World Cup 2014: All you need to know about giant-killing Costa Rica

June 21, 2014

Rio de Janeiro, Jun 21: When Group D earned the moniker of the Group of Death the 2014 World Cup, nobody gave a thought to little Costa Rica. They were assumed to be collateral damage as the three former champions in the group – Italy, England and Uruguay - did battle for the right to progress to the second round.

costa ricaExcept someone forget to tell Costa Rica they should just lie down and play dead. The Central American team that could made sure the group lived up to its moniker by beating Uruguay and Italy to go through to the knockouts for only the second time in its history. That means England is already out of the tournament and either Italy or Uruguay will soon follow.

Here are 10 things you need to know about the Costa Rican football team:

- Costa Rica were ranked 28th in the world coming into the tournament. Their three opponents in the group are all ranked in the top 10.

- They finished second in their qualifying group for the 2014 World Cup behind the United States.

- Costa Rica last made the second round in 1990, the year they qualified for the World Cup for the first time. This is the team’s fourth World Cup, which makes them the most successful team from Central America.

- Costa Rica is also the first Central American team to win a game at the World Cup, beating Scotland 1-0 in 1990. They finished second in their group behind Brazil that year before losing to Czechoslovakia in the round of 16.

- Costa Rica is the third most successful team in the CONCACAF region, after Mexico and the United States. They have won the CONCACAF tournament three times –1963, 1969 and 1989.

- According to the International Business Times, the total market value of the Costa Rican team is 32 million euros, ranking them 29th out of the 32 teams in the World Cup. In comparison, Italy’s market value is 350 euros, England’s is 362 million euros and Uruguay’s 236 million euros. Clearly, money doesn’t always buy better football.

- Joel Campbell, who is on contract at Arsenal, is the only Costa Rican player in any of Europe’s top five leagues. Bryan Ruiz, who scored the winner against Italy, used to play for Fulham but is now with PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Eredivisie

- The foundation of Jorge Luis Pinto’s side is a stingy back line. Costa Rica have conceded just seven goals in their qualifying campaign. They have conceded just one in two games so far in this World Cup.

- Costa Rica finished 31st out of 32 teams in the 2006 World Cup, the last time they played in the tournament.

- This is Columbian coach Pinto’s second spell with Costa Rica. He coached them the first time in 2004-05, with much less success.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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Agencies
June 23,2020

Islamabad, Jun 23: Seven more Pakistan cricketers, including Muhammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz, selected for the tour of England have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total to 10, the PCB revealed on Tuesday.

The seven who tested positive on Tuesday are Kashif Bhatti, Muhammad Hasnain, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Hafeez and Riaz. Shadab Khan, Haider Ali and Haris Rauf had returned positive tests on Monday.

“It is not a great situation to be in and what it shows is these are 10 fit and young athletes...if it can happen to players it can happen to anyone,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO, Wasim Khan told a media conference.

He said a support staff member, masseur Malang Ali, had also tested positive for COVID-19.

Khan said that the players and officials would now assemble in Lahore and another round of tests would be carried out on June 25 and a revised squad would be announced the next day.

The squad has to leave on June 28 for the series scheduled to be held next month, he said.

“It is a matter of concern but we shouldn’t panic at this time as we have time on our hands,” Khan said.

He said the players and officials would be retested on reaching England.

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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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