Sports

AMMAN  — Jordan hosts Australia on Thursday in its fourth match in Group B qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup.

The 6pm match at King Abdullah Stadium is vital for both teams. Australia currently leads the group with nine points from three wins while Jordan is second after it beat world 129th ranked Taiwan 2-1, world’s 161st ranked Nepal 3-0 and held Kuwait 0-0.

So far, Australia beat Nepal 5-0, Kuwait 3-0 and Taiwan 7-1. Kuwait beat Nepal 7-0, while Nepal beat Taiwan 2-0.

Following the match against Australia, Jordan will host Taiwan on November 19. The qualifiers will then halt until March 31, 2020 when Jordan plays Kuwait before facing Nepal on June 4 and Australia on June 9. The top team from each of the eight groups and four second place finishers will move to the 2023 Asian Cup finals and Round 3 of World Cup qualifiers.

In five head- to- head encounters, Jordan beat their guests three times. In latest FIFA World Rankings, the Australians are 44th and 4th in Asia, while Jordan remained at 98th and 16th in the continent lagging behind relatively uncompetitive Asian teams compared to their best FIFA Ranking of 37th in August of 2004.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reached the Asian Cup finals four times. The highlight was at the 13th Asian Cup in 2004, when it lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA ranking of 37th. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011 and 2015 and 2019. In the last edition of the Asian Cup Jordan reached the Round of 16.

On the world scene, the national team’s peak performance was in 2013 when Jordan was on the verge of qualifying to the 2014 World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie. The Kingdom had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since first taking part in qualifiers. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times since 1986 qualifiers. 

In 2019, Jordan finished runner-up to Bahrain at the 9th West Asian Championship . It was the fourth time for Jordan in the final after 2002, 2008 and 2014.  Iran won the title for the fourth time in 2008. Iraq won the title in 2002, Kuwait in 2010, Syria in 2012, Qatar in 2014 and Bahrain in 2019. 

LONDON — Raheem Sterling said he allowed his “emotions” to get the better of him leading to a brief altercation with Liverpool’s Joe Gomez that resulted in Manchester City player being dropped for Thursday’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro.

Sterling admitted on Instagram on Tuesday he and Gomez “had words” when they met up at the England camp the day after Liverpool’s 3-1 win over defending champions Manchester City, which left the latter nine points adrift of Jurgen Klopp’s side.

“Both Joe and I have had words and figured things out and moved on,” Sterling said.

“We are in a sport where emotions run high and I am man enough to admit when emotions got the better of me.

“This is why we play this sport because of our love for it — me and Joe Gomez are good, we both understand it was a five to 10-second thing... it’s done, we move forward and not make this bigger than it is.

“Let’s get focus on our game on Thursday,” Sterling added.

The Daily Mail reported that Gomez and Sterling had to be separated by teammates on Monday after a “physical confrontation”.

The pair had also clashed on the field towards the end of Sunday’s match.

England manager Gareth Southgate moved quickly to deal with the issue — arguably one of his achievements during his time in the post has been to erase the rivalries between members from different clubs which plagued previous England squads.

The likes of former star defender Rio Ferdinand have spoken about how when they used to join the England camp he and Manchester United players would stick together and find it hard to mix with Chelsea or Liverpool stars. 

In a statement prior to Sterling’s Instagram post issued by the Football Association, Southgate alluded to that.

“We have taken the decision to not consider Raheem for the match against Montenegro on Thursday.

“One of the great challenges and strengths for us is that we’ve been able to separate club rivalries from the national team. Unfortunately the emotions of yesterday’s game were still raw.

“My feeling is that the right thing for the team is the action we have taken. Now that the decision has been made with the agreement of the entire squad, it’s important that we support the players and focus on Thursday night.”

Sterling has been one of the stars of England’s qualification campaign, scoring eight goals in six games.

A draw against Montenegro at Wembley will be enough to guarantee England’s place at Euro 2020.

Sterling has enjoyed a makeover in his image in the past year with less biting observations of his bling-bling image in the press and more positive headlines regarding his public stance against racism.

Six Chelsea fans were banned — one for life — after racially abusing him during a league game last season and along with England team-mates he also suffered abuse in their Euro qualifiers against Bulgaria and Montenegro.

The 24-year-old silenced the critics over having a rifle tattooed on his leg by revealing it was his pledge never to touch a gun following his father being shot dead in Jamaica in front of his own father when the star was just two.

He has been hailed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan for his campaigning against racism.

“I’d go as far to say he’s the best statesman we have [for fighting racism],” Khan said in September.

AMMAN — The U-19 national team suffered an early exit in Group E Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifiers which were held in Manama, Bahrain.

Jordan had a relatively easy group and hoped to qualify. However, after its opening 3-0 win over Bhutan, Jordan was held 1-1 by Bangladesh before tying host Bahrain by the same score.

The Kingdom finished second in its group but failed to move on to the championship, which will be held in October 2020. The qualifiers include 46 teams playing in 11 groups with the top team from each group and top four second placed teams advancing to the championship. They so far include Qatar, Tajikistan, Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Australia, South Korea, Japan.

Indonesia. Yemen, Uzbekistan, Laos and Vietnam qualified as best second-placed teams.

Leading non-qualifiers include North Korea, China and Thailand. Among Arab teams Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen qualified while the UAE, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan was eliminated. Palestine will play its matches as of November 22. 

Team officials had hoped to continue the positive results Jordan had in previous U-19 events. However, finishing third at the West Asian Championship was an early sign the team was not in its best form.

Previously Jordan played at the AFC U-19 Championship five times with the best performance when it finished fourth in 2006 and advanced to the FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada in 2007. Jordan exited the first round in 2008 and 2010 and 2018 and reached the quarters in 2012. This was the third time Jordan failed to qualify after the 2014 and 2016.

U-23 Olympic squad leaves for Dubai

The U-23 Olympic team, which is preparing for the 4th AFC U-23 Championship, left for Dubai to play at the Dubai International Tourney, which comes amid preparations for the Asian Championship, a qualifying tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Jordan topped Group E qualifiers to advance to the AFC Championship which will be played January 8-26, 2020 in Thailand.

In 2018, the U-23 men’s team was knocked out of Round 1 of the 3rd AFC U-23 Championship. In 2016, they reached the quarter-finals and in 2014 they finished third. 

In U-16 events, Jordan was eliminated in Group A qualifiers and failed to qualify to the U-16 AFC Championship. Held once every two years, the competition serves as a qualifier for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Last year, Jordan bowed out of the Round 1 of the AFC U-16 Championship.

The U-16 women’s squad was also eliminated from Group A qualifiers for the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship. Similarly, the women’s U-19 team was eliminated from Round 1 qualifiers for the AFC Championship.

MADRID — Lionel Messi delivered an incredible dead-ball hat-trick on Saturday to steer Barcelona to a 4-1 victory over Celta Vigo and ease the pressure on his coach Ernesto Valverde.

Messi scored with a penalty and then a pair of sumptuous free-kicks either side of half-time after Lucas Olaza had briefly pulled Celta level with a free-kick of his own at Camp Nou. Sergio Busquets drove home to make sure of the win late on.

A 34th treble in La Liga puts Messi equal with Cristiano Ronaldo, while a much-needed win sends Barca above Real Madrid on goal difference and back to the top of the table at the end of a testing week.

“It is impossible not to depend on Messi, he illuminates everything,” said Valverde. “We depend on him like any team would depend on him. He unlocked the game.”

Madrid had briefly claimed first place after continuing their own goal-surge by hammering Eibar 4-0, a game in which Karim Benzema scored twice and Eden Hazard exploded into life.

But while Madrid appear to be hitting their stride, Barcelona’s momentum had stalled. After losing to Levante and failing to break down Slavia Prague in the Champions League, scrutiny had again turned on Valverde and his future as Barcelona coach.

Barcelona’s disgruntled fans had whistled their team against Slavia in midweek and when Olaza equalised for Celta, that tension and restlessness threatened to return.

Instead, Messi took command, this hat-trick taking his tally to nine goals in seven games, 612 in total for his club.

“Obviously when it’s tight we have the advantage of having the best player in the world and the best free-kick taker in the world,” said Busquets.

Yet, his precision from free-kicks is a skill the 32-year-old has worked on and improved in recent years, his conversion rate currently at four goals from his last seven attempts in the league.

The last time a player scored a hat-trick from set-pieces in La Liga was when Messi himself achieved the same feat in 2012 against Espanyol, albeit with two penalties and one free-kick.

There was good news for Barcelona too in the return of Luis Suarez, who came off the bench after recovering from a calf strain.

Messi scored his penalty in the 23rd minute after Joseph Aidoo had blocked Nelson Semedo’s cross with his hand.

It was Messi that conceded the foul for Olaza’s curling free-kick that was well-hit enough to beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen, even if the goalkeeper might have been disappointed not to be able to get across.

There was little Celta keeper Ruben Blanco could do about Messi’s efforts, the first in stoppage time before the interval and the second three minutes after the restart.

They were almost carbon copies of each other, bending over the wall and nestling in the top right-hand corner.

Celta, under their new coach Oscar Garcia, never looked like mounting a comeback and Busquets put the result beyond doubt with a low shot five minutes from the finish.

Real’s players might have been watching on their way home from Ipurua, where they went three up inside 29 minutes, Sergio Ramos scoring a penalty between two Benzema strikes, the second also a spot-kick after Ramos delegated to his teammate. Fede Valverde added a fourth in the second half.

Benzema’s double takes him to 157 goals for Real Madrid, above Ferenc Puskas into sixth in the club’s all-time list, but his excellent display was trumped by a creative masterclass from Hazard. 

“His first half was very impressive,” said coach Zinedine Zidane. “We are happy and he will be a huge player for Madrid, for sure.”

Hazard’s vintage performance

Benzema latched onto Hazard’s pass in the 17th minute and after Valverde and Luka Modric missed, the ball spilled back to the Frenchman, who found the corner from an acute angle.

Three minutes later it was two, Hazard the creator again, his feet too quick for Pablo De Blasis, who caught his opponent’s right leg. Ramos slid the penalty home.

Hazard sparkled, with a brilliant nutmeg, a “rabona” cross and too many glides past defenders to count.

Ramos passed on the second Madrid penalty, awarded for a foul on Lucas Vazquez, to allow Benzema to make it three before Valverde had added a fourth, cracking in Modric’s pass for his first goal in La Liga.

LIVERPOOL — Liverpool have lived through many false dawns in the 29 years since last lifting a league title, but the class of 2019/20 have the chance to prove they are the real deal when reigning champions Manchester City visit Anfield on Sunday.

City’s relentless hunger to push the bar to new heights under Pep Guardiola has kept Liverpool waiting.

Despite posting the third highest points tally in English top flight history last season with 97, Liverpool lost out by a solitary point as City backed up their 100-point campaign with 98 to retain the title.

Beset by defensive injuries, those standards have slipped slightly at the start of this season, allowing Jurgen Klopp’s men to open up a six-point lead ahead of Sunday’s battle between the top two.

“Last season we won the Premier League [against] the best contender I ever faced in my career,” said Guardiola on Friday.

“Right now Liverpool are the strongest team in the world. Playing at Anfield, we know what it means for them and for all their rivals.”

Revitalised since Klopp took charge four years ago, Liverpool have not lost a home game in the Premier League since April 2017.

Their solitary defeat in the last 50 league games on any ground came away to City in January in a titanic tussle that ultimately decided the title race.

The consistency of both sides has seen this fixture become English football’s biggest game in recent seasons.

In 2017/18 it was Liverpool who ended City’s quest for an unbeaten league season and thrashed Guardiola’s men 5-1 on aggregate in an ill-tempered Champions League quarter-final.

“It’s getting bigger and bigger,” said Klopp.

“Man City is a pretty good football team. Thank God there is a rivalry because that means we are not in bad place as well.”

While City have suffered shock defeats to Norwich and Wolves in the first 11 games of the season, Liverpool have had the air of champions in recent weeks with their ability to fight to the end for their rewards.

Late goals against Leicester, Tottenham, Manchester United and Aston Villa have earned Klopp’s men an extra eight points in the past month alone.

Now they have the perfect opportunity to press home their advantage against a City side further weakened at the back by an injury to goalkeeper Ederson.

The erratic Claudio Bravo, who was sent-off for a characteristic charge from his goal against Atalanta in the Champions League in midweek, will start a Premier League game for the first time since May 2018.

A longer term injury to Aymeric Laporte has already destabilised City’s title defence with midfielder Fernandinho forced to deputise at centre-back, while left-back Benjamin Mendy is still to find his best form after two injury plagued seasons.

“It’s a big game, two really good teams face each other. The best news is it’s at Anfield,” added Klopp.

Guardiola insisted all will not be lost in the case of his fourth defeat in five visits to Anfield as City boss, but knows how much of a mountain it would leave his side to climb.

“It never ends in November,” said the Catalan.

“It will be more difficult when you see a team like Liverpool, who lost once last season and is unbeaten this season.

“So you can imagine that they are not going to lose many games but the season is long, and a lot of situations can happen.”

By Kieran Canning

PARIS — Douglas Costa scored a dramatic injury-time winner to send Juventus into the Champions League knockout stages after a 2-1 win at Lokomotiv Moscow on Wednesday, while Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich joined the Italian champions in the last 16.

Mauro Icardi’s first-half goal was enough for PSG to edge past Club Brugge 1-0 at the Parc des Princes, as Bayern laboured to a 2-0 victory over Olympiakos.

Manchester City missed the chance to progress from Group C after a dramatic 1-1 draw at Atalanta which saw right-back Kyle Walker end the game in goal.

Juventus knew three points in Russia would be enough to secure their passage to the knockout rounds, and took a fourth-minute lead through Aaron Ramsey.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick bounced in front of Lokomotiv goalkeeper Guilherme, who inexplicably allowed the ball to squirm through his legs, with Ramsey prodding in from on the goalline.

Aleksei Miranchuk quickly levelled for the hosts by tapping in the rebound after his own header had struck the post, with Maurizio Sarri’s Juve then struggling to break their hosts down.

But Brazilian winger Costa came off the bench and netted a magnificent 93rd-minute winner, slipping the ball through the hapless Guilherme’s legs after a mazy run.

“He [Costa] is returning to top condition after an injury but he has enough quality to play anywhere on the pitch,” said Juve coach Sarri.

PSG reached the last 16 for the eighth straight season, but a nervy display against Brugge will not have boosted hopes of the French champions making the semis for the first time since 1995.

Icardi swept Thomas Tuchel’s men into the lead midway through the first half with his eighth goal since joining on loan from Inter Milan.

But Belgian outfit Brugge should have grabbed a late equaliser, only for Mbaye Diagne to see his penalty saved by PSG ‘keeper Keylor Navas.

“It is logical we are annoyed after a game where I think we deserved something but you still end up empty-handed,” said Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

Managerless Bayern Munich had earlier become the first side to go through, as late goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ivan Perisic ended Olympiakos’ resistance at the Allianz Arena.

“I’m very happy with the performance, we’re into the last 16 and that’s what counts,” said Hansi Flick, who took over as interim coach after Niko Kovac was sacked on Sunday.

Bayern lead Tottenham at the top of Group B by five points, after last season’s runners-up thrashed Red Star Belgrade 4-0 in Serbia.

Son Heung-min scored twice just three days after being left devastated by his tackle which caused a horrific injury for Everton’s Andre Gomes, with Giovani Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen also finding the net.

Premier League champions Man City were made to wait after Atalanta’s second-half fightback at the San Siro.

Raheem Sterling, who scored a hat-trick in City’s 5-1 victory in the reverse fixture two weeks ago, put Pep Guardiola’s men in front after only six minutes, but Gabriel Jesus dragged a dreadful penalty well wide shortly before half-time.

City goalkeeper Ederson was replaced by Claudio Bravo at the break as a precaution ahead of their crucial Sunday clash at Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Chilean Bravo saw Mario Pasalic’s header fly past him in the 49th minute, but worse was to come when he was sent off with nine minutes remaining for hacking down Josip Ilicic.

Walker was brought on to play as ‘keeper, and despite almost fumbling Ruslan Malinovsky’s effort from the resulting free-kick into his own net, helped City secure a point.

“I say again, thank you Kyle because it is not easy to take this responsibility to go on and be a goalkeeper and save the free-kick,” said City full-back Benjamin Mendy.

Atletico Madrid also missed out on booking a last-16 place as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

A bizarre Thomas Partey own goal and Kevin Volland’s second-half strike kept the Germans in contention to finish second behind Juventus in Group D despite Alvaro Morata’s late consolation.

Shakhtar Donetsk snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at Dinamo Zagreb thanks to two injury-time goals, including a 98th-minute penalty from Tete.

Those two teams remain level on five points in Group C behind Man City, but Shakhtar are second due to having scored more away goals in their head-to-head matches.

BARCELONA — Ernesto Valverde admitted Barcelona are in a rut after they followed up their La Liga defeat by Levante with a goalless draw at home to Slavia Prague on Tuesday in the Champions League. 

Lionel Messi hit the crossbar in the first half, but that was as close as Barca came during a disjointed display that risks dragging Valverde’s team back into the fight for qualification from Group F. 

“The other day we lost against Levante and we know this was not one of our best games either,” Valverde said. “We haven’t been convincing either on Saturday or today and we know there is a lot of pressure now on the team. We have to respond.” 

Barcelona play Dortmund at home next and will hope progress is secured before their final game against Inter Milan at the San Siro. 

The likelihood is they have already done enough to make the last 16, but Valverde will face scrutiny, this blunt performance coming only three days after his side were beaten 3-1 by Levante in La Liga. 

If that loss was defined by three goals conceded in seven mad minutes, this one was far less dramatic, a story of stodgy possession in front of their own fans, whose displeasure made for an increasingly sour atmosphere at Camp Nou. 

As a dejected Messi stood with his hands on his hips in the centre circle at the final whistle, not even the blast of the stadium music could drown out the whistles. 

“In football today and with teams like ours, it is all about winning and winning emphatically,” Valverde said. “It is never enough. The season begins and there isn’t talk of winning a title, there is talk of winning three or four. So the frustration when you don’t win a game is high.”

Slavia’s players saluted their own supporters like they had pulled off a remarkable upset.

After all, this was only the third time in 29 Champions League matches that Barcelona have failed to win at home, the other two against Juventus and Tottenham last season, when the Catalans had already qualified. 

Their night was made worse by Jordi Alba being forced off at half-time with a hamstring injury while Gerard Pique’s yellow card means he will be suspended for the game against Dortmund. 

“I would ask for a little patience,” added Pique. “We are not playing at the level we expect. We have to improve.”

Slavia’s pace in attack caused Barcelona problems in the first 45 minutes, which for the home side was illuminated only by the occasional moment from Messi. 

Clement Lenglet almost conceded an early penalty when Marc-Andre ter Stegen pushed a pull-back into the defender’s chest, while Pique accepted his booking after being robbed of the ball by Peter Olayinka. 

Olayinka, Slavia’s gangly forward, was particularly lively as he teed up Lukas Masopust for a shot inside the area before skipping away from Nelson Semedo, who also had to take a yellow card. 

Barcelona were sloppy in possession and lacklustre out of it. Ousmane Dembele was erratic and Antoine Griezmann, still playing on the left despite Luis Suarez’s injury, was quiet. 

It was up to Messi to lift the mood and he almost scored with a brilliant run from the halfway line that began with a drop of the shoulder and ended with a bending shot against the crossbar. 

Both sides had goals ruled out for offside either of half-time, which was greeted by whistles from the home fans, who grew increasingly restless as Barca failed to improve.