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Football: Messi misses training again with thigh injury

BARCELONA (REUTERS) – Barcelona captain Lionel Messi sat out Friday’s (June 5) training session as he has a small thigh strain, the Spanish champions said.

Barca returned to full training on Monday for the first time in three months ahead of the Spanish season re-starting on June 11 after being halted since March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Messi took part in the first two training sessions of the week but was absent from Wednesday’s session, while the team enjoyed a day off on Thursday.

The Catalans said Messi was expected to return to training in the next few days, meaning he should be available when Barca resume their bid to defend the title away to Real Mallorca on June 13.

“The Barca captain has a small strain in his right thigh muscle,” the club said in a statement.

“This Friday he did specific work to avoid any risks because our first La Liga match is eight days away. He is expected to return to working with the group in the next few days.”

Barca, who are targeting a third consecutive Spanish title, lead Real Madrid by two points with 11 matches remaining.

Messi is the leading scoring in La Liga with 19 goals.

Tennis: World No. 1 Barty wary of US Open return

SYDNEY (AFP) – World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty voiced caution on Friday (June 5) about resuming tennis too soon, saying she needed more information before committing to the US Open in August.

The Australian, who surged to the top of the rankings last year and has stayed there since, said it was not just her but her entire team she must consider in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s exciting that tennis is being talked about again and things are moving in the right direction for us to start competing,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“But I’d need to understand all of the information and advice from the WTA and the USTA before making a decision on the US events.”

The WTA and ATP schedules have been on ice since March with action not set to resume until the end of July at the earliest.

Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II, while the French Open has been shifted from May-June to September-October.

A decision about the US Open in New York, which has been a hotbed for the virus, is yet to be made, but its main draw is scheduled to begin on Aug 31 to Sept 13.

Barty said she was concerned about travel exemptions for her support staff.

While players could be exempt from a 14-day quarantine period, it remains unclear whether that also applies to their teams.

“It’s not just me, it’s my team I have to consider,” she said.

On Thursday, Rafael Nadal insisted tennis should not start again “until the situation is completely safe”.

“If you told me to play the US Open today, I would say ‘no’,” said the Spaniard, who captured a fourth US Open and 19th major in New York last year.

“In a few months, I don’t know. I hope so. We have to wait for people to return to normal life. And when it does, wait to see how the virus evolves.”

Coronavirus: No tennis ‘until it’s completely safe’, says Nadal

PARIS (AFP) – Rafael Nadal insisted on Thursday (June 4) tennis “cannot resume until the situation is completely safe” and if the US Open was being played this week, he wouldn’t take part.

World number two Nadal, who captured a fourth US Open and 19th major in New York last year, said he remained convinced the coronavirus pandemic still casts huge doubts over the tennis calendar which has been suspended since mid-March.

“We cannot resume until the situation is completely safe and fair in terms of health in that all players, wherever they come from, can travel and play tournaments in safe conditions,” Nadal told reporters in a video conference call.

“If you told me to play the US Open (scheduled to start on Aug 24) today, I would say no.

“In a few months, I don’t know. I hope so. We have to wait for people to return to normal life. And when it does, wait to see how the virus evolves.

“It’s very difficult for me to separate what the world is experiencing from my point of view on tennis, that’s why I was very pessimistic a few weeks ago.”

The ATP and WTA schedules have been on ice since March with action not set to resume until the end of July at the earliest.

Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II, while the French Open has been shifted to September/October.

In normal times, the Roland Garros event would have been deep into its second week by now with Nadal expected to win the Paris trophy for the 13th time.

The US Open remains on the schedule but there are still doubts over whether or not it will take place with New York being the epicentre of the Covid-19 crisis in the United States.

Football: Chelsea set to sign Germany forward Werner, says Sky Sports

LONDON (REUTERS) – Chelsea have agreed a deal in principle to sign Germany striker Timo Werner from Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, Sky Sports said on Thursday (June 4).

The report added that Werner has a €55 million release clause which expires on June 15 and that Premier League club Chelsea had offered the 24-year-old a contract worth £200,000 a week.

Werner is second-top scorer in the Bundesliga this season with 25 goals, four behind Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski.

He has made 29 appearances for Germany, scoring 11 times.

Basketball: NBA to return as board approves return-to-play plan

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The NBA’s board of governors approved a return-to-play plan on Thursday (June 4), paving the way for the league to resume in Florida following a three-month coronavirus shutdown.

ESPN and The Athletic reported that a proposal put to the league’s board which will see 22 teams based at a single location had passed comfortably.

Twenty-nine teams voted in favour of the return-to-play plan, with Portland the lone vote against.

Under the NBA’s proposals, the league would resume on July 31 with 22 teams based at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando to minimise the threat of Covid-19.

Playoffs would take place in August, with the NBA Finals set to be completed by Oct 12.

The league has also pencilled in a provisional Dec 1 start date for the 2020-2021 season.

The NBA suspended its season on March 11 as the Covid-19 pandemic erupted, leaving professional sport in North America at a standstill.

Sixteen teams occupying the playoff berths in the Western and Eastern Conferences will be joined by six more teams to determine the final playoff line-up.

Each of the 22 teams will play eight regular-season games for seeding purposes for the postseason.

The league plans for teams to start training camps in their home cities on June 30 before travelling to Orlando on July 7.

The league wants to have daily testing and if a player tests positive he would be isolated and quarantined.

The others would carry on playing while still being tested on a daily basis.

This year’s regular season was halted abruptly after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive.

Gobert, of France, was given the all-clear about two weeks later.

So far, less than a dozen NBA players have been confirmed as testing positive for the coronavirus although not all have been identified.

Football: Premier League agrees five substitutes for season restart

Premier League clubs will be able to use five substitutes, rather than the usual three, when the season resumes on June 17, it was announced on Thursday (June 4).

The change was decided during a virtual meeting of the league’s shareholders, where broadcast enhancements were also discussed to compensate for the absence of supporters at games.

The increase in substitutions will be temporary to mitigate the packed schedule clubs will have after a three-month suspension to the season caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are 92 outstanding fixtures with the majority of teams facing nine matches in a six-week period.

“For the remainder of the 2019/20 season, the number of substitutes that can be used during a match will increase from three to five players,” a Premier League statement said after a meeting of shareholders on Thursday.

“This is in line with the temporary law amendment made by the International Football Association Board last month.”

Clubs will be able to have nine substitutes on the bench, up from the usual seven.

The games are expected to be held on the normal “home and away” basis, with only a handful of fixtures possibly being moved to neutral venues if authorities believe there may be a risk of fans turning up outside the ground.

Clubs also discussed possible “broadcast enhancements” to allow television to have additional material to liven up the coverage of games without fans.

Reports have suggested that cameras on the bench, in the dressing room and extra ones in the tunnel could be allowed along with sound of the coin toss before the game.

The league’s Broadcast Enhancement Advisory Group have been looking at how to compensate for the lack of atmosphere.

The broadcasters themselves have been examining possible changes they could make, including a possible option for ‘enhanced audio’ featuring crowd noises.

One option under consideration is for TV viewers to be given a choice of the natural sound in the stadium or, via a button, a version with recorded crowd noise.

No decision was made and the league is also ironing out the details of the first batch of fixture dates.

The games are expected to be spread out with one scenario envisaging two matches on Friday evening, four on Saturday, three on Sunday and the regular Monday night slot. No games would be played simultaneously.

Football: Love on the rocks with new manager David Wagner on the brink at slumping Schalke

BERLIN (REUTERS) – It was supposed to be a marriage made in heaven when David Wagner took over at success-starved Schalke 04 at the start of the season but if their recent slump continues, they could soon be heading for a messy divorce.

Wagner, a former Borussia Dortmund youth coach during Jurgen Klopp’s time there, was hailed as one of the game’s brightest talents after guiding Huddersfield to the English Premier League in 2017 and keeping them there the following season.

Arriving at Schalke, who are without a German championship title since 1958, the 48-year-old was tasked with stabilising the side after years of roller-coaster campaigns.

The German had a bright start, guiding the team to fourth place and ahead of Bayern Munich after the first 15 matches and letting the fans dream of a Champions League place.

But the honeymoon period was short.

When the league resumed in January, Schalke had lost their ability to score, notching five goals and just one win in 12 matches.

A two-month break due to the Covid-19 pandemic has done nothing to reverse their fortunes, with Schalke losing all four games and scoring just once since the May 16 restart.

The loss of Germany international Suat Serdar for the remainder of the season due to injury was a further blow.

Their free fall since the winter break has seen them tumble to 10th place, all but eliminating any chance of European competition next season.

Just 10 days ago, club bosses were moved to guarantee that Wagner, whose contract runs out in 2022, would still be in charge next season but last week’s 1-0 home loss to relegation-threatened Werder Bremen has ratcheted up the pressure.

“We have to start delivering other kinds of performances and we have to start immediately,” Schalke sports director Jochen Schneider said this week. “We have to stop presenting ourselves in this victim role.”

Wagner will be hoping the turnaround starts at Union Berlin on Sunday (June 7).

Olympics: Japan to explore ‘simplified’ 2021 Games, says Tokyo governor

coronavirus testing and having fewer spectators, were being considered by organisers.

John Coates, the head of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) inspectorate for Tokyo, has said a lack of a defence against the new coronavirusthreatened the Games and organisers had to start planning for what could be a “very different” Olympics if there were no signs of Covid-19 being eradicated.

Koike did not go into details but said such discussions were necessary.

“Holding the Olympic and Paralympic Games calls for sympathy and understanding of Tokyoites and the Japanese people,” Koike told reporters.

“For that, we need to rationalise what needs to be rationalised and simplify what needs to be simplified.”

The Yomiuri, citing government and organising committee sources, said making Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests mandatory for all spectators – in addition to athletes and staff – and limiting movement in and out of the athletes village were among the options Japan would discuss with the IOC.

The IOC and Japanese government in March took the unprecedented decision to delay the Games, which had been due to start in July, for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A further delay beyond 2021 has been ruled out.

The new coronavirus has infected more than 6.4 million people and killed about 380,000 around the world. Japan has avoided the kind of explosive outbreak seen in countries such as the United States and Brazil, with about 17,000 infections and 900 known deaths to date.

Coronavirus: NBA targets mid-October finish to virus-hit campaign

(REUTERS) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) has targeted Oct 12 as the last possible date to complete the 2019-20 season, which has been on hold since mid-March because of the Covid-19 pandemic, ESPN reported on Tuesday (June 2).

The report, which was based on unnamed sources, said a timeline shared with teams showed Oct 12 as the latest the best-of-seven NBA Finals could finish and a proposal would go to a vote of the league’s board of governors on Thursday.

The NBA Finals typically conclude around mid-June.

Both the NBA and players’ association were still discussing details on a return-to-play format, the report said.

The NBA was the first North American sports league to suspend its season due to the Covid-19 pandemic after one of its players tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-March.

Last month, the NBA said it was in talks with The Walt Disney Company about restarting the season at Disney World in Florida in late July.

The plan would see games held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which is inside the Orlando resort and has hotels and three arenas, and would allow the league to limit outside exposure.

FIFA adds voice to protests over Floyd’s death

World soccer’s governing body FIFA has joined sports leagues, teams and players around the globe to express solidarity amid outrage over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody in the United States.

FIFA, an organisation that has had zero tolerance for players expressing personal views about politics, religion and social issues on the field, has asked competition organisers to use “common sense” with athletes who show messages of protest over Floyd’s death.

In a statement on Tuesday, the global soccer body said it “fully understands the depth of sentiment and concerns expressed by many footballers in light of the tragic circumstances of the George Floyd case”.

It added that applying the laws of the game was the responsibility of competition organisers, such as domestic leagues, who FIFA said “should use common sense and have in consideration the context surrounding the events.

“FIFA had repeatedly expressed itself to be resolutely against racism and discrimination of any kind… FIFA itself has promoted many anti-racism campaigns which frequently carry the anti-racism message at matches organised under its own auspices,” it added.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino later added that the protesting players deserved praise not punishment.