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Peru clings to World Cup hopes

Lima, June 9 (UNI) Peru has not abandoned its FIFA World Cup hopes despite facing long odds to reach next year's tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada, midfielder Edison Flores
said
The Blanquirroja sits ninth in the 10-team South American qualifying standings and must beat Ecuador in Lima on Tuesday to retain a mathematical chance of advancing.
"We remain hopeful, but we know we need the points," Flores told reporters on Sunday. "We just have to focus on working hard, on getting the coveted three points, and to do that, we have to play a solid game."
Peru is expected to be boosted by the return of Corinthians midfielder Andre Carrillo, who missed Friday's goalless draw with Colombia in Barranquilla due to a thigh injury.
Despite the encouraging defensive display, Flores said the team must be more clinical in front of goal to overcome Ecuador, which is second in the CONMEBOL group.
"It's going to be a very difficult match against Ecuador, which is playing well," he said. "We must focus on what we can do, on our strengths. Ecuador has many virtues and we know what they are capable of. But we have to counteract that and take advantage of our opportunities.
"Sometimes you want to play well, but what matters are the goals and the three points."
The top six sides will gain automatic entry to the World Cup, scheduled to run from June 11 to
July 19 next year.
UNI/XINHUA BM

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A moment to cherish for an extraordinary leader of men
A moment to cherish for an extraordinary leader of men

The Hindu

time34 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

A moment to cherish for an extraordinary leader of men

Nearly a month before his 44th birthday (July 7), Mahendra Singh Dhoni received an early gift. On Monday in London, he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, a little less than six years after his last international outing. There was no fairytale exit for the former captain, whose final game for the country ended in unshed tears and bitter disappointment following the semifinal elimination by New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup in Manchester on July 10, 2019. But Dhoni's propensity for detached attachment means he would have put that heartbreak behind him not long after the loss and geared up for the next phase of his life. Unorthodox, unconventional and effective 🙌 A cricketer beyond numbers and statistics 👏 MS Dhoni is inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame 🥇 More ➡️ — ICC (@ICC) June 9, 2025 In a world where people measure the currency of their popularity by the number of followers on social media – of whom he has millions – and a constant desire, whether by choice or otherwise, to keep staying in the public eye, Dhoni is a spectacular exception. He is still an enigma to his vast legion of supporters, assiduously refusing to court attention, surfacing in the lead-up to a fresh season of the Indian Premier League and then retreating to relative obscurity, inasmuch as someone of his stature can become obscure, for months on end, happy in his own world of parents, wife, daughter, bikes, dogs… This isn't a calculated, well-planned formula to ensure that the fans keep wanting more of him, to see more of him. That's how he is wired. That's how he always has been. When he was the captain, the door to his hotel room was open till such time that he was awake. No one needed to ring him up to ascertain if he was free or if they could drop in. It was literally open door, but when he closed it shut late at night, he was oblivious to the world. No surprise There is a fascinating story of how, when a former senior functionary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India passed away, the support staff just couldn't get in touch with him even though they were all in the same hotel. His cell phone was switched off, he had put the hotel phone on 'Do not disturb'. By then, Dhoni had retired from Test cricket but he was still the limited-overs captain and had great regard for the administrator who was no more. Out of respect for his skipper and to ensure that tongues didn't wag about (non-existent) differences were they to travel separately to pay their respects, Test captain Virat Kohli waited patiently and accompanied Dhoni in a later flight while some of the senior management staff flew out early in the morning. Dhoni evokes such emotions, without making an effort to do so. His presence in the Hall of Fame should come as no surprise. After all, he is his country's most successful captain, rising from the hinterlands to establish himself as the ultimate poster boy of Indian cricket even when the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, among others, were going strong. Every year for the last five seasons, towards the end of Chennai Super Kings' IPL campaign, speculation reaches fever pitch over Dhoni's imminent retirement. Each year, he has smiled enigmatically, made a few off-hand remarks and allowed the speculation to mount for the next several weeks. It was no different last month when he pithily remarked that he didn't have to make an immediate decision about his future when he had months to do so. Door open, you say? Dhoni had already played for nearly five seasons since his First Class and List-A debuts for Bihar in 1999-2000 when he travelled with the India-Aside for a triangular series in Nairobi, under Sairaj Bahutule, in August 2004. One afternoon, the phone warbled — a former India fast bowler who was commentating on the tournament from the venue was on the line, almost demanding that one switched on the TV and watched 'this guy, this incredible guy' take the bowling apart. Batting at No. 3 in a league fixture against a Pakistan 'A' side helmed by Misbah-ul-Haq, Dhoni smashed a 122-ball 120 at the Nairobi Gymkhana as India batted first. Three days later, on a slightly trickier surface with India chasing 235 for victory against the same opponents, he was a lot more measured, guiding the successful chase with an unbeaten 119 off 134 deliveries, the five towering sixes reiterating that he was batting well within himself. His contribution in the final, which India won by six wickets also against Pakistan 'A', was just 15 but Dhoni topped the run-scoring charts with 362 at an average of 72.40 and a strike-rate of 90.15. "Whenever you played against him, you knew the game was never over until he was out!" 😮‍💨 Cricket greats celebrate MS Dhoni, one of the newest inductees in the ICC Hall of Fame 🤩 📝: — ICC (@ICC) June 10, 2025 Four months later, he turned out in India colours for the first time, inauspiciously run out without scoring on his ODI debut in Chattogram. It was ironically coincidental that in his last international innings too, he would be run out, courtesy a fabulous direct hit from the deep from Martin Guptill that practically ensured India's exit at the World Cup. But between those two incidents, Dhoni set the world afire with his astonishing batting and composure in white-ball cricket, with his unbelievably slick hands behind the stumps, with his supreme mastery of captaincy, especially in limited-overs internationals, with the felicity with which he marshalled teams that included a host of not just former captains but also legends of the game like V.V.S. Laxman. India aren't huge on left-field decisions when it comes to the captaincy of the national side. In modern times, Mohammad Azharuddin was the first to be pulled out of reasonable anonymity to marshall the 'Team of the '90s' by Raj Singh Dungarpur at the start of the first decade of the last millennium. More than a decade and a half later, Dilip Vengsarkar's selection panel identified Dhoni as the man best suited to take India into the future, appointing him captain for the T20 World Cup in 2007 after the triumvirate of Dravid (then the Test and ODI leader), Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly decided to give the tournament a miss. That squad of 15 included Sehwag, who had already led India, as well as Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj. Dhoni's ascension took many by surprise and didn't go down well with many others, including some picked to play under him. But the wisdom of the Vengsarkar-led panel's move became evident when, out of the blue, he masterminded a wonderful charge to the title that would inexorably change the landscape of Indian cricket. When Dravid stepped down from the captaincy, Dhoni was made the full-fledged white-ball skipper and was the captain-in-waiting when it came to the five-day version, benefiting immensely from the one-year apprenticeship under the champion that Kumble is. Dhoni's captaincy career that ran between 2007 and the end of 2016 (he didn't receive the Test captaincy until December 2008 and gave it up in December 2014, when he abruptly retired from the longer format) was a bountiful phase for Indian cricket. The T20 World Cup triumph was followed in alternate years by India's ascension to the No. 1 spot in Test cricket (December 2009), the 50-over World Cup title run at home (April 2011) and Champions Trophy glory in England (June 2013). 2⃣0⃣0⃣7⃣ ICC World T20 winning captain 2⃣0⃣1⃣1⃣ ICC Cricket World Cup winning captain 2⃣0⃣1⃣3⃣ ICC Champions Trophy winning captain 1️⃣ Led India to the top spot in ICC Test rankings for the first time in 2009 🙌 Congratulations to the legendary former #TeamIndia Captain MS… — BCCI (@BCCI) June 9, 2025 There was also the small matter of a Test series win in New Zealand in early 2009, India's first victory in that country for 33 years. But Dhoni did give the impression that he was more at home in the demanding, compressed cauldron of limited-overs internationals than the slow burn of Test cricket where he didn't quite have the pace resources for his team to compete consistently outside the sub-continent. The legend of Dhoni the Finisher grew with time, his insistence on taking the game 'deep' and invariably getting the job done lending a surreal, otherworldly aura to the bruiser. He shed his flowing locks on being entrusted with greater responsibility, perhaps his subtle well of telling himself – he hasn't really bothered too much about sending messages to the world – that it was time for the boy to become a man. He oversaw some of India's bleakest Test campaigns, marked by successive whitewashes in four-Test overseas series in England (2011) and Australia (2011-12, where he missed the first Test). But he had enough credit points and the confidence of the men who ran Indian cricket to not just survive these misadventures but also come out stronger. One only has to consider the sea of yellow at every IPL venue for the last several years, no matter where Chennai Super Kings are playing, to grasp the true extent of the love, regard, respect and admiration India's cricket followers have for the one immortalised as 'Thala' in the Tamil Nadu capital. His sense of timing was never more apparent than in 2018 when he spearheaded CSK's fairytale title charge as they returned to the IPL after a two-year suspension. That period perhaps was the only time Dhoni allowed his emotions to overwhelm him in public space. Otherwise, he has been inscrutable and equanimous in the face of victory and defeat, in light of dizzying heights and terrible depths, both of which he has encountered in ample measure. India's 11th entrant into the hallowed Hall of Fame is in excellent company. He made all the right noises to 'celebrate' his induction, including saying it was something he would 'cherish forever'. He will, yes, just as Indian cricket too will cherish him forever. A regular Joe with the same fears and apprehensions and doubts and insecurities as anyone else, but an extraordinary performer who has found the fortitude and the wherewithal to overcome the odds and set himself up as an inspiration for millions, especially those from one-time cricketing outposts who could dare to dream that their dreams would come to fruition. Take a bow, MS.

FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers: Crystal Palace's Kamada scores brace as Japan thrashes Indonesia
FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers: Crystal Palace's Kamada scores brace as Japan thrashes Indonesia

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  • The Hindu

FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers: Crystal Palace's Kamada scores brace as Japan thrashes Indonesia

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Australia or South Africa? WTC Final winner predicted ahead of Lord's showdown
Australia or South Africa? WTC Final winner predicted ahead of Lord's showdown

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

Australia or South Africa? WTC Final winner predicted ahead of Lord's showdown

Image credit: ICC NEW DELHI: Can South Africa finally shed the 'chokers' tag, or will Australia add another ICC trophy to their cabinet? With the World Test Championship (WTC) final set to take place at Lord's on Wednesday, anticipation is running high. Led by Pat Cummins , Australia are aiming to become the first team to win the WTC title twice, having previously clinched the mace in 2023 by defeating India at The Oval in the second edition of the tournament. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Meanwhile, Temba Bavuma 's South Africa will be playing their first-ever WTC final after a dominant run that saw them win seven of their last eight matches. While this marks their debut in a red-ball final, the Proteas have been regulars in ICC knockout stages in recent years. Ahead of the big clash, astrologer Greenstone Lobo has made a bold prediction about who will emerge victorious. "This match holds huge significance because it's not just a one-off game — it's the culmination of the last two-year WTC cycle. Whoever wins this will claim an ICC trophy. So it's not something small; it's a huge moment for both teams. The analysis is based on past performances and the corresponding dilution of karmic quota influenced by planetary positions. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like ¿Quieres un segundo ingreso? Prueba Mercado Libre CFD (Inicia hoy) TradeLG Undo We'll also be looking at the horoscopes of the captains, players, and coaches to investigate the possibilities of who might emerge victorious," Lobo told "Australia, obviously, is a phenomenal team — everyone knows that. Their captain, Pat Cummins, is one of the greatest superstars of modern cricket and already a legend of the game. He's won the 50-over World Cup and led Australia to the previous WTC title at The Oval in 2023. He has also been part of several ICC tournament wins. Bold prediction! Astrologer Greenstone Lobo picks winner of Australia vs South Africa WTC Final 2025 "Born in 1993, Pat Cummins has a phenomenal Pluto in its own house. Neptune is at 25 degrees, which makes him great — alongside other favorable planetary placements. However, the key point is that he has already experienced immense success. Winning back-to-back championships — whether it's the World Cup, the T20 World Cup, or the WTC — is extremely difficult. So, despite his strong horoscope, he has diluted his karmic quota significantly, making it harder for him to repeat success. "Now looking at the team: from Usman Khawaja to Nathan Lyon, almost every player — except maybe Beau Webster and Cameron Green — was part of the previous WTC Final. This means they not only had a powerful captain but also an experienced playing XI in 2023. Look at the names: Steve Smith, multiple ICC trophies; Mitchell Starc, multiple; Josh Hazlewood, a couple; Pat Cummins, Travis Head — all with major wins. The point is, this core group has already been part of multiple ICC triumphs. That adds to the dilution of their karmic quota. And then there's coach Andrew McDonald — a legend in his own right as a coach. He too has won multiple ICC trophies and has similarly diluted his karmic quotient. So while the Australian team appears extremely strong on paper — and their planetary charts support that — they are also vulnerable because they've already extracted much of their astrological 'juice.' "Now let's turn to South Africa. The tag of 'chokers' has haunted them for decades — reaching finals but never winning. The main reason? They've lacked a great captain with an extraordinary planetary chart. To win an ICC trophy, you need a special captain. Temba Bavuma, born in May 1990, was born when Pluto had just entered its own house after 250 years — a rare and powerful event. That's phenomenal. We've already seen players born in 1990 achieve great success: Jos Buttler, Kane Williamson, and others. Even in football, many championship winners were born in 1990. Pluto at 0 degrees in its own house, Neptune exalted, and other planetary alignments make 1990 a landmark birth year. So, does Temba Bavuma have what it takes to become a legend? Absolutely. 'We'll be quite confident that we can pull one over them': Shukri Conrad on WTC Final vs Australia "Keshav Maharaj, another 1990-born player, has a phenomenal chart. This could be his only shot at a major international title. David Bedingham, born in 1994, has been a revelation in the last two years — and his chart supports a major victory. Aiden Markram, also 1994-born, has exalted Neptune and Pluto. He too has the potential to be part of a major win — possibly this one. It's like a David vs Goliath scenario. A team that has made a habit of winning ICC trophies (Australia), versus a team that has often stumbled at the final hurdle (South Africa). If South Africa pulls this off, it will be historic — a landmark achievement. And such moments are usually delivered by what I call 'Grey Lizard' players — players born between 1996 and 2001. South Africa has many of them. Lungi Ngidi, Kyle Verreynne, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs — all are Grey Lizards. And right now, Pluto is in Grey Lizard. Historic moments often occur during such cosmic alignments. We've seen this in football and cricket — teams that had been waiting for decades finally achieving glory during the Grey Lizard era. And this is one of those moments. South Africa has the astrological momentum and the right mix of Grey Lizard players. There might not be a better opportunity than this for them to shed the "chokers" tag and beat the mighty Australians. It's going to be one hell of a match," Lobo said. Australia - Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wkt), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood South Africa - Playing XI: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (capt), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

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