Tag: World

Robert Snodgrass Still Confident of World Cup Qualification

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Scotland international Robert Snodgrass believes that his nation could still clinch automatic qualification to the World Cup, should they managed to beat rivals England in their next qualifier.


The neighbours face off against each other on June 10th with the Scots currently six points adrift of the Three Lions.

Manager Gordon Strachan was on the cusp of losing his job during the initial stages after a 1-1 draw against Lithuania was coupled with successive 3-0 defeats to Slovakia and England. However, Chris Martins’ last winner against Slovenia in March has given the Scots a slim chance of making it to Russia next year.

Snodgrass, who joined West Ham United from Hull City in the second half of the season, feels his nation could be back in the hunt for qualification if they surprise Gareth Southgate’s men at Hampden Park, he said: “That was our objective at the start. It wasn’t to just fight for second place. We created a lot of chances against England in November and we would never have done that if we didn’t believe. We want to get there automatically, we want to beat England and we want to kick on.” Continue reading Robert Snodgrass Still Confident of World Cup Qualification →

ANTI-DOPING AGENCIES BLAST RUSSIA’S INCOMPETENCE

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The world’s leading anti-doping organisations have suggested that Russia should be deprived of the privilege of hosting the 2018 World Cup seeing their failure to properly tackle the prevailing challenge of doping in the country.

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The Anti-Doping Agencies have called for Russia to be banned from participating and also be stripped of hosting further international sporting events, including the 2018 World Cup, until she has shown that she abides by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code.

The recently released McLaren report shows that the country has failed several dope tests owing to a state-sponsored doping programme for over 1000 athletes spanning from 2011 to 2015.

Travis Tygart, United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive has assured other agencies and organisations that he believes Russia can show that they are co-compliant with the WADA regulations and that the world cup host should not be taken from them. He said this at a summit of anti-doping organisations in Dublin.

Meanwhile, the country had already lost their bid to host the 2017 Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships as well as the World Cup Biathlon event Continue reading ANTI-DOPING AGENCIES BLAST RUSSIA’S INCOMPETENCE →

David Silva is optimistic about winning the 2016 Euro’s

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David Silva is not only a key player for Manchester City but also for his national side Spain and he is certain that Spain is able to win the 2016 Euro’s and defend their title for another successive year.

“It’s normal we are tagged as favorites since we’ve won the previous two European Championships and these two matches. If we keep our current level of performance, we can be champions again. We want to keep our feet on the ground and focus on the next opponent Croatia” Manchester City’s David Silva said during a press conference.

Spain has kicked off their 2016 Euro’s campaign in full force after claiming consecutive triumphs over Czech Republic and Turkey. These victories have ensured Spain’s progression to the next rounds of the international competition.

The 2008 and 2012 edition of the Euro’s were won by Spain and they are one of the favorites of winning it once again during the 2016 and have initiated their campaign in a positive form which is good news, especially taking into consideration the disastrous journey that they went through in the 2014 World Cup when they failed to make it past the group stages. Continue reading David Silva is optimistic about winning the 2016 Euro’s →

Gianni Infantino wants to make things as transparent as possible

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Following the resignation of Sepp Blatter, Gianni Infantino was selected as the new president of FIFA and the Swiss has already voiced what he is planning to do in his new role and one of the first things that Infantino is hoping to accomplish is to regain the confidence that FIFA has lost after all the recent claims, links and evidence of corruption were unveiled.

“We need to make sure we do everything we possibly can, not only to prevent strange things happening around bidding processes but also to prevent the perception strange things could happen. So, we need to make sure the bidding process that we put in place is absolutely bullet-proof.

“Now, an absolute guarantee on everything as of now? It’s certainly the commitment that I want to give and that I will do everything I can to make sure this happens because I think that the credibility of FIFA is, as well, at stake here and we have to get the 2026 process absolutely right.” The recently appointed president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino said. Continue reading Gianni Infantino wants to make things as transparent as possible →

Kalisto Pasuwa is not going to be sacked as Zimbabwe head coach

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Kalisto Pasuwa is not going to be sacked as Zimbabwe head coach in spite of failing to guide the team to CHAN knockouts.

The chairman of Zimbabwe Association has made the clear statement that the coach would remain in his job.

“Pasuwa would continue”, that’s what the chairman was quoted as saying.

Comparing all the four sides that were there in Group D in CHAN, nobody would say that Zimbabwe was the strongest, but, the Warriors were definitely not expected to be as toothless as they proved to be.

The opposition did not outplay them in any of the games. It’s actually they themselves who caused the defeats by refusing to take the goal scoring opportunities in the first two games.

They showed some tightness in their play when they faced Uganda in the last game, but, that performance did not mean much as they had already gone out of the tournament having lost the first two.

The lack of preparation was visible in Zimbabwe’s showings in the tournament and holding Pasuwa responsible for that, the fans had been asking for his sacking.

But, in the view of the decision makers in the Zimbabwe association, making too many changes too quickly in the coaching department is something which would only disturb the team and nothing else. Continue reading Kalisto Pasuwa is not going to be sacked as Zimbabwe head coach →