This video can not be played Morocco reach quarter-finals as co-hosts Canada knocked out Morocco are on another fairytale World Cup run - even if their latest win over Canada was less beauty and more beast. The north African side were not pretty in beating the 2026 co-hosts 3-0 in their round of 16 meeting in Houston. Morocco won despite having just five efforts on goal – the fewest by a team who won a World Cup knockout match on record – and the first half was the first in World Cup history with more yellow cards than shots. But Morocco came through, and as the cliché goes, the mark of a great team is that they know how to win ugly. And now we must regard Morocco as a great team, and a real contender to win this World Cup. They are not only unbeaten in this World Cup, but in their last 34 matches across all competitions. While that record does carry an asterisk as it includes the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal – a win rewarded retroactively to Morocco and being challenged in court – it is impressive nevertheless. Not since a 1-0 loss to Kenya in August 2025 in the African Nations Championship – a tournament solely for players in Africa's domestic leagues – have the Moroccan national team lost a match. And after the first 15 minutes in Texas, they never looked like losing this game. Canada had two early chances, with Moroccan keeper Bono saving from Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi, while the Atlas Lions did not have a touch in the opposition box for the first quarter of an hour for the second successive fixture. But once Morocco settled, they firmly took control of the game. As Canada manager Jesse Marsch said afterwards: "They were bending a little bit but they didn't break." Morocco's four World Cup knockout wins is as many as Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana and Egypt combined In a meeting of two sides currently blessed by golden generations of talent, it was the Moroccans who shone. For Canada, injured Alphonso Davies was helpless on the bench as Morocco neutralised Stephen Eustaquio's dangerous passing and squeezed star striker Jonathan David out of the game. Meanwhile, Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi, arguably the world's best right back, was a constant menace both on the ball and in the Canadian players' faces, while creative fulcrum Brahim Diaz claimed two assists. He now has four in World Cups – the most of any African player. "The first half was very intense," Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi told his post-match media conference. "There were a few adjustments to be made at half-time. We were never safe from pressure. "What matters is we didn't change our identity, we didn't change our game philosophy. There were lots of ideas being thrown around and we took the best one. "We are playing the World Cup which means there will be difficult moments. What matters is when we are not at our best, we have to be resilient. We have to remember who we are playing for and what we are playing for." It was more than enough to take Morocco to a second successive men's World Cup quarter-final, progressing through five matches as they did in Qatar. Morocco have now won four World Cup knockout matches - two in 2022, two in 2026 – which is as many as all other African nations combined. One more win, and they will have officially matched their showing at the 2022 World Cup, where they became the first African nation ever to reach the semi-finals. So Morocco are contenders, although there remains a feeling they have not been tested to their full capabilities yet. They impressed in drawing with Brazil in their opening game, before contrasting wins over Scotland and Haiti – the first a hard-fought slog following a goal inside two minutes, the latter a frenetic 4-2 against free-wheeling, already eliminated foes. In the round of 32, they were the better team against Netherlands but needed a stoppage-time header to avoid elimination. Then against Canada they were eventually comfortable, but it was not a high-quality win to assuage doubters ahead of a possible meeting with France in the last eight. Morocco will play their 2026 quarter-final in Boston at 21.00 BST on Thursday, 9 July "Morocco were just not at their very best, and there are tougher tests to come," said BBC 5 Live pundit Chris Sutton. "They surprised me with their lethargy at the start. I don't know whether there was a bit of arrogance in dismissing the Canada team. Something was amiss with their performance. "Morocco were never going to perform as badly in the second half. The longer the game went on, the stronger they became. "They are devastating on the counterattack. But if France get through and Morocco perform like they did in the first half against a team like France, they will be crushed." Yet there is no question that this Moroccan side have a better chance to become Africa's first ever world champions than any other side in history. Morocco's success is not overnight. The one thing underpinning the North Africans' success has been long-term investment backed by the country's King Mohammed VI. An academy and $65m (£48.7m) training complex, both bearing his name, opened in 2009 and 2019 respectively and have helped the Atlas Lions establish themselves as Africa's top-ranked side. "Everything that is happening right now in Moroccan football is thanks to Mohammed VI," Ouahbi said. "He has invested a lot in the last few years, especially this academy." After reaching three out of four World Cups between 1986 and 1998, Morocco went 20 years without qualifying. This investment turned around their fortunes and allowed them to recruit players from the diaspora abroad – like Hakimi and Diaz, both born in Spain. It has given Morocco a competitiveness and belief which has become the blueprint for other African and Arabic nations, and it gives them a different aura to four years ago. "It's not a surprise, we are no longer a surprise as of today," Ouahbi said. "When people talk about Morocco they talk about a real contender, a major footballing nation and it's a great source of pride. "It's only the beginning and I hope we can continue to have similar World Cup runs for many years. We want to keep going, we don't want to stop." While the run in Qatar was twinged with disbelief, their journey in North America has been infused with purpose. A football fairytale, this is not. 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Scotland enjoyed their highest score in 12 Test visits to Argentina Nations Championship Argentina (10) 38 Tries: Oviedo, Isgro, Rapetti, Cinti, Moyano Cons: Albornoz 5 Pens: Albornoz Scotland (19) 47 Tries: Tuipulotu, Schoeman, Hutchinson, Brown, Cummings, Hiddleston, Rowe Cons: Burke 3, Jordan 3 Scotland opened their Nations Championship campaign with an impressive seven-try win against Argentina in Cordoba. Scores from Pierre Schoeman, Sione Tuipulotu and Rory Hutchinson gave the visitors a 19-10 lead at the interval. Gregor Brown and Scott Cummings touched down in a whirlwind second half, with debutant Gregor Hiddleston and Kyle Rowe also crossing the whitewash. Two of Argentina's five tries came in the closing moments to earn the hosts a bonus point in a wide open encounter. Scotland visit South Africa next Saturday, with the world champions having enjoyed a 45-21 victory over England earlier in the day. Gregor Townsend's side were ruthless in attack, scoring with their first three visits to the 22, and the head coach will be delighted with a number of strong performances. Nations Championship: Scotland enjoy seven-try victory in Argentina England outclassed by seven-try South Africa in Nations Championship Hutchinson and Rowe were prominent as Scotland recovered from a slow start, during which Joaquin Oviedo sauntered through the middle of a maul to score. On 18 minutes, Hutchinson followed some neat footwork with a great pass to find his centre partner Tuipulotu on the touchline. The skipper touched down in the corner and Fergus Burke, on as a temporary replacement for fly-half Tom Jordan, banged over the extras. Rowe then broke free to send prop Schoeman plunging over from close range to mark his 50th cap in style. The Scotland centres were to the fore again when Tuipulotu ripped through the home defence like a meteor before the nimble Hutchinson finished off. A great one-handed take, along with an undetected nudge on Rowe, allowed Rodrigo Isgro to score early in the second half. It was a two-point game and the thoughts of nervous Scotland fans may have strayed to November's crushing defeat at Murrayfield when a 21-0 lead was surrendered. However, Scotland's decision-making was solid, as was their set-piece, and a cute back-of-the-hand pass from Ewan Ashman to Ben White from a line-out culminated in replacement lock Brown crunching over. Lock Scott Cummings was also making his 50th Scotland appearance and he too marked it with a try as a composed pass from White made the most of a three v two overload. Tomas Rapetti burrowed over to reduce the deficit, with a bloodied Jamie Dobie shown a yellow card for some illicit grappling. Scotland were 33-24 in front but a man down. Again, the visitors showed a clinical edge as replacement hooker Hiddleston peeled off a maul to make his first international match a memorable one. Joaquin Moro was sent to the sin-bin in the aftermath and Argentina's advantage in personnel was gone in a flash. The hosts, in their first outing of 2026 and missing some key men, were further flattened when Rowe burst away to get the score the full-back's efforts deserved. Nine incursions into the home 22, seven tries. A wonderful return. Lucio Cinti and Agustin Moyano reduced the deficit in the final throes, but, with the job well and truly done, Scotland may have been thinking of their next task against the mighty Springboks. Rory Hutchinson scored Scotland's third try and linked well with Sione Tuipulotu Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend told ITV: "We're really proud of the way the players played our game. "We took a while to get possession but once we got into our rhythm I thought we were tactically very smart. We won the games within the game and I felt our forward pack led very well. "We know how dangerous Argentina are, defensively we had to be in a good place and generally we were. "There were not-so-good moments at the beginning and end of the first half but our work off the ball, finishing off tries, was good. "We're flying overnight to South Africa, a big challenge against the number one team in the world. "We must have done a lot of things right today, we'll have to do better next week." Argentina: S Carreras; Isgro, Cinti, Sanchez-Valarolo, M Carreras; Albornoz, Garcia; Vivas, Montoya (capt), Delgado, Petti, Alemanno, Matera, Grondona, Oviedo. Replacements: Ruiz, Wenger, Rapetti, Molina, Moro, Moyano, Moroni, Delguy. Scotland: Rowe; Steyn, Hutchinson, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie; Jordan, White; Schoeman, Ashman, Millar-Mills, Gray, Cummings, M Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey. Replacements: Hiddleston, Sutherland, Z Fagerson, Samuel, Brown, Horne, Burke, Graham.

This video can not be played England outclassed by South Africa in Nations Championship A century or more ago, Englishmen travelled to South Africa hunting big game. Steve Borthwick's modern-day tourists came with the same aim. England were looking for a contest that gave a true measure of where they stand against the world's best. About five minutes into their 45-21 defeat by South Africa in Johannesburg they found it and found out. Thomas du Toit had already steamrollered over for one try by then. Jasper Wiese had swept past Alex Coles with a run bristling with evil intent. But it was the sight of loosehead prop Ox Nche stampeding through Ollie Chessum and Jamie George, with the England defence desperately, vainly backpedalling, that summed up a brutally chastening opening salvo. Cheslin Kolbe, who jagged off the same foot to ice Owen Farrell's ankles in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final, danced in at the end of that attack. Kurt-Lee Arendse, the other scrum-capped hot-stepper in the Boks back three, followed shortly after to make it three South Africa tries in the first 11 minutes. Rugby Union Weekly: England blitzed and bossed by the Boks England outclassed by seven-try South Africa in Nations Championship Nations Championship fixtures & results England were shell-shocked. Never mind the gap, onlookers were marvelling at a sheer chasm in class between the two teams. And this was a Springbok side that many had expected to start slowly. South Africa's last meaningful match was in November. They have a lengthy injury list with the late withdrawal of captain Siya Kolisi and second row Eben Etzebeth, adding to the absence of star fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, forward mainstays Franco Mostert, Lood de Jager, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Frans Malherbe and others. The Springboks didn't even get a chance to press their traditional scrum supremacy until the 21st minute. But none of it mattered. South Africa were too skilful individually, too connected as a collective for England to make an imprint. Ellis Genge and George Martin's try-scoring rumbles, which cut the Boks lead to three at half-time, raised false hopes of an England comeback before the break The Boks duly restored rugby's new world order after the break. "The second half was hardly a contest," said former England fly-half Paul Grayson on BBC Radio 5 Live. "England never got a foothold in the game and because of that their attack was bits and pieces. "South Africa smashed the door down, rarely played more than a couple of phases but squeezed the life out of England. They were uncomplicated and uncompromising." Perhaps no side could have matched the double reigning world champions in such brilliantly belligerent mood. But plenty will feel that England should have been closer to doing so. Opting for Marcus Smith, an excellent and versatile player, but not a specialist full-back, at 15 after the late withdrawal of George Furbank did not settle the backfield defence. Tommy Freeman, one of England's best players in the air, remained in his less accustomed outside centre role. Too often the Boks took to the air and returned with the ball, with the superb Damian Willemse ruling the skies. England had promised to play 'big', mixing physical bravery with tactical daring. It was there, but only in parts. All three England tries – with Henry Slade's excellent kamikaze angle into the heart of the Bok defence followed up by a smart mispass to Alex Coles to cross for their final score – showed that intent. One early passage with Fin Smith and Ben Earl combining well and Jack van Poortvliet finding his man with a one-handed offload round the back of tackler carved through the hosts. But the attacking ambition and accuracy wavered across the contest. Alex Coles crossed for England's third try, but they rarely looked like diverting the Springboks from victory The one constant across England's five-match losing streak though has been indiscipline. Their Six Nations campaign – a historic low in the tournament – came with a flush of cards. This time, Freeman and replacement Guy Pepper were dispatched to the sin-bin late on to leave England, gasping at 1,753m above sea level, down to 13 men for the final eight minutes. Even before that referee James Doleman had awarded a clutch of second-half penalties the hosts' way, with Tom Curry falling foul of a new emphasis on cleaning up the driving maul within a minute of the restart. Every one of the 13 penalties England conceded sapped their momentum, ceded territory and ratcheted up pressure. And England are not a good enough side to withstand it. The question now will be whether they are good enough to defeat Fiji and Argentina over the next two weekends. South Africa may have been the biggest game of England's summer, but these latter two fixtures are the more revealing tests. The Springboks are operating at the summit of the sport. When England descend from altitude, touch down back at Heathrow and face Fiji in Liverpool, they will need to show they can overcome those at a lower level. If not, and a losing streak of five games extends to six or seven, Borthwick knows that the Rugby Football Union will be asked once more whether they back their man to the World Cup. "England must beat Fiji next weekend because the storm clouds are gathering again," added Grayson. On its own, a defeat away to this South Africa - one of the all-time great teams – doesn't prompt that inquest. As those Englishman of old know, when you go big-game hunting, someone usually gets stuffed. All Blacks beat France in thrilling Nations Championship opener Ireland deny Wallabies after nail-biting finish Listen to the latest Rugby Union Weekly podcast

This video can not be played 'This is everything' - Eala emotional after making history Three years ago, Alexandra Eala was presented with her graduation diploma from the Rafael Nadal tennis academy by Iga Swiatek. The Pole was world number one and had just won her third French Open title. She told the players assembled in front of her that she hoped they "would give 100%" to whatever they did in the future. "I hope you will be tenacious," she said. , external "I hope no matter what you do in the future years, if you're going to do it the best way possible, I'm sure you'll have no regrets at the end." Eala took those words to heart. On Saturday, she produced a brave, crowd-enthralling performance on Wimbledon's Centre Court to stun defending champion Swiatek 7-6 (11-9) 6-2. With it, she became the first player from the Philippines to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam in the Open era. Asked what the victory meant, the 21-year-old replied: "I went to train every day after school with my ruffled socks, light-up shoes and chubby cheeks - to younger me this is everything. "It is incredible to have my countrymen cheering me on, knowing that we are all in this together. "This goes out to them, my family and all the girls with ruffled socks and chubby cheeks. It means the world." GB's Fery fights off Bergs and nosebleeds to reach fourth round Defending champion Swiatek & Rybakina out in Wimbledon shocks Injury ends Williams' Wimbledon comeback Eala played tennis as a youngster with her brother and grandfather, telling BBC TV she "still can't keep up" with her older brother, even now. She first rose to prominence in 2022, when she was on the cover of Vogue in her home country after becoming the first Filipina to win a junior Grand Slam title with her US Open triumph. She rose to wider notice after her 2025 Miami Open breakthrough - which ironically began with another victory over Swiatek. Aged 19 and ranked outside the top 100, Eala took out Grand Slam champions Swiatek, Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys to reach the semi-finals. Since then, she has reached the world's top 30, claimed two titles on the second-tier WTA 125 tournaments and finished runner-up at Eastbourne last year. In the build-up to this year's Wimbledon, she beat world number two Elena Rybakina and eighth-ranked Elina Svitolina in Berlin, and also teamed up with Venus Williams in doubles. Her success has meant her popularity sky-rocketed. Queues snake around the Grand Slam grounds when she is scheduled on an outside court, while viewing parties are held for her matches back home. That brings with it a pressure both good and bad. If Eala's wins are celebrated as a point of national pride in the Philippines, then her losses are also felt deeply. It was a situation that got on top of her at the Australian Open, where she was overwhelmed by the amount of people who simply queued to watch her practice. "I try to be as authentic as I can. I believe in being genuine," Eala said. "Although I'm very grateful and very welcoming of all the support that I get, me, my team and my family are the ones who have been putting in the hours. "We're the ones who are here at the courts 12 hours in a row. We're the ones who wake up early, who come back home late. "I think that work ethic is really what keeps me grounded." This video can not be played 21-year old Eala knocks out defending champion Swiatek Against Swiatek on Wimbledon's biggest court, she absorbed the pressure admirably. Roared on by a huge crowd on Henman Hill, Eala saved eight of the 11 break points she faced and hit 24 winners to 21 unforced errors to see off the six-time major champion. "The match started at 20:30 local time and everybody on social media was following the match and posting about Filipino pride," former Philippines tennis player Dyan Castillejo told Sportsworld on the BBC World Service. "I'm getting hundreds and thousands of texts from so many people. Everybody just wants to be a part of it. "Everybody felt that they were a part of it, every Filipino." Eala's visor is embroidered with the phrase 'kapag lumago, hindi na hihinto', which translates to 'once it grows, it cannot be stopped'. Written in her native Tagalog, it allows her to "carry parts of my culture with me on court". "I resonate with those words so much. More than being unstoppable, I think it refers to a dream and an aspiration to become unstoppable," Eala told BBC TV. "Ever since I was young, I've always been such a dreamer, so being able to live out my dreams and experience things like this only makes me more ambitious." "For me to be able to represent the Philippines in Wimbledon and in the biggest stages in the world, it means so much to me." Live scores, results and order of play Get tennis news sent straight to your phone