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Hummels stuns Mbappe and PSG to take Dortmund to Champions League final

Hummels stuns Mbappe and PSG to take Dortmund to Champions League final
Dortmund's Mats Hummels, center, celebrates at the end of the game. (AP)
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Updated 08 May 2024

Hummels stuns Mbappe and PSG to take Dortmund to Champions League final

Hummels stuns Mbappe and PSG to take Dortmund to Champions League final
  • Hummels struck five minutes into the second half
  • Dortmund will face Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the final in London

Paris, May 7, 2024 Agence France Presse: Mats Hummels headed in the only goal as Borussia Dortmund stunned Kylian Mbappe and Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League semifinal second leg on Tuesday, winning 1-0 on the night and advancing 2-0 on aggregate to next month’s final at Wembley.
Hummels struck five minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes and PSG were unable to muster a response, the home side all out of luck as they hit the woodwork four times in total.
Dortmund, who sit fifth in the German Bundesliga, were never expected to go so far and will be underdogs in the June 1 showpiece regardless of whether they face their old rivals Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who meet on Wednesday.
It will be their first final since 2013 when, remarkably, the match was also played at Wembley and Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund lost to Bayern.
Hummels played in that final and here, 11 years later, he was the hero as Dortmund built on the advantage given to them by Niclas Fuellkrug’s goal in the first leg.
“It’ll take us a bit of time to realize that, but we’re looking forward to it extremely,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic told broadcaster Amazon Prime of getting to the final.
“We did it somehow, making it to London.”
The story of this semifinal, however, is as much about PSG’s failure in another crunch knockout tie in the competition.
They have still never won the trophy despite all the money invested by their Qatari owners since the 2011 takeover, and there will be no dream send-off for Mbappe.
He will leave when his contract expires after this season and had been hoping to play his last game for the club in the June 1 final.
Instead PSG will be left to reflect on how they failed to get their hands on the biggest trophy of all during Mbappe’s seven years at his hometown team.
“We were not clinical enough. They scored two goals, one from a corner and one from a long ball. We created lots more chances, many more than them, but we didn’t take them,” PSG captain Marquinhos told Canal Plus.
“We got so close and we wanted to get to the final. But we had to win tonight and be more clinical, and we were not.”
PSG’s last two semifinal appearances both came during the pandemic, meaning this was the first time they had hosted a match at this stage of a European competition with fans in 29 years, since losing to AC Milan in 1995.
Luis Enrique’s team had won 2-0 at home against Dortmund in the group stage and were safe in the knowledge that a repeat of that performance would be enough.
The PSG coach made one major selection decision, dropping Bradley Barcola and bringing in Portuguese striker Goncalo Ramos. That meant moving Mbappe from the middle onto the left wing.
Dortmund would have been bracing themselves for an onslaught from kick-off, but that did not transpire.
Mbappe took only seven minutes to produce his first attempt, yet his volley was easily saved by Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
The hosts had most of the possession but struggled to get Mbappe into the game, the France captain often looking isolated on the wing.
In fact it was Dortmund who had the best chance of the first half, when Karim Adeyemi led a counterattack before seeing his shot saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
It felt as though the hosts needed to change something or risk going out with a whimper.
They should have been ahead two minutes after the restart, when Ramos touched on a ball driven into the box by Mbappe, but Warren Zaire-Emery contrived to hit the post from close range.
That was to prove crucial as Dortmund struck moments later.
PSG cheaply conceded a corner, and Julian Brandt’s delivery from the Dortmund right was headed in by Hummels.
Ramos swept a shot over on the hour mark before Nuno Mendes became the second PSG player to strike the right-hand post, this time with a powerful shot from distance.
It was starting to look as if it would not be PSG’s night, and Luis Enrique realized he had to act as he sent on Barcola and Marco Asensio for Ramos and Fabian Ruiz, moving Mbappe through the middle.
Dortmund sent on an extra defender in the hulking Niklas Suele and they withstood everything PSG threw at them while also being helped by the frame of the goal.
Kobel turned Mbappe’s shot onto the bar on 86 minutes and Vitinha also rattled the woodwork but Dortmund hung on to book their date in London.


Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura says he will play next season at age 58

Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura says he will play next season at age 58
Updated 55 min 39 sec ago

Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura says he will play next season at age 58

Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura says he will play next season at age 58
  • Miura will turn 58 in February
  • He intends to play next season for his fourth-tier Japanese club, Suzuka

TOKYO: Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura is several generations older than his teammates. His contemporaries retired decades ago. Lionel Messi is 37, and Cristiano Ronaldo is 39 — mere youngsters compared to Miura.
Miura will turn 58 in February, and the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported this week that he intends to play next season for his fourth-tier Japanese club, Suzuka. It will be his 40th season playing in professional soccer.
Miura is widely listed as the oldest active professional soccer player.
Miura scored 55 goals in 89 appearances and was a star with Japan’s national team in the 1990s.
He has played professionally in Brazil, Italy, Croatia, Australia and Portugal. He made his debut in 1986 with Brazilian club Santos, a side made famous by Brazilian star Pelé.


Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 to extend group lead in Asian World Cup qualifying

Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 to extend group lead in Asian World Cup qualifying
Updated 16 November 2024

Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 to extend group lead in Asian World Cup qualifying

Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 to extend group lead in Asian World Cup qualifying
  • Japan tops the group on 13 points with five games remaining in the round.
  • Australia, Ƶ and China all have 6 points, followed by Bahrain with five and Indonesia with 3

JAKARTA: Japan defeated Indonesia 4-0 on Friday to move seven points clear at the top of Group C in the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Two goals in each half mean the Samurai Blue stays on course for an eighth successive World Cup appearance.
After a bright start from the home team, the 78,000 fans at a sold-out Gelora Bung Karno Stadium were silenced after 35 minutes as Daichi Kamada broke down the left and sent a cross which defender Justin Hubner put into his own net from close range.
Takumi Minamino then scored from inside the area off Kaoru Mitoma’s pass to extend the lead five minutes before the break.
Hidemasa Motira took advantage of an errant pass from Indonesia’s goalkeeper to make it 3-0 early in the second half and Yukinari Sugawara rounded out the scoring in the 69th minute.
Japan tops the group on 13 points with five games remaining in the round. Australia, Ƶ and China all have six points, followed by Bahrain with five and Indonesia with three.
The top two from each of the three groups will be guaranteed a place at the World Cup, with the third- and fourth-place teams progressing to the next stage.
 


Pogba and Juventus end contract mutually before he returns from doping ban

Pogba and Juventus end contract mutually before he returns from doping ban
Updated 15 November 2024

Pogba and Juventus end contract mutually before he returns from doping ban

Pogba and Juventus end contract mutually before he returns from doping ban
  • The Serie A club never seemed overly enthusiastic about welcoming Pogba back
  • “Juventus Football Club and Paul Pogba announce that they have reached a mutual agreement for the termination of their contract as of Nov. 30, 2024,” the Bianconeri said

TURIN, Italy: Paul Pogba will no longer be a Juventus player from next month.
Juventus announced on Friday they came to “a mutual agreement” with Pogba to cancel his contract despite the France World Cup winner having a ban for doping slashed last month.
The Serie A club never seemed overly enthusiastic about welcoming Pogba back after his four-year ban for doping was reduced to 18 months following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The 31-year-old Pogba, who will be free to resume his career in March 2025, had said he was ready to give up money to play for Juventus again.
“Juventus Football Club and Paul Pogba announce that they have reached a mutual agreement for the termination of their contract as of Nov. 30, 2024,” the Bianconeri said in a brief statement. “The club wish Paul the very best for his professional future.”
Pogba tested positive for testosterone in August last year and the Juventus midfielder was handed the maximum punishment by Italy’s anti-doping court.
But CAS judges cut Pogba’s ban as they acknowledged a lack of intent and said his positive test was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed to him by a medical doctor in Florida.
Pogba’s contract with Juventus was set to expire in June 2026.
“My time at Juventus has come to an end. It has been a privilege to pull on the shirt of the Bianconeri and to share so many special memories together,” Pogba said in a statement.
“I cherish the memories we made. They live on. Even in the most difficult moments over the past year, your support was crucial and I want to thank Juve fans around the world for their compassion.”
Pogba was the most expensive soccer player in history when he joined Manchester United from Juventus for a fee of 105 million euros ($113 million) in 2016.
He starred in France’s World Cup triumph in 2018 and returned to Juventus as a free agent in 2022. But injuries limited him to just eight Serie A appearances in his second spell at the club before his ban last year.
“I am looking forward to the next chapter of my career and to stepping out on the pitch with my next club,” Pogba added.


Ruben Amorim has declared his mission for Man United

Ruben Amorim has declared his mission for Man United
Updated 15 November 2024

Ruben Amorim has declared his mission for Man United

Ruben Amorim has declared his mission for Man United
  • Amorim said on Friday, “I will try to do everything to put this club in the place that it belongs. And I believe a lot that we are going to succeed”
  • “We know that we need time, but we have to win time. To win time is to win games”

MANCHESTER, England: Ruben Amorim has told Manchester United fans he will do everything to bring the good times back to the 20-time English champion.
United’s new coach has been charged with ending more than a decade of decline at Old Trafford since former manager Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and their Premier League dominance fizzled out.
Amorim — hired from Sporting Lisbon this month — is embracing the challenge and said on Friday, “I will try to do everything to put this club in the place that it belongs. And I believe a lot that we are going to succeed.”

The 39-year-old Portuguese is the sixth permanent manager/coach since Ferguson retired after winning his 13th league title.
David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag all failed to return United to the summit of English and European soccer in a period when Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have dominated domestically.
It is unlikely Amorim will change that after coming in partway through a season in which United made their worst league start since 1986.
“We know that we need time, but we have to win time. To win time is to win games,” Amorim told United’s in-house channel. “But the most important thing for me is identity. So, since day one we will start with our identity.”
Asked what could be expected from his team in the first weeks of his reign, he added: “I want to say beautiful things to you, but I’m really honest. But what I can say is that I think you will see an idea.”


Green Falcons arrive in Jakarta for World Cup Asian qualifier against Indonesia

Green Falcons arrive in Jakarta for World Cup Asian qualifier against Indonesia
Updated 15 November 2024

Green Falcons arrive in Jakarta for World Cup Asian qualifier against Indonesia

Green Falcons arrive in Jakarta for World Cup Asian qualifier against Indonesia
  • Saudi national football team to hold closed training session before facing hosts on Nov. 19

JAKARTA: The Saudi national football team will train behind closed doors in Jakarta on Saturday in preparation for their 2026 World Cup Asian qualifier match against Indonesia next Tuesday.
The Green Falcons arrived in the Indonesian capital on Friday and are scheduled to face off against the hosts on Nov. 19 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, as part of the sixth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The national team delegation was welcomed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport by the Saudi Ambassador Faisal bin Abdullah Al-Amoudi.
Yasser Al-Misehal, president of the Ƶ Football Federation, expressed his appreciation to the embassy for the warm reception and the facilities provided to the team following their arrival from Melbourne.
The Green Falcons will hold a closed training session on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Gelora Jakarta Stadium.