Milan beat Dinamo Zagreb to top Champions League Group E

Milan beat Dinamo Zagreb to top Champions League Group E
AC Milan’s Tommaso Pobega celebrates with teammates Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez after scoring his side’s third goal during their Champions League match against Dinamo Zagreb, at the San Siro stadium in Milan on Wednesday. (AP)
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Updated 14 September 2022

Milan beat Dinamo Zagreb to top Champions League Group E

Milan beat Dinamo Zagreb to top Champions League Group E
  • Stefano Pioli's side are three points ahead of Salzburg in third
  • Milan are seven-time European champions but have only returned to the top table in recent seasons after years in the doldrums

MILAN: AC Milan moved top of Champions League Group E on Wednesday after a routine 3-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb.
Olivier Giroud’s penalty on the stroke of half-time and further goals from Alexis Saelemaekers and Tommaso Pobega were enough for Milan to leapfrog Dinamo into first place on four points.
Stefano Pioli’s side are three points ahead of Salzburg in third, before their match at bottom side Chelsea later on Wednesday, following their first home win in Europe’s top competition in nine years.
Milan are seven-time European champions but have only returned to the top table in recent seasons after years in the doldrums.
Mario Balotelli was playing up front and Massimiliano Allegri was coach when Milan beat Celtic in September 2013 but now the ‘Rossoneri’ appear firmly back in the big time.
Dinamo tried to frustrate Milan in a similar way to how they dealt with Chelsea in their opening day win in Croatia and Ante Cacic’s side did a good job in holding off the Italian champions until Josip Sutalo brought down Rafael Leao in the 43rd minute.
Giroud stepped up to the penalty spot and netted his fourth goal of the season, giving Milan the lead and opening up what had been a tight match.
Saelemaekers appeared to have broken Dinamo’s resistance two minutes after the restart by heading home Leao’s cross.
But nine minutes later the away side gave the match new life through Mislav Orsic, who rifled in a powerful finish from Bruno Petkovic’s delightful flicked assist.
Milan were not rattled though and sealed the points with a nicely-worked goal with 13 minutes remaining.
Theo Hernandez got to the byline before pulling back an inviting pass from which Italy international Pobega crashed in his first Milan goal off the underside of the bar.
It was a first ever goal in the Champions League for Pobega, who came through Milan’s youth system and is now back with his boyhood club after four years on loan at a series of Italian clubs.


Paris aims to keep Olympians cool without air conditioners

Paris aims to keep Olympians cool without air conditioners
Updated 21 March 2023

Paris aims to keep Olympians cool without air conditioners

Paris aims to keep Olympians cool without air conditioners
  • In anticipation of hot weather, organizers have been studying heatwaves block by block in the Athletes Village
  • Eliud Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion and marathon world record holder, endorsed the Paris sustainability plan

PARIS: The Paris Olympics is going underground to find a way to keep athletes cool at the 2024 Games without air conditioners.

Organizers are planning to use a water-cooling system under the Athletes Village — much like the one that has helped the Louvre Museum cope with the sweltering heat that broke records last year — to keep temperatures in check for the Olympians and Paralympians who stay there.

The decision is part of the organizing committee’s goal to cut the carbon footprint of the Paris Games by half and stage the most sustainable Olympics to date by installing a special technology to use natural sources to keep everyone cool even during a potential heat wave.

“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who has resolved to tackle climate change with an ambitious action plan that aims to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the City of Lights carbon neutral by 2050.

Compared to a conventional project, the carbon impact will be reduced by 45 percent for the Athletes Village during the construction phase and over the entire Olympic cycle, she said.

For two months between July and September 2024, the Athletes Village north of Paris will host 15,600 athletes and sports officials during the Olympics and 9,000 athletes and their supporting teams during the Paralympics. After the games, the 50-hectare (125-acre) site next to the River Seine in the popular district of Seine-Saint-Denis will become a zero-carbon, eco-friendly residential and commercial neighborhood with 6,000 new inhabitants — the first ones moving in as soon as 2025.

In anticipation of hot weather, organizers have been studying heatwaves block by block in the Athletes Village. They have simulated conditions in the parts of the accommodation most exposed to the sun and have tested the effectiveness of the cooling system with an objective to keep the indoor temperature between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius (73 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit).

The geothermal energy system will ensure that the temperature in the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb does not rise above 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at night, including during a potential a heat wave, said Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages.

He said organizers have conducted tests in rooms that are located on the highest floors of the residences and are facing south and exposed to direct sun on two sides. They also considered directions of winds in the region and the water temperature in the Seine. They have worked closely with France’s national weather agency to develop temperature forecasts.

“Despite outdoor temperatures reaching 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), we had temperatures at 28 degrees (82 degrees Fahrenheit) in most of these rooms,” Michaud told The Associated Press, detailing the results of a heatwave simulation. “In other rooms, we clearly had lower temperatures.”

In addition to the underfloor cooling, the insulation built into the buildings will enable residents to keep the cold obtained during the night throughout the day, Michaud said. To keep the coolness inside, the athletes will have to follow some basic rules, he added, including making sure the window blinds are shut during the day.

Laurent Monnet, who is in charge of the green transition at Saint-Denis City Hall, Paris’ northern suburb where the main Olympic Village will be located, said all rooms should be 6 degrees Celsius (11 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than the outside temperature, without an AC unit. Although some Olympic hopefuls have already expressed concern about the lack of air conditioning, Monnet said athletes should adapt and help contribute to fight against climate change.

“We need athletes to set an example when they use the buildings,” Monnet said. “We can build the most virtuous village we want, it is also the use that will be made of it that will weigh on our carbon footprint.”

Eliud Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion and marathon world record holder, endorsed the Paris sustainability plan. The Kenyan is one the sport’s most vocal proponents of environmental justice and has repeatedly sounded the alarm on climate change and the impact of global warming.

“It’s a good thought, because we all need to reduce our carbon,” Kipchoge said in an interview with the AP.

He called on fellow athletes to help combat climate change by reducing their carbon impact during competition, training and their lives in general because “we are all going to go through the same scenario.”

Paris organizers have been in touch with national Olympic committees and said they will have the option of setting up their own AC units in specific cases and on condition that the devices comply with the organizing committee’s technical criteria.

Most national Olympic officials have responded to the plans to keep their athletes cool during the Paris Games with a wait-and-see attitude. Some Olympic officials are not excluding bringing their own air conditioners to France — or paying for one on the spot — depending on the weather at the time.

The Australian Olympic Committee said it will keep an eye on the weather patterns in Paris over the coming year to ensure “the optimal high-performance environment for our athletes, including heat and humidity mitigation that may be required.”

Michaud, the director of the Olympic Village, said organizers want to be kind to the environment, but not endanger the health of athletes. Some athletes, especially in Paralympic events, have difficulty regulating their body’s core temperature and if they reside in rooms in which it proves impossible to keep at 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at night, national delegations will be able to install a portable AC system.

“It will be on a case-by-case basis, and for health and safety of the athletes,” Michaud said, adding that ventilators vaporizing water droplets could be installed instead of traditional air conditioning units.

Hidalgo, the Paris mayor, is adamantly against turning next year’s event into the bring-your-own-air-conditioning Olympics — health exceptions aside.

“I can assure you that we will not change course and that there will be no changes to the construction program of the village regarding air conditioning,” Hidalgo said.

Regarding the option of organizers providing national teams with an additional cooling mechanism, she said: “I am not in favor of it. We must be consistent with our objectives.”


Germany hopes to repair reputation before hosting Euro 2024

Germany hopes to repair reputation before hosting Euro 2024
Updated 21 March 2023

Germany hopes to repair reputation before hosting Euro 2024

Germany hopes to repair reputation before hosting Euro 2024
  • The campaign starts this week with friendly games against Peru in Mainz on Saturday, then Belgium in Cologne three days later

BERLIN: With the European Championship looming next year, host Germany hopes this week to start repairing the tattered reputation of its men’s national soccer team.

Two World Cup flops and a poor showing in between have taken their toll on what was a proud heritage for Germany. The four-time World Cup winner no longer strikes fear among opponents.

The German Soccer Federation wants to change that before the country hosts Euro 2024. It’s an opportunity to restore lost pride, albeit with the potential for more embarrassment.

The campaign starts this week with friendly games against Peru in Mainz on Saturday, then Belgium in Cologne three days later.

The federation has given coach Hansi Flick another chance to lead the team after its first-round exit at the 2022 World Cup. It also brought in former Germany striker and coach Rudi Voller as sporting director to oversee what it hopes will be a successful shakeup.

Another one.

Former coach Joachim Low attempted a shakeup after Germany’s first-round exit at the 2018 World Cup, then ditched it after a 6-0 drubbing by Spain when he recalled veterans Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels for the coronavirus-delayed Euro 2020 tournament. It only got his team as far as the second round, where England ended Low’s 15-year stint in charge.

Flick is banking on more success with the latest focus on youth, building his squad on a foundation of talented but untested under-21 players. Flick has called up six debutants for the games against Peru and Belgium, while leaving out established regulars like Muller, Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan, Antonio Rüdiger and Marco Reus among others.

“We’ve taken this path to see which players have the potential to be at the European Championship next year,” Flick said.

Bayer Leverkusen’s 19-year-old attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz is the German team’s new star, particularly with Bayern Munich’s 20-year-old Jamal Musiala ruled out of the upcoming games through injury. Both were already established players for the senior team, though Wirtz missed the World Cup last November with a knee injury.

Perhaps to underline Germany’s new faith in its youth setup, under-21 coach Antonio Di Salvo appeared alongside Flick and Voller at Monday’s press conference.

Di Salvo is preparing his team for the Under-21 European Championship in Georgia and Romania this summer, but said he was happy to see players like AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw get their chance with Flick’s senior team.

“It’s an honor for the players. It’s also an honor for all the coaches involved along the way from the club to the under-21 team,” Di Salvo said.

Voller also stressed the importance of Germany’s underage sides.

“I myself am a child of the under-21 team,” said Völler, whose goals helped West Germany win the World Cup in 1990.

The now 62-year-old Voller said Germany’s success at the 1982 Under-21 European Championship, where his team reached the final, laid the foundation for the 1990 World Cup win. He also referred to 2009 European champions Manuel Neuer, Sami Khedira, Benedikt Höwedes, Mesut Özil and others helping Germany win the World Cup in 2014.

“That’s the basis for us,” said Voller, who said all the players in Flick and Di Salvo’s teams had the chance to play for Germany at Euro 2024.

“It’s fortunate we have this wonderful European Championship here next year. It’s important for every player and it shows the young players, especially those who are there, how lovely it is to have such a big tournament in your own country,” Völler said. “Every tournament is hugely important and it brings you forward. But to have a tournament in your own country is something special.”


US trounce Cuba 14-2 to reach World Baseball Classic final

US trounce Cuba 14-2 to reach World Baseball Classic final
Updated 20 March 2023

US trounce Cuba 14-2 to reach World Baseball Classic final

US trounce Cuba 14-2 to reach World Baseball Classic final
  • The US play Japan or Mexico in Tuesday night’s championship, trying to join the Samurai Warriors as the only nations to win the title twice

MIAMI: Trea Turner, Paul Goldschmidt and an unrelenting US lineup kept putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard, a dynamic display of the huge gap between an American team of major leaguers and Cubans struggling on the world stage as top players have left the island nation.

Turner homered twice to give him a tournament-leading four, driving in four runs to lead the US to a 14-2 rout Sunday night and advance the defending champion Americans to the World Baseball Classic final.

Goldschmidt also homered and had four RBIs and Cedric Mullins went deep in a game interrupted three times by fans running on the field to display protest signs.

“The team kind of represents the government over there, and people aren’t too happy about it,” US manager Mark DeRosa said.

The US play Japan or Mexico in Tuesday night’s championship, trying to join the Samurai Warriors as the only nations to win the title twice.

“I think it took us a little bit of time, but now we kind of found our stride a little bit,” Turner said.

Turner has a tournament-leading 10 RBIs. He followed his go-ahead, eighth-inning grand slam a night earlier against Venezuela with a solo homer in the second inning off Roenis Elias (0-1) and a three-run drive in the sixth against Elian Leyva.

“I kept saying every time he went deep, who is the idiot that’s hitting him ninth?” DeRosa said.

Cuba went ahead when their first four batters reached off Adam Wainwright (2-0) without getting a ball out of the infield. After forcing in a run with a walk to Alfredo Despaigne, the 41-year-old right-hander recovered to strand the bases loaded.

“I put myself in that situation in the first place by making horrible PFP plays — or not making PFP plays,” Wainwright said in a reference to pitchers’ fielding practice and two grounders he failed to come up with.

American batters had 14 hits, including eight for extra bases, and seven walks as they scored in seven of eight innings — five with multiple runs.


Ancelotti: ‘We did not deserve to lose’ El Clasico

Ancelotti: ‘We did not deserve to lose’ El Clasico
Updated 20 March 2023

Ancelotti: ‘We did not deserve to lose’ El Clasico

Ancelotti: ‘We did not deserve to lose’ El Clasico
  • Real Madrid opened the scoring through an own goal by Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo in the ninth minute
  • Barcelona replied through goals by Sergi Roberto and Frank Kessie in the 45th and 90th minutes

RIYADH: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti expressed his disappointment after a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in El Clasico, saying, “We did not deserve to lose.”

Real Madrid opened the scoring through an own goal by Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo in the ninth minute.

Barcelona replied through goals by Sergi Roberto and Frank Kessie in the 45th and 90th minutes.

Barcelona jumped to 68 points in the league table, 12 points ahead of Real Madrid, who lie second.

Ancelotti said at the press conference: “The points difference is bigger now and it has become more difficult, but we will do our best until the last match. Honestly, we didn’t deserve to lose. We tried our best, we played well and scored a goal. We were about to win the match.”

He added: “We are sad, but proud of the match we played, We tried everything, We haven’t won it due an off-side, we still have doubts about it, and we will return to Madrid with those doubts still in our minds.”


Saudi archery team wins silver at Asia Cup 2023

Saudi archery team wins silver at Asia Cup 2023
The trio of Rashid Al-Subaie, Abdulrahman Al-Mousa and Mansour Alawi represented Saudi Arabia at the tournament. supplied
Updated 20 March 2023

Saudi archery team wins silver at Asia Cup 2023

Saudi archery team wins silver at Asia Cup 2023
  • The greens lost the final to the Indian team, with Australia placing third

Riyadh: The Saudi archery team won a silver medal in the men’s category of the Asia Cup 2023 archery stage one world ranking tournament that concluded on Sunday in Taipei, Taiwan.

The greens lost the final to the Indian team, with Australia placing third.

The trio of Rashid Al-Subaie, Abdulrahman Al-Mousa and Mansour Alawi represented Saudi Arabia at the tournament.

Mishaal Al-Hokair, president of the Saudi Arabian Archery Federation, said in a statement that the support of Kingdom’s leadership has contributed to Saudi sporting achievements.

“Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, minister of sports, and Prince Fahd bin Jalawi, vice-president of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, have always been supportive and motivating to the sports sector and athletes,” he added, commending the two officials for their work.

The national archery team is set to return to the Kingdom on Tuesday, when the federation will organize a special ceremony to celebrate their medal.