DOHA: Lionel Messi up against Virgil van Dijk. The youngest coach at the World Cup taking on the oldest. South America versus Europe. A back catalog of famous meetings.
The quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands on Friday has all the ingredients of a classic.
And the possibility of it being Messi’s final game on soccer’s biggest stage just adds to the anticipation.
The seven-time world player of the year is three wins away from achieving his ultimate dream but he has two people, in particular, blocking his path.
First, the not inconsiderable frame of Van Dijk, who has been one of the world’s best defenders over the past five years. If there’s anyone able to stop Messi on one of his trademark dribbles, it is the graceful Liverpool center back who combines pace with a great reading of the game.
And then there’s Louis van Gaal, the wily tactician who is 71, has recently undergone successful treatment for prostate cancer, and is now plotting to win the World Cup in perhaps the final job of his 26-year coaching career.
Van Gaal, who has long been one of the most charismatic characters in soccer, is approaching this task with a lot of fun — even on the eve of one of the biggest matches of his career.
On Thursday, he was told that Angel Di Maria, who plays for Argentina, thinks he is the worst coach he has ever played under following their time together at Manchester United in 2014-15.
Van Gaal said it was a pity Di Maria felt this way — “he is one of the few players to have said that,” he remarked, “as usually it is the other way round” — and added he once had a falling-out with Netherlands captain Memphis Depay, who was sitting next to him.
“Now we kiss each other,” Van Gaal said, leaning toward Depay with his arms out.
Van Gaal was also asked how he was planning to stop Messi — a question for which many coaches down the years have failed to come up with an answer.
“It’d be pretty stupid to reveal your own tactics,” he said, smiling. “But it’s not that difficult to come up with any answer. You could have come up with an answer yourself. You may want to block and close the passing lines. Am I right, Memphis?“
As for his Argentina counterpart, the 44-year-old Lionel Scaloni is a comparative novice after taking charge of his country in 2018 for his first senior coaching role. Still, he has already led Argentina to the Copa America title last year — the country’s first major trophy since 1993 — and has managed to steady his team after a shocking loss to Saudi Arabia in their opening group game.
While Van Gaal was predicting a tight match that will be settled by a “decisive moment,” Scaloni said it will be a “beautiful game because we are talking about two national teams willing to attack but who can also defend.”
It’s set to be a clash of styles between two of soccer’s historic powerhouses, with Argentina — a two-time champion — preferring to play a possession game and the Dutch — three times a beaten finalist — now typically playing on the counterattack under Van Gaal.
They have met in some high-profile World Cup games, none bigger than the 1978 final won by Argentina on home soil. There was also a last-16 match in 1998, won by the Netherlands thanks to a wonderful 90th-minute goal by Dennis Bergkamp, and then a penalty-shootout win by Argentina in the semifinals in 2014.
Messi played in that game and was kept relatively quiet by a team also coached by Van Gaal. Eight years later, Messi is still Argentina’s star player and put in his best performance in this World Cup in the 2-1 win over Australia in the round of 16.
“The tournament is starting tomorrow for us, for real,” Van Gaal said. “Although I don’t want to downplay the importance of the other countries we have beaten, Argentina and then potentially Brazil in the next round are different countries than those we played up to now.”
Scaloni was pressed on the fitness of midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, who might be a doubt according to some reports in the Argentine media, but gave little away.
Messi resumes World Cup quest as Argentina play Netherlands
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Messi resumes World Cup quest as Argentina play Netherlands
- The quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands on Friday has all the ingredients of a classic
- The seven-time world player of the year, Messi, is three wins away from achieving his ultimate dream
Spinners help IPL’s lowest ranked Bengaluru defeat Hyderabad
- Faf du Plessis-led RCB won the toss and scored a par 206-7, setting a 207 run target for Hyderabad
- Hyderabad could only score 171-8 as RCB registered only their second win in nine games
HYDERABAD: Indian spinners Karn Sharma and Swapnil Singh took four key wickets to help IPL’s lowest-ranked Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Earlier, Faf du Plessis-led RCB won the toss and scored a par 206-7, setting a 207 run target for Hyderabad’s in-form batting unit which has already broken some IPL batting records this season.
Hyderabad could only score 171-8 as RCB registered only their second win in nine games and are still languishing at the bottom of the 10-team table.
Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli hit a slow 43-ball 51 and stitched a 48-run opening partnership with Plessis, who fell after hitting 12-ball 25.
England’s Will Jacks (6) fell early before Rajat Patidar’s explosive 20-ball 50 propelled Bengaluru to 130 in the 13th over, when the rookie batter fell to Indian veteran pacer Jaydev Unadkat.
Kohli fell in the 15th over leaving RCB reeling at 140-4 as their innings lost some momentum and wickets of Mahipal Lomror (7) and Dinesh Karthik (11) by the 19th over.
Australia’s star all-rounder Cameron Green hit an unbeaten 20-ball 37 to provide a final flourish as Unadkat (3-30) and T Natarajan (2-39) finished with five wickets between them.
Hyderabad’s explosive openers, Australia’s Travis Head and Indian rookie Abhishek Sharma, failed to build a partnership Thursday.
Head (1) fell in the very first over of the chase to spinner Jacks and Sharma hit 13-ball 31 before he fell in the fourth over to leave Sunrisers at 2-37.
Bengaluru’s Karn and Swapnil took three key middle-order wickets — Aiden Markram (7), Nitish Kumar Reddy (13), and Heinrich Klaasen (7) — to leave Hyderabad at 5-69 in the eighth over of the chase.
Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins, who hit 15-ball 31 with three sixes, provided some lower-order flourish before dismissal to national teammate Green, who bowled two tight overs for 12 runs and two wickets.
Hyderabad is still comfortably placed on the third spot in the IPL table and Cummins said that he “won’t dwell on this one too much.”
Winning captain Plessis said that their team had “been close for a while but you need to win matches to get confidence in the group.”
“Massive win for us. When you’re not winning it does affect you mentally, it does affect your confidence,” he added.
“You can’t speak confidence into the group, you can’t fake confidence into the group.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan fully committed to growth of snooker in Saudi Arabia
- ‘I always try to support the youngsters coming through and I’ll be doing the same in Saudi Arabia,’ star says after 1st-round win at the 2024 World Championship in Sheffield
- The 7-time world champion this month signed a 3-year partnership with Riyadh Season, and plans were announced for a snooker academy in the Kingdom bearing his name
LONDON: Snooker superstar Ronnie O’Sullivan, the hot favorite to win the 2024 World Championship that is underway in the English city of Sheffield, said he is fully committed to the development of the sport in Saudi Arabia.
The seven-time world champion this month signed a three-year partnership agreement with Riyadh Season, and plans were announced to establish a snooker academy in the country bearing his name.
Speaking after a 10-1 first-round victory over Jackson Page at The Crucible on Thursday, O’Sullivan reiterated his dedication to the development of snooker in the Kingdom and the wider Gulf region.
“I love helping grassroots snooker,” he told SportsBoom.com. “I’ve done a lot in China, previously, and I have a lot of academies out there. I always try to support the youngsters coming through and I’ll be doing the same in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s great for snooker; we need grassroots. It’s great to be a part of helping that new generation coming through.”
O’Sullivan said he is eager to work with Saudi investors to help grow snooker in the region and expand its global reach from its traditional heartland in the UK. He added that he will visit the Kingdom several times a year, even outside of tournament appearances, in his efforts to actively contribute to the expansion of the sport.
“We haven’t decided but whatever his excellency (Turki Alalshikh, chairperson of the General Entertainment Authority) wants to do, I’ll be happy to discuss anything with him.”
O’Sullivan’s enthusiasm for raising the profile the sport in the Kingdom is supported by Barry Hearn, the president of promotions company Matchroom Sport.
Hearn said O’Sullivan is the ideal person to help develop the game in previously untapped markets and will play a pivotal role in the plans for Saudi Arabia. He drew parallels with the effect British boxer Anthony Joshua has had on the development of boxing in the Kingdom.
“We’ve opened 16 gyms over there since Joshua did his first fight and we’ll be looking to open a similar amount of snooker clubs, with Ronnie as the spearhead,” he said.
Hearn also confirmed the plans to establish a dedicated Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy to help grow the sport in the region and said Matchroom will supply coaches to work there.
“The Ronnie O’Sullivan Academy will be opened this year, which will be the focal point, and we’ll be sending some of our coaches over to Saudi (Arabia) full-time,” he added.
O’Sullivan is due to take on Ryan Day on Sunday in the second round of the World Championship.
New Zealand outclass Pakistan to win 4th T20I
- Opener Tim Robinson hit a half-century to ensure New Zealand reached 178-7 in 20 overs
- Pacer William O’ Rourke returned figures of 3-27 to keep Pakistan down to 174-8 in 20 overs
LAHORE: Experienced allrounder Jimmy Neesham kept his cool to defend six off the last ball to clinch a four-run victory for New Zealand on Thursday in the fourth Twenty20 international against Pakistan in Lahore.
Pakistan needed 18 off the last over in their chase of 179 but Neesham came out in flying colors despite being hit for a boundary off the first ball, giving a packed Qaddafi Stadium crowd heartbreaks.
Opener Tim Robinson hit a maiden half century to lift New Zealand to 178-7 in 20 overs before pacer William O’Rourke claimed 3-27 to keep Pakistan down to 174-8.
Returning allrounder Imad Wasim (22 not out) managed to hit the last ball for a single as New Zealand take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series with the last game on Saturday, also in Lahore.
Pakistan also lost the third match by seven wickets after winning the first by the same margin while the first match was abandoned after just two balls — all three in Rawalpindi.
The defeats are a jolt to a full-strength Pakistan side in their preparations for the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in the United States and the West Indies in June.
New Zealand, missing a host of players due to Indian Premier League, injuries and unavailability, can feel elated at their bench strength going into the World Cup.
Pakistan sensed they were in with a chance when Fakhar Zaman, who made 45-ball 61 with three sixes and four boundaries, lifted Pakistan from 79-4 with a 59-run stand for the fifth wicket with Iftikhar Ahmed who made a 20-ball 23.
But O’Rourke, playing only his fourth T20I, dismissed Ahmed to add to his wickets of Babar Azam (five) and Saim Ayub (20) to give New Zealand a boost.
Fellow pacer Ben Sears (2-27) claimed Zaman’s wicket with 33 needed off 14 balls.
Earlier, Robinson batted with aggression.
Robinson’s 36-ball 51 with two sixes and four fours lifted New Zealand — who were sent in to bat — to 93-1 in 10 overs before Abbas Afridi’s career best 3-20 helped Pakistan pull back.
New Zealand started briskly with Robinson and Tom Blundell, who made 28 off 15, putting on 56 for the opening stand in five overs.
But from 94-1 New Zealand lost three wickets, including that of dangerman Mark Chapman for eight, as Pakistan’s fielders held catches to back some good bowling by Abbas.
Dean Foxcroft chipped in with 34 off 26 deliveries and skipper Michael Bracewell added 27 to keep the scoreboard ticking as New Zealand managed 43 in the last five overs.
Pakistan were forced to make five changes as wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and Muhammad Irfan Khan were injured while they rested Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed.
Spanish govt to ‘oversee’ scandal-hit football federation
- The CSD said it will create a “commission of supervision, standardization and representation” led by “independent personalities“
- Former Spain coach and 2010 World Cup winner Vicente del Bosque could be one of the members of this commission
MADRID: The Spanish government decided Thursday to create a commission to “oversee” the country’s scandal-hit football federation (RFEF) and try to pull it out of crisis.
“The Spanish government adopted this decision to redress the serious situation of the RFEF so that the organization could enter a stage of renewal in a stable climate,” the National Sports Council (CSD), an agency dependent on the Ministry of Sports, announced.
Spain are set to host the 2030 World Cup along with Portugal and Morocco, but in recent months the RFEF has lurched from one embarrassment to another.
The CSD said it will create a “commission of supervision, standardization and representation” led by “independent personalities” which will “oversee the RFEF during the coming months in response to the federation’s crisis and in defense of Spain’s general interests.”
According to the Spanish press, former Spain coach and 2010 World Cup winner Vicente del Bosque could be one of the members of this commission.
However, world and European football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA issued a statement expressing “great concern” at the situation around the RFEF.
“FIFA and UEFA will seek additional information to assess the extent to which the CSD’s appointment (of the committee)... may affect the RFEF’s obligation to manage its affairs independently and without undue government interference,” they said.
FIFA suspended Zimbabwe and Kenya’s memberships over government interference in 2022, subsequently lifting the bans.
Former RFEF president Luis Rubiales resigned in disgrace last September after his forcible kiss on the lips of Women’s World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso and is now being investigated in a separate corruption probe.
The only candidate to replace Rubiales, Pedro Rocha, is also being investigated, while a report from the country’s leading sports court said the RFEF had taken decisions “beyond its remit.”
One such decision was the renewal of Spain coach Luis de la Fuente’s contract in February.
It was the sport court’s report that led to Thursday’s CSD decision to oversee the federation.
Elections for the RFEF presidency are currently scheduled for May 6.
The Secretary of State for Sport and CSD president, Jose Manuel Uribes, on Thursday urged the RFEF “to limit its functions to the mere ordinary administration of the entity, as required by law.”
The CSD will meet again next Tuesday to analyze the situation and make a ruling, if necessary, on the corruption case opened by the sports court against Rocha, who took over from Rubiales on an interim basis.
In a year when the RFEF will be responsible for Spain’s teams at the European Championship and the Olympic Games, the Spanish government is aiming “to restore the reputation, the good name and the image of Spanish football and complete the electoral process with a renewed assembly for the 2024-2028 period,” said Uribes in the CSD statement.
“We have to look after what we have in the future, the immediate future, which is the planning of the World Cup,” Uribes said in an appearance at Spain’s Congress of Deputies.
He pledged that the government will do everything to sort out the “unacceptable situation” at the RFEF.
Uribes also said he was “in constant communication with FIFA” regarding the RFEF.
“The CSD is going to guarantee that Spanish football maintains its excellence at the sporting level and also stands out as exemplary at the institutional level,” Uribes insisted on Thursday.
Steven Gerrard discusses football, family, future aspirations
- Young boss advises aspiring players to ‘dream big and work hard every single day’
- Former Liverpool legend holds Zinedine Zidane in high regard, labels him as his hero and ‘best midfielder in the world’
RIYADH: Roshn Saudi League side Al-Ettifaq’s manager Steven Gerrard has called on young players dreaming of a football career to “dream big, picture a dream and then work as hard as you can every day to improve.”
The ex-Liverpool legend, in an exclusive interview with the RSL, advised young footballers to “listen to the right people and every day be extremely motivated and dedicated to reach your dream.”
Gerrard, 43, shared his views on Thursday on various aspects of his life and career, giving his opinions on alternative careers, advice for young players, family life, and his views on leadership.
Opening up about other potential career paths outside football management, the former Liverpool captain said: “I’m very much into sport so I would have tried to have stayed in some sport in some capacity and tried to get a job related to football, or maybe related to a different sport. Growing up, all I wanted to do was watch sport on TV, do sport at school, so I’m very sport orientated.
“I think football is about dreams and memories and experiences, so my advice to (youngsters) is set a dream, set a target and then every single day maximize the opportunities to get better, to learn and to grow and to improve your skills, and reach for the stars.”
Gerrard also spoke about his family life, and said: “When I am not at work or at football, I am very much family orientated.
“I have three daughters and one son, so I am always taking them to different places; always playing football in the garden with my son or taking him to football.
“I am probably a taxi or an Uber driver a lot of the time, taking them to school and picking them up from school. I also help with doing homework and if I get a small bit of time to myself, I like to spend it with my friends.”
Having spent his life in football, Gerrard has had the perfect opportunity to see the top world stars firsthand, and he recalls his favorite three players with ease.
He said: “I would pick Zinedine Zidane (as top player) because he was my hero growing up. In my generation, he was the best midfielder in the world, so I’d pick Zidane and also the two others in my generation were Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. They would be the three I’d pick.”
And how would Gerrard himself like to be remembered? He said: “I want to be remembered as someone who gave everything in terms of 100 percent every single day.
“I was loyal, I was a fighter. I wanted to give all my energy and my efforts for the team that I represented and I was a team player, so I want to be remembered for those values.”
Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq currently sit in seventh place in the RSL and face Al-Raed in their next fixture on April 27.
