Sports world daily: Bangladesh beats Ireland in one-off Test; England win first Women’s Finalissima

England won the inaugural Women’s Finalissima – a one-off match between the teams that won the Women’s European Championships and Copa America Femenina – beating Brazil on penalties.

Staying with football, Paris Saint-Germain’s woes continued. Just a few days a club-source revealed that Lionel Messi was likely to leave the club, their talismanic forward Kylian Mbappe has decided to fight the club for violating his individual image rights.

In Bangladesh, Mushfiqur Rahim scored an unbeaten half-century to lead his country to a win over Ireland in a one-off Test match in Dhaka.

Here’s a look at the key stories from international sporting events through the day for 7 April, 2023:

England win Women’s Finalissima

England beat Brazil 4-2 in a dramatic penalty shootout to win the first-ever Women’s Finalissima at Wembley on Thursday, with Euro 2022 hero Chloe Kelly scoring the decisive spot-kick after a 1-1 draw.

Sarina Wiegman’s European champions were on course for a narrow win after taking the lead in a first half they dominated through a well-worked team goal finished off by Ella Toone.

But Copa America Femenina winners Brazil were transformed after the break and threatened to spoil the party when Andressa Alves fired home from close range in the 93rd minute.

With no extra time, the game went straight to penalties.

Georgia Stanway, Rachel Daly and Alex Greenwood scored from the spot to put England 3-1 ahead.

Kerolin kept the contest alive but Kelly – who scored the winning goal in the European Championship final at Wembley last year – slotted home coolly to seal the win.

Wiegman said her team, preparing for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which starts in July, had not had much chance to practise penalties.

“We practised yesterday and before the Euros we practised a lot,” she said. “We just repeated it yesterday in case. We knew what to do and we did good.”

The Dutch coach – yet to taste defeat as England boss – said she felt “privileged” to reach 30 games unbeaten.

“I’m very happy working here,” she said. “Such an incredible group. The team is so committed, they want to learn every day.”

England secured their place in the showpiece match by beating Germany 2-1 in the Euro 2022 final last year while Brazil beat Colombia 1-0 to win their eighth Copa America Femenina title.

The crowd of more than 83,000 and the players took part in a minute’s applause to remember Brazil great Pele, who died in December, before kick-off.

Mbappe miffed at PSG

Kylian Mbappe on Thursday complained about Paris Saint-Germain’s use of a video of him for their season-ticket advertising campaign, before the club removed the footage.

PSG’s star striker said he would fight for “individual image rights” after an interview with him was used by the club in a video to promote ticket sales for next season.

“At no time was I informed of the content of the interview,” Mbappe said on Instagram.

“It looked like a basic interview during a club marketing day. I don’t agree with this published video.

“This is why I am fighting for individual image rights. PSG is a big club and a big family, but it is certainly not Kylian Saint-Germain.”

French champions PSG later took the video down from their website and YouTube channel, although it can still be viewed on other YouTube channels.

France captain Mbappe was the only player to speak in the promotional film.

Lionel Messi, who a source told AFP earlier this week is set to leave PSG at the end of this season, was not featured.

Neymar, who is recovering from an ankle injury, did not feature either.

PSG did not comment on Mbappe’s remarks when contacted.

Mbappe has called for individual image rights for players while on international duty with France.

Mushiqur leads Bangladesh to win

Mushfiqur Rahim shrugged off Bangladesh’s mid-innings jitters to hit a quickfire half-century on Friday and seal a seven-wicket victory over Ireland in their one-off Dhaka Test.

Ireland were bowled out for 292 soon after resuming on the fourth day and Mushfiqur top-scored for the hosts with seven fours from his 51 runs.

Opener Tamim Iqbal made 31 and put on 62 runs with Mushfiqur for the third wicket after Ireland saw a glimmer of hope with two crucial early wickets.

Liton Das gave Bangladesh a positive start but poor fortune saw him bowled for 23 as a Mark Adair bouncer struck him on the helmet and fell to his stumps, dislodging the bails.

Three overs later, Najmul Hossain was caught by Andy Balbirnie at slip off Andy McBrine after making just four runs.

Najmul was initially declared not out by the on-field umpires but replays confirmed a fair catch to leave Ireland jubilant and Bangladesh reduced to 43-2.

But Mushfiqur and Tamim denied the visitors further success, taking Bangladesh to 89-2 by lunch.

Ben White dismissed Tamim after the break but Mominul Haque remained on 20 alongside Mushfiqur to take Bangladesh home.

Bangladesh also had pacer Ebadot Hossain to thank when his two wickets wrapped up Ireland’s innings at 292 runs.

The tourists added just six runs to their overnight 286-8 after Ebadot forced last man Graham Hume to give a catch behind the stumps for 14.

The visitors were staring down the prospect of an innings defeat on Thursday before debutant Lorcan Tucker became Ireland’s second Test centurion with 108.

Kevin O’Brien is the only other Irishman to hit a Test century, scoring 118 against Pakistan during their maiden Test in 2018.

The visitors were all out for 214 runs in their first innings and Bangladesh posted 369 runs in response.

This week’s Test extends Ireland’s losing streak in the five-day format. They have now lost all four Tests they have played since becoming a full member of the International Cricket Council in 2017.

Ireland next head to Sri Lanka where they will play two Tests in Galle, the first match beginning on April 16.

With text inputs from AFP

Updated through the day