Ronaldo rallies Real to Supercopa win

August 30, 2012
ronaldReal Madrid secured its first Spanish Supercopa since 2008 on away goals after a narrow win over archrival Barcelona in Wednesday night's second leg at the Bernabeu.

The hosts had failed to win in their last seven home meetings with Barcelona but went about ending that record early on with goals in the first 20 minutes from Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The visitors were then reduced to 10 men as Adriano was shown a straight red card for denying Ronaldo a clear goalscoring opportunity, but they regained their composure and were brought back into the game by a stunning free-kick from Lionel Messi just before halftime.

"The first half belonged to us and generally the whole game did," Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas said. "We came in on a bad run and the fans were doubting us a bit, but there are days when you have good luck and days when you have bad."

Chances continued to come at both ends after the break but Real failed to make its man advantage count and was nearly made to pay as Messi shot just inches wide deep into stoppage time.

The game provided coach Jose Mourinho with the last piece of silverware missing from his Spanish trophy cabinet. The Portuguese coach's 20th title means he has won every trophy available in the four leagues where he's coached -- Spain, England, Italy and Portugal.

Real had failed to win any of its previous three games this season but did not seem like a team lacking in confidence as it stormed out of the gates early on.

Higuain should have opened the scoring on seven minutes when his low effort across Victor Valdes' net was well-blocked by the keeper, but the Argentinian was gifted his goal only two minutes later by national-team compatriot Javier Mascherano as the Barca defender misjudged a long ball forward from Pepe and allowed Higuain to run through and this time finish low beyond Valdes.

And it was two just nine minutes later as Ronaldo pounced on an error this time by Gerard Pique. The Portuguese brilliantly back-flicked the ball into his path and, despite a poor second touch, his powerful shot rebounded in off Valdes' body.

The chances continued to come for Real as Valdes again denied Higuain from a narrow angle before Pepe had a header controversially ruled out for a push on Mascherano.

Part of Barca's disorganization at the back possibly could be put down to a late change in the starting lineup as the injured Dani Alves had to be replaced by Jordi Alba with Adriano moving to right back, and the Brazilian's torrid evening only lasted 27 minutes as he hauled down Ronaldo when he seemed set to break free on Valdes once more.

"I wouldn't say we started badly," Vilanova said. "Madrid weren't running over us; they played two balls in behind that surprised us, although it is true that Higuain already had another chance. Madrid took their chances but I want to take the positives."

After another unsettling five-minute period for the Catalans, new coach Tito Vilanova eventually introduced Martin Montoya for Alexis Sanchez and a return to four at the back seemed to offer the visitors some comfort as they began to make an impression on the game.

Montoya was inches away from converting a vicious low cross from Andres Iniesta before Messi did eventually halve the deficit moments before the break with an incredible swerving free kick from 30 yards.

Ronaldo nearly responded with a long-range effort himself that flew just past and Angel Di Maria also shot narrowly wide as Madrid ended the half threatening a third.

However, at the start of the second period, it was Barca's tiki-taka that began to dictate play as the pace of the game dropped markedly.

Pedro very nearly scored a carbon copy of his goal in the first leg as Mascherano's perfectly weighted pass saw him through on goal but his prodded finish did not have enough power to get through Casillas' legs and the Spain captain collected at the second attempt.

Sami Khedira then nearly restored Real's two-goal cushion but was denied by another fine Valdes save at the end of a brilliant run.

Barca remained dangerous, though, and another brilliant piece of play from Messi released Alba through on goal, but he just overran the ball as he rounded Casillas and was eventually crowded out.

Higuain should have given Real breathing space with 11 minutes remaining but he hit the outside of the post with only Valdes to beat and that miss nearly cost his side as Barca came desperately close to equalizing in stoppage time.

Firstly, Montoya was denied by a solid save from Casillas before Messi seemed destined to hand Barca the cup as he found space on his favored left side just outside the area but the ball slipped just wide and Real clung on for its Supercopa title in four years.




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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
March 19,2020

Geneva, Mar 19: Regional Olympic officials are rallying around the IOC and have backed its stance on opening the Tokyo Games as scheduled, as direct criticism from gold medalist athletes built amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Leaders of continental Olympic groups praised the IOC after a conference call Wednesday to update them on coronavirus issues four months before the opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 24.

"We are living through an unpredictable crisis and as such, it is important that we have one policy, expressed by the IOC, and we follow that policy in unison," the Italy-based European Olympic Committees said.

However, when the International Olympic Committee published an interview with its president, Thomas Bach, after a separate call with athlete representatives, it prompted a four-time Olympic champion to urge postponing the games.

Bach acknowledged that many athletes were concerned about qualifying events being canceled, but noted that there were still four months to go until the games are set to be opened.

"We will keep acting in a responsible way in the interests of the athletes," Bach said.

British rowing great Matthew Pinsent wrote on Twitter that the comments from Bach, his former IOC colleague, were "tone deaf."

"The instinct to keep safe (not to mention obey govt instructions to lock down) is not compatible with athlete training, travel and focus that a looming Olympics demands of athletes, spectators organisers," Pinsent wrote.

Responding to the criticism from Hayley Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic hockey gold medalist, the IOC said it was "counting on the responsibility and solidarity of the athletes."

Members reinforce faith in IOC

The IOC repeated its steadfast stance after a conference call with sports governing bodies, many of which have not completed qualification events for Tokyo.

"There is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive," the IOC said.

That message was repeated after Wednesday's conference call by IOC executive board member Robin Mitchell, the interim leader of the group of national Olympic bodies known as ANOC.

"We share the view that we must be realistic, but not panic," Mitchell said in a statement released by the IOC on behalf of the Oceania Olympic group.

Offering unanimous support for the IOC's efforts to resolve qualification issues, the 41-nation Pan-American group noted challenges facing potential Olympians.

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll said his organized recognized there was a global health crisis, but equally was assured by the IOC that the games would go ahead.

"We recognize people are suffering -- people are sick, people are losing jobs, businesses are struggling amid enormous community uncertainty. Things are changing everyday and we all must adapt," Carroll said.

"We owe it to our Australian athletes to do everything we can to ensure they will participate with the best opportunity in those Games."

Australia's team delegation leader said the focus now was "moving to the planning of our pre-Games preparation to ensure we get our athletes to the Games healthy, prepared and virus free."

"Clearly that is a major challenge for all National Olympic Committees," he said.

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News Network
July 12,2020

New Delhi, Jul 12: Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do away with 'umpire's call' whenever a team opts for a review regarding a leg-before wicket (LBW) decision.

The Master Blaster has also said that a batsman should be given out if the ball is hitting the stumps.

Whether more than 50 per cent of the ball is hitting the stumps or not should not be matter, he further stated.

"What per cent of the ball hits the stumps doesn't matter, if DRS shows us that the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be given out, regardless of the on-field call," Tendulkar tweeted.

With this tweet, the former India batsman also shared a video, in which he has a discussion with Brian Lara regarding the working of DRS.
"One thing I don't agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they have been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50 per cent of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned," Tendulkar said in the video.

"The only reason they (the batsman or the bowler) have gone upstairs is that they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over, just like in tennis, it's either in or out, there's nothing in between," he added.

This call for doing away with umpire's call has been recommended by many former players.
Whenever a verdict pops up as 'umpire's call, the decision of the on-field umpire is not changed, but the teams do not lose their review as well.

ICC recently introduced some changes to the game of cricket, and they gave all teams liberty of extra review as non-neutral umpires will be employed in Test matches due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, all teams will now have three reviews in every innings of a Test match. 

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