Diego Costa's storming start to the season continues Chelsea win nine-goal classic at Goodison

Jose Mourinho praises his team's more aggressive play and explains why he didn't take star striker off during a tempestuous outing

As the rain battered down on Goodison Park and as the tempestuous skies rumbling in from the Irish Sea became even more threatening, it was tempting to believe that the human cyclone known as Diego Costa was solely responsible for the environment. He was involved in almost everything for Chelsea, both good and bad, scoring twice and getting involved in a series of scuffles, one of which resulted in a booking. 

Even with the game won, however, Jose Mourinho did not take him off. The Chelsea manager appreciates what he is dealing with and is already trying to set the agenda. Rather than being the instigator of the mayhem, Costa is the casualty. 

“Imagine the millions watching around the world and, because Everton players are chasing him to get cards, I take him off,” Mourinho said. “I don’t think that is fair. I don’t think this is what the people want. I don’t think this is what the Premier League wants.” 

Mourinho went further, claiming that Costa – despite already ­becoming the league’s leading scorer as well as the first Chelsea player to register a goal in each of his first three games for the club since Adrian Mutu 11 years ago – is unlikely to receive any personal accolades for his achievements. “Chased, chased!” Mourinho exclaimed. “Normally he would be the player of the month but he has two yellow cards [the other coming against Burnley]. So he won’t get it.” 

Having already opened the scoring, Costa, in the second half, was yellow carded for hauling down Seamus Coleman after the pair grappled while waiting for a throw-in near the halfway line. Soon, Costa was celebrating Coleman’s own goal by teasing the defender in front of the Park End.

The act irritated home spectators and fume was released into the atmosphere. It irritated Tim Howard too and Everton’s goalkeeper chased Costa to the edge of the 18‑yard box, thrusting a fist into his throat. For that, Howard was booked; Costa was not, and as the game reached its conclusion, with a devastating finish, he scored again. This time he embraced with his own supporters in the lower part of the Bullens Road Stand, those who sang his name long after the final whistle had been blown, thus marking the striker’s significant influence over the outcome. 

Costa will replace Luis Suárez as the most written and talked about player in the Premier League if he carries on like this. He delivered a performance that consumed an entire stadium. He linked brilliantly with his team-mates, industriously working the channels. If he was not ceaselessly hunting down opponents, he was winding them up. He managed to involve the crowd, and of course, the match officials. With goals in the first minute and the last, his presence was felt in everything that happened. 

It was an exhausting experience just watching him. The home side had endured enough by the end. Roberto Martínez, Everton’s manager, said that Costa’s response to Coleman’s misfortune in the 67th minute befitted that of a juvenile. 

“He needs to understand that we are quite unique in our league; we are very honest and quite respectful with each other. You don’t see that sort of behaviour,” Martínez said. “That’s not a reflection of the class that he has. He’s been a top player for a while and has had to fight a lot for what he’s got. I think his career deserves a lot of credit. So it’s a real shame when you’ve got a childish reaction like that.” 

Mourinho may have substituted the protagonist at the centre of it all to protect him from being sent off. Yet Costa remained, even when ­Mourinho chose to introduce another centre forward in Didier Drogba with injury time approaching and Chelsea attempting to shield a two-goal lead. 

Mourinho, however, was right to suggest that Chelsea are not just a one-man war. He spoke about Costa being a “mature guy” but named Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic as the players who have helped Chelsea to become “a lot” more aggressive in possession. 

Here, they flattened an Everton team struggling with confidence defensively. From the 35th second, Chelsea were always ahead. Branislav Ivanovic swiftly made it 2-0 to the visitors and after Kevin Mirallas reduced the deficit just before half-time, five goals were shared inside 10 second-half minutes. 

After Coleman slid the ball into his own net, Steven Naismith responded for Everton, then Matic, Samuel Eto’o – on his Everton debut against his former club – and Ramires made the scoreline 3-5. That was all before Costa made the final contribution. It was appropriate that he should.

Premier League clubs' transfer spending on course to break one billion pound barrier this season

Top flight teams have already eclipsed the total amount spent during whole of last season with more to be spent on deadline day

The Premier League’s biggest summer spending spree was threatening the £1 billion mark on Sunday as clubs prepared for a record-breaking last-minute trolley-dash before the transfer window closed. 

Around £780 million had been lavished on new signings by English football’s elite by Sunday night, over­hauling the total outlay for the whole of the previous season barely a fortnight into the current campaign. 

Fuelled by a £5.5 billion broadcast deal that only looks poised to swell exponentially after the rights auction next year, this summer’s figure had already obliterated the record £630 million splurged 12 months earlier. 

Last year £123 million was spent on the final day alone, and were a similar amount to change hands before the 11pm deadline on Monday night, it would make 2014 the first calendar year in which more than £1 billion had been invested by Premier League teams in the market. 

It would also put 2014-15 on course to become the first £1 billion season, providing the January window witnesses similar spending levels to the record £130 million outlay at the turn of this year.

Breaking the £1 billion barrier in the summer window alone would require cheques to be written to the tune of almost a quarter of that figure today – but the desperation of many Premier League clubs meant it could not be entirely ruled out. 

Dan Jones, lead partner of the Deloitte consultancy’s Sports Business Group, pointed out that in the last two summer windows more than 20 per cent of teams’ spending occurred on deadline day. “There is still potential for a significant increase,” he said of the amount wagered in the past three months. 

The frenzy of activity at Manchester United certainly showed no sign of abating with less than 24 hours of the window remaining as the true size of the rebuilding job facing Louis van Gaal becomes clear. 

Spending almost £150 million – including smashing the British transfer record to land Angel di Maria for nearly £60 million – has failed to yield a single victory from Van Gaal’s first four games in charge and more reinforcements could well follow. 

Reports linking United with Juventus’s Chilean forward Arturo Vidal have persisted despite repeated denials of interest from Old Trafford, which may witness a raft of departures on Monday as well. The future of Radamel Falcao remained up in the air last night after the Monaco striker jumped the gun with a hastily deleted tweet that suggested he was on his way to Real Madrid. 

Whether Manchester City and Arsenal are willing or able to try to hijack the move remains to be seen, with the former a hostage to Financial Fair Play and the latter wedded to it. 

City, who have spent £54.5 million, probably have to sell before they buy – with Matija Nastasic available for £15 million – while Arsenal may need to accept paying over the odds on deadline day, having already splashed out £62.2 million. 

Recent transfer windows have shown that Jose Mourinho can never be discounted when it comes to hijacking a deal, despite Chelsea appearing to conclude their business on Sunday night with the signing of Loïc Rémy. They have been the Premier League’s third highest spenders this summer with an £87.7 million outlay, remarkably almost exactly the amount they have recouped in sales. 

Liverpool’s £116.8 million strengthening job for the Champions League was mostly offset by the Luis Suarez transfer fee, with Brendan Rodgers’s business all but done. His side’s win at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday shattered any illusion that Mauricio Pochettino could mount a serious challenge with the current Spurs squad and should ensure chairman Daniel Levy attempts to pull off the kind of deadline-day coups for which he is renowned. 

Expect also the perennial sight of Harry Redknapp being interviewed through his car window – now, of course, at Queens Park Rangers, whose win over Sunderland failed to mask the need for reinforcements, particularly now Rémy has defected to Chelsea. 

The FFP time bomb threatening to engulf QPR thanks to their overspending during their last top-flight campaign is proving no deterrent to them throwing money at another survival battle. Their £26.5 million is more than double wagered by fellow promoted sides Leicester City and Burnley combined. 

Such is the financial chasm now between the Premier League and Championship – on average clubs received £30 million more in central TV revenue last season than they did in 2012-13 – the stakes have never been higher for those facing relegation. The same could be said for the race for the Champions League and Europa League, with new Uefa television contracts kicking in next season that completely dwarf the existing three-year deals. 

As most clubs’ ambitions lie with either winning the Premier League, qualifying for Europe or avoiding relegation, it is unlikely any of them will be calling time on their transfer business on Monday until 11pm.

US Open 2014: Andy Murray made to work for fourth round victory over Andrey Kuznetsov

Andy Murray is through to the second week of his 15th Grand Slam tournament in succession but there were times when he again had his supporters on the edge of their seats here. Although the 27-year-old Scot beat Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to maintain his admirable record of consistency at the highest level, he will need to avoid some of the lapses he made against the world No 96 if he is to make further progress.

Murray, who has now reached the fourth round or better in 24 of his last 25 Grand Slam tournaments, started and finished well but dropped his serve four times with some careless play. In the fourth round he will meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4 6-4 6-4.

The match was played in Louis Armstrong Stadium, where Murray suffered so badly with cramp in his opening match against Robin Haase. This time, however, in considerably cooler conditions, the Scot looked in good physical shape. Kuznetsov knocked out Fernando Verdasco in the previous round and beat David Ferrer at Wimbledon, but the 23-year-old Russian was soon being given the run-around.

Murray took the first set in just 30 minutes with breaks in the second and sixth games. When he broke in the opening game of the second set with a splendid forehand cross-court pass he appeared in complete control, but at 4-3 Murray berated himself when a double fault enabled Kuznetsov to break back. At 5-5, nevertheless, Murray broke again before serving out for the set with an ace.

If the dropped service game hinted at a dip in concentration, worse was to follow in the third set. Kuznetsov broke to lead 3-1, Murray broke back to love in the seventh game thanks to some admirably bold returns, but played a poor game when he served to stay in the set at 4-5. From 15-15 Murray hit a wild forehand long, missed the target with an even more careless drive volley and then double-faulted.

Kuznetsov, however, was unable to take advantage of the swing in momentum as Murray quickly rediscovered his focus. The Scot broke to lead 2-1 in the fourth set and again two games later as Kuznetsov double-faulted on the last two points. There was still time for another slip-up from Murray, who netted two forehands in a row to enable Kuznetsov to retrieve one of the breaks, but the Scot broke back immediately and went on to serve out for victory after two hours and 35 minutes.

“I expected him to play well,” Murray said afterwards. “He obviously would have been confident from his last match. The first couple of sets were pretty good. Then I started a bit slow at the beginning of the third set. He gained confidence from that and he definitely started hitting the ball better in the third set.”

Murray said he hoped that the cramping issues which troubled him against Haase were now in the past. “Today was much better than Monday,” he said. “It was obviously cooler today, though it may have been a little bit more humid. It felt pretty humid on the court. It was quite cool actually by the end of the match.

“Yes, I hope it's not a problem for the rest of the tournament. As I said before the tournament started, I feel like I'm in very good shape. I trained extremely hard in Miami to get ready for this period of the year.”

Novak Djokovic, who is seeded to meet Murray in the quarter-finals, maintained his record of not dropping a set at the tournament when he beat Sam Querrey 6-3 6-2 6-2, while Milos Raonic ended 34-year-old Victor Estrella Burgos' remarkable run. The world No 80, who lost 7-6 7-6 7-6, became the first player from the Dominican Republic to break into the world's top 100 earlier this year and last week became the first from his country to win a Grand Slam singles match.

Raonic will now play Japan's Kei Nishikori, who beat Leonardo Mayer 6-4 6-2 6-3. Meanwhile Stan Wawrinka was handed a free passage into the fourth round when his scheduled opponent, Blaz Kavcic, withdrew from the tournament with a foot injury.

Petra Kvitova could have replaced Serena Williams as the world No 1 by winning the title here but the Wimbledon champion was swept out in the third round by a qualifier ranked No 145 in the world.  Aleksandra Krunic, a 21-year-old Serb playing in only her second Grand Slam tournament, won 6-4 6-4 as Kvitova became the fifth of the top eight seeds to go out, joining Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber and Ana Ivanovic on the list of casualties. 

Krunic now faces Victoria Azarenka, who beat Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-1.
Williams booked her place in the last 16 with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Varvara Lepchenko, who was her third successive American opponent. Williams, who now faces Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, had lost a total of five games in her first two matches but was pushed harder by Lepchenko. “My opponent today was spectacular,” Williams said. “It was really a good match and it just shows how far Varvara has come.”

Nigel Pearson's punt on taking Leonardo Ulloa to Leicester City soon pays dividends

Former Brighton striker shows more top-flight managers should look seriously at the Championship, where recruits are no more of a gamble than investing in a foreign signing who might not settle

Leonardo Ulloa encapsulates everything that is good about Leicester City. The work rate, the hunger, the goalscoring threat: the Argentine centre-forward has proved a real success in his first few weeks in the Premier League. 

After driving home a well-taken goal against Everton on the opening day of the season, Ulloa caused a few problems at Chelsea before heading in a beauty yesterday to bring the home side level with a stuttering Arsenal. 

It has been the perfect start for a forward new to this level, a player who might have wondered if he could prosper against much better defenders than the ones he used to face playing for Brighton & Hove Albion last term. 

The 28-year-old, after all, has spent his entire career striving to emerge into the spotlight. On the one occasion that he did work his way into the big time, his Almería team were relegated from La Liga. 

It is no big surprise, then, that Ulloa plays with such desire. This is his chance, one that might not come again. Consequently, Leicester’s £8 million record signing could be seen racing around the King Power Stadium, harrying and hustling every available opponent.

Sometimes that attitude looked a little clumsy as he went crashing about. One sturdy challenge on Wojciech Szczesny, in fact, must have brought back memories of an uncompromising Nat Lofthouse for supporters in the ground of a certain age. 

However, that is not to decry this wholehearted frontman because he has enough quality to go on and thrive in this division. The goal told us that, the way he pulled behind Laurent Koscielny who, admittedly, might have done better had he not still been dazed following an earlier head injury. 

Even so, that does not account for Ulloa’s movement and the way he climbed high to power home the equaliser from Jeff Schlupp’s superb cross. It was old-fashioned centre‑forward play of the very best kind, the sort that gets fans off seats hailing a hero. 

In fairness, those same supporters should really have been on their feet again in the second half. Ulloa showed very good control to bring down a high ball to dispel the theory he is just a crash-bang-wallop merchant. 

After that, he laid it off to Riyad Mahrez and took the return pass before skilfully leaving Calum Chambers on the deck by cutting inside. This was fantastic stuff, the work of a top striker. Unfortunately, he could not apply the finishing touch. With the goal gaping, with Szczesny on his backside, Ulloa’s close-range shot found the side netting. 

Cue sighs all round from the Leicester faithful. They knew well enough, having seen David Nugent miss a great chance at a vital time at Stamford Bridge last week, that you simply must convert such opportunities if you want to beat opponents like this. 

That said, the Leicester crowd stood and applauded as one when Ulloa’s number went up with 15 minutes left. They knew their man had given it his all, every last ounce of effort and that rightfully goes a long way with any paying customer. 

The new signing was not quite fit enough a few weeks ago but he has worked very hard since to get to a level that now allows him to put in vibrant performances like this. There is, of course, still much work to do in terms of knocking off the rough edges. However, Ulloa looks intelligent enough to learn as he goes along. 

It makes you wonder actually why more top-flight managers do not look seriously at the Championship. Yes, Ulloa was something of a punt at the price involved but no more of a gamble than investing in a foreign signing that might not settle. 

As it is, Nigel Pearson seems to have picked his target very shrewdly indeed. As a newly-promoted club, the task feels so much less daunting with a proper goal threat. And Ulloa, so far, fits the bill for Leicester. 

Ronald Koeman’s wise buys
We always talk about foreign players needing time to settle, to acclimatise to the unique demands of Premier League football. Some, however, are capable of slotting in straight away and it seems that Southampton have nabbed a couple. In Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle, Ronald Koeman would appear to have bought very well. Tadic can create and Pelle can score, as he proved at West Ham with a fine goal. 

Strange case of Manchester United defence
Curious times at Old Trafford where nearly £120 million has been spent without strengthening central defence, an area clearly lacking a dominant figure. Does Louis van Gaal think he has enough in that department or is there just nobody out there suitable for the job? Manchester City reacted quickly to snap up Eliaquim Mangala. It will not look good across town if he succeeds and United continue to struggle. 

Liverpool back on track
What a difference a week makes. Last Monday night Manchester City put Liverpool to the sword to suggest the champions would be a cut above their opponents this season. Seven days on and City have lost at home to Stoke whilst Liverpool have impressively knocked three past Tottenham. Minus Luis Suárez but with Mario Balotelli, could Liverpool possibly mount another title challenge but hold on this time? 

Branislav Ivanovic a manager’s dream
If your life depended on one footballer standing up to the challenge, if you had to nominate someone to join in the trenches, the name of Branislav Ivanovic would surely come to mind. The Chelsea defender is a manager’s dream with his fighting spirit and endless consistency. On the scoresheet at Everton, he proved the exception in Chelsea’s unusually loose defensive display.

Royal baby law stands as court dismisses Catholic challenge

Ontario's top court says a Roman Catholic man can't challenge a royal succession law that he says discriminates against his religion.

Bryan Teskey tried to ask the courts to strike down a rule prohibiting Catholics from ascending to the throne, arguing it violates the charter.

But the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a lower-court decision, ruling that the succession rules are not subject to charter scrutiny and that Teskey had no standing to bring the challenge.

Canada joined 16 other Commonwealth countries, following a British request, to fast track a change to royal succession laws.

The revamped succession laws eliminate the outdated tradition that favoured male heirs over their older sisters, giving females equal status, and end a 300-year-old rule that bans the monarch from marriage to a Roman Catholic.

Teskey tried to argue that the changes did not go far enough because they still mean a Roman Catholic person cannot succeed to the throne.

But the Appeal Court dismissed Teskey's appeal, agreeing with the lower court that being a Catholic appears to be his only interest in the case.

'Purely hypothetical issue': court

"The rules of succession are a part of the fabric of the constitution of Canada and incorporated into it and therefore cannot be trumped or amended by the charter, and Mr. Teskey does not have any personal interest in the issue raised (other than being a member of the Roman Catholic faith) and does not meet the test for public interest standing," the Appeal Court wrote in its decision.

He has no connection to the Royal Family, Superior Court Judge Charles Hackland noted in his decision last year.

"He raises a purely hypothetical issue which may never occur, namely a Roman Catholic Canadian in line for succession to the throne being passed over because of his or her religion," Hackland wrote.

"Should this ever occur a proper factual matrix would be available to the court to deal with a matter of this importance."

Andre Binette represents two Quebec law professors who launched a constitutional challenge of Canada's royal succession law in Quebec Superior Court.

The Quebec challenge, launched in 2013, argues the law is invalid because the provinces were not consulted.

Binette said while written procedures and expert reports have been filed on both sides, the case won't be heard until June 2015 in Quebec City.

The federal government has previously vowed to defend the Succession to the Throne Act in court.

The legal posturing erupted last year as Prince William's wife, Kate, gave birth to a boy, now third in line to the British throne.

The revamped succession laws would have had more application had the royal baby been a girl because they modernize the previous rule of succession that allowed younger boys to leapfrog over their older sisters.

Cristiano Ronaldo hails Gareth Bale and his Real Madrid pals as he picks up UEFA Best Player award

Cristiano Ronaldo picks up the UEFA Best Player award

Cristiano Ronaldo was named as Europe's greatest as he scooped Uefa's prestigious Best Player award – but insisted it wouldn't have been possible without Real Madrid pals like Gareth Bale.

But the brilliant forward did warn the world he's determined to stay at the top of his game after claiming he loves being the best.

Ronaldo saw off competition from Bayern Munich pair Arjen Robben and Manuel Neuer to win the award for the first time, visibly delighted after winning a live vote from elected European journalists – with WalesOnline represented.

The Portugal ace, who took more than half the votes, admitted it capped a dream season having already lifted the Champions League after forming a deadly double act with Wales star Bale.

After winning the Uefa Super Cup in Cardiff earlier this month, Ronaldo spoke of his Bernabeu bromance with Bale – even going as far to say he loved him.

Now, on being honoured as the best player in the European game, teammates such as Bale weren't far from his mind as he made space in his medal museum for yet another trophy.
“It's an amazing feeling – individual awards are always good to win,” said Ronaldo, 29. “When you work hard and dedicate yourself for nine months it is for trophies and these individual awards.

“I did not have this beautiful looking trophy in my my museum but now I have a place for it – and for that I have to say thank you to my teammates because without them its not possible. I have to thank them because many of the players deserve to be in this position as well as players like Neuer and Robben. This time it's me and I'm very happy.”

Ronaldo was quick to thank his team-mates

The vote came following the draw for the Champions League group stages at Monaco's Grimaldi Forum, Real and Bale being paired with Liverpool and their Wales playmaker Joe Allen. Group B

The strength of Ronaldo's season was underlined the fact he won the award in a World Cup year despite Portugal failing to make it out of the group stage, Neuer ending up a winner with Germany and Robben instrumental as the Netherlands made it to the semi-final.

But his record-breaking 15 goals in a Champions League season ensured Madrid's wait for the European crown was over, Bale's decisive goal in the Lisbon final giving Ronaldo his perfect night.

He said: “Many things have happened in the last year, many games, many training sessions, many injuries.

“But it was an amazing season, a dream season. I didn't expect it to be so good and one I'm very proud of.

“With the national team, we didn't get past the first round but that is football, you have to deal with it. You can't be at top all the time and congratulations to Germany because they were the best team in the tournament, but in terms of my club it's been a fantastic year and I'm so proud.

“To win is Lisbon was perfect, the best scenario. It was a fantastic year. We had the pressure of La Decima, and you felt the pressure all the time but thankfully we won it.”

Action Images / Carl Recine

Cristiano Ronaldo

But while he accepts it is tough at the top, Ronaldo knows what it takes to stay there. And with words Bale will no doubt heed as he looks to keep pace with his triumphant teammate, Ronaldo added: “As a professional players we always have to improve. It doesn't matter what you improve, but it has to be something.

“I'm here winning awards for eight years now and its a special moment in my career for me, but to be at the top is hard, it's not easy.

“To stay among these trophies you have to dedicate yourself 100% all of the time, its a big process through the year, many games, travelling, injuries.... it's hard work.

“But these moments, to win this kind of trophy you feel so proud because the sacrifice shows you can win these. This is why I love to play football, I love being at the top.”

Ronaldo thanked the journalists – including WalesOnline – for voting him as the top choice of a final three, itself the top vote winners from a final shortlist of ten. Journalists from Uefa's 54 member nations initially named their top five players from European clubs – regardless of nationality – to form the shortlist. Ronaldo polled 26 out of the 54 votes, Neuer 18, Robben 9 with one abstention.

Nadine Kessler of Wolfsburg and Germany won Uefa's Best Women's Player in Europe award, saying: “I didn't expect it and it's difficult to get my head around but I'm very proud.”

Nadine Kessler won UEFA Best Women's Player

 CHRIS WATHAN – Why I voted for Ronaldo...

  “Choosing one over another player in this situation is tough and shouldn't reflect badly on those who missed out. In particular it was fantastic to see Manuel Neuer recognised as someone who is doing much to redefine the modern goalkeeper, a position that rarely gets its time in the spotlight in such individual awards.

But it's just impossible to ignore the supreme talent that Ronaldo is – even in a World Cup year where Arjen Robben made the final four and Neuer lifted the trophy. The fact Portugal's flop was overlooked by almost half of the journalists who made the final decision here says everything about how strong his domestic season was: his goalscoring record untouchable, his big game mentality magnificent and his ability to create something out of nothing the kind of magic that even the very best teams need. How could you not honour a player who can score with a backheel volley?

Much has been made of his personal tussle with Lionel Messi for awards such as these and some will point to Messi's injuries and indifferent form as the reason Ronaldo has stolen a march. But do not be fooled, Ronaldo has stepped up his game and his delight at that being acknowledged was clear to see as he picked up his prize here in Monte Carlo.

He was right to credit Wales' own Gareth Bale and the rest of his Real teammates – and perhaps Bale can challenge his teammate next year if they can continue their deadly double act – but on a night when the indvidual was honoured, Ronaldo has proven he's the real deal.”

Gareth Bale will play for Wales on Andorra 3G pitch - Chris Coleman

Gareth Bale will play for Wales on Andorra's artificial pitch despite concerns about the surface from his club, says coach Chris Coleman. 

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti told Coleman some of his players had struggled on a 3G surface. 

But Coleman said he will pick winger Bale, 25, if he is fit for their first Euro 2016 qualifier on 9 September. 

"We've got to pick our strongest team," he said. "He's [Bale] got to be in that and Madrid understand that." 

Bale was selected alongside Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey in Coleman's 23-man squad on Wednesday. 

Three uncapped players were also called up for Wales' opening match of the campaign - Manchester United forward Tom Lawrence and goalkeepers Kyle Letheren of Dundee and Tranmere's Owain Fon Williams.

Fifa is expected to decide on Friday whether the pitch at Andorra's Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella is suitable to play on. 

The game could be moved to Spain if the surface does not pass laboratory and field tests.
"I always says we look after the players. We make sure we try to send them back in the condition where they're going to be fit to play," said Coleman. 

"This is a different type of pitch, if this goes ahead, but that doesn't mean we're not going to pick Gareth. If Gareth's available he's going to play in the team." 

Coleman said he would rather his team played on a grass surface, but acknowledged the decision was out of their hands. 

"If they say we've got to play on 3G, we're going to play on 3G and get a result on on 3G," he said.
After the Andorra game, Wales have two home fixtures in the race to qualify for France 2016 - against Bosnia-Hercegovina on 10 October followed by Cyprus three days later.
They will also face Belgium and Israel in Group B. 

The Euro 2016 finals are being hosted by France, who qualify automatically, and will be made up of 24 nations, an increase from 16 in the current format. 

The top two teams in each of the nine groups will reach the tournament finals, along with the best third-placed finisher, while the remaining eight third-placed teams go into play-offs in November 2015.

'Fast and Furious 7' late star Paul Walker's parents file for divorce

Paul Walker, who was one of the major stars of the action movie franchise "Fast & Furious", is still making news months after his death. 

But this time, the news isn't about the actor himself. Rather, TMZ reports that Paul's parents Cheryl and Paul Walker III will be having a divorce.

Cheryl, Paul's mother, is filing for divorce just nine months after her son died in a car accident while joining a Thanksgiving event for a successful charity. 

Paul rode with friend and race car driver Roger Rodas in a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT when both of them suffered a fatal car accident. The coroner ruled out foul play as cause of death and concluded that it was speed that killed the actor and his friend.

TMZ reports that Cheryl has documents to prove that she and her husband have not been together for 12 years already. Paul's parents were married for 30 years. However, the marriage was always a turbulent one. According to TMZ, the separation wasn't amicable at all.

A source told TMZ that the divorce has nothing to do with their son's death. Cheryl is seeking spousal support from Paul Walker III. The house and a gun collection were listed as her assets.

Meanwhile, Cheryl was trying to get guardianship of her granddaughter Meadow Walker, Paul's only 15-year old daughter. She petitioned for the guardianship but didn't push through with it because Meadow liked living with her mother, Rebecca Soteros.

After Paul passed away, his estate went to his sole beneficiary, Meadow. His estate is valued within the range of $16 to $25 million. Meadow now lives with her mother and with nanny support after the court gave Rebecca guardianship. Rebecca and Meadow live in a home that Paul's estate purchased.

How to create a Login page with PHP and MySQL

Introduction

It’s easy to use PHP with MySQL to create it. But for these kind of webpages we need to use form validation on our webpages, if any one use JavaScript so it’s well and good because JavaScript is very good technique to use and solve Form Validation problems. But we will directly go to our work just create a simple Sign-in page to make you understand the concept of Sign-in webpage in this article.

Requirements for Sign-In webpage:

• HTML
• CSS
• PHP
• MySQL
• Xampp/Wamp server

Using HTML to design the Sign-In webpage:

First of all we need to design the Sign-In webpage. Commonly what we see on a Sign-In webpage. There is username and password form boxes and a button to sign in to the profile page of user. And also sometimes we saw CAPTCHA which is used to identify the user on the webpage during the wrong entries of the Sign-In webpage. There is also an easy method to put CAPTCHA on a webpage. But now in this article we will just learn how to design a Sign-In webpage. Let’s start…

Listing 1: Sign-In.html

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
<title>Sign-In</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style-sign.css">
</head>
<body id="body-color">
<div id="Sign-In">
<fieldset style="width:30%"><legend>LOG-IN HERE</legend>
<form method="POST" action="connectivity.php">
User <br><input type="text" name="user" size="40"><br>
Password <br><input type="password" name="pass" size="40"><br>
<input id="button" type="submit" name="submit" value="Log-In">
</form>
</fieldset>
</div>
</body>
</html> 

Figure 1: Output of the Sign-in Webpage
In Figure 1 you can see the output of the Listing 1. But there is a problem, as we used the fieldset tag and the fieldset tag size is being a problem on this page. So we should change the width of the fieldset tag size. I have a simple way to use the Inline Style of CSS to get rid from this problem. Let’s see the inline CSS style code.

Listing 2: Inline CSS Style

<fieldset style="width:30%"><legend>LOG-IN HERE</legend>

So let’s we check the output of the sign-in.html webpage after writing the inline CSS style in the fieldset tag as you can see it in the Listing 2. As I told you that it’s an easy way to use Inline Style. We can use it from the external file by giving an ID name for the fieldset tag. But the easiest way is to use Inline Style in this kind of situations to handle them. And we should commonly find easiest ways to get rid from the problems.

Figure 2: Output of the Sign-in Webpage with updated size of fieldset tag

Description of sign-in webpage:

As you can see in the Listing 1 and 2 we used such a good Html tags to design a simple log-in form. We used legend tag with fieldset tag to use texts on the upper side of the form. And in the form we used method POST. And action to send data to another webpage. Which will be PHP Programmed webpage, I named it connectivity.php. And there is one new thing as type that is password. The functionality of type password is to don’t show the text what we will enter in the password box. Instead of password texts or characters it will show bold dots like ●●●●●●●.

Why we are using POST not GET method:

We are using POST method because it is secure. If we use GET method our data will not private. POST is commonly being used for these kind of webpages, due to its security. And when we are dealing with our ID and Password, so we should be alert from the hackers. Because the GET is being used in Phishing webpages, by which people are making fool the internet users to get their personal ID and Password.

Using CSS on Sign-in.html webpage:

Now it’s time to use CSS style on the webpage to create some attraction. We can use many kind of styles. But the good thing is that which matches to this page. For this we will use many CSS Styles, so I think the better way is use an external file and link it to the sing-in.html webpage. Let’s start…

Listing 3: style.css

/*CSS File For Sign-In webpage*/
#body-color{
background-color:#6699CC;
}
#Sign-In{
margin-top:150px;
margin-bottom:150px;
margin-right:150px;
margin-left:450px;
border:3px solid #a1a1a1;
padding:9px 35px; 
background:#8000CC;
width:400px;
border-radius:20px;
box-shadow: 7px 7px 6px;
}
#button{
border-radius:10px;
width:100px;
height:40px;
background:#FF00FF;
font-weight:bold;
font-size:20px
}

Description of style.css

We used three ids in the external CSS style webpage. One we used for the body, we identified it by the body-color name, and we applied CSS styles on it. In the next one, we used for the div tag and we identified it by Sign-In in the CSS styles webpage. In the last we used an ID for button and we applied CSS styles on it. There are some new CSS styles as font-weight, font-size which all about to font (text).


Figure 3: Sign-in webpage after applying CSS Style (linking the style.css webpage)

As you can see the change on the sign-in.html webpage after linking the style.css webpage. And we used some good colors on tags to create it more attractive. From these kind of webpages we know the importance of CSS Styles. As you can see the Figure 1, how it was looking and how it is looking now? We should use different type of CSS styles on our webpages. To create them attractive and more beautiful.

Using PHP and MySQL to get Log In user Profile page:

As we can see the Figure 3 now it’s fully ready to log in by entering the user name and password. But before we enter any data to this webpage on Figure 3. We should create two pages. One profile page and other ID and password validation. For checking or validating the ID and Password we need to save ID and Password to the database, for this we need two more things as a database and a table. So let’s create a database and then a table.

Listing 4: creating table

CREATE TABLE UserName
(
UserNameID int(9) NOT NULL auto_increment,
userName VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
pass VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(UserNameID)

 );

NOTE: As we didn’t create the Sign-Up page so we should insert data to the UserName table and then we enter that data from the sign-in.html page to connect with user profile page.

Listing 5: Inserting data to the table UserName:

INSERT INTO 

 UserName (userName, pass) 
VALUES
("mrbool","mrbool123");

So we completed the requirements of the database. Now we are going create a PHP programing file. In which we will get the data and check it if the ID and Password are available in the database and entered correct then the user will be able to online to the user profile page.

Listing 6: connectivity.php

<?php
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_NAME', 'practice');
define('DB_USER','root');
define('DB_PASSWORD','');

$con=mysql_connect(DB_HOST,DB_USER,DB_PASSWORD) or die("Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysql_error());
$db=mysql_select_db(DB_NAME,$con) or die("Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysql_error());
/*
$ID = $_POST['user'];
$Password = $_POST['pass'];
*/
function SignIn()
{
session_start();   //starting the session for user profile page
if(!empty($_POST['user']))   //checking the 'user' name which is from Sign-In.html, is it empty or have some text
{
 $query = mysql_query("SELECT *  FROM UserName where userName = '$_POST[user]' AND pass = '$_POST[pass]'") or die(mysql_error());
 $row = mysql_fetch_array($query) or die(mysql_error());
 if(!empty($row['userName']) AND !empty($row['pass']))
 {
  $_SESSION['userName'] = $row['pass'];
  echo "SUCCESSFULLY LOGIN TO USER PROFILE PAGE...";

 }
 else
 {
  echo "SORRY... YOU ENTERD WRONG ID AND PASSWORD... PLEASE RETRY...";
 }
}
}
if(isset($_POST['submit']))
{
 SignIn();
}

?>

Figure 4: Taking input from user as the user’s ID and Password to get log-in

As you can see at this stage the webpage of sign-in.html is working well. Because we need a webpage which takes input from user’s ID and Password, and the main thing it should not show the user’s Password which he is giving input at the getting log-in time. When we entered the correct user’s ID and Password then press Log-in button to get log in.


Figure 5: Getting log-in successfully using the ID and Password which we saved in database

Description of Connectivity.php:

In the connectivity.php webpage, first of we create a connection between PHP and MySQL. And then we used SELECT query to select two things from the database, which is userName and Pass. When we used SELECT query, you can see the query we have used “*” its mean that we selected all data from the database for the login. But in the same query we also used WHERE clause to compare that all data which are fetched with the sign-in.html. 

From sign-in html two things are coming to connectivity.php page, which is username and password. Then we used an there function of PHP programming Language that is mysql_fetch_array(). This will fetch all data according to the SELECT query. 

And in last we used if statement to know the condition of query. Because sometimes it could be happen the user and password is not present in the database. For this purpose to check the query is executed and what it gives us result in if statement. For calling the function we used and other If statement to get know that the user as pressed the Log-in button or not, if he/she has pressed so the function will be call and get sign-in.