Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer remained confident that Thomas Muller will extend his contract amid rumours of joining Manchester United.
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MatériaMais Notícias
O Botafogo tem mais um nome encaminhado para reforçar o elenco visando a sequência da temporada. Trata-se de Davi Araújo, atacante de 20 anos que chega por empréstimo até dezembro de 2021 do Real Brasília. A informação foi dada primeiramente pelo “Canal do TF” e confirmada pelo LANCE!.
A contratação é vista como uma oportunidade de mercado positiva pela diretoria do Botafogo. Davi Araújo marcou dois gols em cinco jogos no Campeonato Candango na atual temporada e chega sem custos e com opção de compra ao final do empréstimo. Os valores não foram revelados.
Davi Araújo foi a revelação do Candangão do ano passado atuando pelo Paracatu. As boas atuações o levaram para o Real Brasília, um clube de maior projeção no estado. É destro e atua pelos lados do campo, com preferência pelo flanco direito.
Além do atacante, a diretoria do Botafogo também está à procura de um volante para o restante da temporada. A diretoria entende que um nome para a posição é necessário para o elenco e estuda possibilidades. Muitos nomes foram oferecidos ao Comitê Executivo de Futebol.
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The Germany midfielder wrote his name into the history books at Wembley, but David de Gea signed off a poor season on a miserable note
Ilkay Gundogan conjured two magical volleys to win a tense and tight FA Cup final against Manchester United and secure the double for Manchester City. Now the Cityzens have just one more step to take on their stairway to a heavenly treble.
Gundogan scored the fastest goal in FA Cup final history with an outstanding strike after only 13 seconds at Wembley, and after Bruno Fernandes had pulled United back into contention from the penalty spot, the German struck again, meeting Kevin De Bruyne's free-kick and beating a lacklustre David de Gea.
While De Bruyne and Gundogan were City's outstanding performers, the finger will again be pointed at United's goalkeeper, who ended a poor season on a miserable note. But United showed character to overcome their nightmare start and pushed City all the way, with Scott McTominay and Alejandro Garnacho coming agonisingly close to equalising and forcing extra-time.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Wembley Stadium…
GettyWINNER: Ilkay Gundogan
If this is to be Gundogan's last game for City in England, it was the perfect way to go out. The Germany midfielder etched his name into FA Cup history by scoring the fastest goal in a final in the competition's 151 years. And what a finish it was – his volley took everyone in the stadium by surprise, including De Gea, who watched motionless as the ball ripped into the net. His second goal was another volley, even if he benefited from a very slow reaction from De Gea.
Gundogan's contract expires on June 30 and while Pep Guardiola wants to keep him, the midfielder feels like he has done his service. No-one could argue with that after scoring twice to win last season's title and now slaying City's biggest rivals with another double.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: David de Gea
The Spaniard capped a season to forget with another dismal performance. As his kicking is not up to the standards of the modern game – he gave the ball away on a few occasions with hopeless punts straight to City players – he only has his shot-stopping ability to fall back on.
And he keeps on letting in shots he should be saving. He was left stunned by Gundogan's lightning-quick opening strike, but will be very disappointed not to have kept out the second goal.
It was another bad piece of goalkeeping to file alongside costly errors against Brentford, Sevilla, Everton and West Ham from across the campaign, and his overall performance underlined United's need to go and sign a young 'keeper to compete for his place next season.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Kevin De Bruyne
By his own high standards, the Belgian had a poor first half. He kept over-hitting passes and could not dictate the game in his usual way. Everything changed in the second half, though, as he grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.
His nifty footwork fooled Fred into fouling him early in the second period, and he dusted himself down to deliver the perfect cross for Gundogan to strike for the second time. His down-then-up display showed that not only is he one of the most talented players to have graced English football, he also has a highly resilient mentality.
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Getty ImagesLOSER: Marcus Rashford
The United striker grabbed the winner in the last Manchester derby, but he was barely involved in the final. He had the misfortune to start as centre-forward, where he is not nearly as dangerous as when playing on the left of the attack.
He had only one shooting opportunity, a weak header which dribbled hopelessly wide, and United's best prospect of an equaliser lay in substitute Alejandro Garnacho. As United's only Mancunian to start the game, he will desperately disappointed not to have had a bigger impact in the biggest match of the season.
MatériaMais Notícias
O Palmeiras pode ter Hulk, ao menos, treinando na Academia de Futebol neste mês. Sem calendário garantido na Ásia por conta do surto de coronavírus, o atacante teve a liberação do Shanghai SIPG, seu clube na China, para trabalhar na estrutura do Verdão. Falta apenas um documento para oficializar o aval e ele pode começar a trabalhar na equipe do coração na segunda-feira.
A informação do pedido de liberação de Hulk para os chineses foi publicada inicialmente pelo repórter Rodrigo Fragoso, do Esporte Interativo. O jogador reforçou a necessidade de treinar, também, tecnicamente, e o que falta é apenas um seguro do clube chinês.O Palmeiras, contudo, continua tratando com cautela qualquer possibilidade de contratar o atacante, que tem contrato até dezembro na China e salários que assustaram o clube.
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O jogador se apresentaria nos Emirados Árabes Unidos, na semana passada, mas continua no Brasil porque houve adiamento dos jogos na Liga dos Campeões da Ásia, ainda sem nenhuma data programada. Os torneios na China também não tem nenhum previsão para ocorrerem em 2020.
Hulk ficaria na Academia de Futebol da mesma forma que acontece atualmente com Moisés. O meio-campista do Shandong Luneng, também da China, treina no Verdão para manter a forma enquanto o calendário chinês está indefinido diante do surto de coronavírus. Na última quinta-feira, trabalhou com os reservas como se fizesse parte do elenco.
Nessa indefinição no futebol asiático, o Palmeiras já aproveitou para deixar claro que pode ser uma opção viável a Hulk, seja para 2020 ou 2021, já que seu contrato acaba em dezembro. O atacante ficou em São Paulo no mês passado e estreitou tanto suas relações com o time do coração que garantiu a presença dos filhos nas categorias de base do clube.
O jogador de 33 anos de idade nunca escondeu ser palmeirense e ter o desejo de atuar pelo time. Usando isso e a amizade dele com João Paulo Sampaio, seu técnico no sub-16 do Vitória e, hoje, coordenador das categorias de base do Verdão, o Palmeiras viu Hulk assistir a triunfo sobre o Mirassol, no dia 16, no Allianz Parque, e mostrou a estrutura da Academia de Futebol dois dias depois. Ficou nítido que seria um reforço bem-vindo e em quais condições trabalharia.
Todo esse cenário, contudo, esbarra na questão financeira. A revista France Football publicou em 2019 que Hulk recebe do Shangai SIPG 23,4 milhões de euros (quase R$ 123 milhões) por ano, o que representa mais de R$ 10 milhões por mês. Esse é o valor astronômico que fez o Palmeiras se assustar ao consultar as condições de trazê-lo. E o jogador, com contrato somente até dezembro na China, não pretende abrir mão dessa quantia.
Assim, a oportunidade aparece se o Shangai SIPG decidir emprestar Hulk e ajudar, ao menos, com parte dos vencimentos, já que os problemas com o coronavírus tornaram incerta a disputa de torneios na China em 2020. Diante da relação cada vez mais próxima, o Palmeiras vira um candidato importante.
Em qualquer outra situação, os dirigentes do Verdão dizem ser remota a chance de trazer Hulk. Mesmo para 2021, quando ele estará livre no mercado, o ânimo não aumenta muito. O Palmeiras crê que, como o atacante ainda tem mercado no exterior, os gastos com salários, luvas e comissões podem ser altos demais. Dependeria, basicamente, da vontade dele em ceder financeiramente para voltar ao Brasil e, enfim, realizar o sonho de atuar no time do coração.
Chris Gayle might be the world’s most-feared T20 batsman, but in their four most recent games against him, Sri Lanka have felt they cracked Gayle – his scores in those matches: 5,2,3 and 3
Andrew Fidel Fernando in Bangalore19-Mar-2016Chris Gayle might be the world’s most-feared T20 batsman. He has scored more World T20 runs than anyone else still playing. But in their four most recent games against him, Sri Lanka have felt they cracked Gayle – his scores in those matches: 5,2,3 and 3.Sri Lanka’s plans have revolved around Nuwan Kulasekara’s bowling, but Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga and even two offspinners, have played a role. When Gayle opens, Kulasekara has taken the new ball to deliver back-of-a-length deliveries, which pitch on around leg stump, then move across the batsman, off the seam.Mathews, also possessed of a good away-seamer to left-handers, has usually followed suit. The offspinners have often pitched it fuller, but have persisted with the leg stump line, and have turned the ball across Gayle’s body as well.The result was not just a muting of Gayle, but four successive dominations of him. Kulasekara bowled 22 legal deliveries to Gayle in those games, has conceded only seven runs and taken his wicket twice. Against all bowlers, Gayle has mustered just 13 from 42 balls.Though hot off his 47-ball ton against England, Gayle can expect a similar test in Bangalore, Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford said. Ford had been in charge during Sri Lanka’s march to the World T20 final in 2012, when they faced West Indies twice.”We have put a few things in place against in the past,” Ford said. “In 2012 we did quite nicely against him. Whether that still works – we’ll find out. We’re certainly not going to be telling everybody what we did in those two games to keep him quiet. It’s something that we are aware of in our group. It’s certainly something we’ll be trying to do again in this game.”Even if Gayle is trussed up at the top of the innings, however, Sri Lanka may be put under pressure by West Indies’ lower-order hitters, as they had been in that 2012 World T20 final. Sri Lanka’s chances have grown grimmer over the past few days, with Lasith Malinga forced to withdraw from the tournament.”The loss of Lasith makes a huge impact,” Ford said. “One has got to be realistic. The management and selectors are aware that it’s a different side at the moment. With Lasith it’s not just his experience, but also his brilliant execution of skill. For so long he’s done that death-bowling role. For so long he’s been able to strike up front and then finish the innings off so well. Finishing the innings is so important for momentum, etc. Now we’ve got to find somebody to do that.”Like against Afghanistan in their World T20 opener, Graham Ford hopes that the Sri Lanka can bat around one senior batsman•AFPKulasekara has lately performed the death-overs role alongside Thisara Perera, but the pair have reaped mixed results. Against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka leaked 72 runs in the final six overs of the innings.”But the group of lads that I’ve got – and the one thing I know about Sri Lankan cricket – is that they are great triers,” Ford said. “They are great workers. There are a couple of guys putting their hands up and saying: ‘I’ll do that job.’ With that sort of attitude I’m sure we can make something happen.”I just love the attitude of this group. As a coach you have a feeling of confidence when you know you know you’ve got a really good attitude within the group.”Among the other players now absent in comparison with the team Ford had coached in his first stint with Sri Lanka, are the old brains of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. While they were in the side, Sri Lanka established a reputation as one of the best tournament sides in the world. Though those players are gone, the men that remain from that era have retained that tournament know-how, Ford said.”There have been some brilliant, brilliant Sri Lankan cricketers who were wonderful at adapting to the situation, passing on information, thinking on their feet and strategizing,” Ford said. “I think some of the senior men that are left in the system have learned a great deal from those that have left the group. There’s still some very smart heads left. It’s that kind of sharing information that’s crucial to adapting to conditions and situations. There’s a fair amount of that still going on.”The senior group in the current side features Tillakaratne Dilshan, who had been Sri Lanka’s best batsman in their tournament opener against Afghanistan. Dilshan had been through something of a lean trot in recent weeks, even recording two ducks in the World T20 practice matches, but that doesn’t mean he was out of touch, Ford said.”People sort of felt Dilshan was out of form, but the way he’s been playing in the nets – he’s been playing superbly. That night [against Afghanistan] he put on a masterclass. It was just about him getting going. In the practice games he got two really good deliveries. No batsman likes to miss out and not score, but I don’t think he was particularly worried, because he was playing well in the nets, and had made a good score in the last match of the Asia Cup. He knew he was going pretty well.”Sri Lanka’s top order still appears vulnerable however, with the likes of Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne yet to make themselves reliable performers in the shortest format.”It’s nice if an experienced player bats a long period and the younger players bat around him,” Ford said. “But I do believe the younger players can start to do the same things Dilshan did the other night.”
اتفق أسطورة نادي آرسنال، إيان رايت، مع ما قاله المدير الفني للفريق ميكيل أرتيتا بعد خسارة الأمس أمام نيوكاسل يونايتد في الدوري الإنجليزي.
وتلاقى الفريقان على ملعب “سانت جيمس بارك” في الجولة الحادية عشر من الدوري الإنجليزي، حيث خسر آرسنال بهدف دون رد.
وشهدت المباراة جدلًا تحكيميًا نتيجة احتساب هدف نيوكاسل، الذي سجله جوردون، حيث كانت هناك 3 حالات تحكيمية تخصه، دققت فيها تقنية الفيديو قبل احتسابه.
كانت الحالة الأولى خاصة بوجود شبهة لخروج الكرة خارج الملعب، قبل تنفيذ هجمة الهدف، والثانية وجود تسلل على جوردون قبل تسجيله الهدف، والثالثة وجود خطأ على جويلاينتون قبل تمريره الكرة إلى جوردون.
وشن المدرب ميكيل أرتيتا هجومًا عنيفًا ضد التحكيم، ووصف الأمر بـ”الفضيحة” (لمطالعة التفاصيل من هنا).
وقال إيان رايت في تصريحات نشرتها صحيفة “مترو” الإنجليزية: “أنا أتفق تمامًا مع جميع المدربين الذين يخسرون المباريات من خلال تقنية الفيديو والقرارات”.
وأضاف: “لقد سمعته (أرتيتا) يقول إن هناك الكثير على المحك بالنسبة لهؤلاء المدربين واللاعبين، وما يعملون عليه أسبوعًا بعد أسبوع، ورغم ذلك يخسرون بهذه الطريقة”.
وواصل: “هذا لا يمنع أن نيوكاسل يستحق الإشادة لأنه فريق رائع، كانت النتيجة لتصبح 0-0 إذا لم نخسر بسبب مثل تلك الظروف، اللعب هناك صعب”.
وأردف: “لكنني سعيد للغاية بمجرد سماعه (أرتيتا) يقول ذلك، لأن ما حدث يغضبك، ويغضب المشجعين، إنه أمر غير مقبول الآن، أنا سعيد لكون مدربي يتحدث بهذه الطريقة، وأنا سعيد من أجله”.
When Chris Gayle arrived in Cape Town this week, he hijacked a press conference for the South African media and inquired: “Are you ready for me?” It was a fair question, on the evidence of Friday’s first T20, but there was never likely to be such cheek from Jonathan Trott, even though it is his home city. Trott and the ECB had turned down a request for an interview from the prestigious BBC Today programme, despite not having to contend with John Humphrys. One short appearance after net practice, the England Lions coach in tow, was to be the extent of any questioning.More than a year after the abrupt cessation of his international career, Trott was under the radar in the beautiful club ground at Claremont, a few Gayle clouts away from Newlands. Trott’s doings will be of little interest in these parts unless he returns as a member of England’s tour party later this year. The good news, though, is that he looks and feels abundantly healthy.This short Lions trip represents the ideal rehabilitation for Trott following his return from Australia last winter with a stress-related illness. For a start, the Cape is where he grew up and Cape Town holds an equal place in his affections with his adopted home of Birmingham. “There are no family members coming to watch me play and this is more a holiday destination now,” he said.Jonathan Trott will captain the Lions in two unofficial Tests against South Africa A•Getty Images
South Africans who make their living in England are, of course, under pressure to state that they prefer UK hot spots, although Kevin Pietersen, who has been in touch with Trott, famously did not care for Black Country accents. Trott will be commencing the first-class leg of this tour with a match against South Africa A in Paarl this Sunday. His opposite number as captain, Rory Kleinveldt, played with him at both school level and for Western Province. “I am not surprising Trotty is making a comeback,” Kleinveldt said. “He has always been a fighter.”The pitch, examined on Friday by Trott and Mark Robinson, who is coaching the Lions along with Andy Flower, is expected to be a flat one. Yet, recalling what happened when Mitchell Johnson was unleashed on Trott in Australia, Vincent Barnes, the South Africa A coach, was unequivocal: “We’ll be bowling fourth stump at him – with the odd bouncer.” So we shall glean more at the end of this match and the second first-class fixture in Bloemfontein about whether Trott can meet the challenge to revive his career and add to his still impressive Test statistics of 3,763 runs at an average of 46.45.There is no mistaking his intention to do so. “I speak to Alastair Cook now and again when he is not busy, although the selectors have not spoken to me,” he said. “But they do not send players on this kind of tour without having an eye to them coming back into the England side. It has been pretty hard to have been out for some time. It’s definitely a learning curve and I look back on a period when I have definitely grown as a person. I found a bit of form with Warwickshire – it was not all plain sailing, there were some tough times I had to go through again. But I managed to come through them, that’s the pleasing bit.” Then, a none-too-thinly veiled remark: “This kind of tour will benefit anyone coming back to play for England against South Africa at the end of the year.”Returning for England in his homeland, rather than suffer the potential stress of another Ashes series this summer, could well be ideal for Trott, for he knows the pitches and the people so well. He has made a good start: 79 from 127 balls in the Lions’ first match in Soweto this week. Now 33, he intends to continue playing for as long as he can. “Until I am 45,” he said. “No, I’m joking – 38 at least.” Lions’ tours are drawn up to engender self-belief. “I would not have been as confident a cricketer had I not been on one before.”And he did not contemplate spurning the offer of the captaincy. “As a schoolboy I really enjoyed it and I did in Soweto as well,” he said. “It is nice being able to guide a side in the direction one wants to go.” As well as having had conversations with the England captain, Trott has been in contact with Pietersen, who wrote sympathetically of his illness in his autobiography. Should Pietersen be afforded a return to international cricket? “It would have to suit both parties,” Trott said. Eventually, he, too, will write an autobiography. “When I am done. I have a few stories and experiences I want to tell. There has got to be closure.”Robinson, the Sussex coach who is here to oversee the development of a strong Lions side, emphasised the value of having Trott involved. “We are ever so lucky to get a senior player like Jonathan on this trip,” he said. “Sam Billings has already spoken of how much he has learnt from him.” And with it, perhaps, closure comes a little closer.
The defending champions of the Under-19 World Cup, India, have won all four series they have played since the 2012 tournament in Australia, making them one of the most successful junior teams in the world
Kanishkaa Balachandran07-Feb-2014The defending champions of the Under-19 World Cup, India, have won all four series they have played since the 2012 tournament in Australia, making them one of the most successful junior teams in the world. The coach and captain, Bharat Arun and Vijay Zol respectively, have said that they will draw confidence from those victories ahead of the 2014 World Cup set to begin next week in the UAE.The present squad came together in July last year for the Top End Series in Darwin, beating the hosts, Australia, comprehensively in the final. That was followed by a short bilateral one-day series in Sri Lanka which India won 2-0. India then hosted a quadrangular tournament in Vizag, with South Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe the other participating teams. India trounced South Africa in the final before heading to the UAE for the U-19 Asia Cup. They maintained their reputation of raising the bar in tournament finals, batting Pakistan out of the match.Arun said that while the team has ticked off most boxes as far as preparation is concerned, there is still improvement in certain areas.”The performance of the squad in the last one year says a lot. We have won all four series convincingly,” Arun said in Bangalore ahead of the team’s departure for the UAE. “There is room for us to improve. We would still have to raise the bar. We made a few mistakes along the way. We want to be No. 1 as a fielding unit and we’ve been working on it.”The squad has been training at the National Cricket Academy over the last few weeks and in between headed to Wayanad, Kerala, for a short boot camp. The 2012 unit underwent a similar boot camp and Arun said the focus was on team-building exercises and getting to know one and other better.”We identified roles for each team member and set the processes to achieve those roles,” Arun said. “We did a lot of team-building activities and most of the activities would help you even in a non-cricketing environment and it helps you trust the leader.”We have been together for over a year. They see the other side of the player. We’re going to enjoy playing together, being together, doing things together and we’re going to carry this to the field and that was the focus of the camp.”Arun coached the 2012 batch as well and he said the current unit has responded well to the challenges set to them. While the batting has a couple of known faces in Zol and Sanju Samson, Arun said the bowling boasts of variety.”I don’t think it’s fair to compare any two teams, but I feel that this side has a lot of players of all-round capabilities,” he told ESPNcricinfo before the boot camp. “They have dominated in whichever country they have toured. Kuldeep [Yadav] is unorthodox, Aamir Gani is the classical offspinner, Deepak Hooda is good for the Powerplays, our fast bowling attack looks exciting.”Zol said the conditions in the UAE will suit India’s game more than it did in Australia two years ago. “The pitches in the UAE didn’t have much help for the pacers [during the Asia Cup],” he said. “It was more like a batting paradise.”India begin their campaign against Pakistan on February 15 in Dubai.
In Sri Lanka’s fickle cricketing landscape, Pakistan have lately been viewed as one of the friendliest foes
Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Dec-2013In Sri Lanka’s fickle cricketing landscape, Pakistan have lately been viewed as one of the team’s friendliest foes. Sri Lanka fans’ admiration for Pakistan’s cricket has been founded on shared ground. Most obviously, there is resemblance in cricketing philosophy; Lasith Malinga and Sohail Tanvir are products of their unique milieu, but it is not difficult to imagine a round-arm slinger from Rawalpindi, or a wrong-footed left armer from Rathgama. No other nation, perhaps, could have easily produced either.There is also the rich recent history of spin, shrouded in mystery. Between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they have owned the progenitor of the in Saqlain Mushtaq, the man who made the ball famous in Muttiah Muralitharan, its best current practitioner in Saeed Ajmal, and a rising bowler with an improving version of the ball, in Sachithra Senanayake.Then there are the shambolic administrations, which more often appear to hinder the national sides than support them, while Sri Lanka’s newly-formed one-sided rivalry with India has bred another thread of fraternal goodwill. Coincidentally too, the tour will be both Dav Whatmore and Graham Ford’s final weeks in charge of their sides. The former was effectively let go, the latter chose to walk.Both sides also have produced alluring players of spin, many of whom have retired or are just about to, and young men are now charged with filling shoes and scoreboards. In that regeneration, though, there are mutual hints of decline.Ten months of selection policy focused on grooming the next generation has not future-proofed Sri Lanka’s batting unit yet. Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne have had encouraging returns in Tests, but their limited-overs statistics don’t yet suggest they are the next Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara – whom they will inevitably be compared with. Jayawardene’s absence from the limited-overs leg of this series may allow both batsmen to bat higher up in the order, which should suit their abilities better than the finishing roles they had been saddled with.In Tests, both teams will also be fielding young, inexperienced opening pairs. Shan Masood and Khurram Manzoor are at almost identical places in their career as Sri Lanka’s likely openers, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva. All four have a shot at embedding themselves in the international arena, on tracks that should not be far from those on which they excel at home.Though they are at disparate ends of their careers, there are similarities for the teams’ main captains too. Misbah-ul-Haq is an unpopular captain for some, and while Angelo Mathews has had moderate success at the helm, he is still treading lightly as a leader and his personal form has been inconsistent. A poor tour for either man might have loosened their grip on the reins, only, there are few viable alternatives.The teams are well-matched on most counts. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in their last Test series in the UAE, but Sri Lanka reversed that scoreline at home, when they dominated the three-match series last year. Sri Lanka’s batting perhaps gives them the edge in ODIs and Twenty20s, while Pakistan have just returned from a successful trip to South Africa, where the highly-rated India side is presently being humiliated.And, perhaps, that is Pakistan’s greatest advantage in the approach to the tour. While Sri Lanka have been reduced to playing matches against themselves and watching rain ruin their first meaningful cricket since July, Pakistan are fighting-fit from five months on the international treadmill. Their Test loss to Zimbabwe in September now seems a distant memory, after more encouraging results against South Africa.Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have not played overseas since July, and in Tests, the New Year’s Eve match will be their first against a top-eight opposition since this year’s New Year Test in Sydney. One of the foremost reasons Sri Lanka Cricket refused Pakistan’s request to play one Test under lights is because its players would already be adjusting to playing Tests again; an orange ball and floodlights may have complicated preparation further – particularly as there are no practice matches before the Tests.There is already buzz in Sri Lanka for this tour, primarily because the public has had so long to look forward to it. It is a stage for young men of both teams to make defining plays, and with two major limited-overs trophies now on the horizon, raising stakes further, the subplots unfolding over a six-week battle may prove just as engrossing as the major narrative.
MatériaMais Notícias
Botafogo e Juventude se enfrentarão na Copa do Brasil. Além da vaga na fase seguinte da competição, a partida desta quinta-feira, que será disputada no Estádio Nilton Santos, traz consigo duelos individuais entre os próprios jogadores. Um desses casos acontece com Gabriel, zagueiro do Alvinegro, e Denner, atacante da equipe gaúcha.
Uma das contratações para essa temporada, Gabriel conseguiu encaixar de forma rápida ao Botafogo e o desempenho em jogos eliminatórios comprova isso: até aqui, o Alvinegro não foi vazado em nenhuma oportunidade na Copa do Brasil ou na Sul-Americana, o que vai em contramão ao desempenho do clube no Campeonato Carioca.
Em entrevista coletiva realizada no Estádio Nilton Santos na última segunda-feira, Gabriel destacou que, após a análise passada pela comissão técnica, vai esperar um Juventude focado no campo defensivo, mas que vai tentar assustar por meio dos contra-ataques, com os rápidos jogadores de lado de campo.
– Zé Ricardo e a comissão fizeram análise sobre o Juventude. Equipe que deve vir bastante fechada, como foi contra o Grêmio. Tem dois jogadores muito rápidos pelas pontas e um atacante de referência que segura muito bem a bola. Estamos trabalhando para fazer um grande jogo e conseguir um bom resultado – afirmou.
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Um desses jogadores de lado de campo é justamente Denner. Aos 19 anos, o atacante, que atua no lado direito, é um dos atletas mais promissores do time. Até aqui, ele marcou dois gols na temporada e falou ao LANCE! que o Alviverde precisa se defender do lado esquerdo do ataque alvinegro.
– Conversamos um pouco sobre a equipe do Botafogo, sabemos que eles tem um lado esquerdo muito forte. Vamos com tudo pra fazer uma grande partida, explorando os pontos fracos deles – comentou.
A promessa é que Denner e Gabriel se encontrem com frequência durante o jogo. Como atua do lado direito, o atleta do Juventude atacará o lado esquerdo da defesa do Alvinegro, justamente a faixa do campo ocupada pelo defensor. A conferir o promissor duelo à parte.