Latest news with #Uzbek-born
The Star
25-04-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Pahang out to be fearless David against Goliath in Cup final
PETALING JAYA: It was 11 years ago when Pahang broke the hearts of Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) fans and they have not forgotten it. In a dramatic Malaysia Cup final, the Elephants came from behind to force a 2-2 draw and triumph in a nerve-racking penalty shootout, winning 5-3. It was their last appearance in the final – until now. Fast forward to 2025, the two sides are set to clash once again tonight at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil (9pm), but the stage and stakes have changed dramatically. JDT are now the undisputed giants of Malaysian football. With an astonishing 11 consecutive Super League titles and a slew of domestic records shattered, they have redefined the meaning of dominance. Led by head coach Hector Bidoglio, their squad are stacked with quality, not just to conquer Malaysia but to make waves across Asia. Pahang, meanwhile, had a tougher road. They finished eighth in the 13-team Super League and endured an inconsistent campaign. All fit for battle: Johor Darul Ta'zim players at a training session at the National Stadium at Bukit Jalil. Top: The Pahang team going through their paces. — Bernama While JDT are the Goliath of this final, the Elephants will be hoping to reprise their role as the fearless David. The Southern Tigers boast star power across the pitch. Brazilian forwards Bergson Da Silva and Heberty Fernandes have each scored six goals in the tournament, terrorising defences with clinical finishing and flair. On the wings, Arif Aiman Hanapi is a constant menace, while Uzbek-born Eddy Israfilov marshals the backline with composure and class. Pahang, however, face a major blow. They'll be without two of their top attacking threats –Liberian striker Kpah Sherman, suspended after picking up three yellow cards, and Argentine winger Manuel Hidalgo, who's ineligible as he's on loan from JDT. Despite these absences, head coach Fandi Ahmad has been busy in training, testing different line-ups to cope with the challenge. His game plan is expected to be pragmatic, solid at the back and disciplined in structure, hoping to catch JDT off guard. Defenders Adam Nor Azlin, Aleksandar Cvetkovic, and Stefano Brundo will be key. They'll need to be at their absolute best to contain JDT's firepower and keep Pahang in the game. The team have shown grit and resilience in their tough path to the final, the qualities they'll need to pull off the biggest shock of the season.
New York Times
25-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Dan Meis on Everton's new stadium: Doubts on project, recreating Goodison's ‘cauldron', club's faith
Dan Meis, the American architect behind Everton's new stadium, has said he wondered 'lots of times' whether the project would ever happen. Everton will move to the new 52,888 capacity arena from the start of next season after overcoming a number of significant hurdles during the course of the £800million scheme. Advertisement Planning permission was granted in February 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, while Everton were forced to abandon sponsorship deals, including a potential naming rights partnership, with companies linked to the sanctioned Uzbek-born oligarch Alisher Usmanov after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine a year later. Construction also happened at a time when former owner Farhad Moshiri, himself with links to Russia and Usmanov, was looking to sell the club and with the team in regular relegation trouble. As a result, funding plans had to change several times and the club became increasingly reliant on short-term, high-interest loans to cover costs. Everton have since been bought by The Friedkin Group, based in Houston, Texas. Asked whether he had ever considered the prospect that the development would not proceed, Meis said: 'Lots of times. We had Covid, the war in Ukraine… all kinds of things that threw the club into disarray at various times. It's not for the faint of heart and really does take a lot of commitment. 'I know fans at times were questioning all kinds of things about the leadership. (Former Everton chairman) Bill Kenwright, for example, became a bit of a lightning rod at times. 'This building would not be here without him. Full stop. He was a passionate defender of mine and I wouldn't be here without him, so it takes so much for these things to fall into place.' 'It's been a long, 10-year road to get to this stage, but it's heart-pounding to see people in the stadium and to see their reaction. It's really priceless.' Everton Stadium designer @Meisarch on an emotional experience at yesterday's test event. 🏟️ — Everton Stadium (@EvertonStadium) March 24, 2025 Meis was in attendance at the Everton Stadium on Sunday for Everton Under-21s' 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers B — the second of three test events to be completed before the site obtains its safety certificate. Speaking to reporters at the event, the Los Angeles-based architect said his main preoccupation during the design process had been capturing the 'history' and 'magic' of Goodison Park, Everton's home of 133 years. 'The thing that really hit me the very first time I went to Goodison was how it really was this cauldron,' Meis said. 'You were really on top of the pitch and, sure, there were things in your eyesight like columns, but it was a proper English football stadium and that's hard to recreate. 'That was very intimidating because the last thing I wanted to do — and I've seen that with other new buildings — is that you lose some of the magic of the history. So it's subtle. But proximity was important, steepness was important. No fuss — we didn't want a bunch of commercial things getting in the way, just fans on the pitch. Advertisement 'I was very conscious that I was American and didn't want to take anything for granted. In some ways, that worked to my advantage because I dove deep into the history of Goodison and the city. It wasn't about a shiny new building. It was: 'How do we take that magic and move it to a very important, historic site without losing that energy?'. 'The direction from the club was very clear early on. It was, 'We're not Wembley or even Tottenham for that matter'. This is about a proper football stadium. Of course, you need it to be commercially viable and help the club grow, but to do that in a way without losing the on-top-of-the-pitch feel and intimidation.' Meis spent Sunday morning walking around the site and getting a progress update on the development, with Everton in the final stages of completing the internal fit-out of the corporate lounges. A third test event will happen later this season, with the bulk of the work over the summer likely to centre on improving the pitch and making the stadium more 'homely' before Everton's first competitive game in August. Meis expects to be in attendance for that match and for the Goodison atmosphere to translate across to the new waterfront site. 'Walking in, it feels so much bigger,' he said. 'There was always a fear that it wasn't going to fit (on the site), but now you walk in and it's just massive. Compared to Goodison, it feels huge, but it's also going to feel very intimate because it's so steep and we're so close to the pitch. 'I can't describe it (the feeling). I remember sketching (a design) on a napkin and, all of a sudden, it's there. It's magical. It feels like it just appears. 'That first Premier League game is going to be crazy. I can't wait, and it's great to see the club on a better footing. Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief because it could have been bad. Advertisement 'I can't say enough about the commitment of the club to do this. They could have picked sites that were easier and far less expensive, and so for all the ups and downs, I think the city and region will benefit from this.'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
BVB's Waldemar Anton played through injury in January, Sky reports
Waldemar Anton has revealed that he played through the pain barrier at the tail end of January, Sky Sports Germany reports. Life at Borussia Dortmund has been far from plain sailing for Anton, who signed from VfB Stuttgart for a fee of €22.5 million euros last summer. Former head coach Nuri Sahin saw the 28-year-old as a key figurehead in the heart of his defence until thigh problems and flu ruled the Uzbek-born German out of action for periods of the season. What was not known however, is that Anton battled through the 2-1 defeat to Bologna in the UEFA Champions League and the 2-2 draw against Werder Bremen with a torn muscle fiber. The centre-half played through the pain barrier on both occasions so as to not let the club or teammates down. Anton scored an unfortunate own-goal against his former employers Stuttgart in February. The German international has since been out-of-favour under new boss Niko Kovac. Perhaps a return to the starting lineup awaits in the not too distant future given his duel winning ratio of 66.5% leads the way at BVB, and ranks only second to Niklas Sule (94.19%) in pass accuracy with 93.65%.
The Guardian
10-02-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Dortmund's season is spiralling out of control after own goals on and off pitch
It had to be him. Waldemar Anton can't have relished changing ends at half-time on Saturday. The performance of Borussia Dortmund's big summer purchase had already captured the defender's time so far in Nord-Rhine Westphalia in microcosm, as his blind backpass led to former teammate Deniz Undav going one-on-one with Gregor Kobel Only a swift intervention from Emre Can preventing Anton's error from leading to a Stuttgart goal. When BVB moved from defending the Südtribune in the second period, it became even more uncomfortable for Anton. He was that bit physically closer to the away Stuttgart fans in the north-eastern corner of Signal Iduna Park and their jeers and boos became more audible. They had been furious when the Uzbek-born centre-back had left, not so long after Anton had extended his contract and spoken of his pride at becoming Stuttgart's captain. If the move north had come with a hefty bump in pay and status for Anton, it has so far been far from a resounding success and in a game in which Stuttgart created little of substance, his next inadvertent intervention felt almost inevitable. Five minutes into the second half Chris Führich crossed from the right and Anton slid to block, but the ball skewed from his challenge and inside Kobel's near post, giving Stuttgart the lead. In that corner the travelling fans, on their way to enjoying their fifth straight win over Dortmund, revelled in their former captain's discomfort. There was worse to come for Anton, and for Dortmund. Ten minutes later the ball dropped in Dortmund's penalty area at the feet at Serhou Guirassy, who like Anton made a lucrative move from last season's Bundesliga runners-up to BVB. The striker had time to clear but took too long, was dispossessed and eventually Jamie Leweling found a pass for Jeff Chabot of all people – Anton's replacement – to rattle in his first Stuttgart goal, which turned out to be the winner after Julian Brandt later pulled one back for the hosts. Months after Stuttgart were faced with the prospect of rebuilding without the two totems of their epochal season, Anton's and Guirassy's new club is tasked with a far more daunting reconstruction project. The symbolism of it was important because although this was another damaging result, it wasn't really about this, but about everything that led Dortmund to this point. This was the first game in charge for Niko Kovac, Nuri Sahin's replacement, who became the first BVB head coach not to win on his debut since Thomas Doll in March 2007. Kovac, like Doll, might privately wonder what he was reasonably expected to do on such short notice. His first steps in charge of his fourth Bundesliga club were broadly positive despite the result, with BVB looking more engaged, intense and compact. 'We controlled the game,' Kovac told Sky. 'We just had to score. We shouldn't have left the pitch as losers.' Yet as so often in the recent past, a lack of poise at both ends of the field cost Dortmund. It is tempting to suggest that no clarity in the boardroom means precious little on the pitch. Kovac should have been the headline here but he was overshadowed not only by the misadventures of Anton and Guirassy but by the midweek exit of Sven Mislintat, the transfer guru whose presence has stoked discord almost from the moment he returned to the club for a second spell. The internal relief at Mislintat's departure was made clear with BVB's official statement last Thursday, 29 words of text that you would struggle to match for curtness. Those on-edge vibes will not end with Mislintat's exit, as the ostentatious billboard advertising for controversial club sponsor Rheinmetall underlined. Six points behind Stuttgart with 13 games to go should not be fatal in itself to hopes of returning to the Champions League. But there is nothing in the ether to suggest BVB are capable of summoning the consistency to hunt their rivals down (and not just Stuttgart – Sunday's win for RB Leipzig against St Pauli putting them into fourth, a further point ahead). Bayern Munich 3-0 Werder Bremen Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Stuttgart Mainz 0-0 Augsburg Freiburg 1-0 Heidenheim Hoffenheim 0-4 Union Berlin Wolfsburg 0-0 Bayer Leverkusen Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt Holstein Kiel 2-2 Bochum RB Leipzig 2-0 St Pauli Stuttgart are a useful yardstick, though. This is also a huge club with a storied past that lived in administrative chaos for years, and is showing that reorganisation is a clear route to improved performance, whatever the budget. They get past the departure of key players because the approach, upstairs and downstairs (with the excellent Sebastian Hoeness on the bench) is consistent. Dortmund's stars, be it Guirassy with his goals this season or Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham in the recent past, merely paper over the cracks. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion If Kovac can lift the mood and make Dortmund competitive again, in the Bundesliga and with a Champions League playoff against Sporting on the horizon, it would be quite the achievement. It will be hard, with the schedule against the new coach as much as the situation. 'Because we play every three or four days, we have a lot of video study ahead of us,' Kovac underlined. He is a coach who is good at getting his players to focus on the basics, which is all that can be done now to try and arrest a season which has spiralled out of control. The dynamics of next week's huge face-off between Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich changed with this weekend's results; Bayern winning 3-0 against Werder Bremen on Friday night with a pair of Harry Kane penalties and Leverkusen only managing a goalless draw at Wolfsburg means that the gap at the top is now eight points. Leverkusen couldn't really afford to lose before and now, perhaps, they have a near obligation to win. The schedule is the X-factor here, with Bayern facing a Champions League trip to Celtic on Wednesday. Leverkusen's own midweek exertions were clear in an uncharacteristically flat performance at Wolfsburg after Wednesday's effort in the Pokal quarter-final comeback against second-tier rivals Köln, with a trademark 96th-minute Patrik Schick leveller and an extra-time winner by Victor Boniface needed to seal the deal. A record-equalling run of 27 unbeaten away games was scant consolation after Florian Wirtz missed a sitter to score the winner in stoppage time (which, in fairness, he brilliantly created for himself). Xabi Alonso defended his decision to use Wirtz only as a substitute after his 120 minutes against Köln. 'I take full responsibility,' said the Spaniard. Hoffenheim must be thrilled with BVB's struggles as they overshadow their own status as the league's crisis club. Head coach Christian Ilzer has seen his team win one out of 10 Bundesliga games, also exiting the Pokal and Europe. The league is the main worry, though, now. They are just four points above the relegation playoff spot, and morale is on the floor. 'If we play the way we did today,' warned Marius Bülter after the 4-0 home hammering by Union Berlin, 'we won't win another game this season.'
Russia Today
09-02-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Russian tycoon scores victory in legal battle against Western media
Russian metals and telecoms tycoon Alisher Usmanov has won another lawsuit in his sizable legal wrangle with Western media outlets. A regional court in Germany has banned a local news daily from disseminating 'false' statements about the billionaire, RBK reported on Sunday, citing Usmanov's press office. The Berlin-based publication Tagesspiegel, controlled by the German publisher DvH Medien, has been barred from spreading a series of false and defamatory claims about the Uzbek-born businessman. The ruling, a copy of which was obtained by the outlet, was made by the Hamburg Regional Court on February 3. Failing to comply will reportedly result in a fine of up to €250,000 ($258,000) per violation or imprisonment for up to two years for repeated breaches, the media outlet noted. The litigation was reportedly focused on a piece by Andrey Popov titled 'A Fan of Germany and a Friend of Putin: Who is the Russian Oligarch Alisher Usmanov?' published by Tagesspiegel in November 2024. The article contained a number of allegations, including claims about assets in Germany purportedly owned by the mogul along with accusations that he used his unproved connections with Russian authorities to boost his fortune. The piece was deleted shortly after a request from Usmanov's lawyer, EU Today noted, but the newspaper continued to spread the claims, forcing the businessman to seek legal redress. The latest ruling specifically bans the statements alleging that the businessman 'was able to buy up major Soviet-era assets at bargain prices in exchange for services and cooperation with the authorities,' as well as claims that 'the foundation of his prosperity was securing large and highly lucrative government contracts without real competition—such as in the construction sector.' READ MORE: German judge backs Russian tycoon over US media giant Moreover, the court prohibited the newspaper from further claims about property on Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria or the yacht Dilbar, allegedly owned by Usmanov, after Tagesspiegel failed to provide any evidence proving the ownership of the property. The court ruling, described by Usmanov's attorneys as 'a landmark decision,' is not the first victory clinched by the billionaire in his legal battle against Western media giants spreading misinformation about him. A year ago, the District Court of Hamburg in Germany banned Forbes magazine from disseminating statements about his alleged connection to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In October 2024, Usmanov filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor's office in the German city of Cologne seeking to hold Hans-Joachim Seppelt, a journalist with the German TV channel ARD, criminally liable for claims that the tycoon was behind a scheme to manipulate referees during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Media holding Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) that runs the broadcaster had previously admitted that the reports were libelous. The businessman, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $14.9 billion, was placed under EU sanctions over the alleged ties to Putin shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Usmanov attempted to challenge Brussels' decision to blacklist him, but his appeal has been dismissed.
