Italy fear missing the third straight World Cup!
Italy, who have failed to qualify for the last two FIFA World Cups, seem to be in huge anxiety over the uncertainty of missing the finals of the third straight Fifa World Cup after a 3-0 loss to Norway on Friday night. First-half goals from Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa, and Erling Haaland were enough for Norway to inflict another defeat on Italy, who found themselves in a precarious position, in the European World Cup qualifiers. Italy, yet to earn a point, are fourth in Group I, even though they have played two matches fewer than the teams above them because of their involvement in the Nations League. Norway are the table-toppers with nine points followed by Israel with six and Estonia are placed third with three points. Group winners directly qualify for the 2026 World Cup while the runners-up progress to the play-offs. The defeat has created an unprecedented crisis in the Italian football fraternity as the three-time World Cup champions are on the verge of completing the dubious hat-trick of missing the World Cup, having already missed the 2018 and 2022 editions as well. Leading Italian sports daily, Gazzetta Dello Sport called the situation an ‘unprecedented crisis.’ “Let’s prepare for yet another torture in the playoffs, assuming we grab second place. The national team seen yesterday in Oslo was embarrassing and it is legitimate to doubt everything, to expect the worst of the worst. This is who we are, and we are poor, empty,” the newspaper noted. Italy’s under-fire coach Luciano Spalletti took responsibility for Friday’s defeat and told Sky Sport Italia that it was a ‘difficult moment’. “There are always worries, because after a performance like that, you clearly have to ask yourself questions and realize there are problems, but you have to face them because there is no other possibility,” Spalletti said.
Sinner stuns Djokovic to face Carlos Alcaraz in final
Top-seeded Jannik Sinner entered the final of the highly coveted French Open with a memorable win over the sixth-seeded Novak Djokovic in the semi-final match on Friday. The Italian registered a scoreline of 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 and knocked the 24-time Grand Slam winner out of the title race. With this win, Sinner marched into the final of the French Open and will now face the second-seeded and defending champions Carlos Alcaraz in the summit clash on Sunday. It will be Sinner’s maiden French Open title. Speaking after the match, the world number one said, as quoted by ATP’s official website, “It was such a special occasion for me, playing against Novak in the semi-final of a Grand Slam. It was just amazing, and I had to step up and play the best tennis I could. I am very happy with how I handled the situation, but this shows again what a role model he is for all of us and especially for us young players.” “What he (Djokovic) is doing is incredible, and I wish him only the best for the rest of the season. I think we are all very lucky to see him playing such high-level tennis, it is amazing,” he added. Alcaraz stands one victory away from defending his crown at Paris after Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti retired in the fourth set of their gripping semi-final clash on Friday .The 22-year-old Spaniard led Musetti 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0, 2-0 when the Italian retired from the match after two hours and 25 minutes.
Gukesh reminds of my form in 2008-2009, says Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen believes the next generation of chess superstars, including reigning world champion D. Gukesh is on the right track. But at the same time, the five-time world champion believes the youngsters need to gain maturity in several aspects of the game to catch up with the experienced set, including himself, Fabiano Caruana, and Hikaru Nakamura. Carlsen also praised the playing style of Gukesh to his from over 15 years ago, considering the control over games. “I think the kids are on track but they are not like way ahead of way ahead of schedule. Looking at the Gukesh game I feel it is quite similar to what I was doing in 2008, and in 2009, when I was when I was breaking through it wasn’t always so pretty. There was this tournament for instance, Linares in 2008, where Vishy [Viswanathan Anand] was cruising in the first place and I was just playing crazy games and honestly getting more out of the positions than kind of my pure chess skill suggested,” said Carlsen after winning Norway Chess 2025. Earlier in the tournament, Gukesh had claimed his first classical win over Carlsen and was in the race for a maiden Norway Chess title going into the final round. But the Indian Grand Master succumbed to a defeat to Caruana and eventually settled for third in the standings. Carlsen lauded Gukesh’s ability to stay in title contention in elite tournaments, despite his error-prone ways. “You can see in certain games that in parts of the game, Gukesh and Arjun are far behind me, Fabian, and Hikaru. But we’re also the very best players in the world. They’re not supposed to be our equals in every part of the game. The fact that Gukesh can actually fight for tournament victory despite having so many bad positions which he will probably not be happy with himself; is encouraging and I think it’s typical, that’s what kids do as part of the process,” added Carlsen.
KCA secretary and treasurer resign following Chinnaswamy Stadium massacre
A Shankar and E S Jairam, the secretary and treasurer of the Karnataka Cricket Association (KCA) respectively, have resigned from their respective posts as secretary and treasurer of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), taking moral responsibility for the stampede that led to the 11 people’s death during RCB’s IPL trophy celebrations. In a joint statement, Shankar and Jairam announced that they had submitted their resignations to the KSCA president on Thursday night. “Due to the unforeseen and unfortunate events that have unfolded in the last two days, and though our role was minimal, we wish to state that we have tendered our resignation to our respective posts as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Karnataka State Cricket Association,” the statement read. KSCA president Raghuram Bhat, secretary Shankar, and treasurer Jayaram had submitted in the Karnataka High Court that the gate management and crowd management were not the responsibility of the association and they had sought permision to at Vidhan Soudha. While the felicitation at the Vidhan Soudha passed off without any major glitch, chaos erupted outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium where lakhs converged following RCB’s social media invitation, which was eventually deleted. A planned victory parade had to be cancelled but the function inside the stadium proceeded despite the tragedy that unfolded outside.
