Dhaka, Sept 20 (UNB) – Hosts Bangladesh will play all-losers United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their 3rd Group F match of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship on Friday at Bir Shrestha Shaheed Sipahi Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur here.

The match will kicks-off at 3:30 pm.

Vietnam will play Lebanon in Friday’s other match at 11:30 am at the same venue.

After the two group matches, Bangladesh and Vietnam topped the list jointly with all win record grabbing full six points scoring 18 goals each without conceding any.

UAE and Bahrain yet to open account, playing two and three matches respectively to remain at the 4thand 5th place respectively in the five-nation fray while Lebanon were in the 3rd slot due to poor goal difference, despite of collecting six points from three matches.

Hosts Bangladesh maintained their all-win record in the group outplaying Lebanon by 8-0 goals in their 2nd match after thrashing another gulf nation Bahrain 10-0 in their opening group encounter while UAE conceded 0-4 goals defeat against Vietnam after suffering 3-6 goals defeat against Lebanon.    

Two joint group leaders --Bangladesh and Vietnam—will battle with each other for the group crown in the last group match on Sunday (Sept 23) at 3:30 pm at the same venue while two lowly teams—UAE and Bahrain will meet each other on the same day (Sunday) at 11:30 am at the same venue.

Vietnam earned a highest margin 14-0 goals victory over all-losers Bahrain in their 2nd group match to share top slot jointly with home side after beating UAE by 4-0 goals in the opening match.

Standing of the Group F till Wednesday (tabulating under match played, win, draw, loss, goal for, goal against, goal difference and points).

Teams               M     W     D      L     GF    GA    GD      Pts 
Bangladesh        2      2      0      0     18      0      18       6
Vietnam             2      2      0      0     18      0      18       6
Lebanon             3      2      0      1      14     11     3       6
UAE                   2      0      0      2       3     10     -7       0
Bahrain              3      0      0      3       0     32    -32      0
 

Dublin, Sep 20 (AP/UNB)  — Ireland will join the other four British Isles nations in exploring bidding for the 2030 World Cup.

The English Football Association has already announced plans to assess a bid with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The Football Association Ireland said Wednesday that it would be joining the feasibility study "following recent positive discussions."

England, which hosted the 1966 World Cup, failed with bids for the FIFA showpiece in 2006 and 2018.

Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay have already started campaigning to host the 2030 World Cup.

Bern, Sep 20 (AP/UNB) — Game-winning displays like Paul Pogba's in a 3-0 victory for Manchester United over Young Boys should help to improve his relations with coach Jose Mourinho.

Pogba scored twice late in the first half Wednesday to get United off to a smooth start in the Champions League against the group-stage newcomer.

A curling shot in the 35th minute and an assured penalty in the 44th — after a trademark slow-trot approach — showed Pogba at his most elegant.

Pogba's form cheered Mourinho on the touchline after an uneasy early season between them since the team's signature player returned from winning the World Cup with France.

United went three goals up in the 66th when Pogba surged through the midfield and teed up Anthony Martial, who also had tense pre-season exchanges with Mourinho. Martial's shot took a deflection off defender Mohamed Ali Camara.

Camara's eventful evening included testing David De Gea with an early long-range strike, hitting a post with a second-half shot from a corner, and being beaten by Pogba's quick feet that created space to score the opening goal.

The penalty was awarded for a handball awarded against Young Boys defender Kevin Mbabu for blocking Luke Shaw's cross.

The result dispelled Mourinho's doubts expressed to UEFA this month about playing Champions League games on artificial turf.

Still, Mourinho said the surface should not be an excuse for his players who did have uneasy moments before Pogba stepped up.

Making his United debut, 19-year-old right-back Diogo Dalot slipped on the plastic pitch to give winger Christian Fassnacht a shooting chance that was blocked.

A loser on its two previous Champions League games in Switzerland, both at Basel, United next welcomes Valencia to Old Trafford on Oct. 2.

Also in Group H, Pogba's former team Juventus won 2-0 at Valencia despite a first-half red card for Cristiano Ronaldo, the former United star.

Madrid, Sep 20 (AP/UNB) — Real Madrid showed it can still compete in the Champions League even without Cristiano Ronaldo.

In its first Champions League match without the star forward in nearly a decade, Madrid easily dominated Roma to open its campaign with a comfortable 3-0 home win on Wednesday.

Francisco "Isco" Alarcon, Gareth Bale and Mariano Diaz took care of the scoring in Ronaldo's absence, securing the victory for the three-time defending champions.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo, who joined Juventus in the offseason after leading Madrid to four European titles, played his first Champions League game with the Italian club in Group H on Wednesday and was sent off with a straight red card in the first half.

"Real Madrid will always be Real Madrid, no matter who leaves," said Bale, who has scored 10 goals in his last 10 matches with the Spanish club. "We keep on trying to win, keep on trying to score goals."

It was a disappointing opener for Roma, which is coming off a semifinal appearance last season.

"We have to improve," Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco said through a translator. "We need more quality and we need more personality."

In the other Group G match, Czech club Viktoria Plzen and CSKA Moscow drew 2-2 in Plzen.

Madrid dominated from the start and created most of the scoring chances throughout the game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Roma goalkeeper Robin Olsen, replacing Alisson Becker after the Brazilian moved to Liverpool in the offseason, put on an outstanding display to keep the Spanish hosts from scoring more goals.

But there was nothing Olsen could do on Isco's free kick just before halftime. The Swedish goalkeeper watched as the ball was expertly curled over the wall and went in the far corner.

"The team played a great match in all aspects," Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui said. "We created countless chances and we clearly deserved to win."

Bale almost increased Madrid's lead with a close-range shot that struck the crossbar early in the second half but the Wales forward did make it 2-0 in the 58th with a well-placed low shot after a superb through ball from Luka Modric.

The third goal came in stoppage time with a nicely struck shot from outside the area by Diaz, who had replaced Bale in the 73rd. Diaz was given Ronaldo's No. 7 jersey after rejoining the club in the offseason.

Bale was the only player from Wednesday's lineup who hadn't started for Madrid in the Champions League final nearly four months ago in Ukraine. His place was taken by Ronaldo at the time.

In addition to Ronaldo's departure, coach Zinedine Zidane quit and was replaced by former Spain manager Julen Lopetegui.

It was the first time that Lopetegui didn't opt to play with Marco Asensio up front along with Bale and Karim Benzema, although Isco was often near the attackers when Madrid held possession. Lopetegui also kept Keylor Navas in goal despite the recent arrival of Thibaut Courtois, voted the World Cup's best goalkeeper with Belgium.

It was a special night for 19-year-old Roma midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo, who made his professional debut only two months after being signed by Roma. Zaniolo recently helped Italy's under-19 team reach the European Championship final.

Roma has high expectations in the Champions League after making it to the last four last season, when it lost to Liverpool after having eliminated Barcelona in the quarterfinals.

Madrid next faces CSKA Moscow in Russia on Oct. 2, when Roma hosts Viktoria Plzen.

Valencia, Sep 20 (AP/UNB) — Cristiano Ronaldo was supposed to be the missing piece in Juventus' bid to win the Champions League.

But his first match in the competition for his new club lasted less than half an hour on Wednesday as he was sent off after appearing to pull at an opponent's hair.

Juventus still went on to win 2-0 at Valencia, thanks to two penalties.

It was Ronaldo's first red card in 154 Champions League games, and the decision means he could miss a return to Old Trafford when Juventus plays Manchester United next month if gets at least a two-match ban.

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri insisted it shouldn't have been a red card, and lamented the fact that video technology has yet to be introduced into the Champions League, as it has been in Serie A. VAR was also used at the World Cup in Russia this year.

"I'll only say that in this sort of occasion VAR would help," Allegri said. "It's disappointing because now we'll lose him for a few games and instead if there had been VAR it would have been seen that it wasn't a sending-off offense."

Ronaldo was dismissed in the 29th minute after tangling with Jeison Murillo. After Murillo went down inside the area, the Portugal forward gestured for his opponent to get up, then put his hand on the Valencia defender's head and appeared to tug his hair. Referee Felix Brych showed Ronaldo a straight red card after discussing with his assistant behind the goal.

Ronaldo looked baffled and kept professing his innocence and was clearly distraught as he left the pitch in tears, still shaking his head.

"He was upset and he needs time to calm down," Allegri said. "He needs to rise above it and focus on Sunday, even if these things leave a bitter taste in the mouth."

Even Valencia coach Marcelino Garcia attempted to comfort Ronaldo as he walked off the pitch.

"I didn't see the contact, I was affected by his tears. He was saying he didn't do anything," Marcelino said. "I spoke with him but I won't say what I told him."

Juventus has won Europe's premier club competition twice but the last time was in 1996. It has lost five finals since then and hoped that signing Ronaldo, who has won the competition five times, it could go one step further.

The Bianconeri have won the Serie A title for the last seven seasons — and the league and Italian Cup double for the past four — but have struggled to transfer that domestic supremacy to the European stage, although they have reached the final twice in the past four editions.

Despite playing more than an hour with 10 men at Valencia, Juventus eased to victory.

Mario Mandzukic and Sami Khedira had already missed glaring opportunities before Ronaldo's dismissal and, after a shaky few minutes following the red card, Juventus got back into its stride and took the lead on the stroke of halftime.

Joao Cancelo hit the crossbar and was then fouled by Daniel Parejo as he tried to get on the rebound.

Miralem Pjanic struck the penalty into the bottom right corner and did the same six minutes after the break when Brych awarded Juventus another spot kick after Murillo brought down Leonardo Bonucci.

Despite the numerical advantage, Valencia posed little threat going forward but almost grabbed a consolation in stoppage time when it was given a penalty of its own. But Wojciech Szczesny parried Parejo's spot kick, which was awarded after Daniele Rugani was adjudged to have elbowed Gabriel Paulista.