Gregg Popovich evidently doesn’t plan to leave the San Antonio Spurs anytime soon

England manager Sarina Wiegman distinctly remembers the day she and her Netherlands team-mates checked into the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou, China to launch an experiment that would forever change women’s football. It was 1988, Wiegman was 18, and while men had been participating in World Cups for 58 years, a women’s equivalent existed only as an idea – one FIFA decided first needed to be tested in the form of a proof-of-concept, 12-team tournament at a time when even the now-dominant Americans had played just 22 matches. Thirty-five years later, Wiegman’s Lionesses are one of the favourites to win the ninth edition of a global championship that has expanded to 32 teams, boasts a $110million (£84.7m) prize pot, has already sold out the 80,000-plus seat Stadium Australia and is expected to draw about two billion viewers from around the world. Asked at England’s team hotel in Queensland if teenage Sarina could have ever envisioned what the World Cup has become, the now 53-year-old immediately replied: “No. No, no, absolutely not. Absolutely not. The whole, everything, it’s totally changed, and really quickly. “And even when I was older and I think maybe 20 years ago, I would not have ever expected or not even dreamed to be in this situation, that in women’s football we would be now where we are, or even that I would be in a situation where I am now. That’s why I enjoy it so much, too. “It’s because I am grateful that things have changed so quickly. There’s still a long way to go, but how it grew [and moved] so many steps forward, I’m just very grateful for that.” Though women’s international competitions had taken place before, the 1988 Women’s Invitation Tournament was the first sanctioned by FIFA. Wiegman recalls that the White Swan felt “so luxurious”, but her memories of the playing conditions are foggier. She explained: “I just wanted to play. I wasn’t bothered about pitches, [because] I wasn’t used to [them]. We didn’t have the facilities. So I found everything we had in the stadium, there were 20,000 people, and they were laughing when someone made a mistake or something, that was really strange because they had a totally different view of football than in Europe, but well, there wouldn’t be 20,000 people [in Europe] then.” The Netherlands were ultimately beaten 2-1 by Brazil in the quarter-finals, but the competition solidified Wiegman’s desired destiny and convinced FIFA that an inaugural Women’s World Cup should be hosted by the same Chinese province in 1991. Wiegman said: “I thought ‘this is what I want to do’, but there weren’t very many opportunities then. But I just really loved that tournament, I will never forget that tournament.” The former midfielder remains adamant that “I’m just me and doing what I love the most” yet it is no exaggeration to say the self-described “serious” Hague native, whose CV is an astonishing chronicle of unprecedented accomplishments, has had a critical impact on the history of her beloved sport in more than one country. Wiegman retired after earning 104 caps for the Netherlands – her career itself a feat for a girl who once chose to chop off her hair and disguise herself as a boy because she found herself barred from football because of her gender. Since then Wiegman transitioned from PE teacher to the pioneering first head coach of Eredivisie Vrouwen side ADO Den Haag – but only after refusing an initial offer of a part-time role and insisting their ambitions were only viable with full investment. Wiegman assisted then-Netherlands head coach Roger Reijners at the 2015 World Cup, shortly after which she became the first woman in her country to coach with a men’s professional club, Sparta Rotterdam. She took permanent charge of the Netherlands in 2017, six months before they won the European Championship. Two years later, they were World Cup runners-up. With England’s Euro 2022 triumph, Wiegman became the first head coach to win that competition with two different countries. We really need to keep telling them what our identity is and where we came from England manager Sarina Wiegman Now the Lionesses boss could lead her side to the World Cup title that has so far evaded them both, decades after she boarded that life-altering plane to China and paved the way for the next wave of football-mad women just like her. Of them, she added: “Oh yes, they’re very grateful. Absolutely, this generation – yes. I think the younger group will come, we really need to keep telling them what our identity is and where we came from, where we come from. So we know how it was, how it’s growing and where we are. I think that’s very important.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Benjamin Mendy weeps as he is cleared of sex charges Novak Djokovic clashes with umpire and fans on his way to latest Wimbledon final Michal Kwiatkowski holds off Tadej Pogacar to take solo win on Grand Colombier

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A tourist who was CEO of the American arm of the British publisher that launched Harry Potter in the UK was killed off Italy's Amalfi Coast after the "gommone" or motorboat she was riding on with her family collided with a sailing vessel rented for special events, according to the Prosecutor's office in Salerno, which is conducting the investigation into her death.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting off Russian attacks in the eastern battlefield achieved “partial success” in the past 24 hours while troops in southern Ukraine inflicted over a hundred Russian casualties, officials said as the war was close to clocking 600 days. The troops secured partial success near Andriivka, a small Ukrainian village captured last month along with the nearby locality of Klishhiivka, said Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern group of forces. "We are repelling constant attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka,” the spokesperson told national television. "Every day we are making headway in the Bakhmut sector. We are talking about hundreds of metres at a time that we are liberating from our enemies and strengthening our positions. It is, however, too early to talk about achieving concrete goals,” he said. The “partial” headway in territorial advance was also reported in southern Ukraine by general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of forces in the south. “We have partial success west of Verbove. During the past 24 hours, the enemy carried out eight airstrikes, 18 combat encounters, and also launched 455 artillery barrages,” the top military official said on his Telegram channel. Verbove is one of the cluster of villages that Ukraine is targeting, with the larger town of Tokmak as the next large target. The Ukrainian units of rocket troops and artillery from the Tavria Air Defence Forces launched 795 fire missions during the day, he said. “The total losses of the enemy amounted to 147 people,” he said but did not give details about the injuries, deaths, and capture of Russian soldiers as prisoners of war. Three Russian ammunition depots were also bombed, along with two tanks and an artillery system, he said. This comes amid first signs of deterioration in battlefield conditions due to weather as Russian military bloggers said rainfall has worsened visibility in southern Ukraine. Experts monitoring the war said changing weather conditions will hinder the reconnaissance drone operations on both sides. “One Russian milblogger claimed that the ground has become muddy and obstructs tracked vehicle movement, though another milblogger claimed that the ground has not yet become muddy enough to inhibit vehicle movement,” said the Institute for the Study of War in its latest assessment on Monday. It added that exact conditions likely vary along the frontline, though weather conditions are generally worsening.It cited Yevlash’s report stating that the Russian forces are relying less heavily on aviation and drone activity in the Kupiansk-Lyman direction due to heavy rainfall. The Russian accounts of fighting claimed its forces thwarted Ukrainian attacks near Bakhmut and inflicted heavy casualties in strikes on Ukrainian positions outside the city. Now on the edge of entering its fifth month, Ukraine’s counteroffensive aims to secure control of areas around Bakhmut in order to recapture the town, which was seized by Russian forces in May after months of heavy battles. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: It is in Russia’s interests to inflame war in the Middle East, says Zelensky Zelensky says Russia trying to incite war in the Middle East Satellite images show spike in border activity as North Korea ‘supplies weapons to Russia’ for Ukraine war Ukraine repels Russian attacks on five fronts as Putin resorts to old weaponry and reserves Russia reports coolant leak in backup line at space station and says crew not in danger

Connections is the latest New York Times word game that's captured the public's attention. The