European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63

European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63
Former Aston Villa striker Gary Shaw, who helped the club to their shock European Cup triumph in 1982, died on Monday aged 63. (X/@AVFCOfficial)
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Updated 16 September 2024
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European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63

European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63
  • The forward died after recently going into hospital following a head injury suffered in a fall
  • “Aston Villa Football Club is deeply shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that Gary Shaw, one of our European Cup-winning heroes, has passed away,” a statement said

LONDON: Former Aston Villa striker Gary Shaw, who helped the club to their shock European Cup triumph in 1982, died on Monday aged 63.
Shaw was a member of the Villa side that won the First Division title in 1981 and then memorably stunned German giants Bayern Munich in the European Cup final 12 months later.
The forward died after recently going into hospital following a head injury suffered in a fall.
“Aston Villa Football Club is deeply shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that Gary Shaw, one of our European Cup-winning heroes, has passed away,” a statement said.
“Gary was one of our own, a talented striker who delighted supporters with his goalscoring exploits which helped fire Villa to success in the 1980s. Individual accolades would also follow for a player who was idolized by many on the terraces.

“He passed away peacefully earlier today surrounded by his family, who asked Aston Villa to release a statement on their behalf.”
Shaw’s death came on the eve of Villa’s first match in the Champions League for 41 years.
Unai Emery’s side face Young Boys in Switzerland on Tuesday and the Villa manager urged his team to win the match in tribute to Shaw.
“My condolences to the family and all the supporters at Villa,” said Emery, whose team will wear black armbands for the fixture in Bern.
“We have a memory always, in our training ground a picture of 1982 and the European Cup. He was a protagonist of that. My condolences to them.
“Yes, I think it’s sad and we can use it as motivation.”
Shaw joined Villa as an apprentice and went on to score 79 times in 213 appearances, including 20 goals in their 1981 title-winning campaign.
He was named PFA Young Player of the Year after Villa’s first English title since 1910.
Shaw scored three goals in Villa’s run to European Cup glory, including a crucial quarter-final strike against Dynamo Kiev.
Peter Withe’s winner against Bayern in Rotterdam lifted the team to previously unimaginable heights, with Birmingham-born Shaw savouring the triumph more than most.
Yet within a year of Villa’s epic victory, Shaw suffered a knee injury in a match against Nottingham Forest that curtailed his progress and ultimately saw him retire from the game after six operations.
He left the club in 1988 for spells in Denmark and Austria, before ending his career in 1992 after short stints at Walsall, Kilmarnock and Shrewsbury.
Shaw later worked as a statistical analyst and a matchday ambassador for Villa.


Mbappe among stars missing from Nations League while European teams eye World Cup qualifying

Mbappe among stars missing from Nations League while European teams eye World Cup qualifying
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Mbappe among stars missing from Nations League while European teams eye World Cup qualifying

Mbappe among stars missing from Nations League while European teams eye World Cup qualifying
  • France captain Kylian Mbappe opts to stay away from Nations League
  • The Nations League will open an international door for newcomers
GENEVA: In a congested football season where elite players have aired the idea of going on strike, the Nations League returns this week looking less than a top priority.
France captain Kylian Mbappe opted to stay away, his probable deputy Antoine Griezmann retired from the national team, and Romelu Lukaku asked to work on his fitness at new club Napoli rather than join the Belgium camp.
Add a wave of injury call-offs in Germany and elsewhere — some of them serious, for Spain defender Dani Carvajal and German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen — and the Nations League will open an international door for newcomers.
Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco called up four potential debutants to experiment in games in what is the third-tier competition for European teams.
“We will not do it during the important World Cup qualification,” said Tedesco, looking ahead to that important next stage in 2025.
The 2026 World Cup in North America is, however, already now in play for teams targeting that tournament and each has two Nations League games from Thursday through Tuesday.
Results in the next week, and two more games in November, are the last chance to gain a better seeding in the Dec. 13 draw in Zurich for European qualifying groups for the World Cup.
Two teams pushing to raise their FIFA ranking and go into the draw pot of second-seeded teams are Norway and Slovenia.
Haaland vs. Sesko
Europe’s most feared striker and one of its emerging stars are due to meet again on Thursday in Oslo.
Erling Haaland and Benjamin Sesko, once club mates at Salzburg, are the main attractions when Norway hosts Slovenia in their second-tier League B group.
Haaland has 11 goals in 10 games for Manchester City this season plus a winning goal in the Nations League, sealing a 2-1 victory over Austria last month.
Sesko has six in nine games for Leipzig — including three in the Champions League — plus four in two Nations League games. The tall striker got a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan.
Thursday’s game will not be decisive in the group but it will decide who leads at the midway point and is set for promotion to the top tier. The return game in Ljubljana is Nov. 14.
France’s leader
The last time France played a game with neither Mbappe nor Griezmann on the field? November 2016, in a 0-0 draw with Ivory Coast in a friendly.
It will happen again Thursday when France faces Israel in Budapest. The Hungarian capital is the neutral venue chosen since Israel’s conflict with Hamas started one year ago.
Mbappe has faced a latest round of criticism at home by asking out of coach Didier Deschamp’s squad last week then starting for Real Madrid in a league game Saturday.
The search for a new captain has taken Deschamps back to Madrid, with 24-year-old midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni named Wednesday to take the armband. France also travels to face Belgium on Monday.
Standout Italy
Italy leads the top-tier group that includes France and Belgium after winning both its September games on the road.
A 3-1 win in France, despite trailing in the first minute, was perhaps the standout performance in the Nations League last month. Italy followed it with a 2-1 win over Israel in Budapest.
Coach Luciano Spalletti’s squad, refreshed with younger players after a round of 16 exit at the European Championship, now has back-to-back home games: against Belgium in Rome on Thursday and Israel in Udine on Monday.
Italy can seal a top-two finish in the group on Monday with two rounds left to play in November. That would earn a place in the Nations League quarterfinals in March.
Top-tier teams that advance to the Nations League Final Four mini-tournament in June will not start their World Cup qualifying games until September. They will need to be placed by FIFA into four-team groups.
Rookie ‘keepers
Manuel Neuer has retired from the Germany team and Marc-Andre ter Stegen is out injured beyond the March international break.
So, in come three newcomers competing to be first-choice goalkeepers for games at Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday and home to the Netherlands on Monday: Oliver Baumann of Hoffenheim, Alexander Nubel of Stuttgart and Janis Blaswich, who plays at Salzburg on loan from sister club Leipzig.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann also is without the injured trio of Bayern’s Jamal Musiala, Arsenal’s Kai Havertz and West Ham’s Niclas Fullkrug.
Games to watch
Defending champion Spain returns Saturday hosting Denmark which won its first two games under new coach Lars Knudsen without conceding a goal.
Two entertaining teams at Euro 2024, Georgia and Albania, renew rivalry on Monday. Georgia won 1-0 in Tirana last month and leads that second-tier group of four Euro 2024 teams which also includes the Czech Republic and last-place Ukraine.
Cristiano Ronaldo has graced almost every national stadium in Europe across two decades and 214 games for Portugal, though not yet Hampden Park in Glasgow. He should play there Tuesday.
It took Ronaldo until his 214th game last month to even face Scotland, and he scored a men’s record-extending 132nd goal to seal a 2-1 win in the 88th minute.
In the same group, Poland vs Croatia should see two greats face off as captains: 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski and 39-year-old Luka Modric.

Record-breaking Joe Root hits hundred as England power to 351-3 against Pakistan

Record-breaking Joe Root hits hundred as England power to 351-3 against Pakistan
Updated 09 October 2024
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Record-breaking Joe Root hits hundred as England power to 351-3 against Pakistan

Record-breaking Joe Root hits hundred as England power to 351-3 against Pakistan
  • All three Pakistani pacers, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Aamer Jamal, have taken one wicket each
  • 33-year-old Root has become England’s highest run scorer in Tests, and the fifth highest of all time in the world

MULTAN: Joe Root hit a magnificent hundred on Wednesday to guide England to 351-3 at tea on the third day of the opening Test against Pakistan in Multan after breaking Alastair Cook’s Test runs record.
The 33-year-old became England’s highest run scorer in Tests, and the fifth highest of all time, when he drove Pakistan seamer Aamer Jamal for a straight boundary to reach 71 just before lunch.
In the second session he reverse swept spinner Abrar Ahmed for a single to reach his 35th Test hundred – the sixth most by any batsman – before going to the interval on an imperious 119 not out.
Harry Brook scored his 10th Test half century and was 64 not out, leaving England 205 behind Pakistan’s first innings total of 556. Root has so far notched eight fours to Brook’s seven.
Root and Brook’s fourth-wicket stand has so far yielded 102 runs as a flat Multan stadium pitch continued to give no assistance to the bowlers.
Root added 136 for the third wicket with Ben Duckett who made a robust 84 with 11 boundaries, showing no effect of a thumb dislocation on Tuesday that forced him to bat at number four.
Duckett was the only man dismissed in the post-lunch session, trapped leg-before by seamer Aamer Jamal after hitting 11 boundaries.
All three Pakistan fast bowlers, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Jamal have taken one wicket each.
It was a day to remember for Root, who took 268 innings and 147 Tests to go past his former captain Cook’s total of 12,472 runs from 161 Tests in a glorious career that ended in 2018.
Root also added 109 for the second wicket with Zak Crawley, who hit 13 fours in an 85-ball 78 but departed early on the third morning.
In the fourth over, Crawley failed to keep a flick down off pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi and was caught at the second attempt by Jamal at mid-wicket.
Duckett started with trademark aggression, taking five boundaries off spinner Abrar and completing his 10th Test half-century off just 45 balls.
It enabled Root to accumulate steadily at the other end as he brought up his 65th Test fifty off 76 balls before being applauded by a handful of England fans and teammates in the dressing room when he broke Cook’s record.
The all-time list is headed by India’s Sachin Tendulkar with 15,921 from 200 matches.
Cook tipped Root to eclipse Tendulkar’s mark.
“I can see him overhauling Sachin Tendulkar’s record,” the former England opening batsman said during commentary on BBC radio.
“You could say Sachin is still the favorite but just.
“I don’t see that happening for Root to lose that hunger and ability to keep driving himself forward for the next couple of years.”


Turki Alalshikh reveals undercard for December’s Ring of Fire Reignited

Turki Alalshikh reveals undercard for December’s Ring of Fire Reignited
Updated 09 October 2024
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Turki Alalshikh reveals undercard for December’s Ring of Fire Reignited

Turki Alalshikh reveals undercard for December’s Ring of Fire Reignited

RIYADH: Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has confirmed the undercard for the Ring of Fire Reignited fight between heavyweights Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury at Kingdom Arena, Riyadh.

One of the showpiece events of Riyadh Season 2024, the undercard for the colossal Usyk-Fury rematch on Dec. 21 is certainly one that is fitting for a fight of this billing.

Former WBA light-middleweight champion Israil Madrimov returns to action at Riyadh Season as he looks to bounce back following his points defeat to Terence Crawford in Los Angeles against Serhii Bohachuk, who narrowly lost out to Vergil Ortiz in an epic battle by majority decision last time out.

Heavyweight Moses Itauma is also confirmed, having featured on the original Ring of Fire card back in May when he won the vacant WBO Intercontinental heavyweight title following a second-round stoppage victory against Germany’s Ilja Mezencev, retaining his title with another second-round stoppage against Mariusz Wach.

His opponent for December will be Australian fighter Demsey McKean, back in action after a 22-fight winning run was brought to an end by Filip Hrgovic last year.

In another heavyweight battle, Johnny Fisher will look to extend his explosive knockout streak against Dave Allen, coming off his second points win of the year.

Elsewhere, Dennis McCann puts his unbeaten record on the line against Peter McGrail, who recently produced arguably the best win of his professional career against Brad Foster, while Isaac Lowe is back at Kingdom Arena, where he secured a fourth straight win against Hasibullah Ahmadi on points during May’s Ring of Fire undercard.

Lowe will take on Lee McGregor, the former British and European bantamweight champion.


Aryna Sabalenka relishes ‘much-needed’ tennis rivalry with Iga Swiatek

Aryna Sabalenka relishes ‘much-needed’ tennis rivalry with Iga Swiatek
Updated 09 October 2024
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Aryna Sabalenka relishes ‘much-needed’ tennis rivalry with Iga Swiatek

Aryna Sabalenka relishes ‘much-needed’ tennis rivalry with Iga Swiatek
  • Top-ranked Iga Swiatek is absent from the field in Wuhan and withdrew from the China swing after splitting with her coach
  • Sabalenka has a chance to close the gap on the Polish world number one with a strong run in Wuhan

WUHA, China: World number two Aryna Sabalenka said Wednesday that she believes her rivalry with top-ranked Iga Swiatek is “much-needed” in women’s tennis.
The Belarusian advanced to the Wuhan Open third round with her 50th victory of the season, 6-4, 6-4 against Katerina Siniakova.
Swiatek is absent from the field in Wuhan and withdrew from the China swing after splitting with her coach of three years Tomasz Wiktorowski.
Sabalenka has a chance to close the gap on the Polish world number one with a strong run in Wuhan, with the battle for the top spot likely to come down to the wire at the season-ending championships in Riyadh next month.
“Having this rivalry with Iga is something big for tennis and something much-needed, I would say, in women’s tennis.
“To keep this competition going would be really good for tennis,” said Sabalenka, who will next face Yulia Putintseva in the last 16.
Sabalenka, 26, spent eight weeks at the summit of the rankings last season and says reclaiming the world number one spot is one of her biggest goals.
“I hope she’ll figure out the coach situation and she’ll be back in the finals in her best shape.
“Hopefully we can play against each other there in... a fight for world number one.”
Coco Gauff followed up her China Open title in Beijing on Sunday with a smooth 6-1, 6-2 win over Viktoriya Tomova.
Gauff has a seven-match win streak and faces 13th seed Marta Kostyuk in the last 16.
Kostyuk received a walkover after her opponent Amanda Anisimova withdrew with a left hip injury.
“Both mentally and physically I’m a little tired, if I’m being honest,” said Gauff. “But when I got on the court, I felt fine.
“How I approached Beijing, I was like, I want to approach this how I would play tennis as a kid.
“Sometimes I try to go back into that mindset and realize at the end of the day this is my dream now, and it was my dream as a kid.
“If I don’t want to do it for myself now, I can definitely do it for myself then.”
Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova crashed out to American qualifier and world number 102 Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 7-5 in just 94 minutes.
Seventh seed Krejcikova let a 3-1 lead slip in the opening set, as well as a 5-3 advantage in the second.
The 22-year-old Baptiste will next take on Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the quarter-finals.


Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson set for six weeks out

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson set for six weeks out
Updated 09 October 2024
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Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson set for six weeks out

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson set for six weeks out

LONDON:Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker is expected to be sidelined for around six weeks with a hamstring injury, which would rule him out of matches against Chelsea and Arsenal.
The 32-year-old Brazil international was hurt during last weekend’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace and went off late in the second half.
Reports in the British press say tests have shown Alisson is not likely to be fit to play until after next month’s international break.
That would mean the first match he would potentially be available for would be the trip to Southampton on November 24.
Arne Slot’s Premier League leaders face Chelsea on October 20 and Arsenal a week later, while their next two Champions League fixtures pit them against RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen.
Caoimhin Kelleher, who missed the Palace match through illness, will be expected to deputise, as he did last season when Alisson was ruled out with another hamstring injury.
Speaking after the victory at Crystal Palace, Slot predicted a lengthy lay-off for his number one goalkeeper.
“We have to wait and see but it will be a few weeks for him to be back. I think it is, yes (his hamstring),” he said.
“He’s clearly our number one, he’s the best goalkeeper in the world. It’s always a blow when he gets injured, not only for him but us as a team.”
Liverpool have 18 points from seven Premier League matches — one more than defending champions Manchester City and Arsenal.