Undefeated in 17 games in the last 15 months, Ireland has beaten every rugby union world champion, three of them twice – just for humiliation. Historically, the Irish never got past the last eight of a Rugby World Cup. In this year’s tournament they are on fire: fans have faith that Ireland will finally seize The Webb Ellis Cup on 28 October, final day of the struggle.

Low-scoring but epic: a 13-8 win over the defending champion South Africa in Pool B of the 2023 Rugby World Cup on Saturday – a brutal statement from the Irish. Poor flummoxed South Africa never knew what hit them: they had only conceded 3 points from their previous two games in Pool B (creaming Scotland and Romania). Not only did the Springboks not concede tries in those two games – in fact, they only conceded two tries in their last eight Rugby World Cup games.

Ireland managed to breach that defense with Mack Hansen’s try, the second time in the last 15 months that Ireland has walloped South Africa: a 19-16 win when the two sides met in Dublin on 5 November 2022, with tries from Josh van der Flier and Hansen.

Hansen succinctly declared what the win to his team means: “They are the defending champions and they know exactly what it takes to win this World Cup”. “To get a win over them is as good as it can get really. It gives us a lot of strength and a lot of belief.”

Ireland has every right to assume this year’s tournament will be theirs: hey, they are the current world number one, on a burning winning streak since July 2022. What a campaign: Ireland shellacked every rugby union world champion, three of them twice. Johnny Sexton and Co. whomped New Zealand 23-12 and 32-22 on July 2022.

In November 2022, Ireland snatched a 19-16 win over South Africa, a feat that they repeated last Saturday. In the same month, Ireland was triumphant 13-10 in a match against Australia. This year, Andy Farrell and his team managed to defeat England twice: 29-16 on 18 March at the 2023 Six Nations Championship and 29-10 on 19 August, for good measure.

The victory over South Africa leaves Ireland clear at the top of Pool B, aiming them at host France or New Zealand in the quarterfinal. Ireland already did the job on France at a humiliating 32-19 last February, at the 2023 Six Nations Championship.

Ireland glows with an aura of invincibility – but they’re on their guard. “It doesn’t get any easier at all. We’ll take this win and enjoy it for now, then it is straight on to the next,” said Hansen, pointing out that his side will switch their focus to Scotland on 7 October, to ensure their place in the knockout stages. “We have a tough week against a really good Scotland side and if we get the win there, and everything goes well, it’s either France or New Zealand.”

“We are glad to keep rolling and get another four points on the board, but we have to dust ourselves off now and remain focused on Scotland in two weeks’ time,” added Farrell. “As the competition goes on we’ll need to be better,” he concluded.

Yeah, win the battle but don’t lose the war.

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National head coach Kim Pan Gon deliberately chose one stronger team and another that is equivalent to the strength of the Harimau Malaya squad as opponents during the FIFA International Match Calendar from March 20-28.

The Harimau Malaya, ranked 145th, will meet Turkmenistan (135th) at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri tomorrow night before facing Hong Kong (146th) on March 28 at the same venue.

The 53-year-old South Korean-born coach said through the two Tier 1 international friendlies, his team will gain something valuable from a stronger team and have a chance to maintain good momentum in the hunt for ranking points.

“For Turkmenistan, we accepted their proposal because I think they were disappointed when they lost against us (during the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifier campaign in Kuala Lumpur last year (Malaysia won 3-1), so they are eager to come here to prove themselves that they are better than Malaysia.

“So we are happy to invite them here to have a rematch, we also want to prove ourselves that we are the better team than Turkmenistan. I think it should be an interesting game tomorrow,” he told the pre-match press conference ahead of the clash against Turkmenistan, here, today.

He added that the result is not what he is looking for in tomorrow’s match, but a positive performance and the philosophy of Malaysian football are his priority.

At the same time, he described the two matches, against Turkmenistan and Hong Kong, as showing how earnest the national team are to prepare not only for the 2023 Asian Cup but also for the 2026 World Cup qualifying round scheduled to start next November.

“World Cup Qualification and Asian Cup final round are very important for Malaysian football’s future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pan Gon admitted that he faced difficulties in deciding the starting line-up against Turkmenistan when all 27 players including eight new faces are currently in their best shape and ready to play tomorrow night.

“New players adapting well, they showed us their ambition, passion to be better and to challenge to get into the first eleven (starting line-up). I’m confident anyone can be in the first eleven, everybody very fit and I’m having a headache making the list,” he said.

In the meantime, he is excited to go through a new experience managing the team during the month of Ramadan which is expected to start tomorrow but feels that fasting will not have much effect on the players’ performance in training or in matches.

In a separate development, according to FAM officials, Turkmenistan are expected to arrive here in the late evening and will not undergo training, but instead will only go to the match venue to inspect pitch conditions. – Bernama

Source : The Sun Daily

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Since last October, Real Madrid did not look like an unbeatable team. The team that won almost nearly everything in 2021-2022 season are struggling. Luka Modric and company are losing a lot of ground to their arch-rival in LaLiga, Barcelona. Real Madrid lost their position on the top of the league table with a 2-3 loss at the hand of Rayo Vallecano.

Things went worse for Carlo Ancelotti’s team. Another defeat in the match against Villarreal and Mallorca made Real Madrid now have 8 points deficit from Barcelona, who sit comfortably at the top.

Last month, Real Madrid also missed on one of the trophies that they could get this season. Barcelona beat them 3-1 in the final of Supercopa de Espana. Ancelotti’s situation does not help. Many rumours linking him with the Brazil national team job.

After their failure in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian team looked for a replacement coach, Tite. Many suggested that Ancelotti was already counting his last days at Real Madrid. So, Real Madrid headed to Morocco for the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup with a lot of questions need to be answered. Their response were great to say the least. Real Madrid gave a performance that made them conquered Europe last season.

A performance that based on conviction that they are the best team in the world. The All Whites easily defeat Al Ahly, runners-up of the 2021-2022 African Champions League, in the semi-final of the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup. With goals from Vinicius Junior (42′), Federico Valverde (46′), Rodrygo Goes (90+2′), and Sergio Arribas (90+8′), Real Madrid beat Al Ahly 4-1.

Real Madrid delivered another goal fiesta in the final against Al Hilal, Saturday (11/2/2023) at Rabat. Los Blancos sealed their fifth Club World Cup title in spectacular way. Goals from Vinicius (13′, 69′), Valverde (18′, 58′), and Karim Benzema (54′) made sure that Real Madrid defeat Al-Hilal with a 5-3 scoreline.

According to Opta, Real Madrid have been crowned world champion more times than any other club in history. They now have three Intercontinental Cup titles and five Club World Cup titles. Real Madrid starting to break away from other clubs in the FIFA Club World Cup, just like they did in the Champions League. Their closest rivals are Barcelona with three titles and Corinthians and Bayern München with two titles each.

In the Champions League, Real Madrid have 14 titles, already twice of the next best team, AC Milan, who have only seven titles in their trophy cabinet. “We’re very happy. For the eighth time Real Madrid is World Champion,” said Ancelotti as quoted from Football Espana. “We played a good game, with lots of quality up top. Vinicius, Benzema, Valverde. They did very well. We had skill and quality.”

Now Real Madrid can go home to Spain in a very good mood. It is very important for them to have a feeling that they are still the best team in the world. In the coming weeks, Real Madrid will be facing a crucial and hard period.

They will come up against Barcelona again in the Copa del Rey semi-final. There are also a Champions League last 16 double header against Liverpool. Real Madrid will need all inner world champion spirits that they could get to overcome these challenges.

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