England and Russia are the big beasts of Group B and, though each would love a winning start when they meet on Saturday, the fear of losing could well become all-pervading and lead to a cagey encounter. With games against Wales and Slovakia to come, and the potential for three teams to qualify with two guaranteed, a point at the Velodrome might look a very useful result in a couple of weeks. England, on the back of winning all 10 qualifiers, not to mention a rare victory in Germany in a friendly, start favourites and will expect to make the running in front of a 60,000 crowd that will be predominantly behind them.
Talking points from this weekend's Premier League action as top two Manchester City and Liverpool both won with City remaining a point clear with two games remaining.
England, appearing in their first semi-final since 1990, had looked on course for their first final since 1966 as they led through Kieran Trippier's fifth-minute free kick and totally dominated the opening half.
Five talking points from the Premier League weekend:
Manchester City marched into the quarter-finals of the Champions League
Manchester City reached the League Cup final, shattering second-tier Bristol City's hopes of a remarkable upset, as the Premier League leaders survived a late fightback to win 3-2 on Tuesday and clinch the tie 5-3 on aggregate.
'Never in the history of Indian cinema did we have a distribution system for 240 countries, but we have it now.' 'And if we still keep catering to the B and C-tiers of our country, and not the whole world, then we are really being losers.' 'The visionaries of the industry must pull up their socks and say that now we will create for the world.'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A round-up of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
The splendid rock figures around Cappadocia and the silent, eternal ruins of Ephesus made a trip to Turkey even more memorable.
Kane takes to world stage as England edge past Tunisia
As 2022 readies to bid adieu, Sukanya Verma raises a toast to the 10 high points of the year.
However, experienced goalkeeper Joe Hart and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere were both omitted from a squad announced on Wednesday via a social media video featuring young recreational players from around the country shouting out the names.
Chelsea ticked off three more points in their Premier League title quest with a 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday but Tottenham Hotspur's Houdini-like 3-1 win at Swansea means the race is far from over.
Monaco swept into the Champions League quarter-finals and left Manchester City to pick up the pieces of another failed European campaign after a 3-1 victory on Wednesday sent them through on away goals.
Real Madrid moved into the semi-finals of the Champions League after their makeshift defence held on for 0-0 second-leg draw with Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday to complete a 3-1 aggregate win.
Belgium beat England 2-0 in the World Cup third-place play-off on Saturday to secure their best ever finish at a World Cup and send Gareth Southgate's side home with a second straight loss.
The result against the tiny Scandinavian country, who had clearly been hugely undervalued, was a humiliation for a proud football nation that appeared to have badly lost its way.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Leicester beat Southampton to open seven-point gap at the top.
Three protesters were killed on Sunday at Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu after police fired at stone-pelting dalit agitators following reports that their leader had been detained, the security agency said.
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
The 89th Annual Academy Awards will go down in history for this.
The FIFA 2022 World Cup will kick-off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20. Here is a list of the 26-man squads playing in the quadrennial global football extravaganza.
The dynasty will only be built on European success, though, and after the quarter-final exit to Liverpool, Manchester City's owners, who want a gilded continental powerhouse to match United's global lustre, will demand it and back those demands with huge funding.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Alan Pardew has left Newcastle United to become manager of Premier League rivals Crystal Palace, the clubs confirmed on Saturday.
Here are the 12 most costly wedding crooners, according to a poll.
The Army made no attempt to ascertain the identity of the civilians returning from work on a pick-up truck before shooting them in Nagaland's Mon district on Saturday, a joint report by the state's Director General of Police T John Longkumer and Commissioner Rovilatuo Mor has said.
Which films are *you* rooting for?
Real Madrid got their Champions League title defence off to a strong start on Wednesday by convincingly beating AS Roma 3-0 at home with goals from Isco, Gareth Bale and a stoppage-time strike from returning striker Mariano Diaz.
China will carry out major scientific research to enhance its biosecurity science and technological capacity against future infectious diseases, state-run Global Times quoted Xiang as saying.
Images from Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Images from EPL matches played on Tuesday
Roger Federer has made no secret that at this stage of his career, anything he does or does not do on a tennis court is done with the sole purpose of making sure he is in the best shape possible to make another title run at Wimbledon.
There was the usual frenzy of last-minute deals as the English Premier League brought the curtain down on another bumper European transfer window in which Manchester City again flexed their financial muscle as the continent's top spenders.
Subhash K Jha remembers a decent, kind, gentle person, who didn't quite get his due.
Chelsea re-signed David Luiz and Premier League champions Leicester City broke their transfer record for striker Islam Slimani as English clubs exceeded the one billion pounds barrier when the curtain fell on transfer deadline day.
Beaten twice by Nadal in the space of a month, in the Barcelona and Madrid Open finals, Thiem took his revenge by handing the 30-year-old Spaniard a first clay court defeat of the season in Rome.
