3-5-2 FOOTBALL

Diego Armando Maradona , one of the greatest football players of all time, died on Wednesday at the age of 60, plunging his native  Argentina  and football fans around the world into mourning. Renowned along with  Pele  as one of the finest players ever to grace the field, the Argentine World Cup-winning captain had undergone brain surgery this month and died of a heart attack. Maradona will forever be remembered for his “ Hand of God ” goal against  England  in the 1986  World Cup  quarter-final in Mexico City, when he pushed the ball into the net. Minutes later he swerved through the helpless English defenders for a superb second goal, capping a victory that perfectly encapsulated the mixture of brilliant skill and often outrageous behaviour that ran through his life. Pele described  Maradona  as a “dear friend” and the 80-year-old Brazilian said he hoped they would “play together in the heaven” one day. Gary Lineker , who was a member...

The  Malaysian Football League  (MFL) have called off the  Malaysia Cup . MFL made the decision to cancel the remaining matches of the Malaysia Cup today following the National Security Council's (NSC) decision to reject their appeal to allow the competition to resume in states not under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO). On Wednesday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the NSC could not make an exemption for the Malaysia Cup, although there were only seven more matches left to play to complete the season. "We respect the decision by the NSC. We included options to complete the tournament in accordance to the SOPs in place in our appeal to the NSC. However, we understand that the county is now fighting a battle against Covid-19,"  MFL  CEO Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan in a statement today. "Our board have decided to cancel the competition as we cannot resume the tournament beyond this month. This is because players and coaches are contracte...

  PHOTO: JST Johor Darul Ta'zim  (JDT) won their seventh consecutive Super League title after trouncing Sabah 4-1 at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri yesterday. JDT got their goals through  Diogo Luis Santo  (38th minute),  Safawi Rasid  (57th, 81st) and  Leandro Velazquez  (84th) while  Sabah  got their consolation goal through  Dennis Buschening  (74th). After claiming their eighth win of the season, the  Southern Tigers  have bagged 26 points, nine more than nearest challengers  Perak  (17 points) in the 12-team standings.  JDT  still have one more match to go while Perak have two games in hand. The defeat, however, has put Sabah, who have nine points, in danger of being relegated. MURSYID ALHARAMAIN Meanwhile,  Petaling Jaya City FC  escaped from the relegation zone after an emphatic 4-2 roasting of  UiTM FC  at UiTM Stadium, in Shah Alam. The four goals of PJ C...

Bayern Munich  edged  Paris Saint-Germain  1-0 to win the 2019/2020 Champions League in Lisbon.  Kingsley Coman  scored the only goal in an entertaining affair between the league champions of Germany and France. It is their sixth Champions League victory and a first one since the 2012/2013 season. The match was entertaining and lived up to the billing. PSG will be ruing their missed chances in the first half, especially the one by  Angel Di Maria . Bayern took the lead in the 59th minute after  Joshua Kimmich  found Coman unmarked at the back post. Coman sent a powerful header to beat  Keylor Navas . TIGERS SUPER SPORTS Bayern have ended PSG's run of scoring in 34 successive games in the competition, and become the first team to keep a clean sheet against French Champions. The Champions League is  Hansi Flick 's third trophy since taking charge of Bayern in November. He had earlier lead the Bavarians to the  Bundesliga  2019/20...

  It was announced that the suspended 2020 season will finally be resumed on August 26, with only the seven remaining fixtures of the 2020  Super League  and  Premier League  'first half' set to be played out. While the FA Cup has been cancelled, the  Malaysia Cup  will still be contested after the league is concluded, albeit in a knockout format. The 2020 Malaysia FA Cup is the 31st season of the Malaysia FA Cup, a knockout competition for Malaysia's state football association and clubs. The winners would have secured a place for the 2021 AFC Cup group stage. 59 teams are involved in the competition. RUGBY ASIA

Liverpool  won the 2019/2020  Premier League . The club's title was confirmed after  Chelsea  defeated second placed  Manchester City  2-1 on Thursday night. The Merseyside giants needed one victory to seal the league but City's failure to beat Chelsea means they can't are out of the title challenge. It's Liverpool's first ever Premier League victory, and the first time in 30 years that they've won a top division league title.  As the corona virus pandemic halted the season, Liverpool supporters faced the real possibility that the season could be finished early, with some suggestions that the season would be cancelled altogether. However, this wasn't the case and the Premier League has been able to resume behind closed doors without any fans in the stadiums. TIGERS SUPER SPORTS It's a particularly unusual way to win the league because, with all the measures put in place in response to the virus, the  Reds  will not be able to celebrate their ...

Juventus  bagged their ninth consecutive  Serie A  title on Sunday after a 2-0 win over  Sampdoria  that put them over the line with two matches to spare.  Cristiano Ronaldo  scored his 31st goal of the season before  Federico Bernardeschi  sealed the victory in the second half as another Scudetto is heading to  I Bianconeri . Despite Ronaldo missed a late penalty,  Maurizio Sarri 's side moved seven points ahead of second-placed Inter Milan to seal a 36th title. TIGERS UNITED The ' Scudetto ' is Sarri's first and extends a record run which  Antonio Conte  started with three titles from 2012 and  Massimiliano Allegri  continued with the following five. Sarri's team had missed the chance to wrap up the title on Thursday when the ' Old Lady ' of Italian football fell to a 2-1 defeat at  Udinese . But they made no mistake at the  Allianz Stadium  despite being pushed hard by  Claudio Ranieri 's S...

Real Madrid   clinched their first   La Liga   title in three years after they edged past   Villarreal   at an empty Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium.   Zinedine Zidane   says winning the title this season made him happier than winning the Champions League. Karim Benzema  scored between the legs of  Sergio Asenjo  and added a controversial second from a retaken penalty. In bizarre fashion,  Sergio Ramos  had rolled the first attempt for Benzema to smash in but the effort was disallowed.  Vicente Iborra  pulled one back but it did not stop Real to wrap-up their 34th Spanish title.  Zidane's side have won all 10 of their matches since Spanish football restarted in June. They head into the final day of the season with an unassailable seven-point lead over second-placed Barcelona. Behind closed doors in a 6,000-seat stadium at the club's training complex is perhaps not the stage for the grand crowning Real would have imagi...

The  Malaysian Football League  (MFL) is planning to resume the  Malaysia League  in September. However, all matches will be played behind closed doors. The season was suspended on March 16, two days before the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the September restart will also depend on the situation then. If the M-League is not allowed to resume in September, the season will be called off. Due to time constraints, the home-and-away format for the  Super League  and the  Premier League  has been scrapped. Teams will now play each other only once, meaning the champions of the Super League and Premier League will be decided after 11 rounds of matches. According to MFL plan, the Super League and Premier League will start on Sept 1 or 2 and end on Sept 26 or 27. The MFL has also changed the format of the Malaysia Cup by dropping the group stage. The 16-team competition, comprising 11 Supe...

The FA of England says that it "remains committed" to finding a way in which to conclude the season and is open to playing up until the end of June. In their recent statement issued, the governing body confirmed that there will be no professional football in England, including the Premier League , until at least April 30 as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. Initially, fixtures in the country were suspended until the weekend of April 3-5 as a minimum , but this has been extended as the UK battles the pandemic, with more than 2,500 cases confirmed in the country. The FA released a statement on Thursday, which said: "The FA, Premier League, EFL and women’s professional game, together with the PFA and LMA , understand we are in unprecedented times and our thoughts are with everyone affected by Covid-19. With all games suspended, the Covid-19 outbreak has delayed Liverpool 's Premier League celebrations. They are currently on top of the table and need six...

The   Malaysian Football League   (MFL) and   Football Association of Malaysia   (FAM) today announced that all 2020   Malaysian League   (M-League) matches scheduled from Monday (March 16) will be postponed due to Covid-19. FAM president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin announced the decision at a press conference after chairing a special meeting on the Covid-19 pandemic here today. However, Hamidin said all Premier League and Super League matches for this week (Friday-Sunday) will still be played but in empty stadiums (without spectators). “The decision is taken in the interest of all players, teams and supporters involved directly with the national football arena.” The meeting was also attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH), National Sports Council (NSC), National Sports Institute (NSI), sponsors and M-League partners. Mursyid Alharamain Hamidin, who is also MFL president, said the decision also involved other local competitions or...