Vangioni After Win Over Sadd
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GGOLFOLF | Page 3 FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 6 Woods leads Ronaldo double US fi ghtback puts Juventus to crush Els back on top of dream Serie A Monday, December 16, 2019 Rabia II 19, 1441 AH GULF TIMES SPORT FOCUS Liverpool land in Doha, seeking fi rst ever Club WC iverpool landed in the squad the opportunity to Doha yesterday ahead achieve something new, the of their participation chance to win Liverpool’s in the FIFA Club World fi rst ever Club World Cup. LCup Qatar 2019. The Reds, It’s been a busy but incredible who secured qualifi cation by year and of course we will give winning the UEFA Champi- everything to wrap-up 2019 ons League, will face Monter- with this title. We followed rey on Wednesday at Khalifa the matches yesterday and International Stadium. are looking forward to play- The FIFA Club World Cup ing Monterrey on Wednesday is one of the few trophies not with the support of all the in the Anfi eld cabinet and the Liverpool fans that are travel- team will be well supported in ling to Doha or living in Qa- their eff orts to change this. A tar,” said Liverpool Manager large contingent of Liverpool Jurgen Klopp. fans have travelled to Doha Should Liverpool win, they and the club enjoys a signifi - will play either CONMEBOL cant fanbase amongst local Libertadores winners CR Fla- Qataris and expatriates. mengo or Al Hilal FC in the “This competition gives fi nal. (From left) Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Allison Becker and manager Jurgen Klopp arrive in Doha yesterday. (Twitter/FIFAcom) REVIEW I still can’t believe that goal: Vangioni aft er win over Sadd Leonel Vangioni had unleashed a left-footed drive from 30 yards out to put Monterrey ahead in the quarter-final Mistakes cost Al Sadd the match, says Xavi AFC “We should learn from this Doha match and avoid the mistakes that we have made. I’m happy with the performance but we ead coach Xavi was left should reduce mistakes in to rue Al Sadd’s mis- order to improve. Htakes which led to their “We will play against Esper- 3-2 defeat against Mexico’s ance, who are a good side and Monterrey in the second round they had a good performance of the FIFA Club World Cup Qa- against Al Hilal. We will fight tar 2019 at Jassim Bin Hamad and give our best to finish Stadium on Saturday. fifth.” Monterrey scored two of their Head coach Antonio Mohamed three goals after mistakes by Al said Monterrey faced a stub- Sadd players as the CONCACAF born team who put a lot of Champions League winners pressure on them, especially in advanced to a semi-final meet- the last minutes. ing with English side Liverpool “As we expected, the match on Wednesday. was diff icult and competitive. Al Sadd will face Esperance We tried our best to put pres- Sportive Tunis in the play-off sure on our opponents who for fifth place tomorrow. were stubborn and gave us a “I’m proud of the players but hard time.” we made two big mistakes “We made several mistakes which aff ected the result,” said and lost important balls in Xavi. “Our opponents took the middle of the pitch,” said advantage of the mistakes. Mohamed. “After taking a 2-0 “We had a good perform- lead, we sat back and this ance, especially in the last 20 aff ected us as we should have minutes, but we failed to take pushed forward and scored advantage of the chances that more goals. we had. We were hoping to go “We should turn the page now to extra time.” and have a better performance Xavi said his side should draw against Liverpool. We must lessons from the match before give a better performance than facing Esperance. we did tonight.” Monterrey’s Leonel Vangioni (left) celebrates scoring their first goal during the FIFA Club World Cup match against Al Sadd on Saturday. (Reuters) espite having had sev- ible,” said ‘Piri’ Vangioni, smiling to take the shot, so I hit it and in the final. Now, four years SECRET WEAPON eral attempts on goal, when asked about his goal after thankfully it went in. It’s not later and after a stint in Europe Asked how Monterrey could com- including a Jesus Gal- leaving the changing room. “I something I practice though.” with AC Milan, he is back on bat Jurgen Klopp’s electrifying lardo eff ort that hit the still can’t believe the ball went in Nevertheless, he has previ- the American continent with side, Vangioni did not hesitate Dpost, Monterrey simply could not where it did.” ous experience when it comes Monterrey. This time they face a in response: “With heart, we’ve fi nd the net in the early stages His strike paved the way for to long-range stunners, having difficult opponent at the semi- got to play with heart. That’s how of their opening fi xture at the Monterrey to dominate the scored almost a carbon copy for final stage against a Liverpool you have to go into games like this. FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 match until the closing stages, River Plate against Lanus in 2013. side with an intimidating un- There’s no other way. It’s 11 against against an Al Sadd side intent on even if an Al Sadd double set up a “It was very similar,” he said, beaten run. 11 so we’ve got to give everything denying them space to operate nervy fi nale. Ultimately though, smiling at the memory. “The game against Liverpool out on the pitch. Anything can in. That all changed in the 23rd Los Rayados earned a 3-2 tri- might be something of a poi- happen in football, so we’re con- minute, however, when Leonel umph to book their place in the JAPAN 2015 EXPERIENCE soned chalice, but it’s what we fi dent in our ability to hurt them Vangioni received the ball around semi-fi nals, where they will face Indeed, it was with Los Mil- came here for,” Vangioni said. with the weapons we’ve got.” 30 yards from goal and unleashed Liverpool on Wednesday. lonarios that Vangioni made his “We have to keep believing in Heart and, perhaps, an- a fi erce left-footed drive that As impressive as Vangioni’s Club World Cup debut, play- ourselves and have faith. I think other left-footed stunner from fl ew into the top corner off the eff ort was, he insists it was not ing at the 2015 edition as Copa we’ve got a team that can com- Monterrey’s No11. “Why not?” upright. the result of work on the train- Libertadores winners, but ulti- pete, and as long as we’re alive he smiled as he departed. “To be honest it was incred- ing pitch: “I had the confi dence mately losing 3-0 to Barcelona then we’re going to fi ght for it.” (FIFA.com) Gulf Times Monday, December 16, 2019 FIFA Club World Cup 2 Qatar 2019 Brazil’s Flamengo prepare for Club World Cup semi-fi nal against Saudi’s Al Hilal Players of CR Flamengo take part in a training session at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha yesterday. The Brazilian side, winners of Copa Libertadores, will play AFC Champions League champions Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in the semi-final of the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 tomorrow. PICTURES: Ram Chand FOCUS Lovren ruled out of Liverpool’s Club World Cup trip AFP Lovren’s omission and Wijnal- London, United Kingdom dum’s inclusion. Resources are already stretched thinly with a youth team set to We’re confi dent of ejan Lovren has been play a League Cup quarter-final ruled out of Liverpool’s at Aston Villa on Tuesday, and Dtrip to the Club World Fabinho (ankle) and Joel Matip Cup, but Georginio Wijnaldum (knee) ruled out of games in the will travel with the Reds squad Middle East. for the tournament in Qatar. “With the Gini injury, Dejan Croatian defender Lovren three or four days ago, our will miss out as a result of the squad is not getting bigger. reaching the fi nal: hamstring problem he suff ered That is not cool,” Klopp said. during Tuesday’s Champions “But that is the same problem League victory in Salzburg. if we go to Aston Villa in the But Dutch midfielder Wi- Carabao Cup quarter-final.” jnaldum, who appeared to Speaking before the squad suff er a hamstring injury in the was named, Klopp added on Premier League leaders’ 2-0 Wijnaldum’s injury: “It is a mus- win over Watford on Satur- cle thing and you never want Hilal’s Albulayhi day, was named among the that for a player. In these mo- 20-man party which flew out ments it immediately makes it ‘Flamengo are South American champions and they are obviously very strong’ yesterday. more diff icult.” Jurgen Klopp’s side enter the The Dutchman’s injury was Club World Cup at the semi- the only cloud on a day when final stage on Wednesday, with Mohamed Salah took his tally Mexican side Monterrey their to four goals in his last three opponents in Doha. matches, and 13 for the season, A statement on Liverpool’s with a brilliant double against off icial website confirmed Watford. COMMENT Al Hilal deserved to win: coach Lucescu AFC Doha ead coach Razvan Lu- cescu said Al Hilal SFC deserved their 1-0 win over Esperance Spor- Htive de Tunis in the second round of the FIFA Club World Cup Qa- tar 2019 at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Saturday.