FIFA: Belgium is now World No.3

Agencies
July 15, 2018

St. Petersburg, Jul 15: Thomas Meunier's early goal gave Belgium an upper hand in the third-place playoff to finally defeated England in St. Petersburg and earn the third place in the FIFA rankings.

Belgium defeated England by two goals to none.

Belgium made a flying start as Midfielder Meunier's scored a goal in the fourth minute.

The goal was possible as England left much room for Belgium's Nacer Chadli, who whipped a low cross into the middle and it is here when Meunier seized the opportunity.

Meunier's goal was the earliest ever scored by a Belgian player at the world cup. Interestingly it was the first time ever for England to concede a goal so early on in a match.

In the 39th minute, Chadli picks up a knock and was replaced by Thomas Vermaelen.

Belgium has the record of never losing a match when leading at halftime, since a 2-5 defeat to Germany in 1934. Belgium since then won eight matches while drawing only four.

In a bid to make a difference, post half-time, England made two changes in the 46th minute, wherein Marcus Rashford replaced Raheem Sterling. Also, Jesse Lingard replaced Danny Rose.

In the 52nd minute, John Stones of England received a yellow card for committing a foul on Belgium's Eden Hazard.

In the 60th minute, Belgium made their second change, wherein Dries Mertens replaced Romelu Lukaku.

Uptill the 70th minute, England's Eric Dier had two shots directed towards the goal but to no avail. The shots came at a gap of two minutes. Even England's Kieran Trippier seven attempts yielded no favourable results.

The match turned interesting as England received yet another yellow card in the 76th minute, when Harry Maguire tried to protest a decision taken by the referee.

Belgium made their third and final change wherein Mousa Dembele replaced Youri Tielemans.

In the 82nd minute, Belgium scored another goal, with England still failing to score any.

As Kevin De Bruyne executed a brilliant pass to midfielder Eden Hazard who dashed towards the box and took a shot towards the bottom left-hand corner.

Eden Hazard is one such player who has been involved directly in scoring 25 goals for Belgium. Out of the 25, 12 were direct goals and 13 of them were assists.

In utter desperation in England made their change wherein Dele Alli replaced Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the 84th minute but to no avail.

Despite winning the match, Belgium's Axel Witsel received a yellow card in three minutes past the full time.

England and Belgium faced each other for the second time in this edition, after their match in the group stages.

Belgium had defeated England in the group stage match by one goal to none.

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News Network
April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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News Network
February 16,2020

Feb 16: Mayank Agarwal finally found some form going his way and Rishabh Pant mixed caution with his customary aggression as India's warm-up fixture against New Zealand XI ended in a draw in Hamilton on Sunday. The match was called off an hour after lunch with India reaching 252 for four just 48 overs into their second innings. Agarwal, who had gone through a wretched period since the second Test against Bangladesh, retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his name. To the relief of the Indian team management, Pant played in his customary manner to reach 70 off 65 balls, but also showed discretion when the opposition bowlers were in the midst of a good spell.

There were four sixes -- two each off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and off-spinner Henry Cooper. While Sodhi was hit down the ground, Cooper was dispatched over extra cover on a couple of occasions.

He didn't curb his aggression though; there were times when he was ready defend against the spinners and also leave some of the deliveries that the Kiwi pacers bowled.

Even though Pant is easily the better batsman compared to his senior Wriddhiman Saha, the innings might have come too late in the day considering that the latter is a better keeper and possibly a more responsible batsman in pressure situations.

The biggest positive to have emerged from the second innings is Agarwal's poor run coming to an end.

The Seddon Park track easing out was definitely a factor but Agarwal's footwork was more assured as he played some glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal had played 10 competitive games including first-class, ODIs and List A matches and couldn't cross the 40-run mark in 11 completed innings.

He even bagged a pair against New Zealand A in an unofficial Test match. Once he had got his form back, he didn't come out to bat after lunch giving Saha an opportunity to score an unbeaten 30, his runs coming mostly against non-regular bowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added 100 runs in 14.3 overs and it also helped that part-timers like Cooper was introduced into the action. In the morning, Prithvi Shaw (39 off 31 balls) was bowled through the gate by Daryl Mitchell as the batsman left a gaping hole between his bat and pad.

Shaw, though, seemed to have done enough during his brisk 72-run stand with Agarwal, which could put an end to the debate around the opening slot even though the tracks in Wellington and Christchurch could be a test of technique for the flamboyant Mumbaikar.

It was a match that Shubman Gill would perhaps like to forget in a hurry as he was dismissed cheaply for the second time in a row. He scored 8 before Daryl Mitchell trapped him leg before.

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