CLUB WORLD CUP
Asensio the seventh Real Madrid player to miss Club World Cup duel against Al Ahly
Marco Asensio is the latest Real Madrid player to be unavailable for their Club World Cup semi-final against Egypt’s Al Ahly on Wednesday after the midfielder hurt his hamstring.
Asensio suffered the injury in the surprise defeat by Mallorca and, during Tuesday’s training session in Morocco, was still feeling discomfort that will lead him to miss the last-four clash.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti also got the news on Wednesday that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who didn’t make the trip to Rabat on Monday, will not recover from a groin injury in time to fly out should Real qualify for Saturday’s final.
Forwards Karim Benzema and Eden Hazard and defenders Eder Militao, Lucas Vazquez and Ferland Mendy also stayed in Madrid for treatment.
Hazard, Vazquez and Mendy have been out with long-term injuries but Benzema and Militao, who were substituted in the LaLiga win against Valencia last Thursday, are not expected to be sidelined for too long and could join their team mates in Rabat later in the week.
Ancelotti will be crossing his fingers that his key players can return quickly as they follow their trip to Morocco with Champions League last 16 matches against Liverpool and a Copa del Rey semi-final against Barcelona, as well as trying to catch their arch rivals in LaLiga.
Barca are top, eight points ahead of second-placed Real.
The winners of Wednesday’s match will face Al Hilal in the Club World Cup final. The Saudi Arabian side delivered a stunning 3-2 win against South American champions Flamengo in the other semi-final in Tangier on Tuesday.
-Reuters
CLUB WORLD CUP
Referees’ body cameras will provide fans with unprecedented views of on-field action, says FIFA
FIFA unveiled its team of 117 match officials, opens new tab on Monday for the inaugural Club World Cup and said referees would wear body cameras and enforce stricter goalkeeper time-wasting rules at the tournament to be staged across the United States.
The FIFA Referees Committee appointed the officials from 41 member associations – 35 referees, 58 assistant referees and 24 video match officials – for the June 14 to July 13 event.
Body cameras will provide fans with unprecedented views of on-field action, FIFA said, while goalkeepers who hold the ball beyond eight seconds will now see opponents awarded corner kicks rather than indirect free kicks.
“We think that it is a good chance to offer the viewers a new experience, in terms of images taken from a perspective, from an angle of vision, which was never offered before,” said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee.
“It also has a purpose in terms of referee coaching because, of course, having the possibility to see what the referee sees is important in the debriefing.”
Collina highlighted the historic nature of the appointments for the expanded tournament featuring 32 teams from all six FIFA confederations and spanning 12 stadiums in 11 U.S. host cities.
“The selected referees are among those who have the privilege to be part of this for the first time, so I’m sure that all the match officials will be thrilled,” he said.
“We are coming from high-standard performances delivered during the last FIFA tournaments. So the bar is higher and when you set the bar higher it’s more difficult to keep the standard. But we are working very hard and ‘Team One’ will make a solid contribution to the success of this exciting competition.”
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The expanded Club World Cup holding in the US has brought another innovation to football.
Referees at the championship holding from June 14 to July 13 will be equipped with body cameras and will implement a new rule to combat goalkeeper time-wasting.
Game directors will wear “body cameras as part of an experimental phase, the tests having been approved by IFAB ,” the body that oversees the rules of the game, the International Football Federation explained in a statement.
“We believe this is a good opportunity to offer viewers a new experience, with images taken from a perspective that has never been offered before,” explained FIFA Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina.
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The change in football rules that allows goalkeepers to be punished with corner kicks will be implemented at the Club World Cup holding in June in the US.
The revelation was made by FIFA Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina after the announcement that referees will wear body cameras.
This initiative is “both innovative for broadcasters and for referee training,” added the Italian, “because it is important to be able to put yourself in the referee’s shoes during the debriefing, to evaluate how the referee made his decisions, his point of view, etc. “
The competition will implement the new rule approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on March 1, aimed at reducing time wastage by goalkeepers.
“If they hold the ball for more than eight seconds, the referee will award a corner. Previously, an indirect free kick could be awarded after six seconds.
Seminars for referees have been held recently. The one for UEFA referees was held at FIFA headquarters from March 31 to April 4. Another seminar was held in Dubai for referees from the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), and OFC (Oceania) from February 2 to 4, and a third for referees from CONMEBOL (South America) and CONCACAF (Central America and the Caribbean) took place in Buenos Aires from February 24 to 28.
“We need to see the game and the goals, not the refereeing,” said refereeing director Massimo Busacca. “The referee is the protagonist who should not be noticed during the match. A good referee doesn’t need to be seen or known. But he must be prepared. “
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