Close contests on cards as QSL resumes todayBy Sports ReporterDoha

The QNB Stars League will resume af-ter a six-week break today with former champions Al Rayyan taking on Qatar SC at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Al Rayyan, who were placed eight with only two victories when the league was stopped, hope for a fresh quest towards the top-four spot.

“We will start a new tournament because the last match we played in the league was a long time ago and we need to perform better. As you know we had some international players in the FIFA Arab Cup. We have some injured players, but the most important thing now is to pre-pare for the match against Qatar SC,” Al Rayyan coach Laurent Blanc said yesterday.

“We have many matches in the tournament and we have to win and collect points. If I man-age to recover all the players I will be very hap-py. I am very excited for the return of the league and I hope that the players will be at the same level of enthusiasm,” he said.

Blanc also lauded the eff ort of his players in the FIFA Arab Cup.

“Some of our players have performed very well in the FIFA Arab Cup. Abdulaziz Hatem was superb with the Qatar team. I know he (Hatem) has a minor injury and it’s not good news for us,” said Blanc.

Al Rayyan player Ahmed Yasser also said the team is focused to make a new start.

“The players will be fully focused for a dif-fi cult match against Qatar SC especially after a long break. We hope to get the three points,”

Yasser said during a news conference. On the other side, Qatar SC will be without Algerian

forward Youcef Belaill, who has parted ways with the club in search for greener pastures.

Qatar SC coach Youssef Safri feels the chang-es are a part of the game.

“With the will and determination of the play-ers, we look forward to a strong return to the league competitions. Changes are considered part of the game and serve the interest of the team and I would like to point out that (Yousef) Belaili, who has left us, is a respected player in any team he represents,” said Safri yesterday.

“I expect the match to be diffi cult for both teams, especially since Al Rayyan are a strong side.

“We are required to provide everything we have in a confrontation that I expect will be full of fun and excitement.”

Talking about the match Qatar SC player Issa Ahmed said: “The match will be diffi cult for both sides and certainly Al Rayyan are a great team and our team is also one of the big teams.

“Although coach Safri did not start the sea-son with us, we reached an ideal state of har-mony, especially since he has enthusiasm and ambition towards achieving results worthy of the club’s name and position and to be at the required level,” Ahmed said.

In other matches of the day, Al Ahli will take on Al Salliya while Al Wakrah will meet Al Shamal.

At the league break, Al Sadd were at the top of the table, three points clear of Al Duhail.

The only unbeaten team in the league so far Al Sadd will take the fi eld under new coach Javi Gracia against Al Khor tomorrow.

Second-placed Al Duhail will meet Umm Salal and Al Gharafa will play against Al Arabi in the other two matches of the day.

Al Rayyan (left) and Qatar SC players during separate training sessions ahead of their Round 10 clash in the QNB Stars League which will take place today at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Coach Laurent Blanc addresses Al Rayyan players during a training session in Doha. Al Rayyan visit Qatar SC for a QNB Stars League Round 10 clash today.

By Sports ReporterDoha

Qatar, who finished third in the recently concluded Arab Cup, will start Word Cup year ranked 48th in the FIFA list. The world governing body released its year-end list which shows Qatar rising by three spots from the November rankings.In 2021, when they played 24 matches, Qatar touched their best-ever ranking of 42 in August, thanks to their semi-final appearance in the Concacaf Gold Cup.The ranking slipped to 51 after their defeats in the European Zone World Cup

qualifiers but the FIFA Arab Cup, where they finished third, pushed them into the top-50 again.In Asia, they are in fifth spot, behind Iraq, Japan, South Korea and Australia.Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, only 352 full internationals were played in 2020. Not since 1987 (323 matches) had so few games been played in a calendar year. By contrast, planet football made up for lost time in 2021 with a record breaking 1116 matches played.And while the quantity of games changed radically from one year to the next, the top ranked team in the FIFA/ Coca-Cola World Ranking has remained

the same. For the fourth year in a row, Belgium (1st) end the calendar year in pole position, albeit only just ahead of Brazil (2nd) by 2.1 points. France (3rd) complete the podium for 2021.For their part, Canada (40th) are the year’s ‘Most Improved Side’ having picked up no fewer than 130.32 points over the last 12 months. Winners of UEFA EURO 2020 and the Copa America 2021 respectively, Italy (6th + 115.77 points compared to Decem-ber 2020) and Argentina (5th +108.51 points compared to December 2020), have also seen their points tally increase dramatically this year.

The same goes for the USA (11th + 103.51 points compared to December 2020) and England (4th + 85.52 points compared to December 2020). Equatorial Guinea (114th + 59.78 points compared to December 2020) made the most impressive progress among African teams, while Saudi Arabia (51st + 81.71 points compared to December 2020) did the same in Asia.However, just in terms of last month, the most improved Asian team are Indone-sia (164th + 11.13 points). Winners of the FIFA Arab Cup 2021, Algeria (29th +3) jointly made the best progress in terms of places, along with Qatar (48th + 3) and Thailand (115th +3).

Belgium No 1, Qatar back in top 50 in FIFA rankings

Former champions Al Rayyan visit Qatar Sports Club in first match after a six-week break

Friday, December 24, 2021Jumada I 20, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

CRICKET

Pacer Olivier returns for hosts S Africa as India eye Test series winPage 2

days to go

332332

FOOTBALL

ReutersPretoria

Fast bowler Duanne Olivi-er is expected to return to the South Africa line-up as the home side chal-

lenge visiting India in the fi rst match of a three game series in the ICC World Test Champion-ship at Centurion Park starting on Sunday.

Olivier will bolster a home seam attack missing injured An-rich Nortje and will play his fi rst test since 2019, when he turned his back on South Africa in favour of county cricket in England, de-spite considerable success in the fi ve-day format.

The series is expected to be a battle between the respective pace attacks on lively wickets, especially in the fi rst two Tests on the Highveld, and Olivier’s return is therefore timely having taken 48 wickets in 10 Tests at an average of under 20.

“I want our best opportunity to win matches and series, and in order for that to happen, you need to make tough calls, for in-stance bringing people back,” South Africa captain Dean El-

gar told reporters in response to whether Olivier should be given a chance to return.

“I was very keen to have him back, I’m happy and excited knowing what he can do.

“There’s no bad feelings about what’s happened in the past,” he said.

South Africa have often relied on fast bowlers on spicy home wickets to get them to victory, but are also well aware that India have developed an excellent pace attack that has brought them overseas success in the last few years.

“India has been an immensely improved bowling line up, espe-cially playing away from home. We’re very mindful of what we’re going to be up against,” Elgar said.

India have kept a low pro-fi le in their Johannesburg bio-secure bubble since their ar-rival in the country, but batsman Cheteshwar Pujara believes this is their best chance yet of claim-ing a fi rst ever Test series win in South Africa.

“Our fast bowlers have been the diff erence between the sides overall when we have played abroad. If you look at the Aus-

tralia and England series, we have done exceptionally well as a bowling unit,” Pujara told the Board of Control for Cricket in India website. “Our fast bowlers

are our strength (in South Africa) and I hope they can utilise the conditions and give us 20 wickets in each Test match.”

India are coming off a home

series win over New Zealand completed this month, while South Africa have not played test cricket since a series victory in the West Indies in June.

CRICKETGulf Times Friday, December 24, 20212

FOCUS

AFP Melbourne

England are “hurting” but determined to rise to the challenge and claw their way back into the Ashes

series against Australia, batsman Dawid Malan said yesterday.

After slumping by nine wick-ets in Brisbane and then by 275 runs in Adelaide, the visitors will enter the Melbourne Cricket Ground cauldron for the third Test on Sunday needing to win.

If they don’t, the fi ve-Test se-ries is over with Australia retain-ing the urn as holders.

Malan said there had been frank discussions after Adelaide, where a fi rst-innings batting col-lapse coupled with poor bowl-ing and fi elding cost England the match.

“The boys are hurting after our performances in the last two games. They realise we haven’t been good enough across all fac-ets of the game,” he told journal-ists. “Speaking to all the guys, everyone is up for the challenge, everyone is really keen to face up

to the Australians. The boys want to win, we want to win the series too.

“I know it’s a long way to come but we have to do well and play our best cricket to get ourselves back in the series.”

The odds are against them - the only instance of a team com-ing from 2-0 down to win the Ashes was Donald Bradman’s Australia way back in 1936-37.

Malan and captain Joe Root have been the only two English batsmen to excel, both hitting half-centuries in Brisbane and Adelaide, but unable to go on and make a big score.

“Scoring 80’s good, scoring 180’s brilliant, so that’s the goal,” said the South African-born Ma-lan, who has hit nine Test 50s but only converted one into a cen-tury.

He suggested that England’s travails against a high-quality attack was also down to a lack of Test experience on Australian pitches, with he and Root among the few to have played an away Ashes series before.

“We are almost learning on the job in Test matches because

a lot of the guys haven’t played in Australia, so they are fac-ing bowlers they’ve never faced before and getting used to the bounce out here,” he said.

“This wicket might be slightly skiddier so we don’t want to go out and leave and get bowled or lbw now, but it is about learning.

“I know there’s a lead-up to dismissals and how bowlers set you up, but a lot of our dismissals were probably soft in the sense that we could have left them. You still have to score, but it’s about making the right choices under pressure, myself included. If you look at the way they have batted, the ones who have done really well, they’ve left really well so it’s a good learning curve for us. Hopefully it’s not too late.”

British media have suggested changes could be afoot for the Boxing Day Test with Zak Craw-ley tipped to replace either Rory Burns or Haseeb Hameed, who have both struggled for runs at the top of the order.

Ollie Pope has also been dis-appointing at number six, with the experienced Jonny Bairstow a potential replacement.

‘Hurting’ England not giving up on Ashes, says batsman Malan

ASHES

England captain Joe Root takes a breather during a training session ahead of the start of the third Ashes Test against Australia. (@englandcricket)

India Test captain Virat Kohli and his deputy K L Rahul during a team training session at Centurion Park, Gauteng, South Africa, yesterday. (@BCCI)

Olivier returns for S Africa as India eye Test series win

BOXING DAY TEST

‘I was very keen to have him back, I’m happy and excited knowing what he can do’

England’s batters have to be braver in the third Ashes Test in Mel-bourne if they are to

haul themselves back into the series, former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson said.

The tourists suff ered a nine wicket thrashing in the Bris-bane opener before losing the second test in Adelaide by 275 runs to trail the fi ve-match se-ries 2-0.

“If England are to turn things around in this Ashes series, their batsmen are going to have to be braver,” Watson wrote in The Times.

“So far, and especially in the second Test in Adelaide, the intent has just not been there.

“What has really blown me away is to see the defen-sive way in which Ben Stokes has batted. I’m gobsmacked,” Watson said of the all-round-er, whose heroics with the bat secured England’s most suc-cessful Ashes run chase at Leeds two years ago.

Hampered by a knee issue in Brisbane - his fi rst competi-

tive match since July - Stokes’ batting was uncharacteristi-cally restrained in Adelaide and Watson said the 30-year-old was underprepared for the Ashes series.

“It is obviously a tactic be-cause of his big back-and-across movements to the quick bowlers, he’s just not trying to score... I think it is perhaps because he has come into the series underdone in terms of preparation.”

England’s selections for both Tests have been heav-ily criticised and while head coach Chris Silverwood main-tain he is the right person for the job former captain Mike Atherton said he had been en-trusted with too much author-ity as the sole selector across the three formats.

“Selection and strategy have been questionable,” Atherton, who captained England in 54 Tests, wrote in The Times.

“Chris Silverwood has been given more power than any other England coach. It is, when you think about it, a remarkable concentration of power, one that is increas-ingly hard to see as justifi able,” Atherton said.

England must be braver with the bat in Melbourne: Australia’s Watson

FOCUS

ReutersMelbourne

Collingwood to stand in as England coach for WI series

Former England captain Paul Collingwood will stand in as head coach for England’s five-match Twenty20 International series against West Indies next month, the country’s cricket board (ECB) said yesterday. Regular head coach Chris Silverwood will take a break following the ongoing Ashes series against Australia, with Marcus Trescothick joining Collingwood as an assistant coach. Eoin Morgan will captain the squad in the West Indies. Collingwood was at the T20 World Cup earlier this year with England before going to the Ashes, but flew back to Britain last week. Of the 16 players named in the squad, 11 travelled to the World Cup, with uncapped left-arm seamer David Payne earning a maiden call-up to the England T20I team.The series will begin on Jan 22 and end on Jan 30.

SQUAD: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Liam Living-stone, Saqib Mahmood, Tymal Mills, David Payne, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince.

ReutersFlorida

The United States marked their fi rst Twenty20 interna-tional home game against an established cricketing na-tion by stunning Ireland with a 26-run victory in Florida on Wednesday.

It looked like being an anti-climax after the Americans slumped to 16 for four inside fi ve overs in the match played at Lauderhill but Sushant Modani (50) and Gajanand Singh (65) helped them reach a respectable 188-6.

Opener Paul Stirling struck a rapid 31 for Ireland as they reached 41-1 but when he was bowled by Saurabh Netravalkar in the fi fth over, the Irish innings ran out of steam.

Despite Lorcan Tucker’s unbeaten 57, Ireland lost wickets reg-ularly and could not gather any momentum as the US kept a tight grip on proceedings.

When William McClintock was bowled by Ali Khan in the 18th over there was no way back for Ireland who fi nished on 162-6.

Ireland are scheduled to play another Twenty20 game against the US and three ODIs before a tour the Caribbean to face West Indies in three ODIs in January.

The visit of Ireland was the fi rst time the United States had hosted an International Cricket Council (ICC) full member na-tion.

United States stun Ireland in historic game on home soil

T20 SERIES

Pakistan opener Abid Ali on road to recovery aft er heart scare

Pakistan Test opener Abid Ali faces a long road to recovery fol-lowing surgery after he was forced off the field with chest pain during a domestic match, off icials said yesterday.The 34-year-old fell ill on Tuesday while batting for Central Pun-jab in a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match in Karachi and was rushed to a hospital. He underwent two angioplasty procedures after being diagnosed with Acute Coronary Syndrome, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) statement said.“Abid has commenced rehabilitation... did light walking in the morning without showing any discomfort,” it said, adding he is likely to be discharged next week. The stocky Abid made head-lines in December 2019 when he became the first batsman to hit a century on debut at both Test and one-day international levels. His ODI hundred came against Australia in Dubai in March 2019, while the Test century was scored against Sri Lanka at Rawalpindi nine months later. Abid has so far scored 1,180 runs in 16 Tests, and played six ODIs for Pakistan. He remains Pakistan’s premier Test match opener for his compact defence and hunger for runs.

ReutersLondon

Former England spinner Monty Panesar believes Chris Silver-wood could face being replaced as coach if he does not get his

decision-making right ahead of the third Ashes Test against Australia starting on Sunday.

England have been comprehensively outplayed by Australia in the fi rst two Ashes Test matches, suff ering heavy de-feats in Brisbane and Adelaide and un-less things change quickly the series will more than likely be lost at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Captain Joe Root and Silverwood have come under scrutiny for their team se-lections, including leaving bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad out of the

opening match in Brisbane.Former skipper Michael Atherton then

branded the decision to pick fi ve seamers and no spinners and leave paceman Mark Wood out of the Adelaide Test as “lacking cricketing sense”.

Panesar said England have to get their team selection right in Melbourne.

“It’s an important Test match for both Joe Root and Chris Silverwood,” Panesar said.

“Root’s performances in the next three Test matches are going to be vital, and Silverwood himself has said that he’s ac-countable for making decisions and takes ownership, so it puts his position under pressure if they continue to get these de-cisions wrong.

“It’s also about the nature of these loss-es,” Panesar noted.

“The Test defeats that England under captain Root have suff ered in this series so far have been very heavy,” the former left-arm spinner said yesterday. Panesar said the key in Melbourne will be to get runs on the board and not rely solely on Root. “They have to get their decisions right in terms of team selection and in terms of attitude too,” he said in his William Hill blog.

“And the key is going to be runs, if they don’t get runs on the board then they will lose this Test as well.

“They need to ask themselves how they can get to 350, 400 and with who. There’s a lot of onus on Root, who’s scored over 30% of England’s runs this year, but he’s a lone soldier trying to get all of these runs for England and he needs help.”

Panesar thinks the England top order must be changed with Rory Burns making way after four failures.

“I’m not sure if Rory Burns has the technique to adjust to these Australian pitches,” Panesar said.

“I also think Zak Crawley has the at-tacking approach, which paired with the defensive style of Haseeb Hameed, would work really well,” Panesar added.

“These are the decisions that have to be made and if Chris Silverwood gets it wrong for a third time, then I think peo-ple will start questioning whether he’s the right man to lead England as head coach,” Panesar said.

Silverwood could face being replaced: PanesarSPOTLIGHT

SPORT3Gulf Times

Friday, December 24, 2021

Organising 2022 Australian Open ‘10 times’ harder: Tiley

TENNIS

ReutersSydney

Australian Open boss Craig Tiley feels organ-ising the 2022 edition of the Grand Slam has

been “10 times” more diffi cult than this year’s edition as the highly infectious Omicron vari-ant of Covid-19 takes hold Down Under. Tiley and his team put in a Herculean eff ort to stage the tournament safely in February when Australia still had its bor-ders closed, spending a fortune on biosecurity measures to reas-sure the local community.

Twelve months on and things have not got any easier for Tennis Australia with Omicron spread-ing through the country just as the fi rst players are set to arrive for warm-up events ahead of the Melbourne Park tournament.

“2022 has been 10 times harder than 2021,” Tiley said.

“It was a walk in the park in comparison to this one. 2021 was hard but it hasn’t been easy. So many variables. It’s some-thing new, but you wake up in the morning with your team and you just hope they hang in there.”

While 1,000 players and staff who arrived from abroad were put into a two-week quarantine for the 2021 edition, the 3,300 coming for next year’s tourna-ment will be free to roam the city once they have returned a nega-tive PCR test.

Everybody in the Melbourne

Park precinct in January will need to be vaccinated or hold a medical exemption granted by the Australian health authori-ties.

That in itself will present a challenge to manage but full crowds will off er Tennis Austral-ia the chance to recoup some of the A$100 million ($72.2 million) they lost in the 15 months around

the 2021 tournament. Tiley still expected some par-

ticipants to test positive for the virus but confi rmed that, unlike last year, close contacts will have to isolate only until they return a negative test.

“If they are sharing a room with someone, or they’re in the same apartment and someone in that group tests positive, every-

one in that room or that apart-ment has to isolate for seven days,” Tiley added.

“So the advice we’ve given the players, it’s a simple one, ‘get your own room’.”

Tiley was confi dent the or-ganisers will be able to effi ciently manage the health protocols and the tournament will start with-out any delay on Jan. 17.

“In 2021 we were about pro-tecting the community from the players which were coming from environments that were ravaged with the virus that we didn’t have,” Tiley said.

“In 2022, it’s about keeping the players and our patrons on site from not getting Omicron, not getting any variants of the virus.”

Simeone joins stellar cast in a decade or more at helm of clubAFPParis

Diego Simeone cel-ebrates 10 years in charge of Atletico Madrid yesterday, an

increasingly rare accomplish-ment in the febrile arena of top level football management. The feat is even more remarka-ble given Atletico’s track record before the Argentine’s arrival in 2011. The Spanish side’s previous owner, Jesus Gil go-ing through 37 coaches in his 16 years in charge.

During the past decade Simeone has awoken a sleep-ing giant to upset the domes-tic duopoly of Real Madrid and Barcelona, guiding Atletico to two league titles, two Europa Leagues and a Copa del Rey as well as reaching the Champi-ons League fi nal twice.

AFP Sports picks out fi ve other managers who have spent 10 years or more at the same club.

Guy Roux - Auxerre (36 years fi ve months 29 days) “I am not an extra-terrestrial,” com-mented Roux about his longev-ity in the Auxerre dug-out with the second of his three spells at the club stretching from 1964-2000. Roux turned Auxerre into a force in French football, peaking with the Ligue 1 title in the 1995/96 season. Renowned also for developing young play-ers careers, including Eric Can-tona and Basile Boli, he would later bemoan how managers have become more expendable in the modern game. “Clubs do not give people time to con-struct something. The fi rst ill wind and the manager is gone.”

Alex Ferguson - Manchester United (26 years six months 13 days) Ferguson’s era at Old Traff ord got off to an inauspi-cious start and he could easily have been sacked without lift-ing any silverware but for an FA Cup third round win at Not-tingham Forest in January 1990 that proved the launch-pad for decades of success.

The Scot would go on to win 13 Premier League titles as United became the dominant force in English football and in Ferguson’s own words knocked Liverpool “off their perch” as the club with most English league titles.

Ferguson was made to wait longer for Europan glory, but fi nally lifted the Champions League as part of a historic treble in the 1998/99 season and did so again in 2008. He put his longevity in one of the most pressurised jobs in foot-ball down to pacing himself as he got older.

“When I was a young man I wanted to be in charge of eve-rything. I wanted to rule the world,” he told The Sun.

“When you get older you re-alise it is not worth it and you have to trust people around you. wanted the players to see I still had the same energy.”

Otto Rehhagel - Werder Bremen (14 years, two months and 28 days) Rehhagel turned Werder Bremen into genuine

title contenders and delivered two Bundesliga crowns and also lifted the 1992 European Cup Winners Cup. ‘King Otto’ nurtured the talents of the likes of Rudi Voller, Karl-Heinz Rie-dle and Mario Basler and the side’s exploits became known as ‘the wonders of the Weser’.

“If I had listened to journal-ists, I would have left before the (1988) championship. But I only listen to my wife and President Dr (Franz) Bohmert,” he commented in 1991.

He was fi nally prised away from Bremen when Bayern Munich came calling in 1995. Although he failed to last a sea-son in Munich, he proved him-self capable of succeeding as the underdog once more in him in famously guided unfancied Greece to the Euro 2004 crown.

Miguel Munoz - Real Ma-drid (13 years, eight months 29 days)Munoz was given the unenviable task of rebuild-ing Real’s empire after the side containing Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo di Stefano that won the fi rst fi ve European Cups went passed their prime. The former midfi elder was also part of those sides and became the fi rst man to win Europe’s showpiece club competition as a player and a coach on top of nine league crowns. Even that legacy of success did not stop the demanding Madrid crowd calling for his head once Barce-lona gained the upper hand in the mid-1970s.

Jock Stein - Celtic (13 years two months 22 days)”John, you’re immortal now!” was how Stein’s fellow Scotsman and Liverpool’s legendary manager Bill Shankly assessed the achievement in Celtic be-coming the fi rst British side to lift the European Cup in 1967.

The former coalminer guid-ed the Bhoys to 10 league titles and eight Scottish Cups in his tenure before he was persuaded to step down in 1978 and nomi-nated his long-time captain Billy McNeill to succeed him.

“Big Jock was ahead of his time in so many ways,” Mc-Neill told the Glasgow Times in 2004. “He revolutionised Celt-ic, and maybe Scottish football as well.”

FOOTBALL

Liverpool beat Leicester as Spurs, Chelsea reach semi-fi nalsAFPLiverpool

Liverpool came from two goals down to beat Leicester on penalties after a pulsating League

Cup quarter-fi nal ended 3-3 at Anfi eld as Tottenham and Chel-sea also made the semi-fi nals on Wednesday.

Spurs were 2-1 winners over West Ham and will face Chelsea in the last four after they needed two late goals to see off Brentford 2-0. Liverpool will take on Arse-nal in the semi-fi nals over two legs in January.

All three matches went ahead in front of full crowds despite the worrying rise of coronavi-rus case numbers that had seen last weekend’s Premier League schedule decimated by call off s.

Leicester’s previous two fi x-tures had been called off due to a combination of a coronavi-rus outbreak in the squad and a mounting injury list.

However, Brendan Rodgers was able to name a close to full strength side on his return to Anfi eld and it showed early on against a much-changed Liver-pool.

Jamie Vardy struck twice in-side the fi rst 13 minutes as he angled a drive across Caoim-hin Kelleher and then tapped in Patson Daka’s pass from close

range. Jurgen Klopp had made 10 changes from the side that drew 2-2 at Tottenham on Sunday with Liverpool also depleted by four positive Covid cases.

However, it was one of their more experienced starters who got them back in the game as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain smashed home from the edge of the area.

Leicester restored their two-goal cushion before half-time thanks to James Maddison’s piledriver from 30 yards that fl ew past Kelleher.

Klopp introduced three fi rst-team regulars at half-time and one of them, Diogo Jota, gave Liverpool life again 22 minutes from time.

Kasper Schmeichel then needed to produce a stunning save to deny the Portuguese a second, but Leicester still could not hold out as Takumi Minami-no sent the game to penalties in the fi fth minute of stoppage time.

Minamino then missed with the chance to win the tie from the spot in the shootout, but

Kelleher saved from Luke Tho-mas and Ryan Bertrand before Jota fi red home the winning penalty.

- Bergwijn ends goal drought -Tottenham boss Antonio Conte showed his determination to end the club’s 13-year trophy drought as soon as possible as he named Harry Kane among a strong starting line-up.

But it was the other two of Spurs’ front three who were on target in north London.

Steven Bergwijn scored his fi rst goal of the season after two

clever one-twos with Pierre Emile Hojbjerg.

Tottenham’s lead lasted just three minutes as West Ham seized upon Eric Dier’s slack pass and Jarrod Bowen fi red low past Hugo Lloris.

Two minutes later it was 2-1 as Bergwijn this time turned pro-vider for Moura to prod home from close range.

“In England it’s very diffi cult to win something,” said Conte, who will come up against his old club in the last four.

“It’s good for Tottenham to reach the semi-fi nals of this competition. You can see the names of these teams that have reached the semi-fi nals - Liver-pool, Chelsea and Arsenal with us - so every side wants to try to lift this trophy.”

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel handed debuts to academy pros-pects Harvey Vale, Jude Soon-sup-Bell and Xavier Simons with the Blues short of seven players due to a Covid outbreak.

However, Tuchel emptied his bench in the second half with the introduction of N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Reece James and Jorginho.

And that extra quality made the diff erence as Pontus Jansson turned James’ cross into his own net 10 minutes from time.

Jorginho then stroked home a penalty after Pulisic had been upended in the box.

LEAGUE CUP

‘IT WAS A WALK IN THE PARK IN COMPARISON TO THIS ONE’

Lara, Steyn join coaching staff of Hyderabad team

West Indies batting great Brian Lara and former South Africa pace spearhead Dale Steyn have joined the revamped coaching staff of the Indian Premier League’s Sunrisers Hyderabad, the franchise said yesterday.Lara, who scored more that 22,000 runs in international cricket before retiring in 2007, was named as the strategic advisor and batting coach of the side that won the popular Twenty20 tournament in 2016. Steyn, who announced his retire-ment from all forms of the game in August, was named as the pace bowling coach of the franchise he played for in the past.Hyderabad finished last in the 2021 edition of the eight-team tournament after which head coach Trevor Bayliss stepped down. He was replaced by former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody, who worked as the director of cricket last season.Former Australia batter Simon Katich and ex-India batter He-mang Badani also joined the side’s support staff with highest test wicket-taker Muthiah Muralidaran continuing as the spin bowling coach.

Andy Murray handed wild card for Aussie OpenFormer men’s tennis world number one Andy Murray has been handed a wild card invitation for the Australian Open, organisers announced yesterday praising him for his “fighting spirit”.The 34-year-old is ranked a lowly 134 as he battles to recover consistently good form after

persistent injury problems.However, towards the end of last season he recorded two top-10 triumphs over Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner.He showed some form too in beating compatriot Dan Evans and another former world number one Rafael Nadal in an

exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi last week.“Five-time finalist @andy_mur-ray is awarded a main draw wildcard,” tweeted Craig Tiley the CEO of the Australian Open.“Andy is renowned for his fight-ing spirit, passion and love of the game and I’m delighted to welcome him back to Melbourne

in January. “We can’t wait to see you at #AO2022.”Murray has three Grand Slam titles to his name - winning Wim-bledon twice in 2013 and 2016 and the 2016 US Open - but the Australian Open has eluded him despite reaching the final five times. The Australian Open runs from January 17-30.

Britain’s Andy Murray hits a shot during the Australian Open final against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic at the Melbourne Park, Australia, on January 31, 2016. (Reuters)

Liverpool’s Diogo Jota celebrates scoring in the penalty shoot-out and winning the Carabao Cup quarter- fi nal against Leicester City at the Anfi eld on Wednesday. (Reuters)

West Indies batting great Brian Lara

Friday, December 24, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

Saqr shows great pace as Casamento wins Qatar Derby

HORSE RACING

AFPParis

Sergio Ramos was sent off as Paris Saint-Germain salvaged a 1-1 draw away at Ligue 1 strugglers Lori-

ent thanks to Mauro Icardi’s inju-ry-time equaliser on Wednesday.

In their fi nal outing of 2021, PSG trailed in Brittany to Tho-mas Monconduit’s thunderous fi rst-half strike for Lorient un-til Icardi rescued a point with a header in the 91st minute.

Ramos had come off the bench at the start of the second half for just his third appearance since moving to France from Real Ma-drid in the close season, but he was dismissed four minutes from time after receiving a second yel-low card. PSG, with top scorer Kylian Mbappe and playmaker Marco Verratti both missing due to suspension and Neymar still out injured, produced another worryingly sub-standard per-formance that will put the focus on coach Mauricio Pochettino.

The Argentine, approaching the fi rst anniversary of his appoint-ment, has struggled to get the very best out of PSG’s array of superstar players, although they sit a huge 13 points clear of their nearest challengers Nice and Marseille at the French season’s halfway stage.

“In terms of results we are still in all competitions, so in that re-gard we are doing fi ne,” Pochet-tino said. “In terms of perform-ances we are still trying to get the best out of the team.

“The fi rst few months of the season have been intense with lots of travelling. We are sure that in time we will get there but we know we need to improve a lot.”

The Parisians, who will play Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League, were lucky to avoid defeat against a Lorient side who had lost their last eight matches and had not won a game in three months.

Nigerian striker Terem Mof-fi notably squandered a great chance on an early breakaway for Lorient, seeing his eff ort saved by

Keylor Navas in the PSG goal.Lionel Messi, who still has just

one Ligue 1 goal, struck the post with a volleyed eff ort midway through the fi rst half and Lorient went ahead fi ve minutes before the interval as Enzo Le Fee teed up Monconduit to smash a shot into the top-right corner from just outside the box.

Armand Lauriente was denied by Navas on the hour mark, al-though Angel Di Maria blazed a great chance over the bar at the other end just before that after being set up by Messi.

Lorient looked set to hold on for a precious victory in their fi ght to avoid relegation after Ra-mos was shown a second yellow for a blatant bodycheck on Moffi .

But then, in the fi rst minute of added time, Achraf Hakimi held up a cross from the right and Icardi headed in. Nice climbed up to second place, above Marseille on goal diff erence, after coming from behind to win 2-1 at home to Lens, with Mario Lemina and Justin Kluivert scoring their goals after Arnaud Kalimuendo

had put the away side ahead. Marseille needed a Dimitri Payet penalty in the eighth minute of injury time to draw 1-1 at home to Reims. Rennes are fourth despite losing 2-1 away at Monaco, with Wissam Ben Yedder’s penalty cancelling out Martin Terrier’s opener for the away team before German international Kevin Vol-land scored the winner.

Montpellier are fi fth after ham-mering Angers 4-1, while Ligue 1’s leading scorer Jonathan David scored a late winner for his 12th of the season as Lille came from behind to beat Bordeaux 3-2 away. Struggling Lyon were held 1-1 at home by Metz, and Clermont’s game against Strasbourg was called off at the last minute due to fog. The French top fl ight shuts down for a short winter break be-fore returning on January 7.

Ramos sent off as Icardi’s goal helps PSG end 2021 with drawFOOTBALL

NAYEF BIN SAAD BIN SHARIDA AL-KAABI’S FIRST CLASSS WINS GR2 PA

PSG’s Sergio Ramos walks off the pitch after a red card during the Ligue 1 match against Lorient at Stade du Moustoir, Lorient, France, on Wednesday. (Reuters)

AFPLondon

Liverpool’s clash with Leeds and Watford’s trip to Wolves, sched-uled for December 26,

became the latest Premier League games to be postponed due to coronavirus outbreaks yesterday

A total of 12 matches have now been called off in the past two weeks as Britain battles record numbers of positive Covid cases due to the Omi-cron variant of the virus.

Everton’s request for their match against Burnley to be postponed has been rejected despite being without 11 play-ers due to injury or Covid in-fection.

Earlier this week Premier League clubs rejected the op-tion of temporarily halting the season to allow a circuit break-er for infections.

However, the traditional Boxing Day schedule of fi x-tures has already been disrupt-ed with the potential for more to go in the coming days with daily testing now in place for English top fl ight clubs.

“Following postponement requests from Leeds United and Watford as a result of Covid-19, the Premier League Board met this morning and regrettably agreed to call off the two aff ected clubs’ Box-ing Day fi xtures,” the Premier

League said in a statement.Leeds reported fi ve posi-

tive cases among players and staff yesterday which allied to a lengthy injury list meant they would be unable to fi eld a team with the required 13 outfi eld players and one goalkeeper from their registered 25-man squad. Watford’s previous two matches against Burnley and Crystal Palace had also been called off .

The league said it expected their fi xture with West Ham on December 28 to go ahead due to players coming out of isolation. The Premier League revealed this week that only 84 percent of players have had at least one dose of vaccination.

However, Leeds are among the clubs with the highest up-take of vaccines in the league.

“All of the cases we have ex-perienced are asymptomatic which we believe is due to our high vaccine take up,” Leeds said in a statement.

“The positive cases, com-bined with our well docu-mented injury issues, means that we would not have enough recognised fi rst-team players to meet the Premier League re-quirements for the fi xture. The training ground at Thorp Arch will be closed for a period of two days on the advice of Pub-lic Health England.”

Everton manager Rafael Benitez revealed his surprise at his club’s request being re-jected.

Liverpool’s clash against Leeds among matches postponed

PREMIER LEAGUE

Qatar gets set to host Turkish Super Cup on Jan 5

The Qatari capital, Doha, will host on Jan 5 the Turkish Super Cup match between Besiktas and Antalyaspor at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, a World Cup venue in Al Rayyan. The upcoming match will be the first international event hosted by Qatar in 2022. The Turkish Super Cup will bring together Besiktas, the league and cup champions last season, and Antalyaspor, the cup runner-up, in the first match of this competition in Qatar.On Wednesday, Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium hosted the CAF Super Cup, where Al Ahly of Egypt defeated Moroccan Raja on penal-ties to capture the African Super Cup title.The State of Qatar, the capital of sports in the Middle East, continues to host major important and strong sporting events, tournaments and international football matches in the 2022 World Cup stadiums and facilities.

By Sports ReporterDoha

Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari-owned Saqr clinched victory in fea-ture race of the Qatar In-

ternational Derby Day yesterday. The Jassim Ghazali-trained

gelding with Marco Casamento in the saddle was in stunning form, beating Maxime Guyon-helmed Devious Company by 2¼-length to win the $500,000 QA Qatar Derby at the Al Rayyan Racecourse.

Minister of Sports and Youth HE Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali crowned the winners of yesterday’s feature race. The vic-torious side pocketed $285,000 while the runners-up walked away with $110,000. It was third win of the day for trainer Ghazali.

In the $200,000 Qatar Inter-national Derby for Purebred Ara-bians, Nayef bin Saad bin Sharida al-Kaabi’s First Classs reigned supreme, with Ronan Thomas in the saddle. The winners of the

race received $114,000. Guyon, who ended runner-up

in the feature race, earlier guided Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari’s Nuance – making Qatar debut – to an impressive 3½-length

victory in the Al Rayyan Stakes, giving British trainer Charlie Fel-lowes a title in his third attempt in the 7th contest.

Also yesterday, Al Jeryan Stud’s colours and trainer Ghaz-

ali were the winners when AJS Sarhan, ridden by David Allan, won the Qatar National Derby for 4YO Local Purebred Arabians.

Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari’s Moshrif also notched up a ti-tle yesterday, clinching victory in the Qatar Derby for Purebred Arabians. Trained by Francois Rohaut and ridden by Jim Crow-ley, the colt made it three wins from four career starts.

Trainer Ghazali clinched his fi rst win of the day when Al Was-miyah Farm’s Perfect Empire, steered by Tom Marquand, pre-vailed in the thoroughbred con-ditions.

THE RESULTSQATAR DERBY (QA Gr1) - THOROUGHBREDS (Class 1)Saqr, Gassim Ghazali, Marco CasamentoQATAR INTERNATIONAL DERBY (Gr2 PA) - PUREBRED ARABIANS (4yo) First Classs, Alban Elie De Mieulle, Ronan ThomasAL RAYYAN STAKES - THOR-OUGHBREDS (2yo) (Class 1) (Far

Bend)Nuance, Charlie Fellowes, Maxime GuyonQATAR NATIONAL DERBY - LO-CAL PUREBRED ARABIANS (4yo) (Far Bend)AJS Sarhan, Gassim Ghazali, David AllanQATAR DERBY (Gr3 PA) - PURE-BRED ARABIANS (3yo)Moshrif, Francois Rohaut, Jim CrowleyQATAR DERBY - LOCAL PURE-BRED ARABIANS (3yo) Al Mirage, Eric Lemartinel, Faleh BughanaimQATAR DERBY - LOCAL THOR-OUGHBREDS (3yo)That, Bader Al Balushi, Eduardo PedrozaTHOROUGHBRED CONDITIONS (Class 2) Perfect Empire, Gassim Ghazali, Tom MarquandPUREBRED ARABIAN CONDI-TIONSAJS Berline, M.H.K Al Attiyah, Szczepan MazurPUREBRED ARABIAN HANDICAPBachra, Alban Elie De Mieulle, eteb Ali al-Marri.

Jockey Marco Casamento guided Saqr to the Qatar Derby victory.

Minister of Sports and Youth HE Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali presented the trophies to the connections of Saqr, who won the Qatar Derby at the Al Rayyan Racecourse yesterday. QREC acting CEO Badr al-Darwish (left) was also present on the occasion. PICTURES: Juhaim