ARAB TIMES, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2014
SPORTS
48
Saint-Etienne face Monaco; Bordeaux, Lens clash
PSG fear fatigue factor in Marseille showdown
PARIS, Nov 7, (AFP): Paris Saint-Germain
can close within one point of leaders
Marseille with victory over their arch-rivals
on Sunday which would cap a week in
which they also guaranteed their place in
the Champions League knockout phase.
Laurent Blanc’s unbeaten champions
won their fifth straight match on
Wednesday, when a narrow 1-0 win over
APOEL Nicosia was enough to seal their
place in the last-16 of Europe’s most prestigious competition.
However Blanc realises Marseille, who
are currently four points clear, will benefit
from their extra rest this week and the fact
that they are taking no part in European
competition this season.
Marcelo Bielsa’s Marseille side
equalled a club record with eight straight
wins on their rise to the top of Ligue 1 but
a tough 1-0 defeat at Lyon snapped that
run which was then followed by League
Cup elimination by Rennes.
“Is playing a Champions League match
on a Wednesday ideal preparation for a
‘Clasico’ on a Sunday? I don’t know,” said
Blanc, who played as a defender for
Marseille between 1997 and 1999.
“Winning is always better than losing or
drawing, it helps you
recover better.
“Marseille will
come here with an
ambitious mindset
after the start they
have had to the season, but we will
approach the match
in the same way.”
“We
have
dropped points in
Ibra
games this season
but the fact we are playing in the
Champions League has prevented us from
picking up as many as we maybe deserve.
“It’s certainly an advantage for
Marseille, and the more games you play
the more you expose yourself to the risk of
picking up injuries.”
Edinson Cavani has picked up the PSG
Saudi, UAE and Qatar win
DUBAI, UAE, Nov 7, (RTRS): Asian Cup
finalists Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates and Qatar recorded moraleboosting friendly victories on Thursday
in their final matches ahead of next
week’s Gulf Cup of Nations.
Emirati striker Ahmed Khalil scored a
second half hat-trick as his side overcame Lebanon 3-2 prior to their Group B
fixtures against Oman, Kuwait and Iraq.
In Dammam, Gulf Cup of Nations
hosts Saudi Arabia were 2-0 winners
over Palestine with Naif Hazazi scoring
the opener before setting up Fahad Al
Muwallad for a second.
It was a first win in six games for the
Saudis, who have been drawn in Group
A alongside Bahrain, Yemen and Qatar
for the eight-team tournament which
begins next Thursday.
In Doha, Qatar showed their capabilities by scoring three times in nine second half minutes to overcome North
Korea 3-1.
slack, with Swedish star Zlatan
Ibrahimovic still struggling with a foot
injury. The Uruguayan has scored in his
last four matches to equal his best streak
with the club.
Ibrahimovic may return for the highprofile match at the Parc des Princes and
Blanc confirmed there is a real chance
their talisman could be in the starting lineup. “His problem is quite unique but there
have been some very encouraging signs
the past few days even if we still don’t
know when he will be ready.
“He has worked very hard and if his
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progress continues in the next few days,
anything is possible.”
Lyon have quietly climbed the table into
third spot and a home victory over 16th
placed Guingamp on Sunday will draw
them within two points of Bielsa’s side
ahead of the clash in the capital.
Bordeaux are level with Saint-Etienne
and seven adrift as Willy Sagnol’s controversial week finishes with a trip to Lens on
Saturday. The Bordeaux coach had to
apologise over his comments regarding
African players and for declaring that the
scheduling of the African Cup of Nations
influenced his decision to sign players
from the continent.
Saint-Etienne face Monaco who were
beaten 1-0 by Benfica in the Champions
League in midweek.
Bastia begin life without sacked coach
Claude Makelele on Saturday, when
Montpellier are in Corsica while sixthplaced Nantes make the short trip to
Normandy and a key clash at Caen.
19:00 Local (Sunday)
Dortmund aim to use Euro
‘success’ to fix dire form
Bavarians, Eintracht meet; Freiburg, Schalke face off
BERLIN, Nov 7, (AFP):
Borussia Dortmund want to
use
their
high-flying
Champions League form to
help turn around their dire
Bundesliga fortunes when
they
host
Borussia
Moenchengladbach
on
Sunday.
Dortmund enjoyed a 4-1 romp at
home to Galatasaray on Tuesday in a
match which was twice halted due to
crowd trouble when away fans set off
fireworks. European football’s governing body UEFA are investigating.
PSG’s Javier Pastore jumps over APOEL’s goal keeper Ukro Rafael Pardo, right, during the Champions League Group F
soccer match between Paris Saint Germain and Apoel at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, Nov 5. (AP)
3rd party ownership
FIFA ban will hit South America
MONTEVIDEO, Nov 7, (AFP): FIFA
moves to ban Third Party Ownership in
football will badly hit clubs in Brazil and
Argentina, the major traders in global talent such as Neymar and Colombian star
Radamel Falcao, experts say.
About 90 percent of players in Brazil’s
top division are linked to Third Party
Ownership (TPO) arrangements where
rights to a player are controlled by investment funds and other opaque companies
that buy up rising stars, according to a
KPMG consultancy study.
Brazil accounted for more than 5,500
international transfers between 2011
and July this year,
making it the world
football commodities
leader. Argentina
was second with
more than 2,600
players
moving
across borders.
But the two countries have some of
Neymar
the world’s most
indebted
clubs,
which is why they are most prone to TPO.
Brazilian and Argentinian clubs have told
FIFA they could not survive without Third
Party cash. “There has never been so much
money in Brazilian football, but the clubs
are very indebted,” said Eduardo
Carlezzo, a Sao Paulo lawyer specialising
in sport. “This economic situation means
the clubs need investors to recruit.”
When Neymar moved from Brazilian
club Santos to Barcelona in 2013, or
Falcao went from River Plate in Argentina
to FC Porto in 2009, the European clubs
had to haggle with clubs and investors.
Many outside investors treat players
“under a slave regime because they say
that as they have the player’s economic
rights they can decide his future,” said
Carlos Soto, president of the Chilean professional footballers union.
Jackson Ibarguen was a former under-
SOCCER
20 player for Colombia when he was
ordered to play in Bosnia from 2008 to
2013. Ibarguen said he was not paid a full
wage and was stopped from moving away
by his TPO owner.
FIFA’s executive committee voted in
September to ban TPO deals though world
body president Sepp Blatter said there
would be a transitional period before it is
eliminated.
The transition will last up to four years,
according to FIFA officials, and a working
party will recommend the steps to be taken
by December. FIFA said this week that a
final solution should be announced at the
world body’s congress in May.
FIFA has had to act under pressure from
Europe’s governing body, UEFA, which
had indicated that TPO players could be
banned from the Champions League. The
English, French and Polish leagues have
already banned such deals.
Third party ownership “threatens the
integrity of our competitions,” according
to UEFA president Michel Platini.
RB’s owner wants club to win title
Drinks giants aim to take
Leipzig into Bundesliga
BERLIN, Nov 7, (AFP): Having inspired
a series of Formula One world titles,
Austrian energy drink giant Red Bull is
now aiming to lift RB Leipzig all the way
from Germany’s regional leagues to the
Bundesliga.
Since
the
company
founded
RasenBallsport Leipzig and pumped in
millions of euros in sponsorship, three
promotions have followed in five years.
With Germany’s capital celebrating the
25th year anniversary of the fall of the
Berlin Wall, East Germany could have a
football club back in the Bundesliga next
season with RB Leipzig currently third in
the second division.
Red Bull’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz
SOCCER
ultimately wants the club to win the
German title.
“A few years go by so quickly, but
eventually it will happen,” the 70-yearold billionaire told SID, an AFP subsidiary, when asked if winning the
Bundesliga is realistic.
In the meantime, he wants Leipzig to
reach the top tier to challenge the likes of
recent German title-winners Bayern
Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
“If we did not want that at some point,
then we might as well hang up our
boots,” he insisted.
“To talk about promotions as a foregone conclusion would be absurd, but
you need ambitious goals and it wouldn’t
be a bad thing if we get in the first division as soon as possible.”
Currently in the Germany’s second
tier, RB Leipzig is bidding to become the
first club from the former German
Democratic Republic in the top flight
since Energie Cottbus were relegated in
2009.
The current squad contains several
players with Bundesliga experience,
including midfielder Rani Khedira,
brother of Real Madrid’s World Cup win-
ner Sami and Germany international
Marvin Compper.
The RB Leipzig story began just five
years ago when Red Bull bought amateur
club SSV Markranstaedt, who were languishing in the fifth division, after first
considering other clubs.
They changed the club’s name and
the fourth Red Bull football team came
into existence after New York Red
Bulls, FC Red Bull Salzburg and Red
Bull Brazil.
The name change by-passed the
German Football Association (DFB) rule
which prohibits teams being named after
a sponsor and the unusual RasenBallsport
(grass ball-sport) moniker allows the
team to be known as RB Leipzig for
short.
Big-money sponsorship of Bundesliga
teams is nothing new with Hoffenheim,
who were promoted in 2008, backed by
software billionaire Dietmar Hopp.
Likewise, VfL Wolfsburg have car
manufacturers VW Volkswagen behind
them and Bayer Leverkusen are sponsored by drug manufacturers Bayer.
RB Leipzig are well placed to be in
contention for promotion next May and
already has a World Cup-standard stadium.
The 44,345-capacity Red Bull Arena
stadium,
formerly
known
as
Zentralstadion, hosted matches during
the 2006 World Cup.
RB Leipzig’s budget of around 30 million euros, with a reported similar figure
being invested in a training centre, means
they are a force to be reckoned with in
Germany’s second tier, where teams have
an average budget of between 15 and 20
million euros.
But the rise of the heavily-backed and
branded club has received mixed reactions in Germany.
On one hand, a former East German
club back in the Bundesliga paints a
romantic picture of a “Beacon of the
East” according to Leipzig’s managing
director Ulrich Wolter.
It was Dortmund’s fourth straight
European win to put them through to the
Champions League’s knock-out phase
and kept them top of the group.
But their domestic form is woeful after
five straight German league defeats
which has left them second-from-bottom
in the table.
Jurgen Klopp’s side has another
chance to turn their fortunes round
against third-placed Gladbach, who are
on a club record 17-match unbeaten run
and held leaders Bayern Munich to a
goalless draw a fortnight ago.
“It felt good to have won again against
Galatasaray,” said Borussia’s veteran
midfielder Sebastian Kehl, 35, who is set
to make his 300th league appearance on
Sunday.
Dortmund need to be careful as both
centre-backs Sokratis Papastathopoulos
and Neven Subotic are just one match
away from suspension after each picked
up four yellow cards this season.
Klopp is short on centre-backs with
captain Mats Hummels out with a foot
injury he sustained in last Saturday’s 2-1
defeat at Bayern.
Pep Guardiola has said his Bayern
will now focus on improving their fourpoint lead in the Bundesliga after
Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Roma
secured both their place in the
Champions League’s last 16 and con-
England play a 2016 European
Championship qualifying match at home
to Slovenia the following Saturday and
Hodgson has expressed reservations
about the arrangement.
“I don’t really think you could expect
me to say, ‘Excellent, delighted, well
done,’” he told journalists during a briefing at Wembley. “But I’m realistic, I’m
pragmatic, and this match has been organised for a period of time now.
Best of the Rest
Leverkusen vs Mainz beIN SPORTS 3 HD
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Eintracht vs Bayern beIN SPORTS 4 HD, 13HD
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Freiburg vs Schalke beIN SPORTS 9 HD
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Bremen vs Hamburg beIN SPORTS 4 HD
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Dortmund vs Gladbach beIN SPORTS 4 HD
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firmed them as group winners.
Munich are at Frankfurt on Saturday in
a game which will go ahead despite the
four-day rail strike which is set to hit
Germany this weekend.
Bayern are without left-back David
Alaba who is expected to miss the rest of
the year with a medial knee ligament
injury.
Guardiola is set to rotate his squad
after both Germany winger Thomas
Mueller and Arjen Robben sat out the win
over Roma.
Bayer Leverkusen will be without five
senior players, including captain Simon
Rolfes for Saturday’s visit of Mainz, following their 2-1 Champions League victory at St Petersburg.
Coach Roger Schmidt is also missing
injured midfielders Gonzalo Castro,
Stefan Reinartz and Greece’s Kyriakos
Papadopoulos, while defender Tin Jedvaj
is suspended.
Second-placed Wolfsburg are chasing
their seventh straight win when they host
strugglers Hamburg on Sunday.
Eighth-placed Schalke 04 are looking
to pick up the pieces after their 4-2 defeat
at Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday in the
Champions League when they face
Freiburg away.
Hodgson unhappy with Wembley NFL games
LONDON, Nov 7, (AFP): England soccer
manager Roy Hodgson admitted on
Thursday that he is not in favour of
Wembley Stadium being used for
American football matches due to the
effect on the pitch.
The NFL staged two games at
England’s national football stadium in
September and October and is due to put
on a third, between the Dallas Cowboys
and the Jacksonville Jaguars, this Sunday.
Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (left), and Galatasaray’s Tarik Camdal
challenge for the ball during the Champions League group D soccer match
between Borussia Dortmund and Galatasaray Istanbul in Dortmund, Germany,
Nov 4. (AP)
“The pitch, unfortunately, is not in the
best of nick anyway, which we’re all a bit
unhappy with.
“I think it will get put right. (England
managing director) Adrian Bevington is
in charge of taking this matter forward
and I am sure we will find a good solution. “But at this particular moment in
time, I would honestly have to say if
asked if it was a good thing or not, I
would have to say not.”
Yaya Toure heads list: Reigning
African Footballer of the Year Yaya
Toure heads a list of five players from
the English Premier League among 25
nominated on Friday by the
Confederation of African Football (CAF)
for the 2014 award.
The Ivory Coast midfielder is on
course to be named Africa’s top player
for a record fourth consecutive year and
looks to be the standout performer on the
shortlist again after helping Manchester
City win the Premier League title last
season.
Also on the list
are Toure’s international team
mate and striker
Wilfried Bony of
Swansea City,
Crystal Palace’s
Democratic
Republic of
Congo midfielder
Yannick Bolasie
and Senegalese
Toure
midfielder Sadio
Mane who plays for Southampton.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Togo striker
Emmanuel Adebayor, who won the prize
in 2008, is also in contention.
Toure and Adebayor are the only previous winners on the list, but other familiar names are Ghana forward Asamoah
Gyan, Ivory Coast striker Gervinho,
Gabon forward Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang and Nigeria goalkeeper
Vincent Enyeama.
Chelsea’s Nigeria midfielder Jon Obi
Mikel and veteran Ivorian forward Didier
Drogba, who finished second and third
respectively last year, did not make the
shortlist. The voting will be conducted
by the national team coaches and technical directors of CAF member associations and the winner will be announced
in Lagos, Nigeria on Jan 8.
❑ ❑ ❑
‘Scalpels’ out for Aguirre: Just
three months into the job, Japan coach
Javier Aguirre finds himself under
intense scrutiny as the Blue Samurai
lurch from one stuttering performance to
the next in the run-up to the Asian Cup in
January.
The 55-year-old, who led his native
Mexico to the last 16 of the 2002 and
2010 World Cups, has been forced to
bring back Japan’s record caps holder
Yasuhito Endo for this month’s home
warm-ups against Honduras and Asian
Cup hosts and title rivals Australia after a
run of inept displays since taking charge.
(AFP)
❑ ❑ ❑
Wanderers slump again: AFC
Champions League winners Western
Sydney Wanderers were brought back
down to earth on Friday as they slumped
to a third straight A-League defeat to
remain rooted to the foot of the table.
Tony Popovic’s side became the first
Australian team to win Asia’s most prestigious club title when a 0-0 draw in
Riyadh on Saturday gave them a 1-0
aggregate win over Saudi Arabia’s Al
Hilal.
The team, only founded in 2012, have
been lapping up the rightful praise following their fairytale success, with goalkeeper Ante Covic taking many of the
plaudits following some standout stops
throughout the knockout stages and
final.
Covic again showcased his talents as
he saved a penalty on Friday in their first
outing since lifting the continental cup,
but it was not enough to prevent the
Wanderers losing 1-0 at Wellington
Phoenix as Nathan Burns bagged a 79th
minute winner.
Elsewhere, Wanderers’ city rivals
Sydney FC played out a goalless draw at
Adelaide United to leave both teams tied
on 11 points at the top of the table.
(RTRS)
❑ ❑ ❑
Charges VS Adriano rejected:
A Rio de Janeiro judge has rejected
charges of drug trafficking against former Brazil striker Adriano.
Prosecutors had charged the striker
with connection with drug trafficking
because he allegedly bought a motorcycle and gave it as a gift to a known drug
dealer in the shantytown where he grew
up. But the judge said in a decision
announced Thursday that there was not
enough evidence to uphold the accusations.
Adriano could have faced up to 10
years in prison if he was convicted.
The 32-year-old Adriano described the
charges as “absurd” and said he was
“certain” he would be cleared. He said he
is “honest” and doesn’t “owe anything to
anybody.” (AP)