46 Friday Sports Friday, November 17, 2017 Peru beat New Zealand 2-0 to capture last World Cup berth It’s a big emotion, beyond making history: Christian Cueva : Emotional Peru advanced to the World to delight a full-throated capacity crowd of Cup for the first time since 1982 by defeating 40,000. New Zealand 2-0 on Wednesday, goals by The opening goal came after Cueva raced Jefferson Farfan and sealing down the left wing and flicked a pinpoint cen- the last ticket to Russia. Farfan struck in the ter pass with the outside of his right foot to 27th minute and Ramos scored in the 65th to Farfan. The 33-year-old forward for Lokomo- give “Los Incas” their fifth overall World Cup tiv Moscow blasted a right-footed shot from finals appearance and the first in 35 years. the edge of the penalty area past New “It’s a big emotion, beyond making history,” Zealand goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic and into tearful Peru the back of the net. Christian Cueva said. In celebrating the “It’s a child’s dream. We goal, Farfan covered have not broken this his head with the jersey bad streak for so long. We waited for of suspended Peru Now I’m going to cele- 35 years to be teammate Paolo Guer- brate.” rero, unavailable after The second-leg in a World Cup failing a doping test match at Lima’s Estadio last month. “Thanks for Nacional was the de- the support, Paolo. This cider after New Zealand is for you,” Farfan said. and Peru played to a 0- After dedicating the 0 draw in the first leg of their Oceania-South match to Guerrero, Farfan gestured to the de- America playoff on Saturday at Wellington. lighted crowd and said, “Paolo is all around.” Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Farfan had another chance in the 42nd minute tweeted his joy after the match, posting the when Marinovic surrendered a rebound message: “We waited more than 35 years to chance, but the sprawled Kiwi made a left- LIMA: Peru’s Christian Ramos (R) celebrates with teammates, after scoring against New Zealand be in a World Cup again. Thank you warriors hand save from point blank range and finally during their 2018 World Cup qualifying play-off second leg football match, in Lima. —AFP for giving us this joy.” clutched the ball to end the threat. New Zealand, ranked 122nd in the world, New Zealand’s Kip Colvey gave the was seeking a third World Cup finals berth Kiwis a dangerous chance in the 50th nied by Peru goalkeeper . Still The ball struck Kiwi defender Winston after appearances in 1982 and 2010. Peru at- minute with a centering pass from the right vulnerable to a New Zealand away goal, Reid to land in front of Ramos, who fired it tacked the “All-Whites” from the start, Incas wing to second-half substitute Chris Wood, 10th-ranked Peru’s insurance policy came into the goal. “The people deserve this and defender Luis Advincula slamming a left- but the English Premier League striker for off the foot of Ramos after a corner kick much more,” Ramos said. “They supported footed shot off the crossbar in the third minute Burnley saw his header from six meters de- glanced off Farfan’s head. us when we were bad.” —AFP

ident Massud Barzani to step down. Arslan Abdallah, a sports Kurds find joy in journalist at the Kurdish Rudaw television channel based in Arbil, said the team’s success is “a huge victory for Kurdish athletes in , pull Swedish football Europe” and in his region. ‘DRIVEN BY PRESSURE’ out of CECAFA Cup team’s success The remarkable rise of the squad, which includes Americans, a Palestinian and a Gambian, is built on their defiant personalities, NAIROBI: Somalia and Sudan have pulled out of next month’s STOCKHOLM: Weary of war, persecution, and statelessness, according to their assistant coach Amir Azrafshan. CECAFA Challenge Cup in , reducing the field to only Kurds rejoiced as a Swedish football club founded just 13 years “They all have something in common when it comes to enjoy- 10 teams from the central, northern and southern African zones. ago by Kurdish immigrants won promotion to the top division. ing a challenge... they’re driven by pressure,” he told AFP. The Organisers of the Council for East and Central Foot- Scores of cheering fans ran onto the pitch, dancing and waving club was formed in 2004 in the central Swedish province of ball Associations (CECAFA) tournament said Somalia, which Kurdish flags last week when Dalkurd FF beat Gothenburg’s Dalarna, around 300 kilometres northwest of Stockholm, as a so- has been mired in internal conflict, was having difficulty get- GAIS 1-0 to earn a seat in next season’s . cial project to help troubled youth integrate into society. ting a team together for the December 3-17 championships. Midfielder , 30, hit the only goal 59 minutes into It “gives hope to us immigrants in Sweden that we can suc- Three-time champions Sudan have asked to be left out of the the game at the Stadium in the central Swedish ceed,” author and social commentator Kurdo Baksi said. Swedish competition because their national football league is still in city of Borlange on October 28. “Millions of Kurds are dancing daily Aftonbladet reported in February 2016 that 49 percent of progress. with joy... it’s so wonderful to give them this happiness,” Lawan the club was bought by the two Kurdish “billionaire brothers” North African team Libya has been invited to take part for told TT news agency after the match. Kawa and Sarkat Junad. “We want to win and be in the highest the first time as a guest team, alongside five-time Council of “This means more than just football.” Dalkurd’s victory lifted division as quickly as possible. I would love to see Dalkurd in the Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA} champions, spirits among Kurds disheartened by the continued violence in Champions League,” Sarkat Junad told Aftonbladet at the time. . Libya have been drawn to play hosts Kenya in a Kurdish populated areas of Turkey and the aftermath of the con- tough Group A, alongside , and . De- troversial independence referendum in Iraq’s autonomous Kur- ‘NO FRIENDS BUT THE MOUNTAINS’ fending champions have been drawn in the relatively dish region. “I was very happy when I saw their great results,” With more than 1.5 million followers on Facebook, the club has easier Group B against Burundi, , South Sudan and Ahmed Karim, a 35-year-old resident in Arbil, the capital of au- become a symbol for Swedish and Kurdish cohesion. Its logo is Zimbabwe. tonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, told AFP. The Kurds are a non-Arab a football-shaped version of the Kurdish flag in red, white and Kenya are hosting the CECAFA Challenge Cup as a conso- ethnic group numbering between 25 and 35 million spread across green with a yellow star, but with the addition of two horses, a lation after losing the right to stage the 2018 African Nations four countries-southeast Turkey, northern Syria, Iraq and Iran- reference to the traditional carved and painted wooden horses of Championships due to concerns around the uncertain political without a recognised state of their own. Dalarna. “Sweden gave us the possibility to feel freedom and re- situation in the country. The CECAFA organisers hope the two- “I hope they will represent Kurdish sport globally, because we ceive an education that we didn’t have in our (country of origin),” week tournament-to be played in the towns of Kisumu, in the Middle East do not have our own Kurdish (national) team,” the club’s chairman Ramazan Kizil said. Kakamega and Nakuru — might help unite Kenya after a Karim added. The fallout from last month’s vote caused weeks of “We’ve been given a lot and we will give it back to this soci- drawn-out and divisive presidential election period. —AFP armed clashes in which Baghdad reasserted control over swathes ety,” he added. Dalarna means “dales” in English and the name of oil-rich Kurdish-held territory and triggered the region’s pres- refers to the breathtaking valleys of the region. —AFP