Rangers striker Jermain Defoe has thanked fans for their concern after he was involved in a car crash following Saturday’s 5-0 win against Aberdeen.
Defoe said he was “still a bit in shock” after the collision near the Clyde Tunnel in Glasgow but was not hurt.
He posted a clip on social media after the smash on Balshagray Avenue at around 6pm.
The former Tottenham forward had earlier scored in the victory over Aberdeen at Ibrox.
Defoe thanked fans for their messages on Instagram, adding: “I’m fine, I’m all good, I’m just going to go home and rest up.
“Still a bit in shock but I’m all good. Thank you for all your messages again.”
Rangers said on Twitter: “#RangersFC can confirm there was a collision earlier this evening involving striker @IAmJermainDefoe and we are happy and relieved to say that no one was seriously injured.”
Raheem Sterling has come to the defence of Manchester City team-mate Bernardo Silva after the Portuguese faced accusations of racism this week.
Midfielder Silva came under fire over a controversial tweet to City colleague Benjamin Mendy in which he posted pictures comparing the Frenchman, with whom he also played at Monaco, to the character on a packet of Conguitos chocolates.
Anti-discrimination body Kick It Out called on the Football Association to take action, referring to the contents of the post as a racist stereotype, while the governing body has been in contact with City requesting their observations.
Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy were both on the bench at Everton on Saturday (Peter Byrne/PA)
Silva has since written to the FA expressing regret at any unintentional offence his tweet caused and, in the wake of City’s 3-1 win over Everton on Saturday night, Sterling showed his support for the Portugal international.
“It’s a situation that no one needs at this moment in time. It’s a situation between two friends, Bernardo and Mendy as everyone knows,” the England forward told Sky Sports.
“I can see exactly the point where some people can get touchy-feely on it, but I feel in that situation Bernardo made a joke to his friend.
“He’s not referred to his skin colour, he’s not referred to his lips in both pictures, they’ve both got small heads and the most important thing for me is that he didn’t refer to a colour.”
Raheem Sterling has defended Bernardo Silva (Peter Byrne/PA)
Silva could face a ban if found guilty of discriminatory behaviour, but Sterling does not believe that is the case.
He said: “We all know, Benjamin knows, everyone can see that Mendy is a black lad. We’ve got to be proud to be black as well. If someone refers to our skin colour with an image, I’d be upset about that – we know what skin colour we are.
“But he hasn’t referred to his skin colour, that’s the most important thing I feel about the situation. It’s really sad to see someone like Bernardo, the whole week, be kind of down about it because he’s not that way inclined.
“They’re two really good friends, it’s sad to see. I can understand where the criticism has come, but I don’t feel it was intentional of trying to be racist and that’s not because they’re my team-mates, it’s just how I view them.
“Bernardo’s deeply sorry about it. He’s not in the wrong for me, but at the same time I can see why people think it’s wrong and we’ve got to be smarter on social media. In this day and age anything you say can be judged and it’s a really sad situation.
“I haven’t really been looking into the newspapers. I’ve seen the situation but the club, as I always would believe, would handle the situation right and I feel the sooner the better the FA can understand there was no intent to be discriminatory, there’s not one moment he uses a negative term to talk about his skin colour.
“He tried to make a joke, it wasn’t the best one but we’ve got to move on and understand that it wasn’t intentional.”
KUALA LUMPUR: Keputusan tuan rumah Sukan SEA ke-30, Filipina yang bertindak memindahkan beberapa venue pertandingan ke Manila pada saat-saat akhir, jelas menimbulkan rasa tidak puas hati Ketua Kontinjen Malaysia ke Sukan SEA, Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin.
Beliau mendapat maklumat bahawa Filipina telah memindahkan beberapa venue pertandingan dari kluster Clark ke Manila, sekali gus bakal memberi kesan kepada pergerakan kontinjen negara bertanding, kerana ibu negara Filipina itu telah sedia sesak.
Pada masa yang sama, Megat Zulkarnain turut mendakwa Filipina masih belum mengedarkan buku panduan teknikal (technical handbook) dalam beberapa acara sukan yang sepatutnya sudah diedarkan kepada negara bertanding, sekali gus bakal mengundang masalah kepada atlet dan pegawai, membuat persediaan lebih awal sebelum hari pertandingan.
Sehubungan itu, beliau menegaskan Malaysia akan membangkitkan isu berkenaan pada mesyuarat Ketua Kontinjen Sukan SEA 2019 di Manila pada pertengahan bulan depan.
“Saya telah maklumkan kepada pengurus pasukan (kontinjen negara) untuk bersedia secara mental, kerana kita tidak tahu apa yang akan berlaku (apabila berada di Filipina), dan saya masih ada kepercayaan tinggi, bahawa akan ada venue baharu yang mereka (Filipina) cuba cadangkan,” katanya selepas melawat skuad skuasy kebangsaan di Pusat Skuasy Nasional, Bukit Jalil, di sini, pada Jumaat.
Sementara itu, Megat Zulkarnain berkata, atlet negara akan menikmati makanan yang sedia dimasak di sepanjang menyertai Sukan SEA ke-30, selepas Filipina gagal memberi jaminan penyediaan makanan halal untuk temasya sukan berkenaan.
Katanya perkara berkenaan telah dipersetujui Majlis Sukan Negara, Institut Sukan Negara, dan ia turut dimaklumkan kepada pengurus sukan yang akan terlibat pada Sukan SEA nanti.
“Saya tidak percaya mereka (Filipina) boleh menyelesaikan isu makanan halal dengan betul, dan sebab itu kita ambil keputusan untuk selesaikan sendiri, iaitu dengan membawa sendiri makanan halal dari negara ini.
“Di situ, saya fikir tidak ada masalah akan timbul terutamanya isu doping dan masalah lain,” tegas Megat Zulkarnain.
Untuk rekod, Filipina bakal mempertandingkan 56 acara di tiga kluster iaitu Manila, Clark dan Subic dari 30 Nov sehingga 11 Dis.
SHEFFIELD –Liverpool akan bertandang ke markas Sheffield United di pekan ketujuh Liga Inggris 2019-2020, Sabtu (28/9/2019) malam WIB. Poin penuh menjadi target The Reds –julukan Liverpool– guna melanjutkan rekor belum terkalahkan mereka sekaligus mengukuhkan posisi di puncak klasemen musim ini.
Pelatih Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, mengaku sudah tak sabar menghadapi tim promosi dari divisi Championship tersebut. Posisi Liverpool dan Sheffield United di klasemen sementara musim ini memang terpaut cukup jauh. Pasukan Jurgen Klopp kukuh di puncak klasemen dengan raihan 18 poin. Sementara, Sheffield berjuang di posisi ke-10 dengan koleksi delapan poin.
Kendati begitu, Liverpool jelas tak boleh menganggap remeh sang lawan. Pasalnya, mereka menjadi salah satu tim yang berhasil menahan imbang Chelsea di Stamford Bridge musim ini.
“Sungguh luar biasa apa yang dilakukan Chris di sana (divisi Championship), saya menantikan untuk bertemu dengannya, jujur. Ini akan menjadi pertama kalinya kami bertemu satu sama lain. Pada periode analisis Anda selalu melihat banyak hal tentang tim itu, sangat menarik apa yang mereka lakukan,” ujar Klopp, melansir dari laman resmi Liverpool, Sabtu (29/9/2019).
“Mereka melakukannya dengan sangat baik dalam sistem yang mereka mainkan, benar-benar agresif, tekanan bagus dan kemudian ketika mereka memiliki bola ada pola yang sedikit menarik ketika bagian tengah tumpang tindih siapa pun yang ada di sana, pemain sayap atau apa pun. Itu menarik,” lanjut Klopp.
“Karena saya banyak mengikuti perkembangan kompetisi ini dan saya tahu betapa kompetitifnya liga ini. Promosi seperti yang mereka lakukan, melawan tim-tim seperti Leeds dan Derby tahun lalu, ini adalah hal yang besar. Yang pasti, pelatih yang sangat hebat dan saya menantikan untuk menghadapi timnya,” tandasnya.
Stoke City manager Nathan Jones reacts during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Bet365 Stadium, Stoke.
Under-fire Stoke boss Nathan Jones made it clear he was “not going to hang around if I’m not wanted” after witnessing his side stretch their winless SkyBet Championship streak to 15 matches after a 3-2 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Jones, who edged a step closer to the sack with this latest loss, again slated errors for City’s downfall that came despite a positive start in which summer signing Lee Gregory netted his first goal for the club in the 10th minute.
But another mistake from goalkeeper Jack Butland – his sixth this season that have all led to goals and with Joe Lolley the latest grateful recipient – gave Forest a way back into the game just before half-time.
The victory was completed via second-half strikes from Sammy Ameobi and Lewis Grabban, with James McClean’s 84th-minute header too little too late.
Describing himself as “a big, bold, strong character”, Jones is not prepared to fall on his sword despite his side’s wretched run of form.
“I don’t think there was much wrong with the performance apart from the errors, three big errors, and that’s been the same for the nine games (in the league this season),” said Jones.
“Look, I speak to the board regularly. If anyone thinks I can’t change this then I’ve got no problem. I know it’s a results-based business so I’m not going to hang around if I’m not wanted.
“But I know we do good work, great work. Yet there has to come a point where certain people have to take responsibility.
“I will take responsibility for anything, I have to. I work hard, long hours, we’re thorough, we pick sides to win games, front-footed sides.
“I believe I’m doing my job but I’m not getting results – which ultimately is what it’s about.”
The win for a Forest side – now unbeaten in the league since the opening game of the season – fired the club to the top of the table, yet manager Sabri Lamouchi is baffled by what he sees as his side’s lack of confidence.
Lamouchi said: “I’m satisfied with the three goals, the three points and the fact we’re top of the league, but we need to do more with the performance.
“By chance, we came back into the game, and the second half was good for us but we never controlled the game and we made a lot of mistakes, gave away a lot of chances which led to critical situations.
“We cannot suffer like this. With the ball, we have a lot of great players and I am happy to work with them, but they need to play with more confidence, to learn to enjoy more on the pitch.
“They need to trust in the quality they have. We must play much better than we did tonight.”
KUALA LUMPUR: Industri e-sukan semakin mendapat perhatian termasuk dari golongan wanita yang dilihat makin hebat dalam pentas sukan maya ini.
Terbaharu, sebuah pasukan yang terdiri daripada lapan ‘bidarari’ yang dikenali sebagai Angel Bosskurr telah ditubuhkan.
Memetik laporan WTM Today, pengasas bersama pasukan tersebut, Sharina Richie berkata tujuannya ialah untuk memperkasakan serta memberi kesedaran kepada umum mengenai penglibatan wanita dalam industri e-sukan.
“Ketika ini memang banyak stigma mengenai pemain wanita apabila mereka bermain video atau melakukan penstriman langsung. Ada yang akan akan merendah-rendahkan kemampuan wanita.
“Kami di Angel Bosskurr ingin menunjukkan ada masa depan bagi kaum Hawa dalam industri e-sukan ini, sama ada dalam bidang kompetitif atau sebagai pempengaruh,” katanya sebagai dipetik portal e-sukan tersebut.
Jelas Sharina, Angel Bosskurr juga akan dibahagikan kepada dua kategori iaitu, kompetitif dan pempengaruh (influencer).
Pempengaruh (Influencer) * Fiera Fendi * Sharina Richie * Miza Mazlan * Susan Not
Tambahnya, antara program Angel Bosskurr termasuk menyebarkan ‘aura positif’ terutama menerusi program kembali kepada komuniti.
“Contohnya, sebelum ini saya juga pernah mengadakan program amal bersama kanak-kanak Down Syndrome dan autisme kerana adik saya, jadi saya juga mahu melakukan bersama Angel Bosskurr,” katanya.
Dalam pada itu, Sharina turut memaklumkan, penggunaan nama Bosskurr bukanlah kerana ia viral atau ada kaitan dengan mana-mana fahaman politik.
Katanya, mereka telah menggunakan perkataan Bosskurr sejak dahulu lagi dalam komunikasi harian antara pemain memandangkan kebanyakan mereka dari Sabah.
Malah, jelasnya penggunaan Bosskurr telah menjadi sebagai budaya tutur dalam kalangan pemain dan penggiat e-sukan terutama bagi penyokong Bosskurr Gaming, yang merupakan penaung skuad tersebut.
Sebelum ini, desas-desus mengenai penubuhan Angel Bosskurr telah pun didedahkan menerusi portal e-sukan tempatan, WTM Today pada 15 September lalu.
Menurut portal tersebut, sebuah akaun media sosial Instagram yang menggunakan nama ‘Angel Bosskurr’ telah dicipta dan dimuat naik logonya dengan kapsyen akan mendedahkan ahli-ahli pasukan tersebut.
