SOCCER
Egypt win penalty shoot-out
Veteran 44-year-old goalkeeper Essam El Hadary saved Bertrand Traore’s spot-kick as Egypt beat Burkina Faso 4-3 on penalties on Wednesday to secure their place in the Africa Cup of Nations final. A tense semi-final in Libreville, Gabon, had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time, with AS Roma star Mohamed Salah’s superb 66th-minute opener for Egypt quickly canceled out by Aristide Bance for Burkina Faso. That goal was the first conceded by El Hadary — the oldest ever player at the Cup of Nations — in 653 minutes at the tournament going back to 2010. Abdallah El Said missed Egypt’s first penalty in the shoot-out, but El Hadary kept the Pharaohs in it when he saved from opposing goalkeeper Herve Koffi, before denying Traore. Unbeaten in 24 games at the tournament, Egypt play Cameroon or Ghana in the final on Sunday.
SOCCER
Totti fires Roma to semi-final
A last-gasp penalty from Francesco Totti fired AS Roma into a Coppa Italia semi-final with city rivals SS Lazio after a shaky 2-1 win over AC Cesena on Wednesday. Totti was given a rare start by Roma coach Luciano Spalletti, but it took the Serie A title challengers until the 68th minute to hit the mark, Edin Dzeko making up for a series of glaring misses by sweeping Stephan El Shaarawy’s pass from the left past onrushing goalkeeper Federico Agliardi. Second-tier Cesena were given a chance to pull level when Roma goalkeeper Alisson, standing in for Wojciech Szczesny, almost collided with defender Kostas Manolas as he rose to challenge for a high ball, spilling it into the path of a thankful Luca Garritano, who fired home from the edge of the penalty area on 73 minutes. The match looked to be heading for extra-time until Totti stepped up to beat Agliardi from the spot in the seventh minute of stoppage-time.
CRICKET
Morgan laments batting
Skipper Eoin Morgan said England’s batting collapse in the third Twenty20 international was their worst performance in recent times after India inflicted a crushing defeat in the series decider in Bengaluru. Chasing 203 for victory, England’s much-vaunted batting lineup imploded on Wednesday, losing their final eight wickets for eight runs after being set to push for victory. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s 6-25 combined with Jasprit Bumrah’s three wickets ripped through the English middle and lower order, with five batsmen being dismissed without scoring. “I can’t put my finger on it. We haven’t produced a batting performance as bad as that in two-and-a-half years,” Morgan said.
ICE HOCKEY
Blues fire coach Hitchcock
The Blues abruptly fired coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday, cutting short the veteran’s final season in St Louis and putting coach-in-waiting Mike Yeo in charge of the underperforming team months earlier than planned. General manager Doug Armstrong announced the change one day after the Blues’ fifth loss in six games. “We don’t lose with pride,” Armstrong said. “I don’t think that we’ve given our best effort and Ken, ultimately he’s paying the price with all our failures, starting with mine.” Hitchcock had a 248-124-41 record and made the playoffs in each of his five seasons, but St Louis are 24-21-5 and mired in eighth place in the Western Conference.
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie. Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net. Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper. Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston. The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10. It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning. A first-inning RBI groundout
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