who face one of their final hurdles in qualification for this summer's european championship. they take on finland in their play off semifinal tie on thursday in cardiff. they are, of course, without their talisman, gareth bale, who retired over a year ago, as they look to make a third successive euros. thomas duffin reports. relaxed and relishing another chance of making it to a major tournament. the manager says his players will draw on the experience of recent world cup play off matches in cardiff, when wales made the most of home advantage. we've been there, we've been through it. so i think having gone through that as a player, it's certainly helped. in situations like this, pressures is pressure, whether you're a manager, whether you're a player. so we've all been exposed to pressurised situations and i think you learn it's never comfortable, but you learn to deal with it.

a big factor in getting to major tournaments has been down to this man. commentator: for wales in. but wales�*s record goal—scorer is now retired, and the responsibility of delivering when it really matters falls to others. life after the lord's means it's a good opportunity for others to step up. and i think i think we've seen that in this campaign with some young players coming into the team and players in with those goals, playing in big games, turning up for us in big moments. wales are aiming to reach their fourth major tournament in less than a decade, but the players know there won't be any consolation prizes tomorrow night. they simply must beat finland to reach the play off final next week. speaking to the bbc�*s feast of football programme, the returning aaron ramsey says the sell out home crowd at the cardiff city stadium can spur them on once again. that's something that we worked really hard on. it's coming together,

engage in the crowd again and making them feel like a place of belonging. that's evident now. that's massive. that's huge for us. so yeah, it's great that we've got two games at home. finland finished third in their group with denmark and slovenia qualifying automatically ahead of them. their record goal—scorer, teemu pukki, the former norwich striker who now plays in major league soccer, at minnesota united, remains their main man in front of goal at the age of 33. four years ago, wales delivered back to back victories over finland. another victory tomorrow and wales will edge closer to their third successive european championship. thomas davies, bbc news. well, wales�* game against finland is one of six playoff matches on thursday with three places in the european championship up for grabs. whoever wins in cardiff will face either poland or estonia on tuesday for a place in the euros. bosnia, herzegovina, ukraine, israel and iceland make up path

b and in path c, georgia, luxembourg, kazakhstan in 200a. european champions greece will compete for the last qualification spot. now it's been a while for liverpool's joe gomez to get the call up back into the england squad for years, in fact. but the defender is part of gareth southgate�*s squad for the england friendlies against brazil on saturday in belgium on tuesday. it was during a session while away with england in november 2020 when gomez injured tendons in his knee, leading to surgery and an eight month spell on the sidelines. our sports correspondent nesta mcgregor is at st george's park for us. well, the truth is, gareth southgate probably already knows his 23—man squad who are going to be on the plane to germany. but these last few friendlies may be a chance for one or two players to force his hand to give him a selection dilemma. speaking of which, the squad trained this morning, apart from kane, palmer, henderson and saka, who all trained alone, maybe in the case of harry kane, we expected that because he sprained an ankle playing for bayern munich not too long ago. also today, it was the first

glimpse of anthony gordon. he's had a remarkable season for newcastle and of course 18—year—old midfielder kobe mane, who again has been sensational for manchester united, straight into the squad. will he get any minutes against brazil or belgium? that's still to be seen. we also heard today from joe gomez and it was a really touching press conference because he spoke about it being four years ago that he was last selected for england and how he'd got injured, training on the same pitch he trained on this morning and how the last time he saw gareth southgate was actually in the back of an ambulance on the way to hospital getting treatment for that injury. he also mentioned that he'd always been optimistic about being picked for england again, but he did have plans for this week. he was supposed to be in dubai with it being an international break and it being so long since he was last selected. but gomez says he's not looking too far ahead. but it's good to be back. i'd be lying if i said

it didn't have a psychological toll. i left in an ambulance like quite abruptly from the training pitch. so, yeah, it meant a lot to me, just even yesterday, just doing the warm up. and it's nice to sort of close that chapter, just leaving and never really getting the chance to come back. it was tough to do so. yeah, it's meant a lotjust to be in the mix and just giving me a new appreciation to be here, and a different perspective. joe gomez, very optimistic there, but says he's not looking at too far ahead. i wonder will he feature against brazil on saturday or in fact, against belgium on tuesday. the big date for your diary, though, is may the 21st, and that's when gareth southgate will name that training squad for euro 202a. nestor mcgregor there. now hosts, france, will play the united states to kick off the men's football tournament at the paris olympics. the game will be played in marseille onjuly 24th, two days before the opening ceremony. elsewhere, argentina, who won the title in 2004 and 2008, were drawn with morocco. two time defending champions. two time defending champions

brazil won't be there, though, after failing to qualify. women's champions league holders barcelona battled back to beat brann in the first leg of their quarterfinal tie. salma coelho�*s sixth goal of this season's tournament helped barca to 2— i win in norway. brown, making theirfirst appearance in the quarters, pulled themselves level before half time after barca took the lead through caroline graham. the lead through caroline graham hanse. but no shock came of it, and the holders have the upper hand. confirmation of that result then and earlier, tabitha soyinka's fourth goal of the campaign and a strike from eva gatineau earned paris victory against hakin in the first leg of their quarterfinal in gothenburg. the second leg will be played on thursday next week. david warner is one of the big names to miss out on selection at the 100 draft, but former australia captain meg lanning will appear in the women's competition for the first time after being draughted by london spirit. henry moran reports. well, it's been a busy day here at the shard, in central london,

as coaches have been putting together their sides for this year's 100 ball competition for players. well, it's always that balance. do you want to listen into every moment or perhaps wait for that phone call on the golf course? in the women's competition, meg lanning, the former australia skipper, has been picked up for the top bracket price of £50,000 to play for the london spirit. england wicketkeeper amyjones seeing a price increase to play for the birmingham phoenix, again for the top price bracket. but as much as today is about those players that get selected, it's also about those that miss out. and one real shock in the men's tournament is david warner, the former australia opener, not selected his reserve price of £100,000. no side wanted him and have looked elsewhere. one of the coaches involved in this year's tournament is the former england all—rounder andrew flintoff. he got the first pick for the northern superchargers, where he's coach and went for nicholas pooran, the west indies wicket keeper. seen as a big hitting player that can dominate and show what he can do in front

of what we expect will be good crowds. it's a tournament that has cut through up against the olympic games this summer and test cricket. so the pressure will be on to continue the momentum. but certainly with the squads that have been selected, plenty of good names, big names to look out for in this year's tournament. saracens fly—half 0wen farrell says he's still happy with his decision to step away from international rugby. the former england captain made himself unavailable for this year's six nations, saying he wanted to prioritise his and his family's mental well—being. next season, farrell willjoin france's racing 92, which rules out a possible return to play for his country. earlier, he spoke about the criticism he received on social media, which prompted his decision to step away from the national team. it's never... yeah, just a specific one. normally, it's a lot of things that come together that make you make them decisions. and that's obviously the case. have to be the best the best thing for me, for the best

thing for my family. and obviously, there's a change there's a change happening next year off the back of it as well. so yeah, i've obviously i've obviously done that because i think it'd be good for me. and the fia president mohammed bin sulayem, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a formula 1 ethics committee after allegations of interference were made against him in f1 races in saudi arabia and las vegas last season. the investigation by the sport's governing body found no evidence bensalem had acted improperly. in a statement, the fia said allegations against him were unsubstantiated and strong evidence beyond any reasonable doubt was presented to support the determination of the fia ethics committee. and there we go. you can get all the latest sports news from the usual places, the bbc sports app orfrom our website. for me and the rest of the team here, thanks for watching and we'll see you again a bit later on.

hello there. it's been very mild to start this week, very spring like indeed. and in fact, on wednesday, we saw a temperature of 19 celsius in charnwood, in surrey, making this the warmest spot of the day, but also the highest temperature in england so far this year. things are set to change though, for the end of the week into the week, colder air moving in behind this low pressure system will extend across all areas. it'll feel very different to how the week's begun, but still some mild air for england and wales on thursday. much windier with outbreaks of rain. scotland and northern ireland, thanks to that area of low pressure gusts up to 60 miles an hourfor the northern and western isles. a bit of sunshine here and there. for england and wales rather cloudy, some sunshine at times. we're still in the mild air mass here. so given some sunshine, we could see temperatures up to 16 or 17 degrees again, but it will be cooler across the north with the stronger winds. as you move through thursday night, the cooler air and this band of rain, a cold front will sink southwards

across england and wales. behind, it's much colder, there'll be a rash of showers, these wintry on the hills across scotland. you can see the temperatures there to start friday, but milderfor england and wales. but it won't last as that cold front sinks southwards across the midlands, southern england through friday. eventually it'll clear through. skies will brighten up, but we'll all be into the cooler air by the end of friday and there'll be a rash of blustery showers again for scotland, northern ireland, maybe north west england. they will be wintry on the hills across scotland. thus the mild weather across the south east, 12 or 13 degrees into the weekend, it'll be noticeably colder and windier for all areas. the mixture of sunshine and showers and these showers will have a wintry element to them, certainly on the hills. you can see the colder air moving in behind that cold front. by the time we move out of friday night into saturday, we're all into that colder air. lots of isobars and the charts, so it's going to be blustery, windy, particularly in exposure with strong west north westerly winds. lots of showers rattling through, as you can see. the white colours indicating hail, maybe some sleet, snow over the hills,

some sunshine in between. some sunshine in between. it's not going to be raining all the time. these are the temperatures, though, seven to ten degrees factor in the wind, it could feel even colder than that. so a bit of a shock to the system after such a mild start to the week. sunday marginally better, i think, although a blustery day, not quite as windy, and we should see more sunshine around. there'll still be few showers dotted around northern and eastern areas, but more sunshine around, slightly lighter winds. it may feel a little bit better across the board. take care.

live from washington, this is bbc news. a migrant law in texas is in legal limbo following conflicting court orders. mexico's president says he wouldn't accept the deportation of migrants by the state's officials. the prime minister of ireland is resigning. leo varadkar said it's due to both personal and political reasons. and the school year started in afghanistan on wednesday. notably absent were the more than1 million girls who have been barred from an education by the taliban.

hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. the state of law enforcement at the us—mexico border remains in doubt, after a federal appeals court issued an order effectively blocking texas from implementing one of the toughest immigration laws in the us. that happens just hours after the us supreme court allowed texas to carry through with the measure. crossing the us border illegally is already a federal crime, but violations are usually handled as civil cases by the immigration court system. president biden�*s administration is challenging the law, known as sba, saying it is unconstitutional. the president will visit the lone star state on thursday. with 2.5 million people illegally entering the us via the southern border last year, immigration is one of the most polarising issues in american politics. and mexican president lopez 0brador is pushing back against the law.