MatériaMais Notícias

O Avaí se prepara para o compromisso mais importante do ano: a partida decisiva contra o Santos, que acontece neste domingo, às 17h, na Ressacada. Dependendo de uma vitória e do tropeço dos rivais na tabela para garantir sua permanência na Série A, a equipe azurra treinou nesta quinta-feira, mas ainda não tem um time definido.

O técnico Claudinei Oliveira comandou uma atividade de ataque contra defesa e deu pistas de como será a formação no meio-campo. Além disso, o treinador também indicou Simião para a vaga de Judson, que cumpre suspensão nesta rodada. Pedro Castro e Marquinhos completam o setor.

Nesta quinta-feira, a comissão técnica do Leão também saberá se vai poder contar com Junior Dutra na última partida do ano. Um exame de imagem que será realizado hoje vai avaliar a cicatrização da lesão na coxa do atacante. Por conta do incômodo que vem sentindo, ele foi desfalque em todos os treinos desta semana.

O Avaí volta aos treinos na manhã desta sexta-feira. Nesta atividade, o técnico Claudinei Oliveira deve definir o time titular que vai a campo contra o Santos neste domingo, às 17h, em disputa válida pela 38ª e última rodada do Campeonato Brasileiro.

RelacionadasPalmeirasDe contrato renovado com o Palmeiras, Fernando Prass é um dos goleiros com mais defesas difíceis no BrasileirãoPalmeiras30/11/2017ListasQuais são os times mais vezes rebaixados nos pontos corridos?Listas29/11/2017AvaíLesionado, Dutra realiza exame na quinta para saber condição de jogoAvaí28/11/2017

Leeds United could sign an exciting upgrade on Rodrigo in Juventus star Aaron Ramsey.

What’s the story?

According to a recent report from Calciomercato (via Sport Witness), Marcelo Bielsa’s side have their sights set on the Wales international as they look to reinforce their squad during the upcoming January transfer window.

Upgrade on Rodrigo

One of the big problems the Whites have faced since their return to the Premier League has been their lack of goals from midfield, with Patrick Bamford being tasked with a sizeable burden up front – last season, Mateusz Klich led the way for midfielders with just four goals to his name. In Ramsey, they would be more than addressing that issue.

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger raved about the Welshman’s ability to get into the box and find himself on the end of moves, saying: “In my head, Ramsey was going to be a player between 10 and 15 goals a year. He is a Frank Lampard type. He is (about) getting in the box and he has a huge capacity to run.

“Physically, he has a combination of stamina, power and his capacity to repeat high intensity is certainly the best in the league.”

Described as an “outstanding technician”, Ramsey would offer Leeds that much-needed knack of getting into the box at the right times and scoring those poacher-type goals.

In fact, Lampard himself wrote in a column for The Evening Standard about the 74-goal star: “It will probably come as no surprise to people that I like Ramsey. Like me, he makes late runs in the penalty area and he showed that with aplomb for the second goal at AC Milan last week.”

With Rodrigo badly struggling for form since his arrival at Elland Road – he has managed only nine goals in 43 games, including just two in the Premier League this season – bringing in Ramsey would provide Leeds with a genuinely proven option in the English top-flight.

Added to reports that another goal-shy forward in Tyler Roberts has been touted with a potential exit in the near future, Ramsey could come in and take over from his fellow Welshman at Elland Road.

Meanwhile, Adam Pope has dropped an early morning Leeds United update…

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United side head into Saturday afternoon’s Premier League fixture in rather dire straits, having picked up just one win in their last five league outings, as well as being in the midst of a considerable injury crisis.

Indeed, all of Rodrigo, Robin Koch, Patrick Bamford, Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper look set to miss the trip to Chelsea due to various knocks, leaving the Whites manager with a threadbare squad to face Thomas Tuchel’s third-placed Blues.

How will the Argentine line up his team at Stamford Bridge this afternoon? Here’s how we think the Leeds starting XI could look.

With the Whites’ aforementioned injury woes somewhat forcing Bielsa’s hand today, we predict that the 66-year-old will make three changes to the team which started the 2-2 draw against Brentford last time out.

In the back four, 22-year-old Pascal Struijk is thrown straight back into the side following his own recovery from injury, taking the place of Cooper alongside Diego Llorente at centre-back, while Junior Firpo and Luke Ayling start at left-back and right-back respectively.

The middle of the park also sees one change, with the stricken Phillips making way, Adam Forshaw dropping back into the England international’s usual role in front of the back four and Mateusz Klich coming into the side alongside Stuart Dallas in the central midfield two.

In attack, Daniel James and Raphinha retain their places on the left and right flanks, while Tyler Roberts is replaced by Joe Gelhardt up front, with Bielsa dubbing the 19-year-old a “human wrecking ball” who can do serious “damage” in the opposition penalty area. Those traits will almost certainly be needed if Leeds are to have any chance of securing a result at Stamford Bridge.

In other news – He’s ready: Bielsa must unleash “outrageous” Leeds beast today, he can terrify Chelsea

Aston Villa are hopeful of adding another goalkeeper to their ranks this month, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans says. 

The lowdown

On Friday, Villa announced that they had agreed a deal to make FC Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho the first signing of the Steven Gerrard era, but it doesn’t look like they’re stopping there.

In terms of goalkeepers, Gerrard currently has Emiliano Martinez, Jed Steer, 20-year-old Viljami Sinisalo and teenager Filip Marschall at his disposal.

Martinez is the clear no. 1, but he was rested for both of Villa’s EFL Cup matches and was unavailable for the Premier League trip to Chelsea, with Steer standing in.

The latest

After they Johan Lange wrapped up the Coutinho loan, Evans tweeted that ‘Villa also want’ a ‘keeper and ‘may send younger stoppers out loan’.

They’d also like to bring in a full-back, with Bologna’s Aaron Hickey a target.

The verdict

It’s hard to imagine that Martinez is under any real threat. After all, this is a goalkeeper who was nominated the Yashin Trophy last year.

Instead, it seems more likely that Villa want an upgrade on Steer, someone who can push Martinez just that little bit more.

The Englishman wasn’t overly impressive when he got his chance in the league, conceding three goals at Stamford Bridge against a post-shot expected goals of only 1.8.

As a result, Villa may not be confident in him if Martinez is missing for a stretch of games.

In other news, this man is nearing a move away from Villa. 

West Ham United have been dealt a double injury blow ahead of their upcoming Premier League fixture.

What’s the latest?

In recent comments cited by the Evening Standard, David Moyes revealed that both Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell look set to miss the visit of Southampton on Sunday afternoon, as both players have failed to recover from their respective knocks.

Speaking about the current condition of Antonio – who missed the 2-1 Carabao Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening after testing positive for the ongoing viral pandemic – the 58-year-old manager said: “He has no symptoms and I have to say that he is double vaccinated.

“For all those things hopefully we might have him back, yes. The rules have changed so I think he will have a chance. I never said [he would be back on] Boxing Day though, I said over Christmas. I will find out more a little bit later on and we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, the Scot said of Cresswell’s back injury: “It’s taking longer than we expected. We are missing him. He slid into the post at Manchester City and he’s got a slight, I don’t know if you call it on his rib or vertebrae, but he’s got something that is a problem.”

Moyes will be fuming

Considering just how important a part of the West Ham side both Antonio and Cresswell have been so far this season, the news that both players could once again miss out on Sunday’s fixture is sure to have left Moyes fuming.

Indeed, over Antonio’s 16 Premier League appearances this term, the £10.8m-rated centre-forward has scored six goals, registered four assists and created six big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.8 shots and making 1.9 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the Jamacia international average a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.17, ranking him as the Hammers’ second-best performer in the top flight of English football.

Meanwhile, over Cresswell’s 13 league outings, the £3.6m-rated left-back has helped his side keep three clean sheets, scored one goal and provided one assist, as well as making an average of 1.7 key passes, 0.9 interceptions, 1.1 tackles and winning 64% of his duels per fixture.

These metrics have seen the 32-year-old defender average a SofaScore match rating of 7.15, ranking him as the Irons’ third-best player in the division in the current campaign.

As such, once again being without the stricken duo against Southampton this weekend will undoubtedly reduce Moyes’ chances of picking up all three points in the clash – something which would come as a huge blow to West Ham’s chances of securing a top-four finish in the Premier League come next May.

In other news: Moyes can finally axe “special” £115k-p/w West Ham flop by signing 21 y/o “phenomenon”

A day before the first match, England captain Charlotte Edwards had said her players were desperate to get their first series win in India but that aim just got a little harder after a 35-run loss in Bangalore. England had kept India to 199, a total that captain Jhulan Goswami agreed was below-par for the slow pitch, but gave away the advantage with some poor batting.England needed 100 runs in 27 overs with six wickets in hand, which they contrived to lose for 19 runs. Edwards said she was bitterly disappointed with the batting display and hoped the side would bounce back for the second game on Sunday. “We were in a very good position and we let that slip so it was a very disappointing day for us,” Edwards said. “We’ve got four more games so hopefully we’ll come back stronger.” Ebony Rainford-Brent top scored for them with 64 and, though England stumbled after she fell in the 26th over, it was Lydia Greenway’s run-out in the 43rd that ended their hopes of taking a series lead.”We lost Ebony on 60-odd and then kept losing wickets constantly,” Edwards said. “We didn’t get any partnerships going. The bottom order didn’t provide us with any runs and there was the crucial run-out of Lydia Greenway which was a bit of a disaster.”Rainford-Brent said the team had discussed the loss immediately after the match and felt all the batsmen had to take responsibility. “The pitch was quite interesting. It took a while for us to settle in and there were great bowlers like Goswami. But once you got in, it became easy and there were few overs where I managed to pick up some boundaries. I should have really gone on. We lost six wickets for not much and that’s not something we expect from a good team like ours. There was some good bowling but we should have been able to stand up to it.”Both Edwards and Rainford-Brent, as well as Goswami, praised the bowling of left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana who took 3 for 26 in her 10 overs. “Gouher bowled really well, after a long time I saw someone turning the ball,” Goswami said. “She managed to tie down one end when England were scoring at four, four and a half.”However it was Goswami who turned the game India’s way by picking up two wickets in the first over of her second spell. She trapped Caroline Atkins leg before off the first ball and had Jenny Gunn caught off the third. “Greenway and Atkins’ partnership worried me and I felt there was no point trying to bowl defensively and save boundaries. So I changed ends to look for wickets.”India, who were disappointing in the two World Cups last year, will hope to take this winning momentum into the rest of the ODI series and the three Twenty20s, ahead of the World Twenty20 in West Indies in May.

In the absence of Rahul Dravid, the stage is set for Laxman to bat again at No. 3, ahead of Murali Vijay, who batted one-drop at Nagpur and has the attitude but not the experience

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Feb-2010

In March 2001, India were falling apart at the Eden Gardens. Steve Waugh’s ruthlessness had seen Australia string together a record 16 Test wins on the trot as they reached Kolkata. Another victory seemed imminent by the end of the third day after India were made to follow on.It was a desperate situation – the series was at stake – and Sourav Ganguly and John Wright, India’s men in charge, were pushed to the wall. Call it impulse, instinct, hunch or plain desperation, their decision was pure left-field: they asked VVS Laxman to get ready to bat at his most desired position – No.3.Laxman was yet to unstrap his pads; he was the last man out in the first innings, having survived two hours of rigorous examination, but was the sole Indian batsman to hit a half century. Yet he went out at the fall of the first wicket and the rest is history.Nine years down the line, India find themselves in a similar difficult position, with more than the series at stake – they could also lose the world No. 1 ranking to South Africa. And, in the absence of Rahul Dravid, the stage is set for Laxman to bat again at No. 3, ahead of Murali Vijay, who batted one-drop at Nagpur and has the attitude but not the experience.Wright, though, has no doubt in his mind. “If Dravid is not there I’ll play Laxman at three without question straightaway,” he told Cricinfo. His confidence in Laxman, he said, stems from his ability to put the fast bowlers under pressure. “If it is the Laxman I knew, he is particularly good against the opening bowling attack because he takes the attack to the bowlers.”Recalling the events of 2001, Wright said the strategy of playing Laxman up the order in that Test was based on his batting in the first innings. “But he has the ability to punish the bad balls. You just can’t bat to survive, you have to be positive. He is that sort of a player and he loves batting at No. 3,” Wright said.It’s not just a matter of instinct – the numbers, too, support a move up the order. Laxman has batted at No.3 in 20 Tests and averages 47.45, which is slightly higher than his career average. What’s significantly higher is his rate of converting fifties into hundreds: in his entire career 14 out of 57 fifty-plus innings have been converted into centuries (a rate of 24.56); at No. 3, it goes up to 40% (four out of ten). He averages almost 76 when batting at that position at home, and India have won five out of the six Tests when he has batted there. The last time he played in that position at home was in a winning cause, when his fighting century against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad in 2005 set the tone for the victory. And minimising the risk factor further is this factoid: Eden Gardens happens to be his favourite ground in India – he has scored three centuries here in eight Tests, and averages almost 82.Of course, the theory comes with caveats. His fitness, for one: Laxman opted out of the Nagpur Test at the last minute, having failed to recover completely from the wrist injury to his left hand. But he’s been practising hard; on Friday, he batted at No. 3 in the nets and also received some slip catches from Gary Kirsten to allay fitness concerns.He also hasn’t been in great nick of late; Laxman’s last century was the unbeaten 124 in Napier a year ago, where he helped ensure India drew the match. He made half-centuries in each of the three Tests against Sri Lanka at the end of 2009 but each time failed to convert though he had enough time. Seen differently, though, it could be that Laxman will be driven by the hunger to make a big score.It would still be an unconventional decision but in MS Dhoni India have an unconventional captain with a record of unexpected decisions. Like Ganguly, he relies on his instinct and it would not be a surprise if he promotes Laxman to make the top order more solid.”Leadership is very instinctive, you’ve got to with your gut feeling,” said Wright, who brought Dhoni into the Indian team. “Sometimes when you have come out of a big loss some captains can tend to become more cautious. But I don’t think it will happen (with Dhoni). I just don’t think Mahendra is that sort of guy.”Wright concedes, though, that the stakes are very high. “That is what it is about being the No.1: you are always being challenged. You need to be positive and have a lot of self- belief,. India would have been under some challenging situations on their journey to No.1 but South Africa are hungry for it.”

The Indian opener has taken the top spot after hitting successive centuries against South Africa

Cricinfo staff20-Feb-2010Virender Sehwag, the Indian opener, has taken the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings after hitting successive centuries against South Africa. With a rapid 165 in the Kolkata Test, which India won to stay top of the ICC rankings for teams, and 109 in Nagpur before that, Sehwag has displaced good friend and fellow Test opener Gautam Gambhir.Sehwag sits top of the pile with 863 points, while Gambhir has dropped to fifth position with 824. He had tremendous success in 2009 – an average of 108.98 in six Tests – and in the four Tests he has played this year, Sehwag already has two centuries. He was also the recipient of the prize for best Test innings, for the second year running, for the ESPNcricinfo Awards where his audacious 293 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai was chosen over four other nominations shortlisted for the award.South Africa’s Hashim Amla, whose three centuries in three innings against India earned him two Man-of-the-Match awards and the Man-of-the-Series accolade, has leapfrogged to second place in the rankings with 842 points.Sachin Tendulkar, who also scored two centuries in the two-Test series with South Africa, occupies sixth place with 805 points.In the ICC’s ranking for one-day internationals, India’s captain MS Dhoni has moved back to No. 1, displacing Michael Hussey with whom he has shared a tussle for the top spot. Hussey scored 23 in his last innings and thus fell below Dhoni who has a chance to stay on top for longer with three ODIs lined up against South Africa. Ricky Ponting has jumped four places to occupy fourth place.The other big mover is Doug Bollinger, who has gained 25 places and has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career. Bollinger took 11 wickets in the five-ODI series against West Indies to help Australia to a 4-0 victory. He now sits in 18th position in the latest rankings, not far behind Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis.

أكد مصدر مسؤول داخل الاتحاد الإفريقي لكرة اليد، أنه تم قبول الالتماس الذي تقدم به نادي الزمالك بشأن رفع الإيقاف عن حسن وليد قداح لاعب الفريق.

وكان الاتحاد الإفريقي قد أصدر قرارًا بإيقاف قداح مباراتين، بالإضافة لتغريمه مبلغ مالي، بسبب تراشقه بالألفاظ مع جماهير الأهلي خلال المباراة التي جمعت الفريقين، أمس الجمعة، في نصف نهائي البطولة الإفريقية لكرة اليد.

وتأهل الزمالك على حساب الأهلي إلى المباراة النهائي، بعد فوزه بنتيجة 26 – 25، ليواجه الترجي الرياضي التونسي للمنافسة على اللقب القاري.

طالع أيضًا | عبد الباري يوضح سر تفوق يد الزمالك على الأهلي ويؤكد: فلفل جاهز لـ الترجي

وكشف “بطولات” في وقت سابق عن تقدم نادي الزمالك بالتماس للاتحاد الإفريقي من أجل رفع الإيقاف عن اللاعب للحاق بالمباراة النهائية أمام الترجي.

وعلم “بطولات” أن الاتحاد الإفريقي قبل التماس الزمالك ورفع الإيقاف عن وليد قداح، واكتفى فقط بالغرامة المالية والتي تقدر بألف يورو.

يذكر أن مباراة الزمالك والترجي ستنطلق غدًا الأحد في تمام السادسة والنصف مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة، السابعة والنصف بتوقيت السعودية.

Many Everton fans have been left fuming as some early team news has emerged ahead of their game away at Burnley in the Premier League on Boxing Day.

Speaking in his pre-game press conference ahead of the match at Turf Moor, Rafa Benitez has now revealed that as many as 11 players are currently out for his team, with six injured and a further five who have tested positive for Covid-19.

Considering that they had a depleted squad in their last game in their 1-1 draw away at Chelsea, in where they could not fill the bench and had to field some youngsters, including starting debutant Ellis Simms (BBC), this is yet another kick in the teeth for the Goodison Park faithful, who may not fancy their chances against the Clarets with so many squad players still unavailable.

Nonetheless, the fixture still goes ahead at this moment in time, much to the anger of some Merseyside club supporters.

Everton fans on team news

These Toffees fumed as the team news was shared on Twitter, with one Blue even going as far as to claim that it was ‘scandalous’:

“The league is a joke, it should be all teams play or they don’t. Not pick and choose what clubs they can force to play. Integrity of the league has gone for me”

Credit: @lee_efc78

“Scandalous tbh”

Credit: @MainManMina

“Farcical that it hasn’t been called off, if that’s the case”

Credit: @victoriacarlin_

“Ridiculous that it won’t be called off when other teams “sky 6” teams have been able to get them called off !! Joke”

Credit: @robbiethetoffee

“Madness”

Credit: @mcnallyc95

“League should be suspended. 2 weeks at least. This is absurd.”

Credit: @IamFidgell

In other news, find out what transfer news has been lauded by Evertonians here!