quite some goalfrom the turkmenistan captain at the asian cup — but he can't stop his side losing to japan. gabrieljesus scores four as holders manchester city beat burton albion 9—0 in their league cup semifinalfirst leg. and south african geniel de villiers has engine trouble during stage three of the dakar rally costing him the lead hello and welcome to the programme where we start with football news from the asian cup which is in full swing and there was a scare for the four time champions japan in their tournament opener. but they recovered to win 3—2 against turkmenistan on wednesday. elsewhere, two second half goals secured the 2022 world cup hosts qatar a 2—nil win over lebanon as anneka radley reports. having reached the last 16 in nasty‘s world cup, japan are a team which probably wouldn't have expected to be fighting back from a

goal down at half time to a side ranked 127 in the world but thanks toa ranked 127 in the world but thanks to a ferocious long—range goal from turkmenistan and, it was the underdogs who took the early lead. japan's half—time team talk must have worked as there was a smart turn and finish inside the box to equalise shortly into the second half. girls following made it 3—1 to japan but to minister and had a potential lifeline after the being fouled in the box. penalty. the ball was then calmly smashed into the net but it was the champions who held firm for a 3-2 victory. translation: the first match of any tournament is a lwa ys the first match of any tournament is always difficult to play. we thought asa team, always difficult to play. we thought as a team, it was a tough match, as

we predicted that i'm happy we were able to win it. golf cup champions oman had a smooth run to the 2019 uae campaign with only lost to australia but it was was pakistan which didn't play anything but friendlies, focusing on high training camps. from a low free kick that pierced the oman wall. oman managed to level midway through the second half but with four minutes but, clock, the white wolves snatched victory, second place on the table behind early leaders japan. it was all much more straightforward for the next world cup host qatar as they faced in lebanon in group e in the final match of the day. lebanon thought they took a first half lead until

they took a first half lead until the back of the net was found that it was ruled out as a foul. it was qatar who broke the deadlock as the chinese referee awarded to free kicks in quick succession. there was a booking for handball before it was sent curling into the net. the same shot allowed the ball to be rolled into the back of the net which made it 2-0 into the back of the net which made it 2—0 and gave qatar a winning start to the campaign. manchester city are on target to beat their own record aggregate semi final score that they set five years ago in the english league cup after they thrashed third tier burton albion 9—0 in the first leg of their last four clash. brazilian gabrieljesus picked up four for the holders — with kevin de bruyne and riyad mahrez also among the scorers. the second leg is at burton in a fortnight‘s time but pep guardiola is pretty sure they'll be at wembley on the 24th of february.

well, we are in the final. of course, we had to play the second aim, we took it seriously, that's the most important thing, these kind of games. we didn't expect too many goals but it's good, we are in the finals so that's nice. after one last season, coming back again, are less important trophy in the season means a lot for us, it means every single game is important and that's why we are satisfied to come to wembley. the french league cup holders are out though — despite neymar scoring first for the unbeaten ligue un leaders paris st—germain. the top—flight‘s bottom side guingamp are through after marcus thuram — son of france legend lilian — scored an injury—time penalty for the victory despite missing one earlier, winning at the parc de princes against the club who've won the trophy in the last five seasons. in spain the opening leg ties in the copa del rey round of 16

continued on wednesday with real madrid who are struggling in the league taking a convincing 3—0 win from their match at home to fellow madrid side leganes. two goals in the second half added to a first half sergio ramos penalty. elsewhere, getafe beat real valladolid 1—nil, antoine griezmann scored for atletico madrid in a 1—all draw at girona. and villarreal held espanyol to a 2—2 draw. it's a big year for england cricket, they leave for their tour the west indies in the coming days, and they'll host the world cup later in 2019 before the ashes series that starts in august. our sports correspondentjoe wilson has been speaking to the ecb's new director of cricket ashley giles.. well, as england's meant that there are the caribbean, lords awaits this summerand are the caribbean, lords awaits this summer and potentially of course, this could be english cricket‘s biggest ever year with the world cup and the ashes being staged in england and wales. ashley giles told

me hisjob is to england and wales. ashley giles told me his job is to steer england's ship as managing director and paid tribute to the work andrew strauss had done, in particular the way he had done, in particular the way he had overseen a step change in the way england views white ball cricket. of course, the pedicle of white ball cricket is the 50— the world cup staged this you're in england and wales so the for ashley giles. .. england and wales so the for ashley giles... as we sit here now, do you believe england will win the world cup? i believe we can win the world cup, and the ashes but it's a very different thing. should... this year creates the best opportunity for a long time. how we are playing cricket, we found ourselves in the past running into world cups with suddenly that of a meltdown going on and change, and that's not the case this time around. you talk about my role again, as much as anything, the train is moving quickly across the tracks for the world cup and i need to make sure that down the line, it

is clear, there is no in —— interference that is going to derail us. one of the key jobs giles has is to get a new england coach in september, october and told me he was open to the idea of the role being split between test matches and white ball cricket, even though when england tried that before and ashley giles had been the white ball coach, it ended in giles losing hisjob. stephane peterha nsel won stage 3 of the dakar rally in the peruvian desert on wednesday ahead of qatar's nasser al—attiyah who moves into the overall lead. 53—year—old frenchman peter hansel steadily pulled clear of the pack over the latter parts of the stage, ultimately winning by 3m 265 over his qatari rival — while some drivers including 2009 winner and former race leader, south africa's giniel de villers had engine difficulties. tennis, and thursday is quarter—finals day at the sydney international — but there are several notable absentees from the line—up after a couple of shock results on wednesday. the world number one simona halep is out. the romanian — in herfirst game back since injury — was beaten in straight

sets by ashleigh barty. the australian, who reached the final last year, beat another grand slam champion jelena 0stapenko in the previous round. she now plays belgium's elise mertens in the last eight. and the number 4 seed sloane stephens is out. she was beaten by the yulia putintseva. the world number 44 from kazakhstan — who came through qualifying to reach the main draw — came from a set down to beat the former us open champion. putintseva won the deciding set 6—love — and plays the number 7 seed kiki bertens in the quarter—finals. the new england patriots host the la chargers in massachussets on sunday in the nfl‘s divisional play—offs. new england enter the play—offs after taking their 10th straight afc east title when they defeated the new yorkjets 38—3 in late december to earn a first—round bye. the victory over thejets also sealed an undefeated 8 and 0 record at home this season and made them the first franchise in nfl history to earn play—off berths in 10 straight seasons.

the chargers progressed beating the baltimore ravens 23—17 in their wild card match obviously it is harder, it's a really impressive football team, spent a lot of time watching them in the last three or four days here. really pretty good at everything. they won 13 games. it is a good football tea m they won 13 games. it is a good football team and a lot of respect for the coaching staff, their players, the team, the way they play and what they've accomplished this year so a big challenge for us. a medical car ran over an injured player's foot during an under—20 copa sao paulo match in brazil over the weekend. trindade's bernardo was on the ground struggling with back pain when the medical car was called in. however, the car's driver ran over the player's foot by mistake when approaching him. from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye.

hello. our weather prospects are still looking comparatively quiet through the next few days. if anything, our major shift will be o rather more cloudy weather but today, some slightly milder making a return to our shores for some. but not actually in the most traditional way that we see milder air arriving. normally it comes sweeping up from the south—west off the atlantic. at the moment, we have high—pressure, and milderairwil be toppling into the north of it behind a warmer weather front which is sinking its way south.

first thing, still very chilly with a foster cross southernmost counties of england. this line of cloud here just about marks the warm weather front. to the rear of it, quite a lot of cloud through the course of the day butjust slightly milder weather than we saw through midweek. so top temperatres in double figures for belfast. we're going to struggle at around 6 or 7 in the likes of cardiff and london. and we will struggle through the day to see much in the way of sunshine. overnight thursday into friday, that weather front slides away into the continent. plenty of cloud around, and we sit in relatively milder air. so our map is green first thing friday, rather than seeing that blue as we will do to the south first thing thursday. temperatures, down on the lower end of single figures but essentially frost—free to get friday under way. another day offering us quite a lot of cloud. we have got a northerly breeze but remember it's tipped around that area of high pressure so instead of actually coming straight from the arctic, it's been modified by the atlantic, hence things will start to get milder as that northerly breeze drags the milder air further south. so, for the weekend, our temperatures making a return closer to average. it could be quite windy through the weekend, actually, as areas of low pressure try to erode this high. the isobars becoming

increasingly tighter packed. much of the rain will fizzle out before it sinks to the south across the uk. the greater chance of any significant rain probably for northern ireland scotland, but quite cloudy on saturday. as i said, it will be a windy day as well and temperatures more typically average values for the time of year, perhaps 10 or 12 degrees. some brightness hopefully across eastern counties. similar picture again for saturday, the high still sitting to the south—west. this low tumbling over the top of it, bringing some in briefly for scotland, northern ireland, perhaps some patchy rain for northern england. if anything, perhaps sunday, the brighter day of the two and again, temperatures are a little more favourable than we've had in recent days. back into double figures for most of us. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president trump calls a meeting with democrats to end the government shutdown "a total waste of time" as both sides dig in.

again, we saw a temper tantrum because he could not get his way and hejust walked out of the meeting. i think the president made his position very clear today. there will be no deal without a wall. in australia, police investigating dozens of suspicious packages sent to foreign embassies arrest a 48—year—old man. theresa may suffers another blow from mps. parliament could now get more power over brexit. look at the! look at me! howjaguar! close your eyes!