• England Women 1-2 Brazil

• Stanway 52pen; Bia Zaneratto 10, Dudinha 18

England were caught out against Brazil at the Etihad Stadium, Georgia Stanway’s penalty not enough to cancel out first-half goals from Bia Zaneratto and Dudinha, but it was far from a performance to worry about.

Shortly after taking a two-goal lead, the visiting team were down to 10, Angelina receiving a straight red for bringing down Ella Toone, but despite a gutsy and fiery battle to the end, Sarina Wiegman’s side couldn’t find the equalising goal.

• Players went to airports but told not to travel

• Many said to have felt retraumatised by experience

The United Arab Emirates rejected visa applications for members of the Afghanistan women’s refugee squad who were due to travel there for the team’s first matches. Players went to airports, but were told not to board flights and many are said to have felt retraumatised by the experience.

Afghanistan had been due to play in the UAE against the hosts, Chad and Libya in the Fifa Unites: Women’s Series, with games running from Thursday to Wednesday. The 23 players selected via talent identification camps for the team, Afghan Women United, were due to fly to Dubai on 11 October for a training camp.

Second member of Sarina Wiegman’s England setup joins Bay Collective to sail ‘into waters there are no roadmaps for’

On Wednesday, Bay Collective announced the recruitment of England’s general manager under Sarina Wiegman, Anja van Ginhoven, as their director of global women’s football operations. The new multi-club ownership body, with San Francisco’s Bay FC the first club in its portfolio, has previous in recruiting from the Football Association.

The appointment this year of Kay Cossington, the influential former FA technical director, as the chief executive was a signal of intent from Bay Collective. Cossington knows women’s football inside out and now she has assembled a leadership team with a deep understanding of women’s football history and laden with experience.

Arsenal’s midfielder Mariona Caldentey said “almost everything” needs to be better after a laboured defeat of Benfica secured the holders’ first win of the Champions League campaign.

Beth Mead sent the ball crawling over the line in the second half after a scramble in the box and Alessia Russo killed off the game with their second in Portugal. It was not pretty in the Estádio da Luz, but it was enough, just, with Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge remaining a major concern.