LA LIGA
Levante beat Las Palmas
Two goals by Jose Luis Morales helped Levante UD beat UD Las Palmas 3-2 on Monday. The 28-year-old Morales volleyed in the opener in the 25th minute after Jose Garcia’s free-kick had bounced back off the post into his path. Striker Deyverson doubled Levante’s tally in the 47th minute efore Brazil striker Willian pulled one back for Las Palmas two minutes later. Morales scored Levante’s third in the 64th minute before Willian got his second for Las Palmas in the 66th when he capitalized on an error by Levante goalkeeper Diego Marino. The win is not enough to lift Levante from last place in the league standings. Las Palmas are due to play Valencia tomorrow for a place in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.
CONCACAF
Reform package in pipeline
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football is to consider a reform package when it holds an extraordinary congress in Zurich, Switzerland, on Feb. 25. The association on Monday said the proposals include: replacing its executive committee with a council of up to 15 members, including three who are required to be independent; creating an audit and compliance committee that includes only independent members; requiring governance and finance committees be chaired by independent members; twelve-year term limits for council members and members of independent committees; and requiring candidates for president, council and committee roles, and senior officials, be subject to eligibility checks by an independent ethics committee.
BRAZIL
CBF bans matches
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) banned some of the country’s top clubs from playing in an independent tournament on Monday, just two days before the first games are due to take place. However, the clubs — which include Flamengo and Fluminense from Rio de Janeiro, Gremio and Internacional from Porto Alegre, and Atletico and Cruzeiro from Belo Horizonte — said they would defy the ban and play their first matches today as scheduled. The CBF had originally given its blessing to this year’s edition of the Copa Sul-Minas-Rio and said it would consider making it an official tournament next year. However, on Monday, it issued a statement, saying the logistical and bureaucratic challenges were too much to overcome.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Team absent from qualifier
FIFA has opened a disciplinary case against the nation’s soccer federation, whose women’s team failed to travel to New Zealand for an Olympic qualifying playoff scheduled for yesterday. The incident is embarrassing for FIFA vice president David Chung, who leads the Papua New Guinea Football Association and the Oceania Football Confederation. The nation lost 7-1 in the first leg at home on Saturday, and face being fined and suspended from future FIFA competitions. They are due to host the Women’s Under-20 FIFA World Cup from Nov. 13 to Dec. 3. They qualify automatically to play in that tournament as the home team. New Zealand media reported that visa issues were blamed for the visiting team not traveling for the return match in Auckland. FIFA did not give a reason on Monday when confirming in a statement that the playoff second leg was canceled. New Zealand now advance to represent Oceania at the 12-team Rio Olympics tournament in August.
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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