14 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018 sports

Neymar penalty punishes Uruguay in feisty friendly Dutch stun champs AFP | London It will be their last match eymar kept his cool to of 2018, having recorded five Netherlands eye Nations League finals after handing France first post-WC defeat Nscore the controversial successive friendly victories penalty that fired Brazil to since losing in the World Cup a 1-0 win over Uruguay in a quarter-finals against Belgium. full-blooded friendly on Fri- “It was a typical South Netherlands ended day. American derby. We have re- • Brazil spect for Uruguay. They have France’s 15-game was subjected to some fero- dangerous players,” Brazil boss unbeaten run cious fouls from Uruguay as Tite said. the clash between the South “We managed to control The result sees American rivals boiled over at them. This is our third game Germany• forced to bow Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. without conceding a goal.” But the Paris Saint-Germain Uruguay manager Oscar out of UEFA Nations striker had the last laugh, net- Tabarez added: “Neymar was League top-tier ting from the spot late in the playing with freedom. We wer- second half after Diego Lax- en’t controlling him very well. AFP | , Netherlands alt was harshly ruled to have “But I thought our young fouled Danilo. team matched Brazil. It’s a Brazil are now unbeaten shame it comes down to a con- he Netherlands have in their last 10 meetings with troversial situation.” qualification for the Na- Uruguay, who haven’t defeated Even on a dank, misty north Ttions League semi-finals the five-time world champions London evening that was a in their sights after beating since 2001. million miles from the sun- France 2-0 on Friday to hand Brazil, building towards soaked beaches of Rio, Brazil’s Didier Deschamps’ side their hosting the Copa America global popularity ensured a first defeat since winning the next year, take on Cameroon large crowd braved the ele - World Cup. Netherlands’ (R) controls the ball in front of France’s midfielder Blaise Matuidi (2nd R) in another friendly in Milton ments to see their star-studded Georginio Wijnaldum struck during the UEFA Nations League football match between the Netherlands and France Keynes on Tuesday. line-up. on the stroke of half-time and the dazzling “I was not expecting a perfect the off and were only denied a Mbappe. chipped home a cheeky stop- match from our side but that’s even bigger win by a magnifi- The Dutch meanwhile pep- page-time penalty to bag a win really what it was. We were very, cent performance from France pered Lloris’ goal from the off, in Rotterdam for Ronald Koe- very good,” said Koeman. goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. with Wijnaldum forcing the man’s revitalised side that leaves “I was surprised by the France “This win shows the spirit France keeper’s first save with the impressive Dutch needing line-up and the way they played, of the team, the quality of the just a minute on the clock fol- just a point against relegated but our match was perfect. We players we have,” said Depay. lowing an impressive burst from Germany on Monday to leapfrog dominated the match for 90 “It shows that we have a star turn Depay. France and make the semi-fi- minutes.” bright future, we have to con- The match would have been nals. Wijnaldum’s goal came prac- tinue like this. This is just the done and dusted long before The Dutch are a point be - tically at the midway point of a start.” the final whistle had it not been hind leaders France, who only match dominated by the hosts, The closest Deschamps’ men for Tottenham stopper Lloris, needed a draw themselves on who have bounced back from came to scoring was a weak who engaged in an almost per- Friday to qualify for the knock- the doldrums after failing to 10th-minute header from An- sonal battle with the Nether- out stage in their last match qualify for the World Cup. toine Griezmann, who was lands’ vibrant front three of of the group but came up way They dominated the lack- otherwise anonymous along- Depay, Ryan Babel and Steven Brazil’s striker Neymar (C) vies with Uruguay’s midfielder Lucas Torreira (L) short. lustre world champions from side the equally invisible Kylian Bergwijn. and Uruguay’s defender Bruno Mendez (R) Proteas too strong for Aussies Boult leads New Zealand fightback AFP | Gold Coast, Australia eight in the seventh over with (2-16) and Andile Phehlukwayo AFP | Abu Dhabi peedster claimed (2-21) also among the . Stwo key wickets as South Africa “The bowlers once again stepped eft-arm pacer Trent Boult helped strangled Australia to a 21-run vic- up and produced the goods. Picking LNew Zealand foil Pakistan’s ad- tory in their rain-reduced Twen - up wickets in this format is always vantage with four wickets as the first ty20 international on the Gold Coast important because T20 is all about Test was evenly poised after day two yesterday. slogging,” skipper in Abu Dhabi yesterday. The South Africans easily protected said. Boult’s 4-54 derailed the Pakistani their 108 for six total off 10 overs to “It ends a really good tour for us. We batsmen who were bowled out for restrict Australia to 87 for seven with learnt a few lessons about the things 227 in response New Zealand’s first Morris the star of the Proteas that worked and didn’t work. innings total of 153. attack. “Australia is a very tough place to He was well supported by debutant Morris claimed the wickets of D’Ar- tour and play in, so to get a spinner Ajaz Patel (2-64) and Colin cy Short for a first-ball duck and Chris series win in both white-ball formats de Grandhomme (2-30) as Pakistan Lynn for 14 in his opening over to is a big achievement and we’ll go home managed a first innings lead of just 74. trigger a slide. with our heads held high.” New Zealand then battled to 56-1 The Australians fell away from 21 South Africa also downed Australia when bad light forced umpires to end for one after two overs to be 60 for six 2-1 in the one-day series preceding the the day with 4.2 overs still remaining. upon the dismissal of Alex Carey for one-off T20 international. The Black Caps still trail by 18 runs with nine wickets remaining. New Zealand captain plays a shot Skipper Kane Williamson will hold the key for his team as he walked off Azam hit five boundaries in his fore decision. with 27 and with him opener 109-ball knock and was the last man But Boult had the last laugh, forcing Jeet Raval on 26 not out. out when he edged Boult for wicket- an edge off Azhar’s bat for Watling’s The pair has added 56 for the sec- keeper BJ Watling to take a low diving one-handed diving catch. ond wicket after was catch. In spite of losing those two wickets bowled by Hasan Ali for nought in Pakistan had resumed at 59-2 but during the morning session, Pakistan the second over, negotiating the spin lost overnight batsmen Sohail and were well-placed at 144-4 at lunch, bowling well under cloudy conditions. Azhar Ali (22) in the space of just six seeking a big lead to get a 1-0 advan- New Zealand can take heart from balls at the same score of 91. tage in the three-match series. at Seef District too the fact that Pakistan lost a Test at Sohail was the more confident of But Boult checked their progress by this venue last year against Sri Lanka the pair who added 64 for the third dismissing Asad Shafiq for 43, bowled by 21 runs, falling short of a target of wicket. He hit four boundaries but off an inside edge. That was 174-5, the just 136. was caught at short mid-wicket by start of a passage that saw Pakistan’s Pakistan squandered a good chance Latham after a loose shot off leg-spin- last six wickets fall for 63 runs. of taking a big lead through some ner Ish Sodhi’s low full toss. Patel had Sarfraz Ahmed caught inept batting, with only Babar Azam Azhar was dropped by Jeet Raval off a miscued sweep for two and Bilal (62), Asad Shafiq (43) and Haris So- off Boult on 19 and was again lucky Asif by Watling for 11 while Um al Hassan +973 17728699 Seef District +973 17364999 hail (38) making significant contri- two runs later when given not out as Boult, de Grandhomme and Neil Wag- butions. the fast bowler reviewed for a leg-be- ner also chipped in.