Latest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com Springboks storm into World Cup quarters
SA rout Canada Platini plans legal fight after 4-yr ban
KOBE, Oct 8, (RTRS): Third-string scrumhalf Cobus Reinach scored a hattrick of tries in 11 minutes as South Africa celebrated their 500th test by storming into the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a 66-7 victory over Canada on Tuesday.
The Springboks ran in six tries in the first half hour at Kobe Misaki Stadium, and Canada’s woes deepened a couple of minutes before halftime when replacement lock Josh Larsen was shown a red card for an illegal shoulder charge at a ruck.
South Africa were unable to maintain the same pace in the second half, and the short-handed Canadians scored a deserved try through flanker NYON, Switzerland, Oct 8, (AP): Four years after a ban for financial wrongdoing thwarted his chances of becoming FIFA president, Michel Platini is free to work in soccer again on Tuesday.
However, the former UEFA president - who was once seen as the heir apparent to FIFA’s Sepp Blatter - said Monday he is still unsure where and when he will return to the game that has continued to dominate his life even after his stellar playing career with France.
“I have some idea but it’s difficult to speak today,” Platini told The Associated Press in an interview about his future plans, hours before the ban was set to expire.
And any comeback into a senior role would likely force him to first pay FIFA a fine of 60,000 Swiss francs ($60,300) that is three years overdue. Platini is still challenging that fine in court and continues to dispute the allegations that led to his four-year ban from all football activities. The charges of receiving an irregular payment and wrongful pension entitlement approved by Blatter derailed Platini’s hopes of succeeding his former mentor as the head of global soccer.
Now aged 64, Platini looks hardly to have aged at all during that ban, which became the longest vacation of his storied life in soccer.
The former France said he is keeping all options open, but pointed out that the next elections for top roles at FIFA, UEFA and the French football association are “some years ahead.”
In the Paris headquarters of the French federation, the 77-year-old Noël Le Graët, recently promoted by UEFA to a seat on FIFA’s ruling council, is in office until 2021.