06-10-2021

WeDNeSDAY, oCtoBer 6, 2021
9
Italy and Spain will again face off in a semi-final on Wednesday when they take to the field at the San
Siro for the Nations League Final Four opener.
photo: Ap
Italy and Spain open Nations League
Final Four with replay of Euro 2020 epic
SportS DeSk
Italy and Spain will again face off in a
semi-final on Wednesday when they
take to the field at the San Siro for the
Nations League Final Four opener, a
replay of their epic Euro 2020 semifinal,
reports BSS.
Spain finished on the losing side back
in July's European Championship
semi-final as the Azzurri prevailed on
penalties and went on to win the
tournament, beginning an
unforgettable summer of sport for Italy.
Roberto Mancini's Italy are on a
world-record run of 37 matches
without defeat and have a squad
predictably stuffed full of players who
took part in their run to glory in the
Euro final over England at Wembley.
"We'll be facing a great Italy team:
they deservedly beat England in the
final of the Euro and they've kept their
long unbeaten run going," said Spain
coach Luis Enrique after announcing
his squad on Thursday.
"But like our psychologist says, defeat
comes to every team. And that means
that they're closer to losing, that time is
getting nearer." Mancini admitted that
"Spain were the team we struggled
against most during Euro 2020".
"They are a good team with good
Beijing Games
organisers admit
'great pressure'
over Covid
SportS DeSk
Beijing Winter Olympics
organisers said Monday they
face "great pressure" because
of Covid-19, as China ramps
up preparations with a series
of test events, reports BSS.
February's Games could be
the most restricted mass
sporting event since the
pandemic began, with no
international spectators
allowed and a vaccine
mandate for anyone entering
a strictly enforced "bubble".
Those who have not been
vaccinated, including
athletes, must quarantine for
21 days on arrival in the
Chinese capital before they go
into the bubble.
Olympic organisers will
trial many of the measures in
a series of domestic test
events, international
competitions and training for
overseas athletes that will
begin on Friday and last
several weeks.
"We expect that over 2,000
overseas athletes, team
officials, international
technical officials, and timing
and scoring professionals will
come to China to participate
in various competitions," Yao
Hui, venue management
chief on the Beijing Winter
Olympics organising
committee, told a briefing.
"We face great pressure in
epidemic prevention and
control."
China has virtually sealed
off its borders to keep Covid
infections out.
players. It will be a good match," he told
uefa.com. The only different face from
the Euro crowd was supposed to be inform
Roma midfielder Lorenzo
Pellegrini, who on Sunday scored his
sixth goal of the season in all
competitions.
However injuries in the run-up to
and during the weekend's Serie A
fixtures mean Juventus striker Moise
Kean, AC Milan defender Davide
Calabria and Inter Milan youngster
Federico Dimarco have all been drafted
in at the last minute.
The trio have respectively come on
board in place of Italy's usual starting
centre-forward Ciro Immobile and
Atalanta's Rafael Toloi and Matteo
Pessina.
For Dimarco it's a first ever call up
and comes from the man who in 2014
gave the 23-year-old his debut at Inter
Milan, where he has impressed so far
this season. - Similar philosophies -
The match will also see the return of
Gianluigi Donnarumma to the San Siro
after leaving AC Milan on a free
transfer to go to Paris Saint-Germain
this summer. Asked whether he might
be harangued by Milan fans following a
move which left a bad taste in the
mouth of supporters, Donnarumma
said: "It would be sad if that happened.
"I always gave everything for Milan
and I hope the subject can be put to one
side," he added.
Luis Enrique has too had injury
problems with club matches coming
thick and fast between last month's
international break and the Final Four.
Teenage sensation Pedri will not take
part after getting injured for the second
time in less than a month, missing out
on similarly young squad to the one
which surpassed expectations at the
Euro.
Pedri was one of the best performers
of the tournament and gave a
celebrated Italy midfield of Jorginho,
Marco Verratti and Nicolo Barella a
tough time for much of their thrilling
semi-final. Tottenham's Bryan Gil has
also been brought in after Marcos
Llorente picked up a thigh injury
during Atletico Madrid's 2-0 win over
Barca at the weekend, while the Catalan
giants' 17-year-old midfielder Gavi has
been picked despite only having four la
Liga appearances to his name.
Former Barca coach Luis Enrique
was lauded by the Italians after he
heaped praise on them despite what
must have been a painful defeat at
Wembley, and he continued his charm
offensive ahead of what promises to be
a worthy opener
Australia's World No. 1 Barty
to skip Billie Jean King Cup
SportS DeSk
World number one Ash Barty will miss the
maiden edition of the Billie Jean King Cup in
Prague next month, Tennis Australia said
Tuesday, increasing doubts about whether
she will play again this season, reports BSS.
The Australian's withdrawal from the
women's team tennis competition formerly
known as the Fed Cup comes hot on the
heels of her decision to sit out this month's
Indian Wells tournament in California.
Tennis Australia gave no reason for Barty's
absence, simply saying world number 47 Ajla
Tomljanovic would lead Australia's fiveplayer
team in the Czech Republic at the
November 1-6 event.
The decision raises doubts about 25-yearold
Barty's participation in the rest of the
2021 season, including her defence of the
WTA Finals title she won in 2019 before last
year's version was cancelled due to the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Barty had a stellar start to the year,
winning five titles including Wimbledon,
which gave her a second Grand Slam to add
to her 2019 French Open crown. But she has
not played since suffering a shock thirdround
loss to American Shelby Rogers at the
US Open in early September, when she said
the year had been a "rollercoaster".
Barty's coach Craig Tyzzer said in the
weeks after the US Open that her priority
was to get ready for the Australian Open,
which is set to resume its traditional January
timeslot in 2022 after a pandemic-enforced
delay this year.
Her best performance at her home Grand
Slam is a semi-final appearance in 2020.
If Barty did travel to Mexico for the seasonending
WTA Finals, Australia's strict border
controls mean she would face two weeks
quarantine upon returning home, potentially
disrupting her training.
World number one Ash Barty will miss the maiden edition of the Billie
Jean king Cup in prague next month.
photo: Ap
Mbappe says he
told PSG in July
he wanted to leave
SportS DeSk
Kylian Mbappe on Monday
confirmed that he told Paris
Saint-Germain in July he
wanted to leave the club,
reports BSS.
"I said at the end of July that I
wanted to leave," Mbappe
said in an interview with RMC
radio.
"My position has been clear. I
said I wanted to leave and I
told them (PSG
management) quite early on."
The French World Cup
winner has not extended his
contract at PSG, fuelling
speculation he will seek a
move to Real Madrid at the
end of the season.
The Spanish giants bid 180
million euros ($209 million)
for Mbappe in August but
PSG, who had just signed
Lionel Messi from Barcelona,
turned down the offer.
At the time, PSG's sporting
director Leonardo said
Mbappe could "leave or stay
on our conditions".
Mbappe said he eventually
told PSG "if you don't want
me to leave, I will stay".
"People said I had refused
six or seven offers to extend
and that I never talk to
Leonardo,which is absolutely
not true," he added.
Ashes still in the balance
as ECB prepares to make
final tour assessment
SportS DeSk
The ECB board is set to meet later this week
to determine whether this winter's Ashes can
take place, after appearing to concede that
several of the team's leading players remain
unwilling to submit to Australia's stringent
Covid-19 protocols, reports AP.
In a statement issued on Monday morning,
the ECB said that it had been in discussions
with England men's players and
management - some of whom will be
departing for the UAE later the same day
ahead of this month's T20 World Cup.
And while the statement insisted that the
board's dialogue with Cricket Australia
remained "regular and positive", it also
appeared to express public doubt about
whether the conditions that have been put in
place will "enable the selection of a squad
befitting a series of this significance".
"Over the weekend we have been talking to
England men's players and management to
provide them with the latest information
about the proposed arrangements for this
winter's scheduled Ashes tour," the
statement read.
"We remain in regular and positive
dialogue with Cricket Australia over these
arrangements as the picture is constantly
evolving. With health and wellbeing at the
forefront, our focus is to ensure the tour can
go ahead with conditions for players and
management to perform at their best.
"We will continue talking to our players
this week to share the latest information and
seek feedback. "Later this week the ECB
board will meet to decide whether the
conditions in place are sufficient for the tour
to go ahead and enable the selection of a
squad befitting a series of this significance."
Australia's government has outlined plans
to ease entry and quarantine restrictions to
fully-vaccinated citizens in November, but
this provision isn't expected to be extended
to overseas travellers until a later date.
Last week, England's captain Joe Root
expressed his own doubts about the series,
stating that he was "desperate" for the tour to
go ahead, but that he could not yet commit to
leading the team.
Writing on Instagram prior to the whiteball
squad's departure for the UAE, Paul
Collingwood, the team's assistant coach,
summed up the dilemma being faced by
many of the players, particularly those with
young families. "I love my job and I'm so
excited for the winter of cricket ahead but
saying goodbye to your daughters for
potentially 3 months is not easy, no matter
how tough you feel you are," he wrote. "We
all make sacrifices in life. Looking forward to
meeting up with the team tomorrow because
I know we will try to help each other like a
family."In response, Cricket Australia issued
a statement of its own, reiterating the
"regular and positive" discussions of the past
six months, and stressing that the "health
and wellbeing of both squads ... is a priority."
"We especially thank our government
partners for all their support in this regard,"
the statement continued.
the photo shows James Anderson and Chris Woakes during the Adelaide test in 2017-18. photo: Ap
Players' union deplores
'lack of vision' with
biennial World Cup
SportS DeSk
The world footballers' union FIFPro
attacked the "lack of holistic vision" of the
game's institutions, including FIFA's
proposal for a biennial World Cup, with
its general secretary, saying the debates
were prompted by "commercial
interests", reports BSS. Speaking by
videoconference on the sidelines of the
presentation Tuesday of a report on the
playing demands of professional players,
Jonas Baer-Hoffmann called for a
"reasonable and effective reform" to
lighten the burden on footballers and
reduce the chance of injury. "There is an
absolute lack of holistic vision and
leadership from most of the institutions,"
he said about FIFA's proposal for a
biennial World Cup.
"It is very much a transactional affair in
which proposals, whether good, bad or
ugly for football have very little basis for a
conversation or consultation, because
everything is aligned to the commercial
interests of different competitions.
"That really undermines our chance to
have a reasonable and effective reform.
"We would really like to try to
differentiate between conversations
about the calendar and that about
competitions. These are two very separate
conversations."
The debate around the international
calendar and a World Cup every two years
has been revived in recent weeks by ex-
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, FIFA's
head of global development.
Wenger says the idea would be to have
a final phase every summer from 2025-
2026, alternating World Cups and
continental tournaments like the
European Championships and Copa
America. Qualifying matches would be
grouped together in October, or in
October and March. He refutes the
argument that the players would face
increased strain, arguing that they would
have to make fewer long journeys and
would have a minimum of 25 days rest
after playing in summer tournaments for
their countries. A full report is due to be
released by FIFA in November, ahead of a
"global summit" by the end of the year.
The idea has already led to widespread
criticism from managers, while UEFA has
been scathing in its response but FIFPro
struck a more pragmatic approach.
"Condensing windows is an interesting
one," said Jonas Baer-Hoffmann.
"We had a first meeting with FIFA
about this about a week ago. There is a lot
in this whole proposal we still need to
look at and analyse. "Reducing windows
would be a positive as it would reduce
travel. FIFA are also suggesting going
from 10 games we have in the current
window down to seven.
"I see upsides for coaches who would
have more time to work with players, so
there is merit." He warned, however, that
the biennial competition could just make
the rich football nations richer at the
expense of developing countries.
"The entire potential thought process
for innovation is being put into the peak
of the pyramid," he said. "The notion
seems to be: 'let's generate as much
money there as possible and then there
might be some trickle-down to help the
pyramid out'. "I don't think that's working
particularly well."
NWSL team owner
apologizes, regrets
'systemic failure' in
abuse handling
SportS DeSk
Portland Thorns owner
Merritt Paulson issued an
apology on Monday to two explayers
for his team's role in
the handling of sexual
coercion allegations against
former soccer coach Paul
Riley, reports BSS.
Paulson said the team
should have been more open
about the sacking of Riley in
2015 and that a lack of
accountability and
transparency and the
subsequent inaction that
followed shows a "systemic
failure across women's
professional soccer."
"We then made an opaque
announcement about not
renewing Riley's contract as
opposed to explicitly
announcing his termination,
guided by what we, at the
time, thought was the right
thing to do out of respect for
player privacy," Paulson
wrote in an open letter on the
team's website on Monday. "I
deeply regret our role in what
is clearly a systemic failure
across women's professional
soccer."
Paulson said the Thorns
didn't disclose the
investigation publicly, which
led people to believe Riley's
dismissal was the result of
poor results on the field.
He said the Thorns
conducted an internal
investigation into Riley after
then-players Sinead Farrelly
and Mana Shim made the
alleged accusations.