Atletico snatch late win at Barca to top La Liga

SEOUL: Son Heung-min must forget his troubles with struggling Tottenham as South Korea look to clinch a place at next year’s World Cup, his national team coach said Monday.
Son came off the bench at half time to rescue a point for Spurs with a late penalty in a 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth on Sunday.
But the 32-year-old forward has enjoyed less playing time this season and scored just seven Premier League goals as the London club languish in the bottom half of the table.
South Korea can qualify for their 11th straight World Cup if they beat both Oman and Jordan in home qualifiers this month.
Hong Myung-bo named Son in his squad and said the national team was “a completely different setting” for his captain.
Hong insisted that Son’s attempts to help Spurs win their first trophy in 17 years would not affect his performances for his country.
“I don’t want to link the trophy drought with the national team,” the coach said.
“Of course we want Son Heung-min to do well at his club and for him to carry that form into the national team.
“I believe he will continue to do well moving forward,” he added.
Son has struggled with injuries this season and completed 90 minutes just five times since the turn of the year.
Hong said there were no guarantees that Son would start as South Korea face Oman on March 20 and Jordan five days later.
“There are many discussions regarding his recent form, including his goal tally,” he said.
“However, we must not forget everything he has accomplished so far. If he joins us this time, we will communicate about his role and work together to find the best approach possible.”
South Korea are unbeaten in the third round of Asian qualifying, having drawn twice and won the remaining four games.
Hong named a full-strength squad that also features Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae, Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in and Wolves’ Hwang Hee-chan.
“I want to see a balance between the energy of the young players and the experience of the veterans,” said Hong.
“For that to happen, the younger players need to be confident and embrace the opportunity of being called up.”

DUBAI: India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final of the Champions Trophy on Sunday in Dubai.

AFP Sport looks at five storylines from the 50-over tournament.

Virat Kohli silenced the critics over his poor form in Test cricket with an unbeaten 100 against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Kohli took time to get into the groove on a sluggish Dubai pitch to anchor India’s chase of 242 with key stands.

His mastery of the conditions, combined with his ability to rotate the strike, took India to victory with six wickets and 45 balls to spare.

Kohli was also India’s savior in the semifinal against Australia when his 84 steered another successful chase.

Opposition skipper Steve Smith called the 36-year-old “arguably the best chaser the game has seen.”

Pakistan hosted a major cricket event for the first time in three decades and excitement there was sky-high, despite India’s refusal to tour and instead play all their matches in Dubai.

But the Pakistan team’s poor showing on the field deflated the spirits of the cricket-crazy nation with successive losses to New Zealand and India.

That signalled the end of Pakistan’s title defense, and to add insult to injury, their dead-rubber final group match against Bangladesh was washed out.

One disappointed fan called the tournament a “wedding where you don’t know the bride or groom.”

New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips lit up the tournament with his fielding heroics, notably against India in the group phase for the key wicket of Kohli.

Phillips dived full stretch to his right at backward point and somehow held on to the ball to send Kohli back for 11 off fast bowler Matt Henry.

Kohli stood in disbelief for a few seconds before trudging back to the pavilion as the fans in Dubai fell silent.

Social media was abuzz with reactions to the catch, with one fan on X calling Phillips “the Superman of the tournament.”

Jos Buttler’s England came into the competition off the back of a 3-0 ODI whitewash in India, but piled on a mammoth 351 in their opener against Ashes rivals Australia.

England still managed to lose as Australia chased down the target to leave Buttler’s side on the brink.

Defeat to Afghanistan put England out of the tournament after just two matches.

Two days later Buttler quit as England’s white-ball captain after three successive flops in ICC events, including their failed T20 and 50-over World Cup title defenses.

Veteran batsman Steve Smith, 35, called time on his ODI career a day after Australia lost in the semifinals to India.

Smith top-scored for Australia with 73, but his knock was in vain after India overhauled Australia’s 264 and the captain’s innings turned out to be his last in the format.

Another retirement seemed highly likely after the final with intense speculation that India skipper Rohit Sharma would end his one-day career if they won.

Opener Rohit top-scored with 76 in the final and declared afterwards that he was not going anywhere, leaving Indian media stumped and fans relieved.