Argentina are on the brink of an early World Cup group stage exit, following a 3-0 defeat to Croatia last night. Wilfredo Caballero's catastrophic blunder led to the first goal, before Lionel Messi's team fell apart. In today's matches Brazil take on Costa Rica at 1pm, at 4pm Nigeria's match against Iceland will have a direct impact on Argentina's future in the competition, before Serbia face Switzerland at 7pm. That group E encounter will be played under the shadow of Kosovo, writes Nick Ames . . .
Jackie Tyrrell's column this morning looks at what the top teams got out of the hurling round-robin series in Munster and Leinster? The team to have gained the most confidence he explains, is Clare; "I would say they're possibly the most confident team now relative to where they started." Tipperary will get their chance for a first Munster Under-21 title since 2010 after Mark Kehoe scored five points from play as they saw off the reigning champions Limerick last night.
Joe Schmidt will make a decision by the end of the year about extending his tenure as Irish head coach beyond the 2019 World Cup and thus beyond five and a half years. Ahead of Saturday morning's series decider against Australia, Gerry Thornley writes; "A victory here would not only categorically cement Ireland's status as the second best side in the world, but command global respect as well as imbuing this squad of high achievers with even further belief before next year's World Cup."
Rory McIlroy put his US Open struggles behind him at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut - firing a first round 64 to sit at six under, one off the lead held by Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.
Frankie Dettori conjured virtuoso puns galore with a scintillating Gold Cup success on Stradivarius at Royal Ascot on Thursday. This was the veteran Italian's 60th royal Ascot success.
