Australian Golfer Lyle Passes Away at 36 Fowler Seizes Early
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SWIMMING | Page 4 GOLF | Page 7 Mixed day Fowler for Ledecky seizes early at start of lead at year’s Pan Pacs last major Friday, August 10, 2018 FOOTBALL Dhul-Qa’da 28, 1439 AH Courtois says he GULF TIMES turned down bigger off ers to join Real SPORT Page 3 QNB STARS LEAGUE Qatar Sports Club keen to build on opening victory ‘Each match is diff erent and my strategy for each game is also diff erent. We have our strengths and weaknesses...’ By Sports Reporter diums was a new experience for the side. Doha “Playing the first few rounds in air-condi- tioned stadiums was a good idea. That made playing comfortable for the players. fter their sensational win over top- “We will miss Iranian professional player four side Al Gharafa in their opening Mohamed Reda due to his ankle injury,” added match, Qatar Sports Club will aim to Macala. keep the momentum going when they Meanwhile, Al Rayyan’s new coach Rodolfo Atake on Al Ahli in the second week of QNB Stars Arruabarrena was also keen to capitalise on League action today. his team’s winning start. For a team that have struggled to keep pace “We have tough opponents in Umm Salal. with the big guns over the past few years, They have what it takes to win and they know their 3-1 over Al Gharafa came as a welcome how to go about it. They will come hard at us confidence-boost, something they will seek especially since they lost the opening match to draw upon as they seek their second win on to Al Sailiya,” said the Argentinian. the trot. “From our side, we will do everything to win “The win has boosted the confidence of my this game. One match is not enough to assess players. All our staff are working hard so that Action from Qatar any team’s performance. However, from what we maintain the momentum,” Qatar Sports Sports Club’s match we have seen, the overall level is good. Most Club coach Abdulla Mubarak told reporters at against Al Gharafa teams are almost at the same level. his pre-match press conference. on the opening day “Some teams took advantage of their ri- “However, we must be wary of Al Ahli. They of the QNB Stars vals’ mistakes towards the end of their are coming off a defeat, so we are expecting a League on August 4. matches. We see that we are improving as a tough game.” side. We have no injury worries, except that Mubarak added that the opening win has of key striker Abderrazaq Hamdalah, but then made his task a lot easier. he was missing in action since the end of last “It was good to start off the league cam- season. paign with a victory. That has made things a Umm Salal coach Laurent Banide was un- bit easy for us, right from training, moulding der no illusion about the enormity of the task. strategy to implementing it on the field. “Each game is difficult and that is foot- “Each match is different and my strategy ball. We know the potential of Al Rayyan, so for each game is also different. We have our we have to do more for this game. They have strengths and weaknesses, but we must not depth in their squad, but we can win if we allow our rivals to take advantage of our weak play well as a team,” he said. points. “We are analysing our problems. The play- “I do not rely only on 11 players. We have a ers lost focus at times in the last match against good group and I count on all players. We are Al Sailiya which we lost narrowly through a assessing their qualities individually and our late goal. Past is past. We are learning from focus is to bring the best out of them. They Al Ahli coach Milan Macala, meanwhile, take any point from it. And we conceded two was after a long time that they played such our mistakes. We can improve day by day.” must be performing consistently in a league declared that his side are ready for the game, goals as well. But we are looking forward. a good game, against Al Gharafa in the first competition. We were overwhelmed by the keen to make amends for their 2-0 loss to Al We are ready for this game,” said the veteran round. They look a strong side. So we must be TODAY’S FIXTURES happiness of our fans after beating Al Ghara- Rayyan last week. coach extra careful against them.” Al Rayyan vs Umm Salal, 5.30pm fa.” said Mubarak. “The first round is over and we could not “Qatar SC are serious opponents for us. It Macala said playing in air-conditioned sta- Al Ahli vs Qatar Sports Club, 7.40pm PREVIEW Manchester United aim to defy Mourinho’s doubts in EPL opener against Leicester City AFP quick turnaround between the World Cup and the Manchester start of the new season. Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford, Phil Jones and Victor Lindelof were all praised by Mourinho anchester United have to defy their for cutting short their holidays to return to training own manager Jose Mourinho’s fears for and be in the frame to play a part today. a season of doom and gloom when they Paul Pogba did not follow suit as the French kick off the Premier League campaign World Cup winner’s frosty relationship with Mour- Magainst Leicester City today. inho has sparked interest from Barcelona. Mourinho has repeatedly called for more back- But Mourinho must fi nally get the best from ing in the transfer market if United are to close the his star midfi elder and Alexis Sanchez to avoid his record 19-point gap they trailed Manchester City third season in charge turning sour as it did in his by last season despite fi nishing second in the table. second spell at Chelsea and Real Madrid. Instead, the Portuguese’s mood has been further Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea in December soured by seeing another fi erce rival Liverpool steal 2015 with the then-Premier League champions a march with a £170-million ($220mn) splurge on languishing in 16th, just one point above the rel- new signings. egation places. “If we don’t make our team better it will be a dif- Likewise in his fi nal campaign in the Span- fi cult season for us,” Mourinho warned earlier this ish capital in 2012/13, Mourinho clashed with a week, so far to no avail ahead of Thursday’s transfer number of senior players in a trophy-less season. deadline. The ingredients appear to be in place for an- After securing the signatures of Brazilian in- other Mourinho meltdown should United get off ternational midfi elder Fred and Portuguese teen- to a bad start and he believes even the scheduling age full-back Diogo Dalot early in the window, of his side’s opening fi xture has made his task even strengthening his centre-back options has been harder. Mourinho’s priority. “I want to say a nice word, we were unlucky to Yet, United could end up facing one of Mourin- get the Friday match as we could get the Sunday,” ho’s top targets in Harry Maguire at Old Traff ord, he bemoaned at opening the campaign. with Leicester reportedly holding out for a world- “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (to record fee for a defender to land one of England’s prepare) is not enough.” heroes from a run to the World Cup semi-fi nals. One of Mourinho’s most trusted lieutenants Ne- Maguire and Leicester’s main goal threat, Jamie manja Matic will miss the start of the season due to Vardy, may not start having just returned to pre- surgery on an abdominal injury, while Eric Bailly season training this week after their exertions in and Ander Herrera are also doubts after picking up Russia. knocks in United’s fi nal pre-season friendly defeat But United are even more shorthanded by the by Bayern Munich. Gulf Times 2 Friday, August 10, 2018 FOOTBALL TRANSFERS Everton sign Mina as Man Utd miss out on deadline day AFP making just six appearances for Barca champions Manchester City after do- London after joining from Palmeiras in Janu- ing their business early in splashing ary and the Catalan giants were keen over £170mn on Brazilian goalkeeper to cash in on the 23-year-old, who cost Alisson Becker and midfi elders Fab- verton secured the services just 11.8mn euros seven months ago. inho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri. of Colombian World Cup star After Chelsea shattered the world Despite slashing a club record Yerry Mina from Barcelona on record fee for a goalkeeper with an £60mn on signing Riyad Mahrez, City an unusually quiet deadline day 80-million euro (£71.6mn, $92mn) have enjoyed a quiet window. Austral- Ein the Premier League as Manchester swoop for Athletic Bilbao’s Kepa Ar- ian teenager Daniel Arzani joined the United failed to satisfy manager Jose rizabalaga, there was little late move- English champions from sister club Mourinho’s desire to sign a centre- ment from the top six clubs with Mour- Melbourne City on Thursday will be back. For the fi rst time the Premier inho in particular frustrated at missing sent out on loan to Celtic. League deadline was moved forward out on a host of targets to bolster his Tottenham Hotspur became the fi rst to the day before the season kicks off defence.