Saudi Arabia to host 2024 West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship

The eighth edition of the West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship is to be held in Saudi Arabia from Feb. 19-29. (AFP/File Photo)

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Updated 06 February 2024

Arab News

February 06, 2024 00:17

Saudi Arabia to host 2024 West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship

Host nation joined by Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and two guests in Guam and Nepal.

Updated 06 February 2024

Arab News

February 06, 2024 00:17

RIYADH: The eighth edition of the West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship is to be held in Saudi Arabia from Feb. 19-29, it was announced on Monday.

The host nation will be joined by Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and two guests, Guam and Nepal.

It will be the first women’s 11-a-side tournament to be held in the Kingdom and marks the Saudi women national team’s first participation in a regional championship under the organization of the West Asian Federation.

In a draw made on Monday in Amman, hosts Saudi Arabia, coached by Lluis Cortes, were given a tough group along with Lebanon, Guam, and Jordan.

Group B will see Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and Nepal battle it out for a top-two finish and semifinal spot.

Lamia Bahaian, the vice president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting the WAFF Women’s Championship.

“Looking ahead to what promises to be a brilliant tournament, we’re especially excited about the impact this will have in terms of inspiring women and young girls across the Kingdom, while supporting women’s football development nationally and regionally.

“The individual and collective success of our domestic leagues, together with our success in hosting two editions of the SAFF Women’s Friendly Tournament and the 2022 WAFF Futsal Championship, shows that the foundations are in place for us to take the next big step in our journey.

“This means hosting an official 11-a-side competition. We’re excited to welcome members of the wider football ecosystem together for an incredible event, one that’s certain to showcase the full power of football as a force for good and a platform for turning dreams into reality.”

The tournament has been dominated by Arab teams in the past, with Jordan winning five of the previous seven editions and the UAE grabbing the other two.

WAFF’s General Secretary Khalil Al-Salem said: “There is no doubt that this tournament will witness high-level competition and exceptional organization, building on the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s successful track record in hosting football tournaments at various levels.”

US coach Berhalter fired after Copa flop: official

Updated 11 July 2024

AFP

July 11, 2024 01:51

US coach Berhalter fired after Copa flop: official

Updated 11 July 2024

AFP

July 11, 2024 01:51

LOS ANGELES: United States coach Gregg Berhalter has been fired following his team’s disastrous first-round exit at the Copa America, the United States Soccer Federation announced on Wednesday.

The USSF said in a statement that the 50-year-old former US international, who was only brought back to manage the team last year, had been relieved of his duties “effective immediately.”

“We are deeply grateful to Gregg for his commitment the past five years to the Men’s National Team and to US Soccer,” said US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker.

“Gregg has earned the respect of everyone within our organization and has played a pivotal role in bringing together a young team and moving the program forward.

“We wish Gregg all the best in his future endeavours, and we know he will find success in his next coaching position.”

Berhalter’s dismissal comes after his team were eliminated from the Copa America in the group stage after defeats to Panama and Uruguay following an opening win over Bolivia.

That early exit — the first time in history a Copa America host nation has been knocked out in the first round — triggered widespread calls from former players, pundits and fans for Berhalter to be dismissed.

The sacking comes just two years before the United States co-hosts the World Cup with Canada and Mexico in 2026, a tournament which is viewed in the US as a golden opportunity to widen soccer’s appeal.

Crocker said the search for Berhalter’s replacement was already under way.

“Our immediate focus is on finding a coach who can maximize our potential as we continue to prepare for the 2026 World Cup, and we have already begun our search process,” Crocker said.

Berhalter had faced relentless skepticism since he was first appointed as US coach six years ago in the wake of the team’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

Although he enjoyed respectable results in regional competitions — winning the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League in 2021 before adding the Gold Cup in the same year — his results against top tier nations remained poor.

He helped the team qualify for the 2022 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the knockout rounds by the Netherlands after emerging from a first phase group that included England, Wales and Iran.

However his future as US coach was plunged into uncertainty in the wake of the Qatar World Cup, when an ugly feud with the family of midfielder Gio Reyna exploded into public view.

Berhalter’s contract, which expired in December 2022, was not automatically renewed.

The United States Soccer Federation meanwhile conducted an investigation into a 1992 allegation of domestic violence by Berhalter against his then girlfriend, now wife.

He was subsequently cleared and then, following a much-touted global search for coaching candidates, reappointed to his old job in June 2023.

That decision was widely viewed as unimaginative and underwhelming by swathes of US fans, who have consistently demanded Berhalter be replaced.

The pressure on the US coach was amplified by the team’s failure to mount a serious challenge at the Copa America, while at the same time, another American coach, Jesse Marsch, took Canada to the semifinals.

Berhalter meanwhile had insisted he was the right man to lead the US at the 2026 World Cup following last week’s Copa demise while admitting performances at the tournament had not been good enough.

“I think collectively the staff, the players, the sporting department, we need to look at where do we improve? How do we do better?” Berhalter said.

“It’s not the aspirations that we have as a group. We know it’s a talented team with big potential and we didn’t show it in this tournament.”

Topics: US Gregg Berhalter Copa America

Super-sub Watkins sends England past Netherlands and into Euro 2024 final

Updated 11 July 2024

AFP

July 11, 2024 00:09

Super-sub Watkins sends England past Netherlands and into Euro 2024 final

It was an incredible finish to an evening that began badly for England, as Xavi Simons gave the Netherlands an early lead in the semifinal in Dortmund

Updated 11 July 2024

AFP

July 11, 2024 00:09

DORTMUND, Germany: Ollie Watkins struck a stunning injury-time winner as England beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Wednesday to set up a Euro 2024 final showdown with Spain in Berlin.
It was an incredible finish to an evening that began badly for England, as Xavi Simons gave the Netherlands an early lead in the semifinal in Dortmund.
However, England were soon level through a Harry Kane penalty following a contentions VAR call by German referee Felix Zwayer, and the match looked set to drift toward extra time until Watkins struck.
On for Harry Kane, Watkins received a pass from fellow substitute Cole Palmer with his back to goal in the first minute of stoppage time, turned and fired low into the far corner to leave the Netherlands completely stunned.
It has rarely been a convincing campaign from Gareth Southgate’s England side, but they are through to their second consecutive European Championship final as they dream of finally winning a first major trophy since 1966.
To do that they will surely have to perform better than at any point so far in Germany as they face an outstanding Spain team.
Spain will also have had an extra 24 hours to prepare for the final, having defeated France 2-1 on Tuesday.
The Netherlands had been hoping to repeat their triumph at the last Euros held in Germany, in 1988, but their current side lacks anyone with the star quality of Marco van Basten or Ruud Gullit.
A victory for them would have seen this Euros conclude with the same final as the 2010 World Cup. Instead they now go home.
England had got to this stage despite not winning any of their last four matches in 90 minutes, and having been taken to extra time by Slovakia and Switzerland.
That might have given the Dutch an edge physically, after the Oranje shrugged off finishing third in their group to brush aside Romania and then see off Turkiye.
England welcomed back Marc Guehi in defense after suspension, while Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman opted to start Donyell Malen in attack in the ground where he plays club football for Borussia Dortmund.
The Westfalenstadion is a special place for the Dutch, as the scene of their 2-0 win over Brazil that took them through to the 1974 World Cup final.

They went ahead here after just seven minutes thanks to a stunning goal by Simons, who robbed Declan Rice 35 meters from goal and advanced before sending a rasping drive beyond Jordan Pickford.
The Dutch players ran off to celebrate with their fans behind that goal, as England found themselves behind for the third game running.
Just like against the Swiss in the quarter-finals, however, they reacted swiftly.
Kane forced a save from Bart Verbruggen and moments later sent a volley over the bar, and was caught by Denzel Dumfries on the follow-through.
It seemed totally innocuous but Zwayer was summoned across to review the images and gave a penalty.
Kane, whose missed spot-kick against France cost England dear in the 2022 World Cup, made no mistake, slotting low into the bottom-left corner.
It settled into an open and entertaining game, with Dumfries redeeming himself by clearing off the line from Phil Foden.
Dumfries crashed a header off the bar from a Simons corner, but Foden responded by curling a superb shot from range off the top of the post.
England’s midfielders were being given too much time on the ball, and Koeman used an injury to Memphis Depay to reinforce the center, replacing the forward with Joey Veerman.
Another change followed at the interval, with Wout Weghorst — super-sub in previous rounds — replacing Malen.
Yet the game became more cagey as the minutes went on and the fear of making a mistake grew.
Pickford denied Virgil van Dijk on 65 minutes and the Netherlands began to take control as England’s leading players started to tire.
England did have the ball in the net on 79 minutes when Bukayo Saka turned in a Kyle Walker cutback, but the latter was just offside and the flag cut short the celebrations.
Southgate then decided to remove Kane and Foden, with Watkins and Palmer entering the fray to devastating effect.

Topics: Euro 2024 England Netherlands

Injuries are adding up at Wimbledon and determining the outcomes of matches

Updated 10 July 2024

July 10, 2024 17:10

Injuries are adding up at Wimbledon and determining the outcomes of matches

Taylor Fritz’s fourth-round opponent, Alexander Zverev, slipped on an unworn patch of green grass in his previous match
“It’s unfortunate, obviously,” de Minaur said. “You never want to see this”

Updated 10 July 2024

July 10, 2024 17:10

LONDON: There's no single explanation, of course, for all of the injuries to players in the latter stages at Wimbledon this year. This much is certain: The timing could hardly be worse.
The man Novak Djokovic was supposed to face on Wednesday, Alex de Minaur, withdrew hours before their scheduled quarterfinal because he jarred his hip at the end of a victory two days earlier.
“I'm devastated,” de Minaur said. “The problem with me going out and playing is that one stretch, one slide, one anything, can make this injury (recovery) go from three to six weeks to four months. It’s too much to risk.”
Taylor Fritz’s fourth-round opponent, Alexander Zverev, slipped on an unworn patch of green grass in his previous match. That caused a bone bruise — and maybe worse — that Zverev complained left him on “one leg” in his loss to the American at what the two-time major finalist characterized as a wide open opportunity to grab a first Grand Slam title.
Danielle Collins' last Wimbledon appearance before retirement ended with tape wrapped around her hamstring, the work of a trainer during the American’s fourth-round loss to 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova. Collins chalked it up to failing to “think about every little step that you take.”
“There's been a ton of injuries on the grass. Left and right, it seems like people are going down. I am, I guess, frustrated that I feel like I was focusing on my tactics and kind of what I needed to do to play at a high level. Usually, I feel like, on other surfaces you’re not having to think so critically about your movement,” Collins said. “The one second I take my mind off of it, not think about every little thing I’m doing with my footwork, it ends up happening.”
The falls keep happening. The injuries are adding up.
“It’s unfortunate, obviously,” de Minaur said. “You never want to see this.”
He called his mishap “more of a freak injury,” related to the “excessive amount of force” used to slide on grass.
Madison Keys, the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up, was in tears when she stopped because of a hurt leg at 5-all in the third set of a Week 2 match against Jasmine Paolini, who reached Thursday's semifinals.
Emma Raducanu, who won the U.S. Open three years ago, withdrew from mixed doubles — which was supposed to be Andy Murray's last event at Wimbledon — because of a sore wrist, then needed a medical timeout later that day after falling in the third set of a singles loss.
No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya cited a bad wrist when she quit in her fourth-round match against 2022 champion Elena Rybakina. No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov retired from his fourth-round match against Daniil Medvedev with a leg problem.
“It’s normal for the second week at Wimbledon to be feeling niggling things on your muscles, because it’s tough — the grass, getting down low, coming into the net. It's more on the muscles than the joints on the grass," 2003 Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis said. "So I’m sure lots of people will be feeling it now with little things here and there.”
Count Djokovic among those who think part of the issue is that all of the rain during the tournament — so much that the mixed doubles final was shifted from Thursday to Sunday, and play began a half-hour earlier than usual on most courts Wednesday — has made the grass more slick and the footing less sure.
So has shutting the retractable roofs at Centre Court and No. 1 Court, the only two arenas with that luxury during wet weather.
“Once you close the roof, you know that the grass is going to be more slippery. So there’s more chances that players will fall. Unfortunately, some of the falls have caused some of the players to withdraw,” Djokovic said.
“It's part of this surface. You can’t really change that," added the seven-time champion at the All England Club. "I mean, it’s grass. It’s a live surface, and it reacts to different conditions.”
The pattern began at grass tourneys that preceded Wimbledon.
Marketa Vondrousova retired from a match in Berlin after hurting her right leg there. When she showed up at Wimbledon, she became the first defending champion in 30 years to lose in the first round and acknowledged: "I was a bit scared because of my leg.”
The woman who beat her last week, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, stopped at Wimbledon because of a back issue in the third round against Krejcikova.
Frances Tiafoe pulled out of the Queen's Club tournament before Wimbledon after spraining a ligament in his right knee when he took a tumble. Tiafoe played at the All England Club with a black sleeve over his knee and made it to the third round before losing to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic tore the meniscus in his right knee during a match at the French Open, had surgery and returned to competition less than a month later. Ironically, he thinks it's possible that might have helped him stay upright this fortnight.
That's because, years ago, Djokovic was one of the first players to regularly slide on grass the way they do on clay. He has cut down on those movements this time at Wimbledon, being extra careful to avoid risking falls.
“It’s probably part of my, I guess, different kind of movement on the court that I’ve been really experimenting with because of the cautiousness — because of the knee and everything that was happening prior to the tournament,” Djokovic explained. “The first couple rounds, I was still not maybe willing to go (for difficult) balls and slide and make splits.”
Other theories include: More and more baseline play on grass, and less serving-and-volleying, creates longer points and extra running, which translate into a greater likelihood of slips; less comfort on grass because players tend to grow up practicing and competing on clay or hard courts; and a brief grass portion of the schedule that doesn't allow for accumulating a lot of experience on the turf.
Then there's the general wear-and-tear of a season.
“Listen, tennis is a very physical sport at the moment. For sure, the rallies are longer. Matches. Scheduling. Finishing late,” 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis said. “It’s very demanding on the body. ... A lot of things are changing that (contribute) to players getting injured.”

Topics: Wimbledon Alexander Zverev Taylor Fritz Alex de Minaur injuries

NEOM renews partnership with Asian Football Confederation to 2029

Updated 10 July 2024

ARAB NEWS

July 10, 2024 16:03

NEOM renews partnership with Asian Football Confederation to 2029

Updated 10 July 2024

ARAB NEWS

July 10, 2024 16:03

RIYADH: Collaboration between Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion giga-project NEOM and the Asian Football Confederation will run until 2029 after a partnership deal between the two was renewed.

Under the terms of the arrangement, NEOM will continue to serve as the official global partner of the AFC national team and club competitions and be the presenting partner of the first pan-Asian AFC Women’s Champions League.

The agreement aims to promote inclusivity in sports and support the development of women’s football across Asia, a press release stated.

The two parties first signed a four-year partnership in 2021, which encompassed major AFC national team competitions, including the 2022 World Cup and AFC Asian Qualifiers featuring the continent’s top 12 football nations, as well as Asia’s flagship national team competition, the AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

“NEOM’s partnership with the Asian Football Confederation provides us with a valuable platform to collaborate with a global football leader, creating opportunities and positively contributing to the development of sport across Asia,” Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, said.

“Sport is a key component of Saudi Vision 2030’s ambition to develop a healthy society with strong social bonds and the extension of our partnership with the AFC supports NEOM’s aspirations to become an innovative hub for sport and its goal to have one of the most physically active societies globally,” he added.

The release further stated that the partnership aims to reinforce NEOM’s presence in Asian football, marked by AFC’s revamped club tournaments.

The newly introduced AFC Champions League Elite Finals will see NEOM as the Official Global Presenting Partner of the eight final matches being played in Riyadh in 2025.

NEOM will also be the Presenting Partner of the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League, promoting the top 12 women’s clubs from across Asia.

This agreement builds on the foundations laid over the past four years as Saudi Arabia prepares to host prestigious football competitions such as the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027.

The partnership between NEOM and the AFC has led to the creation of “Champions of Progress,” an initiative designed to use the global platform of football to drive positive change across the region. This undertaking will focus on activations and developing the next generation of talent across AFC competitions.

“This partnership renewal further reinforces the appeal of the AFC’s competitions to engage with the millions of passionate fans of Asian football and we look forward to creating more historic moments with NEOM to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes,” the AFC General Secretary, Datuk Seri Windsor John said.

The collaboration with the AFC is expected to significantly contribute to the livability of NEOM’s residents and the project’s dynamic economy, the release added.

NEOM further stated that it aims to become one of the world’s most physically active societies, with its residents engaging with AFC events and enabling a grassroots development program targeted at youth across Saudi Arabia.

The partnership has already supported NEOM’s initiatives, such as the Shuhub Community Program, which has engaged 10,000 young people around the Kingdom to date.

Through this collaboration, NEOM has provided local boys and girls from football community groups with opportunities to participate in AFC matches as player mascots, center circle children, and the first-ever trophy handover children at the AFC Champions League 23/24 Final.

Topics: main NEOM AFC

Novak Djokovic moves into Wimbledon semifinals after Alex de Minaur withdraws

Updated 10 July 2024

July 10, 2024 11:14

Novak Djokovic moves into Wimbledon semifinals after Alex de Minaur withdraws

Novak Djokovic will face Taylor Fritz or Lorenzo Musetti on Friday for a berth in the final

Updated 10 July 2024

July 10, 2024 11:14

LONDON: Novak Djokovic got a free pass into the Wimbledon semifinals on Wednesday when his quarterfinal opponent, Alex de Minaur, withdrew with a hip injury.
De Minaur, an Australian who was seeded ninth at the All England Club, announced he was pulling out of the tournament hours before he and Djokovic were scheduled to play each other at Center Court.
This match would have been de Minaur’s first quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon. He made it that far at the French Open last month, too.
Djokovic will face Taylor Fritz or Lorenzo Musetti on Friday for a berth in the final.
The second-seeded Djokovic has won seven of his men’s-record 24 Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon.

Topics: tennis Novak Djokovic Wimbledon

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Saudi Arabia to host 2024 West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship

Saudi Arabia to host 2024 West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship

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