Jara banned for 3 games
Santiago (Chile): Chilean defender Gonzalo Jara has been banned from the remainder of the Copa America for provoking Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani in a quarterfinal match. The three-game ban handed down Sunday by South America’s governing body rules out Jara from Monday’s semifinal against Peru. Jara came up behind Cavani in Wednesday’s match and pushed his finger into Cavani’s rear. Cavani reacted and raised his hand toward Jara’s head, with the Chilean feigning an injury and collapsing on the pitch. The match referee missed Jara’s gesture and sent off Cavani.
lFP goes to CAS over 2022 WC
lausanne: The Spanish football league is challenging FIFA to switch the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to November-December. The Court of Arbitration for Sport says the Spanish league (lFP) has filed an appeal against the FIFA decision, which avoids the Qatari summer heat. The court has not set a hearing date. A November-December tournament would shut down top European leagues for eight peak weeks and require more summer fixtures. It is the first formal legal challenge to moving the World Cup in Qatar from the traditional June-July slot. Spanish newspaper AS quoted lFP President Javier Tebas as saying he had filed the lawsuit “in defense of the interests of the clubs that are contributing to the international teams.” According to AS, Tebas submitted three independent expert reports to CAS which concluded that the lFP would lose 65 million euros ($71.6 million) by moving the World Cup to the winter.
Goa gets provisional nod
Panaji: Goa would be one of the six centres in the country that are provisionally selected to host forthcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 matches. There will be four training grounds and one main stadium where the matches would be held,” Javier Ceppi, Tournament Director, local organisation committee (lOC) FIFA U-17 World Cup told reporters on Monday. FIFA has provisionally shortlisted other centres like Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai and New Delhi besides Goa as the venues. He also said that India will be given direct entry in the qualifying stage and 24 countries would qualify for the finals which will feature 52 matches in venue around the country. As a prelude to the World Cup, Goa has also been selected as venue for AFC U-16 tournament that would be held next year.
Cech joins arsenal
london: Petr Cech ended his trophy-filled, 11-year stay at Chelsea by signing for Premier league rival Arsenal on Monday, with the goalkeeper reluctantly deciding to leave the English champions after losing his starting place. In another major coup in the transfer market, Arsenal bought the 33-year-old Cech for a reported fee about 11 million pounds ($17.3 million) after Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich granted the Czech Republic international the chance to revive his career while staying in the Premier league.
Barbados ousted from wc
Zurich: Barbados has been eliminated from the 2018 World Cup qualifying tournament for fielding an ineligible player, giving beaten opponent Aruba a reprieve to advance instead. FIFA ordered Barbados on Monday to forfeit its 1-0 win against Aruba in the second leg of its CONCACAF second-round match on June 14. Barbados won the first leg 2-0. With Aruba awarded a 3-0 second-leg victory by default, it now advances 3-2 on aggregate.
Satnam thanks for support
New Delhi: Satnam Singh Bhamara, who made history by becoming the first Indian to make the NBA draft, has thanked his coaches and IMG-Reliance for supporting his efforts to make it to the top-level American basketball league. Hailing from a small village, Ballo Ke in Barnala district of Punjab, the 7-feet-2-inch hoopster went to US in 2010 on an IMG-Reliance scholarship programme. Satnam created history by becoming first Indian to be drafted into the NBA when he was picked up by Dallas Mavericks. “Thank you to everyone for the support and I am so excited to start with the Dallas Mavericks. I finally now have a chance to say thank you to some very important people as without their help I could not be here,” he said in a Facebook post.
Czech great masopust dies
Prague: Czech football great Josef Masopust, who led the national side to the final of the 1962 World Cup, has died aged 84. The Club of Josef Masopust’s Friends, the organisation that takes care of his legacy, said he died in his Prague home on Monday. No cause of death was given. The Czech TV said he was battling a serious, long-term illness. He was named the best Czech footballer of the century in 2000.