World Cup: Cristiano Ronaldo has weighed in on the 'goat' debate, with a cheeky goal celebration.
A CRISTIANO Ronaldo masterclass in Sochi carried Portugal to a stunning draw with Spain as the legendary striker claimed his 51st career hat-trick.
The huge match day kicked off with Uruguay claiming a win over Egypt with a goal in the dying minutes. Iran endured a nightmare start to their World Cup campaign after Nike pulled their equipment, but the luck was in their favour as they defeated Morocco thanks to an own-goal.
Freak Ronaldo seals a draw in Cup thriller Legendary forward Cristiano Ronaldo stole back a draw in the dying minutes of Portugal’s Group clash against Spain, sealing his 51st career hat-trick with a stunning free kick. The action kicked off early after Ronaldo was granted a penalty in the box following a knock from Spain’s Jose “Nacho” Iglesias in the 3rd minute. The Real Madrid star slotted in the free kick with ease to put the underdogs ahead before anybody could blink. Spain hit back soon after in the 24th minute with an incredible effort from Diego Costa, who sliced through three defenders with relative ease before finding the back of the net to level the score. The Spaniards kept ample pressure on the men in red all the way up until halftime with the passing delights of their front four forcing the opposition’s defence to work overtime. But a momentary passage of play in the waning seconds before the break saw Ronaldo through for a second and leave the Portuguese on top. A long ball from the midfield found its way to Ronaldo’s boot. A quick step around the final defender left the Real Madrid star one-on-one with goalkeeper David De Gea, who fudged his save and handed Portugal the lead. Costa scored his second goal of the night shortly after after cleaning up a header from teammate Sergio Busquets following a free kick in the 55th minute. The Spaniard was joined on the scoreboard by teammate Jose “Nacho” Iglesias after a stylish procession of play saw him left open for a long shot on goal. The defender curled the ball perfectly past goalkeeper Rui Patrício’s glove and brought the score to 3-2 with half an hour remaining on the clock. Cristiano Ronaldo made it a hat-trick late in the piece after slotting in a beautiful free kick, curving the ball over the wall and into the back of the net to leave the score at 3-3 with a minute left on the clock. 1,2 and 3.
It was @Cristiano's night in Sochi.#PORESP#OptusSport #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Epztci9iNB — Optus Sport (@OptusSport) June 15, 2018 I hereby declare Ronaldo is GOD!!!!! #Hattie #WorldCup #Beast — Crash Gladys (@CrashGladys) June 15, 2018 I’ve always been messi over anything.... but it’s getting pretty hard when ronaldo does this. Always on the biggest stage of all. Absolutely unbelievable. — Max Bowden (@MaxBowden) June 15, 2018 Imagine thinking Ronaldo isn’t the GOAT. pic.twitter.com/lnTUE2lNpS — Jordan (@JordySloan) June 15, 2018 Share
Match report — Morocco vs. Iran For the second straight game a last minute header has been the decider, only this time it was an own goal that separated the teams. Morocco dominated the contest against Iran but couldn’t capitalise and were left distraught after Aziz Bouhaddouz headed the ball into his own net with less than two minutes remaining. The goal handed the three points to Iran and as the Morocco players walked off dejected, the Iranian players did laps of glory and soaked in the momentous occasion. As a part of Group B with Portugal and Spain, Morocco will rue their plethora of missed opportunities in a game they shouldn’t have lost. Iran were outclassed for the majority of the contest and their only shot on goal in the second half came courtesy of the own-goal. A capacity crowd of 62,548 inside Saint Petersburg Stadium took in the contest and couldn’t quite believe what they had witnessed in front of their eyes. Not a good look, Morocco. pic.twitter.com/0UM39fqCtH — Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) June 15, 2018 The win is only the second in the history of Iran at the World Cup and one they’ll be remembering for a long time. Iran defeats Morocco 1-0 on an own goal in stoppage time.
It is the latest regulation own goal in in World Cup history (2nd-latest overall), and the latest own goal to give a team the lead at the #WorldCup#IRN gets its 2nd ever win at the World Cup pic.twitter.com/LKKFkIRLLC — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 15, 2018 Share
Teams announced One of the most highly anticipated group games isn’t far from getting underway and the team sheets are in. Portugal will lock horns with Spain in a contest that wouldn’t look out of place if the Cup was on the line. Meanwhile, in Sochi...
The teams for #PORESP have been confirmed 👀 pic.twitter.com/1PdWyonEQ9 — FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) June 15, 2018 Share
Ronaldo hit with whopping fine Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed to pay the Spanish taxman $29m (AUD) to settle a tax fraud claim, a legal source said Friday. The agreement between the fiscal authorities and the advisers of the star, currently at the World Cup with Portugal, still has to be ratified and will likely come with a two-year jail term — although sentences of up to two years are not generally served in Spain. The former Manchester United player, who is at the World Cup on the back of a third straight Champions League title with Real, appeared in court last July at Pozuelo de Alarcon, a wealthy Madrid suburb, to answer four counts of tax evasion. Prosecutors allege the five-time Ballon d’Or winner took “advantage of a company structure created in 2010 to hide income generated in Spain from his image rights from tax authorities”. He is alleged to have used companies in low-tax foreign jurisdictions — notably the British Virgin Islands and Ireland — to avoid having to pay the tax otherwise due. — AFP Share
Full Time — Uruguay vs. Egypt For 90 minutes the tussle between Uruguay and Egypt looked destined to end in a stalemate, then Jose Maria Gimenez headed home the sealer and handed the three points to Uruguay with the 1-0 win. Without their superstar striker Mohamed Salah taking part in the contest, Egypt had their backs up against the wall but made the majority of the early running. Despite constant surges down the wings and into the penalty box they weren’t able to crack the Uruguay defences. After absorbing and blocking every chance Egypt attempted, Uruguay then wrestled back control and should have taken the lead in the opening half but Luiz Suarez’s close range shot slammed into the side netting. Wow. Cannot believe Luis Suarez has just missed that. He scuffs a clear chance at the back post when wide open. Look of disbelief on his face. Big let off for Egypt#EGY 0-0 #URU #WorldCup — Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) June 15, 2018 As the second half got underway it became clear the momentum sat squarely behind Uruguay and their repeat entries into the attacking third began to take affect on Egypt. Suarez was left to rue multiple missed opportunities as he saw two more close range shots miss their intended target. They went agonisingly close when Edinson Cavani’s free kick attempt slammed off the post and wasn’t able to be helped into the open net as Egypt defenders claoumered to clear their area. Gimenez rose to meet a Carlos Sanchez free kick to take the South Americans to three points alongside Russia, who beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the tournament opener, and break the resistance of Egypt. “They’ve just broken Egyptian hearts,” one commentator proclaimed. A late all-out attack came up empty for Egypt as the cameras panned to a solemn looking Salah sitting on the bench. Gimenez secured Uruguay’s first win in a World Cup opening game since 1970 when they went on to the semi-finals. Egypt are yet to win a World Cup game and face the hosts Russia on Wednesday while Uruguay will expect to account for Saudi Arabia on Thursday. What a finish! #WorldCup@Uruguay leave it late, but do enough to get the win. #EGYURU 0-1 pic.twitter.com/UmKN1f6YwO — FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) June 15, 2018 — with AAP Share
Live stream angers World Cup fans One of the biggest sporting events on the globe has had a less than ideal beginning with the second game of the tournament being plagued by major glitch issues. Football fans across Australia took to social media to vent their frustrations towards the host broadcaster. The backlash came in thick and fast and lasted throughout the opening game. Read more here. Share
Bonkers new stadium makes debut The second clash f the 2018 World Cup and although two of the bigger names in the game of football will be taking part, the sight of the stadium has stolen the limelight. FIFA requirements state stadiums must be able to seat a capacity of 35,000 and with Russia opting to use Ekaterinburg arena, some modifications were required. Two temporary stands were hastily constructed in time for the tournament, but the most striking feature is they’re located on the outside of the stadium. An aerial view of the stadium makes it look more like a futuristic starship than football stadium. With the first game set to get underway an apparent 12,000 fans will fill the temporary stands from an elevated view of 45m from the highest point. Despite the allure of the impressive looking stadium it failed to sell out with FIFA investigating the lack in attendance. Pockets of orange seats were clearly visible in the lower tiers of the stadium which has a 33,061 capacity for World Cup games. FIFA says it allocated 32,278 tickets and the official attendance was 27,015. — with AP Share
Bola.com, Jakarta - FIFA saat ini sedang menyelidiki mengapa Mesir dan Uruguay bermain di hadapan ribuan bangku kosong di Yekaterinburg Arena, Rusia. Mesir bersua Uruguay pada laga perdana penyisihan Grup A Piala Dunia 2018 , Jumat malam (15/6/2018) WIB.
Ada berderet-deret kursi kosong berwarna oranye di stadium yang baru saja dibangun di kota industri yang terletak dekat Pegunungan Ural itu.
Hanya ada beberapa bagian di sudut stadion yang hampir penuh, yang didominasi fans Mesir atau dihuni suporter Uruguay saja. Anehnya, secara teknis, kursi-kursi di bagian itu disiapkan sebagai lokasi menonton bagi warga tuan rumah. Tiket yang dijual untuk bagian itu, hanya terbatas untuk kalangan warga Rusia.
FIFA menuturkan tiket yang tersedia untuk laga ini hampir terjual habis dan itulah mengapa, mereka menyelidiki ada mengapa banyak penonton yang tak hadir.
"Kami bisa mengonfirmasi, sebanyak 32,278 tiket sudah dialokasikan untuk pertandingan Mesir vs Uruguay di Yekaterinburg, sedangkan kapasitas stadion mencapai 33,061," kata juru bicara FIFA.
"Kenyataannya, penonton riil yang datang tidak merefleksikan jumlah tiket yang terjual, bisa karena beberapa hal, dan itu yang sedang diselidiki FIFA saat ini," lanjut sang jubir.
FIFA telah mengalokasikan sekitar 2,5 juta lembar tiket untuk ajang Piala Dunia 2018 . Pengelola dari pihak tuan rumah mengungkap hampir seluruh tiket itu terjual.
Saksikan cuplikan pertandingan dari Liga Inggris, La Liga, Liga Champions, dan Liga Europa, dengan kualitas HD di sini Uruguay menang dramatis atas Mesir dengan skor 1-0 pada laga kedua grup A Piala Dunia 2018.
Riding on Jose Maria Gimenez's late header, Uruguay open their World Cup campaign on a winning note, registering a 1-0 victory over Egypt in Group A match.Sanchez takes a free-kick from the right flank and Gimenez heads into the net. Uruguay 1-0 EgyptCavani would be hugely disappointed with his effort, takes free kick from outside the box and the ball hits goal post.Cavani fires a powerful volley from outside the box but Egypt goalkeeper Shenawy comes up with spectacular save to keep the scoreline 0-0.Egypt had a chance, Elneny attempt's goes over the top of the goal which also gathers the round of applause from Mohammed Salah.Match is heading into the finishing stage. Uruguay look on the front foot while Egypt started lacking pace.Egypt make a counter attack but is finished by foul.Uruguay win a corner off Trezeguet. Cavani tries to turn and get off a shot but denied by Egypt defence.Suarez tries to cross after getting the ball to the left of the box but it's blocked.Kahraba replaces Mohsen in a bid to change Egypt's fortunes in the match.Uruguay make another substitution in quick succession. Rodriguez in place of De Arrascaeta.First substitution for Uruguay. Nandez makes way for Sanchez.Egypt is having great time in the middle and enjoying a lot of possession.Egypt make the first substitution of the match. Sam Morsy replaces injured Tarek Hamed on the field.Uruguay with the early chance in the second half, Suarez on the run this time but ElShenawy comes up with fine save.Suarez had the best chance of a low-intensity first half but dragged a close-range shot into the side-netting as a disappointing Uruguay struggled to live up to their billing as group favourites.Egypt 0-0 UruguayOne minute of injury time added into the first halfEgypt accelerate the pace in the dying minutes of the first half. But their effort into the box fails to open the account.Fives minutes into the half-time with both teams looking to break the deadlock.Suarez had another shot at free kick from 30 yards but hits it directly on the wall.Uruguay has another chance, this time Suarez makes a mess of it as he hits from the far post that gone into the side netting.Cavani misses another chance, Egypt defence does well to deny Uruguay taking the lead.Egypt get the free kick but did not make the most of it to open the scoring. El Said takes the free kick and directs it towards Hegazi but Uruguay defence manage to save it.Cavani get the ball and has the first chance of the match, hitting a low shot from outside the box that was saved by El-Shenawy comfortably.Egypt's Hegazi makes two interceptions in quick succession.Edison Cavani was seen in some pain after being hit by Egypt's Hamed.Uruguay get the possession and dominated the proceedings early in the game.Referee blows the whistle and the match gets underway at Ekaterinburg ArenaFernando Muslera; Guillermo Varela, Jose Gimenez, Diego Godin, Martin Caceres; Nahitan Nandez, Rodrigo Bentancur, Matias Vecino, Giorgian de Arrascaeta; Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez.Mohamed El-Shenawy; Ahmed Fathy, Ahmed Hegazi, Ali Gabr, Mohamed Shafy; Mohamed Elneny, Tarek Hamed; Amr Warda, Abdallah El Said, Trezeguet; Marwan Mohsen.Uruguay's Edinson Cavani was in great shape for Paris Saint-Germain with 40 goals during the season.* Uruguay have not won their opening game at a World Cup since 1970.* Luis Suarez will be chasing redemption in his first World Cup appearance since being thrown out of the tournament in 2014 for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini.* Salah suffered the injury three weeks ago in Liverpool's Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.* Ahead of their World Cup opener, Egypt suffered a blow as star player Mohamed Salah was not included in starting line-up following his shoulder injury.* Russia put pressure on the rest of the group with a 5-0 win against Saudi Arabia in the opening match on Thursday.* Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Group A match between Egypt and Uruguay at the FIFA World Cup 2018 at Ekaterinburg Arena.
A major row has erupted over a TV station that Fifa claims is illegally showing World Cup matches.
The channel, known as BeoutQ, has been described as a "pirate" station and Fifa says that it has not given it the rights to broadcast any of the tournament. But it is continuing to show all 64 matches in Saudi Arabia, despite being warned not to.
The TV station appears to be the result of a major diplomatic fallout between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which has led to the tournament not being officially broadcast in the former country, despite its team having qualified. Matches should have been shown on Doha-based beIN Sports – but after a trade ban between the two countries, fans in Saudi Arabia are not able to watch that channel.
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Fifa had reportedly been trying to broker a deal so that Saudi fans could watch the tournament – including the opening match, which saw the national team play Russia – but nothing has been signed.
Instead, they are receiving a feed called BeoutQ that seems to re-broadcast that same content, including the World Cup. Fifa and the African football confederation says that rights have not been sold to that channel and that it will take action to stop the videos being broadcast.
"Fifa is aware that a pirate channel named BeoutQ has illegally distributed the opening matches of 2018 FIFA World Cup in the MENA region," the statement read. "Fifa takes infringements of its intellectual property very seriously and is exploring all options to stop the infringement of its rights, including in relation to action against legitimate organisations that are seen to support such illegal activities.
"We refute that BeoutQ has received any rights from FIFA to broadcast any FIFA event."
BeoutQ has launched "a major piracy operation against beIN Media Group", the African football association said. It made clear that it "strongly condemns the practice of the audiovisual piracy of sport events", which it called "a real scourge for our industry".
"The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) reminds that, it holds, on an exclusive basis, all the rights pertaining to its competitions, including all the related matches and any related official events, without any restrictions as to content, time, place and law," its statement read. It said the rights to broadcast the tournament in a range of middle eastern and north African countries had been sold exclusively to beIN.
"CAF is determined to take all necessary against 'beoutQ' if any of CAF matches is pirated."
BeIN media is reported to have lost some 40 per cent of its subscriber base as a result of losing the roughly 900,000 customers it had in Saudi Arabia.
Egypt – which is back in the World Cup this year after a 28 year absence – has also suggested that it could resort to piracy of beIN's feeds to ensure that its country's fans could watch the tournament. A statement from the competition authority said that fans had a "a right" to watch the games, urged Fifa to make them available, and said that fans might be able to view copies of beIN's streams instead.
The United Arab Emirates joined with Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the blockade of Qatar. But its broadcasters appear to have come to a deal with beIN, which is showing the tournament there.
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