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Liberia are out of World Cup, but President Weah’s son is propelling US to qualification
Liberia have already crashed out of the qualification for the World Cup. But elsewhere, the son of the Liberian President George Weah, Tim Weah is making waves, propelling the US team as they continue in the qualification for a place at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
According to reports from USA Today, Tim Weah scored in the 11th minute, and the U.S. men’s national soccer team hung on for a 1-1 tie over Jamaica in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday. The Americans caught a break when Jamaica’s would-be game-winner in the 84th minute was waved off for interference.
“Jamaica is a physical team. They were in desperation mode to get a point if not three,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said. “It was good to limit them to a point.”
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The USMNT dropped to second in the Concacaf standings, a point behind Canada after Canada upset Mexico 2-1 at Edmonton’s Estadio Iceteca. But with six qualifiers left, just two points separate the top four teams.
Concacaf’s top three teams will automatically qualify for next year’s World Cup in Qatar, with the fourth-place team going to a playoff.
“We don’t take anything for granted,” Berhalter said. “The next window is going to be important.”
The Americans played their best game in years in Friday night’s win over Mexico. Berhalter and his players had all talked about the young team not having a letdown against Jamaica, especially since they were short-handed.
Weston McKennie and Miles Robinson were unavailable because of yellow card accumulation, and Christian Pulisic was on limited minutes again as he comes back from a sprained ankle that kept him out for two months.
If not quite a letdown, it wasn’t the sharpest the U.S. men have looked.
They started strong with Weah, who Berhalter called his man of the match Friday, continuing to show he’s a force to be reckoned with.
He was able to fight off a double-team in the box, and his left-footed shot froze Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake just long enough. Blake, who was on one knee and leaning to his left, tried to shift his weight and threw out his right arm in hopes of getting a piece of the ball, but it rolled beneath him to give the USMNT a 1-0 lead in the 11th.
It was Weah’s second goal with the USMNT, and came in the country where his mother, Clar, was born.
“It felt good being back. Happy to get the goal against them but unfortunately we didn’t get the full points,” Weah said. “But we take the one point and we continue.”
The Americans threatened to add another goal five minutes later, with Blake having to deflect shots by Ricardo Pepi and then Brenden Aaronson.
The saves proved huge in the 22nd, when Michail Antonio beat Tyler Adams and unleashed a banger from 34 yards out that Zack Steffen had no chance of stopping. Of the 53 goals Antonio had scored previously, for both club and country, all had come from inside the box.
Momentum shifted with the goal, and the Americans were lucky to escape with the draw. Bobby Reid missed a sitter, and the USMNT caught a huge break in the 84th, when Damion Lowe’s would-be game-winner was called off.
Replays showed Lowe had a hand on Walker Zimmerman as they jockeyed for position in front of the goal during a corner kick.
“It was all in our hands,” Jamaica coach Theodore Whitmore said. “The guys kept their head, stayed in the game, managed to equalize and I think we could have gone on and won the game. Numerous opportunities presented itself, but we didn’t capitalize on it. Such is the nature of the game.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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