13 Feb

Indonesia’s surprise bid to host the 2022 World Cup seems to be over after a government official told Reuters today that the priority should be to improve the standard of the national team. The ambitious bid by the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) relied on financial support from the government, who said they were more concerned with the team improving on their Fifa world ranking of 136. “PSSI has been asking for the government to give a government guarantee and declaration. The (guarantee) has not been granted at this stage,” Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng said via telephone. Fifa’s deadline for the...

08:04 / International / Sports
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14 Dec

Liverpool suffered their second home embarrassment in five days as Arsenal grabbed the points in a game which was supposed to be a new beginning for the Anfield men. Manager Rafael Benitez had insisted the season started again today after the midweek Champions League defeat to Fiorentina. But he did not get his wish even though Liverpool led at the break through Dirk Kuyt and should have had a penalty when William Gallas felled Steven Gerrard. Arsenal grabbed two quick goals through a Glen Johnson own goal and an outstanding winner from Andrey Arshavin to heap more misery on the men from Merseyside. Arshavin...

03:37 / International / Sports
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30 Nov

Arsenal now have it all to do in the title race.Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at Emirates Stadium leaves Arsène Wenger’s side 11 points adrift of the Premier League leaders.It is still only November of course and Arsenal have a game in hand but they have to claw back ground quickly if they are to stay in touch with top two. This game was an indication of the task they face. The home side had the majority of possession and were on the foot front for most of the 90 minutes but they were picked off twice just before half-time and...

08:10 / International / Sports
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05 Nov

Arsenal moved to the verge of qualifying to the knockout round of the Champions League on Wednesday after beating AZ Alkmaar 4-1 with two goals from captain Cesc Fabregas. Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby also scored for the Gunners at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal lead Group H with 10 points. Despite the loss, AZ still has a chance to qualify from its last two matches because second-place Olympiakos lost 2-0 to Standard Liege. The Dutch team has two points, Olympiakos has six and Liege has five. "It was a brilliant performance because we dominated our subject technically, tactically, and overall we never felt under...

07:20 / International / Sports
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07 Oct

Astro All Asia Networks plc has won the bid for the rights to broadcast the Barclays Premier League (BPL) for the next three seasons for about RM800mil, sources told StarBiz. The vendor of the BPL rights is Britain-based Football Association Premier League (FAPL). Over the last few weeks, a bidding war had erupted for the much-sought-after BPL rights, with Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and ESPN STAR Sports believed to have been involved. Despite emerging victorious, Astro will still have to grapple with how it is going to recoup the high fees it is paying for the rights, believed to be at least 50%...

05:24 / International / Local / Sports
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20 Aug

Burnley celebrated a night they will never forget as veteran duo Robbie Blake and Brian Jensen emerged the heroes in a sensational 1-0 victory over Manchester United. Blake's name will go down as the match winner, and rightly so for a fine 18th-minute near post volley which flashed past Ben Foster after a sustained period of Clarets pressure. But Jensen deserved equal billing for a superb penalty save to deny Michael Carrick an equaliser just before half-time. Jensen then kept his cool during a tense second-half that United dominated, without ever looking likely to deny a team desperately trying to record their...

08:10 / International / Sports
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01 Aug

Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson has passed away at the age of 76, having finally lost a long battle against cancer.Robson, who distinguished himself first during a lengthy tenure that put Ipswich Town back on the map with FA Cup and UEFA Cup wins in 1978 and 1982 respectively, took on the England job and led them to the semi finals of the World Cup in 1990. A spell on the continent included jobs at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto and Barcelona before a return to his North-East roots at Newcastle United in 1999. The County Durham native was taken...

02:09 / International / Sports
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13 Jul

ZIFA were sucked into an international football scandal on Monday after it emerged they may have conspired to pass Monomotapa as the Zimbabwe national team for international friendly matches with Malaysia. Monomotapa failed to pitch up for a league match with Highway on Saturday after they left Zimbabwe without approval from the Premier Soccer League (PSL). Malaysia were scheduled to play Liberia in two international A-friendly matches but the FA of Malaysia (FAM) called off the games because the Liberians were not bringing their first team. An invitation was then extended to ZIFA who sent Monomotapa, with the FAM reportedly picking up the...

09:55 / International / Local / Sports
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12 Jul

Manchester United fans will get to see their idols in action when the team arrives this Friday. The Red Devils superstars will be attending an open training session at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium on July 17 at about 5.30pm (tentative time and subject to changes). The session is open to fans who have the special training passes. Around 50,000 fans are expected to attend the training session. Julian Kam, CEO, ProEvents International Sdn Bhd said, “We would like to encourage fans to come early, to ensure they get to the stadium on time to catch the training.” The Red Devils will be...

09:07 / International / Local / Sports
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03 Jul

The race to buy Newcastle was hotting up today as rival consortia responded to a formal bid from a Malaysian group Press Association Sport understands the party of businessmen from Malaysia, who were shown around St James' Park and the club's Darsley Park training headquarters during a flying visit to Tyneside yesterday, have tabled an offer. It is understood that offer does not equate to current owner Mike Ashley's £100million asking price and may be nearer to £80million, but that the prospective buyers are prepared to take on a working overdraft of up to £40million. However, while the Malaysians have put themselves in...

08:29 / International / Local / Sports
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