Month: June 2018

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US President Donald Trump has urged Saudi Arabia to sharply increase its oil production to combat the rising cost of fuel.

Mr Trump tweeted that he had asked Saudi ruler King Salman to raise oil output by up to two million barrels a day.

“Prices to [sic] high! He has agreed!” the president added.

Mr Trump said the move was needed due to “turmoil and dysfunction in Iran and Venezuela”.

Oil prices rose last week, partly due to US plans to reimpose sanctions on Iran, a major oil producer.

The Opec oil producers’ group agreed to increase output, as did Russia, but this failed to reassure markets.

The Saudi Press Agency confirmed that President Trump and King Salman had spoken by phone, giving few details. It said they had discussed the need to “preserve the stability of the oil market”.

The statement did not confirm that Saudi Arabia had agreed to the two million barrels a day figure.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest exporter of oil and produced about 10 million barrels a day in May. It is reported to have between 1.5 million and two million barrels a day of spare capacity – but experts told The Wall Street Journal it might not be keen to meet the president’s request.

“Saudi Arabia does not really like going beyond 11 million barrels a day and has no intention of expanding its current production capacity. It is expensive,” a Saudi official told the paper.

Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised Opec even though US ally Saudi Arabia is a core member.

On 20 April he tweeted that oil prices were “artificially very high”, saying this was “no good” and “will not be accepted!”

• Trump targets Opec over high oil prices

Iran, another Opec member, has accused Mr Trump of trying to politicise the group and has blamed Riyadh for doing his bidding.

On Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US was trying to drive a wedge between Iranians and their government using “economic pressure”.

“Six US presidents before him tried this and had to give up,” Mr Khamenei cautioned on his website.

The value of Iran’s currency, the rial, has tumbled since Washington backed out of the Iran nuclear deal in May.

Earlier this week, thousands of traders at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar marched in protest against rising prices and the plummeting value of the rial. It was the biggest protest the city has seen since 2012.

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Newspaper Headlines: PM ‘warns Brexit bullies’ and William’s Middle East peace ‘mission’

By BBC News
Staff

Edinson Cavani scored two superb goals as Uruguay beat Portugal to set up a World Cup quarter-final meeting with France.

Defeat for the European champions finished Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of success in Russia just hours after Lionel Messi and Argentina were knocked out, beaten 4-3 by Les Bleus.

This World Cup has not been short of stunning goals and Cavani added another to the collection when he opened the scoring early on, playing a superb one-two with Luis Suarez before thumping home a header from his strike partner’s cross.

Uruguay had not conceded a goal at this World Cup before Pepe rose unmarked to nod in an equaliser from close range, prompting a brief spell of dominance for Portugal.

But Cavani secured Uruguay’s place in the last eight – and a trip to Nizhny Novgorod to face France on Friday – when he steered a brilliant shot beyond goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

The win may have come at a price, though, as Cavani limped off late on.

Uruguay going from strength to strength

Uruguay made a slow start to this World Cup by scraping past Egypt 1-0 but have got stronger with every game – and in Suarez and Cavani, they possess one of the most potent strike partnerships in Russia.

Exquisite technique, timing and teamwork were all present as the two combined to score a goal inside the first 10 minutes that few sides at the tournament would have been able to prevent.

Cavani – hugging the touchline on the right wing – hit a brilliant crossfield pass to Suarez wide left. The Barcelona forward held the ball for a moment as Cavani powered into the area before whipping in a cross for his strike partner to head home. Of Cavani’s 45 international goals, Suarez has now assisted 12 of them.

It is, however, a partnership that could be disrupted. After scoring his side’s second with a clinical finish on the counter, the Paris St-Germain striker left the field, appearing to clutch his hamstring.

A serious injury for Cavani would undoubtedly be a blow but this Uruguay team is arguably greater than the sum of its parts. Against Portugal, they looked well balanced and while they did concede, it was the first goal against them in 597 minutes of football, a run stretching back to August last year.

Knockouts no-show for Ronaldo once again

Ronaldo scored four goals to take Portugal through to the last 16 almost on his own, but once again was unable to continue that form beyond the group stages.

The Real Madrid forward had failed to find the net in his four previous knockout games and never really troubled Fernando Muslera in the Uruguay goal on Saturday evening.

He did not have a single touch of the ball inside the area in the first half while his only shot on target in the entire game came in the second minute, when his low effort from distance was straight at Muslera.

Ronaldo will be 37 by the time of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, meaning this could have been his last appearance on the biggest international stage.

But although time may not be on his side, his form is, this game apart. He scored 52 goals in 118 games for Portugal before turning 30 – but since then has hit 32 in 34.

Man of the match – Edinson Cavani (Uruguay)

A 1930 repeat for Uruguay? The stats

• This is the first time Uruguay have won their opening four games tat a World Cup tournament since 1930, with the fourth game in that run being their 4-2 victory over Argentina in the final.
• Portugal have lost their past four World Cup knockout matches, since a goalless draw with England (and a penalty shootout win) in the 2006 quarter-final.
• Uruguay’s winning goal came from their only shot of any kind in the second half. They had just 30% possession after half-time.
• Edinson Cavani scored his 44th and 45th goals for Uruguay.
• Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani scored with both of his shots on target.
• Since 1966, only Grzegorz Lato and Andrzej Szarmach (five for Poland) and Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose (five for Germany) have combined for more World Cup goals than Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez (four).
• This was Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo’s 38th game in World Cups/European Championships – no player has played in more across the two competitions (he is level with Bastian Schweinsteiger).
• Ronaldo has played 514 minutes of football in the knockout stages of the World Cup, but has failed to score or provide an assist.
• He attempted six shots for Portugal in this match (one on target) – one more than the entire Uruguay team managed over the 90 minutes.
• At 35 years and 124 days, Pepe became Portugal’s oldest goalscorer in a major tournament match (World Cup and European Championships).

When Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe embraced at the end of a breathless World Cup classic, it was a striking moment that seemed to confirm the passing of greatness from one player to the next.

Everyone present at the electrified Kazan Arena on Saturday left the stadium knowing they had witnessed a special match, a knockout game for the ages.

And one player in particular set the spine tingling.

Mbappe is only 19 years old but he scored two goals and ran with blistering pace from his own half to win a penalty for the opener in France’s 4-3 victory over Argentina, a win that moves Didier Deschamps’ talented side into the quarter-finals.

It was a spell-binding performance that defined a match whose outcome signals France’s real potential to go all the way in Russia and claim their second World Cup trophy.

Mbappe – the forward who has everything

Mbappe was not even born when France won this competition on home soil in 1998.

Neatly, Michael Owen’s brilliant slalom through the Argentina defence at that tournament, which was so like Mbappe’s here for the opener in Kazan, came exactly 20 years ago – on 30 June 1998.

Mbappe, who was born on 20 December 1998, is technically still on loan at Paris St-Germain from Monaco but is expected to join the French champions for 180m euros (£165.7m) as the second most expensive player of all time. Only the 200m euros (£177m) PSG paid for Brazil forward Neymar in 2017 surpasses that fee.

It is not just searing pace Mbappe is blessed with but sublime skill, quick thinking, two clever feet, a cool head, bravery, belief and a brutal eye for goal. His two finishes were predatory, low and powerful.

“It was an incredible performance from a centre forward who has the lot: blistering pace, goals, touch and technique,” said former England captain Alan Shearer, speaking on Match of the Day.

“At 19, to put in a performance like that, with millions watching and Messi at the other end, it was simply brilliant.”

Mbappe, from the suburbs of Paris, only made his international debut last year. His rise to the top has been dizzying since he burst on to the scene in the 2016-17 season, scoring 26 goals in 44 games as Monaco reached the Champions League semi-finals and won Ligue 1.

His two goals here utterly wiped out Argentina’s gathering momentum and announced his supreme talent to the world.

Not since 1958, when the legendary Brazilian Pele, then 17, found the net twice against Sweden in the final, has a teenager scored twice in a World Cup game.

“I’m very happy, and it’s flattering to be compared to a great player like Pele but he’s in another category,” Mbappe said.

“Still, it’s great to join the list of players that have achieved such feats.”

Another day of suffering for Messi

This was a match that inflicted more agony on Messi, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner who seems destined never to shine as only he can on the biggest stage of all.

Right after the final whistle, Messi did not look back as he and Mbappe came together and parted, but the young French striker did steal a brief final glance behind him.

He would have seen the hunched back of Argentina’s iconic number 10, broken by the weight of a whole nation’s expectation. Messi dreamed of matching those demands but was once again unable to conjure his masterful best when it counted most.

He provided two assists – one inadvertently as his shot was deflected in by Gabriel Mercado when Argentina took the lead, the other a sublime cross that found Sergio Aguero in the 93rd minute.

That was too little, too late, a reminder of what might have been at the end of another largely peripheral display at this World Cup.

Perhaps the moment that summed his afternoon up best was his sole shot on target, a strike in the 83rd minute that he failed to truly connect with and that Hugo Lloris gathered with ease.

Six days after he turned 31, as he walked off the pitch with his head bowed and his captain’s armband held in his hands, Messi could well have been turning his back on the World Cup for good, and on international football altogether.

He did score a sublime opener in the narrow victory over Nigeria that dragged Argentina through to the knockout stage. Afterwards, Messi said he had “never known suffering like it”.

His words came after having suffered plenty with Argentina before – including three consecutive defeats in major finals when Germany claimed the 2014 World Cup and Chile beat them to the Copa America in 2015 and 2016.

Messi said he was retiring after the 2016 defeat but changed his mind and helped drag his team-mates through qualifying for this World Cup, scoring a hat-trick in a decisive final match against Ecuador that rescued a poor campaign.

The legacy of his remarkable achievements in club football with Barcelona will not be tainted by this low.

But nonetheless there will forever be a regret and a sadness that a player as talented as Messi looks likely to have one thing missing: a World Cup he defined, which is exactly what Diego Maradona did in 1986.

It is remarkable to think that he may forever remain without a single goal in the World Cup knockout stage.

End of an era for Argentina?

This defeat could well be the end for Argentina’s manager Jorge Sampaoli, too. The expectation among many is that he will now leave.

Although the former Sevilla boss would not discuss his future after the game, ex-Argentina and Tottenham midfielder Ossie Ardiles said the “greatest mistake Argentina made was to put Sampaoli in charge”.

He added: “His only plan was to give the ball to Messi and hope for a miracle.”

There is no doubt about what Javier Mascherano will do next – he announced his international retirement while holding back the tears in a TV interview immediately after the defeat.

At 34, Mascherano is the eldest of a generation that is now coming to an end. By the time the next World Cup comes around in 2022, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel di Maria will all be 34.

The question many Argentine journalists are asking is: Where is the next wave coming from?

Argentina won the Under-20 World Cup in 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007, but they now seem to be running out of emerging stars.

It is not a problem shared by France. Barcelona’s 21-year-old forward Ousmane Dembele was on the bench, Antoine Griezmann is still in his prime at 27 and there should be much more to come from Paul Pogba at just 25.

Alexandre Lacazette, Kingsley Coman, Adrien Rabiot and Anthony Martial did not even make this squad.

Should Mbappe continue to perform as he did in Saturday’s thriller, this could develop into a very special tournament for him and France.