Southgate was in a typically

Wayne Rooney says Gareth Southgate is in pole position to become the England boss on a permanent basis. Chad Kuhl Jersey . Southgate was in a typically calm and satisfied mood on Friday night at Wembley having overseen a 3-0 win over Scotland and racking up seven points from his three World Cup Qualifiers in charge.The FA will now begin to formally assess their options for a new boss after the friendly with Spain at Wembley on Tuesday and it seems the current squad are in no rush to have a new face at the helm. England skipper Rooney, who Southgate has stuck by despite mounting criticism of the Manchester United striker, told Sky Sports: Southgate has done brilliant with the U21s and hes come in and done a really good job.Hes got two wins from three and a good point from the last game in Slovenia. Its down to the FA now and hes put himself in pole position and Im sure the right decision will be made. Has he done enough? Big win but Gareth Southgates issues remain Southgate, who took over from Sam Allardyce in September, revealed he has loved taking the reins of the England team, but his future was out of his hands. The former Middlesbrough boss said: Its a unique situation. Im not sure anybody else has had this many games for everybody to assess what youre doing.I just wanted to win this game because I know what it means to this country. It was a big night for our players to come through this pressure environment given the recent history.It was down to three headers from Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill securing the spoils against the wasteful Scots on Friday night to cement the teams advantage at the top of Group F by two points.Two of the scorers echoed their captains opinions on the interim boss. Gary Cahill gives his reaction after the 3-0 victory over Scotland Liverpool forward Sturridge, whose clever header opened the scoring at Wembley to calm the early nerves, added: Hes relaxed the camp and stamped his authority on the tactics and with his backroom staff.I think hes got a good chance to get the job. All the lads are very relaxed with him and we like the way things are going.While Chelsea defender Cahill said: Its out of our hands and all we can do is give our very best for him and I think we did that tonight [against Scotland]. Everyones boosted by a victory like that. Also See: England 3-0 Scotland report Has Southgate done enough? Southgate: Ive loved the job England v Scotland player ratings Wholesale Pirates Jerseys . Span, Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche had two hits apiece as Washington won the final two games of the series. The Nationals improved to 3-7 against Atlanta. They increased their division lead over the Braves to 1 1/2 games. Ke’Bryan Hayes Jersey . Seth Smith hit a towering drive for a tying homer leading off the eighth and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs to give the Padres a 3-1 victory against the rival Dodgers in baseballs North American opener Sunday night.MELBOURNE, Australia - Serena Williams claims to suffer from nerves and jitters before her first-round matches at the Grand Slams.She certainly didnt show it, winning her first set in 21 minutes on Tuesday night on the way to a 6-0, 6-4 win over Alison Van Uytvanck at the Australian Open.The 18-time major winner has only once lost in the opening round at a Grand Slam tournament, and this is her 58th. One more Grand Slam title and shell pass Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all-time list of champions.If I could get to 19 in Australia that would be amazing, said the top-ranked Williams, who won the last of her five Australian titles in 2010.Four-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic returned to Rod Laver Arena for the first time as a husband and father, shrugging off the effects of a cold to beat No. 116-ranked Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in his first-round match.Djokovic won the first of his seven major titles at the 2008 Australian Open, then won here in three consecutive years from 2011 to 2013. His 25-match winning streak at Melbourne Park ended in a quarterfinal loss last year to Stan Wawrinka, who went on to win the title.Wawrinka began the defence of a major crown for the first time with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 100-ranked Marsel Ilhan, taking less than 1 1/2 hours to breeze through the first round.Its great, bringing me a lot of memories from last year, Wawrinka said of his return. It was great to come back here feeling happy, happy with my game.Top-ranked Djokovic had the subsequent match on centre court and appeared to be tired and still recovering from illness after his match, saying hed had a rough two weeks health-wise but Im getting up there.His mood changed suddenly when a court-side interview turned to reflections of 2014, when he won Wimbledon for the second time, married his long-time partner, Jelena, and the couple had a son, Stefan.Well those two events are the two most beautiful events I experienced in my life, he said. Paul Waner Jersey. Stefan, hes a blessing we received ... now I have even more motivation.Two other men widely considered to be in the next generation of major winners advanced in straight sets, with No. 5 Kei Nishikori beating Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-2 and No. 8 Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., firing 30 aces in a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3 win against qualifier Illya Marchenko.No. 9 David Ferrer beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3, No. 12 Feliciano Lopez struggled past American wild-card entry Denis Kudla 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8, while No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 18 Gilles Simon -4 and No. 19 John Isner also advanced.No. 16 Fabio Fognini lost in four sets to Alejando Gonzalez.Nishikori is playing at his first major since his run to the U.S. Open, when he became the first Asian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final. Hes determined to go one better and win a major.Yeah for sure that was one of my best results in my career that gave me a lot of confidence, the Japanese star said. I beat a lot of top 10 players.Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska needed only 63 minutes for their straight-sets wins over Richel Hogenkamp and Kurumi Nara, and No. 18 Venus Williams beat Maria Teresa Torro 6-2, 6-2. No. 12 Flavia Pennetta, No. 13 Andrea Petkovic and No. 15 Jelena Jankovic were all eliminated, joining the eight seeded players in the womens draw who were beaten on day one.Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka continued her comeback from a foot injury with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win over Sloane Stephens — her third in three years at the Australian Open — and will next have to play U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki, who beat 18-year-old American Taylor Townsend 7-6 (1), 6-2.No. 11 Dominika Cibulkova, a finalist here last year, opened with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 comeback win against Kirsten Flipkens, while 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur also advanced. ' ' '