Taiwan’s Danny Carroll on Tuesday failed to advance from the group stage of the Football for Friendship World Championship in Moscow, as his side African Wild Dog fell to two narrow defeats before winning their final group match at the Sapsan Arena.
To promote ecological conservation, each of the 32 teams represented a rare and endangered species of animal and Carroll was joined in the Africa Wild Dog team at the five-a-side tournament by goalkeeper Andrey Ponomarenko of Russia, Luca Durso of Australia, Sam Clarke of Grenada, Wadia Chery of Haiti and Alvaro Nogues Couchonnal of Paraguay.
In the first group match against Whale Shark, a visibly frustrated Carroll saw his effort hit the crossbar and bounce to safety in the first minute.
Photo: Dave Carrol, Taipei Times
Africa Wild Dog took the lead, but Whale Shark equalized before halftime before going on to score a winner with the final kick of the game for a 2-1 victory.
The second game was also close, as Africa Wild Dog this time took a 2-0 lead against eventual losing semi-finalists Blonde Capuchin, who featured South Korea’s Kim Chan-woo and North Korea’s Gwon Tae, who have struck up a good partnership, helping their team pull back to 2-2.
The game looked to be heading for a draw until the referee blew for a foul and allowed the free-kick to be taken while Ponomarneko was retrieving a ball from behind the goal, and Blonde Capuchin fired into an empty net past a helpless Carroll.
Photo: Dave Carrol, Taipei Times
Despite captain Durso’s protests, the goal was controversially allowed to stand and Africa Wild Dog fell to a tough-to-take 3-2 loss.
With nothing but pride to play for in their final game, Africa Wild Dog still gave it their all and in the second half Durso weaved through the Dama Gazelle defense to convert and give the team a well-deserved consolation victory.
Chimpanzee, featuring players from Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Malawi, Colombia, Benin and the Democratic of the Congo, went on to the final and claimed the World Championship title.
The international children’s social program, implemented by PJSC Gazprom since 2013, promotes friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions and honor.
This year the event was aligned with the FIFA World Cup in Russia, and for the first time all 211 FIFA members were invited to send both an ambassador (player) and a young journalist.
As well as Carroll, Taiwan is being represented by 12-year-old young journalist Sherri Chang (張馨予).
The ambassadors and young journalists are today to attend the opening ceremony and match of the World Cup in Moscow.
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Monday said that he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tournament’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year-old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub. In stifling conditions, world No. 54 Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year. A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Nathan Lukes hit a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays bounced back After taking down the storied New York Yankees in their own ballpark in their American League Division Series on Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ready to revel in the triumph. “Start spreading the news,” Schneider said while popping a bottle of bubbly to set off the Blue Jays’ jubilant celebration inside their Yankee Stadium clubhouse. With the party under way, the familiar lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York — the Yankees’ long-time victory anthem — sounded in the background as roaring Toronto players sprayed each other with booze in the Bronx. This time, it was their
‘IT’S BASEBALL’: In just the second error to end a post-season series in the MLB, the Phillies reliever fumbled a comebacker and threw to home, despite the signal Eyes red, Orion Kerkering on Thursday received words of support from his Philadelphia Phillies teammates. “Just keep your head up. It’s an honest mistake. Just, it’s baseball,” he remembered hearing. “You’ll be good for a long time to come,” they added. “It’s not my fault, then. We had opportunities to score,” was the message he kept getting. Kerkering made a wild throw past home plate instead of tossing to first after mishandling Andy Pages’ bases-loaded comebacker with two outs in the 11th inning. Pinch-runner Kim Hye-seong scored and the Phillies were eliminated with a 2-1 loss that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a
RSS