TENNIS | Page 5 NBA | Page 7 Djokovic, Cavaliers rip Nadal set for Raptors for 50th Roland 10th playoff Garros clash win in a row Saturday, May 21, 2016 FOOTBALL Sha’baan 14, 1437 AH Dortmund out to GULF TIMES spoil Pep’s farewell game for Bayern SPORT Page 3 SPOTLIGHT Lekhwiya rally to down Sadd, lift their fi rst Emir Cup trophy After Sadd score two goals in five minutes to take the lead, Lekhwiya respond with a 7-minute brace of their own to take the match into penalties, where the Wolves miss two of their shots to give Red Knights a thrilling victory Lekhwiya players celebrate after defeating Al Sadd via a penalty shootout and winning the 2016 Emir Cup. PICTURES: Shemeer Rasheed & Noushad Thekkayil By Joe Koraith Doha here are straightforward wins and then there are those where a team pulls off a great turna- round and produces a win Tthat remain etched in the memories of players and fans alike for long. Yesterday, Lekhwiya did something similar, scripting a great recovery act that saw them defeat Al Sadd and lift their fi rst-ever Emir Cup trophy. With just 23 minutes and a little bit of injury time left in the second half, Lekhiwya were despairingly staring at a two-goal defi cit and the Emir Cup Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi. trophy slipping away fast. A high tempo fi rst half of the fi - nal played at the Al Sadd stadium had yielded no goals and with half of the second half gone, neither team were able to break the shackles. But then a great piece of individual eff ort gave Sadd the lead. Bounejah Baghdad got to the end of a long ball from the deep, fended off Chico Flores and fi red the volley into the far corner to give his team the lead in the 62nd minute. Five minutes later Abdelkarim Hassan scored with a header off a free- kick and Sadd colours were fl ying high in the stands. But this seemed to be the trigger that Lekhwiya were waiting for. It was Lekhwiya goalkeeper Claude Amine celebrates after making a save during the Lekhwiya’s Chico Flores (L) and Nam Tae-Hee (centre) scored during regulation their turn to score two goals in seven penalty shootout yesterday. time to bring their team back into the game yesterday. Sadd coach Jesualdo Ferreira. minutes to wrestle back parity. It be- gan with Flores heading in the ball off the goal. Lekhwiya’s stand-in skipper ebrations on the Lekhiwya bench. Sadd players react after a corner kicked in by Nam Tae-Hee. Karim Boudiaf could have fi nished it Sadd players could not believe that losing the penalty shootout. Then it was the turn of the South Ko- off in the 92nd minute but his header they had come so close but let the Emir rean himself to produce the best eff ort was acrobatically saved by Sadd keeper Cup slip through their hands. Before of the match. Saad al-Sheeb. the match, there was a lot of talk about Having received the ball inside the Sadd survived this onslaught and how the recent 4-0 defeat to Jaish in the box, Nam Tae-hee did a stepover and were able to take the match into pen- Asian Champions League would aff ect fi red a lovely curler into the far corner alties. Sadd skipper Xavi converted his the Lekhwiya players during this fi nal. to which Lekhwiya goalkeeper Claude attempt to give his side the advantage. But coach Djamel Belmadi had said Amine had absolutely no chance. Four Alain Dioko brought Lekhiwya on that his players would show their true goals in 15 minutes and the match was par with his strike. Khalfan Ibrahim character in this game. And for sure now in full fl ow. stepped up but his shot was saved by they did. Lekhwiya had entered this fi nal hav- Amine. Luiz Martin didn’t miss his This was one trophy that had eluded ing scripted a 2-1 turnaround victory shot. Nadir Belhadj had a chance to Lekhiwya despite their stellar success in over El Jaish. And having drawn level, score and put some pressure on Le- recent seasons and now they can proudly the Red Knights were now eager to fi n- khiwya but the midfi elder ended up add the Emir Cup to their cabinet. As for ish off their opponents. shooting wide. Sadd, they came very close to getting a Alain Dioko got a great chance in the Tae-Hee then calmly sent al-Sheeb hat-trick of titles but couldn’t sustain 78th minute but his eff ort went over the wrong way to kick-start the cel- the eff ort till the very end. Gulf Times 2 Saturday, May 21, 2016 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT FIFA recommends two-year ban for Niersbach AFP cil, and attended last week’s Congress FIFA offi cial Jack Warner. 2016 World Cup. The DFB inquiry, car- Zurich in Mexico, as well as being on UEFA’s Along with Beckenbauer, FIFA’s in- ried out by the law fi rm Freshfi elds, executive committee. house prosecutors are investigating outlined a money trail linking Becken- He said he would vigorously contest three other ex-DFB offi cials for “pos- bauer and former Adidas chief Robert IFA’s ethics committee yester- the sanction. “It’s a matter of honour sible undue payments and contracts Louis-Dreyfus. day recommended a two-year and defence of my rights to oppose this to gain an advantage in the 2006 FIFA A central issue in the German bid ban from all football activi- request with all possible legal means,” World Cup host selection”. They are was a 10-million Swiss franc (6.7-mil- ties for Wolfgang Niersbach, Niersbach said in an interview with Theo Zwanziger, a former German fed- lion euro/ $8.0-million, according to formerF president of the German Foot- German news agency SID, a subsidi- eration president; Horst R Schmidt, an the exchange rate at that time) pay- ball Association (DFB), over an alleged ary of AFP. “The penalty is incompre- ex-DFB secretary general; and Stefan ment that Spiegel said was borrowed corruption scandal around the right to hensible. Especially when compared to Hans, the DFB’s former chief fi nan- by the DFB from the late Louis-Drey- host the 2006 World Cup. other cases where the Ethics Commis- cial offi cer. Helmut Sandrock, another fus. It said the money was to buy the FIFA’s adjudicatory chamber said sion has not made such harsh judge- former DFB secretary general, is along votes of four Asian members of FIFA’s they had received a fi nal report from ments in cases of personal advantage with Niersbach being probed for alleg- 24-strong executive committee. world football governing body’s eth- and corruption.” edly failing in his “duties of disclosure”. In 2000, Germany won the bid to ics committee investigatory chamber “In my case, the charge is based The launch of a fresh corruption stage the 2006 World Cup, beating and decided to proceed with formal solely on the fact that I did not speak lion, according to the exchange rate at cused of “not reporting the violation of investigation comes as FIFA’s new South Africa by 12 votes to 11, with one proceedings against Niersbach. “The soon enough about things related to that time) in 2000 to buy the right to the (FIFA) ethics code” by others. president Gianni Infantino is trying to abstention. Separately, 39 people and investigatory chamber recommends the 2006 World Cup,” Niersbach con- host the 2006 World Cup fi nals. The FIFA ethics committee inquiry turn the page on the scandal-ridden two companies have also been charged a sanction of a two-year ban from all tinued, adding his “resignation from FIFA opened a probe on March follows the release of a report commis- administration led by Sepp Blatter, with corruption by the US justice de- football-related activity and a fi ne of the presidency of the DFB in November 22 targeting six people including sioned by the DFB into the 2006 World whose presidency ended in disgrace partment, including many of Blatter’s CHF 30,000 (27,000 euro, $30,000),” 2015” should suffi ce. Niersbach and Franz Beckenbauer, the Cup bidding. That report, released on last month. former top deputies. the judging body said. Niersbach, 65, had resigned from the German football legend and World Cup March 4, said it could not rule out that German football has been roiled by Blatter, and his one time heir appar- Niersbach, vice-president of the German federation amid accusations organising committee chief, over their Germany bought votes to secure the allegations, fi rst levelled by magazine ent Michel Platini, have been banned 2006 World Cup organising commit- the DFB used a slush fund of 10 million roles in the bidding process, amid al- tournament, and linked Beckenbauer Spiegel last October that the DFB used from football for six years over ethics tee, is still a member of the FIFA Coun- Swiss francs (6.7 million euro, $8 mil- legations of bribery. Niersbach is ac- to a “mysterious” deal with disgraced a slush fund to buy votes to secure the violations. ITALIAN CUP FOCUS Beckham asks Real management to be Plenty of woes for patient with Zidane Reuters for the fi rst time this season, Valencia, Spain following a six-game winning month which helped the team get back into title contention. avid Beckham be- Real trailed Barcelona by 10 Milan ahead of title lieves Real Madrid points and closed that gap to should give his former just one heading into the fi nal teammate at the club, weekend of the campaign.