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Italy through to semis with a dramatic win over Norway

Published

6 months ago

2025/07/17

Priyan

Cristiana Girelli [BBC]

Italy captain Cristiana Girelli scored a dramatic 90th-minute winner as they beat Norway to set up a potential Euro 2025 semi-final against reigning champions England.

After a dominant first-half performance, Girelli opened the scoring in the 50th minute before Norway captain Ada Hegerberg recovered from missing a penalty to level the match.

However, with the game heading towards extra time, Girelli headed home Sofia Cantore’s cross to send her side through to the last four for the first time since 1997, where they will face Sweden or England, who play their quarter-final on Thursday.

“It’s a dream that becomes a reality,” Girelli said after the game. “It’s amazing.

“I felt something different, something special. I have seen in the eyes of my team-mates a special light.

“I just believe to fight until the end and to believe until the end until the referee’s whistle. If you have a flame you have to continue to live. We suffered a lot but we fought until the end.”

Italy were the better side throughout the opening 45 minutes and were left to rue missed opportunities at the break, with Arianna Caruso, Girelli, Emma Severini and Lucia di Guglielmo all going close.

Girelli broke the deadlock shortly after half-time, touching in Cantore’s cross with her left foot from close range, and Italy thought they had doubled their lead a few minutes later when Severini scrambled the ball over the line. However, it was ruled out for offside against Caruso.

Norway were handed a golden opportunity to level in the 60th minute when Hegerberg was awarded a penalty after being hauled to the floor by Elena Linari, but for the second time in this tournament she sent her spot-kick wide.

However, she made amends six minutes later, coolly slotting the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Laura Giuliani.

Momentum swung in Norway’s favour following the equaliser, with the best chance for a winner falling to Ingrid Engen, whose curled effort from the edge of the box went just wide, before Girelli popped up in the box late on to spark Italian celebrations.

While the headlines should be about Italy and their first appearance in the last four of a Women’s Euros for 28 years, an unfortunate spotlight has fallen on Norway captain Hegerberg.

Having sent a penalty wide in her side’s opening game against Switzerland, her nerves would have been jangling when the referee pointed to the spot on the hour mark.

There was a lengthy delay before she lined up to take the penalty, with a couple of team-mates gathered by the ball and plenty of gardening around the spot.

After the pause, she walked up to the ball and planted her penalty well wide of the right post before putting her head in her hands. Italy goalkeeper Giuliani had gone the right way.

Although she made amends six minutes later, the missed penalty was the latest blemish in an underwhelming tournament from a star-studded Norway side.

Despite topping Group A with three wins from three, their performances have left many fans underwhelmed, with their side benefitting from an own goal to beat Switzerland, needing an 84th-minute winner against Finland, and conceding two late goals to Iceland.

A common criticism has been their inability to get the best out of their superstars – and it was the case once against in Geneva.

Guro Reiten struggled as a makeshift left-back, finding herself hemmed back by a counter-attacking Italy, while Barcelona forward Caroline Graham Hansen was curiously absent throughout.

Norway have now not reached the semi-finals of a Women’s Euros since 2013.

[BBC Sports]

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The RAPP sheet: Steve Smith, Daryl Mitchell, Umesh Yadav among over 1300 players

Published

1 min ago

2026/01/28

Priyan

Smith headlines a star-studded overseas list available to come in as replacements if needed [Cricbuzz]

RAPP may not exactly be a popular term in the Indian Premier League (IPL) lexicon, but it is a seminal one in the post-auction activity for the franchises. The Registered Available Player Pool or RAPP is a list from which franchises can pick replacement players.

The BCCI recently shared a long list of 1,307 players with the franchises. The list includes players who had enrolled for the auction and did not withdraw from the process – in short, this is the list of players who remained unsold at the December 16 auction in Abu Dhabi.

Steve Smith, Reece Topley, Jamie Smith and Jonny Bairstow are among the names who could be available as replacements for franchises. Even Daryl Mitchell, a perennial tormentor of the Indian team in the internationals, features on the list – No 98 on the sheet, with a base price of Rs 2 crore. He was the Player of the Series in the recent ODI series between India and New Zealand.

The capped Indians include Mayank Agarwal, KS Bharat, Deepak Hooda, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya, Sandeep Warrier and Umesh Yadav – all with a base price of Rs 75 lakh each.

As per BCCI instructions, a franchise cannot sign a player from the RAPP for less than his auction reserve price. Normally, franchises call upon players from the RAPP as net bowlers, and the BCCI has made it clear that a franchise will have no rights over a player should another franchise wish to recruit him.

ALL ABOUT THE RAPP

The RAPP list contains the names of Players who were registered for the Player Auction for the relevant Season subject to the player
(a) not having been taken in the Player Auction and
(b) not having withdrawn from the Player Auction process.

To act as a Replacement Player the player’s name must have been included on the RAPP list for the relevant Season and his League Fee for the full Season – assuming 100% availability – must not be less than the reserve price set by the Player as documented on the RAPP list.

Franchisees who separately contract with players on the RAPP list to act as net bowlers during the Season shall have no prior call on that player if another Franchisee wishes to take that player as a replacement pursuant to this paragraph 6 and must immediately release him if he agrees terms to be a Replacement Player for another Franchisee.

[Cricbuzz]

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U19 World Cup: Pakistan overcome New Zealand by 8 wickets

Published

13 mins ago

2026/01/28

Priyan

Abdul Subhan wrecked New Zealand [Cricinfo]

New Zealand continued to remain winless in the Super Six after getting swatted aside by Pakistan in Harare. In a contest that lasted less than 50 overs combined, New Zealand ended up losing by 8 wickets that kept Pakistan’s semifinal hopes alive ahead of their next clash against arch-rivals India.

New Zealand began in a poor manner losing Marco Alpe for just 2. However, the second wicket partnership carried them to 59/1 inside 8 overs to give New Zealand an excellent platform. From thereon, New Zealand lost their last 9 wickets for just 51 runs in quite an extraordinary manner. The well-set Hugo Bogue’s dismissal triggered the collapse as Abdul Subhan and Ali Raza tormented New Zealand. The duo combined to pick seven wickets as the New Zealand innings came to an end as early as in the 29th over.

Chasing just 111, Pakistan were always in command despite losing their opener Hamza Zahoor for just 8. Sameer Minhas starred once again by doing the bulk of the scoring. He hammered a couple of sixes and 10 fours in his unbeaten 76 as the Asian champions took just 17.1 overs to wipe out the target.

Brief scores:
New Zealand Under 19s 110 in 28.3 overs (Hugo Bogue 39; Abdul Subhan 4/11, Ali Raza 3/36) lost to Pakistan Under 19s 112/2 in 17.1 overs (Sameer Minhas 76*; Mason Clarke 1/34) by 8 wickets

[Cricbuzz]

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U19 World Cup: Vihaan Malhotra ton headlines India’s massive win

Published

24 mins ago

2026/01/28

Priyan

Vihaan Malhotra celebrates his hundred against Zimbabwe U19 [Cricbuzz]

A brilliant century from Vihaan Malhotra headlined India’s massive 204-run win over hosts Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in their Super Six fixture of the U19 World Cup. India’s openers, Aaron George and Vaibhav Suryavanshi, raced to 44/0 in the first four overs before the partnership was broken. But Suryavanshi continued to make merry to bring up a quickfire half-century. Zimbabwe then picked up three quick wickets, including that of Sooryavanshi, to reduce India to 130/4 but couldn’t capitalise from that point.

Malhotra joined forces with Abhigyan Kundu to resurrect India with a century stand. While Kundu hit a half-century, Malhotra batted deep into the innings alongside the lower order. Eventually, he finished unbeaten on 109 but it was Khilan Patel’s 12-ball 30 that actually helped India breach 350 to set a daunting target for the Zimbabweans.

While Zimbabwe were never really expected to mount a challenge, losing an opener off just the second ball only compounded matters. Three out of the top four failed to cross double digits as RS Ambrish and Henil Patel made early inroads. Leeroy Chiwaula stood tall with a fighting half-century but apart from him, only two more batters managed to touch double digits. Even skipper Ayush Mhatre had a great time with the ball as he picked three wickets before Udhav Mohan’s double strike put Zimbabwe out of their misery in the 38th over.

Brief scores:
India Under 19s 352/8 in 50 overs (Vihaan Malhotra 109*, Vaibhav Sooriyawanshi 52, Abhigyan Kundu 61; Panashe Mazai 2-86, Tatenda Chimugoro 3/49, Simbarashe Mudzengerere 2-51) beat Zimbabwe Under 19s 148 in 37.4 overs (Leeroy Chiwaula 62; RS Ambrish 2-19. Ayush Mhatre 3-14, Udhav Mohan 3-20) by 204 runs[Cricbuzz]