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International Sports, Sports

Brazil top FIFA rankings for first time in seven years

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-fifa-rankings-idUSKBN178111 #

Published: 5 April 2017

Five-times world champions Brazil have returned to what they will consider their rightful place at the top of the FIFA rankings for the first time in seven years.

Brazil have enjoyed a impressive revival since Tite replaced Dunga as their national team coach last year, winning all nine matches they have played under his leadership including eight World Cup qualifiers.

They continued their run in March with a 4-1 win in Uruguay and 3-0 win over Paraguay to become the first side to book their place at next year’s World Cup in Russia with four games to spare.

Brazil, who replaced arch-rivals Argentina at the top, previously led the rankings going into the 2010 World Cup where they were eliminated by the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

Since then, they have suffered a string of embarrassments, with elimination by Paraguay at successive Copa America tournaments in 2011 and 2015 and their infamous 7-1 loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.

Argentina lost their place after last week’s 2-0 defeat in Bolivia which has left them struggling to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

Four of the top five teams in the rankings announcement by FIFA on Thursday, are from South America. Chile are fourth, Colombia fifth and Germany sandwiched in between in third.

Egypt are Africa’s best-placed team in 19th while Asia’s top side are 28th-placed Iran.

Top ten rankings (previous month’s places in brackets)

1. Brazil (2)

2. Argentina (1)

3. Germany (3)

4. Chile (4)

5. Colombia (7)

6. France (6)

7. Belgium (5)

8. Portugal (8)

9. Switzerland (9)

10. Spain (10)

(Writing by Brian Homewood; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

International Sports, Sports

Pacquiao to fight Australia’s Horn in July

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-boxing-pacquiao-idUSKBN17809D #

Published: 5 April 2017

Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao smiles during a brief conference upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila April 14, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
Picture Supplied by Action Images

Filipino great Manny Pacquiao will defend his WBO welterweight title against unbeaten Australian Jeff Horn in Brisbane in July after a bout with Amir Khan fell through, local media reported.

“We’re not able to fight Amir Khan because of Ramadan, so we decided to take this fight in the interim,” Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said in comments published by News Corp media.

“We signed it, so yeah, we’re excited about it. But again, my preference was to fight Amir Khan. That didn’t work out. We had this on the table so we decided to take it.”

Eight-division world champion Pacquiao agreed to an April fight against Briton Khan in the United Arab Emirates but his promoter Bob Arum said last month it had been postponed after the $38 million offer for the bout failed to materialize.

The July 2 fight against Horn will be the 38-year-old Pacquiao’s first since his unanimous decision victory for the title over American Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas last November.

“Manny will train and do the best he can and hopefully we get the fight over with very quickly, we get out of there, we say ‘hi’ to the Australian fans and media and come home,” Koncz said.

“Frankly and honestly, and nothing against Jeff Horn — I’ve never met the kid, I don’t know him personally — but the name recognition is I guess why the fans picked Amir Khan.”

In February, Philippines senator Pacquiao (59-6-2) asked fans on Twitter who he should fight next in a four-man poll and 48 percent of the respondents voted for Khan.

Horn (16-0-1) won seven percent behind Briton Kell Brook (24 percent) and American Terence Crawford (21).

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by John O’Brien)

Regional Sports, Sports

Both Brathwaites dropped from ODI squad

Published: 4 April 2017

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – West Indies head coach Stuart Law said today Carlos Brathwaite’s dropping from the one-day side to face Pakistan will afford the talented all-rounder the chance to further improve his weaknesses and return a stronger player.

The 28-year-old Brathwaite was left out of the 13-man squad to face Pakistan in a three-match series starting here Friday, and will now head to the Indian Premier League to take up his contract with Delhi Daredevils.

“We just thought the opportunity was there for Carlos to go away and work on a few aspects of his game, mainly his fitness and bowling – getting back to bowling how he wants to bowl so he has been left out for those reasons,” the Australian said.

Kraigg Brathwaite has been dropped from ODI team.

“It just coincided that the IPL was there and we had no cricket after this ODI series and he hasn’t been part of the last Test series so the selectors gave him the option of going to the IPL, which I think is a good thing.

“He can get to talk to guys like Rahul Dravid and learn how to play spin and he’ll get plenty practice with all the net bowlers that are available. He should be able to work on his fitness and work on his bowling.”

Brathwaite, who shot to stardom after hitting four consecutive sixes in the final over of the Twenty20 World Cup to win the title for West Indies last April, has struggled in the one-day format in recent times.

He averages 13 with the bat from 23 ODIs and averages 47 with his medium pace, having taken 21 wickets. In the three-match series against England last month, he scraped just 42 runs in three innings and failed to take a single wicket in 24 expensive overs.

Brathwaite’s unrelated namesake, opener Kraigg Brathwaite, was the other player left out of the ODI squad, after also failing to impress in his 10 games to date.

Law said West Indies required more explosive batting at the top of the order and selectors had therefore opted for Chadwick Walton. However, he assured Kraigg had not been discarded.

“We spoke to Kraigg after the last series and we’ve spoken to him since. We’re just looking for a little bit more impetus at the top of the order,” Law pointed out.

“In the first 10 overs, the power-play – we’ve probably got to make better use of those overs when we bat. It’s not like he’ll never play for the West Indies in ODI cricket again.

“He’s got an opportunity again to get back into first class cricket and score runs, which he has done since he’s been back, plus it’s also a great opportunity for him to get into good nick and feeling comfortable with his game before the Test series starts.”

West Indies face Pakistan in the first ODI on Friday at the Guyana National Stadium and follow up with games on Sunday and on April 11.

The three-Test series bowls off April 22 in Kingston.

SQUAD – Jason Holder (captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jonathan Carter, Miguel Cummins, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Kieran Powell, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton.

Local Sports, Sports