England beat Romania 1-0 thanks to a Marcus Rashford penalty in their final pre-Euro 2020 warm-up match but the game was once again marred by supporters booing the Three Lions for taking the knee.
Fans jeered England players for showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement at the start of the 1-0 win over Austria earlier in the week, and despite Gareth Southgate clearly explaining on Saturday that his team's gesture was motivated by racial injustice rather than politics, boos were clearly audible once more at the Riverside Stadium.
Potentially deflated by those fans' blatant disregard for the team's feelings, perhaps England's rather subdued start in Middlesbrough had a straightforward explanation, with Southgate's side not posing much of a threat until Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jadon Sancho hit the crossbar after the half-hour mark.
The visitors looked as much of an attacking threat as England, but good work from Jack Grealish earned a penalty with 22 minutes to go and Rashford – captain for the day – converted with aplomb, with Jordan Henderson unable to follow suit from the spot a little later.
Romania looked much sharper than England initially, with Denis Alibec shooting just wide of the top-right corner and Razvan Marin firing at Sam Johnstone following a flowing move.
Florin Nita in the visitors' net had very little to do before having the bar come to his rescue in the 32nd minute, keeping out a ferocious Calvert-Lewin header, and then again six minutes later as Sancho's bending effort following a clever offload by Grealish had left the goalkeeper looking helpless.
But Romania still posed a threat at the other end, with Deian Sorescu testing Johnstone after being released in behind the suspect Tyrone Mings.
An encouraging aspect was the performance of Rashford, who after a difficult spell at club level, did well in the 62nd minute as he collected Calvert-Lewin's lay-off and burst into the Romania half before shooting wide on the stretch after a lung-busting run.
Rashford was decisive soon after, however, coolly slotting in a penalty after Grealish – who was fouled on five occasions more than anyone else – found himself tripped by Tiberiu Capusa.
Henderson, introduced at half-time for his first outing since February, passed up the chance to make it 2-0 from the spot as Nita saved his kick following a foul on Calvert-Lewin by Vlad Chiriches.
That came hot on the heels of Johnstone producing a wonderful stop to thwart Andrei Ivan, with England ultimately settling for the 1-0 win.
St. Benedict’s College strengthens lead atop SSFL Premier Division to six points after 2-0 win over East Mucurapo Secondary
A brace from captain Derrel Garcia propelled ten-man St Benedict's College to a 2-0 victory over East Mucurapo Secondary School to strengthen their lead atop the Premier Division of the Secondary Schools Football League at the Queen’s Royal College Ground, Serpentine Road, Port-of-Spain on Saturday.
Garcia’s first goal came in the 59th minute as he quickly latched on to a Cam'Ron Burke pass before unleashing a right-footed shot from 20-yards out that beat Mucurapo goalkeeper Orlando Francis.
The former Trinidad & Tobago youth player got his second goal of the game nine minutes from full time with a brilliantly placed strike from just outside the box after beating two defenders.
The win instead ensured that St. Benedict's College maintained a six-point advantage at the top while defending champions Fatima College played to 2-2 draw with Speyside at their home ground on Mucurapo Road, Port-of-Spain.
The other results on Saturday were as follows:
Malick Secondary 1-3 Presentation College
Fatima College 2-2 Speyside Secondary
Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High 1-1 Signal Hill Secondary
Naparima College 2-0 St Mary's College
St Anthony's College 4-1 Queen’s Royal College
St Augustine Secondary 1-1 San Juan North Secondary
Trinity College 1-1 Arima North Secondary
St. Benedict’s lead the 16-team table with 28 points from 10 games, six ahead of Presentation in second and eight ahead of defending champions Fatima College in third.
St. Anthony’s and Arima North close out the top five with 18 points each while the top 10 is rounded out by Naparima (15 points), St. Augustine (14 points), QRC (13 points), Malick (11 points) and San Juan North (10 points).
St. Mary’s (10 points), Signal Hill (9 points), Trinity East (7 points), Speyside (6 points), East Mucurapo (6 points) and Miracle Ministries (4 points) round out the points standings.
Clarke aiming to prove Scotland doubters wrong against in-form Portugal
Steve Clarke is aiming to prove the doubters wrong when Scotland welcome Portugal to Hampden Park in their Nations League clash on Tuesday.
Scotland sit bottom of Group A1 after losing all three of their matches in the competition, the latest of which came in a 2-1 defeat to Croatia in Zagreb.
The loss saw Clarke's side extend their longest winless run in competitive matches in their history to nine (D3 L6), while they have now lost four consecutive games for the first time in five years.
Scotland's recent run of form includes their dismal showing at Euro 2024, as they failed to reach the knockout stages for a sixth time at a major tournament, picking up just one point from their three games in Germany, though Clarke remains optimistic.
"It's a tough moment, no doubt about it, but we believe in ourselves," Clarke told BBC Sport.
"After 20 years in the international wilderness, this group has got to two major tournaments and been promoted to the top level of the Nations League, so I don't understand why there would be doubts.
"We have to believe in what we are doing and when I look at the players on the pitch, I believe in what we're doing.
"The players understand where we are in the process, and they are ready to go again.
"They understand that we are playing difficult opponents, and they understand the squad could be stronger.
"I don't speak about that too much, since we have to concentrate on who we have here.
"We have to go out against Portugal, and we know we have to be good at everything we do in the game."
But in aiming to rediscover that winning feeling, they face an uphill task against a Portugal side who have won each of their last seven competitive away games by an aggregate score of 22-1.
Scotland have also lost each of their last four matches against the Selecao, with the Scots only currently on a longer run of defeats against Belgium and Brazil (both six).
But one positive from their display against Croatia was the performance of Ben Doak.
At 18 years and 336 days old, Doak became the youngest player to start a competitive match for Scotland since Willie Johnston against Poland in 1965 (18 years and 298 days) against Croatia.
However, Clarke stressed the importance of not piling too much pressure onto the youngster's shoulders so early into his international career.
"We're already starting to grow the next generation of players," Clarke said.
"As well as trying to be good now, I’m trying to leave a group who are ready to carry on. We don't want 20 years after this group without the success we all want.
"We want Ben to be a talent for the next 15 years, not 15 months, so don't put too much pressure on him.
"He's a young man, he will make mistakes in the game, he will do really good things in the game.
"We need to get the balance right between giving Ben the opportunity to play, which he's more than capable of taking, and protecting him a bit, make sure we don't overhype."
Barcelona dealt potential Clasico blow as Yamal suffers hamstring strain
Barcelona have confirmed Lamine Yamal suffered a left hamstring strain while on international duty with Spain.
The 17-year-old limped off in the 93rd minute of their Nations League clash against Denmark on Saturday before returning to Barcelona to undergo further tests.
He was one of La Roja's brightest players in the 1-0 victory, having five of their 25 shots, the most by a Spain player in the competition this season.
However, he is now set for an undetermined spell on the sidelines, though he is likely to miss their LaLiga match against Sevilla on Sunday.
Yamal has started 11 of Barca's 12 games in all competitions so far, and Hansi Flick will be hoping he is not set to endure a long layoff, with matches against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Real Madrid in the league also coming up next week.
If he is not involved, it would prove a huge blow for Barcelona. This season, Yamal and Robert Lewandowski have been involved in 21 Barcelona goals in LaLiga, the best goalscoring duo of any club in the big five European Leagues.
"Tests carried out this morning on first team player Lamine Yamal have confirmed that he has a left hamstring strain. His return to training will be determined by his recovery time," Barcelona said in a statement on social media.
Barcelona return to league action this weekend when they welcome Sevilla to the Camp Nou on Sunday.
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