Didier Deschamps remains confident Paul Pogba will be fit to play a big role for France at the World Cup despite missing the start of the season through injury.
Pogba sustained a knee problem in pre-season after returning to Juventus from Manchester United on a free transfer.
There were early suggestions surgery could see the World Cup winner miss Qatar 2022, but he has opted instead for therapy that aims to ensure a far swifter return.
Pogba is set to again be paired with N'Golo Kante in the France midfield in November, although the Chelsea man has not been without his own injury issues in recent seasons.
"We're talking about players who are in high demand – two players who have a big experience, leaders," Deschamps told Le Parisien of the duo.
"It is important that they are there, but we are never safe – hence the need to prepare younger players.
"I am obviously in contact with Paul. His participation in the World Cup, today, is not questioned."
Antoine Griezmann is another player still seen as key to Deschamps' plans, despite scoring only three goals in LaLiga last season.
"He's not a robot. Obviously the head controls the legs," Deschamps explained. "But every player encounters, sooner or later, a period of playing less well.
"This translates, then, into a loss of confidence.
"Antoine has had high-intensity seasons. Before his physical issue at the beginning of the year [a thigh injury], he had always been spared from injuries during his career.
"A few months earlier, he had changed clubs. External elements may also have impacted it.
"I know him well. He has a big mind. He needed to regenerate and will do everything to return to his best level. He represents a plus for the France team."
For now the focus is on getting France in the best condition heading into the World Cup, even as former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane continues to be linked to Deschamps' job.
The France boss, for his part, is not worried, saying: "I've always put the France team above me, above everything.
"Today, the place is not free, since I occupy it with my staff. Afterwards, everyone has the freedom to say what he wants and how he wants. On me, it has no impact.
"The interest, today, for the players and the whole squad, is to be efficient at the World Cup. Anything that can defeat this common goal is not necessarily a good thing."
Daria Kasatkina continued her strong season on Sunday by defeating American Shelby Rogers 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-2 in the final of the Silicon Valley Classic.
Russia's Kasatkina made her deepest grand slam run earlier this year by reaching the semi-final of the French Open, where she lost to world number one Iga Swiatek, and with this singles title – the fifth of her WTA career – she has claimed a career-best ranking of ninth in the world.
Against Rogers, the story was how the effectiveness of Kasatkina's serve continued to improve the further the match went on.
In the hard-fought opening set, Kasatkina won just 53 per cent (26-of-49) of her service points, allowing two breaks of serve and then flailing in the tie-break to drop five consecutive points.
Something changed from that point on, with Kasatkina improving to take 69 per cent (18-of-26) of her service points in the second frame, and that jumped again to 76 per cent (16-of-21) in the decider as she either figured something out, or Rogers ran out of steam.
Kasatkina did not allow a single break point opportunity after the first set, while converting four of her six chances to take a double-break in both the second and third.
Rogers had not lost a single set in her four matches to make it to the final, putting the exclamation point on a terrific run from Kasatkina that included wins over world number 27 Elena Rybakina, world number six Aryna Sabalenka and world number three Paula Badosa.
Nick Kyrgios capped off a terrific week at the Washington Open by beating Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4 6-3 in the singles final, before combining with Jack Sock to also win the doubles 7-5 6-4 against the team of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.
In the singles, Kyrgios' serve was overpowering against his Japanese opponent, winning 76 per cent (38-of-50) of his points on serve, and saving the only break point opportunity he faced, which came early in the opening set.
His return game was also sharp, collecting breaks of serve in the first game of each set to snatch all the momentum and keep Nishioka on the back foot and chasing all day.
Kyrgios finished with 12 aces to Nishioka's three, and finished the match just like he started it with a break of serve.
It caps off a tournament where he dropped only one set in his six matches – against Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-final – to win his first singles title since this same event back in 2019.
Just a few hours later, Kyrgios was back on the court with Sock contesting the doubles final, with the pair saving both break points they faced.
After an even start, Kyrgios and Sock broke late in the first set, and then struck again to break in the opening game of the second set, going on to serve things out comfortably, never allowing Dodig and Krajicek to even reach deuce against their serve.
In doing so, Kyrgios became the first player to ever sweep both the singles and doubles in Washington.
He only had one doubles title before this season – back at the Lyon Open in 2018, also partnered with Sock – but Kyrgios has now won three in the past eight months, emerging triumphant with fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis at both the Australian Open and last month's Atlanta Open.
It was far from a warm welcome for newly acquired New York Yankees starting pitcher Frankie Montas, getting smacked around in a 12-9 away loss to the St Louis Cardinals.
Montas, who was traded from the Oakland Athletics before the deadline, struggled mightily, conceding six runs in the first two innings, with four coming off the bat of Nolan Arenado.
Arenado collected an RBI single in the first inning to cancel out an early Yankees run, and after the visiting side jumped ahead 4-1 in the second frame thanks in large part to a two-RBI base hit from AL MVP favourite Aaron Judge, it all began to fall apart.
Dylan Carlson's RBI double started the rally and cut the margin to 4-2, a sacrifice-fly from NL MVP favourite Paul Goldschmidt made it 4-3, and then Arenado connected on a three-run home run to lead 6-4 after two innings.
Montas would be pulled to begin the fourth frame, finishing with figures of six earned runs from five hits and three walks in his 64 pitches.
To the Yankees' credit, they refused to lay down, with Judge driving in another two runs with a double in the fifth inning to tie the game at 6-6, but the Cardinals continued to answer right back, adding three more runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth.
The Yankees again cut the lead to 9-8, but Paul DeJong put the game to bed in the eighth inning with a three-run homer to grab a winning break.
Overall, the teams combined for 21 runs from 27 hits, with Arenado going three-for-five at the plate with four RBIs, and Judge finishing two-for-five with four RBIs. Judge now leads the majors in RBIs with 97, two more than New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso.
DeGrom makes his case as the game's best pitcher
There were concerns that perhaps injuries would strip New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom of his status as the sport's most elite pitcher, but he continued to dispel that myth on Sunday in his side's 5-2 win against the Atlanta Braves.
DeGrom, in his second start of the season, struck out 12 of the 19 batters he faced, going on to finish with two earned runs from one hit and one walk in five-and-two-thirds innings.
Through five innings, deGrom had a perfect game with 10 strikeouts, but was pulled in the sixth after his first walk of the game was followed by a home run from Dansby Swanson to cut the Mets' lead to 5-2, with both bullpens keeping things scoreless the rest of the way.
Rays pull off improbable late rally
With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, there had yet to be a run in the Tampa Bay Rays' road game against the Detroit Tigers, before an incredible offensive explosion saw the Rays prevail 7-0.
The Rays as a team conceded only three hits and no walks as six pitchers combined beautifully, while the Tigers relied on Matt Manning to get them through most of the game, pitching seven scoreless frames for seven baserunners and seven strikeouts.
In the ninth inning, after two outs, the Rays rattled off consecutive at-bats resulting in a double, three walks, a single, a double and another single as seven straight batters reached base.
20-year-old Kim Joo-hyung became the second-youngest player since 1932 to win a PGA Tour event – trailing only Jordan Spieth – as he produced a final-round 61 to run away with a five-stroke buffer and claim the Wyndham Championship at 20 under.
In doing so, he became the event's youngest ever winner, and after entering the last tournament of the season ranked in the 400s in the FedEx Cup standings, he booked his place in the playoffs later this month.
His final round included an incredible front-nine score of 27, with six birdies and an eagle, and making his win even more remarkable is the fact that he started his week with a quadruple bogey from his opening hole on Thursday.
Speaking to CBS after stepping off the final green, Kim said his ability to keep a sense of humour about his rough start was the key to bouncing back.
"I stayed very patient this week," he said. "I felt like after that quad, once I started to laugh it off I could feel like I was in a much better mental state.
"Instead of being angry and depressed I just stayed in the moment – I can't believe I won with a quadruple bogey on the first hole – hopefully that doesn't happen again.
"It's definitely a week I will remember forever."
He added: "it was a hard day – I didn't know golf was this stressful before."
Finishing in a tie for second was Kim's South Korean compatriot Im Sung-jae and American John Huh at 15 under, with Ben Griffin alone in fourth at 14 under.
American trio Max McGreevy, Russell Henley and Taylor Moore tied for fifth at 13 under, and there was another two-stroke gap to the group rounding out the top-10 at 11 under consisting of England's Tyrrell Hatton, Australia's Cameron Percy, India's Anirban Lahiri, and Americans Brandon Wu and Chesson Hadley.
Germany's Stephan Jaeger posted Sunday's second-best round with a 62 to finish tied for 13th at 10 under, and Canada's Corey Conners produced a pair of 66s on the weekend to sit on the fringe of the top-20 after scraping through right on the cut-line, tied with Will Zalatoris at nine under.
Quade Cooper says he is "ready and prepared for this journey" after suffering an Achilles injury during Australia's Rugby Championship 41-26 win over Argentina on Saturday.
The fly-half went down injured seven minutes into the second half after slipping while in possession, and grabbed for his left leg before leaving the field with support from medical staff.
Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie revealed after the game that Cooper's injury appeared to be "pretty serious".
The 34-year-old had only just returned from a strained calf that saw him miss the home series defeat to England, and faces a long lay-off just over a year before the Rugby World Cup in France.
Cooper took to Instagram on Sunday to thank his team-mates and medical staff, while vowing to support his team-mates from the sidelines.
He wrote: "Ready and prepared for this journey. Doesn’t mean it will be easy but I know I’ve prepared myself for the challenge ahead by building systems and habits to guide me through each obstacle on my path.
"Prepare for the storm so you are strong enough to endure it.
"Want to thank both my team-mates and the Argentinian players for their support and care when I got injured. My team-mates who continue to help me learn and grow each day I will miss you all but be supporting your journey as I continue mine.
"Our coaches for believing in me and continuing to push my growth. Our medical team who put so much time and energy into each and everyone of us."
Liudmila Samsonova secured her second career singles title on the WTA Tour by defeating Kaia Kanepi in the final of the Citi Open.
Unseeded Russian Samsonova beat Estonian Kanepi 4-6 6-3 6-3 to take the title in Washington on Sunday.
It was Kanepi, the tournament's sixth seed, who struck first in a tight opening set with strong serving from both players, capitalising on the only break point opportunity in the 10th game.
While Samsonova won at least 70 per cent of her service points in each of the three sets, Kanepi's effectiveness dipped after the opener, with a 77 per cent (20-of-26) success rate in the first set, which dropped to 63 per cent (15-of-24) in the second and the third (12-of-19) to provide the Russian with an avenue back into the contest.
Kanepi led 3-2 in the second set, before Samsonova rattled off the next five games, securing a double break in the process and forcing a decider.
In a tight third frame, with Samsonova leading 4-3, she created three break point opportunities and only needed the first to grab a winning buffer, serving out the match for the title.
It is the 23-year-old's first singles title since her maiden victory at the German Open 14 months ago, and she only dropped two sets in the process while defeating fifth seed Elise Mertens, second seed Emma Raducanu, China's Wang Xiyu and Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic.
Facing the number-one team in the world twice in the same tournament proved a hill too steep to climb for Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls on Sunday after losing 55-51 to the now four-time Commonwealth Games champions Australia in the gold medal match at the NEC Arena.
Despite heroic efforts from Captain Jhanielle Fowler who scored 46 goals from 47 attempts and a perfect five from Shanice Beckford, Jamaica found the Diamonds too hard to break the second time around.
Jamaica defeated Australia 57-55 to win Pool A in the preliminary rounds and followed up with an emphatic 67-51 victory over New Zealand, the second-best team in the world that claimed the bronze medal Sunday morning after defeating England 55-48.
In the gold-medal encounter, the Australians edged Jamaica 14-12 in a keenly contested first quarter but the Jamaicans showed grit rebounding to win the second quarter 17-15 to see both teams remain deadlocked at the half-time break.
Australia broke the game open in the third quarter outscoring the Jamaicans 16-10 to take a six-point lead into the final stanza. Australia extended the lead to seven goals late in the quarter but Jamaica was not prepared to yield and fought valiantly outscoring the champions 12-10 but it was simply not enough.
Jamaica missed only one shot from 52 attempts during the final.
Gretel Bueta led the scoring for the Commonwealth champions, shooting a perfect 37 goals from 37 attempts. Cara Koenen was also perfect scoring 15 goals from 15 attempts.
The Sunshine Girls will leave Birmingham with a silver medal their highest ever placing at the Commonwealth Games.
Gary Neville launched a scathing attack on Manchester United's transfer strategy after their 2-1 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, labelling the Red Devils "desperate" amid reports linking them with Marko Arnautovic.
United began the Erik ten Hag era in dismal fashion on Sunday as Pascal Gross' double condemned them to an opening-day defeat to the Seagulls.
The result made Ten Hag the first United boss to lose his first Premier League game at the helm since Louis van Gaal did so against Swansea City in August 2014.
With wantaway striker Cristiano Ronaldo starting on the bench and fellow forward Anthony Martial injured, United struggled to test a resolute Brighton rearguard and only pulled a goal back when Alexis Mac Allister put through his own net.
In the aftermath of United's defeat, widespread reports suggested they had a £7.6million (€9m) bid for Bologna's 33-year-old forward Arnautovic rejected.
United have also failed to entice top target Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona thus far, and Neville did not hold back when discussing the club's recruitment.
"The first thing you do when the phone rings from Manchester United is reject the bid, because the reality of it is after losing that game against Brighton on Sunday, they're actually negotiating from an even worse position than they were on Saturday, and that's an even bigger problem for them," the former United defender said on Sky Sports.
"I've got a comment on everything in the world, apart from Manchester United signing Marko Arnautovic. I've got nothing to say.
"We've seen Radamel Falcao, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edison Cavani, Odion Ighalo - desperate, it's a pattern.
"It's happening time and time again. I don't even get angry or animated about it anymore. I'm not going to comment about it."
Micah Richards was also unimpressed by the potential acquisition of Arnautovic, adding: "What has happened to Manchester United, seriously? I'm not going to stick the boot in. Arnautovic was a quality player, but he's 33 playing in Italy."
After playing in the Premier League for Stoke City and West Ham, Arnautovic spent two years in China with Shanghai Port before moving to Bologna – for whom he scored 14 Serie A goals last season – in 2021.
In his post-match media conference, Ten Hag declined to mention Arnautovic by name, only lamenting the unavailability of the strikers in his squad, with Ronaldo limited to a substitute appearance.
"I don't go into names because I think in this pre-season 250 players are involved or linked with Manchester United, so that's it," Ten Hag said. "We have two strikers, maybe a third one, with Marcus Rashford as well.
"We considered him as a striker, but he had a really good pre-season on the left side and today he had two really good chances coming in from the left side.
"So I think it was the right decision to do it like this, the typical number nine wasn't available today."
Ashleigh Buhai won the Women's Open in dramatic fashion to earn her first major title after beating Chun In-gee in a play-off at Muirfield.
The South African held a five-shot lead going into the final round on Sunday, but needed four extra holes to seal the biggest victory of her career after a closing four-over 75.
Buhai held a healthy lead despite being one-over for her round at the turn, but a nightmare triple bogey seven at the 15th dropped to 10 under and into a share of the lead with Chun - who shot a one-under 70.
Both players avoided bogeys in their remaining holes to set up a play-off, and Buhai looked as if she was going to be victorious after a brilliant second shot got her onto the green, while Chun's second stroke landed in the bunker.
But a sublime chip from Chun put her on the green and she successfully putted for par, while Buhai's putt for birdie and the championship went awry.
The two matched each other again on the second play-off hole with bogeys, while another long championship putt for the South African on the third extra hole went agonisingly left.
A poor tee shot from Chun on a fourth attempt at the 18th hole meant it was advantage Buhai, and the 33-year-old held her nerve despite a poor second stroke to better Chun's bogey with a par and secure her first major title in stunning circumstances.
Hinako Shibuno, who led heading into day two, carded a level-par final round to finish third on nine under, while Madelene Sagstrom bogeyed the 18th to drop to joint-fourth alongside Leona Maguire and world number two Minjee Lee.
Another poor round from Olympic gold medallist and world number three Nelly Korda meant she finished tied for 41st at four over, while former world number one Lydia Ko finished joint-seventh at five under.
Jamaica's women 4x400m relay team got an unexpected surprise in the final track event at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday when England's team that crossed the line first in 3:25.83 was disqualified for a lane infringement. They have subsequently filed an appeal.
This means Jamaica's team comprised of 400m hurdles silver medallist Shian Salmon, Junelle Bromfield, Roneisha McGregor and Natoya Goule that ran 3:26.93 will leave Birmingham as 4x400m runners-up.
The development also means Canada has now been crowned 2022 Commonwealth Games champions. They had finished second in 3:25.84. Scotland finished fourth in a season-best of 3:30.15 but has been upgraded to the bronze medal.
Pep Guardiola said Erling Haaland's hunger for goals reminded him of his time working with Lionel Messi after the Norwegian opened his Manchester City account.
Pre-season arrival Haaland scored both goals in City's 2-0 win at West Ham on Sunday as the Premier League champions got their 2022-23 campaign off to a flying start.
However, in a post-match interview with Sky Sports, Haaland intimated he was unhappy not to have scored a hat-trick, as he did on his debut for previous club Borussia Dortmund against Augsburg in January 2020.
Speaking at a media conference after the victory over the Hammers, Guardiola praised his new striker's desire and compared him to Barcelona legend Messi, saying: "That's good, I like it.
"I was fortunate as manager to be with Messi and when he scored two, he wanted three, and when scored three, he wants four.
"The top goalscorers are never satisfied, they are always hungry and starving and want more."
Haaland came in for some criticism after missing a number of chances in City's 3-1 Community Shield defeat to Liverpool last week, and Guardiola was impressed by his response on Sunday.
He won and converted a penalty in the first half, before racing onto a Kevin De Bruyne pass to slot home a second goal to make the points safe after the break.
"I know how he handled a lot of criticism this week," the City manager added. "He was really calm, he trained really well but the way he took the ball for the penalty, I said 'I like it'.
"[He's] so direct and I think if someone is taking the ball, he would punch them in the face even though they are his mates.
"And that is a pretty good sign. To be so confident, I like it."
Many believe the defending Premier League champions have strengthened even further by acquiring the impressive number nine, but Guardiola acknowledged Haaland will not be the answer on all occasions.
"Erling scoring the two goals, it's important for him and the team and for us, and it's another weapon we have now," he said.
"But at the same time, he's not going to solve all our problems, he's going to add something to us as a team. That's what we are looking for.
"Today, the two goals, they were balls in front of the centre of defence and we had the feeling we could find him more.
"In the past we didn't have a reference like him and now have to do it again but at the same time, the guys have to put the ball there, especially in transitions."
Trinidad and Tobago won its third gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Sunday when Jereem Richards led them to an emphatic victory in the 4x400m.
Erling Haaland felt he should have scored a hat-trick on his Premier League debut but was pleased to get off the mark for Manchester City.
Haaland's two goals for City saw them to a routine 2-0 victory against West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The pre-season signing from Borussia Dortmund took just 36 minutes to open his account, converting a penalty after being brought down by Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
He got his second 19 minutes into the second half as he ran onto a Kevin De Bruyne throughball and slotted past Areola with ease.
West Ham offered little resistance but Haaland was not surprised his new team clicked into gear early, despite the disappointment of losing the Community Shield to Liverpool last week.
"As expected," he said of the performance to Sky Sports. "We saw the potential already against Bayern [Munich, a 1-0 friendly win], against Liverpool it was a little bit down, but it will come with games.
"It should have been more today but yeah, OK start."
Haaland felt strongly he should have had more than his two goals, as shown by his choice of explicit language.
"I think if you saw the [Ilkay Gundogan] chance before I went off, I should have been there but I f***** it."
When asked to be "steady with the language" by the interviewer, Haaland responded: "S***, sorry."
Pep Guardiola was satisfied with the contribution of his new striker, adding: "Erling scored the two goals, it was important for him, for us, for everyone."
The pace shown by Haaland and the precision of his finish for the second goal evoked comparisons with Thierry Henry on social media, and this apparent likeness even got a mention in Guardiola's interview.
But after hearing the Norwegian come in for criticism after his performance against Liverpool last week, Guardiola was somewhat despairing in his response.
"Of course he has talent but listen, one week ago when he missed the chances [against Liverpool] he was a 'failure'... now, he's going to be Henry or [Cristiano] Ronaldo?
"It takes time, it's the first Premier League game, he's 22 years old, he has a long career [ahead of him] and when he's going to retire, he hopefully spends many years here at Man City but we are [only then] going to analyse what he has done. So be calm."
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