts are announced in September 2023.

The process outlines UEFA’s firm intentions to hold the competition despite FIFA’s plans, which UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said would “kill football”.

Ceferin told global sports media “We can decide not to play in it. As far as I know, the South Americans are on the same page. So good luck with a World Cup like that.

“I think it will never happen as it is so much against the basic principles of football. To play every summer a one-month tournament, for the players it’s a killer.”

A 58th career hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo helped Portugal stroll to a 5-0 home win over Luxembourg in Group A of World Cup qualifying on Tuesday (Oct 12).

The treble, which meant Ronaldo became the first man to net 10 international hat-tricks, takes his tally to 115 international goals from 182 caps as he continues to pull away as the top men’s international goalscorer of all-time.

Victory ensures Portugal remain a point behind leaders Serbia, who moved onto 17 points with a 3-1 home win over Azerbaijan, with a game in hand and superior goal difference.

Portugal had the game all but won within the first 18 minutes.

Ronaldo struck twice from the penalty spot before his Manchester United team mate Bruno Fernandes made it three as he fired in following good work from Bernardo Silva.

The forward then missed two gilt-edged chances either side of the break as he sought a third, before being denied a spectacular hat-trick goal when Anthony Moris kept out his acrobatic overhead kick.

Portugal did not have to wait long for their fourth, however, as midfielder Joao Palhinha headed in from the resulting corner with just over 20 minutes to go.

Ronaldo was not to be denied as the hosts pushed on, netting three minutes from time with a header from close range.

Next month Fernando Santos’s Portugal side travel to Ireland before then hosting Serbia in what could be a winner-takes-all fixture to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Andy Murray plans to skip next month’s Davis Cup Finals because he is “not sure he deserves to play in that team”.

Murray, 34, was knocked out of the Indian Wells Masters in the third round on Tuesday night in a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) defeat by Alexander Zverev.

He won 11 points out of a possible 12 to help Great Britain win the Davis Cup for the first time in 79 years in 2015.

“I’ve given a lot to the Davis Cup, and sometimes to my own detriment physically,” he told BBC Sport.

“The same thing happened last time I played Davis Cup at the end of 2019. I know there was coronavirus, but I was struggling with that really up until September time the following year.”

Murray suffered bruising to his pelvis in the 2019 Finals in Madrid, missed the Australian Open and was not able to play again until the tours resumed, after a pause for the pandemic, the following August.

He has been playing better in recent weeks – pushing third seed Zverev close in Indian Wells and taking Stefanos Tsitsipas to five sets in the first round of the US Open. But he is not sure that is good enough for selection into captain Leon Smith’s GB squad.

“I also don’t feel right now I would be playing, either,” he said. “Obviously that would be up to Leon, but I’m not sure I deserve to play in that team.

“Cam [Norrie] and Dan [Evans] have had a great year. Liam Broady’s in and around the top 100 now and we’ve got very strong doubles as well.

“Right now, I’m not planning on playing the Davis Cup and with the late finish to it, and early departure to Australia, with my schedule between now and the end of the year, I am going to have to rest and take a break and give my body a chance to breathe.

“And I want to make sure in the off season I get to spend as much time with my family as I can because I have been away from that recently and that will be case when I go to Australia as well.”

Murray – currently ranked 121st in the world – has accepted a wildcard to play in Antwerp and Vienna over the next two weeks, but says his schedule will depend on his body and his levels of fatigue.

Great Britain will play France and the Czech Republic in Innsbruck in the group stages of the Davis Cup on 27 and 28 November, but the competition does not finish in Madrid until 5 December.

That is just three weeks before players are expected to have to travel to Melbourne to begin some form of quarantine before the Australian Open.

‘I had opportunities’

Murray said he was “disappointed” following his defeat by world number four Zverev, but added he could take positives from the match.

He raced to an early break before Zverev settled into his play and took the first set.

There was a repeat in the second set, as Murray took the first break then allowed Zverev to take back control, only for the German to display some uncharacteristic mistakes as former world number one Murray forced a tie-break.

From there, 2020 US Open finalist Zverev was able to take the crucial points, but was quick to pay tribute to his opponent after the win.

“He’s the only one of the Big Four that I hadn’t beaten yet, so I’m happy that I’ve done it,” he said.

“I always stayed in the match, even though I was down a break in both sets. I always knew I had a chance. The second set was an extremely high level from both of us. It could have gone both ways.

“It was a fantastic match. Andy played extremely well, maybe as well as he’s played since the [hip] surgery. I hope he continues playing the same way, because tennis did miss him for a long time and it’s good to have him back.”

It is the first time since 2016 that Zverev has reached the Indian Wells fourth round, where he will play French 14th seed Gael Monfils.

“The positive for me to take from it is I had opportunities again,” said Murray.

“I didn’t feel like I played a great match and still had chances, so that’s positive. But I’m disappointed because I want to be winning these matches. I haven’t in the past few months.”

Elsewhere, Greek world number three Tsitsipas will play Australian Alex de Minaur in the fourth round after recovering from a set and a break down to beat Fabio Fognini 2-6 6-3 6-4.

American Taylor Fritz caused an upset by cruising past Italian fifth seed Matteo Berrettini 6-4 6-3, while there were wins too for Nikoloz Basilashvili and Karen Khachanov.

In the women’s draw, the second, third and fourth seeds, Iga Swiatek, Barbora Krejcikova and Elina Svitolina, were all knocked out in straight sets, but Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka progressed to the quarter-finals.