hello there, and welcome along to the programme. we're under way as a busy period of international football commences — including vital european championship playoff semi—finals. wales are nowjust one more win away from sealing their spot in germany. they beat finland comprehensively in cardiff — an early david brooks goal settled the nerves. they were two up thanks to neco williams. finland's teemu pukki pulled one back for the visitors. but wales, with the home crowd behind them, were out of sight in the second half. brennanjohnson and then a late danieljames goal, giving them a 4—1 win. they'll now play poland for a place at the euros on tuesday night. we wa nted we wanted to start the game fast. come out of the traps and we certainly did with an early goal which settled us a little bit. understandably, good teams then to take control of the game and they came into it a

little bit. and we didn't quite get the press right in the first—half. so we addressed it at half time. made a couple of changes and i thought that that made us better in the second—half and then getting the early goal to start the second—half, definitely helped by giving us that cushion as well. and on another night, it might have been five or six. and we have already looked at poland. we know that they pose a different threat to tonight. it will be a tough test for us, but you know, what more motivation do you need than one win away from the fourth major tournament. the boys have been incredible all week knew the importance of that going into the game. and they'll be ready on tuesday and up for it. so let's take a look at the rest of the playoff semi—final results. confirmation wales will play poland, after they thrashed estonia 5—1. ukraine meet iceland in their playoff final. and greece put 5 past kazakhstan, to secure their final against georgia. staying with international football and bukayo saka has pulled out of the england squad two days before their wembley friendly against brazil. the 22—year—old arsenal forward trained away from the main

squad earlier this week after reporting for duty carrying an injury. he has returned to his club to continue his rehabilitation. no replacement will be called up england are also playing another friendly against belgium next tuesday, also at wembley. leicester city say they're surprised and disappointed by the timing of premier league charges, after allegedly breaking spending rules during their last three seasons in the top flight. leicester were relegated to the championship, the second tier of english football, at the end of last season — and have been referred to an independent commission for breaching profit and sustainability rules, and failing to submit audited accounts. if found guilty, they could face a points deduction. the australian open champion, jannik sinner, is the second seed in miami. on the other side of the draw from carlos alcaraz, who beat him in the indian wells semi—finals last week. sinner starts his tournament against fellow italian andrea vavassori, after getting a bye into the second round.

he's told the bbc his status as a grand slam champion means there is a target on his back. a little bit more attention, but in another way i haven't changed as a person because... is for sure great that i feel lucky to be in the position. that's it. if you lose that match the next day you have to work. if you win the match you work anyway. it does make a huge difference to me. forsure, it does make a huge difference to me. for sure, there is a little bit more attention also when you go — when you play in front of people. they know you now. so it's a nice moment, like a positive moment. but you have to be very careful with owe because they know —— opponents because they know you, they want to beat you. so you, they want to beat you. so you know, i like to be in this position, because for sure, you work hard to have this chance at least once to live or lift

one of the biggest trophies in the sport. but now you have more pressure. they know you and how you play. they know my weakness. you have to work on that. but this makes me a better player and that's what i like. and for sure, there is more pressure on the court and also off the court. but you know, it almost depends on how much weight you give this. i give not so much weight, because i want to be a better tennis player. how can i prove things? and then, that's why i need my team behind me. and they are pushing me really hard. i'm very lucky to have them. and that's what we try to do. a big moment for england captain marlie packer to come — in this weekend's women's six nations opener against italy on sunday. she'll win her 100th cap for the side. the 34—year—old flanker made her debut for the red roses in 2008 and becomes only the seventh woman to reach the milestone. england won the six nations grand slam last year — and are aiming to win their sixth six nations title in a row. yeah, super excited. ithink

for me, it's more aboutjust kicking off the six nations. it's always a tournament that you want to be involved in. to receive my 100th cap in the first game is pretty special overin first game is pretty special over in palma. my friends and family are all coming over. i think that i had to ask my managerfor 16 or 17 think that i had to ask my manager for 16 or 17 tickets the other day. and the max allocation you could have on the app was six. so yeah — i don't know whether i'm going to get all 16 tickets but we hope so. earlier this year, louis rees zammit stunned welsh rugby by choosing to pursue a career in american football. he's reportedly had three offers from teams in the nfl to join their roster, after impressing at an international player pathway pro—day. 0ur correspondent nesta mcgregor can tell us more. make no mistake, rees zammit was one of the stars of the sport and a golden boy of welsh rugby. we can see from the stats, the 23—year—old winger playing 31 times for his country, scoring 1a tries, including this beauty against

england in the six nations last year. now, since crossing the atlantic, he's been on a ten—week intensive course to see if he's got what it takes. and despite so many similarities between the two sports, the switch has been described as if someone is trying to learn a new language. he's had to break running and catching techniques. it's taken a lifetime to develop them in order to learn you new ones. but the gamble seems to be paying off. because during the work—out in front of scouts, he's been invited to train with at least three nfl teams and that means more chances to impress and prove that he can do thejob in pads impress and prove that he can do the job in pads and impress and prove that he can do thejob in pads and a helmet against seasoned pros. but listen — make no mistake, he has a long way to go. no british player has made the transition from rugby league or rugby union to play a competitive game in the nfl. christian wade had a go in 2018 when he left to chase his dream. he came close but only made the practice squad and never played in an in season

game. louis rees zammit may be making the headlines but there are few other people trying to break it into the nfl. watch this space to see if one of them could be the first to make history. the former world and european karate champion, jordan thomas has retired. thomas won european kumite gold in 2014 and became world champion two years later. the 32—year—old had switched to taekwando after failing to qualify for the tokyo games but has now decided to call it a day. james burridge reports. jordan thomas back at his old school in hartford sure. this time he's the teacher, not the student. get set for the half art is a punch after calm, straight—line and direct? he set up a karate academy hoping to teach these teenagers are a thing or two about elite sport. if they can learn and practice resilience, focus, discipline, progress their confidence, problem—solving, if these kids can

master all those skills, notjust sport but in their life, they can champion bad. and that's what it's about. 2024 is an olympic year, but after a decade competing at the top in karate and taekwondojordan us he is retiring. i felt that it was time to transition. it was time to go to the next step. i have a daughter, i've got one coming. that is my purpose now my ambition. coming to that decision was very tall. it still plays in my mind right now. i still feel like i'm capable but we do things on purpose. this is the right time, i'm confident in myself. actually, i'm ready for it. it's definitely the right decision. jordan's father, william, was a world champion in karate in 1992. 22 years later, jordan repeated the feat and became the first karate world champion from great britain in 12 years.

alongside the delight — the despair. he was two seconds away from qualifying for the 2020 olympics and received a kick to the head during dying moments of a fight in paris. not making the olympics was very, very difficult. mentally, i wanted to be that person who blamed everybody. but i decided and made the conscious decision to take a lot of ownership for what i had done. but for me, i am a world champion and european champion, and that will never change. it doesn't not happen in the past. that will always stay with me. to be able to replicate what my dad did on the small scale of what he achieved, i won't go to that will blow his head. that's what made it for me. his professional career now behind himjordan�*s next motivation will be inspiring others. just like his father did to him. you can get all the latest

sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.com/sport. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. hello there. it's going to be turning colder right across the uk as we head through the rest of the week. sunny spells and showers through the day on thursday. lots of rainbow spotted by our weather watchers towards the north. that theme at least is set to continue, so more blustery showers, a brisk northwesterly wind and just some chillierfeeling air with a possibility of some nighttime frosts in the more rural sheltered spots. why? well, because this cold front will be sinking southwards and eastwards as we head through the day on friday, introducing that colder feeling air. already a chilly start to the day from north wales, across northern england, scotland and northern ireland —

some showers blowing in here. a cold front pushes more clouds towards the far southeast of england and some outbreaks of rain. and the hang—back of that rain is still across parts of kent, sussex into perhaps eastern areas of hampshire. as we head through the afternoon on friday, it will eventually clear. temperatures now round about the seasonal average, a few showers, particularly out towards the west, most frequent across northern and western scotland, a brisk westerly wind blowing, and some of those showers are likely to be wintry over the high ground. gales across the northern isles and the far northwest of scotland. now, low pressure continues to push eastwards just to the north of scotland as we head through friday and into saturday. saturday, a particularly cold start to the day. temperatures for many will drop back to low single figures, and in the shelter of that brisk westerly—to—north—westerly wind, we're likely to see a touch of frost, though gardeners beware. also some icy stretches out there as well. saturday, a day of sunshine and showers again, the showers most frequent in the north and the west.

some of the showers could be wintry over the tops of the hills just about anywhere across the uk. there will be some sunny spells in between, but a lot of added wind chill. these temperatures are below the seasonal average. it will actually feel colder than that because of the strength of the wind, too. but there will be some sunshine here and there as well, and it does look like it's going to turn a bit sunny up through the day on sunday. brief ridge of high pressure should keep us largely dry, but clouding over towards the west by the end of the day. low pressure always close by as we head through into the start of next week, so it's going to be feeling colder. we'll see the drop in temperature and it will be quite showery. some longer spells of rain at times too as we head through next week, so unsettled and feeling cooler. bye— bye.

live from washington. this is bbc news. the us secretary of state visits the middle east and says the us agrees with its arab allies on the need for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. the un issues a warning about the struggles of getting aid into haiti, as millions face hunger and malnutrition. and 80 years after their time in the service, a secretive us army unit is honoured for saving tens of thousands of lives during world war ii. hello, i'm carl nasman.

us secretary of state antony blinken says that the united states and arab leaders agree. there must be an immediate and sustained ceasefire in gaza. secretary blinken is making his sixth trip to the middle east since the israel—gaza war began, he's in egypt's capital of cairo to shore up support for a ceasefire. america's top diplomat said israel needs to do more to allow humanitarian aid into gaza, where he said the entire population faces severe levels of food insecurity. the european union also added to calls for a ceasefire on thursday. take a listen to what mr blinken had to say: there's a clear consensus around a number of shared priorities. first, the need for an immediate and sustained ceasefire with the release of hostages. that would create space to surge more humanitarian assistance to relieve the suffering of many people and to build something more enduring.