Brazil destroy Uruguay, Argentina survive in qualifiers

Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a penalty kick during a 2018 Russia World Cup qualifying soccer match between Argentina and Chile at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday March 23, 2017. AP/Gustavo Garello

Mar 24, 2017- Brazil were not intimidated by more than 60,000 raucous fans at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, beating second-place Uruguay 4-1 in South America's World Cup qualifying group to retain the lead in the standings after 13 matches.
Midfielder Paulinho scored a surprising hat trick, with Barcelona star Neymar adding another, to keep their team firmly on course for football's main event in Russia next year.
Brazil are still to lose a point under coach Tite, who took over in September and secured on Thursday his seventh straight win in the South American qualifiers. Now the five-time World Cup champions total 30 points, seven more than Uruguay and 10 above the lowest place that could guarantee a berth in the next World Cup.
With five games to play, Brazil could qualify next Tuesday with victory over Paraguay if Ecuador and Chile fail to win their games.

Argentina beat Chile 1-0 thanks to a penalty scored by Lionel Messi and managed to stay in the chase for a spot in the tournament, going third with 22 points. Chile is in sixth, outside the qualification zone.
Fourth-place Colombia also needed a penalty to score a 1-0 home victory against Bolivia.
Elsewhere, seventh-place Paraguay beat fifth-place Ecuador 2-1 and bottom team Venezuela drew 2-2 with eighth-place Peru.

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Second Match : Nepal vs Kenya (ICC World Cricket League Championship) Watch Live !

Game starts at 9:30 (Nepali Time March 13th 2017)   Video Source - Youtube.com
Kenya survived some nervy moments to defeat Nepal by five wickets in a rain-interrupted ICC World Cricket League match at TU cricket ground on Saturday.

Nepal managed a score of 112 for eight before rain halted the game for first time. Kenya was given a revised target of 104 runs from 29 overs under the D/L method. But following another rain interruption in the 22nd over, the target was revised to 94 runs from 26 overs.
Kenya achieved the target in the 25th over when Rakep Patel smashed Sompal Kami for a six.
Earlier, losing toss and batting first, Gyanendra Malla scored 27 runs and Shakti Gauchan and Sompal Kami added 30-run partnership before rain stopped play in the 36th over.

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Barack Obama vowed to speak up if Donald Trump threatens core US values and reassured

Americans "we'll be okay" Wednesday, in a political swansong after eight years as president.
During his final press conference and public appearance before Trump's inauguration on Friday, the 55-year-old said he was stepping back but would return to the political breach in extremis.
"I want to do some writing, I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much. I want to spend precious time with my girls," he said.

But, he added, any effort to enforce systematic discrimination, erode voting rights, muzzle the press or round up young immigrants, would cause him to speak out.
"There's a difference between that normal functioning of politics and certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake."
During the campaign Trump vowed to ban Muslims from entering the United States and deport millions of illegal immigrants, many of them Latin Americans long-settled in the country.
His strident tone since winning election and the contrast with eight years of Obama's liberal agenda has given the country something akin to political whiplash.
Can't do it alone
Trump's supporters are euphoric that political business as usual may be over, while his detractors are fearful of a mercurial and untested leader.
Against this backdrop, the traditionally mild-mannered ritual of a final presidential press conference was given added political weight.
Obama was in turn resolute and reassuring. "I have offered my best advice," he said, describing his conversations with the president-elect.
"I can tell you that -- this is something I have told him -- that this is a job of such magnitude that you can't do it by yourself. You are enormously reliant on a team."
He also warned Trump to think through foreign policy decisions that may be domestically popular, like his vow to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
"It's a volatile environment. What we have seen in the past is when some unilateral moves are made that speak to some of the core issues and sensitivities of either side, that can be explosive."
Asked about Trump's stated intention to seek a thaw with the Kremlin, Obama stopped short of criticizing his successor -- but noted that his own overtures to Russia were frustrated by an "adversarial spirit" when Vladimir Putin regained the presidency.
He also defended his decision -- slammed by Trump's Republicans -- to commute the sentence of transgender army private Chelsea Manning, jailed for 35 years for handing classified US documents to WikiLeaks.

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It's like a father-son relationship with MS Dhoni, Says Pacer Mohammed Shami

Surgical strikes have been the flavour of the season and Mohammed Shami, with his pace, accuracy and the ability to move the ball consistently, was decisive for India against England before a knee injury cut short his series. The 26-year-old from Amroha, UP, is currently recuperating in Bengaluru, from where he spoke to TOI. Excerpts...
How is your knee now? It's the other knee, not the one that went through the surgery. And even this time, you seemed to have bowled under a lot of pain (against England)...
I've reached a stage when even if there's the slightest of discomfort, it's easy to identify it. A slight swelling, the least bit of pain and you know that you need to get it checked. Playing at that level helps you immensely because the longer you play, the easier it becomes for you to connect with your body. After the Rajkot match, I could see a bit of swelling on the knee and I immediately brought it to the coach's notice and spoke to the captain. The better thing to do in such scenarios is to avoid any kind of risk.

In your case, injuries seem to be never-ending...
Bearing pain is the easier part. What I can't bear easily is the whole idea of having to stay away from action, away from my family, away from my team-mates, staying alone in hotels, recovering from an injury and waiting to get back.
This current Indian team continues to show a great deal of camaraderie. Does that help relieve stress?
Whether it was under MS earlier, or now under Virat, the best thing to have happened to this bunch is that we all stand by each other. It's all within the family. That's where life becomes so beautiful, these small things fall in place.
Did it take you time to settle down in this team? You seem introverted...
I remember the first time I walked into this team. It's a ritual that whoever makes it to the Indian team for the first time has to make a speech. I was a little nervous. Most cricketers have a very active social life and mine was completely different, coming from where I do. I remember walking up and saying something to the effect that 'I can't speak in English so it'll have to be in Hindi'. And the guys were like "toh isme kya baat hai". That whole feeling of being accepted so immediately was amazing. As far as MS (Dhoni) is concerned, it's like a father-son relationship. What more can I say.
You can swing old and the new ball, you can lead an attack, you are a natural at plucking wickets. But you never come across as a showman....
Just do your job and go home. That's what you're supposed to do. That's what I also believe in. I like to focus on work at hand. I like to stay a bit relaxed. Of course, when you plan a wicket and it works, then the joy is evident. Like it happened when I got Alastair Cook's wicket in the second Test (when the stump broke).

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