Sports

AMMAN — Jordan’s Wihdat hope to go beyond the preliminary round when the face Saudi Arabia’s Ittihad Jeddah on Tuesday in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Champions League 2016.

Wihdat have been league champs for the past two seasons. This year the team’s fortunes have turned around upside down as they conceded the season opening 33rd Super Cup to rivals Faisali, and where eliminated from the Jordan Cup. Now Wihdat only have the league title in contention.

As Leg 2 restarted this week and clubs start their regional matches, Wihdat sought to revamp the team, signing new pros and hope to compete for local and regional titles.

“We have spared no effort to put the team back on track. We aim to compete for advanced positions in the local and Asian competitions,” coach Hisham Abdul Mun’em told the media ahead of the team’s departure.

In addition to the Asian Champions League (ACL), Jordan’s Wihdat and Faisali will represent the Kingdom in the AFC Cup this season and matches are scheduled to kick off on February 23. If Wihdat advance past the ACL preliminary round, Jazira will replace them in the AFC Cup.

As league champs, Wihdat were Jordan’s representative in the ACL — the premier Asian competition — last year as well and were knocked out in the preliminary round by former titleholders Kuwait’s Qadissieh. In 2014, Shabab Urdun were eliminated by Bahrain’s Al Hidd.

In 2015, Jordanian teams were absent from advanced stages of Asian competitions as Wihdat and Jazira were knocked out of the AFC Cup Round of 16. While it was the first time for Jazira, who finished runner-up in the Jordan League and participated in the event after two-time AFC Cup champs Faisali declined, Wihdat were hoping to advance and win the AFC Cup for the first time after taking part eight times. 

In 2014, Jordan Cup champs That Ras exited the Round of 16 in their inaugural AFC participation, while former AFC Cup champs Shabab Urdun exited in Round 1. 

The second-tier Asian club competition was won by Syria’s Jeish in its inaugural 2004 edition. Jordan’s Faisali won titles in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007.

The Golden State Warriors showed why they are considered the best team in the NBA. Then it all fell apart and it nearly cost them a monster home winning streak.

Guard Klay Thompson hit a key three-pointer with 1:40 remaining as the Golden State Warriors erased a nine-point deficit, blew a 20-point lead and outlasted the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-108 on Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

“In the third quarter we got careless,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I thought we just kind of took our foot off the pedal for a bit, settled for careless possessions, stopped moving and cutting. And they did a great job.

“Obviously that’s an explosive team. So we opened the door a crack and they marched through.”

Thompson finished with 18 points on 8 of 15 shooting but was just 1 of 6 on three-pointers.

His only connection seemed to make the deficit just too much for the Thunder (38-14), giving the Warriors a 110-104 lead and coming 19 seconds after forward Kevin Durant missed a potential game-tying three-pointer.

Guard Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 26 points despite missing seven of eight three-pointers. He made 10 of 25 shots overall and also handed out 10 assists.

Durant led the Thunder with 40 points and point guard Russell Westbrook added 27. Westbrook also had 12 assists but did not come close to another triple-double, finishing with only three rebounds.

Before Thompson’s clutch three-pointer, Oklahoma City centre Enes Kanter tied the game at 104-104 with 3:25 to play on a fadeway but the Warriors (46-4) finished with a 12-4 run and notched their 41st straight home victory.

“I thought we closed it out the right way,” said Warriors forward Draymond Green, who filled the stat sheet with nine points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

“Obviously losing the lead, I don’t think we blew it, they made plays, which is expected from a good team like that. But the way we closed it out down the stretch and that was key.

“We made the plays today we needed to make. We’re a resilient and competitive team. We’re trying to get better each and every time we step on the floor.”

Green grabbed a couple of huge rebounds late. With 2:47 left, he got a rebound on Durant’s missed three-pointer that led to a Curry layup.

Then with 1:18 left and the Warriors clinging to a 110-106 lead, he grabbed an offensive board off Curry’s missed 3-pointer that resulted with a Curry layup that gave the Warriors a 112-106 lead with 54 seconds left.

“It was just a hustle play,” Green said. “I saw Steph shoot and once it almost went in, I still crashed the glass and it popped out and was able to get a hand on it and chase it down. Got to be able to make those kind of plays down the stretch.”

Forward Harrison Barnes added 19 points for Golden State while reserves Marreese Speights added 15 and Shaun Livingston had 10. The Warriors’ reserves outscored Oklahoma City’s second unit 42-17.

The Thunder had just two first-half bench points compared to the Warriors’ 23. And it was a crucial second quarter that saw the Warriors claim a 20-point lead at 60-40 when Speights hit a free throw before Curry hit a jumper in the final seconds for a 73-59 halftime lead.

Oklahoma City chipped away at that lead via the free-throw line. The Thunder connected on 29 of 37 free throws with Durant going 13 of 13 from the line.

Defensively, the Thunder threw some fits at the Warriors in the third quarter. They held Golden State to just 18 points that included a 9 of 26 shooting drought. They also kept the Warriors from making a three-pointer — one of the backbones to their offense.

The Thunder kept the pressure on in the fourth and got it to under double-digits — at 99-90 — when Kanter made a reverse layup with 7:20 left. Kanter picked up the bench slack in the second half. He scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half and grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds.

FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali announced that the Liberia soccer federation has pledged its vote to him.

Liberia follows Egypt as the second African voter to pledge to vote for Prince Ali since the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) leadership endorsed Asian confederation President Sheikh Salman of Bahrain on Friday.

The CAF executive committee urged the 54 African voters among FIFA's 209-strong membership to back the sheikh in the February 26 election.

Prince Ali's campaign team on Saturday published a three-page letter of endorsement signed by Liberia federation President Musa Bility.

Bility writes that Prince Ali "represents real change" while other candidates are "not even prepared to criticise" the FIFA system.

On Friday, CAF endorsed Sheikh Salman, calling on its 54 voting members to cast ballots to him in Zurich later in the month.

Reporting from Kigali, Reuters said this makes Salman and Swiss Gianni Infantino “clear front-runners” to win the presidential election at soccer's ruling body FIFA, which has been embroiled in a huge corruption scandal that has seen 41 people and entities indicted by the US Department of Justice.

The governing body of football in Africa, which has 54 full voting members, said Asian Football Confederation President Salman was its preferred candidate for the poll that will determine who succeeds Swiss Sepp Blatter.

"CAF will give full support to Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa towards his candidacy for the FIFA presidency," Vice-President Suketu Patel told reporters before declining to answer questions.

The decision was a big blow for South African candidate Tokyo Sexwale who will remain in the race despite having come under pressure to withdraw.

According to Reuters, Salman already has the backing of his own Asian confederation while Infantino, general secretary of UEFA, has the support of his European organisation along with the 10-member South American confederation CONMEBOL.

The FIFA poll will be a secret ballot and the support of executive committees for candidates does not necessarily translate into a united block of votes.

Stand down plea

Sexwale, who looked upset as he huddled with his advisers after Friday's meeting, will remain in the race despite being asked by CAF officials to stand down.

"They did ask 'can you stay back?' and my answer was I recommend that they should not consider me today so that they should not have a difficult decision to make, and for the sake of unity," the South African told reporters.

"But certainly in the race I remain. I still stand, I go to Zurich," he added, noting that individual associations would make their own decisions.

The former anti-apartheid activist, who was imprisoned on Robben Island and was a close friend of the late South Africa president Nelson Mandela, said he did not feel betrayed by his fellow Africans.

"No. I was a man of war at one stage and I was in prison. I had been betrayed during war. I saw men die and I was betrayed like Mandela. This is all about football. Let's smile, it is a game," he explained.

CAF listened to presentations from Salman, Sexwale, Infantino and Frenchman Jerome Champagne, the former FIFA deputy general secretary, who all travelled to Rwanda to attend the meeting.

Infantino said he expected the decision and vowed to win over the single federations.

"I am not surprised. It was in the air for a few days. It was not really a secret but it is not the executive committee that votes, it is the individual associations," he added.

"I still have to visit many African countries in the coming few weeks and still have to see a few people."

Champagne declined to comment on the CAF decision.

The fifth candidate, Prince Ali, did not attend.

Kevin Durant turned the conversation back to the court and away from his impending free agency with a final-second jump shot that lifted the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 117-114 victory over Orlando Magic on Wednesday.

With daily reports focusing on Durant’s possible departure from Oklahoma City following this season, the All-Star forward provided a timely reminder that his loyalty at this moment remains with the Thunder.

Oklahoma City and Orlando were locked at 114-114 when Durant pulled off a nifty cross-over dribble and fired a three-pointer that found the bottom of the basket with less than a second remaining.

Prior to fending off Magic defenders, Durant had spent much of his time shaking off questions about potential new suitors.

“It’s out of my control. Guys are going to write stories about what they want to write about [and where I could go],” Durant told reporters prior to scoring 37 points in Wednesday’s game.

“[The free agency talk] is ramped up a bit. I just try to stay locked in to where I am.”

Durant, 27, has spent his entire career with the Thunder franchise dating back to their days in Seattle before they moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.

But after failing to win an NBA title alongside running mate Russell Westbrook, speculation has mounted that Durant could ply his trade elsewhere and there are no shortage of rumoured suitors for the four-time league scoring champion.

He has been linked to the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers and most recently, the defending champion Golden State Warriors, in various stories swirling around him.

“It’s just a part of this [free agency] process,” Durant said. “When the time comes we’ll talk about it. Right now I’m 100 per cent locked in to helping [the Thunder] be the best we can be.”

AMMAN — The Premier Basketball League enters Round 2 on Friday with the top four teams playing to advance for the final play-offs, while the bottom four teams try to avoid relegation.

Hurrieh finished Round 1 with an unbeaten record, while Orthodoxi beat Riyadi in the final week. With teams like Applied Science University (ASU), Ittihad, Wihdat pulling out of the competition, Awdeh have joined the top four. The bottom four group Jalil, Ghazzet Hashem, Kufr Youba and Nashama.

In Round 2, teams will play two stages to decide standings 1-4 and determine who plays who in the play-offs for the title.

Orthodoxi won their record 23rd league title last year and started off the season by winning the Jordan Cup, beating closest rivals Riyadi in the final minutes of the match.

Apart from Orthodoxi and Riyadi, the basketball league has undergone many changes with the leading clubs abandoning the game. Former champs ASU and Ittihad have pulled out of competitions over differences with the Jordan Basketball Federation and players have been dispersed over the rest of clubs. New clubs with no fan base are competing, in what is seen as a sharp decline in the game locally and Jordan’s regional competitive chances.

AMMAN  — Jordan went up four spots to 82nd in the latest FIFA World Rankings issued on Thursday.

The Kingdom is now 9th in Asia trailing Iran (44), South Korea (53), Saudi Arabia (55), Japan (58), the UAE (65), Australia (68), Uzbekistan (71) and Qatar (78).

Belgium still leads the world top 10 ahead of Argentina, Spain, Germany, Chile, Brazil, Portugal, Columbia, England and Austria. 

The Kingdom beat Egypt 1-0 in a friendly last week under newly assigned interim coach Abdullah Abu Zam’eh. Although Egypt did not employ its senior squad and Jordan played without most pros while some were on the injury list, the match was important as the squad starts the countdown and gets into the mood of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup. 

Jordan will play the last two qualifiers against Bangladesh at home on March 24 and Australia in an away match on March 29. The Kingdom is now second in Group B behind Australia after losing 1-0 to Kyrgyzstan, beating AFC Australia 2-0 and Tajikistan 3-0. In the first leg, Jordan was held to a disappointing 0-0 draw with Kyrgyzstan, beat Tajikistan 3-1, Bangladesh 4-0. 

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + one slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup. 

It has been an inconsistent year for Jordan’s squad who have seen three coaches leading the vital qualifying process. The line-up was led by Briton Ray Wilkins under whom the team failed to advance past the group stage of the 16th Asian Football Confederation  Asian Cup in 2015 before Ahmad Abdul Qader took over in the transitional phase under whom the team played the first qualifier. Belgian Paul Put took over in July and his contract was suspended as he in the midst of a court case over match fixing in the Belgian League. 

Observers were hoping the Kingdom would again make it to advanced stages of qualifying to the World’s premier football competition. Jordan had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when it lost a possible chance to play at the World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the 2014 World Cup. It lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers as Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers since 1986. 

In the Asian Cup, Jordan reached the championship three times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972: the pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup, when it lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. In 2011 Jordan again reached the quarter-finals.

MANCHESTER, England — Manuel Pellegrini has cause to feel resentment at being handed his notice by Manchester City, even though the mild-mannered Chilean isn't showing it.

When he is replaced as coach by Pep Guardiola at the end of the season, Pellegrini might just have become the most successful manager in the club's 136-year history.

City's travelling support showed its love for Pellegrini during the 1-0 win over Sunderland on Tuesday, serenading him with a full repertoire of songs throughout the first half. Sergio Aguero might have scored the only goal of the game during that time, but it was Pellegrini's name being sung loud and proud.

"The fans think the world of him, the players think the world of him," City goalkeeper Joe Hart said.

The game at Stadium of Light was the start of a long farewell for Pellegrini after Monday's announcement that Guardiola will be joining on a three-year deal starting in July.

The 62-year-old Pellegrini knew the end was coming — the club had kept him informed of their behind-the-scenes push for Guardiola's signature — but he has stayed dignified throughout the process, in the face of constant questions about his future at news conferences.

Pellegrini hasn't had the best of luck over the last few years. He was fired by Real Madrid in 2010 despite leading the Spanish club to its largest-ever points tally in the league, and replaced by Jose Mourinho — at the time arguably the biggest draw in world football.

He has been big-footed again at City, midway through his third season in charge as the team chases trophies on four fronts. He won the Premier League-League Cup double in his first season. Again, though, football's current most-coveted coach has taken his job.

"We are all thinking about this season. We will see after that what happens next season for the players and me," Pellegrini said after the Sunderland game. "I always feel the commitment of all the players to our project.

"We are living a very good season. We hope we can finish in the same way."

Pellegrini likely will be best remembered at City for the way he stabilised the club after the turbulent ending to the tenure of his predecessor, Roberto Mancini. With the bickering Mancini and Mario Balotelli no longer around, the negative headlines and off-field drama at City largely disappeared. Pellegrini's news conferences tend to be more tedious and humdrum.

His team hasn't been boring, though. In winning the double in the 2013-14 season, City scored 156 goals in all competitions as Pellegrini preached an attacking, entertaining approach in keeping with the vision of director of football Txiki Begiristain and at odds with Mancini's often unadventurous style. Pellegrini regularly said it was his duty to send out his team to entertain.

His second season was a major disappointment, though, exposing his flaws as a tactician. Pellegrini's preference for a 4-4-2 formation was his undoing in big Champions League games, leaving City outnumbered in midfield and eventually getting outplayed by Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Only this season has Pellegrini started to regularly play one up front.

Not winning a trophy in the 2014-15 season was a failure for a club of City's ambition. And in two seasons, Pellegrini has yet to get City past the last 16 of the Champions League, although this year could be different against Dynamo Kiev.

The positives will likely outweigh the negatives when Pellegrini's reign is analysed. And the players will miss a coach labelled "This Charming Man" by fans.

"We really enjoy playing under Manuel," Hart said. "He has been a top manager for us. His man-management has been something that I personally have really enjoyed.

"So we are going to look to give him the best send-off, what he deserves." 

MIAMI — FIFA presidential candidate HRH Prince Ali has criticised the global body's decision to cut off funding to corruption hit Americas confederations, calling it "collective punishment".

In a statement on Wednesday, Prince Ali questioned Monday's announcement by FIFA that they had put on hold payments to CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, the two confederations that have been most affected by the corruption scandal engulfing football governance.

CONMEBOL is responsible for the sport in South America while CONCACAF covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. Officials from the Americas make up the overwhelming majority of the 41 individuals and entities that have been indicted by the US Department of Justice.

"I have read reports that a FIFA spokesperson has announced that funding to CONCACAF and CONMEBOL has been suspended with immediate effect," wrote Prince Ali in a statement issued to media.

"Who is the spokesman; which FIFA committee does he represent; who decided that 45 Member Associations should suffer collective punishment as a result of individuals' bad actions; who decided to hold these votes to ransom less than three weeks before the election and who exactly will decide when the funding will be reinstated?" concluded the statement.

A spokesman for FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee told Reuters that they had made the decision to stop the payments to the two confederations but declined to comment on Prince  Ali's statement.

FIFA's media department declined to comment beyond reissuing the statement they had released on Monday.

"We can confirm that in light of current proceedings involving individuals related to CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, FIFA has put contributions towards these two confederations on hold until further notice.

"We are currently assessing further steps to be taken to increase the level of assurance which may again enable FIFA to release such funds in the future."

CONCACAF has seen its last three presidents indicted by the Department of Justice with Trinidad and Tobago's Jack Warner, Cayman Islander Jeffrey Webb and Honduran Alfred Hawit all facing charges.

CONMEBOL has had former president Nicolas Leoz and their most recent leader Jan Angel Napout, both of Paraguay, indicted along with several other leading officials.

The two organisations are due to hold a joint “Copa America” tournament in the United States in June to celebrate CONMEBOL's centenary.

Prince Ali is hoping to be elected FIFA president in the vote on February 26.

Also standing are Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne of France, South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale and UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino.