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MOSCOW — Russia launched the World Cup in emphatic style on Thursday when it outclassed Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the tournament's opening match to end a nine-month winless run and give the host nation's team and fans the lift they desperately needed.

Substitute Denis Cheryshev scored twice — the first after a piece of skill that would have graced a Lionel Messi highlights reel — and the second a superb shot in stoppage time.

Yury Gazinsky had headed the World Cup's first goal after 12 minutes, Artem Dzyuba got the third a minute after coming on as a 70th-minute substitute and Aleksandr Golovin completed a memorable day by smashing in free kick with the last action of the game.

The result equalled the best-ever in a World Cup opening game — Brazil beat Mexico 5-0 in Geneva in 1954 — as Russia took full advantage of a Saudi team who is defending fell painfully short of World Cup standard, while its attack was non-existent.

Russia's fans will not care about that after enduring a wretched run of seven games without a win, but they will be aware that the Asian qualifiers look desperately ill-equipped to trouble Egypt or group favourites Uruguay, who meet tomorrow, and that there is still much to be done for the host to secure progress to the knockout stage.

Russia looked lively from the start as they poured into the vast spaces on both flanks and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring after 12 minutes as Gazinsky was totally unmarked to nod home Golovin's deep left-wing cross.

The home crowd, starved of any meaningful action for the last two years, were loving it as the red shirts poured forward with only some desperate defending preventing star striker Fyodor Smolov from adding a second.

Alan Dzagoev had been at the heart of things but had to go off after pulling a hamstring in the 23rd minute. It proved something of a fortuitous situation — if not for him — as his replacement Cheryshev doubled the lead with a mesmerising touch of skill.

Collecting a pass from Roman Zobnin on the left of the box he showed great composure to nonchalantly flick the ball inches above two prone defenders desperately sliding in, before lashing into the roof of the net.

Russia made it 3-0 in the 71st minute when Golovin chipped in a cross for giant striker Dzyuba to rise unchallenged to head in from close range.

The crowd were then treated to a fabulous finale as Cheryshev cleverly steered home the fourth with the outside of his foot before Golovin capped a great personal performance by curling his free kick beyond the wall to get the month-long Moscow party well and truly started.

Russia declared the football World Cup open at a glitzy ceremony in Moscow headlined by British pop star Robbie Williams and Russian soprano Aida Garifullina.

The 15-minute show produced by Russia's state Channel One broke from World Cup tradition, focusing on musical acts, including a performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky in front of full stands at the capital's main Luzhniki Stadium.

Iker Casillas and Russian supermodel and philanthropist Natalia Vodianova brought the World Cup trophy onto the pitch in a Louis Vuitton travel case.

Robbie Williams performed hits "Let Me Entertain You" and "Rock DJ" accompanied by dancers and freestylers.

He was joined in a duet by Garifullina, a soloist from the Vienna State Opera, who entered the pitch on a firebird, singing Williams' hit song "Angels".

MOSCOW ― FIFA members will decide on Wednesday whether the 2026 World Cup should be played in North America or return to Africa for just the second time, in Morocco.

The choice is clear — between a slick bid based on gleaming stadiums in the United States, Mexico and Canada or an ambitious attempt from Morocco based on largely unbuilt facilities.

On the eve of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, 207 FIFA member nations will cast their vote in a congress of world football’s governing body.

Morocco’s bid for 2026 was only cleared to advance to the runoff vote earlier this month, despite a FIFA evaluation report which classified the north African nation’s stadia, accommodation and transport as “high risk”.

The report left the US-Canada-Mexico bid as the clear front-runner after giving it a rating of four out of a possible five.

Morocco received only 2.7 out of five, but advanced despite red flags being raised over several critical components of the bid.

A FIFA summary of the bid task force’s findings warned that “the amount of new infrastructure required for the Morocco 2026 bid to become reality cannot be overstated”.

Referendum on Trump?

But the North American bid has been dogged by concerns that the vote could become a referendum on the popularity of US President Donald Trump.

On Monday, bid leader Carlos Cordeiro repeated a message he has hammered out again and again in recent months ― vote on us, not Trump.

“We believe strongly that this decision will be made on its merits,” Cordeiro said in a conference call with reporters. “This is not geopolitics, we’re talking about football and what is fundamentally, at the end of the day, the best interest of football and our footballing community... We’ve had no backlash.”

The US lost out to Qatar in 2022 in a vote now tarnished by corruption allegations which spelled the beginning of the end of the once all-powerful FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Critics of the Morocco bid also point to the fact that the 2026 World Cup will be the first to be expanded to 48 teams, posing a severe test for the hosts.

Fourth time lucky?

But the north Africans are still considered to be in with a genuine chance.

It has tried, and failed, four times before, in votes for the 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010 tournaments ― it lost out in the latter to South Africa, the only African nation ever to have hosted football’s global showpiece.

Morocco has the support of many European countries, attracted by its geographical proximity, and most of Africa, in line with a call from the head of the Confederation of African Football, Ahmad Ahmad.

But two English-speaking African countries, Liberia and South Africa, have defected to the North America bid.

Morocco’s bid leader Moulay Hafid Elalamy says the bid is based on the “fervour for football in the country and the entire African continent” and promises all the host cities will be less than an hour’s flight apart.

North American bid leaders countered by promising to deliver a record $11 billion profit.

Cordeiro said: “Our vision is a very simple one. We offer FIFA an unprecedented united opportunity to stage the 2026 World Cup. We believe strongly that this decision will be made on its merits.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino is believed to strongly support the North American bid because the three countries involved backed him for the presidency in 2016 when he took over after the reign of Blatter, who is being investigated in Switzerland for alleged corruption.

Although the FIFA evaluation report clearly assessed North America as the superior bid, it was not necessarily a knockout blow for Morocco.

In 2010, a FIFA evaluation committee flagged Qatar’s bid for 2022 as “a health risk for players, spectators, officials” over ferocious heat in the Gulf state in June and July.

Qatar duly won the vote in a shock result in Zurich; FIFA later moved the tournament to November and December 2022.

The corruption-tainted nature of the 2010 vote prompted FIFA to overhaul its bidding process for the World Cup.

Whereas previously the 24 members of the FIFA executive committee used to determine World Cup races, now the hosts will be decided by a vote of 207 individual FIFA member nations.

MONTREAL — Sebastian Vettel capped an emotional weekend for Ferrari with a clinical pole-to-flag win at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday to retake the lead in the Formula One world championship from Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton by a single point.

The victory was the 50th of the German’s career and left him on 121 points to Hamilton’s 120 after seven races, with the Briton coming home fifth.

In a bizarre ending to the race, and to Vettel’s consternation, the chequered flag was waved a lap early by model Winnie Harlow.

“Tell them not to wave the flag when it’s not done,” the Ferrari driver said over the radio.

The victory put Ferrari back on top in Canada for the first time since seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher claimed the last of his record seven wins on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2004.

Putting Ferrari on pole in Montreal for the first time since 2001 with a track record time, Vettel had powered into the lead and was never challenged as he charged home seven seconds clear of Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas.

It was the German’s third win of the season and second in Canada, the first coming in 2013 with Red Bull.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who dominated much of practice, turned in a mature, error-free effort to take third place and quiet the storm of criticism swirling around him following a string of errors and crashes.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo was fourth for Red Bull, and denied the fastest lap by the early flag waving which meant that did not count.

The timing of Vettel’s win could not have been better, coming on the 40th anniversary of the late Gilles Villeneuve’s victory for the Italian team in 1978 at his home Grand Prix.

“Perfect is probably a good way to describe it. It’s unbelievable. I said yesterday how much this place means to Ferrari and to have a race like we had today is unbelievable,” said Vettel.

“It’s 50 for me but after a long stretch that Ferrari didn’t win here, I saw the people around and they were super happy.”

‘Boring race’

Jacques Villeneuve, the retired 1997 world champion, had led a parade lap earlier in the day in the Ferrari his late father drove to that victory.

Running against rivals who had upgraded power units, unlike Mercedes, Hamilton was unable to match the pace or rhythm on a circuit he touts as a favourite and where he has won six times including his first in 2007.

It was left to Bottas to chase Vettel, who made a clean getaway from the start, with Verstappen almost passing the Finn before the order settled down.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was sixth, and said it had been a boring race, with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz seventh and eighth.

Frenchman Esteban Ocon was ninth for Force India with Monaco’s Charles Leclerc taking the final point for Sauber.

Behind the leaders, there was chaos when Williams’s Canadian Lance Stroll squeezed Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley into the wall.

The Toro Rosso was launched into the air, wrecking both cars.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso chalked up 300 career grands prix but the Spaniard had little to celebrate as the two-time world champion’s day came to an early end, his McLaren coasting to a stop midway through the race with a mechanical failure.

The Spaniard now turns his attentions to the Le Mans 24 Hours race with Toyota next weekend.

PARIS — Playing the king of clay at the French Open is akin to scaling Mont Blanc without any ropes and even an intrepid adventurer from Europe's Alpine heartland found it a peak too steep as Rafael Nadal claimed an 11th title on Sunday.

Austria's Dominic Thiem strained every sinew trying to cling on to the 32-year-old Spaniard and at times even gained a precarious foothold in his first Grand Slam final.

But it ultimately proved a futile mission as, just like in all but two of Nadal's previous 87 matches here, the incredible Spaniard proved invincible, winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

In claiming a 17th Grand Slam title, Nadal matched Margaret Court's record of 11 titles at a single major — hers all coming at the Australian Open. There is nothing to suggest Nadal's domination on the Parisian dirt will end any time soon.

Seventh seed Thiem arrived on a sultry Court Philippe Chatrier with three career wins over Nadal, all on clay, and in an absorbing first set lasting an hour showed why — going toe-to-toe in some ferocious rallies.

But from the moment Nadal broke serve in the 10th game to win the opening set Thiem's belief ebbed away.

There was late anxiety for Nadal as the predicted thunderstorms loomed and he needed his left forearm massaged after beginning to suffer from cramp.

He also let four match points go at 5-2 but he would not be denied, as Thiem went long with a backhand on the fifth.

Nadal's celebration was restrained — throwing his arms skywards and turning to his entourage including coach and fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya and his uncle Toni who stood down last year after his nephew Nadal reached La Decima.

There was no disguising what it still means to him, though, as the tears welled up after being handed the Coupe des Mousquetaires from Australian great Ken Rosewall.

"It's amazing now, I can't describe my feelings," a sweat-soaked Nadal told the crowd.

"It's not even a dream to win here 11 times, because it's impossible to think of something like this."

Long tussle

Thiem, who was trying to become only the second Austrian Grand Slam champion after Tomas Muster's 1995 Paris triumph, played his part in the two hour 42 minute tussle, but was unable to sustain the high-octane tennis needed to ruffle Nadal.

"What you did and what you are doing is the most outstanding thing an athlete can achieve in sport," the 24-year-old said.

"Congratulations. It is amazing. Bravo. To me it's been still great two weeks."

Understandably, Thiem looked edgy at the start and he managed to win only one of the first eight points as Nadal, cheered loudly when he walked on court, bristled with intent.

But he shook off the early nerves and broke back in the third game with forehand winner — pumping his fists in the direction of coach Gunter Bresnik.

Thiem, mixing heavy topspin and flat groundstrokes and angling balls across the sidelines, saved a break point at 1-2 and two more at 2-3 and there were signs that Nadal was struggling with his timing — over-cooking several forehands.

At 4-4 Nadal hit a second serve that bounced before it reached the net but he shrugged that off to hold.

Thiem undid all his good work in the next game, netting an easy volley on the first point and gifting Nadal three more unforced errors to hand over the first set.

Nadal had never lost in the 112 best-of-five-set matches in which he had won the opening set and Thiem dropped serve early in the second with another backhand error.

There was still fight in Thiem, though, and he had a break point when Nadal served at 4-2 — a game in which the Spaniard was warned for taking too long to serve.

But Nadal held with some clever drop shots and after taking the second set it merely became a race against time to finish off Thiem before the rain arrived.

AMMAN — Reigning champion Manaf Hijjawi can take a giant step towards retaining his Jordan Rotax Max Karting Challenge on Monday night when Jordan Motorsport organises the national championship’s third round, according to the Jordan Motorsport Media Service.

The event will be held at the Jordan Speed Centre, and is set to get under way with the competitors warming up from 9pm. Following a superb round two where he completed a clean sweep of the three races, Hijjawi is sitting 33 points clear as the five-round championship heads towards its midway point.

But waiting to pounce on any mistake that Hijjawi may make will be Rakan Qumouq and Amir Al Najjar, who lie second and third, respectively, in the championship standings. In the highly competitive Mini-Max series, Faisal Al Nashkho holds the advantage at the top, while Hamzeh Qumouq is top of the Junior Max Series.

PARIS — For a while Simona Halep’s third French Open final looked like ending in familiar heartache but the Romanian eventually wore down Sloane Stephens for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, victory and claim her long-overdue first Grand Slam title on Saturday.

US Open champion Stephens out-fought Halep to take the opening set and was a break up in the second but the World No. 1 wound her way back into contention before running away with the deciding set.

When Halep served for the match at 5-1 with chants of “See-Mohh-Nahhh” reverberating around Court Philippe Chatrier, only a sudden attack of nerves could have denied her.

But when Stephens netted a forehand return on Halep’s first match point, the Romanian could finally replace the bitter memories of her first three Grand Slam finals with one she will cherish for the rest of her life.

After consoling Stephens, she climbed into the stands to embrace Romania’s former Olympic gymnastics champion Nadia Comaneci and 1978 Roland Garros winner Virginia Ruzici, the last Romanian to win a Grand Slam title.

There was also a big hug for coach Darren Cahill who was in the losers’ box last year when Halep blew a commanding lead against Jelena Ostapenko in the final.

“Thanks guys it was amazing and I felt your support,” Halep, who lost this year’s Australian Open final to Caroline Wozniakci, said on court.

“In the last game I couldn’t breathe, I just didn’t want to repeat what happened the other years. I dreamed of this moment since I started to play tennis and I can’t believe it.

“It’s great that 40 years after Virginia I managed to win.”

Halep’s victory was one of the most popular for many years at Roland Garros and at times during the match the support for the 26-year-old was deafening.

That was not the case in the first though as Stephens, the first American not called Williams to reach the French Open final since Jennifer Capriati triumphed in 2001, played flawlessly.

With both players styles built around rock-solid defence and superb court coverage it was no surprise that the shot-count quickly rose in the baseline exchanges with Halep surviving a 25-stroke exchange to win her opening service game.

Stephens, moving silkily from side-to-side, out-Haleped Halep to move 4-1 in front, however, turning herself into a human backboard to return everything being thrown at her.

Halep scrapped desperately to get the break back. When Stephens served at 5-3 30-30, a huge roar went up as she won a drop shot exchange to earn a break point.

Tenth seed Stephens, cool as a cucumber, won the next three points to take the opening set.

It looked bleak for Halep when she trailed 2-0 in the second set but the effects of Stephens’ efforts suddenly took their toll as the American began to wilt and Halep grabbed the momentum with nine consecutive points on the way to a 4-2 lead.

Halep then lost serve to love and when Stephens dragged it back to 4-4, it seemed Halep’s revival might be short-lived.

A huge Halep backhand at 30-30 in the ninth game proved too much for Stephens as Halep crucially held.

CLEVELAND — Kevin Durant scored 43 points, and the Golden State Warriors overcame a slow start on Wednesday night to defeat the Cavaliers 110-102 in Game 3 and move to the brink of sweeping the NBA Finals.

Golden State, trying to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the third time in four years, leads the best-of-seven series 3-0.

Game 4 is Friday night in Cleveland.

Neither team led by more than three points in the fourth quarter until Stephen Curry drained a 3-pointer with 2:38 remaining for a 101-97 Warriors edge. LeBron James then made a trey of his own to make it a one-point game.

Key Golden State reserve Andre Iguodala, making his return after missing the previous six games due to a bone bruise in his left knee, converted a dunk to increase the lead to 103-100.

Durant then buried a 3-pointer from 33 feet out with 49.8 seconds remaining to essentially ice the game.

“That was amazing what he did out there tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Durant postgame. “Some of those shots, I don’t think anybody in the world can hit those but him.”

Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue agreed the 3-pointer by Durant from deep was the dagger to the Cavaliers.

“It was a big shot,” Lue said. “I mean, he was 4 or 5 feet behind the line, and he raised up and made a big shot for them. He’s one of the best one-on-one players in our league.”

James also remarked on Durant and his key shot, “He’s an assassin. That was one of those assassin plays right there.”

James twisted his right ankle on a layup attempt in the middle of the second quarter, but he said postgame that he’ll be in the line-up on Friday.

All five Golden State starters and backup Jordan Bell finished in double figures, but Durant was the only one to top 11 points, which was Stephen Curry’s total on 3-for-16 shooting. Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, JaVale McGee and Bell had 10 points each. Iguodala contributed eight points in 22 minutes.

“Holding Steph to 11 points and Klay to 10, you think you would win that game,” Lue said.

The shot that gave the Warriors a late four-point lead was Curry’s only 3-pointer of the game. He was 1-for-10 from behind the arc, but as far as Durant was concerned, Curry sank the biggest basket of the game.

“He was missing shots tonight. He was struggling to shoot the ball,” Durant said. “The confidence he had to put that one up — the momentum of the game kind of turned in our favour at that point.”

James led the Cavaliers with 33 points. He added 10 rebounds and 11 assists for a triple-double, his fourth of the play-offs.

Rodney Hood, who sat out three games before playing four minutes of garbage time in Game 2 of the Finals, came off the bench to score 15 points for the Cavaliers. Kevin Love added 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Durant said the Warriors need to improve, especially defensively, if they are going to complete the sweep on Friday. They won the title by capturing Game 6 in Cleveland in 2015 the first time these rivals met in the Finals.

Last year, Golden State also won the first three games, then dropped Game 4 in Ohio before claiming the championship at home in Game 5.

“I thought we did some things tonight that we need to correct if we want to win the next game,” Durant said. “My main concern was defensive effort, intensity and rebounding.”

As they have done throughout the play-offs, the Warriors surged in the third quarter, outscoring the Cavaliers 31-23 to take an 83-81 lead into the fourth quarter. Durant scored 10 points in the third period.