15 Sports Wednesday, November 4, 2020 Ajax missing 4 key players after coronavirus setback Four positive in latest Premier League COVID-19 tests THE HAGUE: Ajax will be without four key players Denmark enforces stricter anti-coronavirus rules including captain Dusan Tadic and goalkeeper than many other European countries. Andre Onana in their Champions League clash It could be that some players who tested positive against Midtjylland after testing positive for coron- before still have residual traces of the virus showing avirus, news reports said Monday. Two other regu- up in blood tests, even though they have recovered lar starters, midfielders Davy Klaassen and Ryan completely, the RTL Nieuws private broadcaster Gravenberch, were also omitted from Erik ten Hag’s said. “I find this rather odd,” said Ten Hag. “We are 17-man squad to face the Danish-based club yes- playing in a European competition. But European terday. At least seven other players including countries have different rules when it comes to reserve goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and corona,” he said. “That’s strange and it is not fair attacking midfielder Zakaria Labyad were left off play either,” added Ten Hag. Dutch news reports the plane as well. say the missing players are now pinning their hopes Ten Hag, at a press conference ahead of the on a second test, hoping that would come up nega- Group D encounter, remained vague about the tive. “I am therefore hopeful that they will still be players and their COVID-19 status, and why they welcome on Tuesday,” Ten Hag said, adding “we are could not travel to play at the MCH Arena in the still working on it”. western Danish city of Herning. “There are a num- ber of players who did not get permission to enter Premier League tests Denmark to play here. They are allowed to play in In another development, the Premier League said the Netherlands but not in Denmark,” Ten Hag said on Monday that four people have returned positive at the livestreamed conference. results in its latest round of COVID-19 tests con- BERGAMO: Ajax’s Serbian forward Dusan Tadic (right) scores a penalty kick past Atalanta’s Italian Pressed for a reason Ten Hag said: “I can’t say ducted on players and staff last week. The league goalkeeper Marco Sportiello during the UEFA Champions League group D match, between Atalanta and anything about the exact reasons and I’m also not said the individuals who had tested positive for the Ajax at the Atleti Azzurri díItalia stadium. —AFP going to comment on individuals because of privacy novel coronavirus would now self-isolate for 10 reasons.” “All I know is that they did not get per- days. “The Premier League can today confirm that mission to enter Denmark,” he said. Ten Hag then between Monday, October 26 and Sunday, A total of 48 people have tested positive for the virus tinue without spectators during the four-week lock- added “it has to do with testing. All I can say is the November 1, 1,446 players and club staff were test- in nine rounds of testing since the new league campaign down from Thursday. There have been more than a mil- players affected by this are healthy in the sense that ed for COVID-19,” the league said in a statement. began in September. The UK government has allowed lion COVID-19 infections and over 46,000 deaths in they don’t have any symptoms or complaints.” “Of these, there were four new positive tests.” Premier League football and other elite sports to con- the UK, according to a Reuters tally. — Agencies Chinese football sets ‘miserable’ record as Moroccans teams see red Berkane win CAF SHANGHAI: Referees dished out dozens of yellow cards and at least 12 players were sent off in only Confederation Cup eight matches in what state media yesterday branded a “miserable” record in the Chinese Super League. The flurry of cards came as the CSL approaches its JOHANNESBURG: Defender Issoufou nervy climax to the coronavirus-hit season, with the Dayo scored a rare goal to give title and automatic relegation both set to be decided Renaissance Berkane of Morocco a 1-0 win over the next 10 days. over Pyramids of Egypt in Sunday’s CAF Wuhan Zall’s defeat on penalties to Qingdao Confederation Cup final. Dayo only previous Huanghai on Monday in a bitter relegation dogfight effort in the competition came more than a was particularly bad-tempered, with three players year ago at home to Ashanti Gold of Ghana dismissed. Wuhan’s coaching staff were so incensed SUZHOU: Photo shows Wuhan Zall’s Leo Carrilho Baptistao (left) heading the ball next to teammate Song Zhiwei (2nd in a round-of-32 second leg. The title at one point that they stormed on to the pitch, left) during the Chinese Super League football match (CSL) between Wuhan Zall and Beijing Guoan in Suzhou in decider was delayed five months because of reportedly causing South Korean referee Ko Hyung- China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Wuhan Zall are fighting for survival in the Chinese Super League, desperate to avoid the coronavirus pandemic. Beaten in the jin to temporarily halt the match. a heart-breaking conclusion to a year that began with them stranded outside their coronavirus-scarred city. — AFP final of the secondary African club competi- “We are very confused about this now and it is not tion last season by Zamalek of Egypt, our bad performance that caused the current situa- gle-round red and yellow cards in the history of the Suning, who pulled off a shock victory in extra-time Berkane made no mistake at the second tion,” coach Pang Li fumed, referring to the perform- Super League”. It said with the CSL revamped to despite having only 10 men for over an hour. attempt and should have won more con- ance of Ko, who was drafted in to raise the standard make up for five months of the season lost to the Defender Abduhamit Abdugheni was dismissed after vincingly in Rabat. of refereeing in an attempt to avoid just this kind of coronavirus, and teams living in secure “bubbles”, he raked his studs down the base of the spine of The Moroccans created far more scoring controversy. There were so many incidents in the 18th players and coaches were under extreme pressure. Brazilian star Oscar. “The closed-game system (bub- chances than the Egyptians before surviving round of matches, involving both players and coach- Teams are now playing two-legged ties in a knockout ble) and the brutal knockout system of the second a tense finish when reduced to 10 men on 89 ing staff, that Chinese media tallies differed. But all formula to decide league placings, including the title stage of the league has made the games full of uncer- minutes after Bakr el Helali was shown a red- agreed the deluge of cards was an unwanted record. and relegation spots. tainty,” said the Beijing News. “Every team is in a card. Burkina Faso international Dayo-the The state Beijing News said that there were 60 The chaotic round of just-concluded matches saw state of physical and mental overload. This miserable only non-Moroccan in the starting line-up- yellow cards and 13 red - “the highest number of sin- Shanghai SIPG’s title hopes obliterated by Jiangsu scene is not a surprise.— AFP struck after 15 minutes at the Stade Moulay Abdallah in a match staged behind closed doors. A goalmouth scramble after a free- kick ended with the centre-back credited Diego Maradona Inspirational with the goal that proved the match-winner. Berkane are the fifth Moroccan club after taken to hospital Rashford making FAR Rabat, FUS Rabat, Moghreb Fes and Raja Casablanca to win the African equiva- lent of the Europa League. North African BUENOS AIRES: Diego Maradona has been a difference on clubs have dominated the 17 editions of the admitted to hospital in Argentina with undis- Confederation Cup with Tunisian clubs also closed “health problems” although it is not relat- and off the field lifting the trophy five times, and Egyptian ed to COVID-19 and his condition is not thought giants Al Ahly and Zamalek once each. to be serious, his personal doctor and local Berkane will defend the trophy next season media reported on Monday. Maradona, 60, was LONDON: Marcus Rashford’s impact now stretches while Pyramids go into the CAF Champions taken to the Ipensa clinic in La Plata, about an far beyond the football field as the Manchester United League or Confederation Cup depending on hour from Buenos Aires. Maradona coaches the and England forward has become a global icon by tak- whether they finish second or third in the local club Gimnasia y Esgrima. ing on politicians to fight for an end to child poverty. In Egyptian Premier League. Maradona, who won the World Cup with the week of his 23rd birthday, Rashford scored his first Argentina in 1986 and is widely considered to be career hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig in the Pre-match surprise one of the greatest players of all time, was admit- Champions League, gained the support of over one mil- Croatian coach Ante Cacic sprang a pre- ted to hospital to undergo tests, his doctor Argentine former football star Diego Maradona lion signatures in a petition to try and extend free match surprise by omitting Ghanaian for- Leopoldo Luque said. He had been feeling poorly school meals during half-term holidays and inspired ward John Antwi from the team that beat for some time and will be held under observation thousands of volunteers across the country to step into Horoya of Guinea in a semi-final last lose weight.