Henry playing waiting game with MLS in limbo

Montreal (AFP) – Thierry Henry is adjusting to life on pause with the Montreal Impact as the Major League Soccer side awaits the end of the coronavirus shutdown.

Former France, Arsenal and Barcelona star Henry took over as manager of Montreal ahead of the 2020 season, but saw his reign effectively put on hold after just two games when COVID-19 brought sport in North America to a standstill last month.

Speaking on a video conference call on Tuesday, Henry said he is staying positive as he waits to see how the virus plays out.

Major League Soccer chiefs have said the league won’t resume until June 8 at the earliest, as they work through different scenarios which could allow the 2020 season to be completed.

“Nobody knows who is going to move when, what’s going to happen. We are waiting to see if we are going to play football again,” Henry said Tuesday.

“All we can do on our side is to be focused and prepare to whatever is going to come our way. They are going to take the decision and we are going to have execute whatever they want us to execute.

“But on my side, all I can do is try to keep my team, the staff, prepared to whatever is going to come our way. 

Henry admitted however that his work with staff had run into difficulties caused by the absence of fresh video footage. 

“I mean, one thing that’s weird is usually you tend to watch a game to see if you can learn something from other coaches, which is normal,” Henry said. 

“Right now, obviously there is no game on TV. You have no game. So usually, with the staff, we watch games and we are like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting, I would never have thought about whatever thing that you saw’. And you try to implement it.

“But yeah, that’s a tricky one, because you’re looking at old videos that we kind of went through already with the players individually or as a team.”

Henry however said he had been encouraged by the progress made within the squad since his arrival. Montreal were second in the Eastern Conference after two games before the league was halted.

“You know, I always mentioned Jürgen Klopp,” Henry said. “It took him three and a half years to do what he’s doing with Liverpool. It doesn’t happen just like that. So we were kind of getting somewhere. It was early stages. 

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/3cY1dBI

Bayern star, ex-refugee Davies raises funds for those forced to flee

Berlin (AFP) – Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies says it would be a “disaster” if the coronavirus reaches one of the world’s many refugee camps — like the one he was born in.

The 19-year-old started life in a refugee camp in Ghana after his parents fled the civil war in Liberia.

The family emigrated to Canada when Davies was five years old.

The move was made possible by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for whom Davies helped raise funds by playing a virtual match last Saturday.

His opponent was AC Milan goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, 32, another former refugee who fled to Germany from Bosnia as a young boy before also eventually settling in Canada.

The pair went head-to-head in the eFootball PES2020 livestream tournament, organised by the UNHCR to help the 70 million refugees around the world.

“Right now, the main focus is to raise money to help get refugees whatever they need,” said Davies in a video press conference Tuesday in Munich.

“Obviously social distancing is tough for them with things so compact (in the camps) and if corona hits one of those refugee camps, it could be a disaster.

“I just want to use my platform to spread the word and help as much as possible.

“They (UNHCR) helped me out when I was in a camp and I wanted to support them.”

The online game raised around 9,000 euros ($9,755) in donations.

“It was really fun, but I think he won more games than I did,” admitted Davies with a smile.

The Canadian teen joined Bayern in late 2018, and nailed down a first-team berth at left-back this season despite arriving from Vancouver Whitecaps as a winger.

The Bundesliga season was halted in mid-March due to the coronavirus, but Davies has kept busy improving his German and last week signed a contract extension until 2025.

He has entertained Bayern fans on social media during the lockdown with videos of him trying to master tricky words in the Bavarian dialect.

His dubbed imitation of the Backstreet Boys hit “I Want It That Way” went viral on TikTok.

“I love entertaining,” Davies admitted and smiled when a reporter from broadcaster RTL jokingly offered him a guest role in one of their soap operas.

The German Football League (DFL) has said it is ready to resume from May 9, albeit behind closed doors, but Angela Merkel’s government must still give the go-ahead.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2W6l5Md

Swiss set trial date for PSG chief, ex-FIFA no.2

Lausanne (AFP) – A Swiss court on Tuesday scheduled a September trial date for Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and FIFA’s former secretary general Jerome Valcke, in an alleged corruption case.

The case, involving the pair and a third, unnamed man, relates to alleged criminal mismanagement, incitement to criminal mismanagement, falsifying documents and corruption, the Federal Criminal Court said on its website.

The court is based in the southeastern Swiss city of Bellinzona.

When filing the indictment in February, the office of Switzerland’s attorney general (OAG) said the men faced charges linked “with the award of media rights to various World Cup and FIFA Confederations Cup tournaments.”

After the date was set on Tuesday, Al-Khelaifi’s lawyers issued a statement insisting the case was “completely unfounded”, and said the allegation against their client was “manifestly artificial.”

They also indicated that they had requested the recusal of the prosecutors in the case and had filed a criminal complaint related to leaks, “making it uncertain whether the case will proceed at all.”

Al-Khelaifi, who is also the boss of Qatari television channel BeIN Sports, had been suspected of giving inappropriate gifts to Valcke, formerly ex-FIFA boss Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man, in order to secure broadcast rights to prestigious events, including the World Cup.

But in February, the OAG said it dropped “a criminal complaint of bribery” against Al-Khelaifi linked to the award of media rights for World Cup tournaments in 2026 and 2030 and other events, after FIFA withdrew the complaint it was based on, following an “amicable agreement” with Al-Khelaifi.

Prosecutors however accused him of inciting the non-reporting of a gift.

The indictment in February also accused the third man, described as “a businessman in the sports rights sector”, of bribery over a 1.25-million-euro ($1.35 million) payment to Valcke’s company Sportunited LLC.

Valcke meanwhile stands accused of exploiting his position at FIFA between 2013 and 2015 to influence the award of media rights for Italy and Greece for various World Cup and other tournaments scheduled between 2018 and 2030 “in order to favour media partners that he preferred,” in exchange for the payments from the unnamed businessman, according to that indictment.

He has also been charged with falsifying documents, after Sportsunited’s balance sheet listed those payments as loans.

Switzerland’s judiciary last week rejected a request from Al-Khelaifi for three federal prosecutors in the case to be recused, over claims that during a hearing on December 6, 2019, he had not been given enough time to address all of the aspects of the case he deemed were necessary.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2zCVyCN

Italian footballers’ union furious at ban on team training

Milan (AFP) – Italy’s footballers’ union (AIC) on Tuesday slammed the government’s decision not to allow a return to training for team sports while easing coronavirus restrictions for individual athletes.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced that individual athletes can train from May 4, but team sports, including football, must wait until at least May 18.

The AIC said the decision left footballers “perplexed and surprised”.

“The idea seems discriminatory, even illogical to let individual sporting disciplines enter training grounds, but not professional footballers and other athletes registered for team disciplines,” the AIC, headed by former Italian international Damiano Tommasi, said in a statement.

“The rule also risks aggravating and not containing the risk.

“For professional athletes this phase of training after such a long period of enforced stop is necessary to avoid injuries and be ready to start training in groups from May 18.”

Italy’s 20 top-flight clubs have voted unanimously to complete the league season which has been on hold since March 9, but the final decision will be down to the government.

In France, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Tuesday that professional football, rugby and other sports cannot resume until the end of the summer.

Italian Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora defended his government’s cautious approach as Italy grapples with a virus which has killed over 27,000 people in the country.

“The prudence we are having concerning football is what still leaves a glimmer of hope of resuming the championship,” Spadafora wrote on Facebook.

“The alternative is to do as France did, to say that football stops here.

“Everything will depend on the evolution of the health crisis and our ability between now and May 4 to respect the rules.

“If we think that from May 4 it’s all over and we can resume anything without respecting the rules and take a whole series of precautions, we are wrong and we risk finding ourselves in a worse situation than before.”

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2zCpI9f

Ligue 1 season ‘over’ for FFF chief Le Graet

Paris (AFP) – French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet said on Tuesday he thinks the Ligue 1 season is over due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had announced the competition could not resume until September.

France’s sports ministry told AFP after Philippe’s speech that sports fixtures could not take place even behind closed doors before the end of July, leaving open the possibility that some matches could still be played in August.

“We informed the executive board, what it already knew, that Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will not start, that the National (third tier) will not start or the Women’s D1 either,” Le Graet told Brittanny-based newspaper Le Telegramme.

“These four competitions are definitively over for the 2019-2020 season,” he added.

The French league (LFP), which runs the top flight and the second tier, which have been on hold due to the COVID-19 outbreak since mid-March, are meeting on Thursday to draw its conclusions from the government’s announcement.

The FFF said later they had asked the LFP to finish the two league seasons.

Le Graet said two sides instead of three will be promoted from Ligue 2 with the same amount of clubs going in the opposite direction.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2VIBRSF

La Liga set for individual training return on May 4

Madrid (AFP) – Spain’s professional athletes including La Liga players can restart basic training from May 4, the country’s government announced on Tuesday.

The Spanish top-flight has been on hold since March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the decision was the first move in lifting lockdown measures which will be done in four stages across two months.

“The first phase, or phase 0, is the preparation to transition phase or the de-escalation phase, which we are already in,” Sanchez said.

“In the best-case scenario, this de-escalation phase will take a minimum of six weeks and the maximum duration we want to see is eight weeks for the whole of Spain,” he added.

Only later in later stages of the process will full sessions be able to take place. 

The announcement allows the league’s clubs to restart individual sessions with their squad members, a protocol agreed upon by La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation earlier this month.

According to local reports players will have to undergo COVID-19 screening tests before returning to training.

They will have to arrive at their club’s facilities already in kit, with gloves and masks, and only a maximum of six players can be on the pitch at the same time.

COVID-19 has claimed nearly 24,000 lives in the country, behind the United States and Italy in mortality rates from the virus.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2VLHpM9

French football, rugby off until September, says French PM

Paris (AFP) – Professional football, rugby and other sports in France cannot resume until the end of the summer because of coronavirus restrictions, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday.

The announcement was made as the government unveiled its plans to gradually end the lockdown in France from May 11.

The announcement makes the completion of the 2019-2020 Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football seasons and Top 14 rugby union campaign appear increasingly unlikely.

However, France’s sports ministry told AFP after the speech that sports fixtures could not take place even behind closed doors before the end of July, leaving open the possibility that some matches could still be played in August.

In an address to the National Assembly, Philippe said: “The 2019-2020 professional sports leagues, notably football, cannot yet restart.”

“I would like to be precise here, no large sports gathering or any gathering of 5,000 people or more, needing the permission of the local police and long prior arrangements, will be allowed before September,” Philippe added.

Ligue 1 had outlined its intention to resume matches in June, with players being recalled to training as of May 11.

The French football league will hold a teleconference later Tuesday to draw its conclusions from the government’s announcement.

The president of one Ligue 1 club told AFP he believed the season would now be abandoned.

“It’s highly likely that we stop it now,” the president said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

If the season is abandoned, it begs the question of which teams would qualify for next season’s Champions League and Europa League and whether teams would be relegated.

Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said the Ligue 1 leaders would be prepared to play their remaining games of this season’s Champions League abroad.

The French champions reached the quarter-finals with a last-16 victory over Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors shortly before the lockdown.

“We plan on competing in the Champions League, wherever and whenever it is held,” he said in a statement.

“If it is not possible to play in France we will play our matches abroad, ensuring the most stringent medical safety conditions for our players and all of our staff.”

– ‘At least things are clear’ –

French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet said last week that he was hoping both the French Cup and League Cup finals could be played before the league season restarts.

PSG are scheduled to face Lyon in the League Cup final and are then due to play Saint-Etienne in the French Cup final.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2YfOiaq