Author: Soorya G

Brazilian winger Neymar Jr, who is currently sidelined with an injury, has heaped praise on his compatriot Casemiro after the latter’s impressive goalscoring performance against Switzerland on Monday. The Manchester United midfielder scored a beautiful goal from long range as he broke the deadlock to help his side advance to the round of 16 in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. With their latest win, Tite’s men officially advanced to the knockout stages of the World Cup as they look to increase their World Cup tally to six titles. The five-time world champions will play Cameroon on Friday in their last…

England striker Harry Kane has received criticism from Arsenal veteran Tony Adams for his unwillingness to make perilous runs behind the defence of the opponent. “He doesn’t get in behind the defence and he doesn’t face you up. He’s a link player who is going deeper and deeper to get the ball. Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling on either side of him do face people up and take the ball to them, but they’re not getting in behind either and there are no crosses coming in for Kane where he can be dangerous.”the former England captain said. Kane has not…

Five-time champs Brazil kicked off their campaign in fine fashion as Richarlison’s brace secured a 2-0 victory for Tite’s men over Serbia. The Serbians were largely subdued, as Brazil pushed forward from the very outset. The breakthrough came only in the second half, as an impressive Neymar Jr forward run resulted in a snapshot from Vinicius Jr, which rebounded kindly off Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to Richarlison, who made no mistake. The Tottenham attacker then went on to score a magical goal as he propped up a ball from Vinicius Jr. to launch a spectacular bicycle kick to seal the game. Credit: FIFA Some cause for concern for…

The 18-year-old Leicestershire leg-spinner and all-rounder Rehan Ahmed has been formally included in the England Test team for the upcoming tour of Pakistan. The ECB decided in October that Ahmed would benefit from going to Pakistan as a net bowler despite the fact that he has only made three first-class outings. He will now tour in a more formal capacity after a rigorous spell of training with the England Lions in the United Arab Emirates, which culminated in an exhibition game against the Test team in Abu Dhabi. On the first day of the match at Tolerance Oval, when he…

Veteran Aussie opening batsman David Warner has moved to fifth place in the ICC rankings after scoring a match-winning 106 against England in Melbourne’s third one-day international. Former skipper and current Test match deputy Steven Smith rose three spots to seventh place in the format, a position he had previously held in January 2017. He scored 195 runs in the three-match ODI series, which Australia won 3-0. Warner, who received the Player-of-the-Series title, was instrumental at the top of the order, scoring 208 runs across three games, including a half-century in the first game and a excellent century in the…

2010 champions Spain kicked off their journey in this edition of the FIFA World Cup in spectacular fashion, as they pummeled a listless Costa Rica side 7-0. There were six different names on the scoresheet for Spain and the Central American side was just unable to cope up with the kind of quality that La Furia Roja possessed. Luis Enrique’s line-up for the opener was slightly surprising, as the veteran coach opted to field Rodri as a centre-half, ahead of Pau Torres and Eric Garcia. Unai Simon was the goalkeeper of choice, with stalwarts Cesar Azpilicueta and Jordi Alba in the full-back positions. The midfield consisted of a Barcelona trio, Sergio Busquets along with Pedri and Gavi, while…

Former England skipper Joe Root will be among the many names to enter the 2023 IPL auction, which will take place in Cochin on December 23 The right-handed batsman, who is the only active player with more than 10,000 runs in Test cricket, has not played in the Indian Premier League ever before. Root’s opportunities, both on the T20 franchise circuit and in the format overall, have been curtailed by a confluence of international commitments and a five-year stint as England Test captain. In the 2018–19 season, he played for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League, which was his sole experience…

Five-time champions and one of the favourites heading into the World Cup, Brazil will take on dark horses Serbia in a mouth watering opener in Group G. Both sides are coming off a good preparation, with the Serbians undefeated in their last six games. Brazil, on the other hand, have gone a staggering 15 games without a loss, last suffering defeat at the hands of Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina in the Copa America final back in July 2021. Credit: Reuters Tite’s men are undefeated since then, as his side heads into the tournament with an exciting squad but also with the…

The Iran squad, led by skipper Ehsan Haji Safi, were silent as the national anthem played at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha, just before their opening World Cup game against England. The Iranians were subsequently beaten 6-2 by an England side which was in quite the rhythm.  The decision to not sing the anthem comes after protests engulfed the Iranian nation following the death of a young woman by the infamous morality police in Iran. The movement, which has grown both in strength and support over the last several months, is apparently the biggest uprising against the autocratic clerical Iran…

England kicked off their World Cup campaign with a thrashing of Carlos Queiroz’s Iran side, putting up an excellent attacking display to win 6-2. Attacker Bukayo Saka proved that he belonged in the big leagues, as he has for the last few seasons consistently at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, scoring a double. Southgate persisted with his trusted line-up, as Harry Maguire started in the back four, as did Luke Shaw. The two Manchester United stars did not disappoint Southgate, as they each picked up an assist. FC Porto centre-forward Mehdi Taremi was the only Iranian who put up any sort of resistance, as the brilliant…