Archives for July 2018

Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliant bowling effort (5/24) restricted England at 159/8 in the first T20I of the three-match series at the Old Trafford cricket ground here on Tuesday.

With the hosts going at a decent pace, it was Kuldeep’s massacre which broke the English batting line-up and the spinner was well supported by pacer Umesh Yadav (2/20).

Put into bat, England were off to a good start as openers Jason Roy (30) and Jos Buttler (69) forged a 50-run partnership for the first wicket in 4.5 overs before Umesh drew the first blood to send back Roy.

Buttler was then joined by Alex Hales (8) and the duo partnered for a 45-run stand.

Kuldeep sent back Hales in the 12th over and went on to destruct the opponents as he dismissed Eoin Morgan (7), Jonny Bairstow (0) and Joe Root (0), which left England reeling at 107/5 in 13.4 overs.

Buttler got some support from unbeaten David Willey, who chipped in with 29 runs down the order, to help England reach a moderate total.

Kuldeep, however, was in no mood to give any respite to the hosts as he once again scalped a wicket in his final over to send back Buttler, the lone English batsman to show some resistance.

Brief Scores: England 159/8 (Jos Buttler 69, Jason Roy 30; Kuldeep Yadav 5/24) vs India.

England coach Gareth Southgate said his men have created their own history and the team wanted to win more after their victory over Colombia in the World Cup.

England won the World Cup round of 16 game at the Spartak Stadium beating Colombia 4-3 on penalties to reach the quarterfinals. The score was 1-1 after 90 minutes. It is the first time that England has won a penalty shootout in World Cup history.

Southgate said at a post-match press conference on Tuesday that the victory was a really important moment, reports Xinhua news agency.

“Not just winning the shootout but having to suffer at the end of the game in a stadium there were huge numbers of Colombian fans and we felt like an away fixture. Tonight, we showed we don’t have to conform to what’s gone before. We have created our own history, and I don’t want to go home yet,” he said.

Southgate also hopes the result will give belief to “generations of (English) players that will follow”. The coach revealed that his team has prepared for a penalty shootout situation.

“We’d talked about owning the process, and we got the rewards tonight. We looked at individual techniques and how we needed to be as a team. The goalkeepers have been very important in that as well,” the 47-year-old coach said.

After defeating Colombia, England will face Sweden in the quarterfinals on July 7 in Samara and winners of that match will play either Russia or Croatia on July 11.

Southgate said the match against Sweden will be difficult.

“Sweden is another team we have a poor record against, who we’ve underestimated in the past. We know exactly how they play and it’s going to be a real tough test,” he said.

Winger Emil Forsberg’s second-half strike helped Sweden beat Switzerland 1-0 to enter the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup after a gap of 24 years.

It was a brilliant neck-and-neck affair till the 66th minute when Forsberg scored the goal, after which Switzerland failed to display the same energy and thus lost the issue.

Forsberg broke the deadlock in the 66th minute through a low-ball shot which was deflected by Switzerland’s Manuel Akanji in the goalpost.

The match started with Switzerland taking the upper hand in the match. In the opening minute, Switzerland’s wide forward Xherdan Shaqiri slammed a ball from distance to the near post.

Shaqiri did not stop here and went on with the another chance few minutes later but the ball was deflected away from the danger zone by the defenders.

After putting up the early pressure, Sweden regrouped their strategy and it paid off to some extent as forward M. Berg beat the offside trap and charged in behind, but his shot was stopped by the goalkeeper Yann Sommer in one-on-one tackle.

Just after this attack, Switzerland found themselves under pressure as defender J. Djourou, who was in the starting XI in place of suspended Fabian Schar, made an head attempt unconvincingly in the box which landed in-front of Shaqiri and the latter got it clear to deny a brilliant effort.

In the 27th minute, Sweden got another chance to take the lead when striker O. Toivonen slammed the ball to the bottom-left corner but he failed to finish perfectly as goalkeeper Sommer dived to his right to deny the effort.

With both teams attacking fiercely, none of them found the back of the net in first 30 minutes of the match. Shaqiri, Toivonen, Berg tried hard to score for their respective teams but lacked proper finishing.

In the 38th minute, the best scoring chance of the game came when some brilliant one-touch passing pierced the Swedish defence down the left before Blerim Dzemaili blasted over from inside the box.

The next couple of minutes saw both teams creating chances in each other’s box but failed in converting those chances and as a result Sweden and Switzerland went to the tunnel goalless.

In the second half, Sweden continued where it left. In the 49th minute, Forsberg displayed brilliant skill to dodge two Swiss players before Toivonen snatched the ball and slammed over over the bar.

The series of attacks continued and the much awaited moment came in the 66th minute when Forsberg found the space on the edge of the box and fired low shot which was deflected by Akanji in the goalpost.

The goal forced Switzerland to play more attacking game as their forwards starting putting pressure on Sweden’s defence. But unperturbed by the pressure, Swedish players kept their calm.

Sweden soon, made series of substitutions to minimise the pressure and the move proved to be successful as they were close to earn a penalty in the dying minutes of the game. But a free-kick by Andreas Granqvist from just outside the box which was brilliantly saved by Sommer to wrap up the issue 1-0

Poland coach Adam Nawalka has become the second coach to lose his job after a disappointing World Cup, after the Polish FA confirmed he would be leaving his post at the end of the month.

Poland salvaged some pride from an otherwise sub-par tournament with a 1-0 win over Japan in Volgograd, but by the time they played that game they had already been eliminated after a 1-2 defeat to Senegal and a 0-3 loss against Colombia, reports Xinhua news agency.

Nawalka, who had been his country’s head coach since 2013, had originally sounded in positive mood following the Japan game, saying that the team would learn lessons from the 2018 World Cup, but though that may be the case, he will not remain in charge.

“We have decided that Adam Nawalka will remain Poland’s team coach until July 30 and after that day we will be looking for a new coach,” said Polish FA chief Zbigniew Boniek, in a news conference with Nawalka.

“We will try to build a national team in a new way,” he added.

Hector Cuper was the first coach to suffer the consequences of a poor World Cup when the Egyptian FA confirmed they would not be renewing his contract, after the Pharaohs suffered defeats against Uruguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia in their three Group A games.

The Indian Under-16 football team lost to China 0-1 in the Four-Nation International Tournament in China’s Wei Nan city on Tuesday.

Hosts China came out strong in the opening exchanges of the match. Goalkeeper Biaka made two crucial saves in the 16th and 17th minute to keep India in the match.

The colts in blue gradually found their footing and in the 30th minute almost took the lead when Ridge De’Mello’s rasping shot hit the woodwork.

In the 40th minute, Vikram’s shot from range missed the target as the colts pressed to secure advantage.

However, it were the hosts who took the lead in the 42nd minute and held onto it for the half as the half-time scoreline read 1-0 in China’s favour.

Playing against older opponents had little effect on the Indian colts and Bibiano Fernandes’s boys get back into attacking mode immediately.

Ridge De’Mello proved to be a constant threat for the Chinese defence line and his shot tested the opponent custodian early in the second half, often.

In the 63rd minute, Rohit Danu was provided with an opportunity to level proceedings but the forward failed to tap home.

Two minutes later, opponents China hit the woodwork from distance.

Givson in the 67th minute had his shot saved by the Chinese custodian as the Indian U-16s pressed for the equaliser.

The Indian U-16s will be facing Thailand and North Korea next on July 5 and July 7.