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JEDDAH: French and Saudi Pro League superstar Karim Benzema expressed his confidence in Saudi Arabia’s readiness to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034 during a recent meeting with young players in Jeddah.
The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner met trainees from the Saudi Football Federation’s regional training centers at the weekend and emphasized the importance of grassroots development in building a competitive footballing generation.
Benzema, who joined Al-Ittihad in 2023 as part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to elevate its football scene, praised the country’s transformation and extended an open invitation to the people of the world to experience its culture.
He said: “I advise you to visit Saudi Arabia. Anyone who has a preconceived idea should come for themselves. It is a wonderful country.”
The striker also paid tribute to the nation’s commitment to nurturing young footballing talent, saying: “Saudi football is developing, and I am confident that after 10 years Saudi Arabia will be fully prepared (for the World Cup).
“Training and development begin with the young players, and this is the most important thing — creating a generation that can reach the highest level.”
Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup and aims to become the second Middle Eastern country to host the tournament following the competition in Qatar in 2022.
The Kingdom has embarked on an ambitious sports development strategy under its Vision 2030 framework, investing heavily in domestic leagues, infrastructure, and youth programs.
The official announcement of the 2034 FIFA World Cup hosts is expected this month, with Saudi Arabia poised to host the world’s biggest footballing event.
ABU DHABI: Yas Heat Racing Ambassador and Mumbai Falcons Racing’s Rashid Al-Dhaheri again dominated the field at Yas Marina Circuit and claimed his second win of the Formula 4 Middle East Trophy Round.
With an assured drive from lights out to checkered flag, the masterclass by the Emirati racer put him easily ahead of the chasing Evans GP duo of Kai Daryanani and Reno Francot in P2 and P3, respectively.
Yas Heat Racing’s August Raber bagged P4, with teammate Adam Al-Azhari finishing in P6 in a strong weekend performance for the team.
Emily Cotty’s run of misfortune continued into Race 2, with an early retirement on Lap 4.
ABU DHABI: F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling added to her points tally with another assured victory — her ninth of the series — after taking the top spot for the second time today at Yas Marina Circuit.
Crossing the finish line under safety car conditions, Chloe Chambers bagged the second step on the podium, finishing five-tenths of a second ahead of Hamda Al-Qubaisi’s Red Bull.
Dorian Pin finished in P4, followed by Maya Wueg, Nerea Marti and Bianca Bustamente.
The F1 Academy drivers will return to the track tomorrow morning for the final race of the 2024 season at 11:15 a.m.
Adelaide, Australia: Skipper Rohit Sharma vowed that India will rebound against Australia in Brisbane and refuses to believe their heavy defeat in the second Test on Sunday will leave a mental “scar.”
The hosts won the day-nighter in Adelaide by 10 wickets to level the series 1-1 and with less than a week before they meet again at the Gabba, India are racing against the clock to fix what went wrong.
Rohit attributed the demoralizing loss to sub-standard batting, but brushed off the scale of the defeat.
“Firstly, it’s not a (mental) scar, it’s just we’ve lost a Test match,” he said.
“We didn’t play well enough. So it’s important in this short time that we have before the next Test match just to figure out certain things.
“You know, if you want to bat how we want to bat, and if you want to bowl, what lines and what lengths and what kind of fields placement we need to have.
“Those are the things more than anything else. Like I said, it’s still one-all and plenty of things left in this series and definitely a way for us to get back into it.”
India were dismissed for just 180 in the first innings after winning the toss and opting to bat at the Adelaide Oval, then were skittled for 175 in their second knock.
It left Australia needing just 19 runs to win, which they completed inside the first session on day three.
“When you come to Australia I feel the best chance of winning a Test match is by putting runs on the board. And of course, when we won the toss, we elected to bat,” said Rohit.
“We knew that there would be challenges. But in the past, where the conditions have been a little challenging, we’ve batted really well to put runs on the board and then try and put pressure on the opposition.
“That is the disappointing part, that we didn’t bat well enough, you know, probably were 30-40 runs short with the bat in the first innings.”
India also failed to make best use of the new pink ball when Australia had to negotiate almost two hours at dusk on day one.
While Jasprit Bumrah was ever-dangerous, the rest of the attack lacked bite.
“There were opportunities when Australia were batting and we failed to take those chances,” said Rohit.
“And obviously, when you miss those chances, it is never easy, the opposition will always make you pay for it, and that’s what happened.”
LOS ANGELES: The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak.
Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in Game 4 of the 2023 Western Conference semifinals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021.
The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time since Oct. 30.
Poole made a career-high nine of Washington’s 16 three-pointers while the Nuggets connected on just five of their 24 attempts from beyond the arc.
Justin Champagnie scored 23 points and Jonas Valanciunas added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Wizards, who were without a string of key players including Kyle Kuzma, Malcolm Brogdon and Saddiq Bey.
Washington seized control early against a Nuggets team without five regulars, including Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray and Dario Saric who were all ruled out hours before the game.
They outscored the Nuggets 36-29 in the first quarter and led 69-57 at halftime.
Jokic went for broke in the third in a bid to turn things around, connecting on nine of an astonishing 20 shot attempts and scoring 23 points as the Nuggets whittled the deficit to six points going into the final period.
The Wizards pushed their lead back to 13 early in the fourth with Jokic getting some rest on the bench, and Denver couldn’t get the deficit below five points the rest of the way.
“Hearing some MVP chants was kind of cool when the MVP (Jokic) was on the floor,” Poole said of the cheers of Washington fans when he went to the free-throw line in the closing seconds.
Meanwhile, Evan Mobley scored a career-high 41 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers in a dominant 116-102 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Mobley set the tone with 23 points in the first quarter, when he made five of his six three-pointers and the Cavs pushed their lead to as many as 22 before taking a 63-52 advantage into halftime.
“He didn’t hit the rim on the threes,” teammate Caris LeVert said of Mobley’s effort. “They were all swishes, like the first four or five… it was definitely a sight to see.”
Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland added 18 points apiece for the Cavs and Jarrett Allen added 11 points and 10 assists as Cleveland improved to 21-3.
In Boston, Ja Morant scored 32 points with nine rebounds and nine assists to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 127-121 victory over the reigning champion Celtics.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Grizzlies, who fended off the Celtics’ fourth-quarter comeback bid.
Boston took the lead for the first time early in the final period, going up 97-94 on Payton Pritchard’s three-pointer.
Memphis regained the lead for good with 8:25 remaining, pulling away after Boston cut the deficit to one on a Jayson Tatum basket with 4:34 to play.
Jrue Holiday scored 23 points to lead six Celtics players to score in double figures. Pritchard and Jaylen Brown scored 22 apiece while Tatum was just shy of a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.
There were several triple-doubles elsewhere, however.
Dallas guard Luka Doncic posted his second triple-double in as many games with 30 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in the Mavericks’ 125-118 victory over the Raptors in Toronto.
Kyrie Irving added 29 points and Klay Thompson scored 20 as six Mavs players reached double figures to secure a seventh straight victory.
Detroit’s Cade Cunningham scored 29 points with 10 rebounds and a career-high 15 assists as the Pistons beat the New York Knicks 120-111.
Cunningham recorded his fifth triple-double of the season, third-most in the NBA this season behind Jokic’s nine and the seven of LeBron James.
Jalen Brunson scored 31 points and handed out 10 assists to pace the Knicks, who saw a four-game winning streak end.
CARSON, California: Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic scored in the first half, and the LA Galaxy won their record sixth MLS Cup championship with a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
After striking twice in the first 13 minutes of the final with goals from their star forward, the Galaxy nursed their lead through a scoreless second half to raise their league’s biggest trophy for the first time since 2014.
MLS’ most successful franchise struggled through most of the ensuing decade, even finishing 26th in the 29-team league last year. But the Galaxy turned everything around this season with a high-scoring new lineup that finished second in the Western Conference and then streaked through the playoffs with a playoff-record 18 goals in five games to win another crown.
“I’m just so proud of this group after the challenges that we (had) and the way they bounced back and competed as a group,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “We spent a lot of energy at the start, but I’m just so proud of these guys. They’ve cemented themselves as legends in this club.”
Sean Nealis scored for the seventh-seeded Red Bulls, whose improbable postseason charge ended one win shy of their first Cup championship. With the league’s youngest roster, New York fell just short of becoming the lowest-seeded team to win MLS’ playoff tournament under first-year German coach Sandro Schwarz.
“I love these guys,” Schwarz said. “Some guys, they are crying. In the big picture, that’s a start. Sometimes when you lose the final, it’s tough, but you use this experience to create the next energy, the next intensity.”
The Galaxy won this title without perhaps their most important player. Riqui Puig, the playmaking midfielder from Barcelona who ran their offense impressively all season long, tore a ligament in his knee last week in the Western Conference final.
Puig watched this game in a suit, but his teammates hadn’t forgotten him: After his replacement, Gaston Brugman, set up LA’s opening goal with a superb pass in the ninth minute, Paintsil held up Puig’s jersey to their roaring fans during the celebration.
“I was really waiting for this moment,” said Paintsil, who scored his 14th goal of an impressive season. “I’m much more, 10 times faster than them, and Gaston saw the space. … It was really a good thing. We did it for Riqui, and we did it for our family that came, and our supporters.”
Just four minutes later, Joveljic sprinted past four New York defenders and chipped home the 21st goal of his outstanding year as the Galaxy’s striker.
Brugman was named the MLS Cup MVP after a commanding performance in midfield. The Uruguayan hadn’t started a match for the Galaxy since Oct. 5, playing only as a postseason substitute before the final.
Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy made four saves to win his second MLS title in three seasons. He was the MVP of the 2022 MLS Cup Final for the Galaxy’s crosstown rival, Los Angeles FC.
Nealis beat McCarthy in the 28th minute when he volleyed from LA’s penalty area.
The second half was lively, but scoreless. Red Bulls captain Emil Forsberg hit the outside of the post in the 72nd minute, while LA’s Gabriel Pec and Galaxy substitute Marco Reus nearly converted chances a few moments later.
The ball got loose in the Galaxy’s penalty area in the third minute of extra time, but two Red Bulls couldn’t finish.
After Galaxy owner Phil Anschutz received the MLS Cup that bears his name because of his steady financial support of the league during its shaky years, Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida carried the trophy onto a stage filled with his teammates for a celebration amid fireworks and confetti.
The Galaxy extended their lead over DC United (4) for the most MLS Cup championships in league history. The Red Bulls remain one of three original MLS franchises never to win the title, along with FC Dallas and the New England Revolution.
Vanney became the fourth coach to win an MLS title with two clubs. He lost three MLS Cup Finals as a Galaxy player, but won it as Toronto’s coach in 2017.
The Galaxy finished 17-0-3 this season at their frequently renamed suburban stadium, where the sellout crowd of 26,812 for the final included several robust cheering sections of Red Bulls supporters hoping to see their New Jersey-based club’s breakthrough.
Just last season, the Galaxy’s own supporters boycotted the team at certain home matches, fed up with years of mismanagement and no progress. But the club famous for employing global stars from David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Robbie Keane and Javier “Chicharito” Hernández swiftly rebuilt itself into a contender this season by spending big to get lesser-known young talents.
The Galaxy signed Pec from Brazil and Paintsil, a Ghanaian playing in Belgium. The duo combined with incumbent Serbian striker Joveljic to form a potent attack that could outscore almost any MLS opponent.
But the Galaxy also relied heavily on Puig, their Catalan catalyst and one of MLS’ best players. Puig stayed in last week’s game after injuring his knee, and he even delivered the decisive pass to Joveljic for the game’s only goal.
