28/03/2026

SPORTS SATURDAY | MAR 28, 2026

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Mbappe on target … as France shrug off red card to beat Brazil K YLIAN MBAPPE moved to within one goal of equalling France’s all-time scoring record with the opener in a especially good news for coach Didier Deschamps, after the Real Madrid superstar recently returned from three weeks out with a knee injury. appointment as coach of the revered Ancelotti can make them serious contenders to claim a record-extend ing sixth title. Ancelotti said he was “half-satis fied” with yesterday’s result.

Title stripped, fury erupts as ‘most blatant scam’ claim rocks football

one back 12 minutes from time via a close-range finish by Juventus defender Gleison Bremer, but Les Bleus held on for a victory that will boost confidence two and a half months before the World Cup begins. They play Senegal, Norway and a play-off winner in the group stage. “I said beforehand that we couldn’t take too much away from this game. It wasn’t the World Cup final, but it showed we are in a good dynamic,” Mbappe told broadcaster TF1 . “We are creating lots of chances and we are looking a bit more solid even if we let in a goal at the end. We are moving forward and this will help us prepare for the World Cup.” The sight of captain Mbappe scor ing in trademark lethal fashion is

2-1 win over Brazil as two of the lead ing World Cup contenders faced off in a glamour friendly in the United States yesterday. Mbappe ran through to beat goal keeper Ederson with a chipped finish to give France the lead just after the half hour mark at the Gillette Stadium near Boston, home of NFL side the New England Patriots. France, World Cup winners in 2018 and runners-up in 2022, had defender Dayot Upamecano sent off early in the second half but shrugged that off to double their lead courtesy of Hugo Ekitike on 65 minutes. Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil did pull

The 27-year-old has now scored 56 goals in 95 appearances for his country, leaving him just one goal away from equalling the France record of 57 goals held by the recently-retired Olivier Giroud. Mbappe will have the chance to match, and perhaps surpass, that record when France play Colombia in the second friendly of this American tour, at the Northwest Stadium near Washington DC on Sunday. The Brazilians go into this year’s World Cup – in which they will face Morocco, Scotland and Haiti in the group stage – hoping the recent

S E N EGAL football boss Abdoulaye Fall yesterday labelled the decision to strip the country of its 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title the “most blatant administrative scam in the history of our sport”. But “Senegal refuses to accept this as inevitable”, the country’s football federation (FSF) president added dur ing a press conference held in Paris to introduce the team of lawyers appointed to defend Senegal’s “hon our” before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). On Wednesday, the FSF lodged an appeal with the CAS against the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) decision to overturn the result of the Afcon final after several Senegal players had walked off the pitch in protest at a penalty awarded to hosts Morocco, shortly after the west Africans had had a goal disallowed. The full Senegal team then retook the field, before going on to win 1-0 in extra-time courtesy of a Pape Gueye goal. “It is not only the integrity of African football but the integrity of the world of football that will be judged before the CAS,” said Juan de Dios Crespo-Perez, one of the Federation’s lawyers and a specialist in sports law and the CAS. “This is an attack on the federation, football, and sporting discipline,” added Seydou Diagne, who heads up the team of lawyers. He outlined Senegal’s case before the CAS, arguing that stripping them of their title would amount to “calling into question the referee’s decision and brazenly violating Laws 5 and 6 of the game”, which pertain to the refe ree and other match officials. “After what Morocco has managed to get the CAF to do, whether through surprise or malice, if the CAS allows it to go ahead, the next World Cup will be played out in law firms in Paris or the United States,” Diagne said. “There’ll be no point in setting up football academies. To get stars on the shirt, you’ll need lawyers,” he added, referring to the stars that denote a country’s victories in a particular tour nament. A third lawyer, Serge Vittoz of Switzerland, explained that proceed ings before the Lausanne-based CAS usually last between nine and 12 months. “The idea is to request an expe dited procedure. But for this expe dited procedure to be put in place, everyone must agree,” he said. “If there is an expedited procedure, we could expect a decision within two months.” For its part, the Senegalese gov ernment last week called for an inves tigation into allegations of corruption within CAF. French lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur has been tasked with“carrying out the necessary investigations that will one day allow me to tell you, and that day seems very close, that a complaint has been filed”, said the former president of the Paris Bar. According to the group of lawyers, Morocco have not, however, received the medals, the CAF prize money or the trophy, as requested by the North African country. – AFP

“When you lose a game, you should never be happy … The result isn’t the most important thing, but it does reveal what we did well and what we didn’t,” Ancelotti said. “In the overall context of the game, I am satisfied - because the team competed and fought, even scoring from a set piece, which is important. I am half-satisfied, but we certainly shouldn’t be happy with the result.” Ancelotti will now hope his team can bounce back when they take on Croatia in Orlando, Florida next Wednesday. – AFP

Gyokeres hattrick sends Sweden flying S WEDE N are 90 minutes from a place in the World Cup finals after striker Viktor Gyokeres scored a superb hattrick to sweep aside Ukraine yesterday and set up a winner-takes-all playoff game against Poland in Stockholm next Wednesday. Playing in their alternate kit of blue shirts, shorts and socks, the Swedes took an early lead when Benjamin Nygren flashed the ball across the box and Gyokeres was on hand to stab it into the net from close range in the sixth minute, rocking the Ukrainians back on their heels. The Ukrainians found themselves two goals down six minutes into the second half as Nordfeldt launched a long ball for Gyokeres, and he latched onto it and cut inside before unleashing a quick-fire shot that took Ukraine keeper Anatoliy Trubin by sur prise, flying past him and into the net. The game was effectively decided in the 71st minute when Gyokeres was again played in behind and Trubin felled him in the box to give away a pen alty and earn a yellow card, with the 27-year-old striker dusting himself off to complete his hattrick by blasting the resulting spot kick into the net. Ukraine grabbed a consolation goal through Matviy Ponomarenko in the 90th minute but that was as close as they came.

Sweden’s Viktor Gyökeres (right) is brought down by Ukraine’s Anatoliy Trubin (centre) during the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers semifinal clash at Ciutat de Valencia Stadium yesterday. – A FPP I C

Ecuador plea for Caicedo’s World Cup ban

Bosnia beat Wales in shootout

B O SN IA A N D HE R ZEGOVI N A’ S veteran striker Edin Dzeko scored a late equaliser before youngster Kerim Alajbegovic sealed a 4-2 pen alty shootout victory over Wales to reach the World Cup playofffinals yesterday after a 1-1 draw. Wales winger Daniel James opened the scoring for the hosts in the 51st minute after racing on to a loose ball and powering a thunder ous 25-metre shot past Bosnia keeper Nikola Vasilj. Bosnia came alive after that though and home keeper Karl Darlow made an incredible save to keep out a close-range header by Ermedin Demirovic but could do nothing when the 40-year-old Dzeko glanced in an 86th-minute equaliser. Wales dominated extra time but could not force a winner and in the end it was Bosnia’s teenager Alajbegovic who held his nerve to seal the shootout with an ice-cool spot kick to send the visiting fans

wild in the Cardiff City Stadium. Bosnia can now look forward to a home clash against Italy next Wednesday in the Path A final to secure a place at the World Cup for the second time after their debut in 2014. “Faith is everything. We believe in success and I am happy to have this group of guys” Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez said. “No matter what happens on Tuesday, we have the will to make this nation happy.” It was a familiar heartache for Wales two years to the day that they lost a Euro 2024 playoff final on pen alties against Poland and there was desolation in the stands at the end. “It’s tough to take, I thought we played really well. For them to get a late goal was gutting,” James said. “It wasn’t meant to be tonight, but the boys will be stronger for it.” Bosnia are now unbeaten against Wales in five games. – Reuters

ECUADO R Sebastian Beccacece said yesterday it would be “fair” for world football governing body Fifa to allow suspended mid fielder Moises Caicedo to play in their World Cup opener this summer. The Chelsea midfielder was sent off for two yellow cards in a 1-0 quali fying win against Argentina in September 2025, meaning he is banned for their clash against the Ivory Coast in the United States on June 14. The country’s football federation have asked Fifa to wipe the suspen sion according to Ecuadorian media reports. “If Moi plays in the opener I will be happy, one always wants to have play ers who have that leadership and that presence,” Beccacece told reporters. “I always said that I thought it was possible (for the sanction to be cleared) to review the matter because COACH

I know how Fifa operate.” Beccacece said it would be the right decision to allow the 24-year-old to feature. “I don’t know how close or far it is… but hopefully (it will happen), because I think it’s something that would be fair,” continued the coach, who said the red card was an “injus tice”. “It would be better, in these kind of situations, for the suspension to be served in the next qualifying cam paign, to me it’s completely logical and just common sense. “Since I know how Fifa is, and the people around it are very football minded, I always trusted this could happen – we’ll see if that intuition comes true.” Ecuador, who had a strong South American qualifying campaign and finished second, have reached back to-back World Cups. – AFP