FIFA has vowed to take "adequate actions" after England players were allegedly racially abused by Hungary fans during a World Cup qualifying win on Thursday.
Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham were allegedly subjected to abuse as the Three Lions cruised to a 4-0 Group I victory at the Puskas Arena.
Hungary were ordered to play their next two UEFA competition matches behind closed doors following an investigation into discriminatory behaviour by supporters at Euro 2020.
World governing body FIFA on Friday vowed to act once it receives reports from match officials and delegates who attended the match in Budapest.
"First and foremost, FIFA strongly rejects any form of racism and violence and has a very clear zero tolerance stance for such behaviour in football," a FIFA statement said.
"FIFA will take adequate actions as soon as it receives match reports concerning yesterday's Hungary-England game.
"With regards to the previous UEFA sanction against Hungary, please note that as specified by UEFA at the time, this sanction is to be served in UEFA competitions."
England boss Gareth Southgate said he had not heard the abuse.
He added: "It sounds like there have been some incidents and everybody knows what we stand for as a team and that that's completely unacceptable."
Three Lions captain Harry Kane also stated that he had not heard the alleged racist chants.
The Tottenham striker said: "I didn't hear that. Obviously, that's something I'll talk to the boys [about] and see if any of them heard any of it.
"We'll have to report it to UEFA as the rules permit and if it is the case hopefully UEFA can come down strong."
Novak Djokovic says he was not acting like a "spoiled brat" when he complained about a rowdy spectator during his US Open defeat of Tallon Griekspoor.
World number one Djokovic took another stride towards a first calendar Grand Slam and a record 21st major title by beating Dutchman Griekspoor 6-2 6-3 6-2 in the second round on Thursday.
Top seed Djokovic, who will face Kei Nishikori in the third round, had to contend with a member of the crowd trying to unsettle him in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
He shouted as the Serb went for an overhead smash that he missed and continued to be vocal during points, prompting Djokovic to express his grievances with the chair umpire.
Djokovic feels it is important to make it clear that sort of behaviour should not be tolerated.
"When tennis players talk about that, someone who is watching team sports would say, 'What a spoiled brat'," the three-time US Open champion said.
"But it's a different sport. Look, there's a lot of noise happening on the stadium, particularly in the night sessions. I don't mind that.
"Even sometimes during the point it happens that people out of excitement, they just scream, or they release like a sound or whatever, sigh, whatever you call it. And that's fine.
"But if someone intentionally does it over and over again, then I have tolerance up to a certain point, then it's not correct, then it's not fine. It's not fair. I feel like it's not good for us players.
"I mean, particularly that guy for some reason was calling, raising the sound and kind of screaming just before I would hit my smash, which was a big point. Before that he would do [it] a few times. After that again.
"That wasn't nice. That's all. I don't mind the noise. Don't get me wrong. I think it's important for the entertainment, for the crowds, the music.
"I get it. But if someone does it over and over again, particularly when you are at his side, he knows why he's doing it. The guy that I pointed out, he knew exactly what he was doing, and that's all."
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni urged his team not to "rest on our laurels" after the in-form Copa America champions set up a mouth-watering top-of-the-table World Cup qualifying showdown with rivals Brazil.
Lautaro Martinez, Joaquin Correa and Angel Correa were on target as Argentina extended their unbeaten streak to 21 matches by downing 10-man Venezuela 3-1 in CONMEBOL qualifying on Thursday.
After first-half substitute Luis Martinez was sent off for a horrifying challenge on Lionel Messi in the 32nd minute, Argentina – playing for the first time since July's drought-ending Copa triumph over Brazil, their first title in 28 years – took control of proceedings.
Argentina are second and unbeaten through seven qualifiers on the road to Qatar 2022, six points behind Brazil, while they have not tasted defeat since November 2019.
As Argentina turn their attention to Sunday's blockbuster in Sao Paulo, where Brazil will put their perfect record on the line, Scaloni told reporters post-game: "It's special for the players to have the patch of champions on their chest, they fought so hard to win the Copa America.
"The important thing is to not rest on our laurels."
The complexion of the match changed when Luis Martinez – who replaced Jose Velazquez earlier in the half – saw red.
Messi went to ground after receiving a high foot to the shin and the challenge, initially a yellow card, was upgraded to red after the referee consulted the pitch-side monitor following a VAR review.
Lautaro Martinez then opened the scoring in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, the Inter star scoring his third goal in qualifying after being played through by Giovani Lo Celso.
Joaquin Correa and Angel Correa struck within three minutes – the 71st and 74th minute – to put the result beyond doubt, though Yeferson Soteldo's last-gasp spot-kick gave the home crowd something to celebrate.
Looking ahead to the Copa America final rematch with Brazil, Scaloni added: "We will have time to analyse how the players are. It will be a different game and everyone is available.
"We have things to improve, surely, but I'm not going to say them. We always have to improve, when you win or lose. We will try to do our best."
Lautaro Martinez added: "The three points are very important. Venezuela is a very complicated opponent. In South America, they're all difficult but we had a great first half.
"We created chances and after the goal we were able to work with more peace of mind. We brought home three important points. I think we had a great first half today, beyond the fact that they were down a man.
"For a striker, it's important to score but the most important thing is that the Argentina national team win. You always have to think about the group."
Novak Djokovic welcomed the ongoing 'GOAT' discussion alongside Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer after the world number one took another step towards an historic grand slam title at the US Open.
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer share the most men's slams in history with 20 but the former has the chance to break the record at Flushing Meadows, where the top seed dismantled unheralded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-2 6-3 6-2 in the second round on Thursday.
Serb star Djokovic is also bidding to become just the third man to complete a calendar Grand Slam and the first to sweep all four majors in a year since Rod Laver in 1969.
It is widely debated who is the greatest player of all time among Djokovic, Nadal and Federer – the latter two are both absent from this year's US Open due to injury.
After reaching the third round in New York, Djokovic was asked who the better player on a neutral surface is, given Nadal's clay-court dominance and Federer's grass-court expertise.
"It's difficult to say who is better. Three of us, we're all so different. We have different styles," Djokovic said during his post-match news conference.
"We have different trajectories or journeys to where we are at this moment. We all had tremendous success, some more particularly on one surface, some the other surface.
"We do complement each other. I think the rivalry between the big three, so to say, it's phenomenal for our sport.
"So the more traction, the more conversation there is around the three of us, the GOAT discussion, et cetera, the better in general for our sport. I hope people still keep on talking about it."
Djokovic added: "I think actually one of the best I think images that I've ever seen from tennis is them [Nadal and Federer] playing on a half-grass, half-clay court.
"I thought that was fantastic. Whoever came up with the idea was genius. As a tennis fan, I enjoyed that very much."
Djokovic hit 33 winners, fired down 13 aces and broke six times throughout a dominant performance against Griekspoor under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights.
The 34-year-old also improved to 53-1 against non-top 100 opponents at majors, while he is now 13-0 against them at the US Open.
Kei Nishikori awaits Djokovic, who owns a 17-2 head-to-head record against the 2014 US Open runner-up.
"We played many times. I have very good score against him," Djokovic said of Nishikori. "I lost I think last time here in New York in semis in 2014. Historically I think his most successful grand slam is here. He's one of the quickest and most-talented players that I've seen in my lifetime, in my career.
"I think it's important for me to serve well and try to take off the pace a little bit because he likes the pace. He likes to hit the ball early, protect the line. But I know his game well. We played in Olympic Games. I know what's expecting me. I look forward to a good challenge."
Mexico clinched the start they wanted, opening their CONCACAF World Cup qualifying campaign with a dramatic 2-1 win over Jamaica.
Henry Martin's 89th-minute strike was the difference at an empty Estadio Azteca, helping El Tri avoid an embarrassing result as they look to secure a spot at Qatar 2022.
Mexico dominated possession throughout Thursday's fixture and out-shot Jamaica 27-5, but Reggae Boyz goalkeeper Andre Blake thwarted the hosts until Martin's last-gasp winner.
A botched clearance by Jamaica in the 50th minute left the ball at Alexis Vega's feet, with multiple Mexico players in an offside position, he held the ball and worked his way toward the middle of the field along the top of the penalty area before sending a right-footed shot past a diving Blake.
Shamar Nicholson equalised 15 minutes later for Jamaica, firing a shot past Guillermo Ochoa after a poor clearance by Jorge Sanchez.
Martin gave Mexico the three points in the end, collecting a pass from Luis Romo that was redirected by Cesar Montes and firing home just inside the top of the area.
Nearly four years after the infamous loss to Trinidad and Tobago that saw the United States fail to qualify for Russia 2018, a young USA side opened the final round of 2022 World Cup qualifying with a 0-0 draw at El Salvador on Thursday.
USA head coach Gregg Berhalter's inexperienced team, missing star Christian Pulisic and goalkeeper Zack Steffen, managed to take a point before a raucous crowd in San Salvador following their CONCACAF Gold Cup success last month.
It might not have been a scintillating performance for a side coming off Gold Cup and CONCACAF Nations League triumphs, but the USA will take it after opening their 2018 qualifying campaign with successive losses.
Nine players in the USA starting line-up were making their first appearance in a World Cup qualifier, with DeAndre Yedlin and Tim Ream the only exceptions, but the group did not appear rattled on the road.
USA had a tantalising chance after eight minutes when Miles Robinson got free behind the El Salvador defence on a Gio Reyna free-kick, but saw his header sail over the goal.
El Salvador's best opportunity of the first half came in the 33rd minute when California-born Alex Roldan cut in from the left after a short corner and curled a ball over USA goalkeeper Matt Turner that grazed the top of the crossbar.
The home side had a chance to take the lead in the 57th minute, as Turner had to dive to his left to save a header from Eriq Zavaleta off a corner from Marvin Monterroza, the first and only shot on target for El Salvador.
Weston McKennie had a clear header in the 72nd minute, however the USA and Juventus midfielder could not put home Reyna's cross, one of several missed opportunities for the visitors.
The result snapped the USA's nine-match winning streak, but they still have suffered only one defeat in their last 20 games dating to November 2019, a 2-1 friendly loss at Switzerland in May.
Brazil preserved their perfect record in 2022 CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying after edging Chile 1-0 on Thursday.
Everton Ribeiro came off the bench and scored the winning goal in the 64th minute as Brazil made it seven wins from seven games on the road to Qatar 2022.
Brazil – back in action for the first time since their Copa America final loss to La Albiceleste in July – are six points clear of Argentina atop the standings ahead of Sunday's mouth-watering showdown in Sao Paulo.
Chile, meanwhile, are seventh in the 10-team qualifying section in South America, three points adrift of the play-off position.
A refusal by Premier League clubs to release players for international matches in COVID-19 red-listed countries meant Brazil were without the likes of captain Thiago Silva, Alisson, Ederson, Fred, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino, Richarlison and Gabriel Jesus.
Weverton started for Brazil in the absence of stars Alisson and Ederson and he was the busier of the keepers in Santiago, where the two nations met for the first time since the Selecao beat Chile at the Copa.
Arturo Vidal was in the thick of the action for Chile amid a strong start to the season with Inter – the star midfielder forcing a double-save from Weverton with a tricky free-kick on the half-hour mark and the latter reacted quickly to deny Eduardo Vargas' close-round rebound.
Gabriel 'Gabigol' Barbosa had earlier shown a great burst of pace to surge clear on the counter-attack, sliding the ball to an unmarked Neymar but the Paris Saint-Germain forward sent his shot high into the stands.
Vidal then forced Weverton into another save before half-time, though clear-cut chances were few and far between after 45 minutes.
The game came to life in the second half when Brazil broke the deadlock against the run of play in the 64th minute.
Chile had largely controlled proceedings, but Ribeiro and Neymar combined just past the hour mark – the latter's close-range attempt kept out by Claudio Bravo but the former was on hand to convert the rebound.
Chile continued to move forward in search of an equaliser but they were unsuccessful as Brazil kept their fifth consecutive clean sheet in qualifying and sixth in total.
What does it mean? Tite's men stay hot
There is no stopping Brazil on their path to next year's World Cup. The Selecao have won all of their qualifiers so far and have never lost a game under head coach Tite when scoring first.
Ribeiro the unlikely hero
With so many absentees, Ribeiro was the hero off the bench for Brazil. The Flamengo star made his international debut in 2014, but both of his international goals have come this year, within three months since June.
Chile's qualifying woes continue
The two-time Copa America champions have only won one of their seven qualifying fixtures so far, against Peru in November. Pressure is growing on Chile boss Martin Lasarte.
What's next?
Brazil and Argentina will renew their rivalry in Sunday's top-of-the-table encounter, while Chile visit Ecuador on the same day.
Argentina maintained their unbeaten start to CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying with a 3-1 victory over 10-man Venezuela.
Lionel Messi and Argentina were playing for the first time since their drought-ending Copa America triumph on July 10 – La Albiceleste upstaged rivals Brazil for their first title since 1993.
Lautaro Martinez, Joaquin Correa and Angel Correa were on target for Argentina on Thursday, guiding Lionel Scaloni's side to their fourth win in seven qualifiers on the road to Qatar 2022.
Venezuela played with 10 men from the 32nd minute after substitute Luis Martinez was sent off for a horror challenge on Messi and Argentina made the most of their numerical advantage – Lautaro Martinez breaking the deadlock in the second minute of first-half stoppage time before Joaquin Correa and Angel Correa completed the scoring in second period.
Yeferson Soteldo converted a 94th-minute penalty but it was a mere consolation for hosts Venezuela.
Argentina are second in the South American standings, provisionally three points off the pace, with Brazil in action against Chile, after extending their unbeaten streak to 21 matches.
Messi's miscued shot found the feet of Angel Di Maria in the 14th minute, but he was unable to clear his feet in time as his scooped effort was dealt with by Venezuela goalkeeper Wuilker Farinez, while Rodrigo De Paul hit the crossbar.
Di Maria found himself in space seven minutes later after Jose Velazquez slipped and had to be withdrawn due to injury, however the Argentina winger wasted the opportunity, his outside-of-the-boot pass overhit and out of Lautaro Martinez's reach at the back post.
The complexion of the match changed approaching the half-hour mark when Luis Martinez – who replaced Velazquez seven minutes earlier – was sent off.
Messi went to ground after receiving a high foot to the shin and the challenge, initially a yellow card, was upgraded to red after the referee consulted the pitch-side monitor following a VAR review.
Argentina – who enjoyed 82 per cent possession after Luis Martinez's dismissal – opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time with Lautaro Martinez tucking the ball past Farinez, having been played through by Giovani Lo Celso.
Venezuela pushed numbers forward and started to trouble Argentina's defence, Soteldo's deflected effort leaving Emiliano Martinez scrambling in the 68th minute as the shot flashed just wide of the post.
But Venezuela's hopes of a point were dashed when substitutes Joaquin Correa and Angel Correa struck within three minutes – the 71st and 74th minute – to put the result beyond doubt, though Soteldo's last-gasp spot-kick gave the home crowd something to celebrate.
What does it mean?
After their memorable Copa success, Argentina continued where they left off on Thursday. Scaloni's men have not lost since July 2019 as they continue to build towards next year's World Cup.
Lautaro's away delights
Argentina forward Lautaro Martinez scored his third goal of the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign. All of his goals have come away from home, with the South American giants winning all three of those games.
Venezuela's drought goes on
It was always going to be tough playing with a man less against Argentina. Now, Venezuela have gone seven matches without a win. Not since November 2020 have Venezuela celebrated a victory.
What's next?
Next up for Argentina is a mouth-watering Copa America final rematch against Brazil in a top-of-the-table clash in Sao Paulo on Sunday, while Venezuela travel to Peru on the same day.
History-chasing world number one Novak Djokovic cruised through to the third round of the US Open at the expense of Tallon Griekspoor 6-2 6-3 6-2.
Djokovic is bidding to become just the third man to complete a calendar Grand Slam and the first to sweep all four majors in a year since Rod Laver in 1969.
The top seed, who is also pursuing a record-breaking 21st slam crown – currently level with injured stars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on 20 – outclassed Griekspoor in one hour, 39 minutes on Thursday.
Awaiting Djokovic is 2014 US Open finalist and Japanese star Kei Nishikori in the third round.
Djokovic, who withstood a spirited challenge from Holger Rune in the opening round before the teenager succumbed to cramps, asserted his dominance against Griekspoor from the outset on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Boasting a 14-0 record in second-round matches at the US Open, Djokovic only lost one point on his first serve in the opening set and fired down five aces, while hitting 13 winners and converting two of his three break points.
While world number 121 Griekspoor managed to break Djokovic's serve in the second set, the Serb was typically efficient as he builds towards another shot at history in New York.
Coming to the net more in the third set, Djokovic was determined to get off the court as quickly as possible and he did just that – saving three break points en route to another third-round appearance at the year's final slam.
Data slam: Djokovic continues strong record
The 34-year-old came into the contest with a 52-1 slam record against non-top 100 opponents. Djokovic improved to 53-1 – his lone loss to world number 117 Denis Istomin at the 2017 Australian Open – and a perfect 13-0 at the US Open with his straight-sets victory.
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Djokovic – 33/20
Griekspoor – 20/28
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Djokovic – 13/5
Griekspoor – 5/2
BREAK POINTS WON
Djokovic – 6/10
Griekspoor – 1/4
World number one Ash Barty said her serving struggles are "not a concern" after advancing to the US Open third round.
Barty continued her quest for a third grand slam title and first US Open crown with a 6-1 7-5 win over teenage prodigy Clara Tauson on Thursday.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Barty hit 33 winners and fired down 11 aces to see off the 18-year-old on Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
Barty, though, had to stave off a late challenge just like the top seed did against Vera Zvonareva in the opening round.
After she faltered to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set of her victory over Tauson, Barty said: "It's happened a few times, but I have won 40-odd matches [this year] and it hasn’t happened a lot.
"It's just a few of those games I haven't been able to get up and hit my spots on first serves.
"When you give good players looks at second serves, you're going to get hurt. It's simple as that. It’s not a concern."
Barty leads the WTA Tour this season for titles won (five), match victories (42), finals reached (six), aces (319) and top-10 wins (seven).
"There's room for improvement, without a doubt, but there's room for improvement every single day," said Barty, who has never reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.
"Credit to her, she was a little bit more aggressive in that second set. I got a little bit passive and just let my energy drop and allowed her back in.
"We'll go back and have a chat about the matches and, once we get back on the practice court, try and fix a few things up, trust myself and trying to continue to play how I want to play."
Next up for Australian star Barty is either 2020 US Open quarter-finalist Shelby Rogers or Sorana Cirstea.
The Brooklyn Nets have added another All-Star to the mix, agreeing to a deal with veteran forward Paul Millsap.
Millsap's agent DeAngelo Simmons confirmed the move to The Athletic and other outlets, and the player posted an image of himself in a Brooklyn uniform on his Instagram page on Thursday.
The 36-year-old Millsap is entering his 16th NBA season, spending the first seven years of his career with the Utah Jazz before four seasons each with the Atlanta Hawks and the Denver Nuggets.
His best years came in Atlanta, where he made the All-Star team all four seasons.
Millsap's playing time steadily diminished in Denver last season as he lost his starting job and ended up averaging just 20.8 minutes and 9.0 points per game – his lowest since his second year in the league.
At this stage of his career, Millsap will be a complementary player on a loaded Brooklyn team that also features Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Blake Griffin.
He effectively steps into the role vacated by fellow veteran Jeff Green, who averaged 11 points in 27 minutes for Brooklyn last season before signing a two-year deal with the Nuggets last month.
Joining the star-studded Nets squad gives Millsap a strong chance to make the NBA Finals for the first time in his career. He has been on teams that reached the conference finals three times, but his team never won more than one game in any of those series.
Potentially finishing his career with a contender was a priority for Millsap, as The Athletic reports he also considered the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls.
Roberto Mancini expects to see more focus and ruthlessness from Italy when they face Switzerland after being held to a 1-1 draw by Bulgaria in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
In their first match on home soil since winning Euro 2020, Italy went in front through a fine finish from Federico Chiesa but were pegged back before half-time when a swift counter-attack ended with Atanas Iliev turning home.
Georgi Georgiev did well to deny Chiesa and Ciro Immobile as the Azzurri searched for a winner in the second half, the Bulgaria goalkeeper finishing the game at Stadio Artemio Franchi with seven saves.
Despite failing to secure all three points, Italy made it 35 games unbeaten to equal the European record set by Spain.
Avoiding defeat to Switzerland in Basel on Sunday would see them match the world record for an undefeated run by a men’s international team set by Brazil between 1993 and 1996.
Mancini acknowledged his team may be fatigued by their push to defeat to Bulgaria but is demanding a more clinical display at the weekend.
"Now the most important thing is to recover our strength for Sunday, because we attacked a lot in the closing stages and became a bit disorganised," said Mancini.
"But we created so many opportunities. This is football. It happened today and it could happen at other times. When a team attacks, they are bound to suffer something, but the goal we conceded wasn't great.
"But okay, we will be more focused and mean in Basel.
"It will be a different game, also because Switzerland are a team that play. That puts you in difficulty but it also lets you play. We will have to play a great match and that's what we'll do.
"Today, after the first goal we had to kill off the game. We will have to take to the pitch with the attitude of the second half.
"We need to be more clinical, but the guys did well and what they had to do. We are pleased, but we would have preferred to reach 35 [games unbeaten] with a win."
Roberto Martinez was pleased with the maturity shown by his Belgium side after they recovered from an early setback in their World Cup qualifying win over Estonia.
The Red Devils fell behind for the third time in four Group E matches when Mattias Kait turned over possession and rifled a shot past Thibaut Courtois inside the first two minutes of Thursday's contest.
But Hans Vanaken had Belgium on level terms 20 minutes later and Romelu Lukaku scored either side of half-time to give the visitors some breathing space in Tallinn.
Substitute Thomas Foket bagged his first international goal after Axel Witsel had further extended Belgium's lead, rendering Erik Sorga's late strike nothing more than a consolation.
Despite conceding a couple of sloppy goals in the 5-2 victory, Martinez was ultimately happy with the result in his side's first game since their Euro 2020 quarter-final loss to Italy two months ago.
"Estonia deserve all the credit for their first goal – they recaptured the ball high up on the pitch and the shot was great. That just happens in football," Martinez said.
"The second goal is due to the substitutions we made. I was pleased that after the first goal we remained calm and knew what to do.
"I'm happy to have scored five goals. The team has shown maturity today. These gatherings in September are not the easiest, and it's not always the favourites who win."
Courtois was well beaten by Kait's early shot and was let down by some sloppy defending for Sorga's strike as Belgium shipped two goals for the second game running.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper was eager to focus on the positives from the win, however, which leaves Belgium top of Group E with 10 points from four matches.
"We played a good game today," Courtois said. "Those two goals against us are of course less good, but in possession we were good.
"The goals we conceded is something that happens. There's nothing you can do about it. We have to analyse it internally, but the most important thing today was the win.
"We could have scored eight or nine goals in the end, but we know that it has to be better against the Czech Republic on Sunday."
Thursday's match was a special occasion for Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga, who made his senior debut for Belgium as a second-half substitute.
"I'm happy with my first cap," he said. "The coach asked me to play for the team, he didn't want the team to relax.
"It's a good period for me and my family but you have to keep your feet on the ground. It's clearly a good time for me and I hope it will continue."
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