Though Cristiano Ronaldo is a type of player who does not want to miss any match if he can play, he and his coach must be realistic that he is already 38-years old. To avoid injuries and more important serious injuries that can destroy his career suddenly as well as to help him have better contributions for Al Nassr in a long season, he must know when to take a rest and his coach can help him to take rest in unimportant matches.
At this age, being able to play at highest level like he is doing is already very barely seen but he needs more careful and good plan to diversify his energy through a season. Al Nassr has many attacking star players and they can give Cristiano time to rest and recharge energy.
Well.. his team doesn't need him in a match against a weak side such as Al Duhail. Anyway, they have a few other good forwards such as Sadio Mané, Marcelo Brozović and Talisca. Also this will give an opportunity for the coach (Luís Castro) to measure the strength of his side in the absence of Ronaldo. That said, I am not sure whether the owners of the Saudi Professional League will be happy with this decision. The global viewership for the match would decline in case Cristiano Ronaldo is not playing. |
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Call me crazy but I think Netherlands will squeek out a win tomorrow vs England  No surprise here as Netherlands have already beaten South Africa. If Netherlands can beat England in today's game then England will drop down in the ICC ODI rankings as they are at the bottom of the points table. Netherlands will play well against England and if Netherlands can do this contest like South Africa, Bangladesh match then Netherlands can win. When a lot of people consider Netherlands as favorites in their game against England, it tells a lot about the current form of English players. And it won't be very surprising, if they end up at the rock bottom of the points table. But the Dutch also need to do a lot of hard-work. So far they have won just 2 out of their 7 matches and wasted good opportunities to win against weak nations such as Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Their bowlers continue to leak runs towards the end of the innings and they need to devise a strategy to prevent it. |
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Bangladesh women lost the T20 series to Pakistan women but they bounced back in the ODI series. Yesterday, Bangladeshi girls won the series against Pakistan women with one match in hand in Super Over. Bangladeshi girls have an opportunity to whitewash Pakistani girls. By winning the first two matches, the Bangladeshi girls will avoid much in terms of confidence. Had Pakistan won the second match, the third match would have been much more competitive as the third match would have decided the series. As Bangladesh women's team decided the series by winning the first and second matches, I feel that the third match will not be very interesting. I am not sure what you are talking about. You are claiming that Bangladesh won the series by winning the first two ODI matches. But Bangladesh lost the first ODI to Pakistan by a big margin, and then won the second ODI only in super-over. Therefore the third ODI will decide who wins the series. This match will be played this Friday at the same venue (Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur). So far the performance from both the teams looked far from perfect. Bangladesh got bowled out for 81 and 169, while the performance from Pakistan batters was also not much better. |
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Australia was struggling at 91/7, but then something remarkable happened.
Initially, Afghanistan's bowlers did a great job in breaking down Australia's batting order. However, they faced a setback due to Maxwell and Pat Cummins, who created a historic partnership. Maxwell took an aggressive approach and launched an attack on Afghanistan's bowling. The result is now known, as the entire situation turned around.
One of the Afghan fielders dropped an easy chance from Maxwell, when he was batting at 1 run. Maxi went on to make another 200 runs for himself. And there were a number of dropped catches off Maxwell and Cummins during their 8th wicket partnership. Perhaps this resulted from complacency from the part of the Afghan fielders. They thought that the match is firmly in their control and there is no need to put that extra mile. But Maxwell is a typical Australian cricketer. He knows how to get a win for his team. Australia has now won 6 consecutive matches in this world cup. |
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The USA is the actual host of the 2026 World Cup and most of the games will be in this country because of the potential and more sports facilities and hotels they have there, obviously, they can host the World Cup perfectly.
But the other two countries, Canada and Mexico will also help America, and in other words, they are co-hosting this tournament in 2026.
I think even America could host it alone without any help from these two countries. With the expansion of world cup, it is getting difficult for any single country to host the event exclusively. Qatar 2022 had 32 participants and a total of 64 matches. North America 2026 will be having 48 participants and a total of 104 matches. In case of the United States, it may still be possible to host all these matches. Even then, they are converting NFL facilities to soccer to do that. The 2034 edition is going to be interesting. Saudi Arabia is the exclusive host, and all the 104 matches are going to be played in that country. |
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Call me crazy but I think Netherlands will squeek out a win tomorrow vs England I don't know. If Netherlands actually win against England, that won't be a surprise anymore. England is in horrific form, and I won't be surprised if they end up at the bottom of the points table. On the other hand, Netherlands won against one of the strongest teams in this tournament (South Africa) and also got two points during their match against Bangladesh. If the Dutch actually win, it will be a big boost for them, as they can qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Their fund allocation from the ICC will also witness a big jump. |
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We could say lack of experience too, because more often that not we are overconfident just because of our lack of experience.
Shahidi sent Mujeeb to do over where Maxwell ended the innings, he was already expensive, meanwhile Naveen-ul-haq had one over left and done better, got two wickets already, why was he not sent? There were no point to hold him for next overs becuase it was already do or die.
Those dropped catches count too, they must be regretting it immensely, such a waste of easy win, that too over team like Aussies, great morale boost it could have given them.
Their coach Jonathan Trott only showed emotions during last moments of game when Maxwell was becoming trouble, otherwise most of inning he was like blank face lol. Well.. no one expected Maxwell to finish the match by the 47th over. Naveen-ul-Haq had one over remaining, but probably he was being kept for the last over. Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad had completed their quota. Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai were expensive (and still Omarzai would have bowled at least one more over). So at this point, I don't really want to blame the Afghan captain. It was a good opportunity for them to enter the semi-finals, but they made a mess of it. Still there is a chance, in case they can win against South Africa. |
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Afghanistan team's overconfidence/arrogance after getting early wickets also played part in their defeat. It's not win until you actually win. I am not sure whether it is lack of experience or overconfidence. From what I have seen, this is not the first instance where Afghanistan lost a match, that was firmly in their grasp. Australia was down to 91/7, with Maxwell and Cummins at the crease. Maxwell wasn't able to walk so he was restricted to hitting boundaries. The required run rate was well over 6 per over. At this moment, how hard it is to defend a total of 291? All the effort put in by the Afghan batsmen (especially Ibrahim Zadran and Rashid Khan) was wasted by the pathetic performance form their bowlers. |
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Weird things going on in Afghanistan vs Australia match. Maxwell can't run (or even walk), so at this point the batsmen are just trying to hit boundaries and nothing else. I believe that at this point it will be better if Adam Zampa comes to bat instead of Maxwell. That said, I don't know whether he will be allowed to bat again if he retire. Cummins has so far scored 11 runs from 66 balls. This is going to be one of the slowest innings in the history of ODI cricket. 43 runs are needed from 40 balls now. Afghanistan still at an advantage, I would say.
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Australia need 70 runs from 71 balls to win. The match is still under the control of the Afghanistan bowlers. Afghanistan can win the match only if Maxwell's wicket is taken. But Maxwell is batting very responsibly. He scored 132 runs from 94 ballsand still unbeaten.
Still it is going to be near impossible for Australia. They need 56 runs from 58 balls. Maxwell can't run, as he is suffering from severe cramps. At the most he can take singles, but 2s and 3s are out of question. And with Afghan fielders at the boundary line, taking 4s is going to be difficult as well. Cummins on the other end is just blocking the balls and trying to survive for as long as he can. The entire burden is on Maxwell. If one of them gets out, it is going to be Adam Zampa and then the tailender Josh Hazlewood. |
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Afghanistan doing surprisingly good right now against Aussies (124-2, 26 overs), they look confident in their batting, make most of their runs from singles, and managing RR about 5, should comfortably make 270—300, if they continue as they are playing which will be good target to defend against strong Aussie batting line-up.
They are at 217/4 after 45 overs. In the next 17 overs, if they can score at 10 runs per over, then they can get to 260-280, which would be an exceptional total against a strong team like Australia. Ibrahim Zadran and Mohammad Nabi are looking quite comfortable out there. But I have concerns about the Afghan middle-order after repeated failures. Anyway, 280 would be enough at the Wankhede Stadium. And in that case, it will be somewhat difficult for Australia to qualify for the semi-finals. But the good thing is that they already have 10 points. |
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LOL.. the second ODI match between Bangladesh Women and Pakistan Women ended up in a tie. It was completely unexpected after the one-sided first match. Pakistan managed to restrict Bangladesh to just 169/9, but in return their batters failed. Not a single player made a score of more than 30. Sadaf Shamas, the opener top-scored with 29. The lower order batters contributed as much as they could, especially Najiha Alv, Diana Baig and Umm-e-Hani. Nashra Sandhu was run-out during the penultimate ball, and Pakistan was bowled out for 169.
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This is getting really ugly. Mathews went to Twitter to post a video, which shows him arriving at the crease within 110 seconds after the dismissal. But then, he complains about the helmet and ask for a replacement. This is when Shakib made the appeal and got him out. I am a bit confused on whether technically he is out or not. But from a sportsman perspective, I would rather side with Mathews. Shakib should have warned him first rather than appealing against him. What is the point in winning matches like this?
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^^^ Benzema has done a decent job so far, with 5 goals from 10 matches. But the problem is that the club (Al-Ittihad) is not doing well recently. They are 11 points behind Al Hilal and are at the 6th position in points table currently. They are even behind weak clubs such as Al-Taawoun and Al-Fateh. One reason for this is that the combination of Karim Benzema and Abderrazak Hamdallah hasn't clicked so far. Individually, these two are some of the best players in the world right now. But they seems to have an issue while playing together.
I cannot accept a performance of 5 goals in 10 matches from Benzema as good. Look at Ronaldo, he has 12 goals and 7 assists at his age. I expected Benzema to perform similarly, but we were wrong about this. Benzema is performing poorly, we have to accept that. Ronaldo is playing in his second season. Benzema was drafted just ahead of the start of the season and he didn't got much time to get adjusted. Also, don't forget the fact that Ronaldo had a very ordinary season during 2022-23. Another factor is that Benzema suffered from several injury issues during the last few months. All that said, I am quite confident that he will bounce back and contribute to Al Ittihad in a positive way. As such Al Ittihad has a quite balanced squad. It may take a while for them to find the correct equilibrium though. |
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^^^ Benzema has done a decent job so far, with 5 goals from 10 matches. But the problem is that the club (Al-Ittihad) is not doing well recently. They are 11 points behind Al Hilal and are at the 6th position in points table currently. They are even behind weak clubs such as Al-Taawoun and Al-Fateh. One reason for this is that the combination of Karim Benzema and Abderrazak Hamdallah hasn't clicked so far. Individually, these two are some of the best players in the world right now. But they seems to have an issue while playing together.
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Afghanistan's chances to qualify for the semifinals are very limited as they have their remaining matches against South Africa and Australia. The 4th semi-finalist will be New Zealand or Pakistan.
Even if they win one of the two remaining matches, there is a chance of qualifying to the semi-finals. A win will leave them with 10 points. New Zealand and Pakistan are having 8 points each, but with better run rate. Now the issue is that both NZ and Pakistan will be facing weak opponents in their final group phase round. So if all these three teams win one more match, then either NZ or Pakistan will qualify. In order for Afghanistan to qualify, both NZ and Pakistan should lose their last group phase match (against Sri Lanka and England respectively). |
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✂✂✂✂ Iran asserts control over the passage of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a trading route that facilitates the transport of about 15% of global oil supply.  It's not just the Strait of Hormuz. Iran-backed Houthis control vast swathes of Yeman, and they can block the oil transport through Red Sea, if they want. That would mean that the entire crude oil production in GCC region is taken offline. As of now, the net production of crude for each GCC nation is as follows (barrels/day): Saudi Arabia - 9,060,000 Iraq - 4,340,000 United Arab Emirates - 3,250,000 Kuwait - 2,590,000 Qatar - 1,320,000 Oman - 1,100,000 Bahrain - 180,000 As you can see, these nations amount for close to 25% of the global supply of crude. |
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True, the visa process for the US can get tricky for people from many countries in the world.
Having said that, the world cup is also going to be played in Mexico and Canada, at least some games, so maybe those people who got rejected from the US could try their luck there.
I don't know how this will work. United States is the main host, while Mexico and Canada are like nominal hosts. They will host just 10 matches each, out of a total of 104. If you just want to get a taste of the world cup in 2026, then you can attend one of these matches. But if you want to attend all the matches of your home country, then you need a US visa. All that said, there is still some hope that the Americans will relax their visa criteria during the duration of the world cup. If implemented, that should put an end to this debate. |
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In the Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka team match, Sri Lanka batted first and the run target was easily exceeded by the Bangladesh team. The Bangladesh team did well in the bowling line for which the Sri Lanka team was under a lot of pressure. Did not perform well. Najmul Hossain Shanto of Bangladesh team scored 90 runs from 101 balls. Shakib Al Hasan scored 82 runs from 65 balls. Bangladesh team did very well in bowling and batting.
These two (Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shakib al Hasan) ensured the win for Bangladesh. At one point, they were at 41/2 (this was when Litton Das got out), and Sri Lanka was having a 70% probability of win as per the predictor. But Shanto and Shakib took over and they slowly rebuilt the innings. 280 is not a small target, not even at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. So all credits to them for the win. And now coming to Sri Lanka, they have only themselves to blame. They got emotionally carried away, after the drama involving Angelo Matthews and Shakib al Hasan. |
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I just watched highlights of Ban and SL, it was quite interesting (highlights being interesting is quite rare, not even Pak vs SA highlights were this interesting), couple early catch misfields helped Bangladesh win, I would say.
Overall performance of Bangladesh yesterday was good especially Taskin Ahmed bowled brilliantly despite not getting a wicket and scored 39 runs in just 10 overs in which case there was a maiden over. Moreover, Nazmul Hasan Shanto and Shakib Al Hasan returned to their performances after a long time and scored 90 and 82 runs respectively. After all yesterday's match was not an option for Bangladesh to win that's why everyone tried to give their best and managed to win in the end. It was a match between two of the weakest teams in this tournament and in the end one of them won after a lot of drama. But that is not going to help either of these teams. There is still a good chance that both these teams may fail to qualify for the Champions trophy in 2025. Anyway, in case of Bangladesh, the performance was not that surprising. Ever since they received the test status in 1999, they have been performing like this only. Sri Lanka's case is different. They have undergone a recent disintegration. |
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