LIMA (Reuters) – Argentine forward Angel Correa says he is ready to fill the void left by talismanic striker Lionel Messi for their World Cup qualifier away at Peru on Thursday.
Five-times World Player of the Year Messi will miss the fixture with a thigh problem, giving the 21-year-old Atletico Madrid forward Correa a chance to add to his five caps.
“There is only one Messi,” Correa told reporters after training on Tuesday. “I am happy to be here and if I am to replace him then I will try to do it in the best way possible and help the team.”
Argentina are third in the South American qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup, a point adrift of leaders Uruguay approaching the halfway stage.
Peru sit ninth in the 10-team standings which will provide up to five qualifiers for the tournament in Russia.
(Reporting by Reuters TV; Editing by Patrick Johnston/John O’Brien)
(Reuters) – Australia defender Matthew Spiranovic has warned his team mates to expect a “hostile” reception when the Socceroos take on Saudi Arabia in their Asian section World Cup qualifier in Jeddah on Thursday.
Australia lead Group B on goal difference from the Saudis, with both teams boasting 100 percent records after two games.
Spiranovic had a bruising experience on his last trip to the kingdom, when Western Sydney Wanderers faced Saudi club Al-Hilal in Riyadh in the second leg of their victorious 2014 Asian Champions League final.
The 28-year-old centre back was head-butted by Al-Hilal’s Nasser Al-Shamrani in the second half of the scoreless draw and also spat at by the volatile striker after the final whistle as the Australian side claimed a 1-0 aggregate victory.
Al-Shamrani, who was given an eight-match ban for the behaviour, has been recalled to the Saudi Arabia team for the match at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
“I’ve never played in front of such a crowd,” China-based Spiranovic told Australian media in Jeddah.
“It was surreal, just a sea of blue and white, very loud, hostile, not friendly at all.
“It was a pretty smooth leadup until the game, although everyone’s Instagram account was abused. All the Al-Hilal fans were giving it to us.
“It was packed to the rafters, 65,000 screaming men, basically. It was insane.”
Victory for the Socceroos would go a long way to securing their passage to a fourth consecutive World Cup appearance at Russia in 2018.
The Green Falcons are bidding for their first World Cup appearance since the 2006 tournament in Germany.
(Reuters) – Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba needs to be given more time to demonstrate his quality in England as his hefty price tag has raised expectations to a very high level, France coach Didier Deschamps has said.
Pogba, who helped France reach the Euro 2016 final in July, has endured a mixed start at Old Trafford since making a world record 89 million pound move back to Manchester from Juventus in August.
Pogba was anonymous in last month’s defeats to Manchester City and Feyenoord but scored his first goal for the club in an improved display in a 4-1 win over Leicester City before another lacklustre performance in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Stoke City.
“He has changed his club team and needs to find his bearing with his new team mates,” Deschamps told reporters in France.
“With Paul, we always expect more. When he does something neutral, often it is not enough. He is someone we expect to make assists in every game… there is an expectation that is too large. Paul is okay in his own head. He knows what he wants.”
Pogba won four Serie A titles and two Italian Cups during his time at Juventus.
(Reporting by Ian Rodricks in Bengaluru; Editing by John O’Brien)
(Reuters) – Fast bowler Stuart Broad has fallen out of contention for a regular starting place in England’s one-day international side but the test stalwart is “desperate” to represent his country at the 2019 World Cup on home soil.
Broad, who climbed to the top of the test bowlers rankings earlier this year, was part of the England side that made an embarrassing group stage exit at the 2015 World Cup and has barely featured since.
England have prospered in white-ball cricket after making sweeping changes to their tactics and personnel in the wake of the disastrous showing in Australia and New Zealand, and Broad has only featured in two matches during that rebuilding period.
England and Wales are hosting the 2017 Champions Trophy and the World Cup two year later, and the 30-year-old Broad is determined to do everything necessary to fight his way back into the side.
“I’m desperate, as I think every England cricketer would be, to play at the 2019 World Cup in England,” Broad, who has taken 178 wickets in 121 ODIs, told Sky Sports. “It is a long way away but it will creep up.
“The tricky part of playing a lot of test cricket, I’ve played 48 on the bounce now, is you don’t actually get a lot of time to play white-ball cricket so it’s quite hard to keep up with the standard in a game that moves forward so quickly.”
Since last appearing in those two ODIs in South Africa in February, Broad failed to feature in England’s home one-day series wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan and was also overlooked for the three matches in Bangladesh, beginning on Friday.
“I’m trying to find more time to play white-ball cricket,” Broad added. “I’ve got a bit of a proven track record with the white ball, my stats are pretty good in the 50-over stuff, I just need to play a bit more of it.”
(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by John O’Brien)
Formula One – F1 – Malaysia Grand Prix – Sepang, Malaysia
By Abhishek Takle
SUZUKA, Japan (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton will have to dig deep to overcome the heartbreak of Malaysia as he heads into Sunday’s Formula One Japanese Grand Prix needing a third straight win at the Suzuka circuit to revive his flagging title prospects.
The triple world champion’s hopes of claiming a fourth title were dealt a heavy blow on Sunday at the Sepang circuit when he was forced to retire with a blown engine while holding a comfortable lead with 16 laps remaining.
That allowed Australian Daniel Ricciardo to score his first win of the year ahead of Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen in the team’s first one-two finish since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Had Hamilton won, scoring a landmark 50th career victory, he would have vaulted back to the top of the overall standings ahead of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg.
Instead he heads to Japan needing to bridge a 23-point gap to the German, who finished third in Malaysia after being spun around and dropped to the back of the field by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the start.
Vettel will drop three grid places in Japan as punishment for tipping Rosberg into the spin.
“It’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back up,” Hamilton told reporters.
“If I can find strength from within to be able to come to these next races and perform like I’ve performed this weekend then, providing the car holds together, good things will come.”
Sunday’s engine failure was the latest in a spate of reliability issues that have plagued Hamilton’s 2016 campaign and prompted the Briton to hint at a conspiracy.
“Someone doesn’t want me to win this year. My question is to Mercedes. We have so many engines made but mine are the only ones failing this year,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Someone needs to give me some answers because this is not acceptable. We are fighting for the championship and only my engines are failing. It does not sit right with me.”
Hamilton turned a deficit of 43 points to Rosberg earlier in the season into a 19-point advantage over the German with a streak of six wins from seven races, but he is running out of time to mount another comeback with only five races left.
Rosberg, whose Finnish father Keke took the 1982 title, is keeping his focus squarely on Japan.
“I’m quite liking my approach of just seeing it as a weekend-on-a-weekend basis so don’t have such thoughts and just accepting the way it went today,” he said.
“Next is Suzuka where I want to try and win again.”
Mercedes can win the constructors’ championship on Sunday for the third year in a row.
McLaren will also be hoping to put on a strong showing in engine supplier Honda’s home race.
The former champions and Japanese manufacturer, who own the Suzuka circuit, renewed their once-dominant partnership last season but endured a bruising year.
Fernando Alonso criticised the engine as ‘GP2’ standard during last year’s race but the team have made steady progress this season and are optimistic about their chances of finishing in the points on home soil.
Queens Park Rangers v Sunderland – EFL Cup Third Round
(Reuters) – Sunderland midfielder Jan Kirchoff will be out of action for six to eight weeks after the German suffered a hamstring injury in Saturday’s 1-1 Premier League home draw with West Bromwich Albion.
The former Bayern Munich player, who joined the struggling north-east club on an 18-month deal in January, was carried off on a stretcher at the Stadium of Light.
“…to assess the extent of the injury the 26-year-old underwent a scan which revealed he will be out for six to eight weeks,” the club said on their website (www.safc.com) on Tuesday.
Sunderland are propping up the table with two points from seven games and next visit second-bottom Stoke City on Oct. 15.
(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
Football Soccer – Bolivia v Chile- World Cup 2018 Qualifier – Monumental Stadium
ZURICH (Reuters) – Chile have been handed a one-match stadium ban and fined along with five other countries after their supporters were found guilty of homophobic chanting, FIFA said on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, Chile were handed a two-match ban, with one suspended for the same offence.
Having already played one game away from their national stadium in Santiago, they will now have to find a new venue for their World Cup qualifying match against Venezuela next March, world soccer’s governing body said.
FIFA triggered Chile’s suspended sentence following their World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in September.
“Since Chile had committed another infringement during the probation period imposed in May 2016, a ban on playing at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos in Santiago for a further match will be applied,” FIFA said in a statement.
Chile were fined a total of 65,000 Swiss francs ($66,421) for two offences after their fans were also found guilty of “insulting chants” in September’s clash against Paraguay.
Chile are seventh in the South American World Cup qualifying group with 11 points from eight games, two points outside the top four spots which guarantee a place at the finals in Russia.
FIFA also handed out fines for homophobic chanting by supporters to Honduras (65,000 Swiss francs), El Salvador (45,000), Mexico (30,000), Peru (30,000) and Brazil (20,000).
Italy, Argentina, Canada, Paraguay and Albania were fined between 20,000 and 50,000 Swiss francs for “incidents involving discriminatory and unsporting conduct by fans”.
($1 = 0.9786 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Toby Davis in London; Editing by Ken Ferris)
