Sports

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City and Schalke grabbed the final spots on offer in the knockout stage of the Champions League on Wednesday, while Lionel Messi helped Barcelona secure first place in its group with a record-extending 75th goal in the competition.

City started the final round of group play in last place in Group E but finished second by beating Roma 2-0 away, with second-half goals by Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta lifting the English champions above their Italian opponents and CSKA Moscow. CSKA lost 3-0 at Bayern Munich.

Schalke ensured a clean sweep of four German representatives in the last 16 for the second straight season after its 1-0 win at Maribor sealed the runner-up spot in Group H. Sporting Lisbon needed a draw at Chelsea to finish second but lost 3-1.

Barcelona came from behind to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 and leapfrog the French team to the top of Group F, with Messi leading the Spanish side’s recovery before goals by the remainder of its all-star attacking trio — Neymar and Luis Suarez.

Ajax and Athletic Bilbao won to clinch Europa League berths for finishing third in their groups, joining Sporting and Roma in the knockout stage of the continent’s secondary competition that starts in February.

The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League is made on Monday, with teams from Germany (4), Spain (3) and England (3) making up 10 of the qualifiers.

City, along with PSG and Juventus, arguably will be the sides most group winners want to avoid after advancing for the second straight season thanks to wins over Bayern and Roma in their last two games.

Without four of its top players in the injured Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany, the suspended Yaya Toure and playmaker David Silva, who was on the bench, the Premier League champions qualified the hard way in the Italian capital.

Nasri smashed a rising shot in off the post from outside the area in the 60th minute before setting up right back Zabaleta for the second goal in the 88th minute. City also required a string of great saves from goalkeeper Joe Hart either side of halftime, while Martin Demichelis cleared a shot off the line when the score was 1-0.

“We had a bit of a slow start [in the group] but you don’t win the Premier League easily,” Hart said. “We’ve got resolve, we’ve got character and we’ve got great players. Add that all together and you have a chance.”

City needed to better the result of CSKA and Bayern ensured that was the case as goals by Thomas Mueller — from the penalty spot — Sebastian Rode and Mario Goetze saw the German champions finish on 15 points.

For his side to advance, Schalke coach Roberto Di Matteo required a win in Slovenia and for Chelsea, the team he led to the Champions League title in 2012, to beat Sporting at Stamford Bridge.

Schalke did their part thanks to Max Meyer’s 62nd-minute winner following a goalkeeper error, and a makeshift Chelsea side that was already assured of top spot in the group was too strong for Sporting.

Cesc Fabregas and Andre Schuerrle scored in the opening 16 minutes for Chelsea, Jonathan Silva replied before John Obi Mikel clinched victory.

Top spot — and a likely easier last-16 match — was up for grabs at Camp Nou and Zlatan Ibrahimovic put PSG ahead against his old club Barcelona in the 15th minute.

Messi equalised four minutes later, as he maintained his remarkable scoring form with his eighth goal in Europe this season.

Neymar gave Barca the lead with a spectacular long-range shot in the 42nd minute and Suarez tapped in the third in the 77th. Barcelona have won their group for eight consecutive years, while PSG went down to a first defeat in its 23rd game of the season.

It was a disjointed performance from Barca and they were hanging on before Suarez knocked in a rebound from a Neymar shot that was saved by Salvatore Sirigu.

The win put them on 15 points, two more than PSG who beat Barca in France.

Messi extended his Champions League scoring record to 75 goals and now has three more than arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Belarussian club BATE Borisov bowed out of the Champions League with a 2-0 loss to Bilbao in Group H and a record number of goals conceded in group play — 24. Porto, which had already won the group, drew 1-1 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Real Madrid, Basel, Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal qualified from the groups that finished playing on Tuesday.

AQABA — The Ayla Red Sea Half Marathon kicks off on Friday with the participation of hundreds of local, regional and international runners. The race consists of three categories: 21km, 10km and 4.2km. The starting point for the 21km race will be the Movenpick Hotel and end at Revolution Square [Al Thawra Plaza]. The 10km event will start from Ayla towards Revolution Square and the 4.2km will start from Al Farouk Street through Ayla then towards Revolution Square.

AMMAN — The Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) has launched a new process for deciding which sportsmen and women will be named Black Iris Sports Awards winners for 2014, according to a statement from the JOC.

This year the system has been tweaked to ensure that the public get to vote on the very best shortlist available.

For the first time, Jordan’s National Sports Federations have been asked to nominate the athletes that have performed best in their sports.

This part of the process will close early next week and, following that, an expert panel consisting of media representatives as well as JOC officials will consider what names will be entered onto a shortlist of three for each award.

Next year the public will be asked their opinion when the shortlists will be posted to the JOC Facebook page.

Last year, this part of the process attracted almost 150,000 votes with the campaign reaching an incredible 600,000 people online.

The awards are known as Jordan’s sports Oscars with five categories — best sportsman, sportswoman, young sportsman, young sportswoman, and Paralympic athlete of the year — recognised since 2005.

It is the only award of its kind and considered the top award in sport in the Kingdom.

MONACO — With the IOC’s new bidding process now in place, the race for the 2024 Olympics is primed to take off.

The US Olympic Committee (USOC) will make a decision next week on whether to bid and may even select a city to put forward, making a choice among Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.

“We’re not in it to come in fourth, third or second,” USOC Chairman Larry Probst said Tuesday, setting the stage for a contest that could also include Paris, Rome, Berlin or Hamburg and other cities.

The 2024 campaign is ready to move forward after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a raft of changes Monday that include a revised process designed to make bidding less expensive and more attractive to potential candidates.

The new system includes an “invitation phase” where interested countries and cities discuss their plans with the IOC in advance of bidding to tailor the project to their own needs and conditions.

“I don’t think it has much of an impact on our process,” Probst said. “I don’t think any of these reforms have a significant impact on bidding or not bidding.”

IOC President Thomas Bach said Tuesday the invitation phase will begin on January 15, eight months before the September 15 deadline for declaration of bids.

Bach said the IOC will contact all national Olympic committees interested in bidding. Meetings will be arranged in Lausanne, Switzerland, or in the potential bid cities.

“It’s not an evaluation,” Bach said. “It will be up to these potential candidate cities to raise the topics they think are worthwhile. Our delegation will listen and give them any advice.”

Bach again ruled out reopening the bidding for the 2020 Winter Games. Scared off by high costs and other factors, several cities pulled out, leaving only Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, in the running.

Canadian member Dick Pound said the former candidates should be given the chance to rejoin the race under the new bidding rules. But Bach said it would be unfair to the two remaining contenders.

“It’s like a 10,000-metre race,” Bach said. “If you pull out after five laps, you can’t expect that the race will be started again.”

One thing is already certain for 2024: The Peruvian capital of Lima beat out Helsinki on Tuesday for the right to host the IOC session in 2017 where the vote will be held.

Germany has already announced it will be bidding, with a choice between Berlin and Hamburg to be made in March. Italy is expected to announce a Rome bid on Monday. France is likely to approve a Paris bid next month.

Other potential contenders include Doha, Qatar; Istanbul, Turkey; Baku, Azerbaijan; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Budapest, Hungary; and a city or region in South Africa.

The United States hasn’t hosted the Summer Games since 1996 in Atlanta. New York made a failed bid for the 2012 Olympics, and Chicago missed out for 2016.

“That’s 28 years,” Probst said. “That’s more than a generation. That’s a long time to not have the games in the United States.”

Probst said he spoke with Bach and other IOC members in Monaco who encouraged the US to submit a 2024 bid.

“It’s more along the lines of it’s time for the US to bid and if you have a strong bid with a high-quality leadership team, good venue plan and all the other elements that are important to the membership, you have an opportunity to compete and hopefully compete successfully,” he said.

The USOC board will meet in California on December 16 to decide whether to bid after listening to presentations from all four cities. The board could decide to choose a candidate city right away or wait a month or two.

“If we decide to move forward with a bid next week, I would say within 30-60 days we would probably select a city, but we could get to that next week as well,” Probst said.

The new IOC rules allow for events to be held outside host cities and countries in exceptional cases.

“I don’t think the notion that you could have venues in two different cities is really applicable to a US bid, so I don’t think it advantages us or disadvantages us,” Probst said.

Los Angeles is seeking to host the Olympics for a third time after staging the Games in 1932 and 1984.

“I think some people think it’s a pro, some people feel it’s a con,” Probst said. “They’ve got facilities in place, they’ve done it before, but you hear some members say ‘been there, done that,’ so that’s one of the things we have to consider.”

GENEVA — Liverpool’s decline and fall from the European elite was confirmed on Tuesday, as Basel held the hosts to a 1-1 draw at Anfield to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

The five-time European champion trailed Fabian Frei’s 25th-minute strike, and had substitute Lazar Markovic sent off in the 60th, before captain Steven Gerrard’s 81st-minute free kick sparked a frantic finish.

Liverpool twice failed to beat Basel and were outclassed by Group B winner Real Madrid on returning from a five-year absence in a competition they once dominated, and twice reached the final when their inspirational captain was at his peak.

“You always qualify over the six games and unfortunately we haven’t been good enough,” Gerrard said.

Madrid completed the only perfect group-stage record of six wins after Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty started a 4-0 rout of Ludogorets Razgrad. They also set a Spanish record of 19 straight wins in all competitions.

“I know I’ve got an extraordinary team, I don’t tire from saying this,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.

Juventus advanced with typical Italian caution, drawing 0-0 at home to Atletico Madrid who topped Group A. Olympiakos beat Malmo 4-2, and is rewarded for a third-place finish by joining the last 32 of the Europa League.

Monaco beat Zenit St. Petersburg 2-0 to win Group C, rising above Bayer Leverkusen who drew 0-0 at last-placed Benfica.

Borussia Dortmund won Group D by drawing 1-1 at home to Anderlecht. Runner-up Arsenal won 4-1 at Galatasaray.

Arsenal are a near-permanent fixture in the last 16 but will once again be unseeded in the draw next Monday where Madrid and Bayern Munich are potential opponents.

Liverpool are heading to the Europa League draw, also Monday, after completing their group programme with just a single win — and that due to a stoppage-time penalty against Ludogorets.

Another stoppage-time winner Tuesday would have sent Anfield into raptures but defender Martin Skrtel, playing as an emergency forward, poked a shot just wide of Basel’s right-hand post.

Switzerland’s champion extended their impressive record against English clubs, three years after they beat Manchester United in a decisive group match and 12 years after getting a last-day draw they needed to oust Liverpool.

Basel deservedly led through Frei’s neat, left-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area and was helped in the second half when Markovic’s raised right-arm was judged have struck chasing defender Behrang Safari in the face.

Defending champion Madrid took advantage of Ludogorets forward Marcelinho being sent off for handball which allowed Ronaldo to score from the penalty spot in the 20th minute. His 72nd career Champions League goal trails Lionel Messi by two.

Gareth Bale headed a second in the 38th minute, and a mismatch ended with late goals from Alvaro Arbeloa and Alvaro Medran.

Juventus could be Italy’s only representative in the last 16 while Monaco gave resurgent France a second, joining Paris Saint-Germain which plays Barcelona on Wednesday.

“In August, Monaco was considered the weakest team of the group by everybody, even in France,” Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim said.

Needing a draw to advance, a Monaco team which let superstar Colombia forwards Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez leave in the offseason doubled their goal tally in the competition.

Defenders got both goals in Monte Carlo, with centre-back Aymen Abdennour scoring in the 63rd minute and full-back Fabinho in the 89th as Zenit pressed for goals. The Russian club now switches to the Europa League.

Olympiakos were twice pegged back by visiting Malmo before Kostas Mitroglou and Ibrahim Afellay scored in the closing minutes to secure a 4-2 win.

Arsenal threatened to humiliate Galatasaray after an opening goal from Lukas Podolski and two more from Aaron Ramsey earned a 3-0 lead within 29 minutes. Ramsey’s second was a stunning left-footed, half-volley from distance.

Netherlands veteran Wesley Sneijder scored late for the Istanbul club, before Podolski got his second in stoppage time.

Dortmund needed a point to clinch the group and earned it through Ciro Immobile’s 58th-minute goal. Aleksandar Mitrovic levelled in the 84th minute for Anderlecht, who goes to the Europa League.

The last two places in the knockout stage are still up for grabs.

MADRID — Barcelona host Paris St Germain for Wednesday’s Champions League Group F showdown on something of a high after securing a seventh straight victory in all competitions on Sunday, according to forward Pedro.

Barca appear to have put consecutive La Liga defeats just over a month ago to Real Madrid and Celta Vigo behind them and Pedro came off the bench to score in Sunday’s 5-1 romp at home to city rivals Espanyol in the Spanish top flight.

Wednesday’s clash at the Nou Camp will decide which of Barca or PSG finishes first in the group and avoids a fellow pool winner in next week’s draw for the last 16, with both sides already assured of their place in the knockout round.

With one match to play, PSG lead on 13 points thanks to their 3-2 victory against Barca in Paris in September. Barca have 12 in second, with Ajax Amsterdam on two points and APOEL Nicosia on one.

“We are confident and on a positive run,” Pedro told Barca TV after Sunday’s match. “We have played well against teams like Valencia, Espanyol, rivals who are on good form.

“It [the PSG game] is going to be very tough, we know their potential and what it’s going to cost us. But we are counting on our fans and on our good rhythm and the confidence we are bringing.”

Pedro, a World Cup and European Championship winner with Spain, has had limited playing time this season following the arrival of Uruguay forward
Luis Suarez.

Suarez opened his Barca account in the 4-0 win at APOEL last month but has yet to score in La Liga in six appearances and was replaced by Pedro with around 20 minutes left on Sunday.

Pedro said competing with Barca’s formidable forward line of Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar was a big challenge.

“Competing with the trident is tough but I have to make the best of it,” added the 27-year-old.

“What I am trying to do is learn from them, improve every day and help my teammates as best I can.

“I have always have talented teammates here at Barca and that means you have to perform at a high level.”

Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger could make his first start of the season against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday as the Bavarians struggle with a long injury list having already secured top spot in Group E.

The 30-year-old playmaker only recently made a comeback after a four-month break due to a knee injury and has played less than 45 minutes in four substitute appearances so far.

Bayern are top on 12 points and coach Pep Guardiola could give Schweinsteiger his first start this term with defender Medhi Benatia suspended and half a dozen other absences.

Schweinsteiger’s return offers more options in the holding midfield position and, with Xabi Alonso having played 15 consecutive games since joining this season from Real Madrid, Guardiola could give the Spaniard a rest.

Winger Franck Ribery, who was also injured earlier in the campaign, looks to be back to his very best, having scored his 100th goal for the Bavarians in their home win over Leverkusen.

With CSKA keeper Igor Akinfeev having conceded at least a goal in each of his past 26 Champions League matches, Frenchman Ribery could add to his Bayern goal tally.

The Russians have a mountain to climb to reach the knockout stage for the third time. With five points from five games, they need a win in Munich and must hope Manchester City do not lose at AS Roma in the other group game to reach the last 16.

CSKA, who have never beaten a German team in Germany, will need to be at their very best with Bayern having conceded only three goals in 14 league games this season.

The calculators will be out in force as AS Roma and Manchester City clash for a place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday with outsiders CSKA Moscow lurking in the background.

The head-to-head rule which UEFA use to separate teams who are level on points means that all sorts of complex connotations are possible as the three sides bid to follow runaway Group E leaders Bayern Munich into the next round.

Manchester City have never won a competitive match in Italy in four previous attempts and, even if they break that taboo, could still suffer another premature group stage exit.

Roma’s fate is in their own hands as a win will be enough for them while a draw, paradoxically, could send either themselves or City through, depending on CSKA’s performance.

“City are obliged to win. They have all the pressure. Not Roma. City are in the same period that Chelsea used to be before they won it. It becomes complex until you win the trophy,” Roma’s Ivorian striker Gervinho told British media.

Roma, City and CSKA all have five points from five games after mediocre campaigns in a group dominated by Bayern.

A win for Roma, still in the hunt despite losing 7-1 at home to the Bavarians, will guarantee them a second place finish, even if CSKA also win, as the Serie A side would have the better head-to-head record against the Russians.

CSKA can only qualify if they win in Munich and Roma fail to beat City while City will qualify if they win and CSKA do not.

The rule fun begins if Roma and City draw. If CSKA also draw, Roma would go through, and if the Russians lose, it would come down to the head-to-head record between the Serie A and English side. A goalless draw would favour Roma and a score draw would do for City.

City have gone out in the group stage twice in three attempts and their task has been made even harder after their leading scorer Sergio Aguero was injured against Everton on Saturday.

AMMAN – The national team’s head coach on Tuesday called up Amer Shafie back into the line-up for the Asian Football Confederation’s 2015 Asian Cup in Australia. 

"I sat with Shafie and explained the situation to him. After sitting with him I was convinced that he is capable of coming back into the squad. I fully respect that he is a fantastic goalkeeper," the head coach Raymond Wilkins told reporters during a press conference at the Jordan Football Association (JFA) headquarters. 

Wilkins announced the national team's 23-strong official list of players that excluded the team's former captain Amer Theeb, as well as Thaer Bawab and Hassan Abdul Fatah.

The head coach attributed Theeb’s exclusion to the player’s limited time on the field due to injury. 

"The one person that I am leaving out of the squad that I really lost a lot of sleepover is Theeb. This was the biggest decision I had to make. He is one of the most professional men I have ever met in my career. Also, in the Arab states he has a lot of respect," he added.

Wilkins said he had a wide range of older and younger players, but that he decided to go with the younger players "because the energy they would bring to Australia is important".

Wilkins said he and  the JFA decided to cancel a training camp that was supposed to be held in Dubai and opted to train in Amman. 

However, the team will travel to Dubai to play Uzbekistan in a friendly match in preparation for the contest.

The Kingdom reached the tournament's quarter-finals on two occasions and the Englishman voiced hope that they would go further than that. 

Jordan plays in
Group D and take on Japan, Iraq and Palestine.

SYDNEY — Asian champions Western Sydney Wanderers left for the Club World Cup (CWC) in Morocco as scheduled on Sunday night but their pay dispute remains unresolved and the threat of a boycott still hangs over the trip.

Wanderers players are still considering whether to participate in the FIFA tournament because the club have refused to negotiate over what they believe to be a “fair and equitable share” of the prize money.

“The players took the decision that they would get on the plane as a sign of good faith,” a spokesman for the players’ union (PFA) told Reuters on Monday.

“They are hoping that will encourage the club into meaningful negotiations but there is still the option of a boycott.”

The tournament, which also involves Real Madrid, San Lorenzo, Cruz Azul, ES Setif, Auckland City and hosts Mohgreb Tetouan, was not part of the collective bargaining agreement signed by players and club at the start of the season.

The club have offered 10 per cent of the minimum of $1 million they will make from the tournament and have “flatly rejected” all counterbids from the players, the PFA spokesman added.

The club later released a statement saying that 10 per cent was an appearance fee and not the limit of the bonuses from the tournament, which could rise to A$3 million ($2.49 million) in the unlikely event the club lifted the trophy on December 20.

“The Western Sydney Wanderers maintain that all residual amounts from the CWC will be used for the purposes of enhancing and improving current training and player facilities, as well as junior academy, community, indigenous and women’s programmes,” the statement added.

“The club’s obligations extend further than focusing on the today and ignoring the tomorrow in all facets of the club and its responsibility to the Western Sydney region.”

Wanderers qualified for the CWC after winning the Asian Champions League (ACL) last month and the players see revenue derived from it as part of the “winnings” from the ACL, to which they are entitled to 50 per cent.

The club statement said the players earned bonuses totalling $789,450 from the ACL.

Wanderers, who are bottom of the domestic A-League with no wins in their first nine matches, are scheduled to play Mexico’s Cruz Azul in Rabat on Saturday with the prize of a semifinal meeting with Real Madrid on the line.

BERNE — Five knockout stage places are up for grabs in the Champions League this week, offering enough late drama to stop the final round of group matches from turning into a damp squib.

Eleven teams are already through from a group stage which has produced too many one-sided matches for comfort.

Only half of the matches involve teams playing for a place in the last 16 while the remainder will decide who wins each group, gaining a theoretical advantage for the draw, or qualifies for the Europa League.

Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris St Germain, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk have already qualified by securing a top-two finish in the four-team groups.

Italian pair Juventus and AS Roma and English Premiership duo Manchester City and Liverpool are among 11 sides battling to join them and Roma’s match at home to Manchester City on Wednesday is the highlight.

Roma, City and CSKA Moscow all have five points in Group E, but the head-to-head system favours Roma who need a win to qualify, or a draw if CSKA fail to beat runaway leaders Bayern.

Such a scenario barely looked likely when Roma lost 7-1 at home to Bayern, but City’s defeat at home to CSKA has thrown the race wide open.

English champions City need to win and hope CSKA do not beat Bayern while the Russians can only qualify if they win and Roma do not beat City.

The situation is simpler in Group B where Liverpool have reached last chance saloon in the Champions League and only victory against Swiss champions FC Basel on Tuesday will spare them being left out in the cold.

Third in Group B, level on four points with Bulgarian side Ludogorets, Liverpool are two points behind Basel and 11 points adrift of unbeaten group winners Real Madrid and have no more wriggle room after a disappointing campaign so far.

After a four-year absence Liverpool’s return to a tournament in which they have such a rich history has been an anti-climax but a first victory since September would see them snatch a last 16 spot at the expense of the Swiss side.

Basel, who beat Liverpool 1-0 in October, need just a draw.

While Liverpool would have hoped to have performed better — their only win so far was a narrow one against Ludogorets at home — the stage is set for one of Anfield’s special nights.

“We will get great support and there will be energy,” Rodgers, whose side suffered a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland on Saturday, told the Liverpool Echo.

“I remember against Zenit St Petersburg [in 2013] we needed to win by two goals and went 1-0 down early on which meant we had to win by three. We then came back to win the game 3-1.

“We could not muster that last goal. But it showed then that the support and the players coming together can be a real force. I am looking at that as being a big advantage for us. I am really looking forward to the atmosphere.”

“For us, we could not have wanted any more than to go to Anfield on Tuesday night needing to win the game to get qualified. It’s perfect,” he added.

Basel’s win against the Reds in October was their fourth in succession against English opposition in the competition and the Swiss Champions have lost just one of their last nine meetings with English sides.

After Basel succumbed to a spirited 1-0 home defeat against holders Madrid last month, the Spanish side’s manager Carlo Ancelotti told reporters: “I believe Basel is currently better than Liverpool.

“Basel’s players are fit and the team is motivated, I think Basel has a small advantage over Liverpool.”

Basel manager Paulo Sousa, who was replaced by Rodgers as Swansea City manager in 2010, told reporters that his side hold a slight advantage over Liverpool, virtue of their performance against the Spanish giants.

“I think Ancelotti is right, as we were the team that caused Real Madrid with the most difficulties in this Champions League group so far,” he said.

In Group C, Monaco need a draw at home to Zenit St Petersburg to follow Bayer Leverkusen through, while the Russians need a win.

If the game ends goalless, Monaco will qualify despite having scored only two goals in six games, one less than the previous low set by AS Roma in 2002/03 and Villarreal in 2005/06.

Serie A champions Juventus need a point at home to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday to avoid a repeat of last season’s failure to make it beyond the group stage.

If they lose and Olympiakos beat Malmo at home, the Greek champions would qualify instead.

The final place at stake is in Group G where a draw at Chelsea will be enough for Sporting Lisbon if German rivals Schalke 04 fail to win in Maribor.

The Bundesliga side, thrashed 5-0 at home by Chelsea in their previous match, must beat the Slovenian champions and hope Sporting lose.

The draw for the Round of 16 is on December 15 where the eight group winners will be seeded. They could find Barcelona lurking in pot two if the Catalans fail to beat Paris St Germain at home in Wednesday’s heavyweight clash and finish second in
Group F.

The scoring race between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will continue to provide a distraction.

Barcelona’s Messi reached a Champions League record of 74 goals in their last game while Real Madrid’s Ronaldo has 71 and will see the game at home to eliminated Ludogorets Razgrad as a chance to close the gap.

The United States drew seemingly the most difficult group for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, with an opener against familiar foe Australia, a match with Sweden and former American coach Pia Sundhage and a first-round finale against perennial African champion Nigeria.

Seeking its third title but first since 1999, the top-ranked US will start Group D against 10th-ranked Australia on June 8
in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The match against No. 5 Sweden and Sundhage on June 12 brings the most intrigue, along with FIFA’s insistence on playing on artificial turf instead of grass.

Sundhage coached the US at the 2011 World Cup in Germany, where the Americans lost the final to Japan 3-1 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw. She was hired as coach of her native Sweden after the 2012 London Olympics, where she led the Americans to their third straight gold medal, including two under her watch.

Jill Ellis took over as interim US coach following Sundhage’s departure and became head coach this year after the surprising dismissal of Sundhage’s replacement, Tom Sermanni.

“As far as playing Pia — we had a little giggle about it this morning that we would be in the same group and it turned out to be prophetic,” Ellis, a former assistant to Sundhage, said during a conference call. “For me, it’s actually easier playing a friend. I have tremendous respect for her. I just know it’s going to be a great game, and we’re both going to prepare our teams the best we can and let them duel it out.”

The US women are making their seventh World Cup appearance. The team won the inaugural tournament in 1991, added its second title in 1999 but has struggled since with a pair of third-place finishes and runner-up.

Featuring an expanded field of 24 teams, next year’s World Cup will be played in six Canadian cities from June 6 through July 5. The field includes eight teams making their World Cup debuts.

Under the new format, the top two nations in each of six groups advance to the Round of 16 along with the top four third-place teams.

After the matches against the Matildas and Sweden in Winnipeg, the United States travels to Vancouver, British Columbia, to face Nigeria on June 16. No other group includes two teams ranked among the top five in the world.

“I think it’s going to be a physically challenging group, and I certainly think our depth is going to come into play for us again,” Ellis said. “We’ve played Sweden and Australia many times, and I know we’ve played Nigeria in the World Cup, but they’re all presenting slightly different challenges.”

If the Americans win their group, they would play a third-place team from Group B, E or F on June 22 in Edmonton, then be in position to go to Ottawa for a quarter-final four days later and a semifinal in Montreal on June 30.

The World Cup will be played on artificial turf, which FIFA has never condoned at the men’s World Cup.

A group of players, including US forward Abby Wambach and German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer, brought a discrimination claim against FIFA and the Canadian Football Association before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. There is no timetable for a decision.

At a news conference before the draw, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke was adamant that the event would go on as planned, dismissing claims that playing on an artificial surface amounts to gender discrimination.

Valcke said FIFA is advancing the women’s World Cup with increased prize money — to $15 million — and the use of goal-line technology, which was used in the men’s World Cup this year in Brazil.

Players say artificial turf can cause injuries and changes the way the game is played because it can affect ball movement. But they also claim that playing on fake grass amounts to discrimination because FIFA has always insisted on grass for the men’s tournament. At the 1994 World Cup, grass was installed for the men at Giants Stadium in New Jersey and the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan, where artificial turf was used by the local NFL teams.

FIFA and the CSA say the artificial turf is FIFA-approved for top international competitions. Host Canada has stipulated all along it planned to play the tournament matches on turf. Canada, along with the United States, Germany, defending champion Japan, Brazil and France, were seeded and all placed in separate groups so as not to meet in the initial stage.

The eighth-ranked Canadians topped Group A and will face No. 14 China in their opening match on June 6 in Edmonton, Alberta. The group includes No. 19 New Zealand and No. 15 Netherlands, playing in its first World Cup.

Second-ranked Germany, which won the title in 2003 and 2007, is in Group B and opens against Ivory Coast on June 7 in Ottawa, Ontario. Ninth-ranked Norway and Thailand round out the group.

Japan leads Group C, which will open against Switzerland in Vancouver on June 6. Cameroon and Ecuador, both making women’s World Cup debuts, also are in the group.

Sixth-ranked Brazil and veteran Marta, seeking a first World Cup title, join South Korea, Spain and Costa Rica in Group E. The Brazilians meet South Korea in the opening match on June 6 in Montreal.

The final group was led by No. 4 France, playing in its third World Cup, along with No. 7 England, Colombia and Mexico, with an intriguing opener between England and France in Moncton, New Brunswick, on June 9.

The draw was held Saturday at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec.

The US team was in Brazil on Saturday to prepare for the International Tournament of Brasilia, a four-team competition at the National Stadium Mane Garrincha. The Americans face China on December 10, Brazil four days later and Argentina on December 17.

The championship and third-place game is December 21.