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It will take something special to match the mix-up between Wavell Hinds and Andre Fletcher

Andrew McGlashan at Kensington Oval07-May-2010There has been a yawning gap between the highlight-reel fielding at this tournament and those moments destined for the blooper video. The good has sometimes been spectacular but the bad has often been embarrassing. Saeed Ajmal laid a high marker to top the list after his three drops against England, but it will take something special to match the mix-up between Wavell Hinds and Andre Fletcher, which left both players starring at each other as the ball landed between them.Mahela Jayawardene, well set on 66, went for a sweep off Sulieman Benn and got a top edge which looped high towards short third man. Fletcher looked at the chance but barely moved from his position behind the stumps, while Hinds took a couple of steps in from the fielding circle before stopping. It was a keeper’s catch – if the man with the gloves can get near a chance he should go for it – but there appeared a complete breakdown in communication.It summed up a West Indies performance that quickly disintegrated after a promising start with the new ball by Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach as six chances were missed. The hosts qualified with two group wins but momentum is fragile in Twenty20. Take your eye off the ball for a moment (and that happened in every sense) and a team can be on the back foot.”It’s a disappointing start but we had our chances and we let it slip away,” Chris Gayle said. “They must be given credit for the way they batted after those chances. We were bowling at a guy in fine form and to give a guy like [Kumar] Sangakkara a chance, those guys can hurt you, which they did.”After seeing the bounce generated by Australia’s quicks, Roach and Taylor also made life uncomfortable, but that was about as close as the comparison got to Michael Clarke’s team. Taylor suffered most from fielding lapses as Sanath Jayasuriya was spilled at backward point in the second over by Kieron Pollard. Although that only cost a single, a much bigger error soon followed.Taylor found the edge of Sangakkara’s bat and Gayle, normally very safe at slip, couldn’t take a low chance diving to his left. By the time Sangakkara eventually fell for 68 the partnership was worth 166. In between there had been other let-offs, too, and one brought the spotlight on West Indies’ selection policy.Fletcher has been given the keeping gloves in place of Denesh Ramdin after the specialist keeper was dropped following the opening game against Ireland. Four balls before the horrendous non-catch, Fletcher fluffed a stumping opportunity off Jayawardene. He isn’t a complete novice behind the stumps, having kept extensively for Grenada and done the job during the Stanford tournament, but here he didn’t look international quality.Having your specialist wicketkeeper sat in the dug out seems an expensive luxury. Ramdin’s form hadn’t been good leading into the tournament, but once selected in the 15 it seems wasteful not to play him. If the selectors were so concerned they should have taken a drastic call before the event and dropped him in favour of another specialist. A part-time keeper is always a risk.It has been done so West Indies can play an extra batsman, but the runs that keeping errors cost (and Jaywardene’s missed stumped was worth 33) means it defeats the object of strengthening the line-up. Fletcher’s case wasn’t improved by his own painful innings of 16 from 18 balls, but by then the match was already lost.”Ramdin has been struggling with the bat for the last couple of series and we want to play the extra batter,” Gayle said. “So to try and balance the team we have given Fletcher the gloves and he’s done well for us before.”It’s a conundrum many sides have had, but quality keepers regularly show their worth in Twenty20. Most teams in this tournament are fortunate that their gloveman is also a frontline batsman – Sangakkara, MS Dhoni, Craig Kieswetter and Brad Haddin being top of the list – and it seems West Indies are trying to muddle their way there.West Indies’ fielding of recent times has always had the capacity to fall apart in dramatic style and unless they sharpen up their chances of progressing are slim, although they can take heart that Pakistan won last year despite, not because of, their fielding. However, West Indian heads collectively went down quickly as Jayawardene and Sangakkara produced a masterful partnership and now they must rise to beat India on Sunday.”We’ll discuss what happened today and it’s back to the drawing board,” Gayle said. “It is must-win for both teams and it should be a good game. We are still confident we can win the two games and move onto the semi-final.”

Cricket may not feature in many films but it did provide a peaceful backdrop away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood

Christopher Sandford 10-Jun-2005

Sir Charles Aubrey Smith at the Hollywood CC © The Cricketer
When it was launched 70 years ago, the Hollywood Cricket Club looked like an English village green. Except not many village greens have a pavilion floored in sun-bleached Spanish tiles, a backdrop of canyons and gorges fringed with bougainvillea and the likes of Boris Karloff keeping wicket.The club was officially formed in February 1932 as a vehicle for Sunday afternoon fixtures against nearby Venice, Malibu and Pasadena, but also as a way of bringing civilisation to the film colony. Its founding father was one Charles Aubrey Smith, aged 68, a craggy, moustachioed character actor given to baggy plus-fours – with Old Carthusian tassels at the knee and loudly checked socks – who had come to represent Hollywood’s ideal of the screen Englishman.Although Aubrey Smith – winner of a single Test cap, against South Africa in 1888 – may not have had the most skilled group of players, they were certainly the best dressed. Hollywood CC turned out in harlequin caps and magenta, mauve and black striped blazers. The club’s dinner dances at the Roosevelt Hotel were legendary for being urbane and British in an oldfashioned way. As America fell headlong into the Great Depression and Europe slid ever closer to war, Aubrey Smith’s side continued to remind people of a vanished, altogether gentler Edwardian world.Aubrey Smith worked long and hard to bring cricket to southern California, where he had settled himself after the Great War. He would always call the negotiations for a home ground to be quite the toughest and longest-running role of his life. Certainly, in the category of epic performances this famous eccentric’s wranglings with the Los Angeles park commission richly deserved an Oscar. He was nothing if not persistent, though, and after three years of debate he had a plot of land, five cartloads of English grass seed to plant a wicket and a new $30,000 pavilion. Laid out at the north end of Griffith Park, high up in the Hollywood hills, the playing area was formally named the C. Aubrey Smith Field at a ceremony on May 21, 1933.Later that same month, the young Laurence Olivier sashayed into the Chateau Marmont Hotel to begin his first day as a film star in America. Waiting for him was a note: `There will be nets tomorrow at 9am. I trust I shall see you there.’ In the 1930s and ’40s, the golden era of Hollywood, Smith’s arm-twisting of expatriate and home-grown talent alike always followed much the same script: a polite summons to net practice, two hours of peak-decibel abuse of the man’s technique, then a guffaw, a warm handshake and an invitation to that weekend’s match.Few A-list names, from David Niven to Errol Flynn to Ronald Colman, failed to pay a ritual call to Smith’s villa at 2881 Coldwater Canyon Drive, where the raised Union Jack denoted a sort of semi-ambassadorial status. Many more found themselves pressed into spending long hot Sunday afternoons in the field, where Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) mingled with the likes of George Coulouris (Citizen Kane) while P.G. Wodehouse took notes from the boundary. Like every major star before him, Olivier dutifully joined the consensus that spring morning in 1933. He showed up at the ground in size 13 boots hurriedly borrowed from Boris Karloff. Smith himself remained an active member of the side throughout his 70s, and an occasional player into his 80s. Dubbed `Round the Corner’ because of a peculiar crablike run when bowling, he not only regularly took 50 wickets a season but also interested himself in literally everyone and everything behind the scenes. An annual general meeting early in the Second World War included a vote of thanks to the president, Karloff, Cary Grant and others `in connection with the large sums raised for the Commando Fund’, while at the AGM of May 1945 he spoke at length not about victory in Europe but rather the knotty problem of moles damaging the wicket.Three years later Sir Aubrey, as he now was, expressed his wish to retire `within the foreseeable future’ to allow someone younger to take over. The mere suggestion caused such an uproar from the members present that he smiled and withdrew his remarks. He died on December 20, 1948, a dapper, kindly and humorous man to the very end, bequeathing the club generous royalties from films like The Prisoner of Zenda.Long before then, Smith’s club had become a legendary enclave, at once rigidly British and yet gaudily American, a rich blend of country-house civility, New World chutzpah and a discreet trysting place for the rich and famous. This heady mixture of contradictions and exotic personalities made it a perfect resort for visiting international cricketers. Among those who played amid the tropical limes and reds of Griffith Park were England’s Gubby Allen, Denis Compton and a future star of The Final Test, Len Hutton. Godfrey Evans had fond memories of a day and night spent at the club on his way home from the 1950/51 MCC tour of Australia.Top Test players were invariably struck by both the quality and chivalrous spirit of the matches. Since 1955 an annual prize, the Rodney Sober Cup, has been presented to the Hollywood player who best exemplifies the Corinthian ethic of Sir Aubrey himself. Its first sponsor was the Welshborn Oscar winning actor Edmund Gwenn, who took time out from filming Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble With Harry to present the award.Like so much else, Hollywood CC changed during the 1960s. Those with long memories still evoked names like Karloff and Flynn but, increasingly, the club aligned itself with a new set of stars. Millionaire rock musicians began to patronise Griffith Park, which meantmore, and flashier, limousines snaking up Cahuenga Boulevard and the occasional whiff of herbally scented cigarettes from the dressing room.Perhaps inevitably, some of the original charm of the place, with its cast of characters seemingly on permanent audition for the film of The Loved One, began to fade. Sportsmanship and fair play were no longer accorded the priority they once had. In a physical but also symbolic break from the past, the club left its base of more than 30 years and moved west along the Los Angeles river to Woodley Park, a sprawling heath dotted by golf courses and municipal waterworks in the perfectly respectable but unlovely town of Van Nuys.More recently, a parallel migration to southern California of scores of club or first-class cricketers, many from the subcontinent, has reignited a professional pride that had been badly diminished or lost. Players like Ronnie Iranpur, a graduate of India’s West Zone University, veteran ‘keeper Mark Azeez and club president Jimmy Colabavala – each a winner of the Rodney Sober Cup – have been a steadying presence.The Indian Test caps Rajesh Chauhan and Nikhil Chopra, India’s one-day star Rajinder Singh Ghai, Pakistani leg-spinner Igbal Sikander and Nick Taylor, formerly of Yorkshire and Somerset, all bring in a kind of vestigial authority, not only as links to the professional game but in marking a return to Sir Aubrey’s ideals. Today’s club, for all its changed membership and location, is grounded in cricket’s core traditional values, genuinely suggestive of community.Even so, early in 1999 a team of diehard British enthusiasts set out to check what they saw as a deplorable decline of manners and standards, not so much in Hollywood CC but in Californian cricket as a whole. `We want to make it a decent game again,’ said Andy Rose, 38, a landscape gardener from Runcorn in Cheshire who formed a Social Cricket Alliance of 10 teams, subsidised in part by Mick Jagger, to rival the established Southem California Cricket Association.For its part, the SCCA, through its English treasurer, David Sentance, admitted that matches were `extremely competitive’ but said that breaches of the rules, threats of violence and foul language were not condoned. `Anyone coming to play cricket here from England is in for a bit of a shock,’ Sentance added. `But it’s still surprising to me that anyone would expect things to be the way they were 65 years ago.’More controversy visited Hollywood at the end of the 2001 season when the club twice fielded a former Indian Test captain, Ajay Jadeja, who had been banned for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal. In fact, it was only his home board, not the ICC, who imposed the ban, which is still being debated in the Indian courts. Both Hollywood CC’s decision to play him, and their subsequent fine for doing so, have drawn fire from opposing sides of the Press.Reassuring signs lately, both of visiting teams and overseas tours, have rightly diffused the controversy about what the club’s founder might have made of all this. As a lifelong ambassador and world traveller, Sir Aubrey would have welcomed the recent arrival at Woodley Park of an MCC side complete with Bill Frindall, and applauded Hollywood CC’s wildly successful visits to the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Malaysia. He would have positively loved the annual Old Timers game, where players still conform to his strict sartorial sense and bring Edwardian style to the park. They bring convention too, with bunting, flags and a proper tea-tent, and even Van Nuys, with its huddle of red roofs and vivid neon, becomes a contented;looking place.There it is then, a solid and friendly club, with two teams playing good cricket in a well organised league. It is crazy and funny and not a little comforting: civilisation in Hollywood. It will never last, people said. That was 70 years ago.

For Mumbai Indians, there is still a lot to play for, and lifting themselves off the bottom of the table is one of them

Karthik Krishnaswamy05-May-2024Match details Mumbai Indians (10th; W3, L8) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (4th; W6, L4)
Mumbai, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)Big pictureBy the time Monday dawns, Mumbai Indians (MI) will either be out of the reckoning for the playoffs of IPL 2024, or all but. Heading into their last three games of the league phase, the most they can realistically hope for, in all likelihood, is to lift themselves off the bottom of the table, finish somewhere near its middle, and get a clear picture of who to retain and who to let go of before the big 2025 auction.Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), their opponents on Monday night, will have a lot more to play for. They are fourth at the end of Sunday’s action, and are well placed for a top-four finish with three home games to end the league phase after this trip to Mumbai. If the last ball of their most recent game – a one-run victory over Rajasthan Royals – had played out any differently, though, they might be looking a lot less secure, nursing the wounds of three back-to-back defeats.On such results can hinge the fate of entire seasons. It feels especially true right now, with the playoffs race as tight as it is. With four games left, SRH will look to control everything they can control, and hope that enough of the 50-50 moments go their way to keep them near the front of the playoffs queue.Form guideMumbai Indians LLLLW
Sunrisers Hyderabad WLLWWPrevious meetingThis was the match that turned IPL 2024 into IPL 2024. The first seven games of the season had been, well, normal – just three 200-plus totals in 14 innings, with a highest of 208. Then SRH went and raised the ceiling for everyone, going crash, bang, wallop all the way to 277 for 3, the IPL’s new record total. For a while it looked like the record would last only a few hours, as MI got to the halfway point of their chase at better than their original required rate, but SRH’s bowlers held on through the back half to seal a 31-run win. The record wouldn’t last too long anyway, as SRH themselves obliterated it 19 days later.Rohit Sharma should return to the starting XI if he is back to full fitness•BCCITeam news and Impact Player strategyMumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma was MI’s Impact Player in their last game, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a back spasm forcing the team to use their ex-captain in this role. Rohit batted in the nets on both Saturday and Sunday and didn’t look in any visible discomfort, and Naman Dhir said at Sunday’s press conference that Rohit was “fit and fine”. He should return to the starting XI if he is back to full fitness.MI may also reconsider the idea of deploying just two overseas players: with Rohit designated to come off the bench as an almost mandatory impact sub, they were unable to use either Mohammad Nabi – whose offspin could have been very useful on a pitch where the part-timer Dhir ended up bowling three overs – or the big-hitting Romario Shepherd off the bench, so it felt like a waste to start neither of them.Likely XII: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Tim David, 7 , 8 Romario Shepherd/Mohammad Nabi, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH made a significant decision in their last game, leaving out the out-of-form Aiden Markram and bringing in the bowling allrounder Marco Jansen. They are likely to stick to that overseas combination at the Wankhede, with their last bowling pick – either Jaydev Unadkat, Umran Malik or Mayank Markande – likely to be conditions-dependent.Likely XII: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 , 4 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 5 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 T Natarajan, 12 In the spotlightRohit Sharma scored 261 runs at a strike rate of 167.31 and an average of 52.20 in his first six matches of IPL 2024. Since then, he has only made 65 runs in five innings, getting past 11 only once and falling four times to left-arm pace. How will he go against an SRH attack that could feature as many as three left-arm quicks in Jansen, T Natarajan and Unadkat?Abdul Samad will need to find a way to raise his game in chases•BCCIWhen things fall into place for them, SRH’s batting line-up is awe-inspiring. When the top order doesn’t click, though, vulnerabilities begin to appear. SRH have more than adequate batting depth on paper to not let a couple of early wickets derail them, but that depth doesn’t always translate into returns on the field. It’s been particularly evident in run-chases this season. Perhaps what they need is for Abdul Samad, a batter of immense potential as well as frustrating limitations, to round out his game. While batting first, Samad is often the perfect end-overs finisher, but his game isn’t always suited to situations that call for multiple gears against different styles of bowling. His record reflects this: he averages 34.66 and strikes at 236.36 while batting first this season, while going at 14.66 and 125.71 in chases. It’s been a pattern over his IPL career too: batting first he’s gone at 32.22 and 164.77, and while chasing those numbers drop to 14.88 and 133.15. His bowling-type numbers also tell a similar story: he has averaged 23.94 and struck at 174.49 against pace over his IPL career, while going at 16.00 and 94.11 against spin.Stats that matter SRH’s two most dangerous spin hitters have terrific records against Piyush Chawla. Abhishek Sharma has hit the legspinner for 40 runs in 16 balls in T20s while being dismissed twice, while Klaasen has hit him for 28 runs in 14 balls while being dismissed once. MI would love to have Tim David facing Natarajan in the death overs. So far, David has scored 47 off 16 balls from the left-arm quick without being dismissed. Travis Head is eight runs away from the 3000 mark in T20s. Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs three wickets to get to the milestone of 300 in T20s, while Unadkat is one short of 100 IPL wickets. Pitch and conditionsThe Wankhede is usually characterised by high scores and tall run-chases, but the most recent game there, between MI and KKR, had a different flavour, with the spinners coming into their own. Chawla picked up 1 for 15 in three overs, while Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy returned identical figures of 4-0-22-2 for KKR. It remains to be seen if this was a sign of wearing pitches in the second half of the season or just a one-off.Quotes”In IPL every team is very competitive, so often ‘home-ground advantage’ is not the apt term. I won’t say that SRH is going to score 250-plus again. We are a good bowling side so we’ll try to restrict them.”
“That’s always going to be an ongoing conversation but the way we pick our team is very much a game-to-game situation. We know the quality that someone like Umran has and it’s a new venue and opposition tomorrow and obviously his name may come up in selection conversation.”

Out-of-favour AC Milan defender Emerson Royal is poised for a move to Turkey, with Besiktas preparing a loan offer with an option to buy.

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• Full-back set to leave AC Milan after one season
• Royal has greenlit his move to Turkey
• Besiktas preparing a loan offer for the Brazilian

• WHAT HAPPENED

  Milan defender Royal is on the verge of departing the club after just a year arriving from Tottenham. Excluded from Milan's Asia-Pacific tour and not part of the head coach Massimiliano Allegri's future plans, his exit is now considered a certainty following an underwhelming debut season. According to Fabrizio Romano, Royal has given his approval for a switch and Besiktas are now discussing a deal with the Italian club that will bring the Brazilian full-back to Istanbul.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The ex-Tottenham defender's brief tenure at Milan has been marked by disappointment. Royal made only 26 appearances as he suffered a serious calf injury mid-season which kept him out for the remainder of the season, failing to make an impact and meet performance expectations. This led Milan to actively place him on the market. For Besiktas, acquiring Royal, even on an initial loan with an option to buy, represents an opportunity to add a known name to their squad and also makes him a good option as the Turkish giants were looking for experienced right-backs they can afford.

• GALATASARAY WANTED HIM IN JANUARY

  Earlier, Galatasaray wanted to sign the 26-year-old defender in January but the deal couldn't go through as the Brazilian suffered an injury. Later, it was Alvaro Morata who made the switch from Milan to Turkey to join Galatasaray.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR ROYAL?

  Royal can be a good addition for Besiktas. The Brazilian brings strong defensive skills and high work rate, as shown during his time at Real Betis and Tottenham. With 10 assists in two La Liga seasons and four goals and two assists in 79 games for Tottenham. Royal offers both stability and attacking support. Should he find his confidence, the ex-Barcelona player can be relied on for passing and versatility, both of which can make a him a valuable asset for Besiktas.

Official says task force focused on visa process and providing 2026 World Cup host cities resources to ensure security

• Giuliani aims to ensure security resources for sites, camps
• Hopes to streamline visa process for fans
• Giuliani looks to support host cities with reimbursements

• AFP
  

  WHAT HAPPENED?

  Andrew Giuliani stressed his aim is to ensure the focus at the 2026 World Cup is on the pitch, not aspects off of it. 

  In May, U.S. President Donald Trump appointed Giuliani as executive director of the 2026 World Cup task force, with the goal of ensuring fans traveling to North America for the competition will have a seamless and safe experience. Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, previously served in Trump’s first administration.

  "The way I look at success is, I want what people talking about on July 20 next year to be about what happens on the field, not something off the field. If we can do that, then I think the task force has accomplished its goals," Giuliani said in a wide-ranging interview with Sports Business Journal.

  Giuliani said the task force is streamlining the visa process for global visitors and providing host cities in the U.S. with additional resources to make sure they have enough security and resources for the event. 

  "More than anything, it’s making sure state and locals have the resources that they need to protect the sites, the fan-fests and the 48 different base camps around the country," he said. "That’s why when we look at the visa process here, it’s key that we’re welcoming the world without sacrificing our national security and our footprint here." 

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  The world will be watching as United States – one of three host nations in the upcoming 2026 World Cup, along with Mexico and Canada – prepares for next summer's event. More than 6.5 million fans are expected to attend the World Cup across the three countries, with 3.7 million expected to travel for the tournament.

  Despite FIFA's President Gianni Infantino stressing the world will be welcome at the event, the sport's governing body was called out by Human Rights Watch over the country's policies. 

  "FIFA must establish clear benchmarks and timelines for U.S. immigration policy changes needed to ensure respect for the rights of players, fans, and other participants in the World Cup," Human Rights Watch director of global initiatives Minky Worden said in a letter to FIFA.

  Giuliani stressed the White House has improved the visa process since creating the task force. 

  "First and foremost, some of the results that we can point to already are the wait times in four soccer-enthusiastic countries," he said. "Mexico’s wait time was over 800 days a year ago. That number is less than 275 days. We’ve got some work to do to get that number even lower, but that’s why the State Department is telling people to apply early. We put it back within the timeline of the World Cup, and we want to keep it within that timeline of the World Cup." 

  He also said there has been $625 million earmarked for security as a recent of recent legislation. Giuliani said the task force will work closely with the 11 host committees in the U.S. to ensure cities have the right security resources. 

  "The plan right now is through the host committees. We’re working on a reimbursement plan so that we can verify the money is used for safety and security as the host committees projected to Congress and to the White House," Giuliani said. "As long as they submit the receipts that show that it’s for 'X' amount of overtime for law enforcement or it’s for 'X' equipment that’s used specifically for the World Cup, then we are happy to reimburse that."

• AFP
  

  WHAT GIULIANI SAID

  Giuliani pointed to the World Cup being a massive boost for the sports business community in America. 

  "This is the largest sporting event ever hosted, and I think obviously the sports business world is going to play a huge role in maximizing this," he said, "not just for the American fans that are here, not just for the 7-or 8-year-old that’s going to watch their first World Cup game, but also for the international visitor here that is just learning about the United States of America. The sports business world is going to play a huge role in maximizing this World Cup in so many different facets."

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  DID YOU KNOW?

  The U.S. will host 60 of the 104 matches, including every game from the quarterfinals onward.

Barcelona captain Ronald Araujo playfully mocks Lamine Yamal’s flashy boots, sparking a humorous social media response from the bold teenager.

Araujo playfully teased Yamal over his bootsJokingly compared flashy style to that of Michael JacksonLight-hearted interaction reveals the strong camaraderieFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

In a recent Instagram story, the new Barcelona captain playfully teased his team-mate about his fashion choice. Yamal can be seen laughing and playing along with Araujo's joke as he defends his footwear.

AdvertisementTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Araujo called out his teammate Yamal's eye-catching fashion choice – a pair of sparkly boots. With a grin, Araujo asked his followers to rate Yamal's outfit, joking: "What are those boots? Bro, you look like Michael Jackson!”

Yamal shared the story, adding his rating of "10000000/10".

instagram/lamineyamal

DID YOU KNOW?

Yamal’s sparkly boots showcase his youthful style and flair, earning fun comparisons to Michael Jackson. However, his recent 18th birthday celebration sparked controversy when performers with dwarfism were hired, drawing criticism from disability rights groups and triggering a government investigation in Spain. The episode underscored the scrutiny Yamal faces as an emerging star, though he has received backing from some teammates and continues to navigate the balance between personal expression and public accountability.

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR BARCELONA?

Barca is set to play Como for the Joan Gamper Trophy before they face Mallorca in their opening fixture as Spanish league kicks off on August 16.

Here's everything you need to know about Barcelona's pre-season games and how to watch them.

Hansi Flick will lead FC Barcelona through a pivotal pre-season ahead of the 2025–26 campaign, marking a significant shift in the club's summer preparations.

Following a successful season under Flick, the Barcelona fans will be excited to head into a new season in the hopes of going even further with silverware.

Here, GOAL brings you everything you need to know about Barcelona's pre-season plans ahead of the 2025-26 season, plus ticket information, where to watch games live and more.

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  Barcelona 2025 pre-season fixtures & results

  Departing from their recent tradition of touring the United States, the Blaugrana will embark on an extensive tour of Asia, aiming to reconnect with their global fanbase and fine-tune their squad for the challenges ahead.

  Barcelona kicked off their 2025/26 pre-season preparations on July 13, marking the official return to training under new head coach Hansi Flick. Shortly after regrouping, the squad embarked on a high-profile Asian tour as part of their build-up to the new La Liga season.

  The Catalan giants had their friendly in Japan cancelled due to an issue with the sponsor, before they resolved the dispute to get the game going. They then faced Seoul and beat them 7-3. They will also face Daegu.

  After completing the Asian leg of their tour, Barcelona will return to Spain to take part in the Joan Gamper Trophy on August 9. The match will serve as a pilot event at the revamped Spotify Camp Nou ahead of the 2025-26 season. The team is set to return to their iconic home permanently after the September international break.

  This tour is a crucial part of Barcelona’s efforts to gear up for the upcoming campaign as they look to defend their La Liga title.

  The pre-season will traditionally conclude with the Joan Gamper Trophy in early August, which typically serves as the curtain-raiser for the new La Liga campaign. 

  The confirmed fixtures are as follows:

  Date	Match	KO time	Venue
  July 26	Vissel Kobe 1-3 Barcelona	11pm BST / 6am ET	Misaki Park
  July 31	FC Seoul 3-7 Barcelona	12pm BST / 7am ET	Seoul World Cup Stadium
  August 4	Daegu FC vs Barcelona	12pm BST / 7am ET	Daegu Stadium

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  Barcelona 2025 pre-season tour tickets

  Get tickets to Barcelona's 2025 pre-season tourGet tickets

  Read our comprehensive guide to buying Barcelona tickets here.

  Barcelona's pre-season fixtures have been confirmed. You can buy the tickets from the link above.

• How to watch Barcelona pre-season games on TV & livestream online

  TV Details of Barcelona's pre-season fixtures have not been confirmed yet. Watch this space to find out how you can watch those games on TV as soon as they are announced.

  Live streaming and highlights of all the club-friendly games and other behind-the-scenes action should be available to watch on Barcelona One, which is the club's official streaming platform.

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• When does the 2025-26 season start for Barcelona?

  The official La Liga fixtures for Barcelona's 2025-26 season have been announced. They will travel to Mallorca for their league opener on August 16.

  Barcelona's first three games of the season are away from home, before they play Valencia at Camp Nou on September 14.

  • Barcelona's 2025-26 kits: All you need to know

The opener also took a spectacular catch earlier in the game to send back Rohit Sharma, after which Australia’s bowlers put India in a chokehold

Andrew Miller19-Nov-20232:56

‘Travis Head has matured over the last two years across all formats’ – Tom Moody

Australia 241 for 4 (Head 137, Labuschagne 58*, Bumrah 2-43) beat India 240 (Rahul 66, Kohli 54, Starc 3-55, Cummins 2-34, Hazlewood 2-60) by six wicketsIndia may be where the heart of the game now resides, but the coolest Head in cricket has once again been shown to be Australian. Travis Head, to be precise, who set up his side’s record-extending sixth World Cup victory with a triumphantly paced 137 from 120 balls in Ahmedabad, but whose most significant contribution arguably came some six-and-a-half hours beforehand, with one of the most match-turning catches in ODI history.Related

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What might have been for these two teams had Head not held onto a steepling, sprawling take, running backwards into the covers to saw off India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, in his prime? Australia’s eventual target of 241 would have been significantly higher, no doubt, and to judge by the ferocity with which India’s new-ball bowlers clawed at their opponents in the powerplay – with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami inevitably to the fore – there would have been all the more opportunities for their chase to have toppled off its tightrope.Australia have won World Cups in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and now 2023•ICC/Getty Images

Instead, Head held on, and in so doing, he applied a handbrake to a runaway innings that would never be fully released. On Rohit’s watch, India had racked up 10 fours and three sixes in blazing along to 80 for 2 in the first powerplay. Once he’d gone, India mustered just four more fours, and 160 more runs, across the next 40 overs. It meant they were unable to post a total big enough to mitigate against the inevitable onset of dew – the primary reason why Pat Cummins had risked letting Rohit and Co. set the agenda in the first place.And so Australia’s victory came at a canter in the end, with six wickets standing and a huge 42 balls unused – a margin that would have been greater still but for Head’s dismissal to the penultimate ball of the chase. Undeterred, Glenn Maxwell pulled his first ball for two to take his side through to a victory target which – as fate would have it – was the exact total that England and New Zealand had been unable to split by conventional means four years ago.But that ease at the finish told nothing of the jeopardy that had preceded it. At 47 for 3 after seven overs, with Steven Smith inexplicably failing to review an lbw from Bumrah that was shown to have struck his pad outside off, Australia were in the thick of a do-or-die tussle against two of the most outstanding performers of India’s previously peerless campaign.Travis Head was all smiles after finishing with 137 off 120 in the World Cup final•ICC/Getty Images

David Warner, in what may turn out to be his final ODI innings, had scuffed Shami’s first legitimate delivery to Virat Kohli at slip for 7, having fenced his own first ball of the innings (from Bumrah) past the same fielder’s boot for four, and with Mitchell Marsh’s attempt to hit the quicks off their lengths ending in a loose cut through to the keeper, the crowd had found its full voice for the first time in the game.But Marnus Labuschagne, retained in Australia’s starting XI despite the sense, mid-tournament, that he and Head were competing for a solitary berth, showed the value of his Test pre-eminence with an indomitable sidekick’s role of 58 not out from 110 balls. Over by over, run by run, he and Head extended their crucial fourth-wicket stand of 192, seeing off pace and spin alike until, at some indefinable moment around the 20th over of the chase, the bite in a two-paced wicket was replaced with the even-sprayed skid of the long-promised dew.When Bumrah returned for the 28th over for a last roll of the dice with Australia beginning to accelerate away on 148 for 3, he was greeted with three flayed fours from Head, either side of an excruciating umpire’s call appeal for lbw against Labuschagne that felt like final proof that India’s hope had gone.Ultimately, it was a clinical and ruthlessly passion-killing display from the most formidable winners in the world game. Every man in Australia’s XI played his part in sucking the marrow from a contest that, to judge by the sea of blue in the Narendra Modi Stadium’s stands and the expectant attendance of the eponymous PM himself, had been intended as a coronation. Instead, the closing hour of the match was greeted in stunned silence by a 92,453-strong crowd, and nothing epitomised the sense of national anticlimax quite like the trophy-lift itself, for which Cummins was left forlorn on the podium for a full 20 seconds before his team was able to join him after accepting their handshakes away from centre stage.1:56

Moody: Cummins’ field placements were a masterstroke

Not that the lack of in-situ acclaim will derail Australia’s sense of achievement. As Head’s pivotal catch would ultimately prove, the tone for their victory was once again set in the field. As had been the case in the semi-final against South Africa, the 37-year-old Warner was their barometer, flinging himself with gusto to cut off numerous boundary balls, but while Rohit was on deck, it seemed that Cummins’ brave decision to bowl first might get soon overwhelmed, like so many opponents before them, by India’s extraordinary weight of strokemakers.Instead, he backed his bowlers to complete the job they had started in their extraordinary tournament opener in Chennai, where India’s top three had all made ducks in slumping to 2 for 3, only for their sub-par target of 200 to be picked off with ease. This time, the dew notwithstanding, he figured the pressure of the big occasion might weigh more heavily in the first innings than the second – especially if his attack could make their early breakthroughs.All of which made Rohit’s shortlived onslaught all the more brave, selfless even, as he shouldered the entire responsibility for India’s powerplay proactivity, particularly against Josh Hazlewood, the instigator of that Chennai collapse. In the manner of his charging down the pitch to meet his hard lengths, there were shades of Sachin Tendulkar’s pre-emptive attack on Glenn McGrath in the 2003 final … except on this occasion it seemed, briefly, to be working.But then came the unequivocal moment of the match – a act of fielding majesty that stood immediate comparison with Kapil Dev’s running catch off Viv Richards at the pivotal juncture of the 1983 final. Rohit had already slammed ten runs in two balls from Glenn Maxwell’s second over, when he stepped into another slap over the long-off boundary, and miscued high out into the covers. Travis Head tracked back from point with the ball skewing high over his shoulder, and with his eyes never leaving the prize, timed his dive to perfection to cling on with both hands.Pat Cummins backed up his brave decision to bowl first with an unhittable spell•AFP/Getty Images

It will go down as a seminal World Cup moment. Australia had still been battered for 80 runs in the first powerplay – the joint-most conceded in that phase of the first innings of a World Cup final – but now they sensed their chance to turn the contest on its head. Two balls later, Cummins, into his second over, found Shreyas Iyer’s edge as he poked without conviction or footwork, and at three down in the 11th, with Shubman Gill already gone to a flaccid pull off Mitchell Starc, Hardik Pandya’s absence as India’s lower-order pivot was suddenly revealed to be the weakness that Shami’s stunning impact with the ball had hitherto concealed.There had been no such angst while India had been pounding along in each of their ten previous tournament wins – including five untroubled chases to launch their campaign, and a net margin of 875 runs in their five subsequent bat-first victories. As a consequence, India’s Nos. 6-11 had barely been called upon in scoring a total of 240 runs between them in those matches, the lowest of any team in this tournament, and now suddenly, with Shami and Bumrah inked in at Nos.8 and 9, none of their set batters dared to be the one to set that descent into the tail into motion.At least in Kohli, India had a man whose tempo in such circumstances could be trusted. On his team’s better days, and in spite of his formidable tournament haul of 765 runs at 95.62, his ruthless devotion to run-making had been mistaken for a weakness. Now his 56-ball fifty was the bedrock of his team’s recovery, albeit the reaction to his latest landmark was a pent-up roar that merely exacerbated the anxious hubbub that had preceded it.But Australia’s magnificent attack could not be denied, especially after Cummins had seized on his opponents’ visible reticence to smuggle through a churn of change bowlers. Between them, Maxwell, Head and Marsh burgled ten overs for 44, a perfect holding pattern that bought back options for the back end of the innings.Virat Kohli makes the long walk back after India’s heartbreak•ICC/Getty Images

That included the return of the captain himself for the 29th over. With the third ball of his second spell, Cummins hit an awkward length with his short ball, and Kohli looked genuinely emotional as he under-edged onto his stumps with an angled bat, glared at the length from which it had lifted, and glanced over his shoulder before trudging off, as if assessing the pull shot he had chosen to keep in his locker.KL Rahul endured, but was scarcely unable to unfurl either, even though he did break a 97-ball sequence without a boundary by lobbing Maxwell over his shoulder through fine leg for four, the longest such barren spell for any team in this tournament other than Netherlands, and India’s longest between overs 11-50 since 1999.But on 66, he and the lower order came face to face with another threat that India’s own seamers would be forced to do without. In preparing a visibly dry and abrasive deck for this final, the curators had opened the possibility of reverse-swing, and few teams have more eager exponents than Australia. Starc, from round the wicket, straightened an unplayable delivery into Rahul’s edge and through to the keeper.Though Ravindra Jadeja is renowned as a scrapper in such circumstances, his promotion to No.6 couldn’t contend with Hazlewood’s similarly late movement. After surviving one review for caught-behind he succumbed to the very next ball for 6, at which point, India’s easy progress to the final fully caught up with them. With no situational experience to fall back on – and no pace in the wicket with which to access his inverted V from fine leg to deep third – Suryakumar Yadav ground out 18 from 27 before lobbing Hazlewood to the keeper, by which stage he’d faced just five balls out of a possible 17 in his ninth-wicket stand with Kuldeep Yadav.Kuldeep and Mohammed Siraj kept the innings alive to the final ball, but the mood within the stadium was never able to emerge from its funk. Australia had come with a plan, and the sure knowledge of what it truly takes to win the biggest title in the sport. Ahmedabad turned blue alright, but only with a wistful sense of what might have been.

MatériaMais Notícias

O Corinthians está fazendo uma auditoria em seu programa de sócio torcedor a fim de coibir cambistas que venderam a preços mais caros os ingressos comercializados pelo clube. Em um primeiro momento, 400 perfis suspeitos do Fiel Torcedor foram suspensos e não poderão adquirir entradas para o jogo de ida da final da Copa do Brasil, contra o Flamengo, na próxima quarta-feira (12), em São Paulo.

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A atitude foi uma forma de punição preventiva para os donos desses perfis, que possuem o direito de defesa. Caso a auditoria comprove a prática de cambismo por essas pessoas, eles serão excluídos do quadro associativo corintiano.

– A gente vem trabalhando muito nisso, quieto, porque a gente vem fazendo uma auditoria em cima dos perfis do Fiel Torcedor. Identificamos quase 400 que estão suspensos neste momento. A gente aguarda o resto da auditoria, que eles têm direito de defesa, e se ficar comprovado que realmente os ingressos estão sendo revendidos, eles serão excluídos -disse o presidente corintiano Duílio Monteiro Alves durante evento que marcou o lançamento da nova terceira camisa do Timão.

– Para esse jogo (contra o Flamengo) esses perfis estão suspensos, mas sem uma acusação, pois não temos provas suficientes. Depois da auditoria, tudo será entregue à Polícia para que a gente tome as providências. O Corinthians é 100% contra isso e vai lutar até o final, fazendo as medidas necessárias para que o Fiel Torcedor consiga seu ingresso e que as pessoas não levem vantagem – concluiu.

Duílio evitou dar detalhes sobre como os perfis suspeitos foram identificados, até mesmo para não gerar ingerências na auditoria.

INGRESSOS A R$ 400

Duílio também comentou pela primeira vez sobre a medida do Corinthians de bancar quase 80% dos preços dos ingressos da Fiel no jogo de volta da final da Copa do Brasil, contra o Flamengo, no estádio do Maracanã.

A postura ocorreu após o Flamengo ser irredutível em cobrar R$ 400 na entrada dos visitantes. O Timão, por sua vez, estipulou o preço em R$ 90 para os seus torcedores, utilizando o valor cobrado aos flamenguistas, em Itaquera, no jogo de ida, para compor o valor. Para isso, o Timão cobrará os mesmos R$ 400 do adversário.

-Em relação aos preços, o Flamengo adotou uma politica de colocar um preço, é direito deles, o mando deles lá, e o Corinthians não concorda, achou que ficou muito alto. A gente queria não cobrar esse valor da torcida do Flamengo aqui, mas a gente não pode prejudicar o Corinthians e o corintiano. O nosso torcedor que ficar no setor sul vai pagar o mesmo valor que vem pagando durante o ano, independente do tamanho do jogo, vai pagar com os descontos do Fiel Torcedor R$ 38,50, e o flamenguista R$ 400 – explicou Duílio, que ficou contrariado com a postura da direção do Rubro-Negro.

– A gente fez uma conta do que a gente arrecadaria se o jogo fosse sem torcida visitante, a quantidade de torcedores do Flamengo pagariam R$ 38,50, vai pagar R$400. Essa diferença a gente vai usar para que o torcedor corintiano não tenha que pagar os R$ 400 no Rio. A gente entende que com eles é outro jogo, outra chance de sermos campeões lá. São 3,8 mil torcedores no Maracana que já mostraram isso, e não tenho duvida que vão cantar mais do que os outros 60 mil – concluiu.

A divisão dos espaços na Neo Química Arena e do Maracanã ficou proporcional em termos de capacidade, diferentemente dos confrontos entre os clubes nas quartas de final da Libertadores, onde a definição foi de quatro mil lugares para os visitantes nos dois jogos. Ficou definido que 3,8 mil lugares serão destinados aos corintianos, enquanto serão destinados 2,8 mil ingressos aos torcedores do Flamengo, em São Paulo.

Kane Williamson will continue his rehab from knee surgery with the New Zealand squad during the T20I and ODI tour of England, with the hope that he will be fit enough for World Cup selection in just under a month’s time.New Zealand coach Gary Stead was positive about Williamson’s recovery. He said the batter was only facing throwdowns in the nets at present, and they were being careful about managing the pace of his progress.Williamson hasn’t played any cricket since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the opening game of IPL 2023 and undergoing surgery in April. He started training and batting in the nets recently.”We will take every measure we can to make sure that we get the medical advice that lines up and he’s where we want to be before we make that call on whether he goes [to India for the World Cup] or not,” Stead said while announcing the ODI squad for England. “It’s too early to know.”New Zealand have to name their World Cup squad of 15 by September 5, a month before the tournament begins with them playing England on October 5 in Ahmedabad. Any number of changes to the squad, however, can be made until the last week of September after which further changes will require ICC approval.”Kane’s working very much on a day-by-day, week-by-week process and we’ve been really clear and careful with him that we don’t look too far ahead and, I guess, get expectations too big or not big enough at times as well. He’s progressed as we’ve hoped and possibly even better in some cases but you know with ACL injuries that they can be difficult, and different for every person as well. As I said, we’ll try and get the medical experts around Kane as much as we can to help us make that decision in about three weeks’ time.”Related

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Tom Latham will lead New Zealand in England in Williamson’s absence, and will continue as captain in the World Cup as well if Williamson doesn’t make it. When asked if Williamson would be selected for the latter stages of the tournament if he recovers in time for the knockouts, Stead said it was under consideration but unlikely.”That’s something we are talking about at the moment,” Stead said. “If it’s the knockout stages then I think that might be too late because you’re saying something that may or may not even be there. But if it was earlier in the World Cup, I think we’d definitely be considering it.”He’s not facing bowlers as yet but he’s basically doing everything else. Obviously, with the knee and the way it is, we’re just being careful on how that twists so he’s still in that healing and rehab phase. It’s getting that fine balance of pushing him as far as he can go but making sure we don’t cross that line and do more damage. He’s been extremely diligent, we couldn’t have asked more from him in that space and it’s encouraging to see where he is at and how he’s going. That doesn’t promise that he’s going to be part of the World Cup squad just yet, that’s just something that time will tell.”After Williamson returned to train in the nets in Tauranga, New Zealand took the decision to fly him to England to reintegrate him into the squad and also draw from his experience of having played the previous three ODI World Cups. New Zealand have only two ODI series remaining before the event, one in England and the other in Bangladesh in September.”In terms of him being there (England), he’ll be getting a bit of training under his belt, being in and around the squad,” Stead said. “Kane’s been to a number of World Cups and he’s been a key player for us for a long, long time. Leaning on his experience as well will be important to the group but alternately it’s about seeing is he going to be ready or not for us and that’s something only time will tell.”Couple of weeks ago we were in Tauranga to see him with the bat back in the hand. Injuries like this can often prolong people’s career as well and I think as long as we’re talking about Kane Williamson playing for New Zealand for a long period of time, that’s exciting for New Zealand cricket.”