Sport shorts: Britain’s worst football team finally win and Beckham wants English players at Inter Miami

1. ‘Unbelievable stuff’ for Fort William FC

Britain’s worst professional football team, Fort William FC, have finally won a match!

The Scottish side had gone on a 73-game losing streak over 840 days, but they broke the sequence with a 5-2 victory over Nairn County in the North of Scotland Cup.

Fort William FC said on Twitter: “Unbelievable stuff. A great night at Claggan Park. An unbelievable feeling. We would like to thank everyone who came along to Claggan Park.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“And we would like to thank everyone online, around the world who have celebrated with us. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed.”

2. Murrays through to Citi Open quarters

Andy Murray and brother Jamie Murray are through to the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington. The Scottish siblings beat French pair Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 6-7 (7), 10-5. They will now play New Zealand’s Michael Venus and South Africa’s Raven Klaasen tomorrow.

3. Englishmen in Miami

David Beckham’s Inter Miami will look to recruit players from England. Inter Miami join Major League Soccer in 2020 and co-owner Jorge Mas told the BBC: “We’ve looked at some English players. We’re having some conversations with some English players and we anticipate Inter Miami will have some English presence.”

4. Ill Lewis won’t feature in Netflix German GP show

GPFans.com reports that Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won’t allow footage of him at the German Grand Prix to be featured on Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive if it shows him while he was ill. The Briton said: “I won’t be in the Netflix show much, because I was sick the whole time. I won’t allow them to release that.”

5. Fifa reveal Best men’s player nominees

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been included on the ten-man shortlist for the 2019 Best Fifa Player of the Year award. The duo have both won the award five times and they are joined on the shortlist by Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Kane, Eden Hazard, Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.

Fifa Best awards 2019: Liverpool trio nominated but Man City are left fuming

6. Dybala wants more dosh

If Paulo Dybala is to play for Manchester United then he expects to receive a post-tax salary of about £10m a year. Juventus are ready to offload the Argentine striker after new boss Maurizio Sarri announced he’s not part of his plans for the coming season. It’s believed that Juventus will swap Dybala for Romelu Lukaku, but before that happens an agreement has to be reached between United and Dybala.

Premier League transfer news: Dybala, Maguire, Zaha, Cancelo, Rugani

7. Spurs fans start #BackPoch social campaign

Tottenham Hotspur fans have launched a social media campaign urging the club’s board to show their backing for first-team boss Mauricio Pochettino in the transfer market. With the club now settled into their magnificent new stadium fans believe that it’s time to #BackPoch or risk losing him to a rival club in Europe.

#BackPoch: Tottenham fans urge Daniel Levy to back boss Mauricio Pochettino

8. Peckham teenager to be first jockey in hijab

A London teenager is to be the first woman to ride a competitive horse race in the UK wearing a hijab. Khadijah Mellah, an 18-year-old student from Peckham, has been riding for seven years and will take part in the all-female Magnolia Cup, an amateur charity race. Former cyclist Victoria Pendleton and TV presenters Alexis Green and Vogue Williams are also competing.

9. What’s on in August?

August is a crossover month with summer and winter sports all on the schedule. The month’s action begins with The Ashes cricket series between England and Australia and the Women’s British Open golf major at Woburn. The English domestic football season kicks off with the Community Shield clash between Manchester City and Liverpool at Wembley on Sunday.

2019 sports event calendar and live TV guide: what’s on in August?

10. Let the Ashes battle commence

The Ashes cricket series dominates the newspaper back pages with the first Test match between England and Australia starting this morning.

Australia are the holders of the legendary urn and they take on an England team that are enjoying an 11-match winning run across all formats at Edgbaston, the host ground for the first Test.

The Aussies won the toss and decided to bat first.

England XI for the first Test

Rory Burns, Jason Roy, Joe Root (captain), Joe Denly, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

Australia XI for the first Test

David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (captain, wicketkeeper), James Pattinson, Pat Cummins, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon

The Ashes 2019 guide: England vs. Australia predictions, squads, fixtures, dates, TV, betting odds

Today’s back pages: Australia captain Paine taunts England fans