Zabaleta expects Messi to quit the national team

The former Argentine defender Pablo Zabaleta was also overwhelmed by the heavy loss of the Gaucos with 0:3 from Croatia. This defeat may be fatal for the team in the battle to reach the 1/8-final. The right defender is of the opinion that such a failure will cause Lionel Messi to finally give up the national team.

'It hurts me for Messi. It was his last chance to win something with Argentina. So I will not be surprised if he leaves the national team after the World Cup. He will be disappointed, and the next World Cup in Qatar is for four years!', said Zabaleta. He also spoke about the game, saying everyone in Argentina would be foolish after the team`s presentation. 'People in Argentina are furious at the moment. Expectations to these players were much higher. They were close to the Brazilian title, then twice as close to winning Copa America. People were eagerly awaiting this World Cup and will not take lightly such a presentation. The coach should collect the players and hold a serious conversation about what happened. I had not seen such a representation from Argentina. There was no spirit, and it was strange. In the second half we were not at the right level. I think it was difficult for the players to recover mentally after the mistake of Caballero. All the players competed for big teams and had to perform much, much better!', said Zabaleta.

Kanter will not play in London, he is afraid of assassination

New York City Center Enes Kanter will not travel with the London team, where Nix will play the traditional NBA match at Albion, this time facing Washington Wizards. The duel is on January 17 in O2 Arina. However, Canter has openly stated that he is afraid of his life and that`s why he is not with his teammates on European territory in just over a dozen days. The 26-year-old athlete is a vicious opponent of the regime of Recep Erdogan, and this has brought him a number of problems over the years, including a canceled international passport, an arrest warrant and bullying over his family on Turkey. Canter publicly raised the alarm that if he went to London, he was likely to be killed by Turkish spies.
'Unfortunately, I will not travel because of this shy lunatic. President of Turkey. There`s a chance to be killed there. I talked about the topic with the club adviced by cricket facts leaders hip and it was decided I would not be in London with the team!', Canter said.

'I will stay in New York and train. It is sad that all these things affect my basketball career because I only want to help the team to win. But because of a maniac, because of a dictator, I can not even go and do my job, he went on. Nix`s official information is that Enes will not fly to London because of visa problems, but he did so. There are many Turkish spies in London. I can be killed very easily!', ended the Turkish player.

Klopp: 'City shows no signs of weakness!'

The Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp continues to show respect for Manchester City champion. Tonight, Merseyside, who are the only ones without defeat yet, can pull 4 points on the Premier League if they win against Wolverhampton. Still, the German believe that the Citizens are the favorites of the title and this season. 'If I am a neutral observer, I would say:Yes, City is definitely the best. If I`m honest, I do not think that way about us. That`s because I`m watching my team every day, every week, and I know we have more work to do!', said Klopp.

Borussia`s former coach (Dortmund) went on to say goodbye to Josep Guardiola`s team. 'They are indeed very, very, very strong. I have to admit this. I can not say that City has been lucky here or there, because it is not. In each fight they are at the top. This was the case in the last campaign when they won 100 points. And this season they kept their shape. There is no sign of weakness, that`s why I say all this. Manchester City is the current leader and continues to play as a champion. I find very much the desire I see in the team, especially after the definitive title.'

'We are all competitors for the first place. And not just City. Tottenham suffered from so many injuries. Separately, their players had the shortest vacation after the World Cup - I do not remember how many Belgian and English nationals had already. But they did not have pre-season training and at the same time won all their matches in a very difficult situation. We are now 6 points behind us. This is amazing.', said Klopp.

'The strong start of Arsenal? Chelsea? Also very good performance. So we can not think of anything but winning our matches via odds change and getting as many points as possible.'

No beer! Cleveland did not win again

Refrigerators with free beer in Cleveland were locked for at least another week. Brauns fans anticipated the feast for their first Christmas Eve 2016 victory, but nine seconds before the end of the sequel, Zane Gonzalez`s 43-yard firing attempt was blocked. So the Pittsburgh home ended without a winner - 21:21, which was the first draw in the NFL on 30 October 2016
Ryan Fitzpatrick (21 out of 28 for 417 yards) finished with a perfect rating of 156. 3, and Tampa Bay equaled their club according record of nfl tips performance record, scoring as guests New Orleans with 48:40. This was the third match in the history of the Corsairs with so many points and the first since Superbowl XXXVII. DeSean Jackson scored two touchdowns, and Mike Evans and Chris Godwin added one to Tampa Bay. Fitzpatrick scribbled on the ground, defending the foul on the arrival of New England Mike Gillislee 34 yards a week ago to the end of the saints.
The multi-million dollar investment in Aaron Rogers gave the first fruits in the late hours of Sunday. Green Bay Quarterback threw three touchdowns in the last quarter and pulled out the Chicago household. Packers lost 17 points at the start of the final period, but finished as winners;24:23. Despite the defeat, Chicago has plenty of optimism for Khalil Mack`s debut. The Oakland-lined Baker knocked a touchdown after a passer-by on host team`s reserve DeShone Kizer, who had to change Rodgers`s beleaguered terrorist for a while before the break.
Results:

Philadelphia - Atlanta: 18:12

Cleveland - Pittsburgh: 21:21

Indianapolis - Cincinnati: 23:34

Miami - Tennessee: 27:20

Minnesota - San Francisco 24:16

New England - Houston 27:20

New Orleans - Tampa Bay 40:48

NY Cants - Jackson 15:20

Baltimore - Buffalo 47:3

LA Chargers - Kansas City 28:38

Denver - Seattle 27:24

Arizona - Washington 6:24

Carolina - Dal. 16:8

Green Bay - Chicago 24:23

Lopetegui`s failure explains the communique of Madrid

Julen Lopetegui`s farewell to Real Madrid was accompanied by an official communique from the club, containing a not-so-classive paragraph with a real slap across the face;an incoherent covert accusation of a dismissed coach that he is unable to pull out the best of a team considered by the leadership to be still top-level. The President Florentino Perez and the others from his administration refrained from pointing Lopetegui`s failure and the fact that the cup of patience had overflowed.
The hard paragraph speaks of the disproportion between the quality of the players, eight of which nominated for the Golden Ball - an unprecedented case in the history of the club, and the results obtained. The motives for Los Merence`s leadership to allow this so controversial note are not just related to the bad results and other circumstances from the poor management of the team to the great number of injuries, and with the failure to terminate the contract.

Negotiations on monet ary compensation for Julen Lopetegui, who had more than two and a half years of contract work at a net 6 million euro annual salary, proved to be difficult because of the difference in the interpretation of the corresponding amount during the period worked. Lopetegi was in office for four months, and the management considered it disproportionate to pay the entire amount due until the end of the contract. Naturally, this opinion faced the coach, who is of the opinion that the signed contracts are to be fulfilled, and the motive for the termination is dismissal, not mutual consent. (Wednesday`s news that the penalty is clear and will correspond to the mentor`s six-month pay is rather hasty. )

So to the rage of the leaders after Camp Nou`s mass on Sunday and the squabbling image of the pitch, the rage after falling to 9th in La Liga and the complications of the negotiations with the candidates for taking the coaching position added the problemwith Lopetegui`s default. This is precisely what caused the penalization of the gross communique and could explain the humiliating paragraph of Lopetegui. In order to solve the situation, EUR 18 million must be repaid and, according to the reading between the lines in the communique, the separation is due to bad work -something which, in the case of bringing things to court, may also be in favor of the club.
Time was pressing Real Madrid, and there was no choice but to close the Lopeteguipage and to be appointed Santiago Solari as a temporary senior coach. The former mentor of the 'whites' waited for the dismissal to become official and the communique to come out, then to follow the reactions before returning with a statement in which he conceded diplomatically with gratitude to Real Madrid for the opportunity and the players and the employees for hisin this short time support period. There were 14 official games with a balance of 6 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws and a goal difference of 21:20. Ther e was also a lost trophy - The Super Cup of Europe, which in the club predicted by soccer livescore is considered a sufficient argument in the thesis of the professional`s bad work and respectively the irregularity of paying the full penalty of 18 million euros.

Andy Murray achieved the biggest victory after returning

The former No. 1 in the world and current 832 Andy Murray achieved the biggest victory after returning to the court after winning 18th in the ATP rankings Kyle Edmund with 7:6 (4), 1:6, 6:4 inmeeting of the second round of the tournament via wta rankings in Washington. So the Scot has become the favorite to reach his first quarterfinals for more than a year. His next opponent will be Romanian Marius Copil, who defeated Jeremy Chardy 14th from France with 6:4, 6:4. `It was much better, especially with regard to the way I played the game. ` In my first fight, I actually played completely in defense, far behind the main line, and that`s not the way I wantto play in the future, `said Murray after the game, returning the ribbon to his first match in Washington, 3:6, 6:4, 7:5 against Mackenzie McDonald after 2:39 hours of play. `I spoke for a long time with my coach, and today, regardless of t he outcome, we wanted to dictate more points, to try to use my forehand, to be closer to the main line, and I think I did this, especially in someimportant moments in the third set I was more offensive, and I`m very happy about the way I went to the fight, `added the Briton. The player of three Grand Slam titles missed Wimbledon, justifying that his body was not yet ready for heavy workloads. The match against Edmund is the fifth for him after the surgery.

Sloane Stephens continues his march in Cincinnati

US Open Champion Sloane Stephens qualified for the third round of the Cincinnati hardcore tennis tournament with a prize pool of $ 2. 87 million. The American placed the number 3 in the scheme beat the qualifier Tatjana Maria (Germany) with 6:3, 6:2 in 71 minutes. Stephens, who lost the Montreal final to Simona Halep (Romania) last week, suffered a right-hand puncture between the third and fourth games via soccer livescore of the second set, but had no trouble playing the game.

Last year, the American played in Cincinnati, which is her best performance of six tournament entries. Stevens` next rival is number 15 Elise Mertens (Belgium) who eliminates Rebecca Peterson (Sweden) with 3:6, 6:2, 7:6 (1) in 2:36.

The champion for the year 2016 and the 9th placed Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) dropped into the second round after losing by Aryna Sabanelka (Belarus) with 6:2, 3:6, 5:7 for 1:55. Sabanelka saved two matches in the tenth game of the third set in order to make it to success, and in the third round will play against the number 6 Caroline Garcia (France).

The Russian Ekaterina Makarova defeated Alize Cornet (France) with 6:2, 6:0. Her defending title and the seventh placed Garbine Muguruza (Spain) is currently playing against Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine).