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GUINEA-MORROCO WORLD CUP QUALIFIER POSTPONED AFTER CONAKRY COUP D’ETAT

Morocco’s national team have been evacuated from the Guinean capital Conakry and their World Cup qualifier against Guinea has been postponed because of a coup d’etat in the West African country.

The Morocco camp boarded a plane after CAF released a statement confirming that the game will not take place.

Morocco goalkeeper Anas Zniti, who is with the team in Conakry, confirmed that the squad are doing well, although they have witnessed the deteriorating security situation in the city, with midfielder Sofyan Amrabat sharing footage of military forces on the streets in his Instagram story.

The Morocco team have been told to remain inside their residence for the time being, and to stay away from windows and doorways.

“The current political and security situation in Guinea is quite volatile and is being closely monitored by FIFA and CAF,” the Confederation of African Football said in a statement.

“To ensure the safety and security of all players and to protect all match officials, FIFA and CAF have decided to postpone the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying match Guinea vs. Morocco, which had scheduled to be hosted in Conakry, Guinea, on Monday Sept. 6 Rescheduling information will be made available at a later date.”

Morocco trained in Guinea on Saturday shortly before the reported coup d’etat began, with hours of gunfire being heard in Conakry — in the vicinity of the presidential palace — according to the BBC.

Before the postponement was announced, Morocco coach Vahid Halilhodzic told French newspaper L’Equipe: “We’re at the hotel, gunshots can be heard nearby all day. We’re waiting for permission to leave for the airport but we’re stranded for now.

“A plane is waiting for us, but we are not allowed to leave. And to get to the airport, it takes between 45 minutes to an hour. When you hear gunshots outside, safety is not 100% guaranteed.”

He added: “I was told there was a possibility that the game would be played in Morocco, but I don’t know. For now we’re stuck there, let’s see how it goes. We wait. I hope we get back to Morocco before the end of the day.”

While Guinea’s defence minister has said that the coup d’etat has not been successful, the fate of President Alpha Conde remains uncertain. Reports have shown verified images from the Guinean capital which depict corpses on the city’s streets.

A statement released to the press issued by the “National Front for the Defence of the Constitution” — the coalition of parties opposing the ongoing presidency — has confirmed that the president has been detained.

Residents in the district of Kaloum have been told to remain indoors, while the military are still present in the streets and have taken control of the country’s land and air borders.

This prompted Air Senegal, which flew some of Guinea’s Europe-based players to Conakry, to cancel Sunday’s proposed flights out of the Guinean capital. The decision may raise concerns about the ability of Liverpool’s Naby Keita — among others — to return to Europe.

Morocco traveled to the country on a special chartered jet.

The four Cameroonian match officials designated to oversee Monday’s fixture are also still in the country, with African football’s governing body yet to confirm how they will exit the country.

Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica’s Adel Taarabt, Wolves defender Romain Saiss and Sevilla duo Yassine Bounou and Youssef En-Nesyri are some of the high-profile players currently in the Morocco camp.

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JESSE LINGARD HITS BRACE AS ENGLAND THRASH ANDORRA 4-0 IN WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

England cruised to a comfortable 4-0 win over Andorra at Wembley on Sunday to extend their lead at the top of World Cup qualifying Group I.

Jesse Lingard scored twice and goals from Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka helped Gareth Southgate’s side make it five wins from five matches in the group.

It was the first game England played at Wembley since losing the Euro 2020 final on penalties to Italy in July.

Before the match, England supporters unveiled a banner in support of Marcus Rashford, Saka and Jadon Sancho after they suffered racist abuse following missing the penalties in the shootout.

Southgate made 11 changes to the side that secured a 4-0 win at Hungary on Thursday with Patrick Bamford and goalkeeper Sam Johnstone making their international debuts.

England dominated from the start and took the lead after 18 minutes when Saka set up Lingard inside the box to score low into the bottom corner.

Lingard thought he doubled the lead moments later but his goal was disallowed for offside as Andorra failed to pose a threat in the first half.

Four minutes into the second half, England almost grabbed a second when Reece James saw a thunderous shot rattle the crossbar.

The hosts were awarded a penalty after 70 minutes when Mason Mount was fouled in the area and Kane converted from the spot.

Lingard scored his second with a nice curling effort eight minutes later while Saka scored England’s fourth from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s quick corner.

“The perfect birthday present for me,” Saka told ITV on the day of his 20th birthday. “I am really happy we got the win and I can celebrate my birthday with this.

“I am really happy with the reception everyone gave me, it shows how proud they are of me and that meant a lot. It means a lot, it really made a difference for me. Even now I can hear fans chanting my name. It means everything to me that I know they support me.

“This is what I dream about, playing at Wembley in front of my family and this crowd.”

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BRAZIL-ARGENTINA WORLD CUP QUALIFIER SUSPENDED AFTER HEALTH OFFICIALS INTERVENE

A World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina was suspended after Brazilian health officials objected to the participation of three Argentine players they say broke quarantine rules.

Just minutes after kickoff on Sunday at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, officials entered the pitch to stop the game, prompting players from Argentina to walk off the pitch.

“The referee and the match official will take a report to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and they will decide what steps to take,” said a statement issued by CONMEBOL.

In a subsequent statement, FIFA said it “confirm that following a decision by the match officials, the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying match Brazil vs. Argentina has been suspended. Further details will follow in due course.”

The players went to the dressing room, although the two coaches, along with Argentina captain Lionel Messi and Brazilian players, gathered at the side of the pitch a few moments later to discuss the stoppage.

“Why did they start the game and stop it after five minutes?” Messi said in comments heard on television. “We’ve been here at the stadium for an hour, they could have told us.”

Messi then returned to the dressing room, and at 5 p.m. local time, an hour after the game kicked off, the match was officially suspended.

Brazilian Football Confederation president Ednaldo Rodrigues said he was “indignant” with the scenes that reverberated around the football world.

He criticised Brazilian health regulator Anvisa and said officials told him the Argentines who breached the country’s COVID-19 rules could have been deported after the game.

“I feel sorry for all the sports fans who wanted to watch the game on television,” he told Brazil’s Sportv. “With all due respect to Anvisa, they could have resolved this earlier and not waited for the game to start.”

Argentina’s FA expressed its “discomfort” over the situation, adding that “football should not have to go through these type of incidents that go against the sporting spirit of such an important competition.”

A shellshocked Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni agreed.

“It makes me so sad, I am not looking for guilty parties, whatever happened or didn’t happen, this wasn’t the time to do it,” he told Argentine broadcaster TyC Sports.

“We wanted to enjoy a game between the best in the world and it ends up like this.”

“As a coach I am going to defend my players. If people come and say we want to take this guy or deport this guy there was no chance of that,” he said. “Because at no time were we told we couldn’t play the game.”

The incident occurred just hours after Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, said four Argentine players must isolate and could not play in the match. The four Argentine players — Emiliano Buendia and Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa, and Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur — play in England’s Premier League.

Under Brazilian rules, visitors who have been in the U.K. in the 14 days before entering the country must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

Anvisa was tipped off that the four did not state that information on their immigration forms, and on Sunday said they confirmed the details given were “false.”

“Anvisa considers the situation a serious health risk and so has asked local health authorities to determine the immediate quarantine of the players, who are stopped from participating in any activity and should be prevented from remaining on Brazilian soil,” Anvisa said in a statement.

Nevertheless, no action was taken and the four players were allowed to travel with the Argentine team from the hotel to the stadium. Martinez, Lo Celso and Romero were in the starting lineup.

The confusion comes amid continuing anger in South America over rules that have disallowed several teams from using key players for this month’s three World Cup qualifiers.

Brazil are without nine key men for the Argentina game, and other South American sides have also lost players due to a decision by some European clubs not to let their players travel to the continent.

They would have to quarantine on return, and the clubs do not want to lose their players for subsequent league games.

Aston Villa said Buendia and Martinez had agreed to return to their club after the Brazil game and will miss Argentina’s game against Bolivia on Tuesday. Martinez and Romero had also played in Argentina’s 3-1 win over Venezuela last week.

Brazil currently lead the South American qualifying group for Qatar 2022, six points ahead of second-place Argentina. The top four qualify automatically for Qatar.

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FORMER FRANCE DEFENDER JEAN-PIERRE ADAMS DIES AFTER 39 YEARS IN COMA

Former France defender Jean-Pierre Adams has died at the age of 73, almost 40 years after falling into a coma following a medical error, his former clubs announced on Monday.

In 1982, Adams was administered a near-fatal dose of anaesthetic ahead of a routine knee operation, which caused brain damage.

On the day of Adams’ operation to repair a damaged tendon – suffered while on a coaching training camp – many staff at the hospital in Lyon were on strike.

Born in Senegal, the defender made more than 140 appearances for Nice and also played for Paris Saint-Germain.

In a statement, PSG said Adams’ “joie de vivre, charisma and experience commanded respect”.

Nice said the club would pay tribute to Adams – who won 22 caps for France between 1972-1976 – before their next home game against Monaco on 19 September.

Adams also made 84 appearances for Nimes, who said they were sending their “most sincere condolences to his loved ones and his family”.

Since the accident, Adams has been cared for by his wife, Bernadette.

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FIFA PROBES RACIST ABUSE OF ENGLAND PLAYERS IN HUNGARY

After England players faced racial abuse in Hungary, FIFA said Friday it will take “adequate actions” once it has investigated the incidents.

The statement from FIFA stopped short of directly condemning Hungary fans for the abuse, which included monkey chanting, in Thursday night’s World Cup qualifier at Puskas Arena in Budapest. England won 4-0.

“FIFA strongly rejects any form of racism and violence and has a very clear zero tolerance stance for such behavior in football,” world soccer’s governing body said. ”FIFA will take adequate actions as soon as it receives match reports concerning yesterday’s Hungary-England game.”

Hungary had recently been ordered to play two matches without fans but the sanction from UEFA didn’t take effect for the visit of England because the game was under FIFA’s jurisdiction.

The racist abuse has been condemned by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been criticized for his own racially offensive comments in the past.

“It is completely unacceptable that England players were racially abused in Hungary last night,” Johnson said on Twitter. “I urge (FIFA) to take strong action against those responsible to ensure that this kind of disgraceful behaviour is eradicated from the game for good.”

England’s players were jeered for taking a knee, pelted with plastic cups after goals and then targeted with alleged racist chants.

Pitch-side reporters for domestic broadcasters ITV and Sky Sports said they saw and heard individuals among the Hungary supporters behind one of the goals aim monkey chants at Raheem Sterling and unused substitute Jude Bellingham, who are Black. Sky Sports showed video footage of one spectator giving the abuse.

The game was played in front of a crowd of 60,000 mostly Hungarian fans about two months after UEFA ordered the team to play three matches without fans — one of which was suspended for a probationary period of two years — as a punishment for what was termed “discriminatory” behavior by its supporters at all three of its Euro 2020 group games.

Those behind-closed-doors games have to be in UEFA competition, though. World Cup qualifiers are organized by FIFA.

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BRAZIL BEAT CHILE TO STAY STRONG IN WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Everton Ribeiro came off the bench to score the goal that gave Brazil a barely deserved 1-0 win over Chile on Thursday that maintained their 100% record in 2022 World Cup qualifying.

Chile matched Brazil for most of a bad-tempered match but Ribeiro fired home after 64 minutes to give the visitors all three points.

Brazil have won all seven of their qualifiers so far and the five-times world champions are six points clear of Argentina, who beat Venezuela earlier in the night, in the 10-team South American group.

Brazil’s preparations for the match were thrown into turmoil by some clubs’ decision not to release their players due to concerns over the lengthy quarantine on their return.

Nine players from England did not join the squad as expected and two of those called up in their place from Zenit St Petersburg arrived in Brazil but were recalled to Russia before the Chile game.

And while Brazil could still count on the likes of Neymar, Casemiro and Marquinhos they were second best for most of the first half and had goalkeeper Weverton to thank for a series of saves that kept the game goalless.

Coach Tite introduced Ribeiro and Gerson for Vinicius Junior and Bruno Guimaraes at halftime and Ribeiro justified his inclusion when he seized on a parried Neymar shot to fire home in a packed penalty box.

Chile have won just one of their seven games and face two testing away matches against Ecuador on Sunday and Colombia next week.

The top four qualify automatically for Qatar and the fifth-placed side goes into an inter-regional playoff.

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CRISTIANO RONALDO TO WEAR NUMBER SEVEN SHIRT AT MANCHESTER UNITED

Manchester United have confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo will wear the number seven shirt on his return to the club.

The Portugal captain (36) completed a sensational move back to United on transfer deadline day, rejoining from Juventus on a two-year deal.

During his first six-season spell at Old Trafford, Ronaldo wore the number seven shirt as he helped Alex Ferguson’s side secure the Champions League and three Premier League titles before moving on to Real Madrid in 2009.

Manchester United confirmed Edinson Cavani would now take up the number 21 – but there was no mention of whether special dispensation had been requested from the Premier League to process the switch following the start of the domestic campaign.

“Cristiano Ronaldo will wear no. 7 for United again, like he did between 2003 and 2009. As we all know, the no. 7 is a special number in the history of United,” the club said on www.manutd.com.

“It has previously been worn by club icons like George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Now, it returns to the man who succeeded Beckham in it, Ronaldo.

“Ronaldo inherits the number from Edinson Cavani, who wore the shirt last season and in our away win at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend.

“As our new signing is allocated no.7, El Matador will switch to no.21, the same number our prolific striker wears for the Uruguayan national team.”

On Wednesday night, Ronaldo broke the men’s international scoring record with a late double as Portugal came from behind to beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1 in a dramatic finish at the Estadio Algarve.

However, after removing his shirt in celebration during stoppage time, Ronaldo was cautioned and having been booked earlier in the World Cup qualifying campaign, the forward is suspended for Tuesday night’s trip to Azerbaijan.

As a result, Ronaldo has been released from the Portugal squad ahead of Saturday’s friendly against World Cup hosts Qatar in Hungary, so could be set for an early reunion back with United.

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STERLING, KANE LEAD ENGLAND OVER HUNGARY IN WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

England eased to a comfortable 4-0 win over Hungary at the Puskas Arena on Thursday to move five points clear at the top of World Cup qualifying Group I.

It was a miserable night for Hungary on the field and the country’s Football Federation is likely to face a FIFA investigation after crowd misbehaviour and reports of racial abuse of two of England’s Black players.England showed no signs of a hangover from their Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy with an excellent second-half display from Gareth Southgate’s side.

“It is a real tough place to come, we knew it was going to be a difficult game and such a big game in the group as well, we knew if we won here it puts us into a great position and almost one foot into the World Cup,” captain Harry Kane said.

“It couldn’t have been better than 4-0 away from home, a great night for us,” he added.

Raheem Sterling put England ahead in the 55th minute, after a frustrating first half, slotting home a low pull-back from Mason Mount who had been found by Jack Grealish.

Sterling was the provider for England’s second eight minutes later, when his deflected cross was headed in by a stooping Kane.

Harry Maguire made it 3-0 in the 69th minute with a header from a Luke Shaw corner that Hungary keeper Peter Gulacsi got a hand to but which crept over the line.

Declan Rice added the fourth, three minutes from the end, with a shot from outside the box which got through the body of Gulacsi who should have kept the effort out.

Gulacsi had made a series of saves from Kane with the England striker lacking his usual clinical touch.

Hungary, already facing two games behind closed doors in UEFA competition after incidents at their national stadium during Euro 2020, could face sanctions from FIFA after fans threw objects, mostly beer cups, at England players on two occasions. A flare was also thrown on to the pitch.

British broadcaster ITV said racist “monkey noises” were aimed at Sterling and England substitute Jude Bellingham from the hardcore “ultras” behind the goal.

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ANSU FATI NAMED BARCA’S NEW NO.10 AFTER MESSI DEPARTURE

Ansu Fati has been given the No. 10 shirt at Barcelona after it was vacated by Lionel Messi’s move to Paris Saint-Germain earlier in the summer, the club confirmed Wednesday.

Sources told ESPN that Barca had considered leaving the number unused for the 2021-22 season, but LaLiga rules that first-team players must wear numbers 1-25 made that difficult.

Ansu, who returned to training recently following nine months out with a knee injury, had originally been given the No. 17 shirt for the upcoming campaign and has previously worn No. 22 and No. 33 since making his debut in 2019.

Messi, who joined PSG on a free transfer after his contract at Camp Nou expired, had worn the No. 10 at Barca since 2008, having previously worn No. 30 — the number he now wears in France — and No. 19.

The Argentina forward inherited the No. 10 from Ronaldinho, with Juan Roman Riquelme and Rivaldo among those to wear it before him.

Ansu, 18, has not played for Barcelona since injuring a knee against Real Betis last November. Following several operations, he returned to full training at the end of August, and Barca hope he will be available for action later in September.

The Spain international burst onto the scene in 2019, becoming the club’s youngest debutant in 78 years when he featured in a 5-2 win against Betis aged 16 years and 298 days.

A week later, he became the club’s youngest goalscorer in LaLiga when he netted against Osasuna, and in December of that year, his winning goal against Inter Milan made him the youngest scorer in the Champions League.

In total, he has made 41 appearances for the first team, scoring 13 goals.

Ansu will now form part of a new-look attack at Barcelona after Antoine Griezmann followed Messi out of the door on Tuesday, joining former club Atletico Madrid on loan with an option to stay permanently.

Barca responded by signing striker Luuk de Jong on loan from Sevilla, having already brought in Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero on free transfers this summer. Martin Braithwaite and Ousmane Dembele, who is currently injured, are their other options in attack, along with youngster Yusuf Demir.

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MAN CITY’S BENJAMIN MENDY DENIED BAIL AHEAD RAPE TRIAL

Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy was refused bail Wednesday and will remain in custody ahead of a trial scheduled to start on Sept. 10 after being charged with four counts of rape and one sexual assault.

The 27-year-old Mendy has been in custody at a prison in Liverpool, northwest England, since last Friday, when he appeared in court and faced the charges.

A second bail application was made in a closed hearing that lasted about 50 minutes, and it was turned down.

The France international did not attend the hearing. Mendy is charged with attacks on three different women, including one under 18, at his home.

Three of the rapes are alleged to have taken place in October 2020 and he is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in early January this year.

He is also charged with raping a woman last month.

Mendy has been suspended by the club, pending an investigation.

A second man, aged 40, was arrested on suspicion of rape as part of the police investigation into the allegations but was released on bail, police said.

Mendy joined City from Monaco in 2017 and has won the Premier League three times and the English League Cup twice.