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MANILA: United States forward Mikal Bridges said his team were “just plain hungry” after they overpowered Italy on Tuesday to book their place in the Basketball World Cup semifinals.
The US beat Italy 100-63 to rebound from their first defeat of the tournament, a loss to Lithuania in the second round two days earlier.
The Americans fell behind early against Lithuania but they had no such problems with Italy, leading by 10 points by the end of the first quarter.
Bridges, who led the US in scoring with 24 points, said the mantra heading into the quarter-final game was to “set the tone.”
“That’s what the coach has been preaching to us,” he said.
“The bench has been doing a pretty good job but I think the starters have been letting them down a little bit with a slow start.
“The coach got us prepared and we were just plain hungry.”
The US never gave Italy a chance to get started, learning their lesson after allowing Lithuania to nail their first nine three-point attempts.
The Americans limited Italy to just 24 points in the first half — the second-lowest tally ever from a team appearing in a World Cup quarter-final.
“We took a tough loss last game,” said US center Paolo Banchero.
“It felt like we didn’t play up to our standards on the defense end, so we wanted to come out and make a statement on defense.”
The US will face either Germany or tournament sensations Latvia in the semifinals on Friday.
Head coach Steve Kerr said he was not worried about his players letting their energy levels drop after such a high-octane performance.
He likened his team to “the horse turning back to the barn.”
“The horse starts picking up the pace when it senses it’s near the barn, and that’s what is happening right now — our guys are sensing this is the end of the journey,” he said.
“They know what’s ahead, they know what the goal is and I have no doubt they’ll come out with the same energy, the same force in the next game.”
Tyrese Haliburton was the winning team’s second-highest scorer with 18 points, followed by Austin Reaves on 12.
The pair provided two of the highlights of the game, with crowd favorite Reaves stuffing in a huge rebound dunk in the first half.
Haliburton conjured up another memorable moment in the second half, setting up Banchero for an alley-oop with a pass between his legs.
“I thought he was going to hit it off the backboard, then he went between his legs,” said Banchero.
“I wanted to do a dunk off the backboard but he put it through his legs.”
Italy were appearing in their first World Cup quarter-final since 1998.
Head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco said his team “didn’t deserve” to face the US in the last eight after winning their second-round group.
Power forward Nicolo Melli said there was “nothing this group could do more.”
“We did everything we could do. This season we will work even harder and come back next year, and again and again and again,” he said.
PARIS: When Sonny Bill Williams retired from rugby union after the 2019 World Cup, he brought an end to one of the most glittering careers in the sport.
On top of a successful time in rugby league Williams won countless Bledisloe Cups as well as the Webb Ellis trophy in 2011 and four years later.
On Friday, Williams’ New Zealand play hosts France in the World Cup’s opening game less than two months after Les Bleus’ under 20s side won a third straight junior title.
“When I see the French, the chickens are coming home to roost,” former center Williams told AFP.
“The last few under 20 World Cups they’ve won and the young fearless players that are coming through, France represent that.
“They don’t have the fear factor of the All Blacks, that’s why they’re scary, that’s why for me they’re one of the favorites,” he said, adding Ireland to the list of title contenders.
The 38-year-old was part of an All Blacks generation to lift the Webb Ellis trophy twice, alongside the likes of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Ma’a Nonu.
“I was lucky, I was very fortunate to be in a great side,” Williams, who spent two years of his union career with French club Toulon, said.
“I always loved the fact that I was in a group, in the sheds and I understood there were some great players in the team and all I had to do was my job.
“Some good memories, but everyone has their time,” he added.
The buildup to the tournament has been overshadowed by a group of former internationals pursuing legal action against World Rugby, England’s Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union for the brain injuries they suffered during their careers.
Williams, who has also had a successful boxing career, worries the sport is losing the next generation of players due to the issue.
“We want mothers to believe in our beautiful sport,” practicing Muslim Williams said.
“There needs to be strategies in place that allow the players to get the best out of themselves by safeguarding themselves and be efficient in that space too.
“Knowledge through science and getting that hands-on approach from people that have actually walked that path,” he added.
This weekend, the All Blacks start their attempt at a record fourth World Cup, by facing the in-form Les Bleus.
Captaining the home side will be Antoine Dupont, a nuggetty scrum-half who grew up near the Pyrenees mountains.
Williams compared Dupont to former UFC great Khabib Nurmagomedov, from Dagestan, Russia
“He’s a special player,” Williams said.
“He’s had that Khabib upbringing, natural physical ability from being in fresh air.
“I like his style, very physical.
“He’s a representation of this young scary French player coming through the French system, not scared,” Williams added.
VALLADOLID, Spain: Jumbo’s American rider Sepp Kuss did enough to retain the Vuelta a Espana overall lead on a gruelling 25.8km stage 10 individual time trial won by Italy’s Filippo Ganna on Tuesday.
Ganna of Ineos completed the course around the city of Valladolid in 27min 39sec, although exhausted mountain specialist Kuss still leads the overall standings by 26 seconds from Spaniard Marc Soler.
Belgian Quick-Step rider and defending champion Remco Evenepoel raced in his time-trial world champion rainbow jersey and was 16sec slower than Ganna in second on the day.
He is now third overall at 1min 09sec and crucially extended his lead over Primoz Roglic to 27sec and Jonas Vingegaard by over a minute.
“It’s great to be here on such a lovely day and win another stage after I also won at the Giro,” said Italian Ganna.
“Let’s see what else we can do. I’m here to help ‘G’ (Geraint Thomas).”
Evenepoel beat Ganna to the world title in Glasgow last month but explained he suffered a blip here.
“I think it’s pretty good. Knowing that I didn’t have the best TT legs today,” said the Belgian.
“We have to be happy with the general classification gaps that I took today and coming quite closer to Sepp who actually did a super good TT. So hats off to him.”
Kuss is riding as Jumbo’s third man, complicating tactics for Evenepoel as he faces a triple challenge to his title from the Dutch team.
As provisional leader the slender Kuss, who is by no means a time trial specialist, was delighted to retain his lead after embarking as the final rider in the individual run.
“I started last so it’s the first time nobody has overtaken me in a time trial,” he jested. “It was something different for sure, a new challenge for me,” he said.
Roglic is in fourth and was all smiles as he warmed down after the race, while French rookie Lenny Martinez remains fifth and is expected to do well in the mountains ahead.
Wednesday’s stage 11 from Lerma to La Laguna Negra ends with what should be a hotly contested 6.5km climb to the finish.
MADRID: Spain’s women’s team coach Jorge Vilda has been sacked, the football federation (RFEF) said on Tuesday, 10 days after FIFA suspended RFEF’s president for kissing team player Jenni Hermoso on the mouth in celebration of Spain’s World Cup victory.
Vilda was replaced by his assistant, Montse Tome, who becomes the first woman to helm the women’s national team. She had been Vilda’s assistant coach since 2018 and has since “established herself as a key player in the national team’s growth,” the RFEF said in a statement.
A new board formed after RFEF President Luis Rubiales’ suspension by soccer’s world governing body over the allegedly non-consensual kiss during the World Cup victory celebration two weeks ago terminated Vilda’s contract.
In a statement that gave no reason for his dismissal and did not mention Hermoso, Rubiales or the scandal, RFEF thanked 42-year-old Vilda for his “extraordinary sporting legacy.”
“The coach has been key to the remarkable growth of women’s football and leaves Spain as world champions and second in the FIFA rankings,” the RFEF statement said.
The furor involving Rubiales has quickly spiralled into a national debate over women’s rights and sexist behavior.
In a separate statement by interim President Pedro Rocha, the RFEF apologized for Rubiales’ “inappropriate conduct..”
“The damage caused to Spanish football, to Spanish sport, to Spanish society and the values of football and sport as a whole have been enormous,” the three-page statement signed by Rocha said.
Vilda, considered a close ally of Rubiales, had been under fire since last year after 15 players staged a mutiny calling for his resignation because of inadequate coaching methods and calling for conditions to match those of the men’s squad.
Most of the players involved were cut from the squad even as some demands were met.
Danae Boronat, a sports presenter who interviewed Spain’s leading female players for her book “Don’t Call Them Girls, Call Them Footballers,” said players accused Vilda of micromanaging, such as instructing senior players what to say in interviews.
Vilda could not immediately be reached for comment. Rubiales did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vilda and Luis de la Fuente, the men’s national team manager, applauded Rubiales when he refused to resign on Aug. 25 but later issued statements condemning his behavior.
Rubiales had praised Vilda for the World Cup triumph and offered him a new four-year contract, increasing his annual salary to €500,000 ($536,000) from €160,000.
Spain’s top 58 female players said they would not play for the national team under the existing leadership. An RFEF source told Reuters last week that players were now being consulted to see whether the removal of Vilda would change that.
LONDON: The Saudi national team held a training session on Tuesday at South Shields FC, near Newcastle, ahead of two friendly matches during the training window, which runs from Sept. 3-12.
The players took part in the training session under the supervision of newly-appointed head coach, Roberto Mancini.
The session consisted of passing and possession drills, as well as various tactical exercises. They will continue the training program on Wednesday with a closed training session.
The first friendly match is against the Costa Rican national team on Sept. 8. The second will be against South Korea national team on Sept. 12.
Both games will be played at St. James’ Park, the home stadium of Newcastle United.
GENEVA: Spain return to national-team soccer this week amid turmoil since the men’s and women’s teams won international titles in the last games they played.
The first two days of Spanish men’s preparation for a European Championship qualifying game Friday in Georgia started with captain Álvaro Morata reading a statement of support to the Women’s World Cup-winning players and denouncing “unacceptable behavior” by now-suspended federation boss Luis Rubiales.
Off-field distractions continued Tuesday: an apology to world soccer for Rubiales’ conduct at and since the women’s final in Australia by his interim replacement Pedro Rocha, and firing beleaguered women’s team coach Jorge Vilda.
Men’s team coach Luis de la Fuente — who won a UEFA Nations League title in June just months into the job — has kept that job despite also being a longtime federation ally of Rubiales.
Unlike Vilda, De la Fuente did not face a walkout by his entire coaching staff and a player mutiny. Only Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias has said he won’t play for Spain until “things change.”
Still, those Nations League victories over Italy then Croatia in the final, in a penalty shootout, seem a long time ago and the Group A table in Euro 2024 qualifying leaves fourth-place Spain lots to do.
Group leader Scotland won two more games in June, after stunning Spain 2-0 in March, and are eight points clear ahead of playing last-place Cyprus on Friday. The Scots could qualify for Euro 2024 in Germany as soon as next Tuesday.
Spain are still heavily favored to qualify with a top-two finish and also host Cyprus next Tuesday. Back-to-back wins for the Euro 2008 and 2012 champion can at least distract from the Rubiales saga.
ITALY
European champion Italy also took an unexpected turn since beating Nations League host the Netherlands in the third-place game in June.
Coach Roberto Mancini last month abandoned his defense of the Azzurri’s title won in 2021, and two weeks later was confirmed as Saudi Arabia’s coach on a four-year contract worth a reported $100 million.
New coach Luciano Spalletti cut short his sabbatical taken after leading Napoli to a runaway Serie A title and now starts against a Mancini nemesis.
Italy play on Saturday at North Macedonia, which shockingly ended Mancini’s path to the 2022 World Cup in the European qualifying playoffs.
Italy then host Ukraine at San Siro in Milan next Tuesday, seeking to close on group leader England which have just one qualifying game in this international break.
CLEAR LEADERS
Scotland and England are joined by France and Euro 2016 champion Portugal as leaders with four straight wins in the 10 groups. France and Portugal have yet to concede a goal.
France host Ireland on Thursday at Parc des Princes and could field a stellar trio of Paris Saint-Germain forward — Kylian Mbappé, Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembélé — on their home field.
Portugal brought Cristiano Ronaldo home from Saudi Arabia for games at second-place Slovakia on Friday and home to Luxembourg.
Serbia will host Hungary in Group G with the top spot on the line.
POLITICS
With 53 European nations in qualifying action — all bar Euro 2024 host Germany and suspended Russia — some politics usually can be found.
Turkiye host Armenia on Friday for the first time since their World Cup qualifier in 2009 that both state presidents attended. It signaled an easing of diplomatic tension between the neighbors since World War I.
Kosovo host Switzerland on Saturday with strong ties between the squads stemming from immigration to the Alpine nation since war in the Balkans in the 1990s.
Kosovo can call on Ismajl Beka and Kreshnik Hajjrizi who were born in Switzerland and play for clubs there. Switzerland’s Uran Bislimi played two international friendlies for Kosovo last year before settling on his national-team eligibility. The ethnic Albanian roots of Swiss veterans Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri are well established from wins against Serbia at the past two World Cups.
Ukraine will host England in Wroclaw, Poland, on Saturday as their national and club teams continue to play international games abroad during the Russian war on their country.
HISTORIC FRIENDLY
The first recognized international soccer game was Scotland playing England to a 0-0 draw in Glasgow on Nov. 30, 1872.
The actual 150th anniversary passed while England were in Qatar for the World Cup, so the game honoring the historical mark was delayed to next Tuesday at Hampden Park, Glasgow.
Russia were removed by FIFA from qualifying playoffs for that World Cup but finally get to Doha next Tuesday to play Qatar. Russia have been a pariah in European soccer during the war and this will be their sixth game against an Asian national team in the past 18 months.
Germany fill their schedule hosting friendlies against Japan on Saturday and France next Tuesday in Dortmund.
