Father of Liverpool goalie Alisson drowns in Brazil
The father of Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker has died suddenly in Brazil with clubs past and present offering condolences.
José Agostinho Becker, who was 57, drowned after going for a swim on Wednesday on his property in the southern city of Lavras do Sul, Globo and other Brazilian media reported. Local police confirmed the body of a man was found on Wednesday night.
"We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of Alisson Becker's father, Jose, in Brazil on Wednesday," Liverpool wrote on Twitter. "The thoughts of everybody at the club are with atAlissonbecker and the Becker family at this incredibly sad and difficult time."
Alisson's brother, Muriel, is a goalkeeper at Fluminense, which also tweeted its sorrow. Internacional, where both Alisson and Muriel played, tweeted its sadness and offered strength to the family.
The 28-year-old Alisson played at Internacional from 2013-16 then joined Roma. He left Roma after two seasons to join Liverpool.
Alisson, who was Brazil's goalie in the 2018 World Cup, has won the Champions League and English Premier League with Liverpool.
Coco Gauff and Jil Teichmann advanced to the Adelaide International semifinals on Thursday after three-set wins on the Memorial Drive hard courts.
The 16-year-old Gauff beat Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Teichmann defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-4 ,6-7 (8), 7-5.
Gauff has won five straight matches in Adelaide, including two in qualifying, since her second-round loss to fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open. She and Rogers had an extended rally in the ninth game of the third set, which Gauff won after setting up game point with a cross-court return.
Gauff will next face secondseeded Belinda Bencic, who beat Storm Sanders 6-2, 6-4.
Teichmann had five match points in the second-set tiebreaker against Sevastova but was unable to close it out. The 23-year-old Swiss player was then forced to save two match points while trailing 5-4 in the third.
"It was a rollercoaster and what I felt was nerves," Teichmann said. "It was a very tense match, very long rallies every time. Anastasija is a tough player and you have to play every point and every game, doesn't matter you're serving or returning."
French Open champion Iga Swiatek advanced to the semifinals when American opponent Danielle Collins retired with an undisclosed injury while trailing 6-3, 3-0.
Collins, who beat top-ranked Ash Barty on Wednesday in the second round, appeared to wince in pain during her service action in the final point before retiring.
"Unfortunately we couldn't finish," said the fifth-seeded Swiatek, who will next play Teichmann. "Hopefully Danielle is going to be well soon." if
FIFA's ethics judges closed a bribery investigation against German great Franz Beckenbauer because a statute of limitations expired, soccer's world governing body said Thursday.
Beckenbauer and other German officials who helped organize the 2006 World Cup had been subject to a FIFA ethics investigation opened in 2016. There was no time limitation on bribery prosecutions in FIFA's ethics code until it amended the rules in 2018 to add a 10-year limit. Cases against Theo Zwanziger, who once replaced Beckenbauer on the FIFA executive committee member, and Horst Schmidt were also closed,
FIFA said Thursday.
The case involved a complex trail of suspect payments between the German World Cup organizers, FIFA and Qatari soccer official Mohamed bin Hammam ahead of the 2006 tournament.
Federal prosecutors in Switzerland had also investigated the case but their criminal trial collapsed in April last year, also because a statute of limitations was set to expire.
Beckenbauer was not indicted for that trial, after prosecutors accepted his health reasons, though he was set to give evidence as a witness by video link. A dispute between FIFA and the 75-year-old Beckenbauer about his state of health was revealed in the ruling published Thursday to explain why the ethics case was closed.
Beckenbauer's lawyers said he could not be interrogated because he was "suffering from a progressive neurodegenerative disease (and) there is no expectation of a notable improvement."
Those details were provided in a March 2020 medical certificate also given to Swiss prosecutors ahead of the trial.
However, FIFA judges noted that Beckenbauer had attended public events and given interviews last year, including events to celebrate 30 years since he coached West Germany to win the 1990 World Cup.
Beckenbauer became the first player to both captain and coach a World Cup-winning team. He lifted the trophy for West Germany in 1974, when it also hosted the tournament.
A three-time European Cupwinning captain with Bayern Munich, he left to play for New York Cosmos alongside Pelé.
The judges also said "Beckenbauer invoked his right to silence and refused to provide the investigatory chamber with any written or oral statement" requested between 2015 and 2018.