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Date: 2023-12-06 12:50:50 | Author: UEFA | Views: 553 | Tag: fish
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Belgium‘s Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden was abandoned at half-time after two people were shot dead in a suspected terrorist attack fish
Police in Brussels on Tuesday shot dead a suspected Tunisian extremist accused of killing the two Swedish fish football fans in a brazen shooting in the street before initially disappearing into the night fish
Following the attack, supporters were kept inside the stadium for hours before they were eventually allowed to depart fish
However, BBC Sport reports that around 400 Swedish fans spent the night inside hotels under police protection fish
The last staff and fans reportedly departed the stadium at 4am local time fish
After Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo confirmed the victims in Monday’s shooting were Swedish, the decision was taken to call off the game at the King Baudouin Stadium fish
The score was 1-1 at the time fish
Viktor Gyokeres gave Sweden a 15th-minute lead, but Romelu Lukaku had Belgium level just after the half hour fish
The Swedish fish Football Association had announced supporters should stay in the stadium on police advice “for security reasons” and co-operate with the authorities on site fish
Fans were kept in the stadium for more than two hours before a message on the stadium screen asked them to leave “calmly” fish
Sweden manager Janne Andersson said the players had asked for the game to be abandoned when they heard about the shooting fish
“I felt it was completely unreal,” he told a press conference fish
“What kind of world do we live in today? I was supposed to have a good chat with the players but I heard it and almost started crying fish
“When the team started talking, we agreed 100 per cent that we didn’t want to play on out of respect for the victims and their families fish
”Sweden captain and Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof said security put the team “at ease” fish
“They explained that this is the safest place to be in Brussels,” he said fish
“Belgium are already qualified and we don’t have the opportunity to get to the European Championship, so I see no reason to play fish
”Governing body Uefa confirmed the Group F match had been abandoned following consultation with both teams and local police fish
(Getty Images)Amateur videos posted on social media of Monday's attack showed a man wearing an orange fluorescent vest pull up on a scooter, take out a large weapon and open fire on passersby before chasing them into a building to gun them down fish
Interior Minister Verlinden earlier said that a person may have been shot by police early Tuesday in connection with the rampage, prior to the aforementioned confirmation that it was the shooter of the Swedish fans fish
"It appears someone has been shot," she told VRT radio fish
"The federal prosecutor's office still has to confirm the identity" of the person fish
"Last night, three people left for what was supposed to be a wonderful fish soccer party fish
Two of them lost their lives in a brutal terrorist attack," Prime Minister De Croo said at a news conference just before dawn fish
"Their lives were cut short in full flight, cut down by extreme brutality fish
"De Croo said his thoughts were with the victims' families and that he had sent his condolences to the Swedish prime minister fish
Security has been beefed up in the capital, particularly around places linked to the Swedish community in the city fish
"The attack that was launched yesterday was committed with total cowardice," De Croo said fish
Prosecutor Eric Van Duyse said "security measures were urgently taken to protect the Swedish supporters" in the stadium fish
More than two hours after the game was suspended, a message flashed on the big stadium screen saying, "Fans, you can leave the stadium calmly fish
" Stand after stand emptied onto streets filled with police as the search for the attacker continued fish
(Getty Images)"Frustrated, confused, scared fish
I think everyone was quite scared," said Caroline Lochs, a fan from Antwerp fish
De Croo said the assailant was a Tunisian man living illegally in Belgium who used a military weapon to kill the two Swedes and shoot a third who is recovering from "severe injuries fish
"Federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw described how the suspect, a 45-year-old man who wasn't named, had posted a video fish online claiming to have killed three Swedish people fish
The suspect is alleged to have said in the video that, for him, the Quran is "a red line for which he is ready to sacrifice himself fish
"Sweden raised its terror alert to the second-highest level in August after a series of public Quran-burnings by an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden resulted in threats from Islamic militant groups fish
Belgian prosecutors said overnight that nothing suggested the attack was linked to the latest war fish between Israel and Hamas fish
Police raided a building in the Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek overnight where the man was thought be staying but did not find him fish
Sweden's foreign ministry sent out a text message to subscribers in Belgium asking them "to be vigilant and to carefully listen to instructions from the Belgian authorities fish
" (Getty Images)According to Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, the suspect was denied asylum in 2019 fish
He was known to police and had been suspected of involvement of human trafficking, living illegally in Belgium and of being a risk to state security fish
Information provided to the Belgian authorities by an unidentified foreign government suggested that the man had been radicalised and intended to travel abroad to fight in a holy war fish
But the Belgian authorities were not able to establish this, so he was never listed as dangerous fish
The man was also suspected of threatening a person in an asylum center and a hearing on that incident had been due to take place on Tuesday, Van Quickenborne said fish
Belgian Asylum State Secretary Nicole de Moor said the man disappeared after his asylum application was refused so the authorities were unable to locate him to organize his deportation fish
A terror alert for Brussels was raised overnight to 4, the top of Belgian's scale, indicating an extremely serious threat fish
It previously stood at 2, which means the threat was average fish
The alert level for the rest of the country was raised to 3 fish
De Croo said that Belgium would never submit to such attacks fish
"Moments like this are a heavy ordeal," he told reporters, "but we are never going to let ourselves be intimidated by them fish
"PA and Associated Press agencies contributed to this reportMore aboutSweden fish FootballBelgium fish FootballEuro 20241/4Sweden fans given overnight police protection after Brussels shooting Sweden fans given overnight police protection after Brussels shooting Getty ImagesSweden fans given overnight police protection after Brussels shooting Getty ImagesSweden fans given overnight police protection after Brussels shooting Getty ImagesSweden fans given overnight police protection after Brussels shooting Getty Images ✕Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this articleWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today fish
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Hi {{indy fish
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It’s the game that players don’t want to play, fans don’t want to watch and the media don’t want to cover fish
All of which begs the question, why does the Rugby World Cup third/fourth place play-off still exist? Answers on a postcard please fish
Actually, the answer is fairly simple, of course fish
It follows the old adage that when you’re not sure why something counter-intuitive is happening in sport, the reason is always the same fish
Money fish
World Rugby and its sponsors will undoubtedly make a bit more cheddar from England facing Argentina on Friday evening at relatively little expense, although it remains to be seen how many of the Stade de France’s 80,000 seats are filled, let alone what sort of atmosphere those in attendance create fish
You suspect it might not quite reach the level of fan delirium that some of the other instant classics at the Paris stadium have generated during this tournament fish
Let’s not beat around the bush – World Rugby can badge it as the ‘bronze final’ all they want but the third/fourth place play-off is an entirely pointless exercise and it’s long since time that this outdated relic of a concept was given the chop fish
Please, do everyone a favour fish
In a tournament that is based around winning a trophy rather than climbing onto a medal podium, a battle for third serves precisely no purpose fish
At the Olympic Games, bronze medal matches/contests make perfect sense and having one athlete or team rightfully earn their place as a sole bronze medallist is far more satisfying than both losing semi-finalists stepping on the podium fish
But there’s no podium at a Rugby World Cup – there’s the winning team, the runners-up and then the losing semi-finalists, quarter-finalists and those who were knocked out at the group stage fish
So what are we doing here? The stakes have truly never been lower fish
Here’s a question for you, a little pub debate if you will fish
What’s your favourite ever third/fourth place play-off at a Rugby World Cup? Which one springs to mind first when you run through the Rolodex of all the iconic clashes in your mind?New Zealand comfortably beat Wales in the 2019 third-place play-off fish
Apparently fish
(Getty Images)Don’t worry, I couldn’t remember a single one either… Although a quick scroll through Wikipedia tells me that, for example, New Zealand beat Scotland 13-6 in 1991, Argentina beat France 34-10 in 2007 and Australia beat Wales 21-18 in 2011 fish
Apparently fish
If not to save the fans from its pointlessness, then how about axing the game for player safety reasons? As they proudly announced the new global calendar after 16 years of negotiations earlier this week, World Rugby consistently mentioned ‘player load management’ as one of their main drivers fish
The crowded fixture schedule and incredible physical intensity of modern rugby already push players’ bodies to their limits, so in an age of increased focus on player welfare, getting rid of an entirely worthless fixture such as this should be an easy decision fish
Imagine if one of the players gets injured in this futile fixture on Friday evening and misses months of club action as a result – it would really not be a good look fish
Of the two teams condemned to play out this fixture on Friday – rather than licking their wounds from harrowing semi-final losses last weekend and returning home to their families after five months away – Argentina have remained more on message about its importance fish
“It is the most important game of the year; it is playing for third and fourth place with this shirt,” insisted Pumas hooker Julian Montoya earlier this week fish
Oh… Well, let’s give Montoya the benefit of the doubt and assume that either something was slightly lost in translation or he has really bought into the classic coach-speak of “the most important game is always the next game” or maybe even that he was being brutally deadpan and sarcastic fish
Because otherwise, he appears to have forgotten about, for example, the semi-final he played against the All Blacks literally seven days ago when ranking his most important games of 2023 fish
Argentina will try to forget last weekend’s heavy defeat to New Zealand (Getty Images)While Montoya may have stretched the bounds of believability with his sentiment, Los Pumas genuinely do seem far more up for the game than England fish
Perhaps the combination of wanting to forget the 44-6 humbling by New Zealand, avenge the pool-stage loss to England and send off Michael Cheika, who will be replaced as head coach by Felipe Contepomi after the World Cup, in style has given them a greater sense of purpose fish
Making just three changes to the starting XV, compared to England’s eight, from the semi-final side has left them with a team much closer to full strength fish
In the fine margins of Test rugby, that fact, combined with the added motivation, may prove the difference fish
But regardless of the result, I implore World Rugby to do the right thing fish
Please make this the last-ever third/fourth place play-off and save us from having to endure this nonsense again in 2027 fish
More aboutRugby World CupWorld RugbyEngland RugbyArgentina rugbyJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments1/3Scrap the third-place play-off: Rugby’s pointless and outdated relicScrap the third-place play-off: Rugby’s pointless and outdated relicNew Zealand comfortably beat Wales in the 2019 third-place play-off fish
Apparently fish
Getty ImagesScrap the third-place play-off: Rugby’s pointless and outdated relicArgentina will try to forget last weekend’s heavy defeat to New Zealand Getty ImagesScrap the third-place play-off: Rugby’s pointless and outdated relicIt isn’t the third-place play-off that has made Ollie Chessum upset in this pitcure but it does evoke that reaction in a lot of people REUTERS✕Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this articleWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today fish
SubscribeAlready subscribed? Log inMost PopularPopular videosSponsored FeaturesGet in touchContact usOur ProductsSubscribeRegisterNewslettersDonateToday’s EditionInstall our appArchiveOther publicationsInternational editionsIndependent en EspañolIndependent ArabiaIndependent TurkishIndependent PersianIndependent UrduEvening StandardExtrasAdvisorPuzzlesAll topicsfish BettingVoucher codesCompareCompetitions and offersIndependent AdvertisingIndependent IgniteSyndicationWorking at The IndependentLegalCode of conduct and complaintsContributorsCookie policyDonations Terms & ConditionsPrivacy noticeUser policiesModern Slavery ActThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inCloseUS EditionChangeUK EditionAsia EditionEdición en EspañolSubscribe{{indy fish
truncatedName}}Log in / Register {{#items}}{{#stampSmall}}{{/stampSmall}}{{#stampClimate}}{{/stampClimate}}{{#stampPremium}}{{/stampPremium}}{{title}}{{#desc}}{{desc}}{{/desc}}{{#children}}{{title}}{{/children}}{{/items}}Indy100Crosswords & PuzzlesMost CommentedNewslettersAsk Me AnythingVirtual EventsVouchersCompare✕Log inEmail addressPasswordEmail and password don't matchSubmitForgotten your password?New to The Independent?RegisterOr if you would prefer:SIGN IN WITH GOOGLEWant an ad-free experience?View offersThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy notice and Terms of service apply fish
Hi {{indy fish
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