Copa America 2019: Brazil beat Peru 3-1 to lift title

Brazil have defeated Peru 3-1 to win their first Copa America title since 2007. Everton led the team to victory, scoring a goal and setting up another to give Brazil their ninth Copa América trophy, and fifth at home. Gabriel Jesus and Richarlison also scored a goal each for Brazil, who have won the title every time they hosted the tournament.

Everton was named player of the final and also finished as one of the tournament's top scorers with three goals. Brazil's veteran right-back Dani Alves was player of the tournament. Brazil won despite playing with 10 men from the 70th minute because Jesus was sent off with a second yellow card.

Peru scored through Paolo Guerrero but could not pull off one last upset after eliminating Uruguay in the quarterfinals and two-time defending champion Chile in the semifinals. Peru, who have been routed 5-0 by Brazil in the group stage and barely escaped early elimination, were trying to win their first Copa América trophy in 44 years. They had not made it to the final since they won their second South American title in 1975.

Brazil had not made it past the quarterfinals of the Copa América since beating Argentina 3-0 in the 2007 final in Venezuela. They did not even get past the group stage in 2016. The last time they won the Copa América at home was in 1989 when Romário scored the winner against Uruguay at the Maracanã. Brazil's only other title since 2007 came in the 2013 Confederations Cup, also at home.

Real Madrid won UEFA Super Cup 2016

The 2016 UEFA Super Cup was the 41^st edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual Football match organized by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European Club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. The match featured Real Madrid, the winners of the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League and Sevilla, the winners of the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League.

It was played at the Lerkendal Stadion in Norway. Real Madrid won the match 3-2 after extra time. In the 21^st minute Marco Asensio scored the opening goal for Real Madrid with a strike from the 25 yards out which flew into the top left corner of the net. Franco got the equalizer in the 41^st minute when he scored with a low left foot shot from just inside the penalty area.

Sevilla were awarded a penalty in the 72^nd minute when Sergio Ramos was adjudged to have fouled Vitolo by flicking back his leg inside the penalty area. Yevhen scored from the resulting penalty with a low shot to his left sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. In the 93^rd minute Sergio Ramos scored with a free header from two yards out after a cross from Lucas.

In the 119^th minute Dani Carvajal got into the penalty box after a long run down the right and scored when he lifted the ball with the outside of his right foot over the goalkeeper. This was the third time Sevilla lost in UEFA Super Cup final. In 2014 they lost by Real Madrid and in 2015 by Barcelona. This was the third time Real Madrid has won UEFA Super Cup. 

Caribbean Premier League 2016

A rematch from first Caribbean Premier League playoff qualifier between the regular season’s top teams quickly turned into an uncontested romp for Jamaica Tallawahs, who rampaged past Guyana Amazon Warriors by nine wickets to claim their second CPL title at Warner Park. For Warriors, it was a flat effort that left them runner-up for the third time in four CPL seasons, twice to Tallawahs.

Warriors were the regular season table toppers and beat Tallawahs in two of their prior three meetings, including four wickets in opening playoff match. In Final, they stumbled badly after being sent in by Chris Gayle at the toss and were bowled out for a franchise record low total of 93 in just 16.1 overs. Warriors never won a game while batting first in 2016, and lost all three games in which they batted first, with two of those losses coming against Tallawahs.

Warriors were under pressure early when Nic Maddinson became the first of three batsmen dismissed first ball, edging Andre Russell behind in first over. A bigger blow came at the start of the third over when Chris Lynn the tournament leading scorer carved Shakib Al Hasan straight to Jonathan Foo at backward point for 7. Kesrick Williams also won a hat-trick in 16^th over.

Russell was named player of the Tournament. Russell struck the fastest century in Caribbean T20 history, off just 42 balls and also broke a three game Tallawahs losing streak lifting them into the Final.

Copa America 2016: Chile Retain title in Final

Chile upset favorites Argentina with a penalty shootout victory in the Copa America Final at MetLife stadium to retain title in the world’s oldest continental soccer competition. Chile earned themselves bragging rights as South America’s dominant team as they beat heavyweights Argentina 4-2 on penalties for a second straight year.

Lionel Messi missed from the spot in the shootout, cutting a dejected figure after the result was sealed and Argentina trophy drought had been extended to 23 years. The two sides were deadlocked 0-0 after 90 minutes and also after another half an hour of extra time in a match where both teams were reduced to 10 men in the first half.

Chilean substitute Francisco Silva placed his penalty low and to the right of Sergio Ramos to score the decider after Messi and Lucas Biglia missed for Argentina and Artura Vidal missed for Chile. The win was the second Copa America in a row for Chile, who won their first Copa title at home last year in exactly the same fashion, beating Argentina on penalties after the team had drawn 0-0 after extra time.

The Centenary Copa America was played in the United States for the first time this year to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the inaugural Copa America in 1916. The tournament was expanded to 16 teams, 10 from South America and six from the CONCACAF region of North and central America and the Caribbean.

West Indies won T20 World Cup 2016

A Brilliant knock from Carlos Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels gave West Indies their second World T20 Champion title in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Carlos hit four sixes in last over in four balls to win the title. This year Under 19 World Cup Trophy, Women T20 World Cup Trophy and Men T20 World Cup Trophy are lifted by West Indies Team.

So far, in World Cup West Indies lost only one match to Afghanistan in Super 10 round. They beat England twice including Final match, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India in Semi-Final. England was in game till 19^th over and set a target of 19 runs in last over. Ben stokes went for the final over and Carlos Brathwaite smashes four sixes in four balls to clinch the title and created history.

Virat Kohli was the top scorer in the World Cup with 273 runs in five matches in knockout rounds. Marlon Samuels was awarded Man of the Match award for his brilliant knock in Final. Samuels walked to the crease in the second over of the chase, when England had surprised West Indies by using Joe Root with the new ball, and he duly claimed Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle in his first over.

Virat Kohli won the Man of the tournament award in 2016 World T20 Final. He scored 273 runs at an average of 137. This was the sixth edition of the tournament. Next T20 World Cup will be hosted by Australia in 2020. 

Asia Cup T20

A thunderstorm and a Mahmudullah squall came in India’s way but a calm chase from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli helped India make light work of their chase of 121 that brought them their sixth Asia Cup Title.

Dhawan and Kohli added 94 runs for the second wicket before MS Dhoni who walked in bat with India needing 22 off 14 balls, quite fittingly, polished off the chase with an unbeaten six ball 20 as India won with seven balls to spare. Kohli credentials in run chases received another fillip as finished unbeaten on 41. Halfway through the protracted game, India were left with scoring at eight runs per over.

They were denied in the second over as Rohit Sharma was snaffled by Soumya Sarkar at slip off Amin Hossain as Bangladesh kept things tight upfront. Dhawan and Kohli took stock of the situation till the fourth over, before wading into new comer Abu Hider for three fours to kickstart the chase. Shakib gave away 15 runs in the next over. Dhawan helped himself to a half century, even as the Bangladesh bowlers at times tried to do too much, and paid the price.

Shikhar Dhawan was named as the man of the match and Sabbir Rahman was names as the man of the tournament for maximum runs. Virat Kohli was names as the coolest player of the match. This was India’s sixth Asia cup title and overall 10^th win in T20s this year out of 11 matches. India also ranked No 1 in T20s. With World Cup going to start after a week time, this is right time for India as they got right combination in team.

Patna Pirates won Pro Kabaddi 2016 Title

Patna Pirates recorded a maiden title triumph as they once again stamped their authority in the tournament with a 31-28 victory over U Mumba in the final of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. The third season of the tournament ended on a high note and Patna Pirates continued on their winning sequence.

Rohit Kumar of Patna Pirates was awarded Best Raider and Mohit Chillar of U Mumba the Best Defender of the match. Rishank Devadiga of U Mumba finished a dream season as the most successful raider with 106 points. Earlier in the evening, Puneri Paltan beat Bengal Warriors in the battle for the third place, raider Deepak Niwas Hooda top scoring for the Puneri Paltan with 9 points.

The Final in the Capital, attended by over 10,000 spectators was a fitting tribute to over a month of enthralling action of Pro Kabaddi. With the players, franchises and audiences hungry for more of the indigenous sport, the wait until June 2016 will be a long one. Led ably by Manpreet Singh with Rohit Kumar and Sandeep Narwal at the forefront of attack and defense, Patna Pirates dashed the hopes of defending champions and three times finalist U Mumba in a pulsating final.

Patna Pirates had established a 19-11 lead at the break which in the final analysis set U Mumba back. A do-or-die raid by substitute Deepak Narwal with the scores at 29-28 in favor of U Mumba titled the scales for the last time in Patna Pirates favor. Anup Kumar, the U Mumba Captain, still had the last opportunity to redeem the situation but his desperate lunge to get D Suresh Kumar for a touch saw him go off the court and the Patna Pirates captured the title and a cash award of Rupees 1 Crore.

Big Bash League 2016

The fifth BBL final was a tale of two innings and two collapses. Kevin Peterson who is in marvelous form scored 74 before Usman Khawaja who is in simply superhuman touch, made 70 which as wickets tumbled proved enough to hand Sydney Thunder their first title. Thunder had never finished outside the bottom two for the first four sessions and 2015-16 has been a topsy turvy one too.

They lost four consecutive games after winning their first three and only crept into the finals when their fate was beyond their control. Thunder have won only 11 out of 41 matches since the Big Bash inception and Hussey has been at the helm of nine of them, including a final on the same day Thunder won the inaugural Women BBL too. In final game, Hussey was given a guard of honor by Stars led by their captain, David Hussey.

Stars were 50 for 2 in seven overs when the other opener Luke Wright fell, but Pieterson was unperturbed. In Peter Handscomb and David Hussey, Pieterson found a pair of willing assistants to run hard and exploit the MCG vast expenses. But when Kallis bowled Hussey with a magnificent Yorker, it sparked a collapse as Stars lost six wickets for 45 runs.

In response, Khawaja ends the BBL with 345 runs in four innings, three of which were genuinely match winning. In last Ben Rohrer flicked to leg for two, and drove down the ground for six to win the game. Usman Khawaja was named Man of the Match and Chris Lynn was named as Man of the Series.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015

Parthiv Patel produced his first century in Style to give Gujarat their maiden title. A collapse after Parthiv wicket had left the issue open in giving Delhi a manageable target of 274, but Veteran RP Singh, playing his first match in the knockout stages, settled the matter with an opening burst of 4 for 23, which includes a first ball wicket of Rishabh Pant and later those of Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir.

Parthiv and Bhatt added 149 runs for the third wicket, the highest for the third wicket in his tournament. Parthiv hit 10 fours, mainly through cuts and flicks off the hips. Bhatt hit four fours and a six in his 60 off 74 balls, which took his tournament tally to 338, which is the highest for Gujarat and ninth highest overall. They were helped along by two sets of four overthrows, various fumbles and a few clumsy dives.

Delhi came back into the chase with some hope, but RP squashed it immediately. With a generous sprinkling of grey in this beard, RP might look older than his 30, but the ball is still coming out all right from his hand. The only blip on Gujarat night arrived when Bhatt dropped Unmukt Chand off the bowling of Kalaria, but he made up for it soon enough when he accepted a low offering from Gambhir at first slip.

As wickets continued to fall, the only man capable of a miraculous comeback was Chand. He played attractive shots in his 33 off 48, but once he placed Jasprit Bumrah on the contest was officially over. Negi half century managed to push the score past 100. This was Gujarat Maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title. Parthiv and RP Singh were awarded Player of the match awards.

Cricket World Cup 2015: Semi-Final Clashes

Last week of Cricket World Cup 2015 has started and finally out of 14 teams in the tournament, four teams are left to compete against each other. Only one team from Asia is able to make it to the semi-finals this year. In Quarter Finals, all Asians teams played their matches and three of them went back. Sri Lanka ended their long streak of reaching semi-finals this year. Pakistan was knocked out again by Australia this year. Bangladesh was knocked out by India and West Indies by New Zealand.

India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand made into the finals. India will face Australia in Semi-final number two on 26^th March in Sydney. New Zealand will face South Africa in Semi-Final number one on 24^th March in Auckland. This year there will be space for only one team out of South Africa and New Zealand to reach finals. None of the team has ever won the cup. Australia will be playing their seventh consecutive semi-final on Thursday. However, they lose one game in this tournament against New Zealand by one wicket.

Australia also has advantage over India having won seven matches out of ten world Cup clash. Australia also came out on top in a tri-series against India and England, a month before world cup. However, India turnaround has been an impressive one. Bowlers have performed well and bowled out opposition team within 50 overs in every game. Batsman played well and top four making centuries in any of the game. Shikhar Dhawan did it twice and Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suresh Raina made it once. Captain Cool Dhoni also did well in middle against West Indies and Zimbabwe.

In first clash between New Zealand and South Africa, New Zealand has advantage over Caribbean’s. New Zealand will be playing in their home and batting efforts from Top five batsmen is quite impressive in this tournament. Bowlers are also doing well with Boult as the leading wicket taker and Southee and Vettori giving valuable contributions. South Africa will have to fight hard to win the game. However, they did against Sri Lanka. AB and Amla are top performers and Quinton and Du Plessis giving valuable support. Morkel, Tahir, and Steyn bowled well in the tournament but their losses against India and Pakistan make them less favorite.

My predictions are India and New Zealand will play Finals or it may happen both home teams will knocked out and India and South Africa will face each other again in Finals. Australia can beat India because of their home advantage.

Ranchi Rays win Hockey India League 2015

The third of 2015 Hockey India League finally ended. Played for one month between six teams, the current season gave many nail biting matches. There were two debutants in this season, Ranchi Rays and Dabang Mumbai. Hockey India League announced the prize money for 2015 edition as Rs. 2.5 crore. Debutant Ranchi Rays won the 2015 season with Rs. 2.5 crore and a trophy. They defeated Punjab warriors in the final 3-2 in a penalty shootout. The final was played at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

Though the Rays are a new team, the squad is more or less the same as that of the now non-existent Ranchi Rhinos which won the inaugural HIL in 2013. Ranchi Rays rode on goalkeeper Lovell Taylor brilliant show under the bar to earn a hard-fought 3-2 win over Jaypee Punjab Warriors in the shoot-out after the two teams ended the regulation time locked at 2-2. Playing without Captain Jamie Dwyer, Jaypee Punjab Warriors gave a tough fight to Ranchi Rays before the latter came out winners for the Hero Hockey India League 2015.

The first half of the finale match witnessed the defence of both the teams winning over the attack of the opponents as each was determined to avert any danger and not allow the other to have the better of them. Second half scored read was 0-0. The third quarter ended up 1-1. In the fourth round Punjab Warrior took lead by one goal but in the next minute Ranchi Rays made it 2-2. With the score tied, then result was dependent on Penalty shoot-out.

In shoot-out Punjab Warriors failed to get past an agile Lovell Tyler in the very first attempt when Simon Orchard failed to convert. While Christopher Ciriello and Dharmvir Singh scored easily in the next two attempts. SV Sunil and Robert consecutive misses allowed Ranchi Rays to win and lift. With the Ranchi Rays take home Rs. 2.50 crore, while Jaypee Punjab Warriors will pocket Rs. 1.25 crore for finishing in second position.

Delhi Waveriders won the third place prize beating UP Wizards 1-2. Tyler Lovell won the Man of the Match Award and Barry Middleton won the Hero Goal of the Match Award. Ashley Jackson named as the Hero most valuable player of the Tournament and won Rs. 25 Lakhs. Harmanpreet Singh won the Ponty Chadha Upcoming player of the tournament and won Rs. 20 Lakh. PR Sreejesh won the Dhruv Batra Motivator of the tournament and won Rs. 20 Lakh. Jaypee Punjab Warriors won Airtel maximum goal of the Tournament and won Rs. 10 Lakh. Uttar Pradesh Wizards won the Star Sports Fair play award trophy. Total prize pool was of worth Rs. 5.25 crores.