The road to the 2026 World Cup is almost over for England. The next time the Three Lions convene, they will do so for two pre-tournament friendlies in the United States, against Costa Rica and New Zealand, before kicking-off their tournament against Croatia on June 17. They will do so as one of the favourites to go all the way, with the pressure on Thomas Tuchel and his players to finally end 60 years of hurt.

Arsenal's Women's Champions League title defence remains well and truly on track after the Gunners withstood Chelsea's attempts at a comeback on Wednesday, falling to a narrow and late 1-0 defeat to win 3-2 on aggregate. It felt like the Blues had to start fast and score early to stand any chance of overcoming the deficit, and so once Arsenal had prevented them from doing exactly that, progression to the semi-finals rarely looked in doubt.

There really is nothing like the World Cup. Even just qualifying generates a level of nationwide excitement that the club game simply cannot match, which is why we witnessed truly joyous scenes all across the globe during the March international break, as the final six qualifiers were confirmed for this summer's festival of football in North America.

Chelsea were knocked out of the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday after failing to overturn a 3-1 aggregate deficit to Arsenal, winning 1-0 in the second leg of their quarter-final. The Blues gave themselves too much to do after their defeat at the Emirates Stadium last week and their wastefulness in front of goal is to blame for another failed European campaign.

Manchester United's Women's Champions League adventure came to a dramatic end on Wednesday, as Bayern Munich staged a late comeback to beat the Red Devils 2-1 on the night and 5-3 on aggregate. Marc Skinner's side started well in Germany and took a deserved early lead through Melvine Malard, but a defensive approach to the second half proved extremely costly as United succumbed to two late goals that sent the German champions through to the semi-finals, where they will likely face Barcelona.

It's never easy with the England men's national team. On paper, they should have enough quality, experience and firepower to blow most sides on this planet to smithereens. Then you sit down, watch them and wonder whether they are actually a team of total strangers assembled purely out of spite to mildly annoy the fans who had hoped so much of them. On the basis of their March friendlies, it would be a fair assumption to make.

We are now just over two months out from the 2026 World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with all 48 teams now locked in following the culmination of the various play-offs during the March international break. All of the pre-tournament favourites made it safely through qualifying, including Spain, Brazil, England, France and defending champions Argentina.

England's last game before the end of the 2025-26 club season saw them lose 1-0 at home to Japan in a friendly on Tuesday. Thomas Tuchel made 10 changes to the side that started their 1-1 draw with Uruguay last Friday, slotting in most of his preferred players that are expected to go to the World Cup - minus the unfit Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham - but they produced a disjointed performances that raised further questions over their chances of glory this summer.