World Cup 2014 : German football quake magnitude 7 strikes, epicentre Brazil

July 9, 2014

Germani won

Belo Horizonte, Jul 9: Brazil's World Cup dream crumbled in spectacular fashion on Tuesday in a record 7-1 semi-final defeat. Here is is a blow-by-blow account of a Germany's night of triumph:

ONE (Thomas Mueller 11')

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Brazilians wondered how their team would cope without the injured Neymar, but the absence of captain Thiago Silva, such a reassuring presence at the back, was just as big a blow.

The Brazilian defence was hopelessly exposed at the opening goal, as Toni Kroos floated in a corner from the right and Thomas Mueller found himself completely unmarked at the back post to slot home his fifth goal of the tournament.

However, the movement by Mueller and the German players was intelligent as David Luiz, who should have been marking the goalscorer, found himself blocked off and unable to make a challenge.

TWO (Miroslav Klose 23')

German2

The crumble really began as Fernandinho failed to cut out a pass from the German right, and Kroos and Mueller combined to cut through the middle of the Brazil defence.

Klose collected the ball inside the area and saw his shot from close range blocked by Julio Cesar, but he still reacted the quickest to convert the rebound.

The veteran striker confirmed himself as the greatest poacher in the history of the competition, scoring a record-breaking 16th World Cup goal to move one clear of the Brazilian Ronaldo, compounding the hosts' misery.

THREE (Toni Kroos 24')

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Almost immediately after the restart, Germany scored again through a combination of poor defending and marvellous finishing.

Nobody cut out Philipp Lahm's low centre in from the German right, and even after Mueller mis-hit his shot, the ball came to Kroos.

The Bayern Munich man's connection, first-time on the half-volley with his left foot from the edge of the area, was marvellous and Julio Cesar could do nothing.

FOUR (Toni Kroos 26')

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Fernandinho was hopelessly caught in possession just outside his own area, and Kroos and Sami Khedira took advantage to break into the area.

Khedira returned the ball to Kroos, who this time simply could not miss.

FIVE (Sami Khedira 29')

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The culmination of an extraordinary first-half burst that will go down in history came as Mats Hummels sliced right through the heart of the Brazilian team, riding unchallenged deep into the opposition half.

Germany simply walked the ball into the net this time, with Mesut Ozil providing the assist and Khedira applying the finish.

SIX (Andre Schuerrle 69')

German6

Brazil attacked after the break in a doomed attempt to rescue some pride, but they still had six defenders in their own area when Germany went on to add a sixth goal midway through the second half.

Schuerrle, who had replaced Klose 11 minutes earlier, still found himself in space in the box to convert Lahm's cutback, as Brazil were yet again found wanting on the left-hand side.

SEVEN (Andre Schuerrle 79')

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Mueller turned provider this time to set up Schuerrle to score again, and his delightful control was followed by an arrowing left-foot shot on the half-volley that beat Julio Cesar and went into the net off the underside of the crossbar.

Oscar's late reply for the hosts was irrelevant, with Brazil already having succumbed to their greatest ever humiliation.

Germani win

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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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News Network
February 14,2020

Los Angeles, Feb 14: Tributes to the late Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who died last month in a helicopter crash, will play a major role in Sunday's 69th NBA All-Star Game.

This year's annual showcase of league talent will be played in Chicago and feature numerous nods to Bryant, a five-time NBA champion who also matched a league record with four NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards.

Bryant, an 18-time NBA All-Star, died at age 41 on January 26 in a crash near Los Angeles that also took the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.

All-Star teams guided by LeBron James of the Lakers and Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will compete to win each of the first three quarters, which will all start 0-0 and last 12 minutes.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the clock will be turned off and a final target score will be established by taking the leading club's cumulative score through the first three quarters and adding 24 points -- the number representing the jersey number worn by Bryant for the final 10 seasons of his NBA career.

The first team to reach the cumulative target score will win the NBA All-Star Game.

All-Star Game jerseys will also honor Bryant and his daughter.

Team Giannis players will wear jersey number 24 in tribute to Kobe while Team LeBron players will wear jersey number two, the number his daughter wore when playing youth basketball.

Both teams will wear jersey patches displaying nine stars, representing the nine people who were killed in the crash.

Academy Award-winning actress and Grammy Award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson, a Chicago native, will perform a special tribute to Bryant, his daughter and the others who were killed in the crash. Her performance will begin the night ahead of the player introductions.

James and Antetokounmpo each chose their squads from available starters and reserves voted and selected to the All-Star contest.

Team LeBron starters will include James, his Lakers teammate Anthony Davis, NBA scoring leader James Harden of Houston, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers and Slovenian guard Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

Team Giannis starters include the Greek big man, Cameroon stars Joel Embiid of Philadelphia and Pascal Siakam of Toronto and guards Kemba Walker of Boston and Trae Young of Atlanta.

A record eight All-Star Game players from outside the United States also include Frenchman Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz on Team Giannis and Team LeBron reserves Ben Simmons of Australia and the Philadelphia 76ers, Lithuanian Domantas Sabonis of Indiana and Serbian Nikola Jokic of Denver.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has come out in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the wicket-keeper batsman indeed wanted to win the match against England in the 2019 World Cup.

India's performance in the World Cup match against England last year has once again become a matter of debate as all-rounder Ben Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' questioned the intent of the Indian side.

Stokes also said that Dhoni's intent was questionable as he did not go for big shots when India still had a chance to win the match.

However, Holding said that nowadays people tend to write anything in their books.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding said on his official YouTube channel.

"But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he added.

Holding did say that it seemed like that India did not have the same intensity as they would have had if the match was a do-or-die match.

"It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," the former Windies pacer said.

"But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game," he added.

On his official YouTube channel, Holding also said that no team goes in with a set pattern in terms of chasing targets.

In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short by 31 runs.

That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against the Kiwis.

India's chasing approach, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, was criticised by many, including the fans at home.

As soon as Stokes mentioned Dhoni's lack of intent in his book 'On Fire', Pakistan fans started saying that India deliberately lost the match to knock out their neighbours.

However, Stokes clarified that he never said India lost deliberately and some people were twisting his words.

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