ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2015

41SPORTS

Angry Van Gaal walks out of media briefing

Mourinho has no formal offer from United: agentLONDON, Dec 23, (Agencies):Manchester United has made no officialoffer to Jose Mourinho to replace Louisvan Gaal at the Premier League club,according to the Portuguese manager’sagent Jorge Mendes.

“There is nothing. We don’t know whatwill happen in the future, but now there isno agreement. There isn’t an official pro-posal either,” British media quotedMendes as telling Globo Esporte.

Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea lastweek, just seven months after lifting thePremier League trophy with the Blues,following a run that left championsChelsea one point above the relegationzone.

The three-times Premier League win-ner issued a statement insisting he willnot be taking a sabbatical.

Pressure has been mounting onUnited’s Dutch manager with a six-gamewinless streak that saw the club bow outof the Champions League in the groupstages and out of the top-four in the

Premier League.Mourinho, who worked with Van Gaal

during a successful spell at Barcelona,was previously linked to the Old Traffordjob when former United boss AlexFerguson retired in 2013.

Embattled Manchester United managerLouis van Gaal showed signs of crackingunder pressure as he stormed out of amedia briefing on Wednesday afterbecoming annoyed by questions about hisfuture.

Van Gaal has reportedly been giventwo games to save his job after United’smiserable six-match winless run cost hisside their place in the Champions Leagueand saw them drop out of the PremierLeague’s top four.

Rumours have been rife this week thatthe former Barcelona and Bayern Munichboss is about to be sacked and replaced

by Jose Mourinho, who was dismissed byChelsea last Thursday.

Quizzed about the speculation byreporters ahead his weekly press confer-ence ahead of Saturday’s trip to Stoke,van Gaal quickly became irritated and itwas less than five minutes before hedecided he had had enough

Refusing to take any more questions,the Dutchman walked out, saying as hepassed a table of mince pies and wine thathad been laid on for the media: “I wishyou a merry Christmas and also maybe ahappy new year when I see you.

“Enjoy the wine and a mince pie.Goodbye.”

Van Gaal only answered three ques-tions from the broadcast media and thenrefused to take any questions from thewritten press.

It was clear the 64-year-old, who isonly halfway through his three-year con-tract, was in an angry mood from themoment he took his seat in the mediaroom at the club’s training ground in

Carrington.“Has anybody in this room not a feel-

ing to apologise to me? That’s what I’mwondering,” he snapped after beingasked about Arsene Wenger’s claim VanGaal’s treatment had been “disrespect-ful”.

Meanwhile, Stoke City are refusing totake an out-of-sorts Manchester Unitedfor granted when the sides meet in thePremier League on Saturday, with theRed Devils more than capable of redis-covering their best form, manager MarkHughes has said.

United have failed to win any of theirlast six games, a woeful run which hasseen Louis van Gaal’s side eliminatedfrom the Champions League and drop outof the top four in the Premier League.

“I have been asked whether this is agood time to play them but I am alwayswary of that because these type of clubsmore often than not bounce back emphat-ically,” Hughes told reporters onTuesday.

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Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder Willian (left), vies with Sunderland’s English midfielder Jack Rodwell during the English Premier League football match betweenChelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge in London, on Dec 19. (AFP)

Cracco to cook with Capello

Barca strong ‘favourites’for Globe Soccer AwardsDUBAI, Dec 23: Four days untilthe opening of the tenth DubaiInternational Sports Conference(organised by Dubai SportsCouncil) in the United ArabEmirates, and interest is growing inthe jury members votes in the raceto the Globe Soccer Awards – pre-sented by Audi (on the evening of27 December) at the traditionalgala that ends the footballing year.

The Gala will be shown liveacross the Gulf, thanks to DubaiSports Channel, and distributed toall football passionate continents.

FC Barcelona will arrive inDubai as Worldc h a m p i o n s ,after winningtheir secondtrophy of theseason (first inAugust — theE u r o p e a nSuper Cup),repeating 2011when they wonthe Award afterwinning the FIFA Club World Cup.Then Barcelona brought theChampions League trophy to thefoot of the 828 meter Burj Khalifa,where it was displayed alongsidethe World Cup won by Spain inSouth Africa and the EuropaLeague trophy won by Gil’sAtletico Madrid.

By winning in Japan Bartomeu’steam became the first to win thetrophy twice since the new officialformula was introduced by FIFA.This enhances Barcelona’s imageas the leading football power at thestart of the 21st century, being theonly team to have won theEuropean Champions League 4times.

The jury’s votes will decide theteam of the year and it is hard to seethat getting away from the teamwhich has dominated football overthe last 15 years, while not forget-ting the importance of Juventus,Bayern Munich and PSG, theirclosest rivals in the shortlist of 5.The ECA, the European ClubAssociation, has put forwardDinipro as the fifth candidate,which has moral value and, is initself, an acknowledgment for hav-ing reached the Europa Leaguefinal although playing 500 kilome-tres from home (due to circum-stances beyond their control).

In the race to the Player’s Awarda lot of weight will be given toMessi’s first goal in the finalagainst River Plate, and to the 5goals scored by Suarez in the twogames against the Asian and SouthAmerican champions. Perhaps noone will manage to beat this exploitby the Uruguayan in the list of scor-ers in the Club World Cup final.

The event in Dubai will also bethe opportunity for a culturalexchange on the problems of foot-ball on the eve of the New Year,while waiting on a solution to thecrisis at FIFA, which is expected

February 26th with the new elec-tions for the presidency. Also the2016 European Championships inFrance will be the focus of atten-tion with the presentation of thetechnical and regulatory changesbeing studied by UEFA. The inno-vative formula for the tenth editionof Dubai Sports Council’s DubaiInternational Sports Conferencesees the undertaking of 4 work-shops on key issues.

An exciting addition to thisyear’s awards, under the sloganFood for Champions, two-Michelinstar chef, Carlo Cracco will cook inthe company of Fabio Capello forall the players attending the Awardsin Dubai. With 12 Italian compa-nies coming together to support

him, Cracco will present high qual-ity products and stake the claim forthe Mediterranean diet as the‘secret of success’ for feeding andfuelling footballers.

Globe Soccer’s highly popularBest Fan Award for 2015, present-ed by Kooora — the Arab world’slargest and well-regarded footballsite, has now closed with judgingunderway.

Since being added to the DubaiGlobe Soccer awards in 2012, theBest Fan Award has encouragedfans from across the world to beinvolved with aspects of the gameand be recognised for their contri-bution. Past awards were receivedby Alarico Rossi’s for his motivat-ing Football Slogan, and CarloPolfranceschi for his commentsand insight in to what would createa preferred Stadium experience.

For the 2015 edition, fans wereasked to vote for their favouriteteam by writing a team sloganwhere, once again, the winner willbe flown to Dubai to join in the2016 Gala evening’s celebrations,be seen with their heroes and berecognised for their independent,creative thinking.

It is official that the award for thepublic’s favourite team will cer-tainly go to Barcelona, in accor-dance with the voting of thousandsof fans on Kooora.com and viaGlobe Soccer’s social media. Wehave discovered that Barcelona isthe best-supported club in the Gulf,with 40 percent of the votes com-pared to 35 percent for theEmirates-sponsored Real Madrid.

The tenth Dubai InternationalSports Conference brings togetherthe most important influencers ofthe game today and once againpromises to offer thought-provok-ing matters, with opening wordsfrom Gianni Infantino,Rummenigge and Bartomeu, theinvolvement and presence ofMichel Platini, and an enticingworkshop to close the conferencehosted by Andrea Pirlo and FrankLampard.

Messi

A file photo of Dubai Globe Soccer Awards.

‘Future of Chelsea at risk ifplayers don’t up their game’

Cech confident Arsenal can deal with injury crisis

LONDON, Dec 23, (Agencies):New Chelsea interim managerGuus Hiddink has asked hisunderperforming players to“look in the mirror” andclaims their future at the clubis at risk if they don’t up theirgame.

The Dutchman has replaced JoseMourinho but confirmed at a pressconference on Wednesday it is onlylikely to be a short-term role.

He arrives with Chelsea struggling in15th spot in the Premier League with sup-porters unhappy with players for theirperceived failure to work for their prede-cessor.

Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and EdenHazard bore the brunt of supporter criti-cism but Hiddink’s message to them wasa clear one.

“I spoke fully to the squad and, ofcourse, we talked a bit about the past,why I’m here, the reasons why we aredown,” he said.

“But on the other hand I told themthings happen in football and I wanteveryone to look in the mirror, not just fortwo seconds, but longer.

“And see what anyone can contributefrom now on to raise us up. That waswhat I was emphasising. Not to look backto much.

“We cannot ignore what has happenedin the recent past, but I asked them andtold them to look in the mirror and behypercritical and give the best for theteam. They have to look forward.”

He added: “There must be a greatdesire to play. If you don’t have thatdesire, please knock on my door andwe’ll talk. We’ll talk briefly.”

Hiddink is reprising the role he took in2009, a season where he helped Chelseawin the FA Cup.

“I shouldn’t be here, halfway into theseason,” the 69-year-old said as he getsready for his first game in charge at hometo Watford on Boxing Day.

“That means things are not going aswell as foreseen at the beginning of theseason. But anyhow I’m glad to be back.It’s a few years ago that I was here in asimilar situation and I tried to help outwhen I was asked to do so.

“I worked at that time with a lot of love

for the club and to work with the playersis great.

“First we said let’s go to mid-May. Butthen we’ll see. I will see what will hap-pen. We have only spoken about until theend of the season.

“No manager can guarantee threepoints every week, but we have to showto ourselves, the club, the players, thefans inside Chelsea and abroad, that theteam have big desire to wash away thelast half year and go up to the next com-ing games.”

Hiddink has refused to rule out a returnto the club for former player DidierDrogba who was in the stands alongsidehim for the 3-1 win over Sunderland lastweek.

“I worked with him five or six yearsago, and I was delighted to have such aprofessional in the squad,” he said.

“He is a legend already in this club, butalso outside this club in the world. So it’snice for guys with these big hearts to con-nect them somehow with the club. But heis playing for Montreal, under contract.

“All the big clubs, and the smaller ones,have these specific guys, figures, who cango into whatever they like — coach,ambassador, manager — but they must begiven the opportunity to do so. They givethe Chelsea brand a big image, worldwide.

“The official process I don’t know, butI spoke openly from the bottom of the

heart that such impact players can behuge for the club. How it goes on now,it’s others who have to deal with that. Notme.”

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Arsenal are in the middle of an injurycrisis with seven players currently on thesidelines but goalkeeper Petr Cech hassaid he was confident the club can pullthrough this period.

Even without Alexis Sanchez, SantiCazorla, Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta,Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky andDanny Welbeck, the Gunners have wonfour games on the trot in all competitions.

Arsenal are second in the PremierLeague table and just two points behindleaders Leicester City, and Cech hopesthe injured players can recover quickly tohelp the Gunners end their 11-year waitfor the title.

“We’ve been through the season withplenty of problems. Everything isn’tgoing as smoothly as we would like it to,”Cech told the BBC.

“We can’t avoid injuries — sometimesyou have more, sometimes you have less— but we showed that even with theunlucky injuries at the moment that wemanage to win games.

“I believe we will benefit from playerscoming back into the team, once they arefit.

“The season is long and anything canhappen. But if we stay where we are untilMarch or April, then we have the chanceto win the league.”

Arsenal travel to take on 12th-placedSouthampton in the league on Saturday.

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Manchester City striker WilfriedBony has said he was disappointed tolose his starting place to a returningSergio Aguero after manager ManuelPellegrini opted to start the Argentine inMonday’s 2-1 Premier League defeat byArsenal.

Aguero was playing his first match inabout three weeks following a heel injuryand was replaced by the Ivory Coastinternational in the second half of thegame.

“He (Aguero) is coming back frominjury. He hasn’t played for a fewweeks,” Bony told British media.

“I’m disappointed that I didn’t start butI’m not the coach. The coach does whathe thinks is best for the team.”

The former Swansea City forward hadscored three goals in four games leadingto the clash at the Emirates Stadium,although Aguero is the club’s topscorerthis season with nine goals, two morethan Bony in five fewer matches.

Pellegrini backed his decision to startAguero. “He worked with the squad thewhole week. He needs minutes,” the for-mer Real Madrid manager said.

“Normally when he comes back from aninjury he needs minutes. I think that theseminutes will be very important for him.”

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West Bromwich Albion need to be“lucky” with injuries and suspensions tomaintain a fully fit squad, manager TonyPulis has said ahead of the PremierLeague’s hectic festive fixture schedule.

The Baggies start a set of tricky match-es with a trip to relegation-threatenedSwansea City on Saturday and then hostNewcastle United, who are on a three-game unbeaten run, before they come upagainst 11th-placed Stoke City.

“We’ve got to be lucky, that’s the onething we’re hoping, that we get someluck. We don’t get bookings and we don’tget injuries,” Pulis told reporters on

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott (right), attempts a shot on goal which is blocked byManchester City’s Nicolas Otamendi during the English Premier League soccermatch between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in

London, on Dec 21. (AP)

US investors in talks to buy EvertonLONDON, Dec 23, (Agencies): A con-sortium led by two US technologyinvestors is negotiating to buy EvertonFootball Club for an estimated £200 mil-lion (272 million euros, $297 million),The Times newspaper reported onWednesday.

The report said the group had signed apreliminary agreement with owner andchairman Bill Kenwright and was check-ing the club’s accounts with the aim ofcompleting a takeover within the next sixweeks.

The agreement means the investors

have been given time for exclusive talkson the deal.

The consortium is led by John J.Moores and Charles Noell, co-foundersof venture capital firm JMI Equity.

The 71-year-old Moores, who is alsothe founder of business software firmBMC, bought the San Diego Padres base-ball team in 1994 and sold it in 2012.

Contacted by AFP, Everton’s pressoffice could not immediately commenton the report.

The report comes after fellow EnglishPremier League side Crystal Palace lastweek said US investors Josh Harris andDavid Blitzer had bought a 36-percentstake.

Everton need to overcome a tough runof fixtures around Christmas and avoidlast season’s meltdown during the sameperiod, forward Steven Naismith hassaid.

The Toffees play five games over ahectic 15-day schedule beginningSaturday, including trips to NewcastleUnited and Tottenham Hotspur in theleague, and hosting Manchester City inthe League Cup semi-final.

Everton failed to win a single game inall competitions last season from mid-December till the end of January.

“I think we suffered a lot from that,going through Christmas and not pickingup many points at all,” Naismith told theclub’s website (www.evertonfc.com).

“That is always going to harm yourchances of finishing as high as youcan.

“You definitely need to be pickingpoints up. There are a few funny resultsaround the Christmas period and youwant to be on top of them.”

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