BARCELONA: Barcelona midfielder Gavi will be part of the La Liga leaders’ squad to face Sevilla this weekend after a long injury lay-off, coach Hansi Flick confirmed Saturday.
The 20-year-old has been absent since suffering a severe knee injury playing for Spain in November 2023, missing his country’s Euro 2024 triumph this summer.
“For Gavi it’s the next step, it’s an important step, all the coaches, the whole club are happy, that’s is the next step, and he is on the bench,” Flick told a news conference.
The tenacious midfielder burst into Barcelona’s first team in the 2021-22 season and became Spain’s youngest ever player at 17, but was soon usurped by team-mate Lamine Yamal.
Barcelona will also be boosted by the return of Dani Olmo and Fermin Lopez after their recent injuries, while Flick confirmed teenage star Yamal is fit after a minor hamstring issue.
“The rest and the treatments for him were really good, so thank you to the national team,” said Flick. “He is ready to play.”
Flick said Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong, who also recently made his comeback from an ankle injury, felt discomfort in training and was a doubt for the game on Sunday at the club’s temporary Olympic stadium home.
Barcelona still have several players out injured including Ronald Araujo, Ferran Torres and Andreas Christensen.
Gavi back from long-term injury for Barca: Flick
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Gavi back from long-term injury for Barca: Flick
- The 20-year-old has been absent since suffering a severe knee injury playing for Spain in November 2023
- “For Gavi it’s the next step, it’s an important step, all the coaches, the whole club are happy, that is the next step, and he is on the bench,” Flick told a news conference
How Arab nations are faring in Asian Qualifiers after Matchday 6
- After 6 match days of 10 in the third round of qualifiers, only Iraq are looking strong candidates for automatic qualification, while brave Palestine likely to miss out on progress
DUBAI: With World Cup 2026 qualifying’s third round now past its halfway point in Asia, nations are starting to sense whether they will need to renew their passports or begin brainstorming alternative holiday ideas.
None of the Middle East’s nine remaining competitors yet look guaranteed to be boarding a flight to North America, with four crucial fixtures left to fulfill until June 2025.
This four-month gap until play resumes provides an opportune moment for Arab News to assess where the region’s finest stand.
PACKING THEIR BAGS
Iraq (2nd, Group B)
Perennial underachievers look poised to make their global return.
A golden touch from unheralded Spanish boss Jesus Casas saw him debut with victory on home soil in January 2023’s 25th Arabian Gulf Cup. This unifying impact on a fractious national team has extended into a third round from which the Lions of Mesopotamia appear most capable of slotting in behind South Korea as automatic qualifiers from a Group B full of Middle Eastern interest.
Youngsters, such as Ali Jasim and Youssef Amyn, have dovetailed perfectly with experienced campaigners like hulking center forward Ayman Hussein. They will, though, want to wrap up a first World Cup qualification since 1986 before June 2025’s onerous, final double-header against South Korea and Jordan.
LOOKING AT FLIGHTS
UAE (3rd, Group A)
November could not have gone any better for Paulo Bento’s side.
October’s anguish was unequivocally erased with 3-0 victory against Kyrgyzstan and reparative 5-0 thrashing of great-rivals Qatar. Fabio De Lima’s legend status was underlined with four goals against the Qataris, while youthful vigor abounds elsewhere.
Fourth-round progression is almost assured. But, with momentum now on their side, the bigger prize of automatic World Cup entry — for the first time since 1990 — looms when they aim to reel in second-placed Uzbekistan next year.
Jordan (3rd, Group B)
An international break stamped with frustration should not detract from a positive wider picture.
Draws at Iraq (good) and Kuwait (bad) have kept Jordan on the heels of the former-mentioned second-placed side. This further defied pessimism which followed the summer abdication of transformational head coach Hussein Ammouta from the shock 2023 Asian Cup beaten finalists, to the UAE’s Al-Jazira.
With Montpellier’s Musa Al-Taamari and 2023 AFC Player of the Year runner-up Yazan Al-Naimat within their ranks, anything is possible for potential World Cup debutants.
IN FOR THE LONG HAUL
Qatar (4th, Group A)
If Qatar in this cycle make a World Cup via qualification for the first time, they will have done it the hard way.
A rollercoaster November from 2022’s hosts contained the highs of 102nd-minute victory against second-placed Uzbekistan and the depths of their UAE humiliation. That is now 17 goals conceded from six third-round matches — an unsustainable volume even for a nation garlanded by 2023 AFC Player of the Year Akram Afif.
Pressure builds on 2023 Asian Cup orchestrator Tintin Marquez. March’s generous restart against also-rans North Korea and Kyrgyzstan must favorably change their qualifying situation, or a fourth-round lottery awaits.
Oman (4th, Group B)
Bold leadership could yet gain reward for unfancied Oman.
Former Czech Republic manager Jaroslav Silhavy was unceremoniously dumped after September’s pointless third-round start versus predicted automatic qualifiers Iraq and South Korea. A return to Rashid Jaber has, however, kept them in the hunt.
Beat Kuwait on March 25, 2025 and a fourth-round berth will feel increasingly tangible.
Kuwait (5th, Group B)
A glimmer of hope still exists for Kuwait.
Saudi Arabia’s World Cup 2018 supremo Juan Antonio Pizzi has added valuable know-how into a squad still finding its feet after iconic forward Bader Al-Mutawa’s 2022 international retirement.
Repetition of 1982’s World Cup qualification remains a distinct long shot. If a fourth-round spot is secured, however, they will look back on a pair of 1-1 draws against fancied Jordan as pivotal.
Saudi Arabia (4th, Group C)
A demanding Group C was never going to be easy.
But, few expected the six-time World Cup qualifiers would find themselves in such peril.
Last month’s decision to ditch Roberto Mancini and rehire Herve Renard generated just one point from testing visits to Australia and Indonesia. Even Palestine (four goals) and North Korea (five goals) have outscored the Green Falcons (three goals) throughout this concerning third round.
A clean bill of health for Al-Hilal talisman Salem Al-Dawsari cannot come soon enough, while replication would be welcome on the international stage of 20-year-old winger Marwan Al-Sahafi’s eye-catching scoring exploits on loan at Belgium’s Beerschot.
If the debonair Renard can solve these chronic attacking issues against China and runaway leaders Japan in March, a compact pool — second to sixth are separated by one point — still offers substantial hope.
Bahrain (5th, Group C)
It has been a nerve-fraying experience for Bahrain fans in the third round.
Decisive goals from 89 minutes+ have been produced during four of their six qualifiers. From this maelstrom, The Reds — somehow — remain firmly in contention for either automatic World Cup progression or a fourth-round slot.
The visit to an impassioned Indonesia on March 25, 2025 looks key.
MAKING OTHER PLANS
Palestine (6th, Group B)
It is remarkable — and utterly commendable — that Palestine have made it this far.
Makram Daboub’s men continue to perform heroically despite war in Gaza, with South Korea and Tottenham Hotspur superstar Son Heung-min stating this month “we can all learn from” their preparations after a heroic 1-1 draw. This was the second time they have held Group B’s giant.
Charleroi forward Oday Dabbagh and his teammates keep believing, even while being forced to play away from home. But, they appear just short of the necessary quality.
Chelsea defender Reece James misses Leicester match because of hamstring injury
- “Unfortunately, he felt something small and we do not want to take a risk with him at the weekend,” Maresca said
- James missed the 2022 World Cup because of a knee injury
LONDON: Chelsea defender Reece James will miss Saturday’s English Premier League game against Leicester because of a hamstring problem.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca confirmed the latest setback for the England international, who has endured two years of injury disruption.
“We have, for sure, just one injured player and that is Reece. Unfortunately, he felt something small and we do not want to take a risk with him at the weekend,” Maresca said on Thursday.
James missed the 2022 World Cup because of a knee injury and last year had surgery on a recurring hamstring problem.
He has been restricted to just 18 starts for Chelsea since December 2022, curtailing the progress of a player who was regarded as one of the most exciting prospects in England.
The Chelsea captain has made only three starts this season.
Maresca is assessing a host of players who did not feature during the international break, including Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill who pulled out of England’s UEFA Nations League games against Greece and Ireland.
Scheduling of major cricket events is a battle that will not go away
- Questions remain over who plays where in 2025 Champions Trophy, plus the qualifying tournaments for 2026 T20 and 2027 One Day World Cups
If ever the spectrum of stakes faced by men’s international cricket teams needed to be viewed at its extremes, current events provide a vivid illustration. At one end is the imbroglio around who is prepared to play whom and where in the Champions Trophy in 2025. At the other end are the qualifying tournaments to decide who will play in the 2026 T20 and 2027 One Day World Cups.
Ever since the International Cricket Council announced in November 2021 that Pakistan would host the 2025 Champions Trophy, trouble has been brewing. The country has not hosted a global tournament since the 1996 World Cup, which it shared with India and Sri Lanka. Terrorist attacks on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai in November 2008, and directly on the Sri Lankan team’s bus in Lahore in March 2009, ensured it would be a long time before international cricket returned to Pakistan.
In preparation, the Pakistan Cricket Board and government have embarked upon a major rebuilding program of its main stadiums. Whether these will be used for the Champions Trophy remains in the balance. It never seemed likely that the Indian government would authorize its cricket team to play in Pakistan, even though Lahore was identified as the most suitable venue given its proximity to the border. The possibility was quashed in unceremonious fashion last week.
After requests from the PCB for clarification about India’s intentions, a letter was sent by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to the ICC, which formally forwarded it to the PCB. The letter confirmed what most people had long anticipated: India will not travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. In turn, the PCB sought advice from its government. Immediately, it dug its heels in, rejecting a compromise situation that has been used before — a hybrid model. This would see India playing its matches in a neutral location, possibly the UAE.
Previous compromise situations differ from this one. Pakistan is the nominated host. Since 2021, there have been at least 10 ICC board meetings. There is no report which indicates that concerns were raised about security issues and Pakistan is investing heavily in the event. Although it is understood the tournament budget has a provision for partial relocation of matches, Pakistan stands to lose significant, much-needed income from hosting, rumored to be $65 million.
India’s reasoning for not authorizing travel to Pakistan is on security grounds, which has riled the PCB. Security visits undertaken by ICC representatives have been positive. It is understood the PCB has a “master security plan,” shared with the BCCI on Oct. 10 and which does not appear to have faced any objections at the ICC’s October board meeting. The PCB is keen to show that Pakistan’s insecure reputation is in the past. It points to the fact that England, Australia and New Zealand have all toured there recently without incident.
Relations with India are of course different, based on deep-seated acrimony and tensions. These factors have been encapsulated in confusion over exactly where in Pakistan the actual trophy will be displayed on its tour of participating countries. The PCB had announced visits to cities in what India refers to as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The ICC was very quick to reject this itinerary and announced an amended one.
Currently, the ICC is in a state of management change. On Dec. 1 it will have a new chair, Jay Shah, who has been secretary of the BCCI since 2019. It is understood he raised strong objections with the ICC on the PCB’s plans to take the trophy tour to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. There do not seem to have been any comments from the outgoing ICC chair and, in this hiatus, the ICC is receiving blame for not being sufficiently pro-active.
It is between a rock and a hard place. India now has so much power in global cricket that, without its participation in major ICC events, commercial success would be significantly diminished. India can refuse to play in Pakistan, but if Pakistan refused to play in an ICC tournament it could be hit with ICC sanctions. No wonder Pakistan feels hard done by. Furthermore, the original release date of the tournament schedule has been delayed, hindering PCB’s organizational planning.
Shah’s position is an anomalous one. It feels as if he is writing letters to himself — as BCCI secretary to his future self as ICC chair, and another as incoming ICC chair to the PCB warning it not to upset his previous employers. So much for the ICC role being designated as independent.
No doubt he would have wanted the Champions Trophy issues to have been resolved before Dec. 1. The options seem to be that: a) Pakistan relents and agrees to the hybrid model; b) the event is moved out of Pakistan, with compensation for them, but huge loss of face; c) the tournament is postponed. In the latter case, there is the significant issue of media contracts not being fulfilled.
The Champions Trophy seems to be a tournament which generates more problems than positives. It is not so much the case with world cups.
These are tournaments in which ICC members aspire to play. Qualifying pathways, though complex, are delineated. Last week, six teams battled in Group B of the Challenger Cup in Uganda as part of the route to the 2027 ODI World Cup. They have two more round robin events to complete before the top two teams emerge. Currently, Uganda and Italy top the pile.
This week, seven teams compete in Qatar for the right to progress towards the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. One is Saudi Arabia, which is pitted against Qatar, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, Thailand and the UAE. The top two will progress to a regional final in August 2025. The gulf between the dreams of these teams and the geopolitics of the India-Pakistan stand-off is stark. India’s brinkmanship and Pakistan’s intransigence have combined to stretch the stakes to breaking point.
‘No fighter in the Arab world can beat me’: Kuwait’s Alaqraa warns Egypt’s El Dafrawy ahead of PFL MENA showdown
- The two fighters first met in 2023 when Alaqraa won via unanimous decision
RIYADH: Two of the Middle East’s best 170-pounders will go head to head in the first-ever PFL MENA Championships on Nov. 29, as Kuwait’s Mohammad Alaqraa faces Omar El Dafrawy of Egypt in a highly anticipated rematch.
Alaqraa and El Dafrawy first crossed paths back in 2023, competing under the UAE Warriors promotion. Alaqraa won that meeting via unanimous decision and plans to raise his hands once again, this time for the inaugural PFL MENA Welterweight Championship.
“Omar has improved a lot since our last fight, but I have improved as well,” Alaqraa said. “There’s a difference between us in terms of skill level and fight tactics.
“I will beat him in a more dominant way than before.”
Since their first meeting, the undefeated Alaqraa has only added to his winning streak, pushing his professional record to 7-0. This includes two impressive victories in the inaugural PFL MENA season.
These performances have only boosted his belief in his own abilities.
“I’m confident that no fighter in the Arab world can beat me. Not Omar, not anyone else,” he said boldly.
While Alaqraa has a massive opportunity to score the biggest win of his young career, the 24-year old does not deny he is looking at the PFL MENA championship as a stepping stone to even bigger things.
“Winning the PFL MENA title is just the beginning of my journey towards global success, which is my ultimate goal,” Alaqraa explained. “To compete on the world stage, I need to be the best fighter in the Arab world, and that’s why I must defeat El Dafrawy and claim the title.”
And he had some strong words for El Dafrawy ahead of their upcoming match.
“You’ve never beaten strong fighters, and I’ll finish you with a knockout since that’s what you want,” Alaqraa declared. “You will never become a champion, so stop dreaming.”
The complete PFL MENA Championships fight card is as follows:
PFL MENA Featherweight Championship: Abdelrahman Alhyasat (5-0) vs. Abdullah Al-Qahtani (9-2)
PFL MENA Welterweight Championship: Mohammad Alaqraa (7-0) vs. Omar El Dafrawy (12-6)
Amateur Women’s Atomweight Bout: Hattan Alsaif vs. Lilia Osmani
PFL MENA Bantamweight Championship: Ali Taleb (11-1) vs. Rachid El Hazoume (15-3)
PFL MENA Lightweight Championship: Mohsen Mohammadseifi (6-1) vs. Georges Eid (10-4)
Showcase Fights:
Lightweight MENA Showcase: Mansour Barnaoui (21-6) vs. Alfie Davis (17-4-1)
Heavyweight MENA Showcase: Slim Trabelsi (7-0) vs. Abraham Bably (5-0)
Featherweight Global Showcase: Jesus Pinedo (23-6-1) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (19-4)
Featherweight Global Showcase: Asael Adjoudj (8-1) vs. Jose Perez (9-1)
Middleweight Global Showcase: Costello van Steenis (15-3) vs. Joao Dantas (7-1)
The PFL MENA Championships can be seen live on MBC on Friday, Nov. 29 at 5.30 p.m. AGT. Tickets are now on sale via webook.com
Paolini’s Italy beat Slovakia to win Billie Jean King Cup
- The victory capped a stunning year for Paolini who finished as runner-up at Roland Garros and Wimbledon
- Italy, captained by Tathiana Garbin, defeated Iga Swiatek’s Poland as well as Japan at the finals on the way to winning the tournament dubbed the ‘World Cup of Tennis’
MALAGA, Spain: Italy won the Billie Jean King Cup for the fifth time as Jasmine Paolini beat Rebecca Sramkova to secure a dominant 2-0 win over Slovakia on Wednesday.
World No. 4 Paolini triumphed 6-2, 6-1 in the second singles rubber to follow up Lucia Bronzetti’s 6-2, 6-4 victory against Viktoria Hruncakova.
Italy were runners-up to Canada in last year’s final but went one better in Malaga to become world champions for the first time since 2013.
The victory capped a stunning year for Paolini who finished as runner-up at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
“Unbelievable year, unbelievable, to finish like this with the Billie Jean King cup, it’s amazing, I don’t have words to describe it,” said Paolini.
“I’m trying just to enjoy it, it’s important to understand where you are, I feel lucky to be in this position, I feel lucky to be part of this team...
“I’m really happy that this year we could bring the trophy home again.”
Slovakia, who won the competition in 2002, had never lost a BJK Cup tie in Spain.
The underdogs defeated USA, Australia and Great Britain on a stunning run to this year’s final, but Bronzetti breezed past Hruncakova in under 90 minutes.
The in-form Sramkova, ranked 43rd, survived two break points to hold for 2-2 in the first set but the superior Paolini broke for a 4-2 lead, which she consolidated.
The Slovakian double faulted to hand Paolini two set points and the Italian took the first of them when Sramkova slapped a shot into the net.
Paolini broke in the second game of the second set and it looked like she might power to victory without a fight, but Sramkova immediately hit back to get back on serve.
Sramkova defeated Danielle Collins, Ajla Tomljanovic and Katie Boulter on Slovakia’s charge to the final but Paolini was a bridge too far.
The 28-year-old Italian restored her advantage with a fizzing forehand to move 3-1 ahead and then consolidated.
Having spent most of her career outside the top 50, 2024 has been a huge leap forward for Paolini.
She broke again when Sramkova went long and served it out to seal an emphatic victory in one hour and five minutes.
“I feel so sad now, disappointed, but all respect to (Italy), for what they did,” a deflated Sramkova told reporters.
“Maybe in a few days we will enjoy that we are second and take something for the future from those matches.”
In the first match world No. 78 Bronzetti denied the experienced Hruncakova the chance to use her power and forced her opponent to move around the court.
“I am very proud to be here, to represent Italy and I am so happy for this win,” said Bronzetti.
“(The plan was) to hit the ball, stay solid and try to move her when I had the chance.”
Bronzetti secured three breaks in the first set, conceding just one in her first service game as she hit her stride.
Hruncakova, ranked 159th, battled gamely in the second set, breaking for a 4-2 lead, but the Italian immediately hit back, winning the last four games to triumph.
Bronzetti sealed her victory serving to love when the Slovakian sent a return long, before Paolini finished the job for Italy.
“For now the emotions are a little bit sad but we need to look at the whole picture and what we did here was actually amazing,” said Hruncakova.
“Before the tournament if someone told this to us we would be thrilled.”
Italy, captained by Tathiana Garbin, defeated Iga Swiatek’s Poland as well as Japan at the finals on the way to winning the tournament dubbed the ‘World Cup of Tennis’.
“It’s a dream come true... I’m so proud of the (players), they fight every day and this journey was incredible,” said Garbin.
“(They) never give up and stayed focused on the goal and they still keep trying to work to be better people and players.”
