6 December 19, 2020 Lewandowski Wins Persepolis, Ulsan Hyundai Set FIFA Best Player Award for Thrilling AFC Champions In midfield, coach Golmoham- madi will be looking to Iraqi in- ternational Bashar Rasan, who told FIFA.com that “the team that makes the fewest mistakes on Sat- urday will win.” Ulsan have been in Doha since November, playing eight games in 23 days, including last Sun- day’s 2-1 semifinal win over Vis- sel Kobe of Japan, and winning all eight to set a tournament record. After missing out on the K- Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski was named The Best League title on the final day of the FIFA Men’s Player 2020 on Thursday. last two seasons, Ulsan is looking LONDON (Reuters) - Bay- Manchester City this sum- to end 2020 on a high and add to ern Munich striker Robert Le- mer after three years at Lyon, its 2012 Asian title. wandowski won the best FIFA where she won three Cham- Doha: The 2020 AFC Champions League culminates on Saturday with the showpiece final at Al Janoub Stadium “Before we came here, morale men’s player award on Thurs- pion League titles and three pitting Islamic Republic of Iran’s Persepolis FC against Korea Republic’s Ulsan Hyundai FC. was low in our squad because we day, beating the other two fi- French league titles. TEHRAN (Dispatches) - The lon- only have their opponents ample the decider on an impressive un- had lost two domestic titles,” Ul- nalists Cristiano Ronaldo and Germany’s Jurgen Klopp gest Asian Champions League tour- Champions League experience, beaten run. They topped Group san coach Kim Do-hoon said. Lionel Messi. was named the best men’s nament in history ends on Saturday but they also won the 2012 edi- F after winning five and drawing “But after we arrived the players Due to the COVID-19 pan- coach for the second con- — more than 11 months after the tion, defeating Saudi Arabia’s Al one of their opening six match- tried to enjoy the moment and we demic, this year’s Best FIFA secutive year after leading first ball was kicked — when Iran’s Ahli 3-0 in the decider. es, during which they scored 14 tried to make our own atmosphere Football Awards ceremony Liverpool to win England’s Persepolis meet Ulsan Horang-i of Persepolis got off to a disap- goals. The 2019 and 2020 South as a team. I really appreciate ev- was held as a virtual event at top-flight league for the first South Korea in Doha, Qatar in the pointing start in this year’s com- Korean champions carried that eryone’s effort.” the headquarters of FIFA in time in 30 years. final. petition, taking just one point from form into the knockout phase, see- Junior Negrao, the top scorer in Zurich, Switzerland. Netherlands women’s na- The outbreak of coronavirus their opening two matches before ing off Melbourne Victory 3-0 in the 2020 K-League season, has Lewandowski, 32, was tional team coach Sarina caused the tournament to be sus- the tournament was suspended the last 16. scored five times in the continen- named the best FIFA men’s Wiegman claimed the best pended from March to September. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the quarter-finals, they then tal tournament and scored both player for the first time after women’s coach. The 51-year- Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup, When games resumed in Septem- overcame China PR’s Beijing goals in the come-from-behind an outstanding season with old will take charge of the stepped in to stage all the remain- ber, with all fixtures held in Qatar, Guoan with a brace from Brazilian win over the big-spending Kobe. the German giants. England women’s team next ing games in a biosecure setting. the Red Army won three of their Junior Negrao, before eliminating “We have the opportunity to Scoring 55 goals in 47 year. Persepolis go into the match de- next four matches, topping Group Vissel Kobe and their star Andres make history for the club in Asia,” games last season, the Poland In other awards, Lewan- termined to make up for the disap- C and progressing to the knockout Iniesta in the semis to reach the fi- the Brazilian told the K-League’s international inspired Bayern dowski’s club teammate Man- pointment of the 2018 Champions stage. nal for only the second time in the official home page. Munich to a domestic and uel Neuer was named the best League final, which they lost 2-0 The Iranians then defeated Qa- club’s history. “We just have to enjoy it, we European clean sweep and men’s goalkeeper, while Lyon on aggregate to Japan’s Kashima tar’s Al Sadd and Uzbekistan’s The Tehran giants put more of don’t have to put pressure on our- topped the scoring charts in goalkeeper Sara Bouhaddi Antlers. Winners of the Iranian Pakhtakor in the last 16 and a premium on team play than in- selves.” both the Bundesliga and the won the women’s award. league for the past three years, quarter-finals respectively. In dividual skills, as evidenced by If Ulsan take the title will be UEFA Champions League. Tottenham Hotspur striker Persepolis hope to replicate their the semis, Persepolis prevailed six different players sharing the South Korea’s 12th continental England defender Lucy Son Heung-min won the Pus- domestic dominance on the conti- against one of the favorites for the team’s 12 goals en route to the fi- crown, a record in the Champions Bronze won the best wom- kas Award for the best goal as nental stage. title, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, in a nal. At the back, they will be rely- League and its Asian Club Cham- en’s player award after de- the South Korean striker ran For the Iranian outfit and their penalty shootout (5-3) following a ing heavily on goalkeeper Hamed pionship predecessor. Iran, in con- feating Denmark’s Pernille almost the full length of the coach Yahya Golmohammadi, 1-1 draw after extra-time. Lak, who kept a clean sheet in five trast, has not produced a champion Harder and Wendie Renard of pitch to score against Burn- this will be far from easy. Not For their part, Ulsan head into of the seven games he played. since 1993. France. ley in last season’s Premier Suter Wins 1st Downhill of Season, Schmidhofer Hurt in Crash Bronze, 29, returned to League. VAL D’ISERE, France (AP) but all were able to ski down -- Corinne Suter won the season- the slope. AS Roma Win to Climb to Fourth, opening women’s World Cup Schmidhofer’s accident halt- downhill race Friday and Nicole ed the race for 20 minutes as Deepen Torino Woes in Serie A Schmidhofer was injured in a course workers needed time to high-speed crash that sent her repair the fencing. through the safety fencing. Having started before the in- Descending at more than 100 cident happened, Suter edged kph (62 mph) near the end of Sofia Goggia by 0.11 seconds her run, Schmidhofer lost con- for her second career win. trol after landing a jump and The Swiss skier acknowl- while approaching a right turn. edged that flat lights caused When she veered off the course, problems during her run as the sharp edges of her skis cut well. through the safety netting. Last season, Suter became the Switzerland’s Corinne Suter speeds down the course during an alpine ski, The Austrian landed out of first skier to win both the down- women’s World Cup Downhill, in Val d’Isere, France, Friday, Dec.18, 2020. view of TV cameras. She re- hill and super-G titles in the ceived medical help on the face. He said she has been hos- ity was a problem because of same season since American scene and was transported off pitalized in a nearby clinic for alternating shadow and sunny great Lindsey Vonn achieved the hill on a sled about 15 min- further examinations. spots. the feat in 2015-16. utes later. Schmidhofer, the 2018-19 Defending overall champion Breezy Johnson was 0.20 sec- Austrian women’s team head downhill champion and 2017 Federica Brignone of Italy, Joa- onds behind in third for her first Roma’s French midfielder Jordan Veretout (right) scores a penalty past coach Christian Mitter said super-G world champion, was na Haehlen of Switzerland and career top-three finish, improv- Torino’s Serbian goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic during the Italian Schmidhofer hurt her left knee one of four skiers to get in trou- Alice McKennis Duran of the ing one spot from her previous Serie A football match AS Roma vs Torino on Dec 17, 2020 at the and had abrasions on her ble on the course, where visibil- United States crashed as well, best. Olympic stadium in Rome. ROME (Dispatches) - AS Roma Veretout converted a penalty be- rose to fourth place in Serie A with fore halftime. Australian Open Pushed Back Three Weeks Into February a 3-1 home victory over relegation- Lorenzo Pellegrini slammed SYDNEY (Reuters) - The 2021 Australian Open will be pushed back three weeks due to COVID-19 precautions, with the first Grand Slam event threatened Torino on Thursday, Roma’s third into the top corner of the calendar year now set to be contested in February. aided by an early red card for the midway through the second half, An updated ATP Tour calendar has the Melbourne event now starting Feb.