Dominant England punished by Russia for wasteful finishing

June 12, 2016

Paris, Jun 12: A youthful England side produced a performance full of verve and skill but were punished for failing to convert their dominance into goals as Russia grabbed a late equaliser in their Euro 2016 opener in Marseille on Saturday.

DominantThe end of the Group B match, which finished 1-1, was marred by violence in the stands as supporters clashed after the final whistle and, despite their superb performance, England will be left rueing their missed opportunities.

"I think we played well but we didn't take our chances. The lads are disappointed not to get the win but we can take a lot of positives," England captain Wayne Rooney said. "We looked solid for 90 minutes. The performance was worthy of the win."

Unable to convert possession into goals, England were hit by a late sucker-punch that condemned them to yet another poor start at the European Championship -- in nine tournaments they have drawn five and lost four of their opening games.

Roy Hodgson's side was the second-youngest to appear for England at a major tournament, only surpassed in terms of its youth by the team that faced Sweden at the 2002 World Cup.

In the beginning it did not show as England dominated most of the exchanges, producing chance after chance from open play and set pieces as they ran at the Russians.

Adam Lallana, Rooney and Harry Kane all had decent chances in the first half, but more often than not their efforts flew harmlessly wide or straight at the keeper.

With England attacking seemingly at will, centrally and down the flanks, balls were flashed into the box from all angles and it seemed a matter of time before the deadlock was broken.

When the breakthrough finally came it was from an unlikely source. Tottenham Hotspur's defensive midfielder Eric Dier has not attempted a single shot from a free-kick in his 65 Premier League games, but in the 73rd minute he stepped up and smashed an unstoppable strike past keeper Igor Akinfeev.

Looping Header

With Russia having spent much of the game defending, Dier's goal looked like it would be enough to claim all three points, but it was not to be and Russia fashioned an equaliser with only their second effort on target in the whole game.

Defender Vasili Berezutski did not manage to find the net in any of his eight qualifying appearances, but his looping header at the death was enough to give his side a share of the points that they hardly deserved.

For almost the entire game Hodgson's decision to go for youth over experience in his squad looked like it might be vindicated, but Berezutski's goal cast a shadow over England's fortunes.

"I thought we played well, in the first half I thought that was as good a performance as we are capable of giving," Hodgson told reporters.

"It feels like defeat because we were preparing to celebrate a victory and we don't have that possibility now."

England next meet Wales, who beat Slovakia 2-1 in their opening fixture earlier on Saturday, in Lens on Thursday, while the Russians face Slovakia in Lille a day earlier.

Hodgson knows he must pick up his young squad after their late setback if they are to have any chance of progressing.

"When we analyse this game tomorrow there will be a lot of things we will want to take forward, and hopefully we'll be able to put the memory of this last-minute goal behind us," he said.

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News Network
March 27,2020

New Delhi, Mar 27: India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday made a heartfelt appeal to the citizens of the country, asking them to follow social distancing as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.
He also went on to say that over the past few days, he has seen some people still taking to the streets, and added that if people still continue to venture out, then they are not being honest with the country.
Kohli released a small video clip on Twitter, making the public appeal and captioned the post as: "Please wake up to the reality and seriousness of the situation and take responsibility. The nation needs our support and honesty"
"Today, I am talking to you as a citizen of the country. Whatever I have seen over the past few days, I have seen people not following the lockdown, it has made me feel that some people are taking the battle against COVID-19 very lightly. I request you all to please follow social distancing, whatever the government is asking you to do, please follow it," Kohli said in the video released on Twitter.
"Think about what can happen to your family members because of your negligence. Our medical experts are fighting this battle day in and day out. If you are still going out to the streets, then I don't think you are being honest to your country," he added.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to impose a 21-day lockdown in the country as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases have risen to 724 in India (including 640 active cases, 66 cured or discharged people) and 17 deaths.
The World Health Organisation had termed the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11. 

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April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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