Let’s start with some England team news. Nigel Spink is in goal, with a back four of Danny Thomas, Nathaniel Clyne, Russell Osman and Frank Lampard senior. Midfield is Mark Barham, Danny Drinkwater, Nick Pickering and John Gregory, and up front we have Peter Ward and Francis Jeffers. This England XI is comprised of fringe players who were capped against Australia. In four cases – Spink, Pickering, Ward and Jeffers – it was their only cap. England have played Australia seven times in international football, and all seven games have had the whiff of a ‘B’ international.

Tonight’s game at Wembley feels the same, with Gareth Southgate confirming that back-up players such as Levi Colwill, Eddie Nketiah and Ollie Watkins are likely to get a piece of the action. “We need to give people opportunities,” said Southgate. “We have six matches before we name a squad in all likelihood for a European Championship … We want to see as many of the squad as we can this week … There is a reality with England that you have to take your chances when they come. As a former player, you knew the moments when you felt: ‘OK, I have got to deliver tonight.’”

Southgate’s sales pitch was impressively delivered, and made Football Daily reflect for at least 30 seconds on whether we should watch the game instead of Gardeners’ World, but Frances Tophill is in her new garden, assessing the tomatoes in her upcycled greenhouse, while Rekha Mistry shares the successes and failures in her new vegetable garden, and watching Jarrod Bowen make a penetrative third-man run just can’t compare.

At least Southgate will learn something, because in terms of the result it’s a can’t-win game. If England beat Australia, meh. If they don’t, social media’s finest will have the hashtags out by 10pm and the rest of Britain/Europe/the world will sink pints of schadenfreude until the small hours. England’s only previous defeat to Australia was that peculiar game 20 years ago when Sven Göran-Eriksson changed the entire team at half-time with Australia 2-0 up. One good thing did come out of that game: one of the 11 substitutes was a teenage beast called Wayne Rooney, who became England’s youngest-ever player. Colwill and Nketiah, the uncapped players in tonight’s squad, have a lot to live up to.

Friday night international friendly action! Join Scott Murray for England 0-0 Australia, live from Wembley, kick-off at 7.45pm BST.

Ayal Young, a Tottenham fan from Israel who was shot and seriously injured when Hamas attacked his kibbutz last Saturday, has told Jacob Steinberg it is a “disgrace” the FA will not light the Wembley arch in Israel’s colours for Friday’s England game.

“If they stand for one side – they stood for Ukraine, [and] for France, for Belgium after the terror attacks – they should stand for us,” Young said from his hospital bed. “More than 1,000 terrorists came to slaughter us. It’s not like we went to bomb them and they attacked us back. We defended our homes and families.”

“I was hugely proud to play for San Marino. I didn’t need to psyche myself up. My adrenalin was so high, I could have run for two hours without stopping. Some people might think ‘what on earth are you doing, playing for San Marino who lose all their games?’ But whoever says that doesn’t know what it means to play international football” – Roberto Di Maio, who made his international debut aged 40 against Northern Ireland in March, on representing the world’s lowest-ranked national team.

“Thursday’s trip down Memory Lane certainly evoked a memory for me, as I attended that game on the Kop 46 years ago with my ultimately crestfallen Welsh mate, Alwyn. It was the strangest ‘home game’ I’ve ever attended, with Scots outnumbering their Welsh counterparts by at least three to one. It was also the match that gave rise to an oft-asked quiz question: who scored a goal, playing on his home ground, for the away side, and it wasn’t an own goal? Kenny [Dalglish] of course” – John Myles.

“One of my favourite things to do during the international break is to look around at what other fixtures are going on around the world. Last night I chanced upon a resounding away victory in the Viktoria Derby (not Shire), a win for my daily drinks order over Dire Dawa City and perhaps the greatest football team name ever. Simple things and all that ...” – Noble Francis.

“Now Junior Stanislas has retired [Thursday’s news, full email edition], can we start referring to him as Senior Stanislas?” – Mike Hulse.

Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … John Myles.

Wednesday’s Memory Lane [full email edition] featured a fresh-faced Michael Owen holding a Mitre ball back in 1993. We called it the Multiplex, and plenty of you emailed in to correct us. But what type of ball was it? Some said the Mitre Final; others the Pro. Five solid minutes of searching online couldn’t provide an answer, so we went to the source. Welcome to a new occasional/one-off series, Football Daily Investigates …

“Hi Football Daily, thank you for contacting Mitre. Due to the age we are unable to identify the exact football, however we can confirm this is not a Multiplex. We are sorry for any disappointment this may have caused.” Gah. So, they can’t answer but do know we’re definitely wrong. Case closed. All we know for sure is that it would have stung like nobody’s business on a cold winter morning.

The chairman of the Israeli Professional Football Leagues, Erez Halfon, has said he is “shocked, amazed and disappointed beyond words” at the Premier League’s reluctance to issue an unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo have both left Italy’s training camp after finding out they were being investigated by prosecutors in Turin. “We must try to help them defend themselves, but it’s also right that justice takes its course,” said Luciano Spalletti of the inquiry, the exact nature of which remains unclear.

Jorge Vilda, sacked by Spain in the fallout from Luis Rubiales’ conduct at the World Cup final, has been appointed as head coach of the Morocco women’s team. Meanwhile, in her first public comments since the final in August, Jenni Hermoso has said Spain achieved “something more transcendent” than winning the World Cup.

Beth Mead could feature in Arsenal’s WSL game against Aston Villa on Sunday after 11 months out with an ACL injury. “We are really looking forward to having her back,” beamed Gunners manager Jonas Eidevall.

Danny, Danny Röhl – the Boney M-themed chant for the new Sheffield Wednesday manager, replacing Xisco Muñoz, appears to write itself.

Dan Burn has extended his Newcastle contract until 2025. “I wanted to be here for a long time, so it feels even more of an achievement signing this one than actually signing here in the first place,” cheered the Blyth-born big man.

And comeback of the week belongs to England’s Under-21s, who were 1-0 down after 37 minutes against Serbia – and fought back to edge the match 9-1 at the City Ground.

“I went to school down the road. My in-laws still live about five minutes’ drive away. I’ve always been emotionally attached to this club” – Paul Elliott, who began his playing career at Charlton Athletic, has returned to the Valley as a director aiming to bring some stability to the club. He gets his chat on with Paul McGuinness here.

After winning the treble and celebrating in style, Jack Grealish’s season was stalled by “the worst dead leg I’ve ever had in my life” – but he tells David Hytner he’s ready to shine again for England and Manchester City.

Stuck in the fourth tier but bringing in more than 17,000 fans to home games, Bradford City’s ambition proved too big for Mark Hughes, as Aaron Bower writes.

After a shock early World Cup exit, the USA USA USA women’s team need a new coach to lead them to the 2024 Olympics. Easier said than done, warns Jeff Kassouf.

A streaker runs on to the pitch at Upton Park during England’s aforementioned friendly defeat to Australia in 2003. He wasn’t the only Englishman to show himself up on the pitch that evening, as the Socceroos won 3-1.