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NFL | Page 5 TENNIS | Page 7 Lutz’s fi eld US Open goal lift s win shows Saints over Nadal is not Texans fi nished yet Wednesday, September 11, 2019 CRICKET Muharram 12, 1441 AH ‘Accidental’ skipper GULF TIMES Paine on verge of Ashes landmark SPORT Page 4 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Goalie Sandhu Elkeson double on the hero as India debut as China rout hold Qatar goalless Maldives Afghanistan shock Bangladesh in another Group E match in Dushanbe AFP scoring from the spot in the 65th Doha minute before Elkeson made his mark with seven minutes re- maining and claimed his double razil-born striker Elke- in stoppage time to complete the son struck twice on his rout. debut to give China a Earlier, Hong Kong fans booed Bcrushing 5-0 win over their own national anthem and Maldives in a World Cup quali- sang in protest against Beijing’s fi er in Male yesterday. rule as months of political unrest Chinese football authorities spilled onto the football pitch in included the 30-year-old in the a 2-0 defeat to Iran. national side last month in a The ear-splitting disgrun- bid to improve their chances of tlement all but drowned out qualifying for the 2022 tourna- “March of the Volunteers”, the ment in Qatar and Elkeson lived anthem the semi-autonomous up to expectations by netting territory shares with mainland two penalties late in the Group China, at what was Hong Kong’s A match at the Rasmee Dhandu fi rst home game after a summer Stadium. of upheaval. Despite its clout as a global Fans also sang a newly com- sporting and fi nancial power posed protest song, “Glory to China have qualifi ed for the Hong Kong”, repeatedly chant- World Cup only once, leading to ed “Liberate Hong Kong” and a change in policy that now al- waved a black version of the ter- lows naturalised foreign-born ritory’s Bauhinia fl ag, a symbol players to play for the national of the protests that have gripped team. the city for 14 weeks. “We want to go to Qatar (2022 In Riff a, Bahrain, war-torn World Cup),” Chen Xuyuan, new Yemen came agonisingly close president of the Chinese Football to upsetting their much pow- Association (CFA), was quoted erful neighbour Saudi Arabia, India coach as saying by state media last eventually settling for a credible Igor Stimac month. 2-2 draw. Mohsen Mohamed reacts during “Naturalised players can be put Yemen ahead in the eighth India goalkeeper Gurpreet the match. helpful in order to achieve the minute, but Saudi Arabia hit Sandhu reacts after leading his national team’s short-term back through Hattan Bahebri in team to a draw yesterday. goals. the 23rd to restore parity. “Up to now, clubs have reg- An Omar al-Dahi strike in the istered nine naturalised players 37th minute gave Yemen the lead AFC from the left wing that was tipped away with or without Chinese herit- once again but they were unable Doha by the Indian goalkeeper, but only as far age at the CFA in total, some of to build on it as the Saudis equal- as Ali whose shot on the rebound can- them are still going through the ised through Salem al-Dawsari noned off the crossbar. naturalisation process.” three minutes into the second ndia displayed some resilient de- Qatar coach Felix Sanchez rued the China dominated the game half to clinch a draw. fending and goalkeeper Gurpreet missed chances. and were 2-0 up at half-time Elsewhere, Australia thrashed Singh Sandhu impressed as India “Today we played a tough game. It with Wu Xi and Wu Lei fi nd- Kuwait 3-0 with Mathew Leckie Iheld reigning Asian champions Qa- wasn’t our day, we weren’t accurate ing the net in the 34th and 45th scoring twice, South Korea beat tar to a 0-0 draw at Jassim Bin Hamad enough to fi nish our chances. We are minute, respectively. Turkmenistan 2-0, Thailand Stadium in Group E of the Asian Quali- disappointed with the draw and not the They then won three straight smashed Indonesia 3-0 and the fi ers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 eff ort. We have players with great qual- penalties, with Yang Xu fi rst UAE edged past Malaysia 2-1. and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 yester- ity but the Indian goalkeeper didn’t let us day. get the points. This is a long journey and The result leaves Qatar – who defeated we will defi nitely keep playing and train- Afghanistan 6-0 on Matchday 1 – top of ing to qualify,” Sanchez said. the group with four points, while India India coach Igor Stimac was happy collect their fi rst point, having lost 2-1 to with a point Oman in the opening match. “I feel great! But as a coach, I don’t In the absence of Akram Afi f, Hassan have time to celebrate just like when we al-Haydos was moved to fi ll his role on lost a few days ago, I didn’t have time to the left and the Qatar captain was the think about it. I’m happy to get one point biggest threat to India early on. The Al against the Asian champions and these Sadd player tested Sandhu with two ef- are the points that prove to be impor- forts in the fi rst 10 minutes, and the In- tant,” said Stimac. dian goalkeeper made the save at his near “Congratulations to both teams be- post on both occasions. cause I think the crowd enjoyed the Boualem Khoukhi had a golden chance game. Qatar maybe deserved more from to break the deadlock in the 26th minute the match due to the chances they cre- when he found himself in plenty of ated but we did have a few of our own space at the far post to receive Abdulaziz and with experience we can do better. All Hatem’s cross from the corner, but the credit to my players and I’m really proud midfi elder failed to guide his header of them. However, I’ll like to tell them to goalward. be calm as we have more game to come,” Having scored in Qatar’s 6-0 win over India coach Igor Stimac said. Afghanistan on the opening matchday, Meanwhile in Dushanbe, Farshad 2018 AFC Player of the Year Abdelkarim Noor’s fi rst half strike proved to be Hassan tried his luck from long range in India’s Brandon Fernandes and Qatar’s Bassam al-Rawi in action yesterday. enough for Afghanistan to claim a 1-0 the last minute of the fi rst half. His strike PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil and agencies. win over Bangladesh in Group E, looked destined for the top corner, but The win was a perfect response from Sandhu showed his quality and tipped it his header from Abdelaziz Hatem’s cor- in a corner which was crossed by Anirudh an Afghanistan side that had lost 6-0 to behind for a corner, keeping the match ner in the 54th minute, and al-Haydos Thapa for Vinit Rai who took the ball on Qatar on matchday One. goalless at the break. rifl ed from an angled free-kick, but the half-volley but his left footed strike Anoush Dastgir’s side kept Bangla- Play continued to fl ow in the same di- Sandhu was again alert to the threat and narrowly missed the target. desh pressed in defence and took the lead rection, with the 2019 AFC Asian Cup parried it away minutes later. A combination of Sandhu’s heroism in the 27th minute with Omid Popalzay Iran’s Milad Mohammadi (R) fights for the ball with Hong Kong’s Tsui winners taking the game to their oppo- India had a rare opening in the 66th and Almoez Ali’s misfortune denied Qa- sending a cross into the box which Noor Wang Kit during the second round Group C qualification match at the nents. Bassam al-Rawi could not direct minute as a swift counter attack resulted tar a late winner. Hassan drilled a shot headed home to break the deadlock. Hong Kong Stadium in Hong Kong yesterday. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, September 11, 2019 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Cowley brothers target ‘football miracle’ at Huddersfi eld London: Danny Cowley has Belgium, Netherlands set his sights on the Premier League after making Hud- dersfield the next step in his “fairytale” managerial career. Cowley, along with his as- sistant manager and brother Nicky, left League One Lincoln to take charge of the Champi- hit four as Germany onship strugglers on Monday. Together the pair, both former PE teachers, have enjoyed a remarkable rise up the football ladder, first managing in non-League with Concord Rangers and then Braintree Town. Their success edge closer to Euros in then taking Lincoln up two divisions from the National League attracted interest from elsewhere, with the Ter- Belgium captain De Bruyne made three assists before scoring himself with eight minutes remaining riers moving in following the departure of Jan Siewert last month. Unveiled alongside his brother at a press conference yesterday, Danny Cowley said: “The short-term objectives are to find a way to play win- ning football and retain our status in this division. It will then be about building a com- petitive team in the Champi- onship and from there we’ll have the foundations to push on. You have to dream big. “For Nicky and I it’s been a fairytale.

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