Established 1961 25 Sports Wednesday, July 4, 2018 Japan fall short to exit World Cup in most agonizing manner Honda calls time on international career ROSTOV-ON-DON: Keisuke Honda said Japan could ly aggressively,” he said. “I think all Japanese people be proud despite exiting the World Cup in the most also are proud of us, so I am satisfied about the team.” agonizing manner. Their players slumped to the turf While Honda was dignified in defeat, Japan are after Nacer Chadli slammed the ball into the net at the entitled to feel they deserved better after a superbly end of a 94th-minute counter-attack, the last move of disciplined performance. the game in Rostov-on-Don allowing Belgium to Maya Yoshida marshalled their back line and Eiji clinch a stunning 3-2 victory and a place in the quar- Kawashima-a goalkeeper who has been relegated in ter-finals. both Scotland and France in the past three seasons- Keisuke Honda announced his retirement from made several vital interceptions. international football following Japan’s elimination There was plenty of technical quality on display as from the World Cup at the hands of Belgium on well, with the two goals scored early in the second Monday night. half by Genki Haraguchi and the excellent Takashi Inui The 32-year-old came off the bench late in the last- both worthy of the biggest stage. 16 clash with Roberto Martinez’s side, but was unable Winger Haraguchi, who plays in Germany, some- to prevent his side from slipping to an agonising 3-2 how beat the giant frame of Courtois to find the far loss. “Today we showed how we can proceed as corner and put Japan ahead just after the break. Japanese football,” the former AC Milan midfielder Then Inui-operating on the other flank and who has told reporters after the match. just signed for Spanish side Betis-showed what he can “I might have finished my career for the national do with a magnificent strike from outside the area team, but I’m happy because we have many young after being teed up by Shinji Kagawa. players following us, and I think that they will make Japan looked to be heading for the quarter-finals of new history for Japanese football.” the World Cup for the first time in their history. But a Among the pre-tournament favourites in Russia, side who scraped through the group phase only by Eden Hazard and the Belgians march on to a last-eight virtue of receiving fewer yellow cards than Senegal meeting with Brazil after scoring one of the latest win- were finally undone in the last quarter of the game. ning goals in a World Cup game. The Samurai Blue contained Hazard, Kevin De ROSTOV-ON-DON: Japan’s midfielder Keisuke Honda (top) vies with Belgium’s defender Vincent Kompany But a crushed Japan head home having been two Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku for more than an hour, yet in front of Belgium’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois during the Russia 2018 World Cup round of 16 football goals ahead midway through the second half on a it was the substitutes sent on by Belgium coach match between Belgium and Japan at the Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don on Monday.— AFP steamy night on the banks of the Don River. Roberto Martinez who made the difference. “As you see, we were not afraid to play against Jan Vertonghen, undone by Gaku Shibasaki’s Belgium and we showed that for 90 minutes but unfor- through ball for Japan’s opener, was fortunate to see Cup meeting of these teams, at the 2002 tournament the ball. If we didn’t try to do that and play aggres- tunately we couldn’t win the game,” said Honda. his header loop over Kawashima and in under the in Japan. Akira Nishino’s side could have settled for sively, I don’t think we would have scored and they The 32-year-old had come off the bench late on crossbar to pull one back in the 69th minute. taking the tie into extra time but instead they were could have scored four or five,” said Honda. and forced a fine save from Thibaut Courtois from a Five minutes later, however, it was Marouane punished for taking a chance on a last corner kick, and Nishino-only appointed in April after the contro- free-kick in stoppage time just before Japan conceded Fellaini, the classic Plan B, on for Dries Mertens, who Chadli, another substitute, finished off the move. versial sacking of veteran coach Vahid Halilhodzic- the deciding goal. headed in the leveller from Hazard’s stellar assist. Honda, though, insisted Japan could not have deserves credit for taking Japan so close against one “Belgium deserved to win the game, but I am proud Belgium’s captain had stirred, and his side had the approached the game any other way. “I don’t think we of the finest sets of players around. That will be little of the team because the starting members played real- momentum. At 2-2, it was a repeat of the last World can defend against Belgium. Our strength is to keep consolation just now, however. —Agencies Maradona offers to coach Argentina Mahrez set for for free after Man City move World Cup debacle LONDON: Riyad Mahrez is set to secure a move to English champions Manchester City from BUENOS AIRES: Diego Maradona wants to return to Leicester for a reported fee of £60million the position of Argentina coach and is willing to work ($79million) seven months after the Foxes turned for free, as Jorge Sampaoli faces pressure to resign fol- down an offer from City, according to British lowing their World Cup travails. Speaking on his “Hand media reports yesterday. of God” television show, the 57-year-old Maradona, The 27-year-old Algerian international-whose who coached Argentina for two years from 2008-10, performances in Leicester’s astonishing title win in said it was painful to see the current state of the 2016 earned him the players player of the year national team. award — is according to Sky Sports News due to “I would return to leading the national team and I would do it for free, I wouldn’t ask for anything in undergo a medical at City later this week. return,” Maradona said on his programme, which runs Mahrez-who signed from French side Le Havre on Venezuelan channel Telesur. Sampaoli is resisting for just £400,000 in 2014 — sat out two matches KAZAN: File photo shows Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona (L) watches the Russia 2018 World Cup intense pressure to resign following Argentina’s 4-3 following Leicester’s demanding £80million for round of 16 football match between France and Argentina at the Kazan Arena in Kazan on June 30. — AFP defeat to France on Saturday during a World Cup cam- him after declining a £50million offer plus young paign that was fraught with tension and disputes. winger Patrick Roberts, who is valued at £15mil- The coach is believed to have lost the support of his the bench,” said Maradona, whose own World Cup Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and again to the lion, from City during the January transfer window. players with some claims attributing team selection and coaching campaign in 2010 ended in an ignominious 4- final four years later. But his coaching career has been However, both Press Association Sport and Sky tactics to captain and star Lionel Messi. Sampaoli, 0 thumping by Germany in the quarter-finals in South far less glamorous despite his stint in charge of the Sports report that with Leicester having signed though, has another four years to run on his contract, Africa. national team, in which he presided over a record- highly-rated James Maddison fron second tier meaning the Argentine Football Association (AFA) “I’m 57, watching my country, which was beaten by equalling 6-1 defeat to Bolivia. His last two jobs were in Norwich City for £24million and with a month to would have to pay a reported $15 million (12.9 million a team that isn’t one of the best in the world-it really the United Arab Emirates, most recently failing to guide go to the falling of the transfer window curtain euros) to sack him. hursts to see everything that we’ve built destroyed so Fujairah to promotion from the Emirati second division they are now willing to sell him. “Hopefully God will give me the strength to return to easily.” Maradona was a genius as a player, leading last season. —AFP Leicester have allowed him extra time off since Mahrez-who has made 179 appearances for Leicester, scoring 48 times-went off on interna- could finally succeed in their seemingly Sisyphean task of number of foreign players makes it more difficult for tional duty for his country in June. Mahrez along Elimination sends reaching the “fifth game.” But then came the familiar col- Mexicans to break into the teams and also because, when lapse, this time in their final group game against Sweden Mexican players are successful, they often prefer to stay with striker Jamie Vardy and French midfielder when they were outmuscled by less sophisticated oppo- at home rather than move to more competitive leagues N’Golo Kante became unlikely household names Mexico back to nents and lost 3-0, followed by the inevitable end. abroad. Mexico’s squad in Russia had eight home-based during the title winning season as Italian manager Four of Mexico’s second-round eliminations have come players, another three in Major League Soccer and only Claudio Ranieri engineered one of the greatest against clearly superior teams: twice against Argentina six based in the top five European leagues.