The Maldives’ soccer coach has blamed a disputed penalty decision for flared tempers after his team’s 1-0 loss to India which saw a player assault the referee and police called in to restore calm.
Players charged at referee Idham Mohammad at the end of the second semi-final of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) tournament in Kathmandu on Monday.
Maldives defender Ali Umar was red-carded after the game for the fracas which also saw organizers pushed after they rushed on to the field to protect the officials.
Photo: AFP
The country’s coach Istavan Urbanyi said his players were angry at the referee for denying his team a penalty in the second-half before India clinched victory through Arnab Mondal’s 85th minute goal.
“As for the players, it was a very emotional thing for them. I am not saying it was the right thing to do, but the players were emotional and angry,” he said in a post-game press conference.
India take on Afghanistan in today’s final. The Afghans defeated hosts Nepal 1-0 in Sunday’s first semi-final.
Afghanistan will likely miss defender Farzad Ghulam, who is recovering from a mild heart attack suffered on the pitch. The 43-year-old fell unconscious and needed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation before an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.
Tournament official Narendra Shreshta said that Ghulam had been kept in hospital for observation, but added that doctors had confirmed he was out of danger.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
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