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PAGES | 20-21 PAGE | 24Neymar to start for

Brazil in key clash against Costa Rica

Mbappe makes history as France battle into last 16

0-21 PAGrt for clash

a Rica

Mbaphistobattle

Croatia’s Luka Modric scores their second goal during their FIFA World Cup 2018 Group D match against Argentina at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia yesterday.

Croatia crush Argentina 3-0 to reach knockoutsREUTERS

NIZHNY NOVGOROD: Lionel Messi’s World Cup dream was left hanging by a thread as Croatia powered into the last 16 with a 3-0 rout of Argentina yesterday.

Second-half goals from Ante Rebic, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic sealed a deserved victory as a poor Argentina were left on the brink of a humiliating first round exit.

The Group D defeat means Argentina have just one point from two games, meaning they will probably have to beat Nigeria in their last game and hope other results go their way to avoid elimination.

The result left Argentinian fans in tears inside the Nizhny Novgorod stadium, while Diego Maradona watched from the stands in stunned disbelief.

Croatia took the lead after a horrendous blunder by Argentine goalkeeper Willy Caballero in the 53rd minute, the stopper chipping a clearance straight to Rebic who lashed home a thunderous volley.

Real Madrid star Modric then produced an electrifying 80th-minute goal before Messi’s Barcelona team-mate Rakitic completed the scoring after Croatia sliced apart Argentina’s hapless defence in injury time.

The defeat leaves the Argentinians facing an igno-minious repeat of their 2002

campaign when they also went out at the group stage after being tipped as possible World Cup winners.

All the attention after the 3-0 defeat will focus on Argentina and Messi but it was also the result of a fine per-formance by Croatia.

A curiously lifeless and uninspired Argentine display was capped off by Caballero’s mistake when he somehow managed to chip the ball just a few yards to Croatia’s Rebic, following a Gabriel Mercado backpass. Rebic volleyed home with aplomb but veteran Caballero will have nightmares for the rest of his days at his

mistake -- likely to feature in any list of worst goalkeeping blunders for some time.

And throughout it all Messi, arguably the world’s best player, remained a peripheral and largely ponderous figure, briefly flashing to life on too few occasions.

The 30-year-old’s dream of winning the World Cup now look remote.

With all the pre-match attention on Messi it was his Real Madrid counterpart Luka Modric who provided the game’s true flashes of genius.

The Croatian was the one player to find space and time in a bruising encounter and it

was his moment of magic in the second half which settled the encounter.

Picking the ball up some 25 yards outside the Argentina area, Modric had the option of at least two passes but chose to bide his time before planting a fantastic shot past a hapless Caballero.

Rakitic added a third when the game was up for Argentina.

They had only threatened briefly before then to equalise with Meza and Messi almost scrambling in a goal in the 64th minute. Beyond that Argentina looked largely clueless, and increasingly frustrated by Croatia.

They could have taken the lead in the first half but Enzo Perez missed pretty much an open goal from just 12 yards in the 30th minute.

It was to be Argentina’s only shot of the half -- and their best chance all evening.

Croatia went when Mario Mandzukic headed inexpli-cably wide in the 33rd minute from just three yards.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTSGROUP C

DENMARK 1-1 AUSTRALIA

GROUP CFRANCE 1-0 PERU

GROUP DARGENTINA 0-3 CROATIA

TODAY'S FIXTURESGROUP E

BRAZIL vs COSTA RICA AT - 3.00PM

Group D

NIGERIA vs ICELAND - 6.00PM

Group E

SERBIA vs SWITZERLAND - 9.00PM

CROATIA ARGENTINA

3 0ANTE REBIC - 53'

LUKA MODRIC - 80' IVAN RAKITIC - 90'+1'

Croatia’s Domagoj Vida and Mario

Mandzukic celebrate with team-mates after Luka Modric

scored their second goal against

Argentina yesterday.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi looks dejected after Croatia’s Luka Modric scored their second goal yesterday.

Argentina have to beat

Nigeria in their last

game and hope other

results go their way to

avoid elimination.

18 FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018SPORT

Australian captain Mile Jedinak gives the thumbs up after the World Cup match against Denmark in Samara, yesterday.

Captain Jedinak earns Australia crucial draw against Denmark

REUTERS

SAMARA: Captain Mile Jedinak rode to Australia’s World Cup rescue with a penalty to cancel out Christian Eriksen’s superb opener for Denmark, securing a 1-1 draw yesterday that ensured Group C would go down to the wire.

Eriksen’s seventh-minute opener was fully deserved by the fast-starting Danes and the quality of his half-volley finish was excellent in a tournament that has produced some won-derful goals.

Jedinak, however, got Aus-tralia back into the game with his second penalty in Russia, awarded following the inter-vention of the VAR, and the draw kept the Socceroos just about al ive in the tournament.

Denmark moved on to four points and need at least a draw against France in their final

game to guarantee a last-16 spot. Australia’s destiny, however, is no longer in their own hands.

With one point, they must win their last match against Peru to stand any chance of going through, but results could still conspire to send them home.

“For me it is important just that we have to beat Peru,” Australia coach Bert van Marwijk told reporters.

“I have no influence on the rest so I do not think about it. I will not sleep one second less.”

After their opening defeat by France, Van Marwijk resisted the temptation to draft

in attacking reinforcements, leaving veteran forward Tim Cahill on the bench for the second match in a row.

It looked a bad decision in the early stages as Australia laboured up front and the Danes tore into their opponents at a furious pace.

Aaron Mooy’s poor clearance was immediately returned into the area. Nicolai Jorgensen controlled and cleverly flicked the ball inside to Eriksen, who ghosted into space and lashed a sweet half-volley on the rise which flew high into the net.

It was Eriksen’s 13th goal in

his last 15 appearances for his country and underlined the pivotal importance of the Tot-tenham Hotspur playmaker to the otherwise workmanlike Danes.

They should have doubled their advantage when Jor-gensen flashed a header wide as Australia looked ragged at the back and toothless up front.

Yet just as in their opening game, Australia were handed a route back into the match from the penalty spot, thanks to the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee.

Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz had failed to spot that

Mathew Leckie’s header had struck the arm of Yussuf Poulsen, but after being alerted to the incident by the VAR, he pointed to the spot.

Danish keeper Kasper Sch-meichel had not conceded for 571 minutes, but Jedinak calmly rolled home his penalty in the 38th minute to level the scores.

While Denmark coach Age Hareide did not dispute the decision to award the penalty, he was annoyed they had their own appeal waved away in the second half and flagged up issues with the consistency of the VAR system.

“There are people some-where in Russia deciding to look at this because it looks like a penalty,” he said.

“But then you have other situations when they need to look at, but they are not doing that... To me, it was against us, but it was probably correct. It removes a bit of the charm from football.”

Having got back into the game, Australia seemed imbued with a renewed sense of belief, surging forward whenever they could and roared on by the vast array of green and gold clad fans in the Samara Arena.

They could not turn that impetus, however, into clear chances, although second-half substitute Daniel Arzani brought an additional spark to the Australia attack and had a good shot parried by Sch-meichel at the death.

Denmark’s midfielder Christian Eriksen (centre) scores the opening goal past Australia’s goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, yesterday. INSET: Eriksen gestures during the match.

Denmark move on to four points and need at least a draw against France in their final game to guarantee a spot in last-16 stage. Australia’s destiny, however, is no longer in their own hands.

DENMARK AUSTRALIA

1 1Christian Eriksen - 7’ Mile Jedinak - 38’ (pen)

Van Marwijk says ‘last part of puzzle’ missing at CupAFP

SAMARA: Disappointed coach Bert van Marwijk said Australia have to find “the last part of the puzzle” if they are to stay in the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Denmark yesterday.

Australia captain Mile Jedinak hit a second-half VAR-assisted penalty to earn the Socceroos’ first point in Russia after Christian Erik-sen’s opener, giving Australia a glimmer of hope of reaching the last 16.

Van Marwijk praised a team that has “improved every day” but bemoaned a lack of clinical finishing after his team missed chances to win the game in the second half in Samara.

It followed a 2-1 defeat to France in their opening match.

“We had chances to win and we deserved to win, so I’m disappointed,” the Dutchman said.

“I fully agree we should have won. Against France we also deserved more, I think.

“We have one point and we deserve four points from these two games.

“The last part of the puzzle is that we must make the difference by scoring one goal more than the opponent.

“I must be satisfied about all the things we asked of (my players). From the first day the team has improved every day and they surprised me today again.”

Australia must beat Peru on Tuesday to have any chance of going further.

In a blow to their hopes, striker Andrew Nabbout looks set to be sidelined for the rest of the World Cup after he injured a shoulder falling awkwardly.

“I think the tournament is over for him,” van Marwijk said.

France were playing Peru in the day’s second match in the group.

Australia coach Bert van Marwijk

Denmark happy with points haulREUTERS

SAMARA: Denmark coach Age Hareide (pictured) admitted his side were fortunate to have four points from their first two World Cup Group C matches after a 1-1 draw with Australia in Samara yesterday.

Talisman Christian Eriksen had given Denmark the lead before a Mile Jedinak penalty, awarded following VAR consul-tation, earned the Socceroos a point.

Denmark beat Peru 1-0 in their first game and Hareide said he was

pleased with their points haul.“I can say that we are very

happy to have these four points,” he told reporters.

“They produced chances when we made mistakes. We lost the ball in the last third and they counter attacked on us.

“We lost too many balls and we had to run too much so our game was restless. You know what? The World Cup is tough.” Jedinak’s penalty came after the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee, who alerted referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz to a handball from Yussuf Poulsen.

Poulsen also gave away a penalty in the win over Peru, once again after VAR involvement. Peru missed that spot-kick but the Danes have still been left baffled by the handling of VAR at the tournament.

Eriksen did not question the penalty decision but believes VAR should have been used to award Poulsen a free kick in the build-up to the handball.

“After today I don’t like the system,” the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder said.

“Two matches in a row against us. We thought about it afterwards

and there was a foul against Poulsen before. We should have had the free kick before that.” “If you want to use for pens, you should also use for free kicks. Two in a row? That is bitter!” Hareide also thought there should have been a penalty given for a foul on substitute Andreas Cornelius.

“He was pulled down by his shirt. Everybody could see it,” said Hareide, who spoke to the referee on the pitch after the game.

“There was a situation the referee should have dealt with.” The Danes face France in their final Group C match on Tuesday,

19FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018 SPORT

Dream goes on for Iran despite Spain defeatREUTERS

KAZAN: Iran’s dream of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup survived Wednesday’s loss to Spain and coach Carlos Queiroz promised his team would give their absolute all to take their second chance against his native Portugal next week.

Queiroz said his players deserved huge credit for their battling performance after going down 1-0 to a freak Diego Costa goal and having a score of their own rubbed out after being reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

“We were ready to suffer and ready to compete and ready to try our chances to win the game. Football is not like this but it is fair to say we deserved a better result,” said

Queiroz. “But this was our first match point, if we compare this to tennis, our second match point comes against Portugal. We’re still alive and dreaming.”

Iran had relied almost entirely on their steely defence to keep them in the match for the first 54 minutes and it was only after the ball had deflected off Costa’s knee and into the net that they took the game to the Spanish.

Queiroz had no complaints

about the VAR decision which ruled out Saeid Ezatolahi’s strike for offside, preferring instead to rue that it had not been around at the 2010 World Cup when his Portugal were beaten by a contentious Spain goal.

Iran’s opening victory over Morocco means they trail the two Iberian powers by a single point in Group B with all to play for against the European champions in Saransk next Monday.

“We are not shy, we go for it, we are really determined,” Queiroz added. “We know it will be tough but we don’t come here expecting easy things. We only have one thing in mind.”

Iran went down narrowly to Argentina at the last World Cup with a similarly battling performance only, exhausted by their efforts, lost 3-1 to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their final group match.

For Iran to finally achieve

their dream against Portugal, Queiroz thought, would be all the more remarkable given the gulf that has opened up between European countries and the rest of the football world.

“I think two years ago European football took off and they are far away from all the national teams,” he said.

“The other continents are struggling. The gap is just getting bigger and bigger.”

Players of Iran celebrate after scoring a goal despite the offside flag has been raised during their match against Spain in Kazan on Wednesday.

We were ready to suffer and ready to compete and ready to try our chances to win the game. Football is not like this but it is fair to say we deserved a better result: Iran coach Carlos Queiroz

Argentina’s forward Lionel Messi attends a training session

at the team’s base camp in

Bronnitsy, near Moscow on

Tuesday.

Maradona is ‘light years behind’ Messi: Ramos

REUTERS

KAZAN: Spain captain Sergio Ramos has responded to a putdown from Argentina great Diego Maradona by making an unlikely declaration of admiration for Lionel Messi, his usual enemy as the talisman of Real Madrid’s arch-rivals Barcelona.

Maradona, his coun-try’s 1986 World Cup-winning capta in , remarked this week that

“Ramos is no superstar, the real superstar defender is Diego Godin” when comparing Spain’s serial-winner Ramos with the Uruguay captain.

Ramos was asked what he made of Mara-dona’s comments after Spain’s 1-0 World Cup Group B win over Iran, and chose to praise on Messi, who has led Bar-celona to numerous wins over Real Madrid and had plenty of full-blooded

clashes with the Spaniard.

“I respect Maradona because he is an all-time great, I think he was a star, but I’ll also tell you that Argentine football knows Maradona is light years behind their number one player, which is Messi,” Ramos said.

Messi, who lost the last World Cup final to Germany as captain of Argentina, missed a penalty in his side’s 1-1 draw with Iceland.

Southgate sees funny side after shoulder injuryREUTERS

MOSCOW: England manager Gareth Southgate said he will have to tone down his goal celebrations after dislo-cating his shoulder while having a run during a day off on Wednesday.

Southgate had his arm in a sling as he addressed his players at their nightly team briefing at their World Cup base in Repino alongside the Baltic coast.

“I might not be celebrating any goals as athletically in the future!” Southgate told the Football Association website.

“The doc has made it clear that punching the air is not an option.” Southgate, whose team beat Tunisia 2-1 with a last-gasp Harry Kane goal on Monday and face Panama on Sunday in Group G, was treated at a nearby hospital under the supervision of the England team doctor Rob Chakraverty.

“We have a great support team and they were there very quickly,” he said.

“They were supposed to be relaxing because we let the players have a bit of time off and I am causing them work.” While uncomfortable, Southgate was prepared to take it on the chin, saying it was better he was injured rather than any of his players.

“It is better this is me than one of the players,” he said. “They were a bit surprised in the team meeting and were asking ‘what have you been doing!?’ -- as always, they were probably quite amused.

“I am just a bit gutted because I was on for my record 10k time!”

England manager Gareth Southgate

I might not be celebrating any goals as athletically in the future. The doc has made it clear that punching the air is not an option: Gareth Southgate

For fans from tiny Iceland, team is family - often literallyREUTERS

VOLGOGRAD: One Iceland fan went to primary school with a player’s father. Another supporter’s son used to regu-larly wait on the team at a bar. And yet another fan is related by marriage to the squad’s chef.

With a population of around 350,000, Iceland is the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup. So, for fans descending on Russia for the Nordic island’s first ever appearance at the tournament, the national team is often a deeply personal affair, with many sup-porters boasting blood ties or personal links with the players.

Bjarni Arnason, a 31-year-old Ice-landic architect who travelled to Vol-gograd to watch his team play Nigeria in Group D on Friday, fondly recalled playing handball at high school with Iceland defender Ragnar Sigurdsson.

“He was really good!” laughed Arnason, decked out in the Iceland jersey on Thursday.

“He was so good that the football team wanted him to just play football.” The connections go on: A pal of Arnason is best friends with the wife of Iceland’s goalkeeper while a cousin played football with another player.

And Arnason’s father, in Volgograd for the game too, is old friends with the father of Alfred Finnbogason, who scored against twice world champions Argentina in their opening game on Sat-urday which ended 1-1.

“I added an 11 on my Iceland team shirt in honour of my friend’s son,” said Arni Sigurdsson.

But, true to Iceland’s no-frills repu-tation, that’s as far as the preferential treatment goes.

“I cheer for the team - I don’t cheer extra hard for anyone. We are probably all related somewhat anyway!” added engineer Sigurdsson, 61, with a chuckle.

That attitude is reflected on the pitch too. Coach - and part time dentist - Heimir Hallgrimsson insists that all

players are treated equally.The team had a thrilling run at 2016

European championship, eliminating big-name England and advancing to the quarter-finals, propelled by their

“thunder-clapping” fans and Viking imagery. Iceland’s ‘Cinderella story’ has smitten many football aficionados, espe-cially those disgusted by corruption scandals engulfing FIFA and put off by

the diva-like attitude of some leading players. But one downside to hailing from such a small place is that privacy is not always an option.

Iceland fan Svavar Asmundsson said his son used to regularly pour drinks for members of Iceland’s team while working at a bar in capital Reykjavik.

“It was all good... But some of them are a little crazier than the others!” said Asmundsson, a 59-year-old who works in the fishing industry.

Still, the close-knit community never feels suffocating, said the father of mid-fielder Birkir Bjarnason, who was also in Volgograd to see his son play Nigeria - Africa’s most populous country with close to 200 million people, some 571 times Iceland’s population.

“I know who the fathers and mothers of all the players are. Many parents I knew before, but most of them I met after they started to play together,” said the midfielder’s father Bjarni Svein-bjornsson, a 55-year-old electrician. “It’s kind of a family.”

Iceland’s players attend a training session at Olimp Stadium in Kabardinka on Tuesday.

AP

ST. PETERSBURG: Neymar will start for Brazil in an unchanged lineup against Costa Rica today at the World Cup.

Although Brazil coach Tite said Ney-mar still needs time to reach peak shape, he insisted he is not endanger-ing the striker’s health.

“Yes, he will be playing. There’s no sacrifice here,” Tite said through a translator Thursday. “We want to win but the coach is not going to play around with a player’s health, the price would be too high to pay.”

Tite also said he would use the same 11 players that were held to a 1-1 draw by Switzerland in the team’s opening match.

Neymar limped out of a training session on Tuesday after appearing to hurt his right ankle. But on Wednes-day, the Brazilian soccer confederation posted photos and a video of Neymar training with the rest of the squad and said he was fine.

“It’s an evolutionary process. You need to speed up the steps,” Tite said. “He’s already speeded up that process.”

The world’s most expensive player, who joined Paris Saint-Germain for €222m ($260m) from Barcelona, only just made it to the World Cup after breaking a toe in his right foot on Feb. 25.

After recovering from surgery, Ney-mar played in two World Cup warm-up matches and scored in both to take his international tally to 55 goals.

But he lacked sharpness when Bra-zil opened its World Cup campaign with the draw against Switzerland on Sunday.

Although Neymar was fouled 10

times during that match, he was still noticeably below his best.

Yesterday, Tite became angered after he was asked if he had spoken personally with Neymar to encourage him to be more unselfish.

“Absolutely not. The information you got is not true,” Tite shouted, his voice rising steeply as he called it a lie. “That didn’t happen.”

He then said it would be pointless to restrict Neymar’s way of playing.

“I’m not going to take his initiative away from him in the last third of the field, take away his genius,” Tite said. “The last third of the field is where you have to go to create chances, and I’m not going to take that away from anyone.”

Anything but victory could leave

Brazil, one of the title favorites in Rus-sia, in a difficult position to advance from the group stage.

Serbia leads Group E with three points after beating Costa Rica 1-0 and next plays Switzerland in Kaliningrad today. Serbia and Brazil then meet on Wednesday in Moscow.

Brazil has no margin for error against Costa Rica, which won its group at the last World Cup and reached the quarter-finals.

“It is a deci-sive game, of c o u r s e , ” said Tite, who sat next to defender Thiago S i l v a . “ Y o u c a n ’ t r u n a w a y f r o m that.”

Silva will take over as captain from left back Marcelo because Tite is rotating the job. Silva was Brazil’s captain four years ago, when he was criticized for breaking down before a penalty shootout in the round of 16.

In Russia, he’s urging his teammates to be brave.

“The team is fully aware of what we are going to be facing tomorrow,” he said.

“They didn’t start well but they are ready to recover. The fight is on,” the Brazilian coach added.

20 FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018SPORT 21FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018 SPORT

Serbia take on Switzerland with eye on quarter-finalsAFP

KALININGRAD: Serbia will attempt to wrap up qualification to the World Cup knockout rounds today as they take on a Switzerland team brimming with confidence after grabbing a draw with Brazil.

The Serbs control their own destiny in Group E after an open-ing 1-0 win against Costa Rica on Sunday, which came courtesy of a stunning Aleksandar Kolarov free-kick.

Victory over Switzerland in Kaliningrad today would guaran-tee Serbia a place in the last 16, regardless of whether they win or lose their final group game with Brazil next week.

Roma star Kolarov acknowl-edged that Serbia are in a strong position to qualify for the knock-out rounds for the first time since they competed alongside Montene-gro in 1998.

However the 32-year-old cau-tioned that the Serbs would take nothing for granted against the Swiss.

“It’s very important that we have these three points in the bag, but it’s not over, Switzerland will be the hardest match,” he said.

“I don’t want to do the maths for now, if we draw it would not work, we want to win of course.”

Serbia boast a host of current and former Premier League talent,

including Manchester United Mid-fielder Nemanja Matic.

But their rising star is Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, a rangy attacking midfielder who has drawn comparisons to Serbian great Dejan Stankovic.

Former coach Slavoljub Mus-lin, who led the team to qualification for Russia, reportedly paid with his job for failing to select Milinkovic-Savic.

It’s not a mistake current coach Mladen Krstajic intends to repeat and the Lazio man -- who has reportedly attracted the interest of Real Madrid -- was lively against Costa Rica.

“Milinkovic-Savic is a great player, with really exceptional technique,” said Swiss defender Denis Zakaria.

Switzerland were ranked above France and Spainn in sixth place

before the tournament and battled hard for a point against a Brazil side led by Neymar in their opener.

“It was very good teamwork on the right side. It was almost a per-fect game. It’s important to have this teamwork,” said Arsenal-bound captain Stephan Lichtsteiner. Serbia have based themselves in Kaliningrad -- Rus-sia’s European territory on the Baltic Sea -- throughout their stay in the tournament and tens of thou-sands of their countrymen are expected to travel for the game.

One sub-plot to watch for could be the Serbian fans’ treatment of Switzerland’s three Kosovan-born players. Midfielders Valon Behrami of Italian club Udinese, Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri of Stoke City were all born in Kos-ovo and all three played in the Brazil game.

AFP

GELENDZHIK: Nigeria take on Iceland today, seeking to salvage their faltering World Cup campaign but wary of the Nordic team’s capacity to go toe to toe with their supposed superiors.

Coach Gernot Rohr’s Super Eagles -- who brought the youngest squad to Russia, with an average age of around 25 years of age -- have now won just one of their past 13 games at World Cups.

Nigeria reached the knockout phase at the 2014 World Cup, but slipped to a 2-0 defeat in their Group D opener against Croatia in Kaliningrad, courtesy of an Oghenekaro Etebo own-goal and a Luka Modric penalty.

Their side, including 19-year-old goalkeeper Francis Uzoho, were almost unrecognisable from the team beaten by France in the last 16 four years ago.

“Sometimes we were a little bit naive on set pieces but we will work on it,” said Rohr.

Iceland are buoyant after what their coach Heimir Hallgrimsson described as a “schoolbook example” of how to defend against Lionel Messi’s Argentina.

Messi complained that “Iceland didn’t want to play” but the Nordic minnows, playing in their first-ever World Cup, were unimpressed by the criticism.

“Maybe he would have been happier if we had played attacking football and lost 5-0. People can have their opin-ion about it but we really don’t care,” said goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson.

The Nigeria game in Volgograd will be “a bit more open,” said the 34-year-old ‘keeper, whose string of saves, most notably from a Messi penalty, kept the 2014 final-ists at bay.

“Nigeria will be difficult to beat. They are fast and more direct than Argentina. It will be a different game in many ways,” he added.

Rohr believes his team could still make it out of a highly competitive group.

“We are only one point behind (Iceland) and all is in our hands, so let’s be positive. Let them learn from this defeat (against Croatia) and try to do better,” said the former Bordeaux coach.

Brazil’s forward Neymar reacts during a training session held at the Yug Sport Stadium, in Sochi on Wednesday, ahead

of today’s FIFA 2018 World Cup Group E match against Costa Rica.

Iceland’s Gudmundsson set to miss today’s matchREUTERS

VOLGOGRAD: World Cup debu-tants Iceland expect to face Nigeria today without one of their most experienced players, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, who is very unlikely to recover from injury in time.

“He is getting better every day. He is good hands. I am not going to hide that it is very unlikely that he will play,” Ice-land coach Heimir Hallgrimsson told reporters yesterday ahead of the Group D game.

Gudmundsson, who plays for Burnley in England’s Premier League, has 65 caps for Iceland and is a key part of the team’s fast, counter-attacking style.

But he was substituted with an injury midway through the second half of Iceland’s impres-sive 1-1 draw with twice world champions Argentina on Saturday.

That surprise result kept Ice-land in the frame to make the knock-out stages, having simi-larly shocked at Euro 2016.

Hallgrimsson said the absence of Gudmundsson -- replaced on Saturday by Rurik Gislason who plays for SV Sandhausen in Germany’s sec-ond division -- would not

upset the balance of his team.“We are not afraid. It will not

change the plans that we have decided before this game,” he said.

Iceland playmaker Gylfi Sig-urdsson, who recovered from injury in time for the World Cup and played against Argentina, is 100 percent fit, he said.

Hallgrimsson said the heat of Volgograd -- where tempera-tures are typically a lot higher than most other World Cup ven-ues -- might represent an advantage for Iceland’s oppo-nents today.

“It’s probably better for Nigeria than Iceland to play in these temperatures,” he said. “We will think about that when we do the plan. Everyone has to do it in 30 degrees Celsius (86°F) so we just have to do it like everyone else.”

Hallgrimsson noted the pace of Nigeria and the aerial prowess of their striker Odion Ighalo. He also praised the development of the Super Eagles under German coach Gernot Rohr.

“I have to give credit to the coach,” he said.

“If you watched their games throughout the last year you can see improvement in their tactical awareness.”

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After recovering from surgery, Neymar played in two World Cup warm-up matches and scored in both to take his international tally to 55 goals.

Neymar limped out of a training session on Tuesday after appearing to hurt his right ankle. But on Wednesday, the Brazilian soccer confederation said he was fine.

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at Volgograd Arena in

Volgograd yesterday, on

the eve of their FIFA 2018

World Cup Group D match

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This will be the first meeting between Serbia (as an independent nation) and Switzerland. They faced the Swiss 13 times as Yugoslavia, winning six.

Switzerland has lost just one of its last 23 matches (W16 D6), a 2-0 defeat to Portugal in a World Cup qualifier in October 2017.

Branislav Ivanovic broke Dejan Stankovic’s record for appearances for Serbia in the opening match against Costa Rica — he now has 104 caps.

MATCHES WINS DRAWS LOSSES GF GA POINTS GROUP A RUSSIA 2 2 0 0 8 1 6URUGUAY 2 2 0 0 2 0 6EGYPT 2 0 0 2 1 4 0SAUDI ARABIA 2 0 0 2 0 6 0

GROUP B PORTUGAL 2 1 1 0 4 3 4SPAIN 2 1 1 0 4 3 4IR IRAN 2 1 0 1 1 1 3MOROCCO 2 0 0 2 0 2 0

GROUP C FRANCE 2 2 0 0 3 1 6DENMARK 2 1 1 0 2 1 4AUSTRALIA 2 0 1 1 2 3 1PERU 2 0 0 2 0 2 0

GROUP D CROATIA 2 2 0 0 5 0 6ARGENTINA 2 0 1 1 1 1 1ICELAND 1 0 1 0 1 1 1NIGERIA 1 0 0 1 0 2 0

GROUP E SERBIA 1 1 0 0 1 0 3SWITZERLAND 1 0 1 0 1 1 1BRAZIL 1 0 1 0 1 1 1COSTA RICA 1 0 0 1 0 1 0

GROUP F MEXICO 1 1 0 0 1 0 3SWEDEN 1 1 0 0 1 0 3GERMANY 1 0 0 1 0 1 0SOUTH KOREA 1 0 0 1 0 1 0

GROUP G BELGIUM 1 1 0 0 3 0 3ENGLAND 1 1 0 0 2 1 3TUNISIA 1 0 0 1 1 2 0PANAMA 1 0 0 1 0 3 0

GROUP H JAPAN 1 1 0 0 2 1 3SENEGAL 1 1 0 0 2 1 3COLOMBIA 1 0 0 1 1 2 0POLAND 1 0 0 1 1 2 0

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP - GROUP ANALYSIS

Neymar to start for Brazil in key clash against Costa Rica

22 FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018SPORT

Federer saves two match points to reach last-eightAFP

H A L L E W E S T F A L E N , GERMANY: World number one Roger Federer kept his quest for a 10th Halle grass-court title alive by saving two match points to defeat France’s Benoit Paire 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7) and make the quarter-finals yesterday.

Federer will face Australia’s world number 60 Matthew Ebden, who defeated Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, for a place in the semi-finals.

Federer’s preparations in the build-up to the defence of his Wimbledon title had been running smoothly, with a title last week in Stuttgart and a solid opening Halle win for the top seed. It was a tough fight yes-terday, however, with the 36-year-old missing two match points in the final-set tiebreak and then saving two for Paire.

The top seed finally won on his third match point when Paire returned long.

“You need to take the right decisions along the way,” Federer said of the dramatic tie-breaker. “You need some luck also, I guess. “It was a tough match played at good level. He served well and was hard to break. “It was always going to

be tight. At the end it was extremey close, I was fortunate to have made it today.”

Federer, who won the opening set with back-to-back aces, fell 4-0 down in the second set as Paire rallied.

The Swiss got one of the breaks back but could not work his usual magic as the contest was squared at a set each.

The victory in just under two hours left Federer with a perfect 6-0 record over Paire, who angrily slashed his racquet across the grass in moments of desperation, drawing jeers from the crowd.

“I created quite a few oppor-tunities, but maybe I was a bit tentative at times,” Federer said. “I was disappointed with my serve in the second set, being broken twice. “That is not

allowed to happen, I need to clean that up. But it was not a bad match for me.”

Had he lost yesterday, Federer would have surren-dered the world top ranking to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.

However, his escape act against Paire means he has now won 18 straight matches on his favoured grass surface, a run of success dating back a year.

Federer is seeking a 99th career title this weekend and could possibly be playing for his 100th at Wimbledon next month, where he has won eight of his 20 Grand Slam trophies.

Ebden reached the semi-finals in the Netherlands last week, where he lost to Jeremy Chardy. The Australian needed just over 90 minutes to beat Kohlschreiber, the 2011 title winner in Halle. The Aussie fired seven aces while breaking four times.

Kohlschreiber is usually strong in his homeland where he is 121-64 with five of his eight ATP titles coming in Germany.

In other second-round matches, Croatian Borna Coric beat Nikolaz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2 while Italy’s Andreas Seppi put out former champion Florian Mayer of Germany 6-2, 6-4.

Roger Federer of Switzerland serves to Benoit Paire of France during their match at the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, western Germany, yesterday.

Muguruza crumbles against StrycovaAFP

BIRMINGHAM: Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza fell in the second round of the Birmingham grass court tour-nament yesterday to Barbora Strycova (pictured), the 24th ranked Czech.

Strycova beat the top-seeded Spaniard, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour, 26 minutes.

“I’m a fighter and I like to fight, on and off the court,” said Strycova. “Sometimes when you fight, you’re rewarded and I’m very happy with my match today.”

Just 10 days before Wim-bledon, the third-ranked Muguruza made 29 unforced errors. After dropping the first set, she led 4-2 in the second before collapsing and losing the last four games.

Serving for the match, Strycova squandered three match points, the last with a double fault, before steadying to seal victory.

“It went so quick and I was serving well, nearly two aces and I was 40-0 and I was shaking,” Strycova said at the press conference.

“I’m leading and I’m shaking. I was questioning. Then I start to be very nervous. My hands were shaking. I was like, ‘Why I am shaking? This is not a Grand Slam final.’”

Strycova now has a 4-3 record against Muguruza and three of the Czech’s victories over Top 5 opponents have come against the Spaniard.

“Every time I play her, I have to play my best tennis, and it happens,” Strycova said.

Fourth seeded Czech Petra Kvitova, twice a Wim-bledon champion and the winner in Birmingham last year, took the first four games against Russian Daria Gavrilova on the way to a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 victory.

I’m not one of Wimbledon favourites, insists DjokovicAFP

LONDON: Novak Djokovic may have won Wimbledon three times, but the former world number one insists he isn’t one of the favourites to land the All England Club crown this year.

Djokovic stepped up his Wimbledon preparations by sweeping into the Queen’s Club quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-1 demolition of Grigor Dimitrov yesterday.

The 31-year-old needed only 65 minutes to crush world number five Dimitrov and he will face Adrian Man-narino or Julien Benneteau in the last eight after recording the 799th win of his career.

It was Djokovic’s first success against a top 10 player in just over a year and the impressive display sug-gested he made the right decision to play at Queen’s for the first time since 2010.

But even so, Djokovic doesn’t believe he should be expected to dethrone defending champion Roger Federer at Wimbledon next month.

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves too early. I’m definitely not one of the favourites for Wimbledon,” he said.

“Roger is the clear favourite without a doubt. (Rafael) Nadal maybe hasn’t played well at Wimbledon by his standards, but he’s won it several times. He’s definitely one of the candidates to win the title.

“Andy (Murray) and myself if we play well (can be contenders). We dropped in the rankings, but Andy played really well against Nick Kyrgios here.

“He has home support, things can go in a good direction if he plays well at Wimbledon.” Djokovic’s caution comes as he sits a lowly 22nd in the ATP rankings.

An embarrassing French Open quarter-final defeat against Italian jour-neyman Marco Cecchinato extended his wretched run in 2018.

Hampered by an elbow injury last year, he has failed to reach the semi-finals in any of his last five Grand Slam appearances.

Djokovic hasn’t earned a major title

since competing his career Grand Slam by winning the 2016 French Open.

Dogged by rumours that he no longer has the motivation to return to the top, the 12-time Grand Slam winner decided to start his bid for a fourth Wimbledon crown by accepting a Queen’s wild card.

He claimed his confidence is slowly coming back, as he showed by polishing off Dimitrov with ease.

“It was an important match for me. Obviously I didn’t win too many big matches in the last 12 months,” he said.

“I’m still finding my form. This was a great test against one of the top players in the world who prefers this surface.

“I was looking forward to the chal-lenge. I was very focused to give my best performance and I managed to deliver.

“I haven’t had that consistency in my game. Mentally I’ve been trying to put things together in the last three or four months. “These two matches have been exactly what I needed. I’m enjoying the grass.” smg/dj

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov during their men’s singles second-round match at the ATP Queen’s Club Championships in west London, yesterday.

England seek Cipriani tonic to end winless runREUTERS

CAPE TOWN: South Africa and England enter tomorrow’s third and final test at Newlands with very different mindsets as touring flyhalf Danny Cipriani prepares to take centre stage with a first test start in a decade.

South Africa have already secured the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead, having extended England’s losing streak to five tests in a row while continuing to pile the pressure on visiting coach Eddie Jones.

Jones, whose tenure was endorsed in a statement from the Rugby Football Union after last weekend’s loss in Blo-emfontein, has made four changes for the final test, three of which have been enforced, with the stand-out being Cip-riani’s selection ahead of the steady George Ford.

The mercurial 30-year-old Cipriani, who has a history of falling foul of authority, last started a test in November 2008, but has impressed Jones on this tour with his work-rate and desire in

training. At what is likely to be a wet Newlands, Cipriani will be given the chance to put his hand up for a place at next year’s World Cup.

“This is going to be a game that revolves a lot around kicking and at 10 he gives us a left-footed option together with Owen (Farrell) at 12 with the right foot,” Jones told reporters on Thursday.

“Danny has impressed us and has worked hard to become part of the team. He deserves the opportunity.

“It is a hard call on George, he is an important part of our team and does a lot of work behind the scenes. He has done some good things in the games, but we just feel for this game it might be the right opportunity (for Cipriani).” Jones expects a tough battle up front and has been forced to make three changes in the pack.

Chris Robshaw is recalled to the blindside flank after New Zealand-born Brad Shields dropped out of the squad due to illness. Prop Joe Marler comes into the side in place of Mako Vunipola, who has returned home for family reasons,

while Nathan Hughes takes over at No.8 from Billy Vunipola, who re-fractured his arm in last weekend’s loss.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says they are wary of the x-factor that Cip-riani brings, but adds it will be a good test for his inexperienced side.

“Chatting to (fullback) Willie (le Roux), who was at the same club (Wasps) as him, he will tell you he has learnt so much from Cipriani in terms of attack, running lines and picking the right options really late.

“He is a wonderful player, he is a bit of a naughty one but he tends to bring wonderful rugby. We will have to manage that.” The Boks have made five changes to their side with fullback Warrick Gelant, centres Jesse Kriel and Andre Esterhuizen, flyhalf Elton Jantjies and hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle drafted into the team.

“We need to look at our combina-tions ahead of the World Cup next year and see who is ready for that final 31-man squad. This game will provide a very good test of that,” Erasmus says.

New Zealand’s former captain Kieran Read (left) warms up as he recovers from a recent injury with current captain Sam Whitelock during a training session at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, yesterday, ahead of the All Blacks’ third Rugby Test match against France tomorrow.

Results at the ATP tournament in Halle yester-

day (x indicates seed):

Second Round

Roger Federer (SUI x1) bt Benoit Paire (FRA) 6-3,

3-6, 7-6 (9/7)

Matthew Ebden (AUS) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber

(GER x6) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2

Andreas Seppi (ITA) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-2,

6-4

Borna Coric (CRO) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)

6-4, 6-2

HALLE RESULTS

23FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018 SPORT

Ricciardo mulling move from Red BullAP

FRANCE: Daniel Ricciardo says over the next six weeks he wants to decide between staying at Red Bull or joining another Formula One team for next year.

Ricciardo said yesterday at the French Grand Prix, “It would be nice to go on the summer break knowing what I am doing.” F1 is working its way toward its three-week break in August with speculation mounting that Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren are interested in luring Ricciardo away from Red Bull for 2019.

“I will be honest, everyone is talking about Mercedes and Ferrari as potential places for me to go, and I am aware that there will be interest from other teams,” he said.

The Australian driver has won seven races in his four-plus seasons with Red Bull. He is fourth in the standings behind leader Sebastian Vettel heading into the race at the Paul Ricard Circuit near Marseille.

Ricciardo’s stock has risen in recent months after his vic-tories in Shanghai and Monaco. His Monaco win was particularly impressive because Ricciardo had to deploy some masterful defensive driving to protect his lead after losing an estimated 25 percent of his engine power.

Ricciardo said he had not directly spoken to rivals Ferrari and Mercedes, but he hedged when asked if his manager had.

“People talk, have coffees, I will leave that one open-ended,” he said with a laugh.

Ricciardo called the decision on whether to go or stay with Red Bull the biggest choice of his career following his decision to leave his native Australia and continue his racing career in Europe over a decade ago.

“For sure the priority is to get a car to win the world title because I really believe I can,” he said. “I am slightly careful because it is easy to think the grass is greener and maybe it is, but I also have it pretty good

where I am. “People do like a change but just to make change for the sake of making a change is not enough for me. I need to find some substance behind it to jump ship.” Red Bull announced recently it would be ending its 12-year partnership with engine-maker Renault and switching to Honda motors for next year.

Ricciardo was hesitant to endorse or criticize the change, saying he was going to “try to keep putting the pieces together

if it is a good move.” But with the question of the engine manufac-turer out of the way, Ricciardo said Red Bull would likely be looking to resolve its drivers’ lineup for next year.

“I haven’t been pushed yet, but I would say that there will be some movement in the next week,” he said. “Whether that is something that gets put down on paper (or not), for sure the dis-cussions will start to ramp up in the next few days.”

Red Bull Racing’s Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo poses with his fist tattooed with the number 3 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, southern France, yesterday, few days ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix de France.

Mercedes keep everyone guessing on engine upgradeREUTERS

FRANCE: Mercedes kept everyone guessing yesterday whether Lewis Hamilton will have an engine upgrade for the French Grand Prix but the Formula One world champion said he was not sweating either way.

The Briton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas are due to have fresh engines for Sunday’s eighth round of the championship, with the rules limiting drivers to three power units for the 21-race season.

The upgrade was supposed to have been introduced in Canada two weekends ago but was postponed late in the day due to a ‘quality issue’.

A Mercedes spokesman said the plan was to have it at Le Castellet but final confirmation would not come until Friday practice.

“The championship is all about tiny margins,” Hamilton told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t know what the team have planned for me.

“The fresher engine this weekend will be great as it will have more power than the one I used at the last race. I trust the team, and if we have to use the older-specification engine, I am not worried.” The older-specification engine would still be a fresh one but its use would preclude the introduction of an upgrade for another seven races, unless a penalty was taken.

Hamilton is a point behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, both of them four-time world champions, ahead of Sunday’s race which is the first French Grand Prix in a decade and first at Le Castellet since 1990.

The track shares some characteristics with Barcelona, where Mercedes were dominant earlier in the year, but practice will be more important than usual given the lack of past data.

Vettel said he did not think the engine upgrade, if it hap-pened, would necessarily make a big difference to the outcome.

“I believe they’re very strong no matter what...some races suit you a bit better for some reasons and others don’t,” he told reporters.

“Even if they stay with that engine, with that advantage they’ve had in that race (Barcelona) we can all put a lot of horsepower and a lot of downforce and our car still would lack pace compared to them.

“Is it all in the car? All in the engine? I don’t think so,” added the German, the only driver to have won three races this year.

“They had obviously a great weekend (in Barcelona) and everybody else was a little bit behind. Other weekends it’s been the other way around, so we’ll see how it’ll be this week and then the weeks after.”

Pit crew members push the Mercedes of British driver Lewis Hamilton on the pit lane at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, southern France, yesterday.

Triple-header adds spice to French Grand PrixAFP

LE CASTELLET, FRANCE: Formula One heads for an unprecedented run of three successive weekends of races and five in six weeks from this Sunday, starting with the return of the French Grand Prix after almost a decade off the schedule.

The revamped Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet was a fixture on the F1 cal-endar until 1990 when four-time champion Alain Prost won the last race held there for Ferrari.

Half of the current drivers were not born when the French Grand Prix, the oldest event in the sport, then moved to Magny-Cours, until 2008, when it was taken off the cal-endar following Brazilian Felipe Massa’s win for Ferrari, their third in succession at that track.

The dual challenges of racing on a totally-redesigned circuit that has been only used sparsely for testing and then departing to Austria and Britain, without a break, will be a major test, the triple header having been introduced to avoid a clash with the World Cup final on July 15.

“It should be an interesting race,” said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff.

“We don’t often race where we have little or no historical data. It makes our prepara-tions trickier than usual, but that element of the unknown adds to the challenge.

“The triple header will test all the F1 teams to their limits, but also offers a chance to score a lot of points over three weeks, which is precisely what we’re aiming to do.” Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is hoping for a power-boost and continued reliability this weekend as he and Mercedes bid to overcome Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari.

The Briton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas were out-gunned at the Canadian Grand Prix where fellow-four-time champion Vettel secured his 50th career win to regain the lead in the drivers’ title race by a point.

Both Ferrari and Red Bull were given upgraded engines in Montreal while Mer-cedes continued to use the power-units that had started the season.

It was a factor as Vettel dominated, winning ahead of Bottas, and Hamilton struggled, but extended his record run in the

points to 32 outings, by finishing fourth (confirm).

“After that, I am glad to have scored points that may be valuable later on, but I really want to come back strongly in France,” he said.

“People see me doing a lot of different things, I know that, but I am truly motivated. At the core of me is racing above all else.

“So much time, dedication and sacrifice has gone into me getting where I am today. I love what I do. I love the competition and the challenge.” At 33, Hamilton has found a greater sense of serenity that has helped him move within reach of more records.

If he claims his 65th career win on Sunday, he will set a record for victories in different Grands Prix, moving clear on 23 of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher on 22.

And he will be one of the first in the paddock to congratulate two-time champion Fernando Alonso of McLaren on his win in last weekend’s Le Man 24-Hour race, a second part of his bid to land motor racing’s ‘triple crown’ of Monaco, Le Mans and the Indy 500.

England’s Jason Roy celebrates with Jonny Bairstow after reaching a century against Australia during the fourth One Day International in Durham, Britain, yesterday.

AustraliaA Finch lbw b Wood ............................................100

T Head c Willey b Rashid ...................................... 63

S Marsh c Overton b Willey .................................101

M Stoinis b Wood ..................................................... 1

A Agar c Buttler b Rashid ......................................19

A Carey c Overton b Willey .................................... 6

T Paine lbw b Willey ................................................. 3

M Neser c Buttler b Willey ......................................2

J Richardson (not out) ..............................................5

N Lyon (not out) ........................................................3

Extras (LB3, W4) ....................................................7

Total (8 wkts) ........................................ 310Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-225, 3-227, 4-256, 5-296,

6-296, 7-299, 8-305

Bowling: Wood 9-1-49-2 (2w); Willey 7-0-43-4;

Root 10-0-44-0 (1w); Overton 7-0-55-0; Rashid 10-

0-73-2 (1w); Ali 7-0-43-0;

EnglandJ Roy c Marsh b Lyon ............................................ 101

J Bairstow c Paine b Stanlake .............................. 79

A Hales not out ...................................................... 34

J Root b Agar .......................................................... 27

E Morgan c Paine b Agar .......................................15

J Buttler not out .................................................... 54

Extras (B1, W2, NB1) ............................................. 4

Total (4 wkts, 44.4 overs) .....................314Did not bat: M Ali, D Willey, C Overton, A Rashid, M

Wood

Fall of wickets: 1-174 (Roy), 2-183 (Bairstow),

3-228 (Root), 4-244 (Morgan)

Bowling: Neser 8.4-0-74-0 (1nb, 1w); Stanlake

8-0-54-1; Lyon 7-0-38-1; Richardson 7-0-58-0; Agar

8-0-48-2; Stoinis 6-0-41-0 (1w)

Result: England won by six wickets

Man-of-the-match: Jason Roy (ENG)

SCOREBOARD

Roy runs riot again as England take 4-0 lead AFP

CHESTER-LE-STREET: Jason Roy scored his second hundred of the series as England beat Australia by six wickets at Chester-le-Street yesterday to move within one win of their first-ever 5-0 one-day interna-tional clean sweep of their arch-rivals. England, fresh from their 481 for six -- the highest men’s ODI total of all time -- in a crushing 242-run win at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, ‘only’ needed 311 at the Riverside.

In-form openers Roy (101) and Jonny Bairstow (79) put on 174. Yet they were three wickets down when it ended.

Wood broke a partnership of 124 when Finch was lbw to a ball that cut back, before he

bowled Marcus Stoinis in similar fashion.

SPORT 24FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018

Russia 2018 attendances pass one million mark, says FIFA

1 Million Over one million fans have attended games at the World Cup, organisers FIFAsaid in a statement yes-

terday after Denmark’s 1-1 draw with Australia, the21st match of the tour-nament in Russia. “To date, more than 2.6 million tickets have been allocated to football fans all around the world, with ticket sales ongoing until July 15. On average, World Cup stadium occupancy is at 97 percent and more than 70,000 tickets have been resold,” added thestatement.

WHO’S SAYING WHAT AT

WORLD CUP

“I believe Argentina will play against England in the final.” -- David Beckham, who captained England to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006, makes a big call on the the back of England’s 2-1 win over Tunisia.

“Let us just say that I did not see anything to make me think England can become world champions.” Marcel Desailly, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, isn’t buying into the hype about Gareth Southgate’s men.

“Neymar gave off the impression he was playing by himself. He might be the greatest player but he has to think of the collective. He has to think of his team-mates and play with them.”Desailly again, offering a withering assessment of how the most expensive player in the world performed during Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland.

“We are calm. Five matches is the minimum you need to be fully fit and he has already sped up the process.”Brazil coach Tite is unconcerned over Neymar’s path back to full fitness after injury.

“I dined with Mr Putin. You have to congratulate Russia for the organisation of the World Cup, and naturally the head of state himself.” Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter looking up to an old friend in Moscow despite being banned from the game for alleged corruption during his 17 years at the head of world football. “I throw on two or three sprays of perfume. It gives me a feeling of happiness. Sometimes my team-mates ask me if I’m not right in the head!”Germany’s Julian Draxler on his fragrant pre-match ritual. “We are all with him.” Argentina forward Paulo Dybala on supporting Lionel Messi after his lowkey performance in the 1-1 draw with Iceland which has made Thursday’s second group game against Croatia a must-win affair.

Mbappe makes history as France battle into last 16AFP

YEKATERINBURG: Teenager Kylian Mbappe became France’s youngest World Cup goalscorer as they beat Peru 1-0 yesterday to reach the last 16 and condemn the South Americans to an early exit.

France, one of the pre-tournament favourites, join Uruguay and hosts Russia in the knockout rounds with one group game to go.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Mbappe -- aged 19 years and 183 days -- under-lined his rich talent and claimed his place in the French record books when he poked home in the first half.

Didier Deschamps’ side face Denmark on Tuesday with top spot in Group C up for grabs but progression to the next stage assured.

In contrast, Peru face Aus-tralia with their fate sealed and just pride to play for in front of their passionate and large fol-lowing that has decamped to Russia.

Some Peru fans were in tears even before kick-off -- a generation of Peruvians have never known their country in the World Cup before.

The South Americans’ last appearance was in 1982 and they made this like a home game, ensuring their red and white dominated the Yekater-inburg Arena.

That included the two enormous temporary stands that stretch high above both ends, exposed to the elements, where Peru fans bobbed and bounced to keep warm.

Paul Pogba, the Man-chester United midfielder who a few days ago called himself “the most criticised player in the world”, flashed a drive wide and defender Raphael Varane did likewise from a header.

With 15 minutes gone, Pogba and France began to impose themselves.

Antoine Griezmann drove straight at goalkeeper Pedro Gallese after Olivier Giroud -- starting in place of Ousmane Dembele -- set up the Atletico Madrid forward.

Deschamps had clearly told his side, disappointing in beating Australia 2-1 in their opener, to go long and use Gir-oud’s physicality.

Peru’s best outlet in the first half was rampaging full-back Luis Advincula, who had the

beating of defender Lucas Her-nandez down France’s left flank.

Peru, unfortunate to lose 1-0 to Denmark in their first game, took until the half-hour to have their first serious chance, with recalled skipper Paolo Guerrero stinging the legs of Hugo Lloris.

France captain Lloris, making his 100th appearance for his country, was a

bystander for long periods.On 34 minutes France went

in front. Pogba cleverly played in Giroud, his shot took a deflection and looped over Gallese, allowing Mbappe to stab into an open net.

New-found confidence ran through the French and Hern-andez should have made it 2-0 just before the break.

As in the first half, Peru made the better start to the

second and midfielder Pedro Aquino arrowed a long-dis-tance rocket onto Lloris’s upright.

But for all their possession, Peru -- in their distinctive white kit with red sash -- caused the French defence few problems.

Barcelona centre-back Samuel Umtiti was imperious alongside Real Madrid’s Varane.

France’s forward Kylian Mbappe

(centre) celebrates his goal with team-mates Olivier Giroud

(left) and Antoine Griezmann during their World Cup

match against Peru in Yekaterinburg,

yesterday.

Colombian captain wants team to use past resolveAP

KAZAN: Radamel Falcao (pictured) wants Colombia to draw on its past mental strengths in the qualifiers to save its World Cup in Russia.

The South American team’s captain and top scorer believes that Colombia can overcome the setback of the 2-1 loss to Japan in the first group match to rescue its hopes of advancing.

“We’ve had some past experiences” of pulling through in the end, Falcao

said yesterday. The Monaco player recalled Colombia’s challenges in World Cup qualifying, needing a draw to secure a spot in Russia in an away match in Peru after losing the previous match at home to Paraguay.

Falcao left the field with his head down after that loss, as he did after the Japan defeat.

But in the end, Colombia held it together to secure a 1-1 draw against Peru.

Falcao hopes the team can now take that fighting spirit and translate it into a

win Sunday against Poland, which also lost its first match in Group H.

Colombia achieved its best-ever World Cup run in 2014, reaching the quarter-finals before being knocked out by host Brazil.

And there have been high hopes that the team can at least replicate that success in Russia.

Falcao said that Colombia is trying to leave the disappointment of Tues-day’s defeat in the past and try to take away “what strengthened us from that

match.” He alluded to the “character” that Colombia showed in the first half at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk, after going down to 10 men and conceding a penalty that Japan converted. Colombia went on to equalize in the 39th minute, before Japan scored a second-half winner.

The captain believes Colombia has the resolve to survive again.

“I think the simple fact of still being alive in the World Cup gives us the emotional drive for our two remaining matches,” Falcao said.

Peru’s defender Christian Ramos reacts after defeat in Yekaterinburg, yesterday. INSET: A Peru fan cries after the loss.

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