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DELHI THE HINDU 20 SPORT THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Flamengo beats Al Hilal the hard way I-League: Comes back from a first half deficit to make the final derby postponed CLUB WORLD CUP took the lead in the 18th mi­ panic near the goalmouth. nute when Aldawsari The Brazilian champion’s New date will be announced later sneaked inside the box to ploy to exert more pressure Ayon Sengupta connect a strong right­footer in the second half on its tir­ Special Correspondent announced later. Doha past a diving Diego Alves — ing opponent finally bore KOLKATA “After a detailed Flamengo’s run to FIFA Club left flat­footed following a de­ fruit, offering the team a way The I­League match discussion, the Police World Cup final was not as flection off Pablo Mari — after out from a difficult situation. featuring the two city Authorities informed us easy as its canter to the Brazi­ Alburayk had run into space Summing up the contrast­ giants Mohun Bagan and that the match should be lian Serie A title, which it on the right before playing a ing nature of the two halves, East has been organised on a limited won by a 16­point margin — teasing ground pass towards Henrique said: “In the first postponed owing to the scale and that sale of the highest in recent times. his team­mate. half we were not playing that fragile political situation in tickets should be The South American side bad. the state. restricted. Subsequently, had to overcome a first­half Asserting dominance “However, we knew that The match was we wrote to AIFF to deficit to inflict a 3­1 loss on Flamengo had to wait till the they (Al Hilal) did not have scheduled to be held on apprise them of the Asian champion Al Hilal. break to assert its domi­ the physical strength to play Sunday. According to a situation and told them Former Benfica coach nance and almost imme­ with the same intensity for release from host Mohun that the derby is the Jorge Jesus with the help of a diately after the restart Gior­ 90 minutes and we were able Bagan, the police flagship match of the string of veteran Brazilians gian De Arrascaeta equalised to create more opportunities authority responsible for League. with European experience with an easy tap­in. in the second session, play­ the security match “Football lovers look up has tried creating a modern With the Asian side show­ ing as a team.” advised of allowing a to this match and to team — valuing the ethos of ing signs of fatigue, Flamen­ With a chance now to col­ restricted number of restrict this capacity pressing football — unlike the go took control of the game lect the world title, manager spectators. would be to deprive the pragmatic approach of and found the lead when Jesus called the final to be With the Kolkata Derby thousands of football coaches like Luiz Felipe Sco­ Bruno Henrique, running in­ the “most important match attracting more than crazy people from seeing lari and Dunga, which has Heading ahead: Bruno Henrique puts Flamengo in front against Al Hilal with this strike on to the box, was left un­ of his career”. 50,000 spectators on the match. The AIFF long been prevalent in Brazi­ Tuesday. * AP marked and placed his head­ “I am always impressed average, the Mohun Bagan taking stock of the lian club football. er on the back of the net after with European football. I management did not situation and considering While the new methods Here, too, the Brazilians who played on the left of a move with his guile and turn, a curling cross from the right know Liverpool is favourite, agree to the advice of the importance of the have offered grand success at started listlessly with too ma­ midfield three, and his fellow exploiting the space opened by De Arrascaeta in the 78th but it has to win the next restricting the number of Derby Match in the larger home, Flamengo has found it ny mispasses in the middle Saudi Arabian international up by the burly forward Bafe­ minute. match. We have reached the fans and approached the interest of the game have hard to deal with teams from as Al Hilal looked happy to Mohammed Alburayk, oper­ timbi Gomis, who did well to More misfortunes were to final and it will be one of the organiser, All India granted our request to outside the country as was concede possession and hit ating as a right­wing back. hold the ball and draw defen­ come Al Hilal’s way as Ali Al­ most important match of my Football Federation, postpone the match to a evident during its laborious its more illustrious opponent Former Italian interna­ ders his way. Bulayhi conceded an own professional career. Winning seeking a fresh date. The later date,” the Bagan Copa Libertadores final win on the counter, using the tional Sebastian Giovinco, The Saudi side, cheered goal four minutes later as a this trophy will be a great ho­ new date will be release said. over Argentina’s River Plate. pace of Salem Aldawsari, too, orchestrated some fine on by pockets of faithfuls, shot from Henrique caused nour,” he said. Bengaluru FC regains its rhythm Yet another learning opportunity Goes to the top of the standings with win over NEUFC India under­17 girls take on Sweden in final crosspiece instead of finding viewed as an opportunity for World Cup at venues across Sweden will offer the third ISL net. Subhasish did a nice job FOOTBALL the Shilky Devi­captained the nation. and final chance for the in the 39th minute cutting off squad to show how far they Chief coach Thomas Den­ home team performers. Ma­ Amitabha Das Sharma a Rahul Bheke header to Nandakumar Marar can learn from mistakes, nerby is fortunate to have the verick strikers like Lynda GUWAHATI keep the scoreline when in possession of the raw material to work with Kom, Sumati Kumari, Sunita Bengaluru FC pumped in unchanged. One goal after two league ball approaching the goal­ straightaway. Stout and intel­ Munda to name a few first­ two late goals against host The host missed the ser­ matches (against Sweden, mouth, besides continuation ligent defenders, hard­work­ choice probables, no longer NorthEast United FC to re­ vices of injured Ghanaian Thailand back­to­back) does of impressive work in the ing midfielders, tearaway carry the surprise element. gain its winning rhythm, at Wold Cupper Asamoah Gyan not speak much about the In­ backline, supported by goal­ wingers and a no­frills goal­ India’s lightning counter­ the Indira Gandhi Stadium and struggled to get its feet dia under­17 girls’ finishing keeper Manju Ganjhu. keeper. Football talent is rea­ attacks from almost the cen­ here on Wednesday. in the striking zone. capacity. The U­17 women’s football dy and willing to be moulded treline deep into rival territo­ This was a nice comeback Bengaluru FC enjoyed Three goals conceded (all tournament, supported by into a crack combination by ry is a thrilling spectacle. for the defending champion, more space upfront after the scored by Sweden) is no em­ AFC Assist and conducted by November 2020 when the Ruthless finishing which con­ which seemed to have change of ends and it was a barrassment either to the col­ the All India Football Federa­ curtain goes up. vert all the ball possession by slipped a bit after suffering matter of time before it lective defensive work by the tion, is only the first of a se­ The display over two the players into goals will be its first loss of the tourna­ found the break. home side so far. The final ries of competitive expe­ matches by the Indian proba­ celebrated by fans. ment in the previous match This happened in the 67th face­off against the Swedes at riences designed to gear up bles was a mix of endurance The final will be streamed at home against Mumbai City minute when NorthEast de­ the Mumbai Football Arena the girls for next year’s big and elegance, speed and live on Facebook from 5.30 FC. fender Reagan Singh was on Thursday evening can be one — the FIFA women U­17 skill. The deciding tie against p.m. onwards. hauled up for handling the opened the account midway ball inside its own box while through the second half Over the moon: BFC defender Albert Serran celebrates after trying to clear an Udanta through a penalty before scoring the second goal against NEUFC. * RITU RAJ KONWAR Singh cross. Spanish defender Albert Ser­ Chhetri made no mistake ran moved up to find the in­ test in the midfield in the a sure chance to bring up the from the spot. Bengaluru surance goal in the final opening half with NorthEast lead in the 32nd minute took the game beyond the quarter of the action. dominating the first quarter when Kuruniyan set him up reach of the host on an 81st With the tournament but as the action wore on with a nice lob that had just minute counter­attack as Al­ about to reach the half­way Bengaluru started asserting to be nodded home. bert Serran nodded home a stage, the win took the hol­ itself with Ashique Kruniyan With the NorthEast goal­ cross from Erik Partalu. der to the top of the stand­ excelling from the left. keeper Subhasish Roy The result: ings with 16 points from nine Chowdhury caught com­ NorthEast United FC 0 lost outings. Sure chance missed pletely off position, Udanta to Bengaluru FC 2 (Sunil Chhe- The game saw a nice con­ Kuman Udanta Singh missed connected his header to the tri 68-pen, Albert Serran 81). Kallis to be SA Azhar predicts a close contest batting consultant Says he would step aside from captaincy if he is unable to score LANKA IN PAKISTAN

Press Trust of India Karachi Pakistan’s Test captain Az­ har Ali on Wednesday said he will “step aside” from the role if he is unable to contri­ bute substantially to the

Jacques Kallis. * AP team’s cause, candidly ad­ mitting his run­drought. Press Trust of India “I am going through a bad Johannesburg patch but I am not out of was on Wed­ form. I am middling the ball nesday appointed as South well. It is a matter of one Needed, change of luck: Pakistan’s Azhar Ali admitted Africa’s batting consultant good innings and I know I his run-drought. * AFP for the entire duration of its can get back into form,” Az­ home summer. har told reporters here. tional Stadium. want to win here,” he said. “Former Standard Bank “But yes if I feel things are “In Rawalpindi the weath­ Azhar indicated that leg­ Proteas all­rounder, @jac­ not working out for me and I er had a role to play but here spinner Yasir Shah would be queskallis75 has been am not contributing to the I think it is a good balanced making a comeback after be­ named as the team’s batting team, I would prefer to step Test for bat and ball ing dropped for the first consultant for the duration aside myself,” he added. and I think we will have a Test, but there will still be no of the summer. He will join Azhar also predicted a good, close game here. Ob­ place for middle­order bat­ the squad for their camp close second Test at the Na­ viously both teams would sman, Fawad Alam. starting in Pretoria today (Wednesday),” CSA an­ nounced. Kallis, 44, played a combined 519 internation­ Tokyo Olympics ticket lottery: 1M al matches for South Africa with 25,534 runs and 577 across formats. He offered, 23M sought featured in 166 Tests, 328 ODIs and 25 T20I. Press Trust of India have generated unprece­ and non­Japan residents on IANS adds from Dhaka: Tokyo dented demand. Organisers a first­come, first­served Charl Langeveldt is set to The Tokyo’s Olympics tick­ said 3.57 million tickets had basis. work with the South African ets continue to be very hard been awarded to Japan resi­ Overall, organisers say team after his resignation as to find, particularly in Japan. dents in previous lotteries. about 7.8 million tickets are the fast coach of Organisers on Wednesday Organisers confirmed for available for all events and at was accepted by said there were 23 million the first time the demand least 70% of the tickets will the BCB. “Langeveldt said tickets requested in the lat­ was almost 20 times over go to Japan residents. Large he has offer to work in South est lottery for Japan resi­ supply — about 60 million blocks also go to sponsors, Africa’s senior side, which is dents only. The bad news is tickets requested. international sports federa­ why he requested the BCB that only 1 million tickets And now Japan residents tions, national Olympic com­ to let him go,” ESPNcricinfo were available. Which are running out of chances. mittees, and the IOC. quoted Akram Khan of BCB means almost everybody The next ticket offering in Millions are also sold out­ as telling Bengali daily went back empty handed. Japan will be early next year, side Japan by official Olym­ Prothom Alo on Tuesday. Next summer’s Olympics but will be open to Japan pic tickets resellers. CM YK