Category sport-news

In a continuing eligibility controversy involving forged documents used for an Asia Cup qualifier, FIFA announced on Monday that it had dismissed the appeals made by Malaysia’s football federation (FAM) and its seven players.

In September, the world’s governing body fined the FAM $440,000 and suspended seven Malaysia national team players who were born abroad for a year.

FIFA accused the nation’s federation of providing false or fabricated documents that claimed the players had Malaysian ancestry and were therefore qualified to represent the Southeast Asian nation.

No one in Hector Hevel, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, or Joao Brandao Figueiredo, who helped Malaysia defeat Vietnam 4-0 in the Asian Cup qualifier, were born in the nation, according to an investigation by the body.

READ MORE: Malaysia Appeales FIFA Suspensions In Eligibility Scandal

Before suspending its secretary-general and declaring it would establish an independent committee to investigate, FAM appealed the decision in October.

However, FIFA’s appeal committee said on Monday that it had “decided to dismiss the appeals” and “to confirm” sanctions against the parties after conducting a hearing and reviewing the submissions.

The players will be fined $2, 500 each and prohibited from any football-related activity for a year, respectively, while the FAM will have to pay its $440, 000 fine.

Before filing an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi stated that the Malaysian football organization would get in touch with FIFA for more information.

Our legal team and management are shocked by the decision, Yusoff continued. “This is the first time FAM has encountered such a situation.”

Five straight victories and three goals conceded throughout the season.

Can anyone put an end to Arsenal’s unending quest to become a Premier League champion?

The Gunners are seven points clear of Manchester City in terms of wins after 10 games and seven ahead of defending champions Liverpool, who last won the English league title under Arsene Wenger in 2004.

After watching their team finish last in the previous three seasons, twice against City and once against Liverpool, Arsenal fans will be wary of over-confidence.

However, the London club has been declared the bookmakers’ firm favorites for the year, and football analysts Opta’s supercomputer gives them a 71% chance to win.

Even though the calendar has only just begun to expire in November, former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville, a well-known pundit, thinks Arsenal have a chance of losing.

Arsenal, who he described as the league’s best team, “would have to beat themselves to not win it this season,” he said to NBC Sports.

They have been developing this team for three or four seasons, and they are the most consistent team.

READ ALSO: Arsenal Can Beat Burnley to Draw 2-2 with Forest, READ ALSO:

Mikel Arteta, manager of Arsenal, is understandably more cautious because the season is still young and is concerned about his side’s recent history of coming out just short.

You must instill that feeling in the team, the club, and those around it, and that’s where we’re currently in a really good position, he said.

“But we are aware of how challenging every game is and how early it is.”

Rock-Solid Defense &nbsp

A rock-solid defense, enviable squad depth, and inconsistent rivals are all attributes for Arsenal.

Their defensive numbers are astounding, with the exception of Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel, and Riccardo Calafiori’s back four.

In their past seven games, they have kept an astounding 12 clean sheets in 15 matches across all competitions this season, with no goals conceded.

In their last four league games, the Gunners have allowed just three goals and only one shot on target.

An eye-catching 12 goals from dead-ball situations boost Arsenal’s attacking numbers.

Only Manchester City has scored more goals than their 20th-ranked total of 18 league goals overall.

After spending around £250 million ($328 million) on the summer transfer market, Arsenal can demonstrate impressive depth.

It also means Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, and Bukayo Saka have all missed significant amounts of the season, along with long-term absentees Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.

England’s Saka told Sky Sports, “I think we’re a very strong group this year and have a lot of quality.”

“We’ve already experienced a lot of injuries, but the players that have come in have shown that we can all maintain the highest standards,” the coach said.

Neville asserts that Arsenal is crucially independent of any individual player as they strive to win their 14th top flight title.

He claimed that “everywhere they are properly doubled up with the same level of quality or only a minor drop-off” The manager simply needs to stay composed and keep his composure at bay.

It would be foolish to exclude either side from the Premier League, where City and Liverpool have dominated recently.

However, City hasn’t been consistent, and Liverpool’s win over Aston Villa on Saturday was the start of a terrible run of four league defeats.

Neville said, “I don’t believe City will reach the level that they did before,” and they will instead return to Arsenal.

“Pep Guardiola is brilliant, but he doesn’t have the team’s best players,” he said. Arsenal is the only team that can challenge Liverpool, but they would need to start moving very quickly to do so.

In preparation for the Australian Open, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will square off in a preliminary exhibition match in South Korea on January 24.

After winning the Paris Masters for the first time on Sunday, Italy’s Sinner surpassed his country’s Juan Carlos to become the world’s number one.

On January 10, the top men’s tennis players will compete in the “Hyundai Card Super Match” in Incheon, South of Seoul.

Also available as a PDF is Sinner’s victory at the Paris Masters and World No. 1 Position

The first opportunity to watch the two top-ranked players compete will be “for domestic tennis fans,” according to a Hyundai press release.

Alcaraz leads their head-to-head record of 10-5 after complaining that the ATP Tour has too many matches.

Barcelona, who recovered from last weekend’s Clasico defeat, defeated Elche 3-1 on Sunday in La Liga with the goals of Lamine Yamal and Marcus Rashford.

The Catalan giants, who now lead Real Madrid by five points, also hit on Ferran Torres’ goal.

Elche had opportunities to cause an upset for Barca when Rafa Mir scored twice, and the striker also hit the woodwork twice.

In the midst of an injury crisis, Hansi Flick’s Barca have struggled to keep a clean sheet in six league games.

Following brief absences from action, the champions were able to add Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo, among others.

After recovering from a groin issue, Yamal, a teen star, performed better in last week’s defeat by Real Madrid, but he appeared more confident in front of Elche.

According to Torres, “we found our spirit and intensity.”

“From the very beginning, we gave everything,” said the manager, “I believe we’re finding last year’s Barca, and we’ll continue to do that.”

The ninth-placed visitors impressed when Eder Sarabia, a former Barcelona assistant coach under Quique Setien, led them to the field.

Alejandro Balde fed Yamal in the area after nine minutes and Barca took the lead.

Inaki Pena, a team-mate of his last season, was the winger who took a little time to set himself before firing a clinical finish past the former Barca goalkeeper.

Flick claimed that Yamal still needed work on because of his groin injury.

He must train, undergo treatments, and do this, and he did it, according to Flick. It’s a positive step forward.

He has to manage it, and I can’t say it’s over; it’s coming and going like this.

After Fermin Lopez broke into space down the left and delivered an inch-perfect cross, Torres doubled the hosts’ lead three minutes later.

A year after the deadly flooding that hit Spain’s east coast, the striker revealed a t-shirt honoring Valencia, his hometown.

As Barca wasted some valuable chances, Lopez and Rashford missed the mark with a penalty save from Pena.

Shortly before half-time, Mir pulled a goal back after being charged with sexual assault allegations dating back to 2024.

Barca attempted to play the forward offside, but he was playing in his own half. At the far post, Mir bent a shot past Barca goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Ronald Araujo.

Before the break, Torres might have scored again, but Pena saved his strike with a superb save.

Also read: Nuno Celebrates First Win as West Ham boss.

As Elche battled well in the second half, Mir curled an effort to hit the top of the crossbar.

After Lopez sent him off with a cross, Rashford scored his second league goal of the campaign with a superb finish to seal Barca’s victory.

One or two goals more would be nice, Flick said, but we can be happy for him based on his chances.

“I was very pleased that he showed me that he could play this level.”

In the final third, Rashford acknowledged that he had potential to be even better.

He told the club’s streaming service Barca One, “I could have had more assists or goals, sometimes the decision-making was wrong today. But I am going to have days like this.”

“My focus is with the team, to build relationships, and feel comfortable,” I said, “but if I’m doing the right thing, I know I’ll always be able to score and assist.”

Szczesny, a veteran goalkeeper, pushed a Mir effort past the post to save Barca, who had already gotten too excited about their final advantage.

The fans are proud of how they played, according to Elche coach Sarabia.

We are aware that they can score goals for us, but we could also.

With a 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday, Erling Haaland scored two goals to move Manchester City into second place in the Premier League.

The Cherries placed second in the English top flight with the longest unbeaten run ever.

The Norwegian striker, who has 13 Premier League goals in 10 games, did not help Andoni Iraola’s side.

Also Read: Nuno Celebrates First Success As West Ham’s Head Coach

As City’s title challenge was narrowed to six points ahead of Arsenal, and City are now one point ahead of Liverpool, who will face them next weekend, thanks to Haaland’s unwavering success.

Pep Guardiola remained confident that his side can be a threat to Arsenal in May despite playing his first game away from Aston Villa last weekend for the first time.

Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden both excelled in creative roles, and Nico O’Riley became the first City player to score in the Premier League for more than a month.

Bournemouth got off to a strong start, buoyed by their unbeaten run since winning at Liverpool on the opening night of the season.

However, when Cherki’s header made it clear that they were brave, the brave high line was exposed 17 minutes later.

Eight minutes later, when Gianluigi Donnarumma claimed he was impeded as the Italian attempted to collect a corner and fired the loose ball home, the visitors levelled.

Before half-time, Haaland reclaimed City’s lead before half-time by slotting home Petrovic’s 26th goal for the club and country this season onto another Cherki pass in behind the Bournemouth defense.

After Luis Suarez and Robbie Fowler, the 25-year-old became the third player to have scored more goals in four Premier League home games in a row.

Guardiola has demanded more attacking players’ contributions to lessen his prolific top nine’s goalscoring burden.

No other City player has scored more than once this season in the league, but O’Riley scored from full-back to tie the score at one point.

O’Riley strode forward before arrowing a low shot into the far corner, where Foden was the creator.

With one eye on Borussia Dortmund’s return to his former club on Wednesday, Haaland was denied a hat-trick as Omar Marmoush replaced him eight minutes from time.

At the London Stadium, Newcastle defeated Newcastle 3-1 to celebrate his first victory as West Ham manager on Sunday.

After only their second Premier League victory of the year, the Hammers are now just three points clear of 17th-placed Burnley, who they face next week.

Read more: Wolves fire Pereira after their run-into the Premier League

A fine early strike from Jacob Murph gave Newcastle the lead at half-time, but Lucas Paqueta equalized and an own goal from the unlucky Sven Botman gave the hosts the lead.

At the break, Howe made numerous adjustments to his off-colour side, and Newcastle won West Ham in the opening half.

However, the visitors’ attacks were brutal, and Tomas Soucek secured all three points in the closing moments.

In late September, Nuno was fired from West Ham, leaving them with Nottingham Forest, who are also in the drop zone.

The Portuguese has to wait patiently for his first victory, though.

Just 26 seconds after Jarrod Bowen’s shot slammed off the post at the other end, Murphy fired a fizzing shot from the edge of the area to give Newcastle the lead in the fourth minute.

Six minutes later, West Ham was given a penalty by the referee, who had determined that Malick Thiaw had brought Bowen down, but the decision was overturned due to a VAR review because Thiaw had touched the ball.

When Paqueta slammed a sweet shot past Nick Pope in the 35th minute, the Hammers were deservedly level.

And just before half-time, Pope was stranded after being intercepted by Botman by a low cross from defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

At half-time, Howe substituted Emil Krafth, Nick Woltemade, and Anthony Gordon for Fabian Schar, William Osula, and Jacob Ramsey.

West Ham threatened a third goal, but Pope was immediately called into action twice at the other end as the visitors dominated possession.

With less than 20 minutes left, Hammers midfielder Freddie Potts found the net, but the goal was ruled out due to offside.

Soucek had the last laugh as Newcastle searched for an equaliser before finding an equalizer.