FOOTBALL | Page 3 NBA | Page 6 Messi still Lou sparks underrated Clippers over despite hype Warriors in and awards overtime upset Wednesday, November 14, 2018 TENNIS Rabia I 6, 1440 AH Anderson hammers GULF TIMES ‘terrible’ Nishikori in ATP Finals SPORT Page 4 MOTOR SPORT Rooney says he’s honoured Qatar International to make fi nal appearance Rally route changed for England DRIVERS TO CARRY OUT THEIR RECONNAISSANCE OF THE REVISED ROUTE TODAY File photo of Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah in action in the recent Jordan Rally. AFP, Washington: Wayne Rooney says he is honoured to make a final appearance for Eng- land and happy for manager Gareth Southgate to decide his playing time tomorrow against the United States. Former Manchester United star Rooney, in video comments released Monday by his Major League Soccer club DC United, detailed his excitement at earning his 120th cap for England in his farewell match, a friendly against the Americans at Wembley Stadium. “Playing on the squad for this game and see some old teammates, see Gareth and the coaching staff , and then obviously to play at Wembley for the last time will be a great mo- ment,” Rooney said. “To see old teammates, coaches and be around them for a few days, but also to see the fans — it’ll be great to pull on the England shirt again in front of the fans in almost a way of me saying thank you to the fans for the support you’ve shown me over my time playing for England.” England’s all-time men’s goals leader came to MLS in July, lifting DC United from the bottom of the table to the playoff s in his first campaign. United were ousted by Columbus in their post- season opener earlier this month. England’s Football Association set up the Rooney tribute with proceeds going to youth charities. By Sports Reporter day. and four of them have been modifi ed. That included two runs through a new northerly “Obviously it’s a huge honour for the FA to Doha Clerk of the course Pedro Almeida and his has resulted in shorter stages, but safer stag- Al Khor special, Al Ghariyah and the Al Ru- grant me this game. It’s an important game, ob- Portuguese assistant Jaime Santos have been es. We have made short cuts to avoid muddy wais timed test. viously. The money will be raised for children’s out in the northern deserts checking the con- sections and areas where the cars would get Rain and adverse weather have aff ected charities, which I think is really important,” reak weather conditions and heavy dition of the tracks and making any necessary stuck. There are lakes in the desert. Some the event in the past and route modifi ca- Rooney said. rain have inundated parts of north- changes to enable the event to run smoothly. tracks disappeared into the water. It would tions have taken place on several occasions. Rooney, 33, has scored 53 goals in 119 England ern Qatar forcing the Qatar Motor Speaking from the QMMF’s new offi ces at have been impossible, even for a 4x4 vehicle, The worst weather in the history of the event appearances since making his debut for the Fand Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) the Qatar Handball Sports Arena, Almeida to cross them. occurred back in 1993 when the area was in- Three Lions on February 12, 2003. He has not to make last-minute changes to the route for said: “We have had exceptional weather con- “We have done a big job to prepare a sec- undated when the event ran out of the former played for England since a 3-0 victory over this weekend’s Manateq International Rally ditions in Qatar and this resulted in fl ooding ond rally in one week. Competitors will re- Ramada Renaissance Hotel in downtown Scotland at Wembley on November 11, 2016. of Qatar, the fi nal round of the FIA Middle and damage to the stages. We were obliged to ceive a bulletin with the changes when they Doha. That event was synonymous with “I have to admit I don’t know how much I’m East Rally Championship (MERC). modify the route in order to avoid any diffi - complete their registration.” large areas of standing water and small lakes going to play, whether that’s from the start or Twenty cars and 40 competitors from nine cult situations. We did that to avoid any pos- Rally offi cials had hoped to run 203.40 on many stages and was eventually won by whether that’s the last few minutes,” Rooney nations are making their fi nal preparations sible cancellation of stages. competitive kilometres in a total route of Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah and Mubarak al- said. for the three-day event, which gets under- “If the rain continues, then we may have to 832.75km before the late modifi cations. Fri- Hajri in a Toyota Celica GT4. “I’ll speak to Gareth before we meet up. What- way with a ceremonial start at Souq Waqif do more changes. In fact, we have now done day’s action is scheduled to be fought out This year’s event will start and fi nish at ever he wants me then to play I’m happy to do tomorrow afternoon. They will carry out two rallies. We had rally A and now we have over two runs through the Eraida and Al Souq Waqif in downtown Doha with the cer- so.” their reconnaissance of the revised route to- rally B. The rally still has fi ve diff erent stages Dhakira stages, while Saturday’s timetable emonial start planned for 19.05hrs tomorrow. BOTTOMLINE Qatar hope to impress in Switzerland friendly By Sports Reporter Qatar captain Hassan al-Haydos ‘Switzerland and Iceland the Faroe Islands and one above intentions is to get an idea about Doha and coach Felix Sanchez both played in the World India. “Switzerland and Iceland the players and their fi tness lev- (background) speak to the Swiss Cup in Russia recently, so both played in the World Cup els ahead of the Asian cup,” he media in Lugano yesterday. they obviously are good in Russia recently, so they ob- said. atar captain Has- teams. But we hope to give viously are good teams. But we Qatar have been quite impres- san al-Haydos said them a good fi ght’ hope to give them a good fi ght,” sive in their recent friendlies, friendlies against said al-Haydos, who represents beating China and Ecuador and QSwitzerland and Ice- play international friendlies. Al Sadd domestically. drawing with Iceland. land would help the national “The match against Switzer- Interest for the game in Swit- Switzerland coach Vladimir team assess their strengths and land is important for us. We will zerland is high as they are also Petkovic has retained the core of weaknesses as they prepare for try to make the best use of it and playing in the Nations League his squad who played the World the prestigious Asian Cup in try to learn as much as possible,” and would be treating the Qatar Cup but would also give a lot January. al-Haydos told journalists at a match as a serious tune-up. of younger players a chance to Qatar take on Switzerland to- press conference in Lugano. Meanwhile, coach Felix showcase their skills. day in Lugano and Iceland on Switzerland are ranked eighth Sanchez said he would use the Captain Granit Shaka and Monday as domestic leagues in the world and would provide matches to fi ne tune his side for Xherdan Shaqiri are the main- across the world take a break for a tough test for Qatar who are the Asian Cup. stays of the Swiss side and are a week to allow national teams ranked 96th, one spot below “Of course one of our main expected to play a big role today. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, November 14, 2018 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Stage set for third round of QSL Cup this weekend The tournament is also a great platform for clubs to unearth new talents and give opportunities to U-23 players By Sports Reporter Doha he 2018-19 season QSL Cup’s Round 3 matches will be played on Friday, 16th November, and Saturday, 17th November, with Tthree matches on each day. Fixtures are scheduled during international breaks when the QNB Stars League is halted. The tournament is also a great plat- form for clubs to unearth new talents and they give opportunities to as many Under-23 players as possible. Group B matches will be played on Friday and Group A on Saturday. The fi xtures on Friday are Al Sailiya vs Al Sadd (16:00) at Al Ahli Stadium, Al Khor vs Al Ahli (18:10) at Al Ahli Sta- dium and Al Rayyan VS Al Shahania (18:10) at Al Khor Stadium. On Saturday, it will be Umm Salal vs Al Duhail (16:00), at Qatar SC Stadium, Al Arabi vs Qatar SC (18:10) at Qatar SC Stadium and Al Gharafa vs Al Kharaiti- yat (18:10) at Al Gharafa Stadium. Al Duhail are leading the Group A standings with four points (one vic- tory and a draw). Umm Salal also have four points and same goal diff erence (+1), but Al Duhail occupy the top spot having scored more number of goals (three as against Umm Salal’s one). Al Kharaitiyat and Al Gharafa are third and fourth with three and two points respectively. Qatar SC also have two points, but are placed fi fth having scored less number of goals compared to Al Ghara- fa (one against two).