29-03-2018

SPORTS
THURSDAy, MARCH 29, 2018
9
United States' Marky Delgado (8) slides while Paraguay's Cristian Riveros (16) and Oscar Romero
(21) defend during the first half of an international friendly soccer match in Cary, N.C., Tuesday,
March 27, 2018.
Photo: Internet
Weah debuts, Wood scores
and US beats Paraguay 1-0
Tim Weah made his U.S. debut, Bobby
Wood scored on a penalty kick and the
Americans beat Paraguay 1-0 in an
exhibition Tuesday night for their first
win in three games under interim coach
Dave Sarachan.
Weah, the 18-year-old son of Liberian
president and 1995 FIFA Player of the
Year George Weah, entered in the 86th
minute and was pulled down three
minutes later by Derlin Gonzalez.
Weah made his debut for Paris Saint-
Germain on March 3, less than two
weeks after his birthday, and the
midfielder became the first player born
in the 2000s to play for the U.S.
national team.
Midfielder Marky Delgado and
forward Andrija Novakovich also made
their U.S. debuts. Sarachan has given
three players debuts in each game since
taking over for Bruce Arena, who quit
in November after the U.S. failed to
qualify for the World Cup.
Delgado's 50-yard pass led to the foul
that resulted in the 45th-minute
penalty kick.
Jorge Villafana won Bruno Valdez's
throw-in deep in the U.S. end and
headed the ball Tyler Adams. He
squared it to Delgado before taking off.
Adams reached Delgado's pass about
30 yards from goal and rounded
goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez, who
tripped him with an outstretched arm .
Wood coaxed Fernandez into diving
right while his penalty kick went left for
his 11th international goal. Wood was
making his first start since Feb. 10, for
Hamburg against Borussia Dortmund.
Novakovich replaced Wood in the
77th minute and missed a chance to
score in stoppage time when his
point-blank shot went into
Fernandez' chest.
Sarachan is likely to add some
veterans when the U.S. gathers in late
May for exhibitions against Bolivia,
Ireland and France. The Americans
won't play a competitive match until
the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and a
new coach may not be hired until
after this summer's World Cup.
The U.S. debuted new uniforms
with blue horizontal stripes - which
would have been their road set during
the World Cup.
Sarachan started seven players with
five international appearances or
fewer, a youth movement that
followed the end of the United States'
streak of seven straight World Cup
appearances.
Zack Steffen started in goal after
making his debut in the second half of
a January exhibition against Bosnia-
Herzegovina that ended 0-0.
Kenny Saief, playing for the first
time since his debut last June, had a
chance in the 16th minute when his 8-
yard shot was deflected by Bruno
Valdez with a slide tackle and cleared
by Gustavo Gomez.
Paraguay, which is missing its
second straight World Cup after four
consecutive appearances, had a prime
scoring chance in the 68th minute.
Atlanta midfielder Miguel Almiron
missed wide in the 68th minute and
Hernan Perez was just off the target
with a header in the 75th minute.
Isner upsets Cilic to reach
Miami Open quarterfinals
American John Isner upset secondseeded
Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6
(0), 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the
Miami Open quarterfinals.
The 14th-seeded Isner, who
reached the Miami Open semifinals
in 2015, never faced a break point
in the match. He made an
impressive 73 percent of his first
serves to take down Cilic.
"I was in a very good serving
rhythm today," Isner said. "I felt
that really from my opening serve,
the whole match that I knew it was
going to be a good serving day.
"When I serve like that, I'm
certainly tough to beat," Isner
added.
The key to Isner's victory in the
match came when he won all seven
points in the first-set tiebreaker.
"In the blink of an eye I was up 5-
0 and I was able to win it 7-0, a very
good tiebreaker, because prior to
that the match was a bit choppy,"
Isner said. "The wind was of course
tricky, and it was pretty ugly, but I
played a very good tiebreaker."
The departure of Cilic, the 2014
U.S. Open champion and
Australian Open finalist in
January, leaves fourth-seeded
Alexander Zverev of Germany as
the highest seed remaining in the
draw.
Top-seeded Roger Federer lost his
opening match at the tournament,
and third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov
of Bulgaria lost in the third round.
Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del
Potro, a definite crowd favorite in
Latin-influenced South Florida,
moved onto the quarterfinals with a
6-4, 6-2 win over 22nd-seeded Filip
Krajinovic of Serbia.
"I get too much love from them,"
Del Potro said of the fans. "I am
excited to keep winning, to stay
longer and play in this tournament.
"I know it will be the last time
here in Key Biscayne, and I think
playing here they make a special
tournament for all the South
American players, basically me," he
added, smiling.
Del Potro will play 20th-seeded
Milos Raonic for a semifinal berth.
Roanic defeated Frenchman
Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4.
Isner will play 19th-seeded Hyeon
Chung of Korea in the quarterfinals.
Chung defeated Joao Sousa of
Portugal, 6-4, 6-3.
John Isner upset second-seeded Marin Cilic 7-6 (0), 6-3 to reach the Miami Open quarterfinals.
Photo: Internet
BCB announces
squads for
friendly T20
Bangladesh Cricket Board
(BCB) on Wednesday
announced its two teams-
BCB Green and BCB Red-to
play an exhibition T20
match at Sher-e-Bangla
National Cricket Stadium on
Thursday.
The day-night match will
begin at 5pm where Shakib
Al Hasan will lead BCB Red
and Mahmudullah Riyad to
lead BCB Green.
BCB picked up 26 players
from three teams-
Mohammedan Sporting
Club, Shinepukur Cricket
Club and Prime Bank
Cricket Club-of ongoing
Dhaka Premier Division
Cricket League as these
sides' players are now free as
their sides could not qualify
for the super-six berth and
escaped from the relegation
league of the List 'A' meet.
BCB Red 13-man squad:
Shakib Al Hasan (captain),
Rony Talukdar, Zakir
Hasan, Afif Hossain, Tawhid
Ridoy, Shuvagata Hom, Md
Saifuddin, Rubel Hossain,
Kazi Anik, Md Azim, Raihan
Uddin, Jony Talukdar and
Sabbir Hossain.
BCB Green 13-man squad:
Mahmudullah Riyad
(captain), Mehedi Maruf, Al-
Amin Jnr, Sadman Islam,
Ariful Haque, Nahidul
Islam, Irfan Shukkur, Taijul
Islam, Shubhashis Roy,
Delwar Hossain, Ebadat
Hossain, Shariful Islam and
Saeed Sarkar.
BCB waits for
Kirsten consent
as consultant
Bangladesh Cricket Board
(BCB) is waiting for the final
confirmation from former
South Africa batsman Gary
Kirsten on his availability to
work with Bangladesh team
as a consultant.
BCB director and media
committee chairman Jalal
Yunus on Tuesday said that
although the two parties
have not made the deal 'full
and final' Kirsten is likely to
take up a long-term role in
Bangladesh cricket.
Kirsten will work with the
men's senior team, under-19
side, 'A' team and the rest of
the structure of BCB as a
full-time, long-term
consultant.
Kirsten is expected to get
in touch with the BCB after
the Indian Premier League
(IPL) which ends on May 27,
reports espncricinfo.com.
"Our president [Nazmul
Hasan] had earlier
mentioned Gary Kirsten. We
are awaiting his response
after the IPL. He is being
considered as the team
consultant.
Steve Smith has been sent home in disgrace after masterminding a
ball-tampering scandal.
Photo: Internet
Rested Messi watches
Argentina get crushed
6-1 by Spain
With Lionel Messi rested, Argentina
was crushed 6-1 by Spain on Tuesday,
with Real Madrid midfielder Francisco
"Isco" Alarcon scoring his first career
hat trick.
Messi watched from the stands at
the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in
Madrid as Spain dealt Argentina a
humbling loss in the last match before
their coaches pick their squads for
this summer's World Cup.
Spain remained undefeated in 18
matches under Julen Lopetegui and
strengthened its credentials as a
favorite for the title in Russia.
Lopetegui said he congratulated his
players, but reminded them that this
was only a preparation match.
"The reality is that nothing has
started yet. We will begin the World
Cup with zero points," Lopetegui said.
Jorge Sampaoli, however, will face
more doubts about Argentina's
chances to finally win a World Cup
title with Messi after seeing his
supporting cast so thoroughly
outclassed.
Diego Costa, Thiago Alcantara and
half-time substitute Iago Aspas also
scored for Spain. Nicolas Otamendi
scored Argentina's goal that made it
2-1 at halftime.
A minor leg problem kept Messi
from playing in Argentina's 2-0 win
Brazil wins 1-0 in Berlin to end
Germany’s unbeaten run
Brazil defeated Germany 1-0 on Tuesday to end the World Cup champion's 22-game
unbeaten run and restore some lost pride following the humiliating mismatch between the
sides in their previous meeting.
Gabriel Jesus' first-half header settled the friendly and provided his side with a welcome
confidence boost some three months before the World Cup. In the absence of the injured
Neymar, Brazil didn't concede during the international break as it also defeated Russia 3-0 in
Moscow. Though Brazil coach Tite said before the game in Berlin's Olympiastadion that
revenge for the side's 7-1 loss in the 2014 World Cup semifinal was not in his players' minds,
he acknowledged there was no getting over the result.
"The wound is still open," Tite told Kicker magazine in an interview. "My wife started crying
after the third goal." Counterpart Joachim Loew made seven changes from the side that drew
1-1 with Spain on Friday - the team's third consecutive draw - with Kevin Trapp playing in
place of Marc-Andre ter Stegen in goal. Jerome Boateng led the side for the first time as
captain in his hometown. Hertha Berlin defender Marvin Plattenhardt also started.
Jesus made the breakthrough seven minutes before the interval when Trapp flapped at his
powerful but centrally positioned header and allowed the ball go in. Willian's cross came in at
pace and Jesus was just five meters from goal, but the goalkeeper was in position to make the
save.
Jesus had missed a good chance minutes earlier when he left two Germany defenders
sprawling on a counterattack and then fired over with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Australia captain Smith
banned 12 months for
tampering plot
Australia cricket captain Steve Smith has
been banned from playing for his country for
12 months for his role in a ball tampering
plot in the test series in South Africa.
Smith is leaving the tour of South Africa in
disgrace after the ban, announced
Wednesday, for his part in a plot to cheat in
the third test.
Smith, vice-captain David Warner and
batsman Cameron Bancroft conspired to
cheat by illegally changing the condition of
the ball by rubbing it with a piece of yellow
adhesive tape and some dirt.
Warner and Bancroft were also expected to
receive lengthy bans and have also been
expelled from the team. Cricket Australia
said the trio will return home on Wednesday.
The Cricket Australia punishment for
Smith followed an internal investigation into
the extent of the cheating plot in South
over Italy in Manchester, England, on
Friday. Sampaoli had said on Monday
that his star player was better and
that he expected him to play against
Spain, but he left him out of his squad
come match time.
Sampaoli said after the match that if
the game had not been a friendly
Messi would have played.
"Leo had been training well with us
this week but he was still bothered by
his leg, and after the last practice
session he felt that fatigue," Sampaoli
said. "Obviously, we noticed his
absence."
The match was intense and ended
in a brief scuffle after hard foul by
Argentina's Cristian Pavon to cut
down Jorge "Koke" Resurreccion.
Gonzalo Higuain was in Argentina's
squad for the first time since June,
but did little to improve his chances of
being on Sampaoli's World Cup list
when he tapped a cross by
Maximiliano Meza wide from close
range eight minutes into the match.
Costa struck first for Spain after
Andres Iniesta recovered the ball near
Argentina's area and Marco Asensio
slipped a ball for the Atletico Madrid
striker to bundle past goalkeeper
Sergio Romero.
Both Costa and Romero briefly
writhed on the turf following their
Africa. The decision on Smith had not yet
been officially announced by CA but Smith
confirmed the 12-month ban to The
Associated Press and a small group of
Australian reporters at the team hotel
The ban will include all top-level cricket in
Australia for the next year.
Wicketkeeper Tim Paine will take over as
captain for the final test in South Africa.
Smith, wearing a white T-shirt and dark
baseball cap, hugged Paine as he prepared to
leave the team hotel in Johannesburg to fly
home.
Warner, the pugnacious 31-year-old
opening batsman, was expected to be
banned for 12 months as well, meaning his
international career may be over. Bancroft,
the young player tasked to do the on-field
tampering in Cape Town, was reportedly set
to be given a nine-month ban.
collision, and Romero needed to be
substituted 10 minutes later. He was
replaced by Willy Caballero.
Asensio again undid the defense
when he squared a pass from the
right flank to meet Isco's run in
from the left side. Isco used one
touch of his right boot to slot the
ball home.
Otamendi pulled one back when
he headed a corner kick through the
arms of goalie David De Gea in the
37th.
The second half, however, was all
Spain. Isco fired in a pass by Aspas
in the 52nd after the striker deftly
controlled a long pass by Iniesta to
break behind the defense.
Thiago drilled in Spain's fourth in
the 55th when Isco crossed for
Aspas, whose bobbled control fell
right into the path of the Bayern
Munich midfielder.
Argentina's defense was caught
off-guard by De Gea's long ball right
down the pitch that Aspas ran onto
and stroked past the on-rushing
Caballero in the 73rd.
Isco then intercepted a pass by
Otamendi and combined with
Aspas to get his third goal in the
75th.
Marco Alonso and Dani Parejo
debuted for Spain late.