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• Updates ahead of Saturday’s World Cup qualifiers

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Feels like international break fatigue is setting in already.

Things you never thought you’d see, and really don’t want to see: Boris Johnson in conversation with Nottingham Forest president Evangelos Marinakis. The Greek tycoon has some interesting views on the Ukraine-Russia war, one that rather contravenes his stance on Morgan Gibbs-White being allowed to join Tottenham.

Forward opens the scoring against Manchester City and could dominate her side’s front line this season

Once the smoke from the pyrotechnics cleared and the orange WSL-branded carpet was rolled up, as prolific striker Sam Kerr sat on the bench and club record signing, Alyssa Thompson, in the stands, it was the academy graduate Aggie Beever-Jones who stood by the centre circle ready to lead the line for Chelsea as they kickstarted the new season against Manchester City. That it was the 22-year-old forward who opened Blues’ account on Friday night was fitting. This is home.

For all the hype about Kerr’s return 20 months out from her anterior cruciate ligament injury and the Blues’ late £1.1m swoop to pry Thompson from NWSL side Angel City, it was the lifelong fan who would announce, in style, 30 minutes in, that she is so much more than an impact player, turning in Ellie Carpenter’s tight cross from the right.

A penny for the thoughts of Christian Eriksen. Denmark could justify leaving the 33-year-old out of their squad for the meetings with Scotland and Greece on the basis he remains unemployed. Yet as the hosts huffed, puffed and failed to unpick a magnificently drilled Scotland defence, the issue of what Eriksen could have contributed was such an obvious one. Denmark in this form will not play at next summer’s World Cup.

Steve Clarke’s Scotland were worthy of their point. But for a lack of composure in front of goal, they would have departed Copenhagen with all three. The winners from this opening night of a truncated section were the Greeks, who swept Belarus aside 5-1, but Scotland richly deserved their full-time ovation from an appreciative support. Denmark were booed off.

Head coach steps back from tactical tinkering, as a smaller squad prioritises intensity against Andorra on Saturday

For Thomas Tuchel, the fundamentals will never change, the ones that he outlined when he breezed into the England job on a one-man wave of positivity and excitement. The head coach regards it as essential that his team play with the passion of the Premier League; as a band of brothers, high-fiving, encouraging, selfless.

It is about energy and intensity; after a ball loss, for example. Tracking back. They must enjoy the freedom to express themselves. Harry Kane can drop off a bit from the No 9 position but not too much. There needs to be speed around him, space and incisive patterns throughout.

Domestic game risks being ripped from its fabric as La Liga and Serie A seek approval from Uefa to play fixtures abroad

It has been called the biggest existential threat to European football since the ill-fated Super League. Now it is on the verge of becoming reality and the implications will be far reaching if, as widely expected, La Liga and Serie A are given permission in the coming weeks to host domestic games abroad. The sport risks being ripped from its fabric should Barcelona and Villarreal be allowed to break the mould and stage a top-flight fixture in Miami this December.

The topic has dominated discussion in football’s corridors of power recently and, at the heart of a complex and deeply emotive problem, the immediate equation is simple. If Uefa’s executive committee agrees to the plans when it convenes in Tirana on Thursday the final say will be down to Fifa, probably at a meeting of its council on 2 October. The global governing body would be unlikely to put up opposition and the question, at that point, will be just how earth-shattering a precedent has been set.

• Olise also on scoresheet for Les Bleus in Wroclaw

• Sesko sets up late leveller for Slovenia against Sweden

France struck early through Michael Olise and sealed the points with a late Kylian Mbappé breakaway to open their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in Wroclaw, Poland.

Mbappé’s 82nd-minute strike, set up by his Real Madrid teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni at the end of a rapid counter attack, took the forward to 51 international goals, drawing him level with Thierry Henry in second place on France’s all-time scoring list behind Olivier Giroud, who has scored 57.

Olise gave them the lead after 10 minutes, sliding in a Bradley Barcola pass, and only Ukraine goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s sharp reflexes prevented further damage as he denied Olise a second.

After lifting European titles with Arsenal and England this year, forward aims to knock WSL champions off their perch

Beth Mead leans back slightly in her seat, the wall behind her displaying iterations of the Arsenal crest through decades of change and says: “It’s a tough club to walk away from.”

After a year of gossip, wondering and a summer of speculation, the transfer window has shut and Mead is heading, hungrier than ever, into her ninth full season at the club she joined at 21.

• ‘I understand why our fans were frustrated’

• Isak joined Liverpool for British record £125m

Dan Burn has said he remains friends with Alexander Isak and wishes him well after the most controversial transfer saga of the summer ended with the striker leaving Newcastle for Liverpool for a British record fee of £125m.

Although Isak has few allies left on Tyneside after forcing his way out of St James’ Park, Burn is keen to move on from a testing transfer window and said that he is not as upset as supporters who feel betrayed by the Sweden international’s behaviour.