Sports

MILAN — Italy may finally have stumbled across the right strike force and now all that new coach Giampiero Ventura has to do is sort out the rest of the team.

The four times world champions gave an erratic performance littered with uncharacteristic mistakes as they came from 2-1 down to beat rank outsiders Macedonia 3-2 in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday.

But there were also plenty of encouraging signs for coach Giampiero Ventura, not least the performances of forwards Andrea Belotti, who scored his first Italy goal, and Ciro Immobile, whose late brace snatched the three points.

Both played under Ventura during his five-year stint at Torino and their displays on Sunday, combined with recent performances at club level, suggested that Italy’s long search for a high-quality attack might have come to an end.

Belotti, 22, is a physically imposing striker who found his feet at Torino last season following his move from Palermo, and has begun this campaign with a flourish, scoring five goals in as many Serie A games.

Nicknamed the Rooster, he is physically imposing, with pace, a good positional sense and an ability to harass and unnerve his markers.

Like Belotti, Immobile is a hard worker, who can finish with both feet and is strong in the air.

Serie A top-scorer for Torino with 22 goals in 2013-14, his club career went off the rails after that with unsuccessful moves to Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and back to Torino, but a switch to Lazio has brought him back to life.

With the forward conundrum possibly solved, Ventura can concentrate on other problem positions, in particular the midfield.

The 68-year-old, who replaced Conte after the Euros, has never won a major title at club level, but is widely respected in Italy and was hired largely for his reputation in nurturing young talent.

He has shown that he is not afraid to experiment, having given 21-year-old Alessio Romagnoli his debut against Spain on Thursday.

On Sunday, he also threw 22-year-old Federico Bernardeschi into the mix and handed the key midfield role to Verratti, who is 23, while leaving stalwart Daniele De Rossi on the bench.

Results were mixed. Although Italy created chances, they were left exposed to Macedonia’s counterattacks and fell to pieces alarmingly in the second half when the hosts scored twice in three minutes and had two good chances to add a third.

Verratti, in particular, is a gifted player with good vision, but is also somewhat lightweight and may need more defensive cover than Italy had on Sunday.

Ventura said it was also part of the process and promised that he would stick by his plan of rejuvenating the team — something fans of England, for example, might like to hear their coach say.

“Around 90 per cent of our mistakes were down to a lack of experience,” said Ventura. “That can happen when there are so many young players on the field.

“I think at the end of the day, we can achieve something very good.”

SUZUKA, Japan — Nico Rosberg is refusing to get carried away by thoughts of celebrating a maiden Formula One title triumph at the end of the season, despite getting one hand on the championship crown with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix.

The German eased to a maiden win from pole position at the Suzuka circuit on Sunday, chalking up his ninth win of the year, to lift himself 33 points clear of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the overall standings.

Such is Rosberg’s margin that, with just four races to go, the 31-year-old can take the title without needing to win another race.

“I don’t feel relief,” said Rosberg, only the fifth driver to win nine races in a season. “I’m just happy to win the Suzuka race.”

“Rosberg’s comments are in keeping with the approach the German has adopted this year, focussing on each race as it comes rather than the campaign as a whole.

Runner-up to Hamilton in the overall standings in the last two years, he is not planning to change it now that the title is within reach.

“The best reasoning is that it’s actually working quite well,” said Rosberg. “So why change something if it’s going quite well?

“The approach that I have at the moment is just coming here, focussing on the weekend and trying to get that win.”

Never has a driver who has won eight or more races in a season gone on to lose the title.

Rosberg also currently appears to have the psychological edge over Hamilton, who cut a distracted and withdrawn figure in Suzuka.

But Rosberg, who can equal Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s record of 13 wins in a season if he triumphs at the remaining races, knows how quickly fortunes can turn.

Hamilton has not won since the German Grand Prix at the end of July while Rosberg has won four of the five races since.

Nevertheless, the Briton had been on course to take back the overall lead until his engine blew in Malaysia.

Rosberg also knows that in Hamilton he faces a formidable competitor, who earlier this season converted a 43-point deficit to the German into a 19-point advantage with a streak of six wins from seven races.

“You can see how quick it goes in Malaysia, you’re in the lead and if the other guy wins its 25 points lost and then the gap is down to eight,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

“Remember when Nico won eight races in a row and then Lewis had that winning streak?

“I think its going to go down to the end.”

SUZUKA, Japan — Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg capitalised on a slow start by teammate Lewis Hamilton to win the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday and widen his lead in the Formula One drivers’ championship.

Rosberg, who started from pole position, controlled the race throughout and finished 4.9 seconds ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who held off Hamilton in close racing over the final few laps.

“The start went really well,” Rosberg said. “Everything went well, and then it was just controlling the pits and the gaps to Max in the race. It was a perfect weekend to win on this legendary track.”

With four races remaining Rosberg holds a 33-point lead over Hamilton.

“It’s better that way than the other way round but it’s still Lewis that’s my teammate, so I always need to reckon with him,” Rosberg said.

“He’s going to be going for it in the last four races. There’s still a long way to go.”

The result clinched the constructors’ championship for Mercedes for the third year running.

Hamilton, who started second, made another of the poor starts which has been among Mercedes few weak points this season, and dropped back to eighth on the opening lap.

The defending world champion worked his way through the field well. Desperately needing as many points as possible in the championship race, Hamilton attempted a bold passing move on Verstappen on the penultimate lap.

Exiting the Spoon curve just 0.5 seconds back, the Briton tried a move into the chicane but Verstappen blocked his path, and Hamilton was forced up an escape road. Hamilton complained over his team radio that the 19-year-old Dutchman had made his move too late under braking.

“Lewis was pushing really hard,” Verstappen said. “He is fighting for the world championship so you are not going to do anything crazy things of course.”

Hamilton said his poor start was down to wheel spin, rather than any preoccupation with the damp patch in front of his grid slot due to overnight rain.

I was just working my way up from there — it was tricky but I did the best I could,” Hamilton said. “I’m happy with clawing it back and getting some points, it’s good.”

It was Rosberg’s ninth victory of the season and 23rd in F1, moving the German driver into a tie for 12th place on the all-time list with Nelson Piquet. Rosberg started the previous two races at Suzuka from pole position only to be overtaken by Hamilton.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel had an opportunity to pass Hamilton immediately after the second round of pitstops but could not do it and finished fourth ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull, who won the previous race in Malaysia, was sixth.

The Force India pair Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh and eighth, with the team eking out a 10-point gap over Williams whose drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finished ninth and tenth on a one-stop strategy.

Every driver finished the race, only the seventh time in 952 world championship races that has happened.

HONG KONG — Formula E’s chief played down comparisons with F1 and said the all-electric racing series had pointed the way to the future of motoring as it gears up for its third season.

An influx of major manufacturers and a schedule that includes Hong Kong, Paris and New York underline the momentum of the electric car trend, Chief Executive Alejandro Agag told AFP.

He said starting the 10-month, 12-race season in chronically polluted Hong Kong highlighted the benefits of electric motoring — cleaner engines and better air.

“I think the objective of Formula E is to change the perception of electric cars and encourage people to buy electric cars,” the Spanish businessman said, ahead of Sunday’s season-opening race in Hong Kong.

“And one of the solutions to tackling a city’s pollution is to have electric cars. If cities have electric cars only, the pollution would be a lot lower and the quality of life would be a lot higher.”

Formula One has proved a potent tool in promoting Hong Kong’s Asian rival Singapore, but Agag said it was unfair to compare Formula E with its much larger precursor.

While high-octane F1 has built up its following over decades, Formula E, the world’s first electric racing series, only started in 2014 and has different objectives, he said.

“We try never to compare Formula One and Formula E, we’re totally different concepts,” Agag said.

“But racing electric cars promotes a different technology. And I think the association with Hong Kong, the values of sustainability and a clean city, go together well with Formula E.

“So if you want to promote those values it’s going to have a major impact.”

‘Electric, driverless, connected’

Manufacturers Renault, Jaguar, Audi and BMW are already involved in Formula E, while Mercedes has taken an option to enter a team from 2018.

Agag said he was also in talks this week with Brazilian driver Felipe Massa about joining a Formula E team when he retires from Formula One this season.

“The momentum is fantastic, not only for Formula E but for the electric car concept in general,” Agag said.

“Now there is a belief that the future is going to be electric and that electric cars are going to be the main way of moving around in 20, 30, 40 years.

“Electric, driverless, connected, clearly that’s the future.”

Hong Kong’s debut race will take place on a small, 1.8-kilometre street circuit in the city centre, with only 10 turns and a main straight of 555 metres.

It is the template for Formula E, whose compact tracks can be squeezed into built-up areas, allowing it to go to cities including Buenos Aires, Monaco, Berlin and Montreal this season.

“We don’t think we compete at all with Formula One. Also because Formula One couldn’t race here,” Agag said.

“This is ideal for Formula E: the track is shorter and we can fit on the streets and we make a lot less noise... we are ideal for small tracks in the heart of cities.”

The technology is still evolving: even in a race that only lasts 50 minutes, drivers have to swap cars halfway as their batteries won’t go the distance.

But Agag said advances made in Formula E were now migrating to road cars, with Renault recently unveiling a prototype electric car with similar technology.

“Major manufacturers are coming into Formula E because they see this is a platform to develop technology that then they can use on road cars,” he said.

AMMAN — Jordan’s national football team plays Morocco on Monday in its fifth friendly of the season which comes amid its training agenda for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers kicking off in March 2017.

Jordan held Oman 1-1 on the weekend and left for Morocco to play its next friendly. During the past month, they beat the Olympic team 4-1 in a local friendly, held Bahrain 0-0, Lebanon 1-1 and lost to 3-2 to Qatar. 

AMMAN — Jordan ended its matches at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup currently under way in Amman going down to New Zealand 5-0 while Mexico took over the group lead after a 1-1 draw with Spain in Group A on Friday.

 The match at the Prince Mohammad Stadium in Zarqa was attended by over 4,000 spectators cheering on the home team which was hoping to come away with a draw after an opening 6-0 defeat to European champs and U-17 runner-up Spain and a 4-1 defeat to Mexico in the match in which Jordan was the first to score through Sarah Abu Sabbah who made history by scoring Jordan’s first goal in the Kingdom’s inaugural appearance in the U-17 World Cup.

New Zealand were also eliminated from Round 1 after also losing to Mexico 5-0 and to Spain 2-0. On Friday, it was a chance for both teams to end the tournament on a good note. New Zealand’s Hannah Blake scored three, including one just five minutes into the game. While Sam Tawharu scored two as Jordan’s goalie Rand Albustanji could not do much with the defence seeming shaky and the strikers not posing any threat to the rivals goal. 

After the first half ended 2-0, the guest team went on to score third goal and added another two in the dying minutes of the match ending it 5-0.

Jordan coach Robbie Johnson noted his disappointment that his side did not have a better performance. 

“I thought today’s game might give us an opportunity to compete on equal terms. We hoped to be able to deliver a better performance, but that plan failed when we conceded an early goal. Nevertheless, we had the opportunity to gather international experience at the highest level. Although some of the girls were extremely disappointed, I told them that this has to make us stronger, not weaker,” he told FIFA.com.

New Zealand coach Gareth Turnbull told FIFA.com that he was elated that his team was able to score five goals at a World Cup. “Today’s match wasn’t easy. Scoring early on obviously played into our hands and helped settle our nerves, but Jordan refused to give up. One thing we learned at this tournament is that we have to play more games against teams at the highest international level. Although that’s not always easy to arrange in our confederation, it will be our aim for the future.”

In other Group B matches on Friday, Germany beat Cameroon 2-0 to take the group lead and qualified to the quarters along with Venezuela, which beat Canada 2-0.

In Group C, North Korea topped the group and went into the quarters along with England.

In Group D, Japan led the group into the quarters followed by Ghana in second place. 

The biggest sporting event to be hosted in the Kingdom registered a series of firsts for Jordan and the region. Not only was this the nation’s first appearance at the U-17 Women’s World Cup, it was Jordan’s first appearance at any level at a FIFA World Cup. It was also the first time that a women’s tournament of this scale has been hosted in the Middle East region. 

Regardless of match results, most observers concur hosting the event is a major milestone. The tournament has undoubtedly provided much needed competitive experience for Jordan’s squad and provided a big boost to women’s sports in general. 

The draw put the 16 teams into four groups with the top two teams from each group moving on to Round 2. Round 1 ended October 8, while the quarters will be played on October 12-13, the semis on October 17 and 3rd and 4th place, and the final on October 21. 

Jordan is the only Arab team at the U-17 World Cup after Egypt and Morocco were eliminated from the qualifiers. Cameroon is the other country to never have previously participated in the U-17 World Cup. 

With nations from all continents competing in the event and visiting the region and Jordan for the first time, many teams took advantage of a two-day break ahead of the weekend and headed to Petra, the Dead Sea and visited historical sites in the capital.

SUZUKA, Japan () — Lewis Hamilton will have to dig deep to overcome the heartbreak of Malaysia as he heads into Sunday’s Formula One Japanese Grand Prix needing a third straight win at the Suzuka circuit to revive his flagging title prospects.

The triple world champion’s hopes of claiming a fourth title were dealt a heavy blow on Sunday at the Sepang circuit when he was forced to retire with a blown engine while holding a comfortable lead with 16 laps remaining.

That allowed Australian Daniel Ricciardo to score his first win of the year ahead of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen in the team’s first one-two finish since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Had Hamilton won, scoring a landmark 50th career victory, he would have vaulted back to the top of the overall standings ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

Instead he heads to Japan needing to bridge a 23-point gap to the German, who finished third in Malaysia after being spun around and dropped to the back of the field by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the start.

Vettel will drop three grid places in Japan as punishment for tipping Rosberg into the spin.

“It’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back up,” Hamilton told reporters.

“If I can find strength from within to be able to come to these next races and perform like I’ve performed this weekend then, providing the car holds together, good things will come.”

Sunday’s engine failure was the latest in a spate of reliability issues that have plagued Hamilton’s 2016 campaign and prompted the Briton to hint at a conspiracy.

“Someone doesn’t want me to win this year. My question is to Mercedes. We have so many engines made but mine are the only ones failing this year,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Someone needs to give me some answers because this is not acceptable. We are fighting for the championship and only my engines are failing. It does not sit right with me.”

Hamilton turned a deficit of 43 points to Rosberg earlier in the season into a 19-point advantage over the German with a streak of six wins from seven races, but he is running out of time to mount another comeback with only five races left.

Rosberg, whose Finnish father Keke took the 1982 title, is keeping his focus squarely on Japan.

“I’m quite liking my approach of just seeing it as a weekend-on-a-weekend basis so don’t have such thoughts and just accepting the way it went today,” he said.

“Next is Suzuka where I want to try and win again.”

Mercedes can win the constructors’ championship on Sunday for the third year in a row.

McLaren will also be hoping to put on a strong showing in engine supplier Honda’s home race.

The former champions and Japanese manufacturer, who own the Suzuka circuit, renewed their once-dominant partnership last season but endured a bruising year.

Fernando Alonso criticised the engine as “GP2” standard during last year’s race but the team have made steady progress this season and are optimistic about their chances of finishing in the points on home soil.

AMMAN  — Jordan’s national football team plays Oman on Friday in their fourth friendly of the season which comes amid their training agenda for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers kicking off in March 2017.

Jordan beat the Olympic team 4-1 in a match played in Aqaba before leaving to Muscat midweek. It is also set to play Morocco in Agadir on October 10.

Jordan last held Bahrain 0-0, Lebanon 1-1 and lost to 3-2 to Qatar in the first of 7 friendlies. The squad’s last tournament was the King’s Cup, an international football tournament organised in Thailand where it lost to the host in the final. 

The national team has mainly been represented by a mostly new line-up without most pros playing aboard as the coaching staff try to give younger team members competitive experience. Coach Abdullah Abu Zameh was quoted on the Jordan Football Association website as saying: “We are striving to build a new team, and giving new players competitive experience needs time.”

The Kingdom dropped seven places to 86th in the latest FIFA Rankings issued last month. Jordan also dropped to 10th in Asia trailing Iran (37), Australia (45), South Korea (47), Uzbekistan (49), Saudi Arabia (52), Japan (53), the UAE (66), China (78) and Qatar (85).

Jordan was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup. After putting behind elimination from 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Abu Zam’eh, has recalled mainly younger players including Olympic team players.

The national team will regroup for friendlies and camps until the start of the Asian qualifiers from which group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots and one slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.

In past Asian Cup editions, Jordan reached the championship three times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972. The pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals. 

The Kingdom had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 even though it lost a possible chance to play at the World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the 2014 World Cup. it lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since first taking part in the qualifiers. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers since 1986.

AMMAN — Jordan plays New Zealand in Zarqa at 4:00pm on Friday in its 3rd and final match at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup currently under way in Amman.

The entire nation has rallied behind Team Jordan for the U-17 Women’s World Cup. After their opening 6-0 defeat to European champs and U-17 runner-up Spain, Jordan was the first to score through Sarah Abu-Sabbah in the second match against Mexico which Jordan later lost 4-1. Abu-Sabbah who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the German league, scored Jordan’s sole goal through individual effort when she managed to get past Mexico’s midfielders and her shot nestled in the top right of the goalie early in the match.

Abu-Sabbah who helped Bayer Leverkusen win the German U-17 Girls’ Cup and signed a new contract for the first team in the Women’s Bundesliga, became the first Arab player to do so. She now already looking beyond this final fixture: “We cannot regress to where we were before. We’ve contested an international competition and we need to keep working non-stop to get good results. Our next aim is to qualify for the U-20 Women’s World Cup in two years’ time,” she told FIFA.com

While the host nation officially bowed out of the competition, team coaches hope they can manage a good result against New Zealand which is also winless and eliminated from Round 1. Mexico lead Group A on goal difference after a 5-0 win of New Zealand while Spain beat New Zealand 2-0.

The biggest sporting event to be hosted in the Kingdom registered a series of firsts for Jordan and the region. Not only was this the nation’s first appearance at the U-17 Women’s World Cup, it was Jordan’s first appearance at any level at a FIFA World Cup. It was also the first time that a women’s tournament of this scale has been hosted in the Middle East region. 

Regardless of match results, most observers concur hosting the event is a major milestone. The tournament has undoubtedly provided much needed competitive experience for Jordan’s squad and provided a big boost to women’s sports in general. 

 Others point out that the event and Jordan as host has not been marketed enough and noted minimal signage in the capital apart from billboards with Jordan’s match schedules.  

“This should have been a big celebration where everyone spoke of a World Cup being held in our country. The parliamentary election banners filled this streets more. This is a World Cup after all,” said an avid fan. 

Another said, “I noticed billboards are all in Arabic and no banners filling the streets to draw locals attention that a major event is under way. For those arriving at the airports, or even near stadiums, I think it should be more visible and highlighted to all.”

The 32 matches over the course of 22 days are being hosted at four stadia: Amman International Stadium, King Abdullah II Stadium in Quweismeh, Al Hassan Stadium in Irbid and Prince Mohammad Stadium in Zarqa. Jordan played its matches in different governorates with the first in Amman, in Irbid and the third in Zarqa. 

Jordan is the only Arab team at the U-17 World Cup after Egypt and Morocco were eliminated from the qualifiers. Cameroon is the other country to never have previously participated in the U-17 World Cup. 

The draw put the 16 teams into four groups with the top two teams from each group moving on to Round 2. Round 1 ends October 8 following which the quarters will be played on October 12-13, the semis on October 17 and the final, as well as, 3rd and 4th place on October 21.

The Philadelphia 76ers finally had some good news as they deal with the bad news of Ben Simmons’ injury.

And Golden State fans got to see just how explosive their team looks with Kevin Durant in the line-up.

Durant had 21 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots in an impressive first home game with Golden State, leading the Warriors to a 120-75 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.

Earlier, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric made successful NBA debuts in the 76ers’ 92-89 exhibition victory over the Boston Celtics in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The 76ers waited more than two years to get the 2014 lottery selections in uniform and they both started on Tuesday. Embiid, who had been sidelined by foot injuries since Philadelphia took him with the No. 3 selection, had six points in 13 minutes.

Saric, who continued playing in Europe after he was selected by Orlando with the 12th pick and then dealt to Philadelphia, had 10 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes.

Unfortunately for the 76ers, they don’t know when Simmons will be able to join them. The No. 1 overall pick had surgery to repair a broken bone in his right foot Tuesday and there is no timetable yet for his return.

Rockets 130, Knicks 103

Knicks: Derrick Rose had 16 points and five assists in his Knicks debut. He is now expected to leave the team and travel to Los Angeles, where his rape trial began earlier Tuesday. Kristaps Porzingis led the Knicks with 22 points, Carmelo Anthony scored 10 on 4-for-13 shooting.

Rockets: James Harden had 28 points and 11 assists. Ryan Anderson went 7 for 13 from 3-point range, finishing with 26 points and seven rebounds. Houston was 20 for 42 from 3-point range.

Pacers 113, Pelicans 96

Pacers: Al Jefferson scored 14 points, Thaddeus Young added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jeff Teague scored 10 points in their preseason debuts for Indiana.

Pelicans: Sixth overall draft choice Buddy Hield scored 18 points in 29 minutes off the bench after scoring 19 points in his preseason debut on Saturday. Anthony Davis scored 12 points and blocked two shots in 18 minutes but made only three of 13 shots while going 6 of 8 on free throws.

Heat 106, Wizards 95

Heat: Hassan Whiteside had 20 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters both scored 12 points.

Wizards: Kelly Oubre led Washington with 16 points in its first game under Scott Brooks. Former Jazz guard Trey Burke had 14 points, starting at point guard while John Wall remains out while recovering from surgeries.

Lakers 103, Kings 84

Lakers: No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram missed all five field goal attempts, four from 3-point range, and finished with two points in 27 minutes in Anaheim, California. Lou Williams scored 15 points but fellow guard D’Angelo Russell had only four on 2-of-8 shooting.

Kings: DeMarcus Cousins had 11 points and six rebounds in just 15 minutes. Arron Afflalo, who spent last season with the Knicks, led Sacramento with 14 points.