Southgate defends role of international football amid virus cases PAGE 14 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2020 Ooredoo Cup 2020-21 Ronaldo “is doing well, without symptoms, and Al Wakrah drub Duhail 3-1 is in isolation”. TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK DOHA Portugal Football Federation in a AL Wakrah gained their sec- statement ond victory in the 2020-21 season Ooredoo Cup when they beat Al Duhail 3-1 in Round 3 (Group A) at the Al Duhail Stadium on Tuesday. Omar Ali (23rd and 68th Portugal’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo looks on during the Nations minutes) and Ousmane Couli- League match against France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, baly (64th minute) scored for outside Paris, on Sunday. (AFP) the winners. Abdulrahman Moustafa scored Al Duhail’s goal in the 29th minute. Ronaldo tests Al Wakrah moved on to seven points, while reigning QNB Stars League champions positive, misses Al Duhail have yet to open their account although they have one match in hand. Al Duhail’s game against Sweden match Al Sadd in Round 1 was post- poned owing to both teams’ DPA/AFP force for Serie A says that Ron- campaigns in the 2020 AFC BERLIN aldo must self-isolate for 10 days Champions League. The Red and then record a negative test Knights had lost 1-3 to Al Sail- PORTUGAL captain Cristiano before he can resume playing. iya in Round 2. Al Wakrah players celebrate one of their three goals against Al Duhail during their Ooredoo Cup Round 3 Group A match played at the Al Duhail Ronaldo has tested positive for Ronaldo on Monday post- Al Wakrah, who had played Stadium on Tuesday. the coronavirus, the nation’s ed a picture of himself and the out a 1-1 draw with Qatar SC in football federation FPF said other Portugal players, all sit- Round 1, then beat Al Khor 2-1. goals to seal an important win. Cristian Ceballos hit the side- riguez (Dudu) skied the ball in the result. on Tuesday. ting close together, during a Al Duhail dominated the Omar opened the scoring netting the next minute. the 41st minute. Coulibaly headed in a A statement said that Ron- meal, with the caption on the ball in the first half where the by taking advantage of a faulty Al Duhail now took control Earlier, Al Wakrah’s Mo- chipped pass from former aldo “is doing well, without Twitter post translating into: teams were level at 1-1, but clearance by Ahmed Yasser. and drew level through Abdul- hamed Benyettou had come Al Duhail defender Lucas symptoms, and is in isolation,” “United on and off the field!” it was Al Wakrah who had Captain Isaias Sanchez set up rahman Moustafa, who pro- close on a couple of occasions. Mendes to make it 2-1 and without giving further infor- However, social distancing more chances. The Blue Wave Omar with the ball and the latter duced a neat finish off aL uis Al Wakrah were more Omar found the target a sec- mation on him. and face masks are not man- gained much ground after re- calmly volleyed the ball home. Martin through pass. determined in the second ond time off a pass from Ce- He was dropped from the datory within a team bubble. sumption and scored two more A surge by Al Wakrah saw Al Duhail’s Eduardo Rod- session and that reflected on ballos from near the goalline. squad for Wednesday’s Na- Neither Juve nor Ronaldo tions League match against have so far commented on the Sweden for the title holders positive test. and European champions. Ronaldo is not the first The FPF said that all other footballer to contract the Sars- players underwent new coro- CoV-2 virus, but among the Al Sailiya-Al Sadd in dramatic 4-4 draw navirus tests earlier on Tues- most famous ones. day which returned negative. Others include his Juven- As a result, they are avail- tus team-mate Paulo Dybala; Tiago Bezerra able for the game against the Paris Saint-Germain’s Ney- Swedes in Lisbon which is to mar, Kylian Mbappe, Angel di scores hat-trick go ahead as planned. Maria and Marquinhos; Paul for Al Sailiya The Portugal squad gath- Pogba of Manchester United ered last week and drew 0-0 and AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahi- TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK in a friendly with Spain and in movic. DOHA the Nations League at world Ronaldo could also face champions France, with Ron- trouble in Italy because he was AL Sailiya and Al Sadd played aldo featuring in both games. among half a dozen Juventus out a dramatic 4-4 draw in their Portugal and France are joint players who left the team’s Round 3 Group A match at the top on seven points in Group quarantine - after two staffers Al Duhail Stadium on Tuesday. A3. tested positive - for national Striker Tiago Bezerra led Ronaldo, 35, will surely team duty. Al Sailiya’s charge with a hat- also miss upcoming matches Their departures could be trick (58th-min penalty, 74th of his Italian club Juventus af- an infringement of the FIGC and 78th-min-penalty). Mo- Action from the ter the positive test. safety protocol and of state hanad Ali was their other scor- Al Sailiya-Al Sadd Juve visit Crotone in the sanitary laws. er (72nd minute). Ooredoo Cup Round Serie A on Saturday, have their The international break Rami Sohail (13th min- 3 Group A match Champions League opener has been marked by a host ute), Nam Tae-Hee (19th-min played at the Al next week Tuesday at Dynamo of players contracting the vi- penalty), Yousef Abdulrazaq Duhail Stadium Kiev, and then face Barcelona rus as it continues its spread (47th minute) and substitute on Tuesday. with Ronaldo’s long-time ri- worldwide. Rodrigo Tabata (53rd minute) val Lionel Messi the following The Republic of Ireland scored for Al Sadd. week in the elite event. He can had five players ruled out just The total tally of eight only return to action after test- before their Nations League goals included three penalty ing negative again. draw with Wales after one conversions. against Al Duhail in Round dropped points this time too national duty. 0-4 by the 53rd minute. Ronaldo has scored 101 squad member tested positive Al Sailiya now have six 1 was postponed owing to after enjoying a 2-0 lead at the It was a thrilling comeback The sudden splurge in at- goals for Portugal and will be for the virus. points, while Al Sadd opened both teams’ campaigns in end of first half. by Al Sailiya in the second tack by Al Sailiya saw them a huge absence for his team Meanwhile Ukraine had to their account. the 2020 AFC Champions The Wolves, who won the half, which saw six goals being pump in three goals in the against Sweden as they aim draft in 45-year-old assistant Al Sailiya had lost their League, had lost 2-3 to Qatar 2019-20 season Ooredoo Cup scored in all. space of six minutes. to hold on to top spot in their coach Oleksandr Shovkovsky opener 1-5 to Al Khor, but de- SC in Round 2, after leading by beating Al Arabi 4-0 in the The Peregrines fought In the last match of the group. His contracting the dis- for last week’s friendly with feated Al Duhail 3-1 in Round 2. by two goals. final on 10th October, missed back into the game in extraor- day, Al Khor scored a 2-0 win ease is also a big blow for Ju- France as the virus swept Al Sadd, whose game Incidentally, Al Sadd many players owing to dinary fashion as they trailed over Qatar Sports Club. ventus, as the health protocol in through the squad. Liverpool star Keita among a dozen infected African stars AFP the Gambia scheduled for without naming the players. from the squad after a 2-1 Wakaso from Chinese club Ji- JOHANNESBURG Portugal as positive coronavi- Last week, goalkeeper Ali friendly international loss in angsu Suning. rus tests left them with insuf- Yirango, defenders Aboubacar Kenya last weekend. Ayew is a younger brother LIVERPOOL midfielder Naby ficient players to form a team. Kouyate and Molla Wague and A national association of Andre Ayew from second- Keita is among more than a Apart from the health cri- midfielder Hamidou Traore spokesman said the defender tier English club Swansea, dozen African stars who have sis, players told reporters they were sidelined by Covid-19. had been axed for unspeci- who has been linked with tested positive for corona- had to share hotel rooms with Egypt: Zamalek clinched fied “technical reasons” days several Premier League sides, virus as teams play friendly three team-mates and bonus- 2nd place and relegated Haras after coach Milutin Sredojevic including Brighton and West internationals across Europe es for friendly internationals el Hodoud by winning a Egyp- warned that he would not tol- Bromwich Albion. to prepare for Cup of Nations were ditched without any con- tian Premier League between erate indiscipline. South Africa: The qualifying. sultation. the clubs 2-1 in Alexandria. Chongo returned to his 2020/2021 South African A spokesman for the na- Guinea came from behind The victory gave Zamalek club, Democratic Republic of season kicks off Saturday tional football federation con- last weekend to defeat Cape an unassailable four-point Congo champions TP Mazem- with quarter-final matches in firmed to AFP that Keita had Verde 2-1 in a warm-up for lead over Pyramids with one be, while Zambia travelled to a winners-take-all knockout contracted the virus and was back-to-back Cup of Nations Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita.