Kuwait-Al-Arabi Super Cup ‘showdown’ set for Jan 17
KUWAIT CITY, Dec 30, (Agencies): The Kuwaiti Football Association announced on Thursday that the Kuwait Super Cup match between Kuwait Club and Al-Arabi Club will be held on January 17.
The association said in a statement on Thursday that the encounter would be held at the International Jaber Stadium at 7 p.m. (local time).
Al-Arabi qualified as champions of the Premier League while their rivals won His Highness Amir Cup.
Al-Qadsiya won the Super Cup six times followed by Kuwait Club, five times, and Al-Arabi, twice.
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the Barcelona squad swelled to 10 on Thursday, potentially jeopardizing the team’s return to league play after Spain’s winter break of nearly two weeks.
Sergiño Dest, Philippe Coutinho and Abde Ezzalzouli are the latest players to contract COVID-19, Barcelona said. They are self-isolating at home and the team said they were “in good health.”
The club already announced this week that Ousmane Dembélé, Samuel Umtiti, Gavi, Jordi Alba, Alejandro Balde, Clement Lenglet and Dani Alves had tested positive and were isolating.
Barcelona are also depleted by injuries going into Sunday’s match at Mallorca in seventh place.
Real Madrid said Wednesday that four players - Vinicius Jr., Thibaut Courtois, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga - tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of Sunday’s game against Getafe.
During the break, Dest and Vinicius had posted photos on Instagram of their respective trips to Miami. They included court-side photos at a Miami Heat basketball game and pictures with star Jimmy Butler. Vinicius’ account included one of him with Heat guard Tyler Herro. They all wore masks in the photos.
The president of the Polish soccer federation said Wednesday that national team coach Paulo Sousa’s contract had been terminated, with Brazilian club Flamengo announcing the same day they had hired the 51-year old Sousa on a twoyear contract.
Marking a controversial exit, Cezary Kulesza said the Polish federation board’s decision was unanimous and that Sousa will have to pay “compensation in line with the federation’s expectations.” The president did not specify the amount.
Kulesza on Sunday accused Sousa, a former Portugal player, of “extremely irresponsible behavior” for seeking to leave his post after receiving an offer from a club. Kulesza said at the time he had “firmly refused” the request from Sousa, who wanted to leave by mutual agreement.
Sousa was hired as Poland coach in January 2021 but the team - captained by Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski - have underperformed under his leadership, finishing last in its group at the European Championship in June.
Poland finished behind England in their qualifying group for next year’s World Cup in Qatar and will be in the playoffs in March.
“Hi, Brazil!” Sousa said in a video published by Flamengo on their social media channels. “I have a lot of pride and satisfaction to represent a club with the incomparable greatness of Flamengo.”
Sousa will replace Renato Portaluppi, who was fired by the Rio de Janeiro club after its 2-1 Copa Libertadores final defeat against Palmeiras in November.