Mourinho charged by FA
london: Jose Mourinho was charged with misconduct by the Football Association on Thursday after the Chelsea manager made a series of controversial comments about match officials. Mourinho claimed there is a “clear campaign by “people, pundits, commentators and coaches from other teams” against Chelsea and labelled the booking of Cesc Fabregas for diving in a 1-1 draw at Southampton on December 28 as a “scandal”.”It is alleged his remarks constitute improper conduct in that they allege and/or imply bias on the part of a referee or referees and/or bring the game into disrepute,” a statement issued by the FA read. He has until 1800 GMT on January 13 to respond to the charge.
frank has no nyfc contract
london: New York City FC acknowledged on Friday that it unintentionally misled fans by wrongly announcing the signing of Frank lampard last year when he never had a playing contract for the Major league Soccer expansion team. After being released by Chelsea, NYCFC paraded lampard in Manhattan in July after announcing he “signed a two-year contract which starts August 1st.” In fact, he agreed to only a “commitment” to play for NYCFC on a two-year contract from January 2015, the player and City Football Group said on Friday. City acknowledges that lampard’s only playing contract is with the Premier league champion, with the midfielder’s MlS career not now due to start until midway through the season in July.
aus 4-1 kuwait in asian cup
Melbourne: Tim Cahill sparked an Australian fightback after an early deficit as the hosts beat Kuwait 4-1 in the opening match of the Asian Cup on Friday. Cahill, Massimo luongo, Mile Jedinak and James Troisi scored the Socceroos while Kuwait had taken the lead early on thanks to Hussain Fadhel. Australia, Kuwait have South Korea and Oman in their group.
barca rout elche 5-0 in copa
Madrid: Barcelona set aside its off-field troubles and put on a show in which Neymar, lionel Messi and luis Suarez scored in a 5-0 rout of Elche in a Copa del Rey last-16, first-leg match on Thursday. Jordi Alba scored the other as Neymar bagged a brace. Also in the competition, Kevin Gameiro scored a goal and created another for Sevilla to beat Granada 2-1.
adrian hopes for ind return
Mumbai: Seasoned but sidelined goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza has targeted the upcoming Hockey India league (HIl) to make a big impression and storm his way back into the national team after three years. “You have seen quite a few players making a comeback through the Hockey India league which is a good platform. I am keen to use it (to make my comeback),” said D’Souza after the first training session of new team Dabang Mumbai here on Friday. D’Souza, who has appeared for India in several major events, including the Olympic Games and World Cups, last donned the national colours at the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia in 2011. The 30-year-old custodian, with over 100 India caps to his credit, was ignored by the HI after he played in the defunct World Series Hockey promoted by HI’s rival Indian Hockey Federation.
motorcyclist dies in dakar
Buenos Aires: Polish motorcyclist Michal Hernik (KTM), who was found dead on Day 3 of the Dakar Rally, died of dehydration, organisers said. An autopsy was performed to determine the cause of death after Hernik, 39, was discovered Tuesday lying dead near the day’s route between the Argentine cities of San Juan and Chilecito and the organisers revealed Thursday that the rider had died of dehydration, reports Xinhua. It was his first time competing in the rally. A helicopter search party found his body at 4 p.m. local time, only 14 km from the finish line, at km 206 of the Cuesta de Miranda roadway, in la Rioja province. The racer became the fifth competitor to die since the tough annual endurance race was relocated to South America in 2009.
Ghosh, Shamini win titles
New Delhi: Both Soumyajit Ghosh and Shamini Kumaresan had to dig deep to win the men’s and women’s singles titles at the 34th PSPB Inter Unit Table Tennis Tournament that concluded here on Friday. In the women’s final, Shamini of IOCl beat Arjuna Awardee Mouma Das of OIl 6-11, 9-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-2. When Shamini lost the fourth game and was down 1-3 it seemed that Mouma had the upper hand. Shamini, however, managed to produce some exquisite table tennis to win the next three games.
Dwivedi 10th in first stage
Hua Hin (Thailand): Indian golfer Samarth Dwivedi added cards of 68 and 73 in the second and third round to keep himself in 10th place at the Asian Tour Qualifying School first stage here on Friday. Dwivedi, who played for India at the Asian Games as an amateur, shot 68 in the first round and then followed that up with a bogey-free 68 on the second to move tied third. In the third round, Dwivedi raised hopes of moving up even further with an early eagle on par-5 second, but his double bogey on fifth and then bogeys on 11th and 12th set him back to 73 and he was 10th. The top 22 players from this venue will move to the final stage from where top 40 will earn a full card for the Asian Tour for 2015.
rooney voted best in 2014
london: England captain Wayne Rooney has been voted his national team’s player of the year for 2014 after topping a supporter’s poll. Rooney took 27 per cent of the votes from an online poll of supporters club members, more than second-placed Danny Welbeck (11 per cent) and third-placed Raheem Sterling (seven per cent).