DOHA: Zlatan Ibrahimovic hinted Thursday his international career will end after Euro 2016 in France, claiming it was “too soon” to commit to Sweden’s 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward, who has played 111 times for his country, said he could not say if we would play for his country after next summer.
“When it comes to the national team, I have the Europeans. I am happy we have reached the European Championships and I will be playing and I will enjoy it,” he said.
“What happens after, I don’t know. If I will be playing the qualification for Russia, I don’t know. That is too far, too soon to answer.”
Ibrahimovic was talking to Middle Eastern-based reporters by phone ahead of PSG’s winter tour to Qatar, which starts on December 27.
He made his debut for Sweden back in 2001 and has scored 62 times for his country.
The French champions will play his old team Inter in Doha in a friendly on December 30.
The 34-year-old helped his team qualify through the play-offs last month, scoring twice against Denmark.
Sweden were then drawn in a tough group of Belgium, Italy and Ireland in France next year.
“We are there now and we will enjoy every game we play,” he said.
“The toughest opponent, I think, will be all three because every team that is in the European championships is a good team that’s why they are there.
“We want to go further (than the group stage), that’s our mentality. go as far as possible.”
He said the French people would cheer Sweden as well because of his exploits at PSG.
“We can do fantastic things,” he added.
In a wide-ranging interview, Ibrahimovic also said he was uncertain about his club future.
His Paris contract runs out in June and said he did not know where he would play next year.
“In my thoughts now I don’t have any destination,” he said.
“This is a new situation for me.
“Normally, I have a contract for years and then change club but this is something different. My contract ends and then you are free to do whatever you want, so something totally new for me.”
The Swede also backed the controversial Qatar World Cup in 2022.
“I feel and I think it will be an amazing thing,” he said. “This is something I don’t want to miss.”
Zlatan hints at end of international career
Zlatan hints at end of international career
Nepal hope for Lamichhane US visa as T20 World Cup deadline passes
- The World Cup begins next Saturday, co-hosted by the US and West Indies, with Nepal’s first game on June 4
- Nepal are keen to select Lamichhane, who had his eight-year sentence for rape quashed on appeal this month
KATMANDU: Nepal said Sunday they had not given up hope on including controversial star Sandeep Lamichhane in their T20 World Cup squad, despite the spin bowler being denied a US visa and the deadline for final squads expiring.
The T20 World Cup begins next Saturday, co-hosted by the United States and West Indies, with Nepal’s first game on June 4 in Dallas.
“We are lobbying the embassy through the Nepal government,” Chatur Bahadur Chand, president of Cricket Association of Nepal, told AFP on Sunday.
Nepal are keen to select Lamichhane, who had his eight-year sentence for rape quashed on appeal this month.
The International Cricket Council said that all T20 World Cup squads had been named by the May 25 deadline.
Any alteration to Nepal’s squad would now require approval from the ICC’s event technical committee.
Nepal will play their first two group games in the United States followed by two in the West Indies.
Lamichhane, 23, was once the poster boy for cricket in Nepal, but was not included in the original squad because of the conviction for raping a young woman in a Katmandu hotel in 2022.
Former captain Lamichhane said late on Wednesday that the US Embassy in Nepal had “denied my visa for the T20 World Cup,” calling the decision “unfortunate.”
Nepal are making their second appearance in the T20 World Cup and will face the Netherlands in their opening match in Dallas on June 4, followed by group games against South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Before his rape trial, Lamichhane’s success as a leg-spinner had dramatically boosted the sport’s profile in the Himalayan republic.
In 2022, when an arrest warrant was first issued, Lamichhane initially failed to return from Jamaica, where he was playing in the Caribbean Premier League.
He was dismissed as national captain and arrested, but Nepal lifted his playing ban when he was freed on bail.
It allowed him to keep playing, including at last year’s Asia Cup in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, until he was convicted in January.
Al-Ain’s glory: 4 talking points from the 2023-24 AFC Champions League
- A victorious end to this AFC Champions League-era was earned by the UAE’s Al-Ain after a 5-1 win over Yokohama Marinos at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium
DUBAI: Al-Ain are kings of Asia after a remarkable AFC Champions League campaign culminated in a 5-1 win over Yokohama Marinos in the second leg of the final on Saturday night.
Morocco phenomenon Soufiane Rahimi helped gain a richly deserved second continental crown for Hernan Crespo’s troops, sparking wild celebrations at a jubilant Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in the Garden City.
The Boss’ 6-3 aggregate finals triumph over Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos was enriched by consecutive knockout-stage eliminations of red-hot Saudi Arabian favorites Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr and came with added poignancy as they go down in history as the first and last victors throughout 21 editions of this format ahead of next season’s sweeping changes for AFC Champions League Elite/AFC Champions League Two/AFC Challenge League.
Here, Arab News takes a look at the talking points for the Middle East’s competitors after this unforgettable — and unrepeatable — 2023-24 campaign:
Crespo and Rahimi make difference for unstoppable Al-Ain
Al-Ain’s curious campaign gained a fittingly glorious conclusion.
The Boss looked well off the pace domestically to a rampant Al-Wasl yet were the undisputed class of the continental field. That is, in part, attributable to the searing drive of Rahimi and Crespo’s charisma.
They swept through the group stage under the unpopular Alfred Schreuder, before their celebrated Argentine supremo orchestrated a tight victory versus Uzbekistan’s Nasaf and then two modern classics against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal.
A Marinos similarly prone to drama awaited in the decider. Al-Ain would only trail for 14 regulation minutes across the two legs, with a 2-1 away defeat being followed by a dominant 5-1 home victory.
There would be no repeat of the showpiece suffering caused by Douglas’ missed penalty in 2016 or Al-Ittihad’s inexorable 2005 second-leg display.
Crespo learned from the 2022 semifinal embarrassment inflicted upon him by Al-Hilal when in charge of Qatar’s Al-Duhail. His reintroduction of compatriot Matias Palacios — mystifyingly shunned by Schreuder — was influential.
Other heroes included Yahia Nader, Kaku, the ceaseless Mohammed Abbas and skipper Bandar Al-Ahbabi.
But the final words must go to Rahimi. The top scorer’s 13 goals were five more than anyone else, including three goals in two legs versus Al-Nassr and a first-leg hat-trick against Al-Hilal.
In the final’s second stanza, he leveled the tie on eight minutes, won the penalty for Kaku, which put them back ahead, and a supremely intelligent arching run kept him onside before being felled by goalkeeper William Popp for the red card. There was even time to link back up with gregarious Togo hit man Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba, who raised the roof via a late brace despite being continually ignored by Crespo.
In a sign of what awaits, however, links to a Saudi Arabian summer move will not abate.
Saudi Arabia’s time should come again
Shock and disappointment are the prevailing emotions for Saudi Arabia’s heavyweights as they look back on a 2023-24 campaign derailed by neighbors Al-Ain.
A quarterfinal double-header for the ages witnessed Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr eliminated on penalties, with a Rahimi-inspired Al-Ain then inflicting more pain on Al-Hilal in the subsequent round. Such early exits were far from the commentariat’s minds when Roshn Saudi League’s revolutionary summer 2023 spending spree was conducted.
There are multiple reasonable to believe, however, that a seventh AFC Champions League trophy will be won by a club from the Kingdom in a year’s time.
The AFC’s decision to scrap their own foreign quota from 2024-25 should exponentially benefit Saudi clubs.
This season’s limit to six foreign players — of whom one must be Asian-qualified — was two more than Saudi clubs are permitted domestically, or three if they did not possess an Asian foreigner. Hence Nassr’s panicked January acquisition of little-used Australia left-back Aziz Behich.
In comparison, only five open-age foreigners were allowed in this season’s ADNOC Pro League of the UAE and Qatar’s Expo Stars League.
The rule unduly disrupted the chemistry within Saudi squads, leading to consequential selection calls such as esteemed Senegal center-back Kalidou Koulibaly sitting out Al-Hilal’s last-four decider with Al-Ain.
There is also an undeniable home-soil advantage baked into the 2024-25 and 2025-26 Elite editions with the quarterfinals, semifinals and final being played in one-leg ties within the Kingdom.
Roshn Saudi League clubs can also look forward to another ambitious summer recruitment spree to further bolster already fearsome rosters. Jeddah giants Al-Ahli’s return to Asia’s premier club competition for the first time since 2021 will see the likes of Franck Kessie and Riyad Mahrez compete for glory.
In time, 2023-24 may just be looked upon as an unwelcome blip for Saudi Arabia’s strongest.
More middling Qatar performances
Another AFC Champions League passed by with no telling impact from Qatari clubs, despite an abundance of star quality and the national team’s second successive Asian Cup success this winter.
It is now 13 years and counting since Al-Sadd defeated South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the final. This is also the nation’s last showpiece appearance.
This season, Al-Arabi and Al-Wakrah exited in the play-offs to unfancied Uzbekistani opposition. It got little better in the competition proper, with Al-Sadd and Al-Duhail failing to make the knockouts.
It feels like a window of opportunity in the AFC Champions League has permanently closed for Qatar, without reward.
Focus on COVID-19 and the World Cup 2022 has shifted to Saudi Arabia’s AFC Champions League Elite “Final Stage” hosting rights for 2024-26, plus lengthy run-ups to the 2027 Asian Cup and World Cup 2034.
Shifting balance?
Change to the direction of travel from east to west within Asian football was notable, throughout 2023-24.
The question, now, is whether this is permanent.
Western supremacy seemed pre-determined in 2023/24, from the imposing strength of Saudi Arabia’s clubs to Al-Ain appearing as the only opponent with a realistic retort. It had, resolutely, not been this way for much of the recent past.
Al-Hilal (2019, 2021) and Al-Sadd (2011) were the only western-zone teams to prevail from 2006 to 2022.
With the financial might of the Chinese Super League continuing to emphatically wane and K League 1 and J1 League outfits remaining exporters of outstanding talent rather than importers, AFC Champions League Elite may have a drastically different roll of honor.
Jrue Holiday’s finishing flurry helps Celtics beat Pacers 114-111 for 3-0 lead in East finals
- Boston can clinch their second NBA Finals trip in three seasons with a Game 4 win Monday in Indianapolis
- Holiday played despite being listed as questionable with an illness unrelated to COVID-19 and missing the morning shootaround
INDIANAPOLIS: Jrue Holiday overcame an illness to convert the go-ahead three-point play with 38 seconds left, then make the game-saving steal to help the Boston Celtics rally from an 18-point deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 114-111 on Saturday night for a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Boston can clinch their second NBA Finals trip in three seasons with a Game 4 win Monday in Indianapolis.
Jayson Tatum matched his playoff career high with 36 points and had 10 rebounds and eight assists. Jaylen Brown added 24 points and Al Horford had 23 points and seven 3-pointers as the Celtics won their sixth straight playoff game and stayed unbeaten on the road this postseason.
Holiday played despite being listed as questionable with an illness unrelated to COVID-19 and missing the morning shootaround.
“For him to come out here and put it all on the line for us and come up with a big play to win the game, we’ve got a hell of a team,” Tatum said in his postgame TV interview.
Andrew Nembhard led the Pacers with a career-high 30 points before Holiday stole the ball from him with 3.3 seconds remaining. T.J. McConnell finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam each had 22 points.
Indiana played without All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton, who sat out with a left hamstring injury, and certainly missed him as Boston closed the game on a 13-2 run. It’s the first loss in seven postseason home games for the Pacers.
The sellout crowd, decked out primarily in gold checkered flag shirts featuring dozens of individual stamps of Indiana’s state outline as part of the Indianapolis 500 weekend celebration, helped inject energy with Haliburton out.
But the crowd was quieted by Holiday’s big layup, the ensuing free throw and the defensive play of the game. He closed it out by making two free throws with 1.1 seconds to go.
Indiana had a chance to force overtime but Aaron Nesmith’s 3-pointer was off the mark.
It was a wild game, with Indiana taking an 18-point lead midway through the second quarter and again midway through the third. But Boston responded the second time by forcing a flurry of turnovers that it turned into a 13-4 spurt to close to 90-81 after three quarters.
The Celtics were just getting started. Boston opened the fourth quarter on a 9-3 run that cut it to 93-90 on a 3 from Horford with 8:29 to play.
Then, after Indiana rebuilt a 107-99 cushion with 3:05 left, Boston closed the game on the 13-2 run that sealed its fifth consecutive road victory in these playoffs.
WWE’s epic SmackDown and King And Queen showdowns shake up Jeddah
JEDDAH: WWE’s epic SmackDown and King and Queen showdown shook up Jeddah on Saturday night.
WWE star Randy Orton was defeated by Gunther and was crowned King of the Ring.
#WATCH: @WWE's epic double-header of #SmackDown and #WWEKingAndQueenshowdowns shakes up #Jeddah on Saturday, with the Superdome buzzing with energy as some 20,000 fans cheered for their favorite fighters https://t.co/xR16neOGJt pic.twitter.com/2s0ssRk65U
— Arab News | Sport (@ArabNewsSport) May 25, 2024
Wrestler Nye Jax achieved the title of Queen of the Ring in the women’s category, after defeating Lyra Valkyrie.
Over 20,000 fans filled up the arena to watch Liv Morgan retain her WWE world champion belt after defeating Becky Lynch.
In a match for the undisputed WWE championship belt, Cody Rhodes defeated American YouTuber and boxer Logan Paul.
Barcelona avenge Lyon defeats to win third women’s Champions League
- The defending champions had never beaten the French giants, losing in the 2019 and 2022 finals against them, but finally succeeded in Bilbao
- Securing their third Champions League trophy from five final appearances, Barcelona demonstrated that they are the new powerhouse of the women’s game
BILBAO, Spain: Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas struck to earn Barcelona their third women’s Champions League trophy, securing a 2-0 triumph over record eight-time winners Lyon on Saturday.
The defending champions had never beaten the French giants, losing in the 2019 and 2022 finals against them, but finally succeeded in Bilbao to compete a spectacular quadruple this season in coach Jonatan Giraldez’s last match in charge.
Bonmati pounced after 63 minutes and substitute Putellas finished the job in stoppage time to avenge Barcelona’s prior defeats by Sonia Bompastor’s side.
Securing their third Champions League trophy from five final appearances across the last six seasons, Barcelona demonstrated that they are the new powerhouse of the women’s game.
“(It’s) a dream day, it is difficult to explain with words the feeling I have now. It is a special moment,” said Giraldez.
“It is one of happiest days of my life.”
Barca’s stars had insisted that this time they were capable of beating Lyon, adding experience and mental strength to their undoubted talent, and so it proved at a packed San Mames.
Backed by the vast majority of a 51,000 record crowd at a women’s Champions League final, Bonmati and her side completed one of the few challenges remaining to them.
“It’s the first time we’ve beaten Lyon. I’m proud of the team, and we know that with these fans we have, we can’t fail,” Bonmati told DAZN.
“It’s incredible what we’re living through as a team, I’m so lucky... to see we’re creating that for so many people, the historic amount of fans we’ve brought, it’s the proudest I’ve felt, I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
Giraldez started Mariona Caldentey in attack and moved Fridolina Rolfo to left-back, dropping Ona Batlle to the bench alongside two-time Ballon d’Or winner Putellas.
Lyon left Ada Hegerberg started on the bench too, with the all-time top scorer in the competition’s history struggling for form after injury.
Lucy Bronze deflected a ball onto her own crossbar and Lyon’s towering captain Wendie Renard hit the outside of the post as Barcelona suffered a couple of early jitters.
After going four goals down by half-time in the 2019 final and three down in 2022, this time the Catalans dug deep to hold it together at the back.
Barca threatened increasingly at the other end. Patri Guijarro, who scored twice in last year’s final against Wolfsburg, broke in for their first big chance after half an hour.
Christiane Endler saved and Selma Bacha cleared the ball off the line after it rebounded back toward goal.
Barca’s Caroline Graham Hansen, in sparkling form this season, gave left-back Bacha a torrid time and had 11-time finalist Renard backpedalling fearfully near the end of the first half, but dragged her shot wide.
Barcelona made their quality count after the hour mark when Bonmati sent them ahead.
The Ballon d’Or winner had been quiet but arrived to collect Caldentey’s clever pass and burst into the area.
Bonmati’s low shot deflected off Vanessa Gilles and flew over the helpless Endler, for her sixth goal of the tournament.
Champions League top goalscorer Kadidiatou Diani curled agonizingly over for Lyon as Bompastor’s side tried to fight back. Hegerberg headed off target as Lyon’s chances ebbed away.
“We have to recognize Barcelona had a great match and deserved to win even though it’s hard to accept it,” said Bompastor, tipped to join Chelsea next season, although she stayed tight-lipped on her future.
“We lacked attacking efficiency, we should have scored a goal.”
Eventually Putellas, on as a late substitute, put on the captain’s armband and settled the game by rifling into the top corner to get Barcelona’s celebrations started early.
“Obviously it’s a dream come true, what we have achieved,” said Putellas after her goal locked in Barcelona’s quadruple.
Bronze who won the competition for the fifth time — including three times with Lyon — praised Putellas.
“She’s the captain of the team, she’s the ‘queen’ of Barcelona for a reason,” said Bronze.
“She’s got the quality to do that in the last minute of the Champions League final when we were up against it at the end and just sealed the win for us.”
