this is bbc news. hello i'm olly foster , these are our sportsday headlines tonight england reach a football world cup final for the first time in over 50 years. for england's senior side, a crunch world cup qualifier against scotland this weekend. we'll have the latest from both camps. and it's a very happy birthday forjelena 0stapenko, she's into herfirst grand slam final. find out how a baseball bat is turning batsmen into the most destructive hitters. a lot coming up over the next 2a

minutes. england's footballers are into the final of the under 20's world cup. mens or women's, has reached a globalfinal, since 1966. paul simpson's side, full of players with premier league experience, beat italy in the semi—final in south korea and will now face venezuela. here's our sports correspondentjoe wilson. this is england, this is different. the fa would say that they now have a plan, a system, a vision. we have heard of golden generations before, so heard of golden generations before, so what's the score mac? two minix, 1-0, so what's the score mac? two minix, 1—0, italy. english football has yearned for confidence on the ball, with the nerve and skill to do, well, to do this. minix and lanky mist then but it wasn't the end, he is going to liverpool next season and was in the right place for this chance. stay calm, there is a match

to win. crosses kept coming in, italy could not defend them all. lukman is one of everton‘s rising stars. italy were looking ragged by the end and solani made it 3—1. now england are in a world cup final. let's get more on england's achievement now. a little earlier i spoke to our football reporterjohn bennett. i think it is highly significant, first world cup final for any england team since 1966, that says it all. age—group teams for england are starting to do better, we saw the under 17 is in the finals of the euros, the under 21s winning the two long fallen —— to long tournament. this group have been doing well, paulson is and is doing a good job

asa paulson is and is doing a good job as a coach —— paul simpson. they have been together for a as a coach —— paul simpson. they have been togetherfor a number of yea rs. have been togetherfor a number of years. the real challenge for these players is to get first—team football. between them, 72 premier league appearances, adam armstrong with the most, 15. that is the challenge for this group of players. brilliant achievement. perhaps they will go on to win it, i think they will go on to win it, i think they will be favourites in the final. in south korea they have been trialling video technology which has worked with some affect, players getting sent off for elbows and what have you. in the semifinal between venezuelan and uruguay, a clanger from the referee. the czar incident, this has been used through the tournament —— a bizarre incident. they are going to use it in the fa cup next season. uruguay on the attack against venezuelan, the attacker goes down, the referee says no penalty. you can see the replay,

a good decision because the defender got the ball. but the referee got the nod from the video system that they need to look at it again, he goes to the screen, looks at the incident and changes his mind. uruguay scoring, going 1—0 up, luckily venezuelan equalising and winning a penalty shoot out so it didn't have a massive impact but it shows you, video technology will not be the cue all for all problems. would have worked if the marine knew what he was looking at, it was bad refereeing. it was that rather than video error. we have seen video technology working in the past, england against spain, two decisions overturned. this shows you that there are problems with video refereeing. we will see it in the world cup and the fa cup next season. england's senior men will head to glasgow tomorrow as they prepare to face scotland on saturday. they are at the halfway stage in group f.

england are top on 13 points with four wins and a draw. the scots lie fourth, six points behind. our sports correspondnet andy swiss looks ahead to the match. hampden park, a picture of training tranquillity, but not for much longer, as scotland try and turn back the clock and ramp up the volume. a goal! 32 years since the famous hampden cheer celebrated a win over england but one of the stars of the team is in charge of this one and hoping that they will give the fans plenty to shout about. this is a huge, exciting game, one eve ryo ne this is a huge, exciting game, one everyone is looking forward to. a lot of people in good form, must show enthusiasm and use the enthusiasm of the crowd. everyone wa nts enthusiasm of the crowd. everyone wants us to win, that's for sure. the scotland players know that this

isa game the scotland players know that this is a game with so much riding on it, defeat and their hopes of reaching the world cup would be hanging by a thread. so, can the tartan army inspire them to something special? they may need it against an england tea m they may need it against an england team who are top of the group and have their own special motivation. last weekend harry kane and company swapped football kit for combat fatigues and a training exercise in devon with the royal marines. definitely situations i haven't been in before, i put up my own tent, we had a sleeping bag in the middle of the forest. not something i'm used to. some of it was physically tough but most of it was about mental strength and that's the thing that i took a lot from it and i think that the lads did too. football's oldest rivalry remains as keen as ever, at hampden park busy in the scotland fa ns hampden park busy in the scotland fans can remember the good times

against england including when they beat the then world champions in 1967. the scot 's second goal. 50 yea rs 1967. the scot 's second goal. 50 years on from that famous win they will be keen to prove that the glory days are not just will be keen to prove that the glory days are notjust a thing of the past. a lot of international football this weekend. northern ireland — who are second in group c — are away to azerbaijan on saturday. wales have a really tough qualifier against the group d leaders serbia in belgrade on sunday. wales are third in the group, victory and they would be just a point off the serbians, but can they do that without gareth bale who is suspended? yeah, of course we're going to miss him, there's no point hiding from that fact. he is key to us, a world —class that fact. he is key to us, a world—class player. but you know, i think one of the main qualities of this group is that we're all about

teamwork, we all about resilience and we see it as a chance to sort of tackle the challenge and we are confident that we've still got enoughin confident that we've still got enough in the squad to get a good result. let's whizz through some of the other football headlines today. craig shakespeare has been given a three—year contract at leicester city. he was given the job until the end of the season back in february, following the sacking of claudio ranieri and led leicester to safety and also the champions league quarter—finals. diego costa says that the chelsea manager antonio conte sent him a text message to tell him he's not part of the champion's plans next season. he scored 20 times as he helped them win the premier league. it was his second title. zlatan ibrahimovic is unlikely to wear a manchester united shirt again. there's an option for a second year in the swede's contract that runs out at the end of the month, but the 35—year—old ruptured knee ligaments in april and the club look set to release him. to new zealand, following their defeat

to the auckland blues yesterday, today some of the lions staff visited the canterbury earthquake national memorial. captain sam warburton, head coach warren gatland and tour managerjohn spencer, paid their respects to the victims of the 2011 disaster, which claimed the lives of 185 people. they face the super rugby side canterbury crusaders this saturday, who are unbeaten this season. there are more changes for the lions, who will be skippered by alun wynjones. after this match, every member of the lions squad will have had a start on tour. it was always the plan, to give guys opportunities and also to start thinking about some combinations. we've played a few combinations together and after saturday, start thinking about obviously the

highlanders game, putting a group together for the game next weekend as well and then finalising and preparing things for the test. new zealand's coach steve hansen named his squad for the test series today and for the first time there will be a trio oif today and for the first time there will be a trio of brothers in the same squad. scott and beauden barrett are joined by the uncapped 20 year—old fly—halfjordie. performances for the hurricanes have been outstanding and when you're ready, you're ready, doesn't matter if you are six foot one or 6—foot four, that's nothing to do with it, it's your ability to cope with pressure and to display the skills necessary to perform at that level and he's done it, very easily. england are in argentina with identical twins in their squad. tom and ben curry. 0ur reporter patrick gearey caught up with the sale forwards before they left for south america. tom and benn curry, careers spent in

symmetry. from the day they were born until the day they signed their first professional contracts at sale sharks, they have done everything together and that now includes a first england tour, to argentina. some competition but it will still be good. nice for ourfamily some competition but it will still be good. nice for our family as well. yes, someone going through the same situation, someone who is exactly the same, not exactly, very similar. the brothers are both fla nkers similar. the brothers are both flankers and sometimes there is only space for one of them. tom made his whale debut and scored his first try in october last year and steam“ was the steam“ wasthe sgthe’t’w” "7 "7’ ”t” steam“ was the a? the match. ”f ”7, w w steam“ was the a? the match. i ”f ”7, w-.. and was the man. cf the matrhl ., ,, , , ,, if!!! titles the fee". et the matrhl ., ,, , , ,, them eh!!! titles the reeh et the matrhl ., ,, , , ,, them how tifl would feel if estéa free him ehfsfiee'e ifi'li one was called up over the other. we are both there or thereabouts. one was called up over the other. we are both there or thereaboutsm

one was called up over the other. we are both there or thereabouts. if he spots something, he teaches it to me, and the other way around. spots something, he teaches it to me, and the otherway around. i think that's really good. there is a drawback to picking them both, you must work out which is which. drawback to picking them both, you must work out which is which. one coach accidentally substituted the wrong curry. 0ver coach accidentally substituted the wrong curry. over to you, eddie jones. wrong curry. over to you, eddie jones. i want to find out if i can tell the difference between them! they are very competitive, they compete about everything, a—levels, theirweight, their haircuts, everything. i agree with everything but i'm not sure where the girlfriends bit comes from! i like to gay l'kaizji-ja q’s! fleece...” , l to gay l'k.-\!>.|'uz\ q’s! them...” , l at this rate, we'll all chances to spot the plenty of chances to spot the difference. the draw for next season's rugby union champions cup was made today and sees saracens in the same pool as clermont auvergne — the side they beat in

last season's final. 0spreys and northampton saints make up the rest of pool two, while english champions exeter are in pool three along with leinster, glasgow and montpellier. the full draw is on the bbc sport website. there's been a big upset in the champions trophy today. defending champions india have been beaten by sri lanka in a thrilling encounter. india were put in to bat, and put on a show. some big hitting from their opening pair rohit sharma and shikhar dhawan, giving their fans at the oval a lot to cheer about. sharma made 78, and a century from dhawan helped india towards their total of 321. the big hitting didn't stop there, as sri lanka too fancied a bit of fun with the bat. but some impressive fielding from india stunted their reply. kumar, fielding off his own bowling, with this excellent run—out to remove dangerman mendis. the indian cheers soon disappeared though as sri lankan captain angelo mathews hit the winning runs

to seal a seven wicket victory. india now need to beat south africa on sunday to progress to the last four. it's been a good champions trophy for england so far with 2 wins out of 2 and they are sure of a place in the semi finals. joe root has scored almost 200 runs and one man trying to make him and many of the england batsmen better is former hampshire playerjulian wood. using practices learned from other sports his coaching methods are helping transform the modern game. ben croucher has been to meet him. from wg grace to peter maher... cricket used to be a game of grace. now it's all about big bats which is where this man comes in. you hit here and over the offside. julian

wood isn't your regular batting coach. he is a hitting coach. one more, good stuff. i basically go along and get them to hit the ball ha rd along and get them to hit the ball hard and further more consistently. when i was brought up, what they we re when i was brought up, what they were telling me was wrong. i think there's a different way of doing things and i think the way the game is going, this is an absolute must. you're in that position, get wider, catch it, one here and catch it, one there. gone are the days of getting your head over the ball and gliding it through the covers, with gizmos picked up from baseball is all about hitting the ball as hard as you can. julian's focus on power hitting rather than textbook batting isn't just for show on the school playing fields, he has attracted the attention of england's star players. ben stokes, joe root and sam billings have benefited from julian's expertise and with bats carrying sensors to say how strongly

players are hitting it, the science is starting to hit home. it makes a difference and we need to be doing it earlier in our career to be better at it, someone telling you what you are doing. since the last shambolic world cup display, england have led the way with more scores above 300 than any other nation including two in the champions trophy and they have led the way in six hitting too. if i have had a bit to do with how england play white ball cricket, that's pretty or will to me. —— pretty cool. if you can hit the ball at 100 miles an hour on the ground, if you hit it 100 miles are now in the air, it goes for six. it's a risky game but with that comes it's a risky game but with that co m es reward it's a risky game but with that comes reward and julian's unorthodox ripping up of the coaching manual may be good news for batsmen and not such good news for fielders. it's women's semi—finals day at the french open.

first up the swiss timea bascinszky on her birthday againstjelena 0stapenko and it's her birthday as well, and she had the better one. she's the first latvian to reach a grand slam final and first unseeded women to reach the final at roland garros since mima jausovec in 1983. hannah lupton reports. smiles for the two birthday girls but no time for singing, with the french open final place at stake it was down to business. eight years was down to business. eight years was the difference betweenjelena 0stapenko and timea bacsinszky. in the first set they were separated by a tie—break. 0stapenko came out on top, one set away from her first grand slam final. the second set sought more breaks than a snooker match with bascinszky pushing, the cracks starting to show, her sixth break taking it to a decider. in

0stapenko here is a fresh face with a mature attacking game, fitting forehands timed faster than andy murray. in powering through the third set 6—3 she became the first player from latvia to reach a third set 6—3 she became the first playerfrom latvia to reach a major final. 0n playerfrom latvia to reach a major final. on her first playerfrom latvia to reach a major final. 0n herfirst day playerfrom latvia to reach a major final. on her first day of her 20s, 0ster banco came of age. and in the other semi—final the 2014 finalist simona halep is playing second seed karolina pliskova. halep was in control of the opening set after winning an early break, and clinched it with a minimum of fuss. before this year, pliskova, who's from the czech republic, had never gone past the second round at roland garros. but she won the second set to level and take the match into a decider. looks like simona halep is running away with it, she leads 4—1. world number one gordon reid lost his quarter—final in the wheelchair men's singles with a straight—sets defeat by argentina's gustavo fernandez, the man who beat him in last year's final.

andy murray is attempting to reach his second final in a row at roland garros when he plays stan wawrinka in the semi—finals tomorrow — the swiss is the man murray beat at the same stage last year. murray has been improving round by round after a year spent battling injury, illness and a loss of form. he's also been fighting against berating himself and his coaching team during matches, but his coach says he's getting better. i think andy needs to get his energy out. as long as he can focus on the next point it doesn't matter too much. so you don't mind sitting there and taking it? as long as he focuses on the next point. if he can dissect what happened and focus, i'm 0k. if you were to pick one of the iconic sporting moment moment in the past year,

i bet that this one would feature, here's a reminder if you've forgotten it. hollie webb is on her way to win gold for great britain. she turns and scores! that's the golden goal. great britain have won the olympic gold medal. hockey history makers. great britain, the olympic champions and they are on top of the world. england players made up the majority of that team that beat the netherlands in the 0lympic final last year. still gives me goose bumps. they play against each other on sunday and before that they face argentina on saturday in the investec internationals. joining me to look forward to an important weekend for england's team is one of the gold medallists from rio. it is going to be a spectacular

weekend to play. argentina, ranked number three and holland, number one in the world, at home soil in lea valley is going to be incredible. i have tickets for the argentina game but sold out on sunday, it will be a fantastic weekend. the tickets went in minutes for the match against the netherlands, unbelievable. unprecedented for our sport. within two hours they were sold out. coming back from rio we had 10,000 people going to the games, it is amazing that there is the will for people to go. i know you have put up some extra stands for the supporters. it wasn't too shabby a memory from there in london 2012. london was spectacular and that's what makes lea valley so special, people can remember the team who won bronze. the amazing support staff and the women, it was time and dedication in

rio. just listening to holly who scored the goal, it was a dream come true and it's fantastic that so many of the hockey family are going to watch us over the weekend. the last 0lympic cycle from london to rio, that obviously went very well and we are now one year into the next 0lympic cycle. where is the great britain team at at the moment? we've come back together, we are a team of 33, we are national lottery funded, which is amazing, so we train at bisham abbey. anyone who tune into how we played in rio, we were the greatest tea m how we played in rio, we were the greatest team and it is about recreating that, our strengths. a very exciting time for hockey. the netherlands playing argentina, ranked right up there. everyone is going to come looking for great britain now and england because you are the ones everyone wants to beat.

it's going to be a different dynamic leading up to tokyo, isn't it over the next three years? the investor international ‘s are a great chance for us to play against the world number one and the world number three, both fantastic teams. we've never been in this position before, where as england we must defend the european title and try and defend a title in tokyo. it's going to take 33 women, an amazing group of staff, the best programme in the world, to try and recreate that. our challenge is winning after winning and that is going to be incredibly hard and how we work together after that is the very exciting part of the sport. what you see in the olympic games is the final bit in our preparation. the work is done in the years and months before you get there. thank you forjoining us. gets down to the hockey centre in lea valley if you can to watch england's women this weekend. usain bolt makes his final

appearance on his home track in kingston this weekend — the multiple olympic and world champion will retire after this summer's world championships in london. as a defending world champion, bolt has got an automatic place in the jamaican team for the august championships so won't have to compete at the national trials. his prime minister has been leading the tributes to the eight—time olympic champion. clearly he's not just clearly he's notjust a track figure, he is a public figure, he has his private life and he's still a young man but what i admire about the same bolt is that he has managed to excel, to reach the pinnacle of his sport without any suggestion of impropriety —— about usain bolt. without any artificial enhancements to achieve what he has done. that is so valuable today in competitive sport, that someone can achieve the

great feat of humankind without artificial enhancements. that, to me, is notjust a value to jamaica, as ambassador, but value to the sport. and to people as well, that if you work hard, you don't need to cheat, you don't need to use artificial enhancements. finally sailing and the latest from the americas cup semi—finals where sir ben ainslie's land rover bar team trailed new zealand 3—1 overnight. ainslie's boat had a a50 metre lead at the start of the race and led for 5 of the 7 legs, however they were ultimately unable to hold off the faster boat of emirates team new zealand to extend their lead to 4—1 up. they need just one win to knock sir ben ainslie's boat out. that's it from all of us. 0n the day that an england side reached the world cup final for the first time since 1966.

well done to them. more sport on bbc news through the evening. we've seen a bit more sunshine through the afternoon but we've also seen areas of rain and one part of the country that has had some heavy showers is near wigan. you can see the main area of cloud and rain pushing north over scotland, showers coming behind it but the wettest weather has been over northern ireland. the weather warning should be fading away as the wet weather moves north, to the north—west of scotland. still some showers across other parts of the uk and some clear skies as well. not too cold overnight despite the temperatures being disappointing for many of us today, 11 or 12 degrees in the morning. 8am, going to work perhaps

into the rush hour, some showers in south wales, running up through the bristol channel towards bristol, perhaps, and showers further east but for many places in england and wales they will start dry with some sunshine. dry weather over northern ireland, a sunny start after the downpours, still some rain in scotland, north of the central belt, but not as heavy and it will continue to beat out through the day. sunshine and showers across the uk. the main showers from the west to the east by the afternoon with more sunshine following on and for a good part of the day it should be dry with some sunny spells and higher temperatures than today, at around 22, 23 in the south—east but it is only a brief respite because we have low pressure from the atlantic. these weather fronts will be coming our way and not everywhere will get some rain on saturday. mainly running north away into

scotla nd mainly running north away into scotland and then the rain getting stuck across northern england, england, wales and the south west. for the south—east of innard it might stay dry over the weekend. 22, 20 three degrees. elsewhere the numbers are more typical of what we'd expect at this time of year. the band of rain running east and then fading away overnight, it should be clear by sunday morning and then we will have some sunshine and then we will have some sunshine and showers. the most frequent showers to the north—west. mixed bag for the weekend, some rain, a bit of a breeze on saturday and on sunday, sunshine and showers. hello and welcome to 100 days plus. james comey says donald trump lied about his firing and he feared he'd lie about other things too. but the former director of the fbi does not accuse the president of obstructing justice — he says he'll leave that judgement to others. at a senate hearing, mr comey says he believes

he was fired in order to alter the course of the russia investigation. it is myjudgement that is was fired because of the russia investigation. i was fired in some way to change or the endeavour was to change the way the russia investigation was being conducted. that is a very big deal. at a rally for evangelicals president trump chose to ignore the hearings — it's not what he wants his administration to be about. i have one goal as president, to fight for