Michael vs Michael. 🎯 What a great game.

[jstar]

Tonight it is France against the Netherlands.

Five players of the Dutch national team, including Anderlecht goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, have had to leave the Orange squad. They are suffering from a viral infection.

According to a Dutch newspaper, the Wednesday dinner would be the cause of the five dropouts. It was chicken curry ….

 

[serious_fun]

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (41) writes history in Serie A with first goal since January 2022. It made Zlatan the oldest (goal)scorer ever in the Italian Series A. The Swedish striker of AC Milan took a penalty against Udinese. Ibrahimovic is 41 years and 166 days old.

I really like Ibra, but I know that he's very cocky and that puts many people off. 41 years!

 

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Yeah quite amazing you’re still on that level at that age.

Remember his statement when Pep G. would not let him play for the full 90 minutes…

 

[jstar]

Some more games were played during the European Championship qualifying stages.

Spain won convincingly from Norway (3-0). The injured Haaland did not play.

Turkey won against Armenia (2-1). In the same group, Wales was over-classed by Croatia but in the final minute it still managed to grab a point.

Scotland started with a big victory over Cyprus. The team of national coach Steve Clarke, who extended his contract last week, triumphed with 3-0 at Glasgow's own Hampden Park.

Switzerland has started qualifying with a convincing victory over Belarus. Renato Steffen opened the 5-0 game with an early hattrick. The match was played in Serbia. UEFA is still considering to exclude Belarus, which is an ally of Russia in the war against Ukraine, from participating in European competitions. In the next meeting early April, the issue will be discussed. In the same group, Israel played 1-1 against Kosovo in Tel Aviv.

As the organizer of the 2024 European Championship, Germany does not have to play qualifying matches. It won a friendly match against Peru. Tuesday they will play against Belgium.

 

[jstar]

MotoGP rider Pol Espargaro (31) was injured in a serious crash during practice for the Grand Prix of Portugal. The Spaniard has, among other things, a lung contusion and various fractures, the organizer of the event announced.

Grand Prix in motorcycle racing is the name they used to give to large national events. In 1949 the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) was founded as the international governing body for motorcycle sport. Then they could coordinate rules and regulations in order to select events and create official World Championships.

Grand Prix motorcycles are not the same as road-based racing bikes, such as used in the Isle of Man TT Races for instance. The current top division is known as MotoGP since 2002 when the 4-stroke era began. The 2-stroke engines were phased out. (I remember Honda was a bit of a laughing stock at the time since they strongly believed in 4-stroke.) The largest class used to be 500cc, now it‘s 1.000cc (again). The MotoGP is the ‘highest’ class of four. (Compare it a bit to F1).

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In a country as Indonesia, motorcycle racing is rather popular, even more so than car racing. A MotoGP gets more attention in the press than a F1 for example. Of course the popularity of motorbikes in general wil play a role. And there have been three Grand Prix events held in RI; in 1996 and 1997 at the Sentul International Circuit which is in Bogor, and in 2022 at the Mandalika International Street Circuit. That’s in Central Lombok.

The most successful rider in Grand Prix history is Giacomo Agostini with 8 titles, followed by Valentino Rossi with 7 and active rider Marc Márquez with 6. As of 2020, Rossi holds the record for most races won. His status here is a bit like Messi in football.

Currently the more successful brands are Honda, Ducati and Aprilia. Suzuki was absent for some years but has made a comeback, Kawasaki left and Yamaha is not doing so well anymore.

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MotoGP™ World Championship | Calendar | Results | Live Streaming

MotoGP official website with the latest news, calendar, schedules, riders and teams information for every Grand Prix. Live streaming available with VideoPass

www.motogp.com

 

[jstar]

On October 2, 2022, things went completely wrong after the match between the rivals Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya. Angry Arema supporters stormed the field after the 3-2 home defeat. Police fired tear gas grenades, followed by panic and chaos and trampled and crushed supporters.

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Two persons have been convicted. One of the convicted men was on the organizing committee of the home club Arema FC and has to go to jail for 1,5 year. According to the court in Surabaya, he was responsible for overselling tickets for the match. As a result, there were many more people in the stadium than the maximum allowed capacity. The court stated that people have died due to his "negligence". The other convict is a security officer. He has to go to jail for 1 year, also for negligence. Three police officers are also facing a sentence

An investigation found that the massive use of tear gas by the police was the main cause of the disaster. The world football association FIFA has banned its use during matches in stadiums.

 

[fastpitch17]

An investigation found that the massive use of tear gas by the police was the main cause of the disaster. The world football association FIFA has banned its use during matches in stadiums.

While the tear gas use did indeed lead to preventable deaths I feel that the investigation keyed on the wrong people. The tear gas was a reaction to people storming the field and some players attacked. Where is the investigation into the cause that started all the reactions? Without the cause, nothing else follows.

 

[jstar]

No real surprises yesterday during European Championship qualification games; England, France, the Netherlands and Portugal all won. Rather bleak games.

The only stunt of the evening was that European sub-topper Denmark (number 18 in the FIFA ranking) lost to football toddler Kazakhstan, the number 115 in the world ranking. The Danes lost with 3-2 after leading with 0-2.

Rasmus Højlund seemed to give the Danes another victory. The 20-year-old striker of the Italian club Atalanta scored in the 21st and 36th minute and it looked like he would be the match winner again. Last Thursday he was already the hero in the home game against Finland (3-1), in which he made a hattrick.

However, things turned out differently and Kazakhstan scored three goals in the last twenty minutes.

Slovenia, Northern Ireland, Finland and San Marino are the other four countries in this group.

 

[jstar]

Scotland also won their second match in European Championship qualification. Spain was beaten with 2-0 which was rather sensational. Scott McTominay was the man of the game with two goals. Turkey lost with 0-2 (at home) from Croatia. Matteo Kovacic scored twice.

 

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After losing from Belgium, the German press talks about “a horror show”. Even legend Lothar Matthäus could not believe his eyes, Germany left a very bad impression, luckily for them it was a friendly practice match.


Kevin De Bruyne is the captain of the Belgian team now. It seems they really benefit from the new coach. Martines, the previous one, is the coach of Portugal now.

 

[jstar]

The Melbourne F1 was the most spectacular race in a long time. In a race with red flags and restarts, Max Verstappen came out on top.

He won the Australian Grand Prix after a particularly chaotic final phase. That happened behind the safety car, after the race was halted for the third time with two laps to go. Never before there have been three red flags in a Formula 1 race.

For Verstappen it was his first victory in Australia and his 37th victory in a Formula 1 race. The Red Bull world champion consolidated the lead in this season's championship. Lewis Hamilton finished second in his Mercedes and Fernando Alonso came in third in an Aston Martin.

 

[jstar]

Normally I prefer watching the Tirreno Adriatico but this year Paris Nice has been rather interesting too.

The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (24) dominated the whole race and even the final stage around Nice. With three stage victories and the overall triumph, he was absolutely superior.

I don’t see anybody who can stop him in de Tour de France this year, Jonas Vingegaard (Rasmussen) didn't even come close. He won already twice of course, last year Vingegaard got somewhat lucky and it shows you never know what can happen, but this was a masterclass.

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It looks like Pogacar is doing it again.

Currently live in the classic Ronde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders); he took a lead of 13 seconds on 14 km before the finish line.

Mathieu Van der Poel tries to catch up. It will be difficult. Nice cycling race.

 

[jstar]

In the Mexican football league, Sunday's top match between Club América and León has gotten completely out of hand. The main role was for referee Fernando Hernandez. After conceding a disputable goal, he landed a knee in the private parts of León's Lucas Romero.

The León players went to Hernandez in disbelief after Club América had just scored the equalizer. According to them, the ball hit an América player's hand just before the goal.

Referee Hernandez was surrounded by Léon's angry players. When he drew a yellow card for obstruction, he also knee-punched Romero in the private parts. Who fell to the ground, practically nobody noticed. Then the teams‘ clash continued.

A few minutes later, another mishap unfolded, this time next to the field. The trainers of the two clubs got into a fight and referee Hernandez promptly showed them a red card. The two ciaches left the field furiously after which the match continued.

In the end, the tumultuous match ended 2-2, after an equalizer in the 94th minute by Joel Campbell (ex-Arsenal).

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[jstar]

Vincent Kompany, the very successful* ex player of Manchester City and the not so successful ex trainer of Anderlecht, got certainty of the promotion of Burnley to the Premier League. It was thanks to a 1-2 win at Middlesbrough.

*Kompany was the first Belgian to win the FA Cup, he was the first Belgian to win the Premier League and could become the first Belgian coach in the Premier League. Not bad.

 

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Manchester City‘s qualification for the semi-finals of the Champions League seems to be a formality. 'The Citizens' won the first leg at their Etihad Stadium with 3-0 against Bayern Munich. Erling Haaland obviously scored his goal and gave an assist. Kevin De Bruyne made a rather ugly fall and was shortly afterwards substituted.

 

[jstar]

Also Internazionale took a big step towards the semi-finals of the Champions League. The winner of the game(s) between Benfica and Inter may compete in the last four against the winner of the game between Napoli and AC Milan.

 

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Tonight Chelsea against Real Madrid.

 

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Tonight Chelsea against Real Madrid.

Wow…

 

[jstar]

Benfica and Inter may compete in the last four against the winner of the game between Napoli and AC Milan.

 

[jstar]

Also Internazionale took a big step towards the semi-finals of the Champions League. The winner of the game(s) between Benfica and Inter may compete in the last four against the winner of the game between Napoli and AC Milan.

There‘s quite a stir about racism in football.

An old e-mail discussing statements from the current PSG coach Christophe Galtier came back to haunt him. Galtier had told a former colleague, among other things, that "there can't be that many blacks and Muslims on the team".

New York Red Bulls had to do "damage control" in recent days with three statements on Tuesday after all the fuss in the match against San Jose Earthquakes last weekend. The opponent accused Belgian player Vanzeir of using racist language and he received a storm of criticism. In the US there’s a rather special system in place where the football league has tremendous power over the players and can even fire them.

And then there’s of course Inter Milan’s player Lukaku who is on somewhat of a personal crusade against racism. Now obviously he encounters a lot of nasty and unacceptable hooligan behavior. But his body language can be interpreted as addressing the fan club of the other team directly and that is automatically a yellow card..