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The PCB has decided to postpone the semi-finals and final of the National T20 Cup because of the “prevailing situation” of religious unrest in Pakistan, saying new dates would be announced later. The next round of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy has also been called off.The prevailing situation, as the board called it, began on Saturday, when police attempted to disperse a sit-in by a religious group at an interchange in Rawalpindi. They were unsuccessful in doing so, and the protests spread throughout the country. Educational institutions were closed on Monday and Tuesday in Lahore, where the recent T20Is against Sri Lanka and an ICC-sanctioned World XI took place. Access to social media sites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube was suspended across the country.”Due to the prevailing situation, the PCB management has decided to postpone the semi-finals and final of the National T20 Cup and Super 8 rounds of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy for now,” PCB’s media manager Shakeel Khan said. “The management will announce new dates later.”The semifinals were originally scheduled to be held on November 26, but they were called off as the protests began to widen and escalate. Teams had found themselves confined to their hotels, and roads leading to the Rawalpindi stadium had been blocked.The stadium is situated in a central location in Rawalpindi, Islamabad’s twin city, and the impact of the police operation disrupted life in both cities. As many as 8500 elite police and paramilitary troops in riot gear were taking part in the operation on Saturday by encircling the area. Protesters resisted fiercely, resulting in major disruptions, and all roads leading from Islamabad to Lahore and Karachi were closed off.Lahore Whites are scheduled to compete with Faisalabad in the first semifinal, while FATA face Lahore Blues in the other clash.The National T20 Cup has faced several hindrances this year. Earlier, it had clashed with the ICC World XI’s trip. When it was rescheduled, its dates clashed with the Bangladesh Premier League and the now-postponed Global T20 League in South Africa. Even then, smog in Faisalabad and Multan meant it had to eventually be relocated to Rawalpindi once and for all.The scheduling of the National T20 Cup created uncertainty on other fronts as well. In August, the board revoked the No-Objection Certificates of 13 players participating in the Caribbean Premier League and the English domestic season, asking them to return home and fulfill national and domestic commitments. However, a few days later, PCB chairman Najam Sethi said the National T20 Cup had been postponed and the players could return to their franchise sides and counties after undergoing fitness tests.

There’s no greater sound in football than the ball hitting the back of the net. It was the only benefit of pandemic football that we got to hear the noise echo around various stadiums.The noise can signal pure joy, ultimate disappointment, or pure admiration for a goal. Indeed, no matter how the ball has hit the back of the net, the sound remains one of the best.Some goals are especially satisfying, however, as they travel at the speed of light from 30 yards, or end a fantastic, free-flowing team move at a similar light-speed pace.Twitter users have recently been full of praise for such goals, too, sharing in this thread their most satisfying goals scored by Premier League sides, some of which have made our top five below.

5 Tomas Rosicky vs Sunderland

Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal featured some of the best team goals we’re ever likely to see in the Premier League, including Tomas Rosicky’s well-worked strike against Sunderland.

Arguably one of the most underrated players to ever wear an Arsenal shirt, Rosicky orchestrated the goal with his incredible movement, passing the ball onto the likes of Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere, before finding himself through on goal and finishing in expert fashion with a delightful dink.

4 Johan Elmander vs Wolves

Johan Elmander had a spell to remember at Bolton Wanderers, writing himself into the history books as a club legend, scoring 22 goals for the club, in total.

His best goal came against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2010, however, when his piece of trickery evaded three defenders, before he found the bottom right-hand corner with ease.

It remains one of the most satisfying goals that we’ve seen in English football.

3 Didier Drogba vs Bolton

Back in 2009, Didier Drogba was in his pomp for Chelsea, terrorising defences across the Premier League.

And while the Ivorian striker scored goal after goal for the Blues, this one against Bolton has to rank among one of the finest in his illustrious career.

Nicolas Anelka cross the ball to Deco on the edge of the box, the midfielder then chested it on to Frank Lampard who flicked it behind him perfectly into the path of Drogba who cooly slotted home on the volley – exquisite!

2 Dimitri Payet vs Crystal Palace

It’s difficult to judge whether a free-kick is perfect, but we’re pretty sure Dimitri Payet’s effort against Crystal Palace back in 2016 is up there as a strong contender.

With a packed wall in front of him, many players would have struggled to get their strike up and over into the top left-hand corner. So, with that in mind, Payet chose the goalkeeper’s side, curling a stunning dipping effort around and into the top right-hand corner.

To get the ball to come down from such a height, and at such speed, looked impossible, but Payet somehow managed it, to score an unforgettable goal.

1 Jack Wilshere vs Norwich City

It had to be this one, didn’t it? There’s simply no goal more satisfying than Wilshere’s against Norwich City in 2013. It is arguably the greatest team move in Premier League history and sums up Wenger’s time at Arsenal.

Cazorla, Wilshere, and Olivier Giroud played incredible one-touch football on the edge of the area, before the goalscorer finished the move in emphatic fashion, side-footing home first time.

It remains, for us at Football FanCast at least, the most satisfying goal of all time.

Manchester United are still interested in signing Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, with his future up in the air.

Could Man United sign Kylian Mbappe?

The Red Devils and Erik ten Hag are after a new forward this summer after securing moves for Mason Mount and Andre Onana from Chelsea and Inter Milan respectively.

Anthony Martial is reportedly up for sale, which could leave United with no recognised centre-forward heading into the new season, should the United man depart. Atalanta’s Rasmus Hojlund and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani have both been linked with moves to Manchester and talks have been held over the pair.

However, previously, Mbappe has also been linked with a sensational move to Old Trafford, with potential new owner Sheikh Jassim feeling the France international belongs at Old Trafford. The Qatar group were thought to be planning a swoop for the PSG star if they completed a takeover, but as we know, there has been no real progress in recent months in regards to taking full control from the Glazers.

However, when it comes to Mbappe, it looks as if a PSG exit is on the cards this summer, with the player informing the club he would not take up the option of a one-year contract extension next summer and is now up for sale. Mbappe has even been left out of the club’s pre-season tour of Japan, and it looks as if United are still keen.

Reliable Spanish outlet Marca provided an update on Mbappe’s future in the last 48 hours, amid interest from Real Madrid, who he wants to join. They claimed that “an important offer from Saudi Arabia” is about to arrive for the forward.

Three sides in the Premier League are also keen, one of which are Man United. It is believed that the Red Devils are interested in Mbappe, regardless of whether or not a Qatar takeover at Old Trafford materialises.

How much could Kylian Mbappe cost?

Mbappe, hailed as "unstoppable" in the media, is thought to be on £900,000-a-week and was valued at £170m when the Red Devils were linked with a move for the 24-year-old earlier this year.

However, reports previously suggested that United’s summer budget stood at around £100m this summer, a figure which they have already surpassed with a £60m move for Mount and £47m deal for Onana.

Therefore, you’d expect that a move could be extremely difficult for those at Old Trafford to complete, especially if Jassim and co fail to seal a takeover relatively soon. However, Mbappe could be a game-changing signing in Manchester, helping to take Ten Hag's side to the next level.

The France international, who has scored at Old Trafford in the Champions League, has netted 212 goals and provided 98 assists for PSG in 260 games, showing how he could be the missing piece of the jigsaw in the final third.

United may not be able to compete with the likes of Real Madrid or sides from Saudi Arabia financially, but by the looks of things, the Red Devils are still looking at a potential move, making it one to watch.

Arsenal could potentially explore a deal for Bayer Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby this summer according to journalist Dean Jones.

How much does Moussa Diaby cost?

Reports have stated that the German side are holding out for £51m for one of their star assets

The report also mentions that Arsenal are joined in the race for the Frenchman by Manchester United, Newcastle United, and the forward's former side Paris Saint-Germain.

It's claimed the 23-year-old has his sights set on a move to the Premier League as his next career step after four successful seasons in Germany.

Leverkusen already seem to be preparing for the French international's potential departure, with the recent signing of German winger Jonas Hoffman from Borussia Monchengladbach paving the way for the forward's possible departure this summer.

According to Jones, who was speaking on The Football Terrace's Done Deal show, Diaby has been angling for a move away from the Bundesliga since January, and should the Gunners want to act upon their interest, they will have to wait until the "second phase" of the transfer window:

"Diaby, amazingly, still looking for a club. He's been linked with everyone since January and has not actually tied anything off. Definitely someone who has been of interest to Arsenal, so I wouldn't rule it out, especially if this window wears on, and he is still looking for a club.

"Moussa Diaby is someone that Arsenal do like, but again that would be for the second phase of this window. The focus has been so heavily on getting these three guys [Havertz, Rice, Timber] through the door that there is no certainty over who they go for in that position yet, so let's wait until the mini-clearout starts to take place."

Will Diaby play with Saka?

Should the north London side complete a deal for Diaby, he will offer some incredible competition for Bukayo Saka on the right-hand side.

One complaint that some Arsenal fans had last season was the lack of real competition and rotation for the Englishman, who played a whopping 3195 minutes in the Premier League for the Gunners. The winger ended the season having clocked up 4169 minutes across all competitions for club and country and the effects of fatigue were really showing, managing just two goals and one assist in the final eight games of a really grueling campaign.

The arrival of the Frenchman in conjunction with the new deal for academy graduate Reiss Nelson should allow manager Mikel Arteta to properly rotate his right-wingers, allowing Saka to focus on the biggest games and the biggest moments for the Gunners next season across both the Premier League and the Champions League.

Diaby – hailed a "beast" – shares a very similar play style to Arsenal's number seven, with both forwards very direct in nature, whilst having the ability to create and score chances almost at will, as showcased by the pair's goal contribution numbers, with the Leverkusen man managing 14 goals and 11 assists in 48 games whilst the Gunners star produced 15 goals and 11 assists in 48 games.

The former PSG player is also a very versatile attacker, having played across the entire front three for his club last campaign, as well as in attacking midfield. This flexibility opens up a whole range of possibilities regarding the setup of Arsenal's attack and could allow both Saka and Diaby to play together.

The BCB President said that after Pakistan turned down the tour of Bangladesh in July 2017, Bangladesh’s High Performance and U-19 teams will not be touring Pakistan later this year

Mohammad Isam27-May-2017Bangladesh will not consider or discuss tours to Pakistan, as relations between the two sides continue to remain cold.There had been talks – in April – of sending Bangladesh’s the High Performance or Under-19 team to Pakistan but those plans have been put to bed with the BCB making arrangements for them to play teams from New Zealand and England.”We haven’t spoken about going to Pakistan since we heard their decision from the media,” BCB president Nazmul Hassan said. “The national team [touring Pakistan] is out of the question. Our HP or U-19 [teams] might have gone there but when they made this announcement [of postponing the Bangladesh tour] we are no longer in talks. After this, there is no question of talking about the HP tour.”They will go elsewhere. We have confirmed programmes with New Zealand and England. We are in talks with two more countries. Within a couple of months, we will be releasing the specific schedules. Many of these series will be held at home.”Rather than forcing the Pakistan tour in July this year, the BCB want the Bangladesh players rest so they can be ready for the home Tests against Australia in August-September, the tour of South Africa in September-October and the Bangladesh Premier League T20 tournament in November-December.”I think we can rest our players during that time,” Hassan said. “Our boys are playing a lot these days. From Champions Trophy they’ll come home, play against Australia and then head off to South Africa. From there, they will come home and start with the BPL, and then they have more cricket.”I am not too keen about the Pakistan tour. But if we need to play [in that time], we have four or five countries lined up to play against Bangladesh. It won’t be hard to arrange matches, but right now we are not really keen on filling that gap either.”However, the only caveat is the ICC deadline for automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup, which is on September 30 this year. Hassan said on Saturday, as he did couple of times last year, that the BCB are in touch with the ICC to find out what they have to do to make the cut for the World Cup.

Lionel Messi and Xavi could be sensationally reunited at Inter Miami, with it claimed that the outgoing Barcelona boss is open to a MLS challenge.

Article continues below

Article continues below

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• World Cup winner walking away from Camp Nou
• Plans to take a year off from coaching
• Could be lured to the United States in 2025

• Getty Images
  

  WHAT HAPPENED?

  Former Blaugrana captain Xavi has, after savouring La Liga title glory at Camp Nou last season, announced that he will be walking away from his current role at the end of the 2023-24 campaign. He has seen a star-studded squad in Catalunya struggle for consistency this term, and the pressure of life in the most demanding of managerial posts has become too much.

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  claims that the World Cup-winning ex-Spain international will look to take a break from coaching when severing ties with Barcelona. He is, however, only 44 years of age and will return to the dugout at some stage.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  It is suggested that contact with Inter Miami has already been made, with the Herons boasting the likes of Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba on their books – who have all worked alongside Xavi before in a playing capacity.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  El Chiringuito report that Xavi “wants to stop for a year but there have been contacts with Inter Miami”. They go on to say that “if an interesting offer arrives, he will accept it”. That could spell bad news for current Herons boss Tata Martino, who oversaw a historic Leagues Cup triumph last year and is expected to deliver more major silverware in 2024.

Last year, Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) cricketers dropped just one game in winning the President’s Trophy. In 2005, with one match in the preliminary round of the new KFC Cup in Barbados left to go today-against Guyana-the celebrated “Cinderella Kids” of

Garth Wattley09-Oct-2005

Last year, Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) cricketers dropped just one game in winning the President’s Trophy. In 2005, with one match in the preliminary round of the new KFC Cup in Barbados left to go today – against Guyana – the celebrated “Cinderella Kids” of 2004 have lost their title and are still looking for their first win of the tournament.The reason?”Mentally we just broke down,” team coach David Williams said yesterday.The ability to fight out of tight spots, especially when chasing targets, was strength of the 2004 squad. But in this tournament, T&T have been beaten by 14, 41 and two runs in the three matches in which they have batted second thus far. Friday’s six-wicket defeat to fellow strugglers Jamaica in a rain-affected 20-over affair was the only match where T&T had to set a target.Asked about the repeated failures, Williams isolated the area of “mental breakdown”.”It boils down basically to our batting. Mentally, we haven’t batted well at all. That contributed to most of the games that we lost. The bowlers have been doing a tremendous job. The wickets are very, very good here in Barbados. Ideal batting strips. For some reason, the batters can’t seem to get it right.”The current squad contains Dwayne Bravo, Mervyn Dillon and Lendl Simmons, players with West Indies experience who all missed the tournament last year won by a team given very little chance. And Williams yesterday conceded that many key men did not live up to expectations.”We have a lot of senior guys, guys who we expected to have got the job done,” the coach began. “We probably expected a bit more from Dwayne Bravo and Dillon. We probably expected more from both of them. I think Bravo could have done a bit better with the bat.”And Williams refused to blame the successive reversals on either a poor team spirit or the leadership of Daren Ganga. “I don’t think the team spirit was bad, we just didn’t click at the right time. Ganga has done his best. The captain can only do so much. The captaincy was decent. We had no problem with Daren.”The coach also declined to blame poor preparation for the results. “When we left Trinidad, I honestly felt the preparation was decent,” although he added, “More could have been done in terms of more practice matches. I don’t think the effort to give us more knocks was 100 per cent. But that is not an excuse.”The one other plea Williams did make, though, was for the more regular use of a psychologist in the preparation of future teams. “I think we need to get in a psychologist to help with the mental development of the players.” That is a recommendation Williams said he would make to the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB). But for the moment, he is hoping his charges can lift themselves against the Final Four-bound Guyanese in an effort to avoid an embarrassing fifth defeat.”I don’t think this has ever happened,” Williams said. “They (the players) don’t remember a situation like that in the history of Trinidad and Tobago cricket. We are hoping we can pull this one off.”

Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel has given his team some time off to clear their heads after losing three games in a row.

Bayern suffer three straight defeats Now eight points behind Leverkusen Take on RB Leipzig next GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

Bayern are enduring a nightmare run of form which has hurt their hopes of winning silverware this season. However, after Sunday's shock defeat to Bochum, Tuchel has made a key decision and has opted to give his players some time off to spend with their families and clear their heads, according to Sky reporter Kerry Hau. The players are not due back to work until Wednesday when they will start preparations for a crunch clash against RB Leipzig on Saturday at Allianz Arena.

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Bayern have slipped eight points behind Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga table after losing to Xabi Alonso's side and Bochum. Tuchel's men are also in trouble in the Champions League after slumping to a 1-0 loss to Lazio in the first leg of their last 16 tie. The results have led to scrutiny of Tuchel's position and speculation the club could look to replace him with Alonso. Kane has also come in for criticism for his recent performances for the Bavarian giants despite scoring 25 Bundesliga goals already this season.

(C)GettyImagesDID YOU KNOW?

Kane scored his 25th goal in his 22nd Bundesliga game – the fewest games any player has played in the competition to reach 25 goals.

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR BAYERN

Tuchel will be hoping his players can clear their heads and get back on track next time out against Leipzig. The Bavarians surely can't afford to drop any more points if they are to pip Leverkusen to the title but face a tough test against Marco Rose's men.

Discarded Australian Test opener Matt Renshaw made a statement to the national selectors with a commanding 170 to put the Queensland Bulls in control on day one against Victoria at the MCG.Renshaw had endured a lean period after being dropped from the Test squad prior to the Ashes series but has found some form in the last two Shield matches.He struck 12 fours and four sixes in a fluent 218-ball innings that ended at the hands of Fawad Ahmed with more than 20 overs remaining in the day. Renshaw was well supported by Sam Heazlett during an 89-run stand. Heazlett cruised to an unbeaten 63 by the close with Jack Wildermuth racing to 42 not out.The Victoria bowlers toiled hard but only broke through four times on a surface that has yielded a lot of runs this summer.

The New Zealand fast bowler is also a station officer with the Greytown Fire Brigade

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2018

When we speak of cricketers putting out fires, it’s usually in the context of a batsman playing a rearguard innings. Not so in the case of the New Zealand fast bowler Seth Rance, who is a literal firefighter.On Monday, Rance, who is a station officer with the Greytown Fire Brigade, helped extinguish a blaze that threatened to engulf the White Swan Hotel, a pub in the rural town of Greytown in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. Crews from across Wairarapa, with Rance among them, arrived on the scene after the pub’s roof caught fire.”The origin of the fire was in the southern end of the building,” Rance told reporters. “There’s a little bit of structural and water damage but it appears to have been caught in time. It’s fortunate we got the call nice and early.”Rance, who has played two ODIs and four T20Is since his international debut last year, isn’t the first New Zealand quick with a day job in the uniformed services – Shane Bond also had a parallel career as a policeman.