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Local Sports, Sports

Teams Jockey for Positions in SKNFA competitions

http://sknfa.com/ #

Published 11 April 2017

The intense schedule of football competitions continue as teams vie to get into the SKNFA Easter Cup

The second round of the SKNFA Premier League was just completed, leaving four teams sitting well and most favoured to compete in the Easter Cup Finals.

Teams that have qualified, based on points accumulated in the second round only, are as follows:

SOL Island Auto Conaree – 20 points from 9 games

RAMS Village Superstars – 19 points from 9 games

HE Garden Hotspurs – 19 points from 9 games

FLOW 4G Cayon Rockets – 17 points from 9 games

These are the four Premier League teams that will compete in the SKNFA Easter Cup Competition from the 13th April. In this competition, No. 1 will play against No. 4, and No. 2 will play No. 3. to determine which teams enter the final of the Easter Cup.

Although Superstars and Hotspurs have the same number of points, Superstars with a better goal average secured the second position.

According to Dexter Tyrell, manager of the SKNFA Secretariat, attention is also being given to the third and final round of the Premier League. As of 14th March, all teams would have played their required matches. The push is now on for every team to get a berth in the Final 4.

“As it is, the teams that are out front would be HE Garden Hotspurs leading the pack with 42 points, followed closely by FLOW 4G Cayon Rockets, with 39 points, and S L Horsford St. Paul’s United now on 38 points,” Tyrell informed.

In the remainder of the points standing:

SOL Island Auto Conaree – 34 points

RAMS Village Superstars – 31

Winners Circle Newtown – 26

ELCO Limited St. Peter’s – 26

United Old Road Jets – 16

Fast Cash SPD United – 15

Delta Petroleum Sandy Point – 3

“The competition, for me, is wide open. It is still open for the first seven teams to have a chance to get into the Final 4. Teams have about eight games to go, and if any team wins all its games, they would accumulate an additional 24 points, but truthfully, it would be fair to say that team Sandy Point has already eliminated itself.”

“I do believe over the next couple of days, you will see some good football.”

Meanwhile, the stage has been reached for what is called ‘The Round of Sixteen” for the 2017 SKNFA – FA Cup Competition – a knock-out competition. Games are being played to get to through the next stages that lead to the SKNFA – FA Cup Finals.

The quarter finals of the FA Cup will be held on the 28th and the 30th of March.

Local Sports, Regional Sports, Sports

SHARE TWEET SHARE EMAIL GEORGETOWN, (CMC) – Pakistan defeated West Indies by 74 runs in the second One-Day International of the three-match series at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday.

http://sknpulse.com/pakistan-beat-west-indies-by-74-runs-2nd-odi/ #

Published 10 April 2017

GEORGETOWN, (CMC) – Pakistan defeated West Indies by 74 runs in the second One-Day International of the three-match series at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday.

Pakistan scored 282 for five off 50 overs (Babar Azam 125 not out, Imad Wasim 43 not out, Mohammed Hafeez 32, Sarfraz Ahmed 26; Shannon Gabriel 2-50)

Meanwhile West Indies scraped 208 off 44.5 overs (Jason Holder 68, Ashley Nurse 44; Hasan Ali 5-38, Mohammad Hafeez 2-23)

Babar Azam struck his fifth One-Day International hundred and fourth in five matches against West Indies as Pakistan set the hosts another imposing run chase in the second game of the three-match series yesterday.

Sent in, the visitors tallied 282 for five off their 50 overs, with the right-handed Babar stroking a career-best unbeaten 125 off 132 deliveries at the Guyana National Stadium.

Imad Wasim came at the end to lash an unbeaten 43 off 35 balls, combining with Azam to plunder 84 runs off the last seven overs – in an 89-run, unbroken sixth wicket stand which gave the innings much needed impetus.

Mohammed Hafeez got 32 and captain Sarfraz Ahmed, 26, while fast bowler Shannon Gabriel led the bowlers with two for 50.

Still inspired from their record run chase in Friday’s opener, West Indies started strongly when they removed dangerous openers Ahmed Shezad (5) and Kamran Akmal (21) to leave Pakistan 44 for two in the ninth over.

Gabriel claimed Shezad to a smart leg-side catch by wicketkeeper Shai Hope while Joseph accounted for Akmal in identical fashion.

READ STPS and EPPS emerge winners at 25th Gulf Insurance Primary Schools Championships on Nevis

Azam then paced the innings nicely with three vital partnerships. He put on 69 for the third wicket with Hafeez, added 55 for the fifth with Safraz before his belter at the end with Imad.

All told, Azam struck seven fours and three sixes while the left-handed Imad blasted a pair of four and sixes.

Sourced Information: CMC

International Sports, Sports

Iraq coach Shenaishil sacked after World Cup failure

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-worldcup-irq-idUSKBN17D05M #

Published 10 April 2017

Iraq’s Radhi Shenaishil became the third coaching casualty of Asian World Cup qualifying Group B when he was sacked late on Monday.

The 50-year-old was shown the door after defeat to Saudi Arabia in Jeddah at the end of last month all but ruled the country out of contention for a place in Russia next year.

“We are not happy with the results and the coaching team is to be sacked and replaced by foreign staff,” read a statement on the Iraq FA Facebook page (www.facebook.com/iraqfa).

“The FA will work with the Iraqi government and Iraqi Olympic Committee to provide funds for a replacement.”

Shenaishil’s departure follows that of United Arab Emirates coach Mahdi Ali, who quit after a 2-0 loss to Australia in Sydney in the same round of matches effectively ended his team’s dreams of qualifying for Russia.

Thailand’s Kiatisuk Senamuang also stepped down in the wake of the 4-0 thrashing by Japan that ended slim Thai hopes of reaching the finals for the first time.

Shenaishil led Iraq to the semi-finals of the 2015 Asian Cup in a previous stint in charge and, after a spell at Baghdad club Al-Shorta, returned to mastermind the bid to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1986.Hampered by having to play their “home” matches in neutral venues for security reasons, the Iraqis were always going to struggle to clinch a ticket to Russia after losing their first three qualifiers of the third round.

The 1-0 loss to the Saudis on March 28 left the 2007 Asian champions fifth in Group B with four points from seven matches, nine points behind third-placed Australia and 12 in arrears to leaders Saudi Arabia and Japan.

The top two teams qualify directly for Russia, while third place offers a further berth via a playoff against the similarly placed team in Group A and an intercontinental tie against a team from the Central and North America Confederation.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Peter Rutherford)

International Sports, Sports

Argentina sack coach Bauza, line up Sevilla’s Sampaoli

Published 10 April 2017

By Rex Gowar | BUENOS AIRES

Twice World Cup winners Argentina sacked coach Edgardo Bauza on Monday after a string of poor results in South American qualifying left them struggling to reach the 2018 finals in Russia.

Media reports suggest Sevilla’s Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli, who has never disguised his ambition to take charge of the national team and steered neighboring Chile to the Copa America title in 2015, will step into the vacancy.

“We’ve reached an agreement, we’ve told Bauza he’s ceased to be the national team coach,” the Argentine FA’s recently elected president Claudio Tapia told reporters after a meeting at the organization’s Buenos Aires headquarters.

Argentina, whose captain Lionel Messi has been banned for four matches for insulting a match official, are fifth in the South American group with four qualifiers remaining.

The top four in the 10-nation group go through to the 2018 finals in Russia, while the fifth-placed country qualifies for a playoff against a team from Oceania.

Bauza presided over eight matches, all 2018 World Cup qualifiers, with three wins, two draws and three defeats.

If the AFA can successfully prize Sampaoli away from Sevilla at the end of the season, he would have until August 31 to prepare for Argentina’s next qualifier, a tricky trip to play Uruguay in Montevideo.

Tapia has announced a news conference for Tuesday to give details of Bauza’s departure and his possible successor.

The new AFA leadership made the decision to dispense with Bauza after Argentina were lucky to beat Chile 1-0 at home with a Messi penalty then lost 2-0 away to Bolivia at high altitude in La Paz last month.

Argentina, who had Messi suspended before the Bolivia game, could be without their talisman in Uruguay and at home to Peru and Venezuela later this year unless they manage to get the ban reduced on appeal.

If the appeal fails, Messi would only come back for the final, potentially decisive qualifier away to Ecuador at high altitude in Quito in October.

Bauza was appointed last July by Armando Perez, who headed a FIFA committee that administered the AFA and prepared it for the presidential election that Tapia won last month.

Messi had quit international soccer after Argentina’s second successive Copa America final defeat on penalties by Chile in the United States in June, having missed the opening spot kick in the shootout.

Bauza persuaded Messi to return in August and the captain responded with a goal in a 1-0 home win over Uruguay on Sept. 1.

The 59-year-old’s team were unconvincing, though, with draws away to Venezuela and Peru, losses to Paraguay and Brazil and a win over Colombia between September and November.

Messi missed all but the Brazil and Colombia matches through injury.

Sampaoli quit as Chile coach after lifting the 2015 Copa America but had just taken charge at Sevilla when the Argentina job became vacant last July after Gerardo Martino resigned.

The AFA would have to pay a buyout clause to trigger Sampaoli’s release from Sevilla.

(Additional reporting by Miguel Lobianco and Luis Ampuero; Editing by Ken Ferris and Nick Mulvenney)

International Sports, Sports

Soccer: Arsenal’s top-four hopes suffer major blow with 3-0 Palace loss

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-england-cry-ars-idUSKBN17C2HC #

Published 10 April 2017

– Arsenal’s hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four suffered a potentially fatal blow as they suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Crystal Palace on Monday.

Victory had been imperative for an Arsenal side that had won only two league games since January but the abject display with Andros Townsend, Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic all scoring for Palace only heaped more pressure on manager Arsene Wenger.

Sixth-placed Arsenal, who have finished in the top four in 20 consecutive seasons under Wenger, now have 54 points from 30 games — seven points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, who have played a game more.

“It’s damaging of course,” a seemingly dispirited Wenger told Sky Sports when asked about how serious the blow was to their chances of Champions League soccer next season. “That’s the most difficult thing for us tonight.”

Rejuvenated Palace, winners of four of their previous five league games under Sam Allardyce, started confidently and opened the scoring when former Tottenham winger Townsend swept the ball home at the end of a smart passing move after 17 minutes.

Palace striker Christian Benteke then had a goal ruled out for offside before Cabaye’s superb curled effort and Milivojevic’s penalty in five second-half minutes completed a miserable night for Wenger at a raucous Selhurst Park.

Palace stay 16th but now have 34 points from 31 matches, six more than Swansea City, who occupy the final relegation place in 18th and have played a game more.

“All we can do is apologize for that performance,” Arsenal’s Theo Walcott said after Arsenal fans had sung ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ at their players.

“It was a great three points and a well needed-three points,” Townsend said.

“Sam Allardyce has been incredible. He looks to have worked his magic again.”

Arsenal started shakily against in-form Palace and within the first seven minutes Cabaye had wasted a dangerous shooting position before Milivojevic blazed narrowly wide.

Arsenal settled into a period of possession but Palace were a constant threat on the break and it was a long ball from a goalkick that yielded the breakthrough.After Benteke won a header, a neat passing move ended with Townsend stroking home a cross from the slipping Wilfried Zaha, high past Emiliano Martinez.

In response Arsenal created a few chances via Alexis Sanchez but the hosts looked capable of scoring whenever they ran at Arsenal’s fragile defense.

Benteke had a goal ruled out for offside after the break before Palace added a well-deserved, quickfire brace.

First, Cabaye met Zaha’s cross with a superb, first-time effort before the impressive Milivojevic converted from the penalty spot after Townsend was fouled.

Without some desperate last-ditch defending Palace, revitalized in their past six games, could have scored further goals.

(Reporting by Tom Hayward; Editing by Ken Ferris and Ian Chadband)