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• Courtois refuses to return to Belgium duty under Tedesco

  Thibaut Courtois says he will not play for Belgium again, while Domenico Tedesco is still in charge of the national team.

  Courtois made his international debut in October 2011, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to represent Belgium in a 0-0 friendly draw with France.

  He has since made 102 appearances for his country and was an ever-present at five major tournaments between 2014 and 2022, earning his 100th cap in a 0-0 draw with Croatia as Belgium were knocked out at the group stage in Qatar.

  However, the goalkeeper had a public falling-out with Tedesco in 2023 after leaving the Belgium camp ahead of a Euro 2024 qualifier amid a dispute over not being selected to succeed Eden Hazard as captain.

  While Tedesco claimed the 32-year-old's exit was due to not feeling respected within the team, Courtois denied those claims, citing a knee injury.

  And Courtois, who missed most of last season due to two knee injuries, was left out of Belgium's Euro 2024 squad despite returning to fitness for Real Madrid before Tedesco named his tournament party.

  "Unfortunately, following the events with the coach and after much reflection, I have decided not to return to the Belgian national team under his management," he said in a statement on social media.

  "In this matter, I accept my share of responsibility. However, looking forward, my lack of confidence in him would not contribute to maintaining the necessary atmosphere of cordiality.

  "The Federation, with whom I have had several discussions, accepts my position and the reasons that led me to this painful but coherent decision.

  "I regret possibly disappointing some fans, but I am convinced that this is the best course of action for Belgium, as it closes a debate and allows the team to focus on pursuing its goals."

  Belgium's first game since their round of 16 exit to France at Euro 2024 will be against Israel in the Nations League. 

• Portland Timbers v St. Louis City: Neville determined to use 'wake-up call' as motivation

  Phil Neville believes Portland Timbers can use their recent defeats as motivation in the second half of the season, starting with St. Louis City.

  The Timbers' Leagues Cup run came to an end against Saturday's opponents, losing 3-1 in the round of 32 nearly three weeks ago.

  They were in good form in MLS before that, and sit eighth in the Western Conference, but lost their last league game 3-2 against LA Galaxy before the break.

  Now, Neville is targeting a strong finish to the regular season.

  "In life sometimes you get a jolt or a little reminder of the work that needs to be done, and we got that," Neville said. 

  "We've had a lot of plaudits and people saying good things about us, but our last result was a wake-up call to the work we still need to do to be successful in this league.

  "We've got nine games left in the season, and we need the mentality to win these games."

  After knocking out the Timbers, St. Louis were left disappointed in the quarter-final of the Leagues Cup following a 4-2 defeat to Club America.

  They return to MLS action sitting 13th in the table, 10 points off the playoff places, and interim head coach John Hackworth is hopeful they can take the positives from their Cup run into the second half of the season.

  "There are little details that slip, and we let guys have too much time on the ball, don't get matched up in the box, don't recover in the right way," Hackworth said.

  "Those are things that teams can learn to do for sure. We can create really great chances and have lots of positives to take away from games."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Portland Timbers – Evander

  Evander has recorded a goal contribution in each of his last six regular-season appearances. The only longer streak in Timbers' history was a nine-match run with a goal contribution by Diego Valeri in 2017.

  St. Louis City – Roman Burki

  St. Louis have managed just three wins in their last 30 MLS road games in all competitions and are winless in each of their last 15, dating back to last October (six draws, nine losses).

  They have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last seven such matches, and if Roman Burki is able to get a clean sheet, he may be able to help them end that streak.

  MATCH PREDICTION: PORTLAND TIMBERS WIN

  St. Louis defeated the Timbers 3-1 in the Leagues Cup Round of 32 at home on August 9. It was the first home win by either team against the other in four all-time meetings.

  Portland have scored at least twice in an MLS-high 19 of their 25 matches this regular season, including the last seven in a row. The Timbers have scored two or more goals 20 or more times in an MLS season just once before, doing so in 2014 (21 times).

  Meanwhile, St. Louis have managed just one win in their last 14 regular-season matches (four draws, nine losses), a 2-0 victory over league-worst San Jose Earthquakes in July.

  In fact, since that run began in mid-May, San Jose (four) are the only team that have collected fewer points than St. Louis City (seven).

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Portland Timbers – 51.5%

  Draw – 24.7%

  St. Louis City – 23.8%

• Chelsea 2-0 Servette: Madueke's second gives Blues strong advantage in qualifying

  Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke's second-half goals gave Chelsea a 2-0 advantage over Servette in their Europa Conference League play-off tie.

  The Blues put the disappointment of their Premier League defeat to Manchester City behind them, taking control of qualifying in the first leg at Stamford Bridge.

  Chelsea made a slow start to the game, with Gael Ondoua causing an early scare for Filip Jorgensen from a tight angle, though the goalkeeper was equal to it.

  The Blues then stepped up the pace after the break – Nkunku darted in behind Servette's defence before being taken out by Jeremy Frick, and he made no mistake with the resulting penalty, emphatically firing it into the back of the net.

  Marc Guiu should have doubled their lead moments later, picking Frick's pocket outside the box, but the goalkeeper recovered brilliantly to race back and smother both attempts by the Spaniard, who should have done better.

  Madueke then made sure of the win with 14 minutes left on the clock, latching onto Enzo Fernandez's throughball before rifling his shot over Frick and into the roof of the net. 

  Jeremy Guillermenot should have halved the deficit in stoppage time but lifted his volley over the bar from point-blank range before Jorgensen denied him again with the last touch of the game.

  Data Debrief: Blues up and running

  Chelsea look like they are starting to gel in the final third, after struggling to do so in their opening league game.

  They had seven shots on target out of 14, both more than they managed last Sunday, generating 1.87 expected goals, and had 56 final third entries.

  There is still work to do at the back though, as they gave up 22 shots from the Swiss side, but Enzo Maresca will still take confidence from their clean sheet.