Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the side's saviour for the umpteenth time this season, scoring with a close range header from a mishit shot from skipper Wayne Rooney that allowed the Red Devils to grind out a 1-0 win in the Europa League against minnows Zorya Luhansk at Old Trafford.

United huffed and puffed for large periods, but failed to break down a well oiled Zorya defence, before Rooney's introduction from the bench saw the England international inadvertently setup Ibrahimovic for the match-winner.

The fluency that Manchester United showed at the weekend in their 4-1 demolition of Leicester City looked very much a thing of the past as the Red Devils scraped together a barely deserved 1-0 win over European newbies Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine at Old Trafford on Thursday night.

United managed just the solitary shot on target in 90 minutes against the Ukrainian minnows and had the footballing Gods to thank for their win as Zlatan Ibrahimovic made the most of his size to prod home a header from barely a yard or two out after substitute Wayne Rooney's attempted shot on goal was so badly hit that skewed in the direction of the Swedish legend who was perfectly placed to nod home.

Canada will begin their journey at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Jordan 2016 on Friday when they face Cameroon on the opening day of the group phase at the Al Hassan International Stadium in Irbid, Jordan. The match will be broadcast in Canada on TSN2 and RDS2 (11:00 ET / 8:00 PT).

While Friday’s match will be the first encounter between Canada and Cameroon at this level, Canada Soccer National EXCEL 14-17 Director and U17 Coach Bev Humphries-Priestman expects it will be a hard-fought battle.

A hat-trick from Mohammed Dawood saw Iraq brush aside Japan and secure their place in the final of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Championship after an action-packed 4-2 victory over the two-time winners in Margao on Thursday.

Having netted both goals in Monday's quarter-final win over Uzbekistan, striker Dawood gave his side the lead inside 20 minutes before a Hiroto Yamada double switched the advantage Japan's way before half-time.

Japan passed up several chances in the opening period of the second half and Muntadher Abdulsada punished their wastefulness with the leveller on 66 minutes before Dawood converted twice from the penalty spot to complete his treble and send them into Sunday's final.

River Plate striker Lucas Alario was included among three Argentina-based players added to the Albiceleste squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay next month. Alario, 23, has scored 22 goals in 45 appearances for the Buenos Aires club since arriving from Colon in July 2015.

On Wednesday, Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza also added uncapped Tigres midfielder Guido Pizarro, San Lorenzo's Emmanuel Mas and Estudiantes' Mariano Andujar to the preliminary squad he had announced earlier this month.

Barcelona came from behind to beat Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 on Matchday 2 of the UEFA Champions League, a victory owed to second-half goals from Arda Turan and Gerard Pique.

Hosts Monchengladbach grabbed the opener through Thorgan Hazard, the younger brother of Chelsea star Eden, before substitute Turan and Pique smoothed the way for the victory on the road in front of 46,283 spectators at Borussia Park on Wednesday.