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England sweep history and Germany aside to move into last eight

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Photo: Reuters
(Last Updated On: June 30, 2021)

Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane struck late goals as England reached the Euro 2020 quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Germany at Wembley on Tuesday, their first knockout victory over their old rivals since the 1966 World Cup final.

England will play either Sweden or Ukraine, who meet later on Tuesday in Glasgow, in the last eight after a victory which sent the home crowd of over 40,000 into wild celebration.

It was England‘s first ever knockout round win at the Euros inside 90 minutes and after a build-up dominated by talk of historic and bitter tournament losses to Germany, their focus will now be on making some history of their own.

The visitors’ defeat marked the end of Joachim Loew’s time as Germany coach after 15 years in charge, during which he guided them to the 2014 World Cup title in Brazil.

Debate will continue about England manager Gareth Southgate’s selections but it was telling that both goals came after midfielder Jack Grealish was introduced from the bench in the 69th minute when the entire tempo and mood of the game changed.

Six minutes after Grealish came on he was involved in a flowing passing move which ended with left wing back Luke Shaw deftly slipping the ball across the face of the goal for Sterling to slide in his third goal in four Euro 2020 games.

Yet shortly after scoring Sterling almost gifted the Germans a leveller when he gave the ball away on the halfway line and Kai Havertz sent Thomas Mueller through on goal.

The experienced World Cup winner had only England keeper Jordan Pickford to beat but dragged his shot wide of his right-hand post, leaving Sterling, who watched in anguish on his knees, to leap to his feet in relief.

After that reprieve, and with the crowd roaring England on, Grealish was the direct provider for the second goal, crossing from the left for captain Kane to beat keeper Manuel Neuer with a stooping header.

It was Kane’s first goal of the tournament and his return to scoring ways will be another positive for Southgate as he looks ahead at a potential route to the final.

Southgate’s decision to play a five-man defence and two holding midfielders was a cautious one, but England did start the game brightly.

Sterling tested Neuer in the 16th minute, cutting in from the left flank and finding room to unleash a drive towards the far corner which the Germany keeper did well to get across to.

Much of England‘s probing was coming from Kieran Trippier down the right and he found Harry Maguire in a promising position with a lofted ball to the back post but the centre half’s header was over the bar.

Germany were enjoying plenty of possession in midfield with England sitting deep but they provided a warning of their threat when Havertz slipped through Timo Werner, although Pickford was out quickly to smother.

Just before the break Mats Hummels had to intervene quickly to clear as Kane looked to pounce after Sterling’s burst into the box had caused chaos.

After the interval Germany sensed England had lost their way and went close when Havertz’s powerful drive was superbly tipped over by Pickford.

The game was in the balance but then came Grealish, whose name had been sung by the England fans throughout the game and who lived up to those hopes and expectations by providing the spark England had been missing.

England will head into their quarter-final in Rome on Saturday knowing victory will set-up a semi and potentially a final on home turf back at Wembley.

“Any team will be looking at us and know that we’re dangerous. We want to go all the way so need to keep it up,” said Kane.

“There isn’t anything bigger than this when the expectation is on and we delivered so we should be proud but we can’t stop here. We have a vision of where we want to go and we can’t stop now. Hopefully we’ll be back here in the semi-finals and the final.”

Southgate, though, is as restrained with his words as he is with tactics and said he had been quick to calm his players down.

“We played extremely well, we deserved the win, but I’ve had to say to them straight away, I’m the party pooper; if we don’t capitalise on that on Saturday, it doesn’t count for anything.”

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IPL: Sunrisers thump MI in record breaking match

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

It was raining records at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday with the hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) clinching a 31-run victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 8 of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

Sunrisers’ batting rewrote the record books on a batting belter after the posted 277 for three.

SRH now have the highest team score in the history of the IPL – beating Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) 263 for five from the 2013 season.

In reply, MI made a spirited effort, and at one stage, were contenders to do the near impossible. In the slog overs, the enormity of the target proved a bit too much, and SRH clinched victory, but not without numerous nervous moments.

To put into perspective the carnage we witnessed – Heinrich Klaasen’s 23-ball half-century was the slowest fifty of the SRH innings.

Travis Head, playing his first match for SRH, raced to the milestone in 18 balls. Abhishek Sharma got there even faster – in 16 balls – to record the quickest fifty by an SRH batter in IPL history.

While Sunrisers notched up the highest total in the 16-year history of the IPL, just as incredibly, Mumbai Indians almost paid them back with the same coin, their batters coming out with a nothing-to-lose attitude.

The sixes kept rolling off the Mumbai bats too, helping them keep up with the asking rate for most of the chase, eventually however, they ran out of steam and finished on 246 for 5, the highest IPL total in a losing cause.

As ESPNcricinfo reported, never were more runs scored in a men’s T20 match (523). Never were most sixes hit in a men’s T20 (38). At the end of the close to four-hour six-fest, only two bowlers returned with an economy rate of under ten an over.

Thursday, March 28 : Match 9

Thursday’s match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur sees Rajasthan Royals go up against Delhi Capitals.

Fans in Afghanistan can tune in to Ariana Television to watch the match live from 6.30pm. Alternatively the match can be screened live on arianatelevision.com

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Magnitude 5.2 quake jolts Afghanistan

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

An earthquake measuring a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter Scale jolted Afghanistan on Thursday afternoon, the National Center for Seismology reported.

The quake was at a depth of 70km and epicentered in the mountainous north-eastern area of Ashkāsham.

The jolt was felt across the region including in Kabul, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

In October last year, over 2,000 people were killed when four 6.3-magnitude earthquakes struck in Herat province.

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Bayat Foundation helps needy families in Balkh

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

As part of Bayat Foundation’s Ramadan aid campaign, needy families in Mazar-e-Sharif, in Balkh province, received much needed food packages this week.

The aid package includes rice, flour and oil.

“In continuation of Bayat Foundation’s assistance, this time also a quantity of food such as flour, oil and rice was distributed to needy families in Mazar-e-Sharif; Inshallah, these contributions will continue,” said a representative of the foundation.

Needy families that received aid packages expressed their gratitude but called on other aid organizations to help the needy during these difficult times.

“Many thanks to Bayat Foundation, I thank Bayat Foundation for helping the needy and poor people of this region,” said a recipient said.

“I would like to thank Bayat Foundation for their cooperation in helping the needy in this holy month of Ramadan; it is hoped that traders and charities will do such sustainable work,” said another recipient.

Bayat Foundation is one of the charitable organizations that has played an important role in helping the needy in Afghanistan over the last two decades.

In addition to distributing aid packages to needy and vulnerable families, it has carried out numerous other projects, including the construction of health centers and schools.

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