There was joy for both Italy and Wales yesterday as they booked their spots in the knockout stages of Euro 2020. A hard-fought 2-0 win over Turkey was enough for Wales to confirm their progress and, as Mary Hannigan writes in her TV View column, there was joy unconfined in the Valleys with Robbie Savage throwing caution to the wind on BBC. In last night's later match Italy looked very impressive once again with a Manuel Locatelli double helping them on their way to a 3-0 win over Switzerland. Indeed the Italians have already become many people's fancy to go on and win the tournament, perhaps even eclipsing France off the back of their opening performance against Germany. This morning, Ken Early writes that the uninspiring play of Didier Deschamps side goes against their self-image and begs the question of just why are they so passive? This afternoon Denmark play for the first time since Christian Eriksen's cardiac arrest in what will be an emotional return to the Parken Stadium. Don't forget you can keep up to date with all that's going on at the tournament on our Euro 2020 site.
Moving on to golf and the US Open gets underway this afternoon at Torrey Pines where Bryson DeChambeau will defend his title while Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry make up the Irish challenge. For McIlroy this week represents another chance to break the now seven-year Major drought he has been experiencing and the 2011 champion spoke yesterday of how he is confident the work he and Pete Cowen are doing is coming together while also saying that he wants to let the shackles off from Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Lowry comes into this week on a nice run of form and hoping to add another big finish - and potentially a win - at a Major. The Offalyman is hoping that he can find the form needed on the greens to go with his recent excellent ballstriking to perhaps form a winning combination. With an eight-hour time difference to San Diego, fans on this side of the world are set for a few late nights and you can find out all of the TV details, tee times and everything else you need to know in our guide.
On to GAA and Mayo's championship hopes took a major blow yesterday with the news that Cillian O'Connor could be out for the rest of the season due to an Achilles tendon injury. "The problem with any Achilles tendon injury which requires surgery is twofold: it's not possible to resume any proper running activity until the injury has fully healed," writes Ian O'Riordan. Also in our GAA pages this morning, Ciarán Murphy writes in his column that the Kerry-Dublin storyline can live without an ending for now after the two teams shared the Division One title last week. "The GAA shouted stop last Saturday evening, and we are forced to come to our own conclusions. It may not be a satisfactory ending, but then again, satisfactory endings are actually pretty rare," he writes.
In our women in sport pages this morning, Sonia O'Sullivan writes that the spirit of Steve Prefontaine lives on at Hayward Field after attending the NCAA Championships had her reminiscing of her own college running days. Meanwhile, Joanne O'Riordan speaks to Ireland basketball star Gráinne Dwyer while Bláithín O'Brien tells Philip Reid about working on the frontline during the Covid-19 pandemic in Cork University Hospital and how this week's Women's Close Championship at Ballybunion will be an escape of sorts.
Finally, in Olympic news, Japan looks set to ease the current state of emergency in the country with consideration being given to allowing a limited number of fans at events despite fears that the Games will spark a new wave of Covid-19 infections.
