Sports

ANTOFAGASTA, Chile — Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel closed the gap on Dakar Rally leader Nani Roma to just two minutes after another all-out attack on the 10th stage along the Chilean coast on Wednesday.

A day after slicing more than 11 minutes off Roma’s overall lead, Peterhansel cut off another 10 to practically lie on Roma’s bumper, setting up a thrilling finish with 1,100 kilometres and three days to go in the world’s toughest rally.

Roma, who led Peterhansel by 39 minutes last Thursday, was set back by getting stuck on a dune, and then suffering a puncture.

“It’s not over yet, we knew this week would be tough,” Roma said.

Nasser Al Attiyah of Qatar dominated the 630-kilometre leg from Iquique south to Antofagasta, enduring dunes, the powder-like sand known as fesh-fesh, and finishing on mine tracks to notch his 19th Dakar stage win, and second of this race.

Peterhansel was second, 3 minutes, 50 seconds behind, and Roma third, 13:45 back.

Overall, Al Attiyah climbed to third, 46 minutes behind Roma, and with a shot at making the podium for the first time since he won the 2011 race. He had a half-hour lead on fourth-place Giniel de Villiers of South Africa, the 2009 champ, and Orlando Terranova of Argentina.

The stage brought an end to 2010 winner Carlos Sainz, who crashed and withdrew. There was also bad luck for Chilean motorbike rider Jeremias Israel Esquerre, who was running second in the stage when he hit a rocky outcrop and crashed out.

Joan Barreda Bort led the motorbike race from the start but his fourth stage win still left him second and 44 minutes adrift of overall leader Marc Coma, also of Spain.

Coma cruised to fifth with an eye on times of riders ahead of him. Barreda was now the only rider within two hours of Coma.

Esquerre’s withdrawal and hard riding by defending champ Cyril Despres lifted the Frenchman from eighth to sixth overall, and only seven minutes behind third-placed Jordi Viladoms.

The 11th stage on Thursday is another monster, 605 more kilometres through the Atacama Desert from Antofagasta to El Salvador.

AMMAN — Jordan went down 7 spots to 72nd in the FIFA rankings issued on Thursday. 

The national team is seventh among Asian Football Confederation (AFC) teams led by Iran, who held on to the top Asian spot at 34th, followed by Japan (48th), South Korea (53rd), Australia (56th), the UAE (63rd) and Uzbekistan (65th).

Saudi Arabia came eighth in Asia at 73rd, followed by Oman (79th) and China (92nd). 

FIFA top 10 rankings remained the same led by Spain followed by Germany, Argentina, Columbia, Portugal, Uruguay, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands and Brazil. 

During 2013, Jordan climbed 30 spots and ended the year at 65th place and fifth among AFC teams. 

Jordan was a step away from reaching the World Cup for the first time after playing world’s 6th ranked Uruguay in their intercontinental qualifying tie. 

The Kingdom lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match. 

Jordan had never reached this far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers as of 1985.

Preparations 

The national football team started a training camp in Dubai on Thursday before resuming Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers in two weeks.

The team lately finished runners-up at the 8th West Asian Football Federation Championship in Doha where Jordan beat Bahrain 1-0 in the semis but lost to Qatar 2-0 in the final.

Head coach Hossam Hassan had to manage with a new line-up that included six U-22 players and new faces as players in Gulf clubs were not released.

Jordan is now second in Group A Asian Cup qualifiers and has technically qualified to Round 2 after they held Oman 0-0, tied Syria 1-1 and defeated Singapore 4-0.

They are now set to play Oman on January 31, Singapore on February 4 and Syria on March 5. 

AMMAN — The national U-22 football team thrashed Myanmar 6-1 on Wednesday in the inaugural Asian Football Confederation U-22 Championship currently under way in Muscat, Oman. With this win, Jordan qualifies to the second round, with seven points from two wins, including against Oman, and a tie with South Korea.

AMMAN — For the first time in years, Wihdat and Faisali are out of the rankings of the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) issued for January.

The new rankings announced on the IFFHS website include the world’s top 200 teams. Jordanian teams were not among the top 10 Asian teams as well possibly because of no club activity during the last month as Jordan took part in the 8th West Asian Championship while the U-22 team is playing at the inaugural AFC Championship.

In the latest IFFHS rankings, Germany’s Bayern Munich lead the pack, followed by Spain’s Real Madrid, England’s Chelsea FC, Spain’s Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona, France’s PSG, Switzerland’s FC Basel 1893, Brazil’s Clube Atlético Mineiro, Belo Horizonte, England’s Tottenham Hotspurs and Portugal’s SL Benfica

Asian top 10 are:  China’s Guangzhou Evergrande FC (34), South Korea’s FC Seoul (51), Iran’s Esteghlal FC (67), Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab FC (84), South Korea’s Pohang Steelers (91), South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (95), Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol (100), Saudi Arabia’s Hilal (103), Thailand’s Buriram United FC  (109) and Saudi Arabia’s Ahli Jeddah (122).

Top Arab teams are Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab FC (84), Tunisia’s Espérance (93), Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien (98), Saudi Arabia’s Hilal (103), Egypt’s Al Ahli SC (114), Saudi Arabia’s Ahli Jeddah (122), Egypt’s Zamalek SC (151) and Morocco’s Raja CA de Casablanca (172).

Initiated in 1991, the Club World Ranking is a classification showing the level of the clubs and the level of international performance of each country. Competitions not organised by a continental confederation, or any intercontinental events not recognised by FIFA, are not taken into consideration.

ZURICH — Cristiano Ronaldo has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for 2013, ending Lionel Messi’s four-year run as the world’s best player.

Ronaldo scored 69 goals for Real Madrid and Portugal last year, and his stunning hat trick against Sweden in a decisive World Cup play-off was perhaps the defining individual performance.

“There are no words to describe this moment,” said Ronaldo, who was sobbing in tears after accepting the trophy with his young son, also named Cristiano, beside him on stage.

He defeated Barcelona’s Messi and France winger Franck Ribery, who helped Champions League winner Bayern Munich to a sweep of major titles.

Voting was done by national team captains and coaches, plus selected journalists, in FIFA’s 209 member countries who chose their top-3 preferences.

In a tight race, Ronaldo received 1,365 points, Messi had 1,205 and Ribery got 1,127.

Ronaldo rolled back his head and closed his eyes, grinning, when Brazil great Pele, after a dramatic pause and smile, read out his name. He kissed his girlfriend, model Irina Shayk, before going up to the stage.

“People who know me know how many people helped me,” the emotional winner said in Portuguese. “If I have forgotten anyone, I do apologise because I am deeply moved.”

Pele greeted Ronaldo minutes after he also cried on stage when collecting an honorary Ballon d’Or for his own outstanding career.

Ronaldo had to wait five years since first winning the award as a Manchester United player, as Messi found a way to overshadow him in each of the past four years — despite the Portugal winger’s prolific scoring for Madrid. However, Ronaldo was heavily favoured this time after FIFA extended the balloting deadline beyond the World Cup play-offs in November and allowed voters to change preferences.

The Portugal star’s display in Stockholm was so impressive it seemed certain to sway voters at a time when Messi was sidelined by his third injury of the year.

Still, FIFA spokesman Walter De Gregorio said Monday the standings were unchanged by the voting rules adjustment, which raised the turnout from around 50 to 88 per cent.

Ronaldo said earlier Monday that he made peace with FIFA President Sepp Blatter, whose stated personal preference last October for Messi sparked speculation that the eventual winner would snub the ceremony.

“We talked over the telephone and everything was cleared,” Ronaldo said at a news conference before the ceremony. “This is no longer an issue, neither for us nor for football.”

Germany dominated the other major awards, with goalkeeper Nadine Angerer named women’s player of the year ahead of United States forward Abby Wambach, last year’s winner, and Marta of Brazil.

Though Ribery lost, Bayern got one victory as Jupp Heynckes won the coaching award for leading the team to a Champions League, Bundesliga and national cup treble last season before he retyred. Heynckes defeated Juergen Klopp, whose Borussia Dortmund team lost the all-German Champions League final, and Alex Ferguson, who retyred after winning another Premier League title for Manchester United.

Germany national team coach Sylvia Neid won the women’s award, beating Sweden coach Pia Sundhage and Ralf Kellermann, who led Wolfsburg to the Champions League title.

The World XI elected by players in the FIFPro group of national unions was: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich, Germany); Dani Alves (Barcelona, Brazil), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain, Brazil), Philipp Lahm (Bayern, Germany); Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona, Spain), Ribery (Bayern, France); Ronaldo (Madrid, Portugal), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG, Sweden), and Messi (Barcelona, Argentina).

Ibrahimovic won a fans’ online vote to get the Puskas Award for best goal, a long-range bicycle kick for Sweden against England in a November 2012 friendly.

Blatter, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, gave his presidential award to Jacques Rogge, the IOC president for 12 years until reaching his term limit last September.

The Afghanistan football federation got the fair play award after hosting its first international match in more than a decade.

Pele, viewed by many as the greatest footballer ever, finally received a Ballon d’Or trophy which he could never get during his career when the original prize created by France Football magazine in 1956 was restricted to European players.

The only player to win the World Cup three times — in 1958, ‘62 and ‘70 — was given a standing ovation at the Zurich Kongresshaus.

“I promised my family I would not cry but I am emotional,” Pele said. “Thank God, I complete my trophies at home.”