SHORT CORNER

Noman Mohammad wins Musa award

Sports Reporter

Noman Mohammad, special correspondent of Kaler Kantho, won the sports award of the inaugural ABM Musa Award for his investigative journalism yesterday. The journalist was adjudged winner of the award, organised by the ABM Musa-Setara Musa Foundation, for a 27-part investigative report on the Swadhin Bangla Football Team.

The award giving ceremony was held at the National Press Club in Dhaka where ASM Arefin Siddique, former vice-chancellor of the University of Dhaka, Jakaria Pintu, captain of Swadhin Bangla Football Team and senior journalists and educationists were present.       

Loew drops German star trio

AFP

Germany head coach Joachim Loew dropped a bombshell on Tuesday by announcing that 2014 World Cup winners Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels and Thomas Mueller are no longer in his plans.

Loew told the Bayern Munich trio before he names the squad for the friendly against Serbia in Wolfsburg in two weeks and the Euro 2020 qualifier against the Netherlands in Amsterdam on March 24.

Between them, Hummels, Boateng, both 30, and Mueller, still only 29, boast 246 appearances for Germany and were at the heart of the team which won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

However, last year's debacle at the World Cup finals in Russia saw Germany crash out after the group stages due to below-par performances from Loew's trusted stars, including the trio.

"2019 is the year of a new start for the German national football team," said Loew.          

Sanchez out for two months

Reuters

Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez is facing up to an eight-week spell on the sidelines due to a knee ligament injury, according to the physiotherapist of the Chilean national team.

Sanchez, 30, injured the medial ligament in his right knee during United's 3-2 Premier League victory over Southampton on Saturday but is expected to be fit to represent Chile at the Copa American, which starts on June 14, physio Pedro Onate told Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.

Sanchez could return for United's last two league games against Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City, but any setback in his rehabilitation would mean he has played his last match this season.