RIYADH: Al-Nassr’s first football team will play against Al-Qadsiah at 9:00 p.m. Saudi time tonight, as part of Round 28 of the Saudi Roshn League, at the Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam.
The capital’s team, which has entered the title race, aims to secure all three points and take revenge after losing to their opponent 1-2 in the first leg. They also look to maintain pressure on the league toppers, Al-Ittihad.
The two clubs have previously met 17 times in the Pro League, with Al-Nassr achieving nine victories, while Al-Qadsiah has five wins, and three matches ending in a draw.
Al-Qadsiah’s net has received 30 goals by Al-Nassr’s strikers, while the latter have conceded 18 goals during those encounters.
Italian coach Stefano Pioli hopes his side Al-Nassr can earn the three points without any injuries, especially with the final rounds of the Elite Asian Cup just one week away.
Friday’s match is expected to witness the return of Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, who missed the previous game against Al-Riyadh — which Al-Nassr defeated 2-1 in Round 27 — due to rest.
Meanwhile, Spanish coach Michel Gonzalez described their clash against Al-Nassr as tough but expressed confidence in his team’s ability to overcome the challenge and secure a win — something that has eluded them in the last four rounds, in which they drew twice and lost twice.
Al-Nassr sit in third place with 57 points, just one point behind second-placed Al-Hilal and eight points behind leaders Al-Ittihad. Al-Qadsiah hold fifth place with 52 points, tied with Al-Ahli.
Al-Nassr seeking revenge in tonight’s clash against Al-Qadsiah
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Al-Nassr seeking revenge in tonight’s clash against Al-Qadsiah
- Team look to maintain pressure on the league toppers, Al-Ittihad
- Friday’s match is expected to witness the return of Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic
Jhonattan Vegas grabs surprise lead at PGA Championship
- The 40-year-old Vegas has won four times on the PGA Tour
- World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 2-under 69
CHARLOTTE: Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas surged into the lead late in the first round of the PGA Championship, shooting a 7-under-par 64 on Thursday at Quail Hollow Club.
Vegas, who started on No. 10, posted birdies on five of his final six holes. He capped it with a 27-foot putt on his last hole.
Cameron Davis of Australia and newcomer Ryan Gerard are two shots back.
The 40-year-old Vegas has won four times on the PGA Tour, including last July in the 3M Open. But he has missed cuts in nine of his last 13 majors.
Davis, who tied for fourth in the 2023 PGA Championship before missing the cut in last year’s tournament, racked up seven birdies. He held the lead until a bogey on his last hole.
Gerard, a Raleigh native who played collegiately for North Carolina, is appearing in a PGA Championship for the first time. He led by three strokes after an eagle on No. 15 before making consecutive bogeys to end his round in the early afternoon.
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald of England shot 4-under 67 and was a co-leader in the clubhouse for a stretch during the afternoon. Donald completed his bogey-free round before Alex Smalley, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger and England’s Aaron Rai joined him with 67s.
Jaeger navigated the course with six birdies and two bogeys, including on the final hole that cost him the solo lead.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 2-under 69, while defending champion Xander Schauffele finished at 1-over 72 and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, the recent Masters champion and four-time winner of the PGA Tour stop at Quail Hollow, recorded 3-over 74.
Scheffler started on the back nine and notched an eagle on No. 15. But on the next hole, the trio of Scheffler, Schauffele and McIlroy all took double-bogey 6s.
Scheffler finished with birdies on two of his last three holes.
Smalley, who lives about 90 minutes away in Greensboro and has additional in-state ties as a former Duke golfer, was added to the field Wednesday when Sahith Theegala withdrew because of a neck injury.
US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is among a cluster of golfers at 3 under.
J.T. Poston, also North Carolinian, finished at 3 under after a bogey on the final hole. Michael Thorbjornsen, Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton, Colombia’s Nico Echavarria, Japan’s Ryo Hizatsune, Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard, Sweden’s Alex Noren, Scotland’s Robert MacIntire and Puerto Rico’s Rafael Campos also completed rounds at 3 under.
With Donald and Bradley holding top-10 positions, it’s just the second time that two current Ryder Cup captains have ended a round in a major within the top 10 during a Ryder Cup year. It also happened in 1937.
Jordan Spieth’s chance at the career Grand Slam likely ends early with opening-round 76 at the PGA
- The 31-year-old Spieth struggled in every facet of the game at demanding Quail Hollow
CHARLOTTE, N.C.: Jordan Spieth came to Quail Hollow hoping to follow in Rory McIlroy’s footsteps and complete the career Grand Slam.
After Thursday’s opening round of the PGA Championship, he’d probably be happy just to make the cut.
The 31-year-old Spieth struggled in every facet of the game at demanding Quail Hollow — off the tee, with his approach shots, his chips and even his putting — and shot a 5-over 76, leaving him 12 shots behind leader Jhonattan Vegas and all but ending his hopes this year of capturing the one major that has eluded him since he turned pro 13 years ago.
Spieth could never find his swing and repeatedly misjudged distances to the flag, leaving him scrambling for par all afternoon.
He managed to hold it together early and was even par through eight holes.
Then the wheels came off.
He bogeyed six of of the final 10 holes — chunking a chip from the rough on No. 11 and failed to get up and down for par on No. 18 from the rough, missing a 12-footer to save par. Spieth walked briskly toward the practice range after signing his card and did not take questions.
Playing partner Ludvig Aberg could understand the frustration, but believes Spieth will bounce back.
“Listen, Jordan is an unbelievable player and person,” Aberg said. “I was telling my caddie today that he’s one of the best, nicest guys in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if gets someday. But I’m a big Jordan Spieth fan and I will be for a long time.”
It probably won’t be this year.
MGM Sportsbook now lists him at 1000-1 to win.
Spieth became the darling of golf at age 21 when he won the Masters and US Open in 2015. He captured the British Open two years later, bringing him to the doorstep of one of golf’s elite clubs.
But like McIlroy’s struggles to win the Masters until last month, Spieth hasn’t been able to capture the PGA.
He’s had a couple of chances.
He finished second in 2015 and tied for third in 2019. But over the past five years he has been in the middle of the pack — four times finishing between 29th and 43rd. Now he’s in danger of missing the cut for the first time since 2014.
FIFA lift ban on Congo Brazzaville
JOHANNESBURG: A ban on Congo Brazzaville competing in international competitions has been lifted, a FIFA statement said on Thursday.
Congo were suspended last February due to government interference in the administration of football in the central African nation.
This prevented the ‘Red Devils’ playing 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Zambia and Tanzania in March.
Last year, Congo lost away to Zambia and at home to Morocco, and forfeited the points to Niger after a dispute over where the match should be played.
Yamal pearl seals Barcelona La Liga title triumph at Espanyol
CORNELLÀ DE LLOBREGAT, Spain: A stunning Lamine Yamal strike helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win at local rivals Espanyol on Thursday, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table.
Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble.
Only the Champions League escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2023.
Back then, celebrating Barca players were chased from the field by angry home supporters but this time Espanyol turned on the sprinklers to soak the jubilant visitors, who headed down the tunnel quickly.
Yamal opened the scoring after 53 minutes of a tense derby clash with a brilliant curling effort, before Lopez added another in the 95th minute to secure victory.
Outside the stadium before the match several Espanyol fans were hit by a car which drove into a big crowd, although none were seriously injured and police said it appeared to be an accident.
Barcelona were seconds away from sealing their title triumph on Wednesday but Real Madrid snatched a 95th-minute winner against Mallorca to delay the inevitable.
Flick’s side started slowly in Cornella, with Espanyol, 16th, looking dangerous on the counter-attack and keen to secure their top-flight survival.
Wojciech Szczesny made a fine save to deny Javi Puado who broke through on goal in Espanyol’s best chance of the opening period.
Barca dominated the ball but failed to create any clear opportunities themselves in the first half.
The Catalan giants have often blown teams away this season, approaching a century of goals in La Liga, but with the title on the line and a hostile crowd against them, they needed something special to break through.
That came from 17-year-old wing wizard Yamal, who zipped inside off the right flank and unleashed a rocket into the top corner from outside the box, in a replica of his goal for Spain against France in the Euro 2024 semifinals.
It was the teenager’s eighth La Liga strike of the season but with goals in both matches against rivals Real and also in the visit to face Atletico Madrid, he has a penchant for the big occasion.
Barca’s superb display in Sunday’s Clasico, in which they beat their rivals 4-3 in a thrilling battle, effectively won them the title.
They still had to get it over the line against their neighbors, though, and that became easier when Leandro Cabrera was sent off for an elbow into Yamal’s stomach.
Even though they had a player fewer, Espanyol pressured Barcelona heavily until Lopez drilled past Joan Garcia to end the hosts’ resistance.
Al-Ittihad crowned Saudi Pro League champions for 10th time
- With 2 games left to play, the Tigers move 9 points clear of Al-Hilal with a 3-1 away victory over already relegated Al-Raed
- Al-Hilal have 3 games remaining but an inferior head-to-head record means there is no way they can overtake their rivals
JEDDAH: Al-Ittihad were crowned champions of Saudi Arabia for the 10th time after a 3-1 victory at Al-Raed on Thursday.
The Tigers have two games left to play and are nine points clear of second-place Al-Hilal, who have three games remaining but an inferior head-to-head record, which means there is no way they can overtake their rivals.
As Al-Ittihad take the Saudi Pro League trophy back to Jeddah, just two years after their last title triumph, the focus now for Al-Hilal is the battle with Al-Qadsiah, Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli for second place and the prize of qualification for the 2025-26 AFC Champions League Elite that comes with it.
It looked as if there might be another twist in the title race when Oumar Gonzalez put bottom-place Al-Raed, who are already relegated, ahead after just nine minutes. The Cameroonian pounced on a rare defensive mistake from N’Golo Kante to fire home from close range.
With top-scorer Karim Benzema injured and watching from the sidelines, there might have been some concern in the dugout. But if Laurent Blanc’s men were rattled they did not let it show and in the 21st minute they were back on level terms, courtesy of Steven Bergwijn, after Abdulrahman Al-Oboud broke into the right side of the area and squared the ball for the Dutchman, who made no mistake.
It was obvious from the reactions of the Al-Ittihad attackers that they wanted more of the same and that’s what they delivered as they took the lead five minutes before the break. Unai Hernandez swung over a corner from the left and Danilo Pereira was the first to reach the ball at the near post, heading smartly past the goalkeeper.
From then, it was always going to be difficult for the home side to get back into it, and it was effectively game over just two minutes after the restart. Bergwijn chipped a pass, or perhaps a shot, through a crowded area and Al-Aboud was waiting on the goal line to bundle the ball into the net for the goal that sealed the win and the title.
Come the final whistle, the celebratory T-shirts with a “Champions 25” slogan were pulled on and the celebrations started in earnest. They might continue for some time.
