SPORTSaturday 7 July 2018

PAGE | 18 PAGE | 24

Sweden are easy to analyse, difficult

to beat: Anderson

Griezmann inspires France to win over punchless Uruguay

E | 18 PAG

asy to ficulterson

GriezFranpunc

Kevin De Bruyne (right) scores Belgium’s second

goal against Brazil during their FIFA 2018

World Cup quarter-final match played at the

Kazan Arena in Kazan yesterday.

AFP

KAZAN: A superb first half display by Belgium ended Brazil’s hopes of a record sixth World Cup crown as a Fernandinho own goal and a superb Kevin De Bruyne strike proved enough to win 2-1 and seal a semi-final spot.

Although Brazil roared back in the second half with a headed goal from Renato Augusto yes-terday, it is the Belgians who will face France in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday.

Unbeaten in their last 15 games, Brazil’s bid for a second consecutive place in the semi-finals looked in safe hands.

But after an energetic start that saw Thiago Silva come close and Neymar show early promise, Brazil heads went down fol-lowing Fernandinho’s own goal before De Bruyne’s superb strike from distance put the Red Devils in control on 31 minutes.

Late changes by Brazil coach Tite paid off as Renato Augusto’s superb header 14 minutes from time dragged the south Amer-icans back into contention.

But as Belgian legs tired, Brazil spurned several great chances to push the match into extra-time, Augusto drilling inches wide and Coutinho skewing his effort off target from Neymar’s pass.

Courtois produced a great save in the dying minutes,

tipping over a curling drive from Neymar as the Belgians ensured they will make just their second visit to the last four, 32 years after their surge to semis in Mexico.

On the eighth minute, Courtois was flapping when Neymar’s corner was flicked on by Joao Miranda, came off the thigh of Thiago Silva and then off the post.

Tite had replaced suspended holding midfielder Casemiro with Fernandinho in his starting line-up, handing the Manchester City player his first World Cup

start since he was hauled off at half-time on Brazil’s way to the humiliating 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany in 2014.

Fernandinho’s World Cup woes continued, Hazard’s corner coming off the midfielder’s arm to glide past Alisson and into the net as he rose to block.

Brazil almost equalised immediately, Neymar dribbling down the left and finding Gabriel, only for his effort to go amiss.

But Belgium’s early opener showed the Red Devils were oozing confidence, Hazard and

De Bruyne linking incisively to carve open the Selecao’s well-oiled defence with surprising ease.

On 21st minute De Bruyne set up Hazard on a free run inside to set up Thomas Meunier, only for Miranda to block his intended cross for Lukaku.

A minute later De Bruyne found Lukaku in acres of space, the big striker coolly nutmegging Miranda before seeing the ball frantically cleared into the stands.

Superb control from Marcelo saw the Real Madrid defender chest down, cut inside and unleash a low drive that Courtois did well to block.

But when Belgium countered

on the half hour, it was with dev-astating effect.

Lukaku looked invincible as he powered through Brazil’s midfield before finding De Bruyne in space on the right.

The Manchester City ace had time to pick his spot before unleashing a right-footed drive that screamed past Alisson and inside the ‘keeper’s far post.

Tite replaced the ineffective Willian with Roberto Firmino at half-time and soon after changed Jesus for Douglas Costa.

But it took the arrival of China-based Augusto 17 minutes from time that sparked Brazil into life.

Brazil saw two penalty claims in quick succession waved away by Serbian referee Milorad Mazic after Neymar tumbled following contact with Fellaini and Gabriel went to ground after a challenge from Vincent Kompany.

De Bruyne released Hazard down the left but he firing nar-rowly wide of Alisson’s far post as Lukaku waited to pounce.

Minutes later Augusto hung in the air to meet Coutinho’s per-fectly-weighted cross and direct it past Courtois to spark celebra-tions among the Brazilian fans in Kazan.

But he drilled inches wide minutes later, one of several misses that Brazil were made to regret.

Belgian players greet the fans after defeating Brazil in the FIFA 2018 World Cup quarter-final yesterday. RIGHT: Brazilian forward Neymar reacts after the loss.

QUARTER-FINALS

URUGUAY 0-2 FRANCE

BRAZIL 1-2 BELGIUM

YESTERDAY'S RESULTSSWEDEN VS ENGLAND

5.00PM

RUSSIA VS CROATIA9.00PM

TODAY'S FIXTURES

Fernandinho’s own goal and a superb

strike by Kevin De Bruyne seals a 2-1 win

for Belgium and a last eight spot.

Belgium end Brazil’s hopes of a record sixth

World Cup title, handing the South American

nation their first defeat in 16 matches.

BRAZIL BELGIUM

1 2R. AUGUSTO - 76' FERNANDINHO - 13' OG

DE BRUYNE - 31’

18 SATURDAY 7 JULY 2018SPORT

Sweden are easy to analyse, difficult to beat, warns coach AnderssonREUTERS

SAMARA, RUSSIA: Sweden coach Janne Andersson has full confidence in his team’s straight-forward but effective tactics as he prepares his side for their World Cup quarter-final clash with England today.

Andersson’s men are aiming to reach the last four for the first time since 1994 when they fin-ished third in the United States.

Sweden’s success at this year’s tournament, which saw them eliminate the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying, as well as finish top of a group containing holders Germany in Russia, has been built on defensive organi-s a t i o n a n d c l i n i c a l counter-attacks.

Sweden, devoid of a freescoring talisman in the wake of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s interna-tional retirement, have worked hard on being difficult to breakdown and a major threat from set-pieces.

Andersson says he is unlikely to spring a surprise on England coach Gareth Southgate.

“There was a coach once who said his team was quite easy to analyse but difficult to beat. That is a good description of us,” Andersson told reporters on Friday.

“It shouldn’t be that difficult to get an idea of what we do.

“We are strong in our beliefs and have been from the outset. The players are very loyal to our ideas.” Captain Andreas Gran-qvist has embodied this col-lective philosophy most of all.

The 33-year-old journeyman

defender has formed a formi-dable centre back pairing with Manchester United’s Victor Lin-delof, as well as scoring twice from the penalty spot in Russia.

“We are a team and we do this together, on and off the pitch and this is behind our success so far,” said Granqvist.

“We might not have the best team on paper or individually, but as a team we are very high achievers and this symbolizes all of us.” One key area where the quarter-final could be won or lost is on set-pieces, with both teams excelling in this regard so far.

Sweden have scored twice from set plays, while England have scored three, the most at the tournament.

“The set piece situation will be a clear factor - for the first time I think we are coming up against a country that is more or less on par with us in that

respect,” warned Andersson.“That will be a fight to get to

the first ball.” If Sweden manage to defeat

England, a team they have only lost to twice in the last 15 meetings, they will face either Russia or Croatia in the semi-final.

Sweden’s players takes part to a training session on the eve of the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarter-final against England at the Samara Arena in Samara.

Sweden can beat England and win World Cup: IbrahimovicREUTERS

SOCHI, RUSSIA: Sweden can beat England in today’s quarter-finals and eventually win the World Cup in Russia if they can handle the pressure, former captain and record goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said.

Speaking to reporters at LA Galaxy’s training facility in Los Angeles, the 36-year-old, who retired from inter-national football after Euro 2016, said the stakes are getting higher in the knockout stages.

“Now it’s not just about how good you are. Now there are a lot of emotions in the picture, because it’s about quarter-finals. The team that can handle their feelings best will have an advantage,” he said.

“Yes, I think Sweden can become world champion, just like I said before the World Cup started. They beat Mexico, which was strong, and then they defeated Swit-zerland as well. So they have had success, as nobody thought they would,” he said.

Ibrahimovic scored 62 goals in 116 games for his country and a debate raged about whether or not Janne Andersson should bring him back into the squad for Russia, but they seem to be doing well enough without him.

“Now it’s about England on Saturday and we are all there with our full support behind them. All the Swedes in the world are proud of our national team and they will continue to be proud, regardless of how it goes,” Ibra said.

Ibrahimovic, who scored a spectacular bicycle kick against England in the first game at the Friends Arena in Stockholm in 2012, also had a good-natured dig at another high-profile figure with an LA Galaxy connection and an interest in the game.

“I’m Swedish and I believe in Sweden against England, so we’ll see what David Beckham says when I talk to him,” he said.

Granqvist ready to show England what they missedREUTERS

SOCHI, RUSSIA: Andreas Granqvist (pictured) did not exactly set the world alight during his two seasons with the Premier League side Wigan, but Sweden’s defensive linchpin is ready to show how far he has come when his side take on England in the World Cup quarter-finals.

The centre back has spent the last five years on a lucrative contract with Russian side Krasnodar, and having already signed a deal to move back to Sweden after the tournament, the World Cup will be his swansong at the top level.

“I feel fairly energetic for a 33-year-old,” he told reporters.

Despite his height and strength, few would have predicted that he would make it this far when he struggled to

break into Wigan’s first team in his early twenties after joining them from Hels-ingborg. In all he made only 14 appear-ances in England.

Late in his second season there he returned to Sweden and Helsingborg on loan to rediscover his form and rebuild his confidence, playing well enough to secure a move to Dutch Eredivisie side Groningen.

Finding himself with a little more time and space than in the helter-skelter world of the Premier League, it was there that he established himself as a top-class defender and a serious goal threat.

He showcased his skill on the ball with a tremendous solo goal in 2008 after a lung-bursting run from the halfway line, and in all he netted 21 goals in 96 games for the Dutch side, an excellent strike rate for a defender.

The goals tailed off when he moved to Serie A side Genoa on a four-year con-tract in 2011 but Italian football proved to be a great finishing school for the defender, and his lucrative move to Kras-nodar followed in 2013.

With the retirement of Zlatan Ibra-himovic after Euro 2016, new coach Janne Andersson immediately appointed Granqvist captain, sending out a signal as to the kind of Sweden side he was building. “He was a given, I barely needed to think about it at all. He’s com-municative, takes a lot of responsibility and has a fighting spirit I like,” Andersson said when making the announcement. Granqvist is well-liked in the Sweden squad and not afraid to show his emo-tions. On several occasions he has cried tears of joy on the field as Sweden pro-gressed, first from a playoff against Italy

and then as they topped their World Cup group. There was joy for him yesterday as his wife Sophie gave birth to the cou-ple’s second child, a day before the quarter-final against England.

“So happy and proud of my wife, both are healthy and well,” Granqvist wrote on Instagram.

Known all over Sweden by his nickname of “Granen”, or “the fir tree”, Granqvist knows that the next game for Sweden could well be his last at the very highest level.

He has signed a deal to return to Hels-ingborg, now in the second tier of Swedish football, with his young family as soon as the tournament is over. But first, he will seek to add one more glorious chapter to a career few would have thought possible when he left England almost unnoticed 10 years ago.

Varane heads towards World Cup redemption with goalAFP

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA: It was the defining image of France’s sorry World Cup quarter-final defeat against Germany in 2014.

A young Raphael Varane being held off and pushed along effortlessly by defender Mats Hummels as the German headed home the only goal of the match.

If ever the “men against boys” sporting cliche was appropriate, this appeared to be it and Varane, only 21 at the time, was quickly in the firing line.

He was roundly blamed for France’s limp exit and a question mark placed against him which, in reality, has existed since that day almost exactly four years ago.

But any fear that history would repeat itself was banished towards the end of a nervy first half against Uruguay on Friday when Varane jumped ahead of Cristhian Stuani to glance home Antoine Griezmann’s free kick.

The tension was released and not only in the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.

As Varane raced away to cel-ebrate, his catharsis was complete.

“It was joy, pure joy. It was beautiful,” said a jubilant Varane afterwards.

“I told Antoine to put the ball there before the free-kick and he did it perfectly.” Despite the fact that since 2014, Varane has been an integral part of a Real Madrid side which has won three

Champions League titles, it felt like he had to make a statement at the World Cup.

He had faced some criticism back home after Argentina’s third goal, a header, in France’s thrilling last-16 win last week.

But that was all forgotten in the 40th minute as Varane scored just his third goal in France’s colours.

“I am very happy for Varane,” said French Didier Deschamps.

“He has gained four years of experience, in fact they all have more maturity. I told him that at the end of the match.”

And as if thinking directly of events in Brazil four years ago, Deschamps added: “It is often in tough situations that you learn the most.”

France’s defender Raphael Varane celebrates after scoring the opener during the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match against Uruguay at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod yesterday.

19SATURDAY 7 JULY 2018 SPORT

Buffon signs one-year deal with PSG AFP

PARIS: Veteran Italian goal-keeper Gianluigi Buffon has joined Paris Saint-Germain on a one-year deal, the French Ligue 1 champions announced yesterday.

The 40-year-old 2006 World Cup winner joins the big-spending Parisian side days after his contract with Juventus ended in June.

“We all feel an immense pride in welcoming Gianluigi Buffon into the great Paris Saint-Germain family,” PSG’s Qatari president Nasser Al Khelaifi announced in a statement.

Confirmation of Buffon’s move came after he had arrived at PSG around midday accom-panied by his doctor. He was also seen at the American Hospital in the nearby suburb of Neuilly.

Buffon, who played a record 176 times for Italy, has an option to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes for a further season.

He will be officially unveiled as the latest teammate of PSG stars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe and company on Monday.

The first signing since German Thomas Tuchel took over as PSG manager in May said he was thrilled at his new job outside Italy.

“For the first time in my career, I am leaving my country and only a project this ambitious could have encouraged me to make such a decision,” he said.

“I am going to bring all my energy, all my experience and all of my thirst to win to help my new club achieve all the great objectives it has set out for the future.” The serial French cham-pions’ overriding ambition is to finally be crowned European champions, something which has also eluded Buffon in his stellar career.

“His arrival reaffirms our will to always go higher, an ambition that we intend to pursue with a determination just as strong,” said Al Khelaifi.

Al Khelaifi suggested Buffon and PSG were an ideal match.

“At 40 years old, his passion for football is intact and Gian-luigi has found the ideal envi-ronment in our project to set h i m s e l f e x t r e m e l y

high objectives transmitting his experience, not only to the other goalkeepers at the club, but to all of our players.”

Ironically, given his and the club’s desire to finally sate their Champions League hunger, Buffon is unavailable for PSG’s

opening three European matches next season.

That’s as a result of the ban handed down by UEFA for his

red card and attack on referee Michael Oliver after Juve’s dra-matic Champions League quarter-final loss to Real Madrid.

Buffon had been charged both with breaching UEFA’s “general principles of conduct” over his outburst and also for his red card for dissent.

The last-eight clash between holders Real and Juventus was decided by a last-gasp Cristiano Ronaldo penalty after the Serie A champions had staged a remarkable comeback to wipe out a 3-0 first-leg deficit at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But Buffon, who was sent off in the aftermath of the penalty decision, lashed out at Oliver’s decision to award the spot-kick, saying the English official had a “rubbish bin for a heart”.

He joins a PSG keeper roster comprising Kevin Trapp, who was part of Germany’s squad at the World Cup, and Alphonse Areola, who is with semi-finalists France in Russia.

Buffon won nine Serie A titles with Juventus and four suc-cessive Italian Cups.

Napoli’s Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon gestures during the Italian Serie A football match Juventus versus Napoli at the Allianz Stadium in Turin in this April 22, 2018 file picture.

Deschamps relieved as France avoid suspensions in pitch meleeREUTERS

ST PETERSBURG: France coach Didier Deschamps was relieved to come through his side’s 2-0 quarter-final win over Uruguay without losing any of his players to an unnecessary suspension, he said after yesterday’s match in Nizhny Novgorod.

After Antoine Griezmann scored France’s second goal, Kylian Mbappe was involved in an incident with Uruguay’s Christian Rodriguez that ended with the France attacker on the ground and players from both sides getting involved in a melee.

The situation threatened to boil over, and Deschamps took midfielder Paul Pogba aside for a quiet word as both Mbappe and Rodriguez were shown yellow cards.

“Regarding Paul, well things got a bit hot, and bearing in mind that he did have a yellow card, I didn’t want him to lose his temper and to get a booking for nothing much,” Deschamps told reporters after the match.

“That’s what I told all the players. If we qualify and they get yellow cards... not even for fouls but because of their gestures, because of their attitude, because of certain words that were said, that’s com-pletely unnecessary.

“You can talk to the referee but you can’t be provocative and you can’t fall for the provocation of your rivals. I definitely didn’t want him to get another booking.”

Pogba was one of several French players already on a yellow and therefore at risk of a one-match

suspension if he picked up another, and Deschamps praised the attitude of his youthful side.

“We have margin for improvement,” he added. “But youth is not only a weak point. You saw that in the second half. There were certain sparks that we managed to control.

“I had six players on a booking, and now I have everybody available for the next match, and that is great.”

France’s first goal came from a set piece, with Raphael Varane heading in Griezmann’s free kick,

and Deschamps said his team had practiced ways to unlock the Uru-guayan defence, which until that point had conceded only one goal at the World Cup.

“Griezmann was very good on that set piece, and Rafael reacted very well,” the coach said.

“These are things we work on.“This week I focused a bit more

on their defence with respect to the Uruguayan positional play, because they are very good when it comes to playing in the central part of the field with their three best players in the air.

“It was important to gain a good position with respect to these players. We had to work on our set pieces, and we hadn’t scored like that yet, even though we do have good specialists in that regard.” Deschamps said his team had con-trolled the game better and were deserved winners against tough opponents.

“We played against a beautiful Uruguayan side, but we were better than they were today. We had far more mastery than they had, especially in the second half,” he added.

France’s midfielder Paul Pogba (left) touches Uruguay’s midfielder Nahitan Nandez’s head during the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod, yesterday.

Germany’s Bierhoff scores PR own-goal over Ozil Cup sagaAFP

BERLIN: Germany team boss Oliver Bierhoff implied Mesut Ozil should have been dropped from the World Cup squad over a pre-tournament scandal -- then back-tracked in an embarrassing twist yesterday.

Ozil, 29, is one of a group of senior players slammed for their woeful performances at the World Cup as Germany finished bottom of their group in Russia.

The Arsenal midfielder refused to comment about a controversial meeting on the eve of the finals with Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan which sparked questions about his loyalty to Germany.

Bierhoff admits it was a mistake to allow Ozil to maintain his silence as the controversy cast a shadow over the German camp.

“We have never compelled players in the German national team to do something, but always tried to convince them when it comes to certain things,” Bierhoff, Germany’s team director, told yesterday’s edition of Die Welt newspaper.

“We did not succeed with Mesut. And in that respect one would have had to consider whether to refrain from playing him.” However, in a television interview later y, Bierhoff backtracked.

“First of all, I’m sorry, I was wrong,” he told ZDF.“We will not put any players in the stocks like

that.” Bierhoff admitted that he and three German football association (DFB) officials had approved the quotes to Die Welt.

The embarrassing public relations own-goal is the latest example of the clumsy handling of the Erdogan scandal by the DFB.

Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan, who both have Turkish roots, were booed by German fans in pre-World cup friendlies after posing for pictures with Erdogan.

Manchester City midfielder Gundogan presented him with a signed club shirt on which he had written “to my president”.

Gundogan denied the meeting was politically motivated, but Ozil refused to comment. He was the only member of the 23-man squad allowed to miss a media day at Germany’s pre-World Cup camp.

Bierhoff says the issue should have been handled better.

“They fact that Mesut and Ilkay took the pictures did not bother the team so much, but the debate went on and, in retrospect, I would have tried to deal with this issue more decisively,” Bierhoff admitted in the Welt interview.

Ozil was slammed on social media for woeful World Cup displays in the shock group stage defeats to Mexico and South Korea having been dropped for the last-gasp win over Sweden.

There is no doubt Ozil, who has made 92 appear-ances for Germany, could be one of a number of 2014 World Cup winners who have played their last international. On Tuesday, Loew confirmed that he will remain as Germany’s head coach and Bierhoff also ruled out resigning yesterday.

However, as effectively the number two in the Germany setup, he anticipates “profound changes” after the dismal campaign in Russia for which he said the entire squad should take “collective responsibility”.

France’s forward Kylian Mbappe reacts during the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match against Uruguay at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod, yesterday.

20 SATURDAY 7 JULY 2018SPORT 21SATURDAY 7 JULY 2018 SPORT

Charging England eager to clear Swedish hurdle for semis berth

AFP

REPINO: Enthused by an exciting young squad and a potentially kind draw against Sweden in today’s quarter-final, England fans are starting to believe they can end a 52-year wait to win the World Cup.

But the obdurate Scandinavians have a habit of upsetting the odds, par-ticularly against England, having lost just one of eight previous competitive meetings.

Confidence in England is soaring after the team ended a long wait to win a World Cup penalty shootout, squeez-ing past Colombia in a tense and bad-tempered last-16 tie in Moscow.

“We’d like to bring it home,” said England defender John Stones on Thurs-day. “I’d love to win a World Cup, England would love to win a World Cup.

“It’s been a long time since we last won it. We want to make people proud back home.”

England, World Cup winners in 1966, have already won over a public disaffected by an early exit in Brazil four years ago and an embarrassing defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

Gareth Southgate’s men have been drawing more viewers for their matches in Russia than May’s royal wedding, with 23.6 million tuning in for the shootout against Colombia.

“It’s great to see the support back home. Everyone’s getting behind us in their thousands,” added the Manches-ter City player.

“I’m getting videos and pictures from my friends back home watching the game, in the pubs, wherever they are in the country.”

With just a four-day turnaround to facing Sweden in Samara, though, Eng-land have little time to replenish their energy.

And while some are already mak-ing plans for a potential semi-final against hosts Russia or Croatia, Stones warned of complacency against Sweden.

“I think if you say it’s an easy game

in a quarter-final of a World Cup then you are pretty stupid to say that.”

“Sometimes they can throw you, these teams. They can go kind of under the radar, but there is no question they are a good team. They wouldn’t be

where they are if they weren’t.”Sweden have arguably faced a much

tougher path to get to the last eight, eliminating the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying just to get to Russia and then emerging as winners of

Group F as holders Germany crashed out.

Shorn of star names since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s retirement from interna-tional football, Sweden have thrived off a collective team spirit.

Happy to sacrifice possession, defend deep and wait for their oppor-tunity on the counter-attack, they will let England have most of the ball.

But other than in a 6-1 thrashing of Panama in the group stages, England have struggled to create chances from open play, with seven of their nine goals so far coming from set-pieces and penalties.

“Normally the other teams have bet-ter players on paper and we let them have the ball in the places we want them to have the ball,” said Sweden captain Andreas Granqvist.

“If you look at the games we have played of course the opponent has more ball possession, but we have created more dangerous chances. This is how we play... this is our way to have success.”

Sweden’s solid defence has kept three clean sheets in four games in Rus-sia, but coach Janne Andersson will be forced into at least one change at the back, with Celtic’s Mikael Lustig suspended.

“Sweden are good on the counter-attack and we need to be aware of that,” warned England wing-back Kieran Trippier.

“We just need to move the ball quickly if they do sit off. We need to manage the game well and make the pitch as wide as possible.”

Hosts Russia looking for pleasure over pressure

England’s Vardy doubtful for Sweden gameREUTERS

REPINO: England forward Jamie Vardy is “looking doubt-ful” for the World Cup quarter-final against Sweden today after suffering a groin strain having come on as a late substitute in the last-16 win over Colombia, manager Gareth Southgate has said.

Vardy was unlikely to be ready to face the Swedes after sitting out training on Thurs-day, Southgate added.

“Vardy didn’t train today, so is looking doubtful for this game,” Southgate was quoted as saying by Sky Sports on Thursday.

“But we’ll know a bit more tomorrow (yesterday), really. The others were all

on the pitch. We didn’t do a lot.“I think at this stage, min-

imal time on the pitch, a lot of our information is going to have to be in meetings.

“Because it really is as much about recovery, physi-cal and psychological, as everything else.

“The downside of that is we can’t push the players enough today to see whether they’re OK.

“So we’ll know more tomorrow. We’ll have to make late decisions. I think every team will be in the same boat on that.”

Southgate was more upbeat about midfielder Dele Alli, who was back in the team against Colombia after miss-ing the Group G matches

against Panama and Belgium with a thigh issue.

“Dele was absolutely fine after the game, didn’t feel any-thing,” Southgate added.

“I think the extra couple of days were really helpful for him.

“Had he gone into the last one a bit earlier he might have come out of the game feeling something. He was fine.”

Left back Ashley Young and fellow defender Kyle Walker, who were substituted having seemed to be suffering from cramp in the shoootout win over the Colombians, were both fine.

“Young and Walker, we’ve no reason to believe they’re serious issues.

“They were back on their

feet today,” said Southgate.“But equally, there might

be a couple of others. I think when you’ve had a long game like that, you don’t know until you’ve really started to extend in training again exactly what you might be carrying.

“But our feeling is, cer-tainly nothing serious, but two or three in particular that we’ve probably got to assess quite closely tomorrow and see exactly what level they’re at. Again, because we’ve got good players to come in.

“So if we’ve got players that are 75 percent, then the guys who haven’t been in the team deserve to come in and be at 100 percent.”

Captain Modric dreaming of a memorable endREUTERS

SOCHI: Luka Modric has already done enough at the World Cup to upstage some top names in contemporary soccer but when he steps into the Fisht Stadium by the Black Sea today against Russia, he will have a chance to become part of Croatia’s folklore.

Ever since a talented Croatian side reached the 1998 World Cup semi-finals in their second major tournament as an independent nation, subsequent generations have been under pres-sure from the country’s fans and media to emulate the feat.

The ‘Class of 1998’ lost to hosts France in the semi-finals, then beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the third-place playoff, inspiring many in the Bal-kan nation including a then 12-year-old Modric.

Now 32 and one of the biggest names left in Russia given the early exits of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Modric came to global prom-inence when he joined Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League in 2008.

A visionary passer and fleet-footed dribbler, he has kept his form with Real Madrid’s multi-ple Champions League-winning sides since joining them in 2012.

Modric was devastating in the group stages and scored one of the goals of the tournament, upstaging Messi and Argentina by leading his team to the top of their group.

He was poised to hog most of the limelight in the knockouts with the departure of Ronaldo and Messi after Portugal and Argentina lost in the round of 16 but was mostly subdued during the match against Denmark.

Modric, however, put the win in Croatia’s grasp minutes before the end of the second half of extra time with a sumptuous through ball that Ante Rebic ran on to before being felled by Math-ias Jorgensen in the penalty area.

“Since 2008 we have never gone beyond this first knockout game and it was very important for us to get that monkey off our back,” Modric told the FIFA website.

The hard-fought win over Denmark put Croatia one win away from their best-ever show-ing in 1998 and if they are able to reproduce their free-flowing football from the group stages on Saturday, the hosts would find it tough to stop them.

Davor Suker came closest to winning the golden ball, awarded to the best player of the World Cup, in 1998 when he finished second behind B r a z i l ’ s Ronaldo.

English forward

Harry Kane

takes part in a

training session

at the Spartak

Zelenogorsk

Stadium in Saint

Petersburg in this

file photo.

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MOSCOW: World Cup hosts Russia say pressure will be replaced by pleasure and national pride as they bid to sweep past Croatia and into the last four today.

The team, who came into the tournament as the lowest-ranked team, have defied their fans’ expec-tations by reaching the quarter-finals.

They have quickly been embraced as national heroes, with the mayor of Moscow responding by making additional public view-ing space available in the city before the match in Sochi’s Fisht Stadium.

“Now there is not so much pressure,” midfielder Aleksandr Samedov told reporters. “Com-pared to before the tournament and the pressure we felt back then - it was much harder.

“Now we are in quarter-finals and we just want to bring pleasure to the supporters and to get further and we do not feel the pressure as we did before the tournament.”

Accolades have included a bison being named after Russia’s top striker Artem Dzyuba and a new-born eagle after goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who saved two pen-alties against 2010 World Cup winners Spain in the previous round.

Russia coach Stanislav Cher-chesov knows that most of the 48,000-strong crowd will be sup-porting the home side but the moustachioed former goalkeeper has shown little interest in partic-ipating in the national outpouring of emotion.

“Emotions are simple. You show them when you direct the team. Now I am thinking only about the next game. These are not very sophisticated emotions,” he said.

Cherchesov has several issues to resolve, with his midfield the biggest worry.

Alan Dzagoev has recovered from a hamstring injury but is still unable to take a full part in train-ing while Samedov sat on the sidelines on Tuesday with an unspecified fitness problem.

Fellow midfielder Yuri Zhirkov has been ruled out injured and is unlikely to feature again, unless the hosts make it to the final in Mos-cow on July 15, according to

Cherchesov.

The midfield is seen as a key battleground on Saturday, with Croatia’s midfielder Luka Modric regarded as one of the best expo-nents in the world.

Stopping Modric’s deliveries to a world-class attack that includes Mario Mandzukic, Ante Rebic, Marko Pjaca, Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric will be cru-cial for the Russians.

They will have to attack Modric earlier than they managed to do against Spain’s playmakers and will probably play a far more e x p a n s i v e game than l a s t S u n -

day.Russia have not reached a

World Cup semi-final as an inde-pendent nation. The Soviet Union achieved the feat in 1966.

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Croatian midfielder Luka Modric in action during a training session

at Adler training ground, in Sochi ahead of their FIFA 2018 World

Cup quarter-final match against Russia which will be played today.Russian players attend a training session at the Park Arena in Sochi yesterday,

on the eve of their World Cup quarter-final match against Croatia.

I’d love to win a World Cup, England would love to win a World Cup. It’s been a long time since we last won it. We want to make people proud back home: English defender John Stones

Since 2008 we have never gone beyond this first knockout game and it was very important for us to get that monkey off our back: Croatian captain Luka Modric

Now we are in quarter-finals and we just want to bring pleasure to the supporters: Russian midfielder Aleksandr Samedov

22 SATURDAY 7 JULY 2018SPORT

ZimbabweC. Zhuwao c Carey b Stanlake ................................ 0

S. Mire b Tye ............................................................ 63

H. Masakadza b Richardson .................................. 13

T. Musakanda c Wildermuth b Stanlake ..............12

P. Moor c Maddinson b Richardson ..................... 30

E. Chigumbura c Richardson b Tye ........................2

M. Waller c Richardson b Tye ................................ 13

D. Tiripano run out (Agar/Tye) .............................. 0

B. Mavuta not out ................................................... 6

W. Masakadza c Stoinis b Wildermuth ..................3

Extras (lb1, w8) ...................................................... 9

Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) ........................ 151Did not bat: B. Muzarabani

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Zhuwao), 2-21 (Masakadza),

3-44 (Musakanda), 4-112 (Moor), 5-116 (Chigumbu-

ra), 6-141 (Waller), 7-142 (Tiripano), 8-142 (Mire),

9-151 (Masakadza)

Bowling: Stanlake 4-1-21-2; Richardson 4-0-32-2

(2w); Stoinis 3-0-31-0 (1w); Agar 3-0-22-0; Tye

4-0-28-3 (1w); Wildermuth 2-0-16-1

AustraliaA. Finch c Musakanda b W Masakadza .................3

A. Carey c Murray b Muzarabani ...........................16

T. Head c W Masakadza b Muzarabani ...............48

G. Maxwell c Chigumbura b Muzarabani ............ 56

N. Maddinson c Muzarabani b Tiripano .................2

M. Stoinis not out ...................................................12

A. Agar not out .........................................................5

Extras (lb4, w8) ....................................................12

Total (5 wkts, 19.5 overs) ......................154Did not bat: J. Wildermuth, A. Tye, J. Richardson, B.

Stanlake

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Finch), 2-26 (Carey), 3-129

(Maxwell), 4-134 (Maddinson), 5-139 (Head)

Bowling: Masakadza 4-0-32-1; Muzarabani 4-0-

21-3 (2w); Tiripano 3.5-0-27-1 (3w); Mire 2-0-17-0;

Mavuta 4-0-33-0 (2w); Waller 2-0-20-0

Result: Australia won by five wickets

SCOREBOARD

Great Britain’s Christopher Froome rides during a training session of Great Britain’s Team Sky cycling team yesterday near Saint-Mars la Reorthe, western France.

Froome faces tough tests as Tour de France starts

REUTERS

PARIS: Media grilling, poten-tially hostile fans - Chris Froome faces bigger challenges off the bike than on it as he embarks on a testing journey towards a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title today.

The defending champion was this week cleared of any wrongdoing by cycling’s gov-erning body following an inves-tigation after excessive levels of asthma drug Salbutamol was found in his urine sample during last September’s Vuelta a Espana.

In a column in French newspaper Le Monde, the Team Sky rider, attempting to become the first person since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve the Giro d’Italia-Tour double, wrote that: “the build up to this race has not been the easiest for me, for the race organisers and for you all - the cycling fans and people of France who are the heartbeat of the Tour.”

During the teams presen-tation in the Vendee region on Thursday, Froome got a taste of what he could expect during the three weeks of the race when he was booed loudly by the crowd.

It brought back memories from his victorious ride on the Tour in 2015, when he had a cup of urine thrown on his face and was called a doper by a spectator.

Team Sky’s dominance and their perceived arrogance have raised questions and triggered suspicions, although no doping allegations have been proven.

Sky’s collective force and the Briton’s ability to hold off his rivals in the mountains makes him the man to beat even if the opposition has been sharpening their knives.

France’s Romain Bardet, twice a podium finisher, tops the list of challengers along with

2017 Giro champion Tom Dumoulin - two riders who believed Froome should not have been racing while under investigation. “I hope he will get a kind welcoming,” said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.

The first big challenge will come on July 15 when the peloton tackle cobbled sections in a stage that ends in Roubaix - just like the Paris-Roubaix one-day race, also known as the Queen of the Classics.

Should he survive that stage, Froome will then have to assert his dominance on iconic climbs like the Alpe d’Huez, the Tourmalet and the Aubisque.

With Colombian Nairo Quintana, Spain’s Mikel Landa or even team-mate Geraint Thomas eyeing the Maillot Jaune, Froome could face coor-dinated attacks with less pro-tection after the number of riders per team was brought down from nine to eight.

World champion Peter Sagan is the huge favourite to win a sixth green jersey for the points classification, one year after being kicked out of the race for elbowing Mark Cav-endish in a sprint finish.

Most wins at a single Tour de France: Eight by

Charles Pelissier (1930), Eddy Merckx (1970,

1974) and Freddy Maertens (1976)

Greatest number of stage victories: 34 by

Merckx

Greatest number of yellow jersey wearers:

Eight in 1958 and 1987

Most days in yellow: 97 by Eddy Merckx

Greatest number of Tour de France wins: Five

by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hina-

ult and Miguel Indurain. Lance Armstrong won

seven but was later stripped of them.

Most top three finishes: Eight by Raymond

Poulidor (three second places and five third

places) in 14 competitions between 1962-1976

Greatest win margin (since 1947): 28min 17sec

by Fausto Coppi in 1952

Smallest win margin: 8sec (Greg LeMond over

Laurent Fignon in 1989)

Greatest number of green jersey wins: Six by

Erik Zabel

Greatest number of polka dot jersey wins:

Seven by Richard Virenque

Longest solo break: 253km by Albert Bourlon in

1947

Biggest time gap on a stage win: 22min 50sec

by Jose Luis Viejo in 1976

Fastest time-trial average speed: 55.446km/h

by Rohan Dennis in 2015 over 13.8km

Fastest team time-trial: 57.841km/h by Orica in

2013 over 25km

RECORDS TO BEAT AT TOUR

The build up to this race has not been the easiest for me, for the race organisers and for you all - the cycling fans and people of France who are the heartbeat of the Tour: Chris Froome

Thakur replaces injured Bumrah in Indian ODI squad

Hales stars as England level series with 5-wicket win

AFP

NEW DELHI: Fast bowler Shardul Thakur will replace injured Jasprit Bumrah in India’s one-day international squad in England, the coun-try’s cricket board said yesterday.

The Virat Kohli-led India, who are slated to play three ODI matches after the ongoing Twenty20 series, will also take on the hosts in five Tests in their almost three-month long tour that started this week.

“Bumrah underwent a surgery on Wednesday, July 4, 2018 in Leeds before returning to India,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a release.

“The surgery was suc-cessful and he will commence rehabilitation under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team.”

Bumrah fractured his thumb during India’s first of two T20 matches against Ireland last month and was ruled out of the limited overs matches in England.

Bumrah’s replacement Thakur, 26, is an attacking quick bowler who has played seven T20 matches and three ODIs since making his 50-over debut in Sri Lanka last year.

The first of the three ODI matches is scheduled in Not-tingham on July 12.

AFP

CARDIFF: Alex Hales kept his nerve with 58 not out to see England home and square the international T20 series against India 1-1 with one to play in Cardiff yesterday.

Set 149 to win off their 20 overs England needed 12 off the final over and Hales put Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of the Cardiff ground off the first ball and the second for four.

A single followed and David Willey hit Kumar for the winning runs to set up the five-wicket victory.

Earlier, Liam Plunkett and David Willey had put the squeeze on India as the tourists were restricted to 148-5.

Plunkett took 1-17 and Willey 1-18 as India were kept on a leash despite 47 from captain Virat Kohli and some late hitting from MS Dhoni who scored 32 not out and helped plunder 22 in Jake Ball’s final over.

England put India in, and Plunkett responded with the most economical four over figures by an England bowler i n a h o m e T 2 0 international.

And Willey leaked just one run more in his stint and picked up Kohli’s wicket, caught in the deep by Joe Root, when the Indian captain was threatening to cut loose.

Ball, the Nottinghamshire pace bowler, was handed a T20 international debut and made the most of his chance by taking a wicket in his first over but his figures suffered at the hands of Dhoni.

The series concludes with the third T20 game in Bristol tomorrow before three 50-over internationals and a five-match Test series.

Brief ScoresIndia 148-5 (Kohli 47, MS

Dhoni 32, Raina 27, Plunkett 1-17) lost to England 152-5 in 19.4 overs ( Alex Hales 58 not out, Bairstow 28) A Shardul Thakur file photo.

Bangladesh 1st Innings - 43West Indies 1st Innings - 406Bangladesh 2nd Innings - overnight 62-6Tamim Iqbal c Hope b Gabriel ............................... 13

Liton Das c Brathwaite b Holder ............................2

Mominul Haque b Gabriel ...................................... 0

Mushfiqur Rahim b Gabriel .................................... 0

Shakib al Hasan c Holder b Gabriel ......................12

Mahmudullah c Chase b Holder ...........................15

Mehidy Hasan c wkpr Dowrich b Holder ...............2

Nurul Hasan c and b Cummins ............................64

Kamrul Islam b Gabriel ............................................7

Rubel Hossain b Cummins ....................................16

Abu Jayed not out ................................................... 0

Extras (b-1, nb-1, w-3) ...........................................5

Total (40.2 overs, all out) ......................144Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Tamim Iqbal), 2-14 (Mominul

Haque), 3-16 (Liton Das), 4-36 (Mushfiqur Rahim),

5-43 (Shakib al Hasan), 6-50 (Mehidy Hasan), 6-63

(Mahmudullah), 8-88 (Kamrul Islam), 9-143 (Nurul

Hasan), 10-144 (Rubel Hossain)

Bowling: J. Holder 15-3-30-3 (1w), S. Gabriel 12-3-

77-5 (2w), M. Cummins 7.2-2-16-2 (1nb), D. Bishoo

5-1-16-0, R. Chase 1-0-4-0

Result: West Indies won by an innings and 219

runs

SCOREBOARD

West Indies seal huge victory over Bangladesh in first TestAP

NORTH SOUND, ANTIGUA: Bangladesh delayed the inevi-table for almost two hours when its last wicket fell and West Indies won their first Test by an innings and 219 runs yesterday inside seven sessions.

Bangladesh, after its lowest Test score of 43 in the first innings, was all out for a total of 144 runs in the second after resuming third day of the opening Test on 62-6.

West Indies showed the folly of the Bangladesh batsmen’s shot-making by posting 406.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan stalled the home side’s attack with a career-best test score of 64 off 74 balls.

He resumed the day on 7 and went after Shannon Gabriel, but another quick, Miguel Cummins, bagged him with a caught-and-bowled.

Hasan was the ninth wicket out. Rubel Hossain, with whom Hasan combined for 55, was last man out on 16, losing his leg stump to Cummins.

All four West Indies pacemen took five wickets in the match. Kemar Roach took five in 12

deliveries in the first innings and didn’t bowl in the second after hurting his hamstring.

Nevertheless, Bangladesh also couldn’t handle Gabriel, Cummins, and captain Jason Holder.

Mahmudullah, on 15 over-night, was out to the second delivery of the morning without adding to his score. He edged Holder to third slip.

Next to go was Kamrul Islam Rabbi, whose middle stump was

uprooted by Gabriel on 7 at 88-8.

Hasan and Hossain put off the end in a defiant 13 overs together.

The second and final Test will start on Thursday in Kingston.

Maxwell powers Australia to T20 winAFP

HARARE: Glenn Maxwell hit a half-century for Australia as they chased down Zimbabwe’s 151 for nine with a ball to spare in a tightly-contested Twenty-20 match yesterday.

Maxwell’s 56 -- his first half century since February against England in Hobart -- helped ease the pain for an Australian middle order who were made to graft after Zimbabwean all-rounder Solomon Mire had notched his second consecutive 50-plus score earlier in the day.

Zimbabwe had enjoyed early success, dismissing Australian openers Aaron Finch and Alex Carey inside the first five overs.

Australia took just 35 runs from the Powerplay and it wasn’t until Maxwell began to find the middle of his bat that they started to bring the asking rate down.

That challenging total set by the Zimbabweans was thanks mainly to Mire, who helped his team recover from the dismissal of Cephas Zhuwao from the very first ball of the morning.

Together with PJ Moor he rebuilt the innings with a 64-run fourth wicket stand. Moor even-tually fell for 30, chasing quick runs, but Mire brought up a 44-ball fifty in the 17th over.

Australia’s win in this dead rubber provides a welcome con-fidence boost ahead of their clash with Pakistan in tomorrow’s final.

Jason Holder (C) of West Indies celebrates the dismissal of Mahmudullah of Bangladesh during day 3 of their 1st Test in North Sound, Antigua, yesterday.

23SATURDAY 7 JULY 2018 SPORT

Vettel pips Hamilton in crash-interrupted practiceAFP

SILVERSTONE, UK: Championship leader Sebastian Vettel topped the times for Ferrari in yesterday’s crash-hit second free practice for this weekend’s British Grand Prix, outpacing Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes by nearly two-tenths of a second.

On a hot afternoon in central England, the four-time champion German clocked a best lap in one minute and 27.552 seconds to ease 0.187 seconds clear of the Briton, who is seeking a record sixth victory in his home event and fifth in succession.

The session was red-flagged to a halt for 10 minutes when Max Verstappen crashed at Luffield, spinning his Red Bull backwards into the barriers. He was unhurt, but took no further part in the session.

Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was third quickest, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull and,

unexpectedly, Fernando Alonso of McLaren.

Hamilton had clocked the fastest time in opening practice earlier in the day when he outpaced Bottas.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Renault ahead of Esteban Ocon and his Force India team-mate Sergio Perez with Monegasque Charles Leclerc taking 10th for Sauber.

The air temperature at the former war aerodrome was 26 degrees Celsius and the track 51 when the session began without Romain Grosjean, whose Haas car had not been repaired in time fol-lowing his crash in the morning.

Raikkonen was quickest early on before Verstappen, who won so impres-sively last weekend in Austria, crashed heavily after two laps on hard tyres, the rear end of his Red Bull car snapping back 180 degrees.

His car’s rear suspension was broken and he took no further part in the session.

“I think I wanted to be too quick on the hard tyre,” said Verstappen.

“I just lost it. Unfortunately, the way I hit the wall, it rips off the right rear.

“At the end of the day it is not ideal to lose the second session, but the feeling I had before that was pretty good.

“So I think, balance-wise, we are not far off, but we are losing a lot of lap time on the straights.”

This prompted the deployment of

a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) after which Vettel took over on top of the times on softs, the two Mercedes men having remained in their garage at that time.

Eventually, they joined the fray before Pierre Gasly pulled up with power problems at Turn Four. He parked

neatly to avoid any need for another VSC.

After an hour’s action, with the teams going into ‘long run’ mode, Vettel remained fastest one-tenth clear of the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Bottas.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel during practice ahead of British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, yesterday.

The four-time champion German clocked a best lap in one minute and 27.552 seconds to ease 0.187 seconds clear of the Briton, who is seeking a record sixth victory in his home event and fifth in succession.

Final should start early to avoid World Cup clash, says WilanderREUTERS

LONDON: The Wimbledon men’s singles final should start earlier to avoid clashing with the World Cup final, according to Mats Wilander who will be supporting his native Sweden against England in today’s quarter-final showdown.

Should England beat Sweden and then either Croatia or hosts Russia in the semi-finals the most important game in English soccer since 1966 would almost certainly overlap with the men’s singles final at the All England Club on Sunday week.

Wimbledon have said they will not budge from their 1300 GMT start time for the men’s final.

The World Cup final in Moscow will kickoff at 1500 GMT.

“Absolutely they should bring it forward,” Wilander, who is Eurosport’s chief analyst during Wimbledon, said.

“I think Wimbledon would be very smart to do that. I would say that the players would even agree to do that. I do.

“It’s a very interesting point. England should get to the final now. I really think they should move to one pm. They want people to watch the Wimbledon final and sponsors would want that too. Everybody would want that.

“The television contracts around the world could be the problem though. But I think they should have considered changing the time before the tournament started. Not because it’s England but because it’s the World Cup final,” he added.

Wimbledon is being played out to a backdrop of World Cup fever with England having reached the last eight stage of the tournament.

Today’s quarter-final which kicks off at 1400 GMT could clash with British player Kyle Edmund’s third-round showdown with three-times Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic.

The sensible option would be to schedule Edmund’s match as the last match on a showcourt which would mean England’s game would likely be over before he starts.

“I’m sure they’ll factor that in,” Edmund, who is a big soccer fan, told reporters.

“I mean, obviously I’m a tennis player, so I’m here to do my job first.

“But we’ll see. I don’t know. Hopefully it will be a success for both

of us, England and myself.” Like Wilander, Edmunds’s coach

Freddie Rosengren is a Swede and the pair were photographed wearing their respective country’s shirts this week exchanging pretend punches.

Wilander believes Sweden might upset the odds just like so many unseeded players have done at Wimbledon this week.

“I think it’s a good situation for Sweden, I really do,” Wilander said.

“England are the big favourites and it’s a great draw for them, they are the better team, but I’m not sure England can break down the system the Swedes play,” he said.

Flawless Federer storms into last-16; Serena sails AFP

LONDON: Serena Williams boosted her chances of winning an eighth Wimbledon and 24th Grand Slam by making the fourth round at the All England Club yesterday as big sister Venus fell victim to the curse of the seeds.

Serena, seeded a modest 25 this year, enjoyed a 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) win over France’s Kristina Mladenovic to set up a last-16 duel with Russian qualifier -- and fellow mother -- Evgeniya Rodina.

Victory on Centre Court, sealed with a 13th ace, came 20 minutes after Venus, a five-time champion, had slumped to a 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 8-6 loss to Kiki Bertens of the Nether-lands over on Court One.

After Venus exit, only two of the top 10 seeds remain in the women’s draw -- number one Simona Halep, who plays her third round match today, and seventh seed Karolina Pliskova who came back from 1-4 down in the second set to defeat Mihaela Buzarnescu 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.

While the women’s draw was being blown wide open, it was business as usual for defending men’s champion Roger Federer who enjoyed a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.

Serena said she was delighted to be into the second week at Wimbledon.

“I have worked really hard and it’s been a long arduous road,” said Serena, playing in just her second

Slam since the birth of her daughter Olympia last September.

“A lot of top players have lost. Technically I am not a top player although I have the wins of one.”

Venus, 38 and the runner-up last year, was worn down by Dutch 20th seed Bertens who next faces Pliskova.

“It means a lot. It was such a tough match and such a big fight so I’m really happy that I won this one,” Bertens said.

Also exiting was 10th seed Madison Keys, who had made at least the quarter-finals of her last three majors.

The American lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 to Rodina, ranked 120th in the world.

“I have played the quallies and three matches this week which were all three sets,” said 29-year-old Rodina.

“She hits the ball so hard. I am a little surprised that I won, I was a little bit lucky.”

Federer took his consecutive sets won at Wimbledon to 29 in what was his 200th career grass court match.

The eight-time champion will face French 22nd seed Adrian Man-narino on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.

“I was happy to stay clam and finish off the job. I thought I did very well today,” said the 36-year-old 20-time Slam winner.

“I created more chances in the second set and was always able to stay pretty clean on my own service games.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first Greek man in the Open era to make the last 16 of a Slam as the 31st seed beat Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

The 19-year-old will faces US ninth seed John Isner for a place in the quarter-finals.

German fourth seed Alexander Zverev made the third round, seeing off Taylor Fritz of the United States 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (0/7), 6-1, 6-2 and faces

Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis for a spot in the last 16.

Zverev had trailed two sets to one when his tie with Fritz was halted due to darkness on Thursday.

But the 21-year-old raced away with the last two sets in Friday’s bright sunshine.

“Stopping last night was not a nice feeling to go to bed with,” said Zverev who said he had vomited on Friday due to a stomach bug and came close to quitting.

Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova defied second round victim Woz-niacki’s churlish prediction that she wouldn’t progress further in the tournament by reaching the last 16.

Makarova, who made the quarter-finals four years ago, beat a weary-looking Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

She next faces Italy’s Camila Giorgi who saved a match point to beat Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.

South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, seeded eight, swept past Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 on the back of 22 aces and 42 winners.

Anderson has reached the last 16 for the fourth time and goes on to face France’s Gael Monfils.

US player Serena Williams celebrates after beating France’s Kristina Mladenovic, yesterday.

After Venus exit, only two of the top 10 seeds remain in the women’s draw -- number one Simona Halep, who plays her third round match today, and seventh seed Karolina Pliskova who came back from 1-4 down in the second set to defeat Mihaela Buzarnescu 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1. Switzerland’s

Roger Federer returns to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in their men’s singles third round matchat the 2018 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, yesterday.

SPORT24SATURDAY 7 JULY 2018

France’s defender Raphael Varane (right) heads the ball to score a goal during the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match against Uruguay at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod yesterday.

Griezmann inspires France to win over punchless UruguayAFP

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA: France became the first team to reach the World Cup semi-finals as goals from Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann gave them a deserved 2-0 victory over Uruguay yesterday.

It is the first time France have been in the last four since 2006 and sets up a mouth-watering clash against either Belgium or Brazil, who play later on Friday, in St Petersburg on Tuesday.

France took the lead in the 40th minute from the unlikely source of defender Varane, who glanced home a fine header from an Antoine Griezmann free-kick.

It was only the Real Madrid player’s third goal for France and represented redemption for Varane, who was largely blamed for the goal which saw France lose at the quarter-final stage to Germany four years ago.

Griezmann, who counts several of the Uruguay players as close friends, scored a second in the 61st minute, but it was mostly due to a howler from La

Celeste’s goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera.

T h e u s u a l l y dependable stopper flapped at Griezmann’s 20-yard shot and agonis-ingly saw the ball float over the line.

It was Griezmann’s third goal of this World Cup, but his first not from a penalty.

That goal secured

the victory but did not end the drama in Nizhny Novgorod, as Uruguay’s frustration boiled over in the 67th minute when Kylian Mbappe fell to the floor.

Uruguay skipper Diego Godin gestured with the teenager to get up, then tried to pull him from the turf, sparking a melee which involved most of the players and saw French coach Didier Deschamps come

onto the pitch to try to calm tempers.

France’s victory was merited as it was they who had the bulk of possession and always looked the most likely to score.

They might have scored as early as the 15th minute when Mbappe mistimed a close header.

The lightning-quick Mbappe and Griezmann struck fear into the Uruguayan defence all

afternoon.In midfield, France’s N’Golo

Kante and Paul Pogba snuffed out any potential threat posed by Uruguay.

And up front for La Celeste, Luis Suarez cut an isolated and agitated figure as his team des-perately went in search of an equaliser as Edinson Cavani was ruled out with injury.

Increasingly, Suarez vented his frustration with Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana, who, coincidentally, was the official in charge of France’s quarter-final 2014 defeat.

The Barcelona star was partnered by Cristhian Stuani after a week of will-he-won’t-he speculation surrounding Cavani ended up with the Paris Saint-Germain striker failing to recover from a calf strain.

Without Cavani, Uruguay posed little threat.

A tight and nervy encounter to begin with, the game burst into life after Varane’s goal.

Until that point Uruguay had struggled to get into the French penalty area, but within

four minutes of the goal would have been level except for an exceptional save by Hugo Lloris.

The French skipper saved superbly with one-hand from defender Martin Caceres, whose header from a free kick look destined to go in.

Diego Godin could have scored from the follow-up, but that was the closest the South Americans would come to scoring all afternoon.

France’s defender Raphael Varane (right) celebrates with team-mate Antoine Griezmann after scoring the opener during the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod yesterday.

Griezmann did not celebrate goal out of ‘respect’ for UruguayAFP

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA: Antoine Griezmann said he did not celebrate his goal against Uruguay in the World Cup quarter-final out of “respect” for the South American nation.

Griezmann scored France’s second goal in the 2-0 win in the 61st minute, when his long-range strike found its way into the net after a mistake from Uruguay’s goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.

Instead of celebrating, Griezmann stood still as French players rushed to him, despite scoring the goal that helped secure his country’s first World Cup semi-final in 12 years.

“I didn’t celebrate that goal because when I started as a pro-fessional footballer I was sup-ported by a Uruguayan, who showed me the good and the bad of football,” he said.

“Out of respect, I thought it was not appropriate to celebrate that goal.”

In the run-up to the match, Griezmann had spoken about his affinity with Uruguay and his friendship with two Uruguayan players, Jose Gimenez and Diego Godin.

Griezmann plays his club football with Gimenez and Godin at Atletico Madrid and even turned up at the airport wearing a Uruguay shirt to greet his team-mates when they qualified for Russia. Before yesterday’s match, Griezmann turned up at the Nizhny Novgorod stadium drinking mate tea, a popular drink in Uruguay. Not celebrating a goal against a former club has become standard in domestic football, but Griezmann may have been the first player to do at international level, especially at a World Cup.

Tabarez admits France deserved victoryAFP

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA: A disappointed Oscar Tabarez conceded that his Uruguay side were second best in their World Cup quarter-final loss to France yeserday, which saw the European side progress to the last four.

The veteran coach, who has been in charge of Uruguay for 12 years in his second spell as national coach, also refused to comment on his future when asked by reporters.

“We don’t play as good as our rivals, that’s why we lost,” said a downbeat Tabarez after the 2-0 defeat.

France went through after goals from Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann, after a mistake by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, secured victory.

“The boys really gave eve-rything, but France were able to control the match very well,” added Tabarez.

“After the second goal, there

was a huge gap between the teams.”

Asked about his frustration at going out of the tournament, the 71-year-old said it should be stressed how far La Celeste had gone in the tournament com-pared to others.

“There are many countries that belong to the world of the

footballing elite but left the tour-nament before us.”

On his future, Tabarez said: “I still have a contract but I am not going to speak about this, it’s not for me to decide.” Asked about Muslera’s howler, Tabarez said simply: “Only those who don’t do anything don’t make mistakes.”

FRANCE URUGUAY

2 0VARANE - 40’

GRIEZMANN - 61’