Until two weeks ago, Italy had NEVER won a match at the U20 Women’s World Cup. Now, they’re just one game from the final!
A double from Karen Appiah and another by Paola Fadda gave Italy a famous quarter-final win over South Korea. They will now take on women’s superpower Spain for a place in the showpiece game.
Scroll down for more on the U20 Women’s World Cup…
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Elsewhere, Andros Townsend was crushed by a pitch roller, Rangers got the better of Celtic in the Old Firm derby and the football tournament at the 2026 Asian Games kicked off.
Let’s take a look at everything 👇
Something at U20 WWC 🏆
Italy started their U20 Women’s World Cup campaign with a shock win over the USA and they have kept up that momentum all the way until the semi-finals.
Before this tournament, Italy had exited the U20 WWC in the group stage twice. Now, they are preparing to face Spain for a place in the tournament’s final.
Check out this headed goal by Karen Appiah to give Italy a lead over South Korea.
Something in Turkey 🇹🇷
Mohamed Salah scored his first hat-trick for Trabzonspor in a Turkish Super Lig thumping of Galatasaray.
The Egytian has seven goals in just six league appearances this season. There’s a reason Trabzonspor paid all that money to land the former Liverpool winger. Could they challenge for the title?
Something top of the table 🔝
Talking of the Turkish Super Lig, look which team is sitting top of the table entering the first international break of the season!
Last week’s in-depth newsletter examined the rise of Amedspor and how their status as a Kurdish form of expression matters in a league that generally doesn’t want them there.
Amedsport’s 3-2 win over Besiktas put them ahead of Galatasaray on goal difference.
Something ran over
Imagine being Andros Towsend. You spend your life eating raw meat and making your own toothpaste for health benefits. Then you nearly get written off by someone driving Fred Flintstones’ car!
Thankfully the former England international, who is now playing for PT Prachuap in Thailand was fine, but what on earth was going on here?!
Something intercontinental
The FIFA Intercontinental Cup is the rebranded Club World Cup before the Club World Cup became the new, expanded Club World Cup. Are you following?
Well, Mamelodi Sundowns moved through to the next round of the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup by beating Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia to win the African–Asian–Pacific Cup and seal their place in the Challenger Cup.
Yeah. Me neither.
Something at the Asian Games 🌏
The football tournament at the 2026 Asian Games is under way and check out this ROCKET scored by Thailand against Hong Kong!
Thanakrit Chotmuangpak found the top corner from waaaaay out, helping Thailand to an emphatic 5-1 victory to open their Asian Games campaign. That will take some beating as the Goal of the Tournament.
Something Swedish 🇸🇪
IK Sirius are edging closer to winning the Swedish Allsvenskan title for the first time in their 119-year history as a club!
I wrote about Sirius’ incredible fairytale run last month and how, at the time of writing, their momentum was starting to fade. Three wins in a row, however, have re-established their advantage at the top of the table.
Only eight games until the end of the season and Sirius are eight points clear of Hammarby in second place.
Something Irish 🇮🇪
Just as it appeared Bohemians’ title chances were fading, Dawson Devoy came up with a 90th minute winner to keep his team within touching distance of top spot in the League of Ireland.
Look at the limbs from the Bohs supporters! This newsletter writer will one day attend a match at Dalymount Park in Dublin. Looks like good craic!
Something vengeful
Liam Rosenior guided Paris FC to a victory over Strasbourg on Saturday and took delight in celebrating in front of the fans of his former club.
Rosenior explained afterwards that the abuse he was subject to during the match crossed a line. Fair enough. Paris FC are flying high in the Ligue 1 table. Maybe Rosenior wasn’t the problem at Chelsea?
Something in off the post
Burnley’s dreadful start to the Championship season continued with a home draw against Derby County and you have to see this goal for the Rams!
Mohammed Fuseini pinged a strike in off the inside of the post with so much power that the goalkeeper didn’t even have time to move. Just look at the swazz on the strike!
Something for Oktoberfest 🍻
Bayern Munich put SEVEN goals past Union Berlin and wore this special Oktoberfest kit for the occasion.
This is an annual tradition for the Bavarian club and this might be their best Oktoberfest effort yet! This newsletter writer is a big, big fan.
Something spectacular
If an overhead kick is scored anywhere in world football, you better believe it’s getting included in this newsletter!
This effort came in the thrilling 2-2 draw between Club America and Chivas in Liga MX. Miguel Borja might never scored a better goal in his life! This started a Club America comeback from 2-0 down.
Something inspirational
Pep Guardiola has a lot of spare time these days and he spent some of it visiting Yankee Stadium for Friday’s Hudson River Derby.
The legendary Catalan coach spoke to the New York City FC players before facing the New York Red Bulls. You’d think that would inspire the NYC FC players, but they lost to their closest rivals. Welp.
Something in London 🏴
For the first time in 14 years, Millwall and West Ham met each other in 14 years and anyone who has seen the 2005 classic movie Green Street (definitely a classic, don’t fact check that) will know what this rivalry means.
Renowned for its violence, Saturday’s Dockers Derby was a four-goal thriller. Millwall took a 2-0 lead before West Ham staged a comeback to snatch a point.
Look at the limbs in the away end when Konstantinos Mavropanos scored the equaliser!
Something in Glasgow 🏴
The dynamic in Scottish football has dramatically changed over the last week or so!
Last week, Rangers beat Celtic 3-0 in the Scottish League Cup and they followed that up by beating their historic rivals at Celtic Park in the league on Sunday.
There’s just two points between the two teams after this result. A title race has broken out!
Something interesting
I was ready to roast Wout Weghorst for this little pre-match routine before an Eredivisie match for FC Twente.
But then I learned that this is actually a form of brain training and these are neurological exercises to sharpen connections in the mind. And that is quite interesting!
Some TSD content you might have missed… 🗞️
✊ Why Kurdish representation in the Turkish Super Lig matters
Amedspor are in the Turkish Super Lig this season - and it’s a big talking point!