Germany set for quarters after humbling Holland

June 14, 2012

germany

Germany are on the verge of the Euro 2012 quarter-finals following their 2-1 win over Holland on Wednesday as Mario Gomez scored twice, while the Dutch are heading for a first-round exit.

World Cup finalists Holland will bow out on Sunday unless they beat Portugal in their final game here at the Metalist Stadium and hope Germany defeat Denmark the same day in Lviv to give them a chance of reaching the last eight.

"We still have a chance to go through and we have to believe in it," said Holland coach Bert van Marwijk defiantly.

"Thousands of fans have come here and we have to do well for them, we have to beat Portugal now to have a chance."

After Portugal earlier beat Denmark 3-2 in Group B, Germany now need only a point against the Danes in Lviv the same day to be sure of reaching the last eight at Euro 2012 as group winners.

"The door to the quarter-finals is now wide open," said Germany coach Joachim Loew, whose team has their Euro 2012 base in Gdansk, Poland, where the winners of Group B will play their quarter-final.

"We wanted to take the next step today and it was important to win the second game.

"It is important to win the group to stay in Gdansk, which would be an advantage in the quarter-finals.

"Holland created a few chances, which our defence dealt with, but I had the feeling Holland were physically dead after 60 minutes."

Having scored the winning header in Germany's opening 1-0 victory over Portugal, Germany's Gomez is now the tournament's early joint top-scorer with three goals after Bastian Schweinsteiger set up both his first-half strikes.

Holland earned a late lifeline when Arsenal striker Robin van Persie pulled a goal back 15 minutes from time, but it was not enough to prevent their second Euro 2012 defeat after Saturday's shock 1-0 defeat to Denmark.

"It was very tight right up until the end and was nerve-wracking for us," admitted goal-scorer Gomez.

"We have to remain realistic, we have taken six points against two top-class teams, but we want more.

"I'm very happy to have scored two goals to help the team, it is important that the right playars and the coach are behind me.

"There is still a long way to the final."

Scorching temperatures in eastern Ukraine meant the game kicked off with the thermometer showing 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit).

Dutch defender Joris Mathijsen was the only change to the team beaten by Denmark here again in Kharkiv, while the Germans kept the same team which beat Portugal.

The Germans took the lead thanks to a clever through-ball from Schweinsteiger which beat the Dutch off-side trap and fell to the feet of Gomez, who powered onto the pass and rifled home on 24 minutes.

The pair combined again on 38 minutes when Schweinsteiger's pass freed Gomez on the right and he fired past Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg on 38 minutes to make it 2-0 to the Germans at the break.

It could have been 3-0 to Joachim Loew's Germans as defender Holger Badstuber had headed straight at Stekelenberg before Gomez's second.

Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk shook up his attack after the break by bringing on Tottenham Hotspur's Rafael van der Vaart for captain Mark van Bommel and Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for Barcelona's Ibrahim Afellay.

The Oranje upped the pace and created several chances before Van Persie put them back in the game when he turned Germany defender Mats Hummels to fire an unstoppable shot past Manuel Neuer's left hand.


Both sides made changes in the last ten minutes with legs tiring in the stifling heat, as Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt came on for Bayern's Arjen Robben, who trudged off with his forlorn face summing up the Oranje's darkening mood.


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News Network
July 5,2020

Colombo, Jul 5: Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis was on Sunday arrested for knocking down a pedestrian while driving, police said.

Mendis hit a 74-year-old man, killing him in the wee hours, in the Colombo suburb of Panadura.

He is to be produced before a magistrate later today, police said.

The 25-year-old wicket-keeper batsman has represented Sri Lanka in 44 Tests and 76 ODIs. Mendis was part of the national squad which had resumed training after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Sri Lanka's international assignments, including a tour by India, have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

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News Network
April 9,2020

New Delhi, Apr 9: The legendary Kapil Dev on Thursday slammed Shoaib Akhtar's idea of a made-for-television three-match ODI series between India and Pakistan to raise funds for the Covid19 pandemic, saying "India doesn't need the money" and it is not worth risking lives for a cricket match.

Speaking to news agency, Akhtar on Wednesday proposed a closed-door series to jointly raise funds to fight the deadly virus both in India and Pakistan. Dev said the proposal is not feasible.

"He is entitled to his opinion but we don't need to raise the money. We have enough. For us, what is important right now is how our authorities work together to deal with this crisis. I am still seeing a lot of blame game on television from the politicians and that needs to stop," Dev said.

"Anyway, the BCCI has donated a hefty amount (Rs 51 crore) for the cause and is in a position to donate much more if the need arises. It doesn't need to raise funds.

"The situation is unlikely to get normal anytime soon and organising a cricket game means putting our cricketers at risk which we don't need to," said the World Cup-winning former captain.

Dev said cricket should not even matter for at least the next six months.

"It is just not worth the risk. And how much money can you make from three games? In my view, you can't even think of cricket for the next five to six months," he said.

Dev said the focus, at the moment, should only be on saving lives and taking care of the poor who are struggling to make ends meet in a lockdown situation.

"Cricket will resume when things get normal. The game can't be bigger than the country. The pressing issue is to look after the poor, the hospital workers, the police and all other people who are on the frontline of this war," said the 61-year-old.

As an Indian, Dev feels proud that his country is in a position help other nations including the United States.

President Donald Trump has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping the United States with the supply of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug being touted as a potential cure for Covid19 patients.

"Helping others is in our culture and I feel proud about that. We should not seek credit after helping others. We should strive to become a nation which gives more and more rather than taking from others," he said.

Like everyone else, Dev is at home and practising social distancing.

Asked how he views the current situation, he said: "Nelson Mandela stayed in a tiny cell for 27 years. Compared to that, we are in a privileged position (that we just have to stay at home for sometime)."

"There is nothing bigger than life at the moment and that is what we need to save."

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News Network
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has denied any financial dealings with the controversial Rose Valley Group except for it being a sponsor of the side's official jerseys in 2012 and 2013.

KKR issued the clarification after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached Rose Valley's assets worth over Rs 70 crore on Monday. The attached assets include Rs 11.87 crore bank deposits of Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, that owns KKR, in connection with a money laundering probe.

The franchise said it hopes for the matter to be resolved expeditiously.

"Rose Valley Hotels was one of KKR's IPL jersey sponsors for IPL seasons 2012 and 2013. Rose Valley had paid KKR an approx. amount of Rs 11.87 crore as sponsorship fees," KKR CEO Venky Mysore said in a statement.

"KKR had no other dealings with the Rose Valley Group including Rose Valley’s micro finance business," he added.

The statement added that in July last year, KRSPL (Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd), received a "witness summon" from the ED in connection with an investigation relating to the Rose Valley Group, particularly its micro finance business.

"The ED continues the investigation of Rose Valley. KKR continues to cooperate with the authorities in all respects," Mysore said.

"As part of the investigative process, sometime in October 2019, the ED placed a lien on the said amount earlier paid by Rose Valley to KKR," he asserted.

The directors of KRSPL include Shah Rukh Khan's wife Gauri Khan, actor Juhi Chawla's husband Jay Mehta, Mysore and two others.

Mysore was questioned in this case by ED's Kolkata office in October last year.

Apart from KRSPL, the ED attached properties of two other entities -- Multiple Resorts Pvt. Ltd. and Kolkata's St Xavier's College on Monday.

The ED registered an FIR against the Rose Valley group, its chairman Gautam Kundu and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2014.

Kundu was arrested by the agency in Kolkata in 2015 and is in judicial custody at present.

The ED has filed multiple charge sheets in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar courts in this connection and total attachments are now worth Rs 4,750 crore.

The group has been charged by the ED and the CBI with "illegally and fraudulently collecting deposits from public with the intention to cheat them by falsely promising high returns on their investment", thereby perpetrating a ponzi-like fraud.

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