Sports
Inter Squeeze Past Venezia To Put Pressure On Serie A Leaders Napoli
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Inter Milan moved to within one point of Serie A leaders Napoli on Sunday after bouncing back from a painful defeat in the Italian Super Cup final by winning 1-0 at struggling Venezia and going second in the table.
Matteo Darmian shot the injury-hit champions to victory on the Venetian Lagoon with the only goal of the game in the 16th minute, moving Inter a point above Atalanta who were held to a goalless draw at Udinese on Saturday.
Italy defender Darmian tapped home his second goal of the season on the rebound after Lautaro Martinez’s shot was kept out by Venezia goalkeeper and Inter loanee Filip Stankovic.
“We work on getting up the pitch and it doesn’t matter who gets there. I found myself in front of goal and thankfully I managed to score and help the team win,” said Darmian.
Napoli can extend their lead at the top of the division to four points with a home win over Verona, although Antonio Conte will be without Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has asked to be sold, with an 80-million-euro ($82 million) transfer to Paris Saint-Germain reportedly in the works.
However Inter will have two games in hand, the first against Bologna on Wednesday and the other their December fixture at Fiorentina which was stopped, following Edoardo Bove’s collapse on the pitch, and has yet to be rescheduled.
Inter have had problems closing out matches this season and Sunday’s narrow win, their sixth on the bounce in Serie A, came after Simone Inzaghi’s side threw away a two-goal lead in the Italian Super Cup final against AC Milan.
The away side dominated and should have won by more despite having Italy defender Francesco Acerbi and key midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan out injured, with Marcus Thuram, Benjamin Pavard and Federico Dimarco starting on the bench.
But Stankovic, the son of Inter legend Dejan, was excellent between the sticks and his brilliant save from Davide Frattesi in the 67th minute almost paid off moments later when the post denied USA midfielder Gianluca Busio and allowed Inter to escape with all three points.
“It wasn’t easy after losing the final the way we did, but the boys were brilliant because we came here tired with a host of players out but we played really well,” said Inzaghi.
Genoa continued their revival under Patrick Vieira with their first home win of the season, 1-0 over relegation rivals Parma, in front of new majority shareholder Dan Sucu.
Morten Frendrup’s wildly deflected strike in the 65th minute gave Genoa their third win since France and Arsenal icon Vieira replaced Alberto Gilardino in November.
Genoa are up to 11th on 23 points, a point behind Roma who snatched a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Bologna thanks to a controversial Artem Dovbyk penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Vieira’s team are also five points above the relegation zone after their first victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris since the final day of last season.
“We played well from the first minute to the last, everyone was waiting for this win for 233 days and we did it with a great performance,” said Vieira.
It was a propitious first appearance in front of home fans for Sucu who took over Genoa last month after he subscribed to a 45-million-euro capital increase which gave him 77 percent of the club.
That operation brought to an end the ownership of controversial investment company 777 Partners, who acquired 99.9 percent of Genoa in September 2021 but were issued with a winding up order by the United Kingdom’s High Court last year.
Sucu’s ownership is contested by another investment firm and 777 creditor, Advantage Capital (A-Cap), who say they were Genoa’s rightful owners after taking control of 777’s football assets.
A-Cap called the arrival of Sucu, who also owns Rapid Bucharest, a “non-approved clandestine operation” before Genoa said the takeover was final and that any news to the contrary was false.
Parma are a point and place above the bottom three and face three key clashes with fellow strugglers Venezia, Lecce and Cagliari in the next few weeks.
AFP
A Supercomputer has projected the leading countries tipped to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The tournament will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, making it the first World Cup to feature an expanded 48-team format.
The 2026 edition will include 12 groups made up of four nations each, alongside a record total of 104 matches.
The competition is scheduled to kick off on June 11 and conclude on July 19, with the final set to take place at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, United States.
According to the Opta Supercomputer, Spain has emerged as the top favourite to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
La Roja were predicted to lift the trophy in 16.1 per cent of the 10,000 tournament simulations carried out by the Supercomputer.
France, England and Argentina were also ranked among the strongest contenders, with each nation winning the competition in more than 10 per cent of the simulations.
Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium completed the top ten list of favourites tipped to win the tournament.
Meanwhile, co-hosts the United States, Mexico and Canada were considered unlikely to emerge as champions based on the Supercomputer’s simulations.
Arsenal is planning to begin discussions with Atletico Madrid regarding a transfer for Julian Alvarez, as reported by sources in Spain.
Barcelona seems to be leading the race to acquire Alvarez during the summer transfer window, with the Argentine international reportedly favoring a transfer to the Spanish champions.
Nevertheless, Barcelona has yet to reach an agreement on a transfer fee for Alvarez, and RAC1 indicated on Tuesday that their initial offer of €100 million (£86.4m) has been turned down by Atletico.
As per AS, Atletico is dissatisfied with Barcelona’s public pursuit of Alvarez and is now ‘blocking’ the 26-year-old’s transfer to Camp Nou.
The report suggests that Arsenal has been in communication with Alvarez’s agent, and the Premier League champions are set to commence formal negotiations with Atletico, who are demanding a transfer fee of €150m (£129.6m).
Atletico has firmly stated that Alvarez is not available for transfer, and in response to Arsenal’s recent interest in the former Manchester City forward, a representative from the Spanish club informed Libertad Digital on Tuesday: ‘Two weeks ago it was PSG, last week Barcelona, now Arsenal. We are counting on Julian for the upcoming season.’
Meanwhile, Atletico is preparing for the possibility of Alvarez’s departure, and AS reports that the club has already inquired about signing Victor Osimhen from Galatasaray.
After spending a season on loan at Galatasaray from Napoli, Osimhen made a permanent move to the Turkish club last summer for €75m (£63m).
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to kick off across the United States, Canada and Mexico, football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), have approved a series of rule changes aimed at reducing time-wasting, improving officiating and speeding up the game.
FIFA referees chief Pierluigi Collina confirmed that several new regulations will be enforced at the tournament, including restrictions on goalkeeper “tactical timeouts” and expanded VAR powers.
The new rules are designed to reduce time-wasting, discourage gamesmanship and improve decision-making at the World Cup. FIFA also hopes the measures will cut down on excessive stoppage time, which became a major talking point at the 2022 tournament.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition featuring 48 teams, making it the largest tournament in FIFA history.
Here is the full list of law changes that will be used at the 2026 World Cup.
- Five-second throw-in countdown
Referees can begin a visible five-second countdown if players delay taking throw-ins. If the countdown expires, possession will be awarded to the opposition.
- Five-second goal-kick countdown
Teams that deliberately waste time during goal-kicks risk conceding a corner kick. The referee will also use a visible five-second countdown.
- Time-limited substitutions
Substituted players must leave the pitch within 10 seconds using the nearest exit point.
Failure to comply means the replacement player cannot enter until the next stoppage after one minute of play.
- One-minute off-field treatment rule
Players who receive on-field medical treatment must stay off the pitch for 60 seconds after play resumes. Goalkeepers and certain injury situations are exempt.
- VAR can review second-yellow red cards
VAR officials can now review dismissals caused by clearly incorrect second yellow cards.
- VAR can review mistaken identity
Video Assistant Referees can intervene if the wrong player is punished with a yellow or red card.
- VAR can review wrongly awarded corners
Competitions can allow VAR reviews for clearly incorrect corner-kick decisions, provided the review is immediate and does not delay play.
- VAR can review attacking fouls before set-pieces
VAR can now intervene if an attacking foul occurs before a corner or free-kick that directly leads to a goal, penalty or major disciplinary incident.
- Red-card sanction for covering the mouth during confrontations
Players who cover their mouths during confrontational exchanges with opponents can now face a straight red card under new anti-discrimination measures.
- Goalkeeper tactical timeouts restricted
Players will no longer be allowed to leave the pitch for team talks when a goalkeeper goes down injured.
The measure will be enforced at the World Cup as part of FIFA’s anti-time-wasting crackdown.
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