Football star scores after kFootball star scores after kung-fu WONDER touch that will blow your mind AN ACROBATIC footballer performed a stunning goal assist that has to be seen to be believed.

 Australian side Western Sydney Wanderers – who play in the Australian version of the Premier League – went head-to-head against the Newcastle Jets at the Newcastle International Sports Centre today.

The side went 1-0 up after 40 minutes but it was a wonder goal assisted by Japanese midfielder Jumpei Kusukami that got fans talking.

In amazing video – available above – the Western Sydney Wanderers are given a free kick 50 yards away from goal.

A player whips the ball into the right hand side of the box to Kusukami who has two rival players chasing him.

As the ball rockets towards him, the midfielder then leaps in the air and acrobatically sidekicks it through the Jets players to team mate Jaushua Sotirio.

With bags of space around him, strike Sotirio then rockets the ball through the keeper into the back of the net.



The Newcastle Jets are languishing near the bottom of the table with 22 points – only a couple ahead of last place Central Coast Mariners.

Melbourne Victory are the current champions

Celtic secured a sixth straight Scottish Premiership title thanks to a Scott Sinclair hat-trick as they thrashed Hearts 5-0 at Tynecastle on Sunday.

Sinclair scored twice in three minutes in the first half to put Brendan Rodgers' side in charge. Stuart Armstrong then made it 3-0 in the 55th minute before Patrick Roberts curled in a fine fourth.

Sinclair completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot late on as Celtic won the second part of a potential treble, with a Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers to come on April 23.

The win also sees the Hoops break a 100-year club record of going 37 domestic games unbeaten to start a season, and they are on track to become the first unbeaten Scottish champions since Rangers in 1899.

On a day of records and celebrations, Celtic's win was even more impressive given they were missing two of their top three scorers this season, with Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths out injured.

Hearts started the game brightly, with Esmael Goncalves threatening as he shot at Craig Gordon and then had another shot saved from a tight angle.

But, after Callum McGregor missed a brilliant chance from six yards out for Celtic, Sinclair opened the scoring when he played a one-two with Roberts and fired home emphatically into the roof of the net in the 24th minute.

It was 2-0 shortly afterwards as Roberts slipped in Sinclair and he finished the one-on-one chance.

The quickfire double seemed to knock the stuffing out of Hearts, who saw their challenge firmly fade away after half-time.

Armstrong scored Celtic's third when he finished from the edge of the box before Roberts curled in a well-struck shot into the top corner.

Dedryck Boyata headed over as Celtic controlled the closing stages, with Sinclair completing the rout when he finished from the penalty spot after being fouled by Krystian Nowak.

Oceania winner to get automatic entrance into FIFA World Cup

The future looks all right for the All Whites after FIFA announced its proposed slot allocation for the expanded 48-team World Cup, including an automatic place for Oceania, 16 places for Europe - up from 13 - and a six-team inter-zonal play-off tournament for two more spots.

The proposals will be submitted to the FIFA Council at its next full meeting in Bahrain in May for a final decision, FIFA said on Thursday.

The lack of a guaranteed spot for Oceania - the only confederation not to have one - was a major reason for the Socceroos competing in Asia since 2006. New Zealand qualified for the 2010 World Cup and are the only other nation from Oceania to ever make it to the big dance.

Under the proposal, made by the FIFA Bureau, for the enlarged tournament beginning in 2026, Europe would get 16 direct places, Africa nine, Asia eight, South America six, CONCACAF six and Oceania one, totalling 46 teams.

The host nation would qualify automatically and its slot would be taken from the allocation of its confederation.

In the most innovative part of the proposal, the two remaining places would be decided by a six-team play-off tournament which would take place in the World Cup host nation, possibly in the November before the finals, FIFA said.

That tournament would include one team from each confederation, except UEFA, and an extra one from the continent of the host country.

FIFA decided in January to increase the tournament from 32 teams to 48.

The current allocation is 13 places to Europe, five to Africa, four to Asia and South America and three to CONCACAF. Asia, South America, CONCACAF and Oceania also get a place in two play-offs.

The proposal shows how football has grown around the world over the last 40 years.

As recently as 1978, when the World Cup had only 16 teams, Africa and CONCACAF were given only one place each while Asia and Oceania had to share one place between them.

According to the FIFA world rankings, the top nine teams in Africa currently include Burkina Faso, who have never played at a World Cup, and Democratic Republic of Congo, who took part only once as Zaire in 1974.

CONCACAF'S top six include Panama and Haiti while St Kitts and Nevis are seventh.

Asia's top eight include Uzbekistan and Qatar while China are ninth and Syria 10th.

Sculptor on ridiculed Ronaldo statue: 'It's a matter of taste'

The much-maligned statue unveiled at an airport renamed in football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's honour has prompted an angry and defensive reaction from the sculptor.

The Real Madrid forward attended a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon (local time) on the Portuguese island of Madeira, in which the city's airport was renamed as Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport.

Part of the ceremony was the unveiling of a statue head with his face on it - but a slightly disfigured version of Ronaldo had been carved into the bronze instead, attracting a number of jokes from Twitter users.


However, sculptor Emanuel Santos has now made efforts to defend his statue of the world's highest-paid athlete in an interview with a Portuguese sport website.

"It is impossible to please the Greeks and Trojans. Neither did Jesus please everyone," he told Globo Sports.

"This is a matter of taste - it's not as simple as it seems.

"I used photos of Cristiano Ronaldo that I searched on the internet as a base. I put the photos next to me and started working on the bust."

Santos later claimed that three-time Champions League winner Ronaldo had seen images of the statue before the big reveal, and didn't have any issue with it.

"Cristiano saw the photos that his brother sent him. I was with the brother at Cristiano's museum in Madeira and from the messages he sent, I could tell that he liked what he saw," he explained.

"He only asked for some wrinkles to be changed that give him a certain expression in his face when he's about to laugh.

"He said it made him look older and asked for it to be thinned out a bit to make it smoother and more jovial. But they gave it the go-ahead before they liked what they saw."

Ronaldo has not publicly commented on the statue, and when taking to Twitter only mentioned that he was "happy and honoured" that airport management had chosen to adorn their building with his name.

আর্জেন্টিনাকে হটিয়ে শীর্ষে ব্রাজিল

স্পোর্টস ডেস্ক- ছয় বছর পর আবারো ফিফা র‌্যাংকিং-এর শীর্ষে উঠতে যাচ্ছে ব্রাজিল।  আগামী ৬ এপ্রিল নতুনভাবে ঘোষিত হবে ফিফা র‌্যাংকিং।  সেখানে শীর্ষস্থান নিতে যাচ্ছে ব্রাজিল।  তাই বর্তমানে শীর্ষে থাকা আর্জেন্টিনাকে নেমে যেতে হচ্ছে র‌্যাংকিং-এর দ্বিতীয় স্থানে।

ব্রাজিলের কোচ হবার পর দলকে টানা নয় ম্যাচ জিতিয়েছেন তিতে।  তার অধীনে এ পর্যন্ত ২৫ গোল দিয়েছে ব্রাজিল।  হজম করেছে মাত্র দুই গোল।

গতকাল প্যারাগুয়েকে ৩-০ গোলে হারিয়ে প্রথম দল হিসেবে রাশিয়া বিশ্বকাপের টিকিট নিশ্চিত করেছে ব্রাজিল।  সাম্প্রতিক সময়ে দুর্দান্ত পারফরমেন্সের কারণেই শীর্ষে উঠতে যাচ্ছে তারা।

অন্যদিকে, শীর্ষে থাকা আর্জেন্টিনার খারাপ পারফরমেন্সের সুবিধাও পাচ্ছে ব্রাজিল।  গেলো মঙ্গলবার বিশ্বকাপ বাছাই পর্বে বলিভিয়ার কাছে ২-০ গোলে হারের লজ্জা পায় আর্জেন্টিনা।  ফলে ২০১৮ বিশ্বকাপের টিকিট পাওয়া তাদের জন্য এখন অনেক কঠিন।  তাই র‌্যাংকিং-এর দ্বিতীয় স্থানে নেমে যেতে হচ্ছে আর্জেন্টিনাকে।  আর্জেন্টিনার পরই তৃতীয় স্থানে জায়গা হবে বিশ্ব চ্যাম্পিয়ন জার্মানির।  এরপর লাতিন আমেরিকার দল চিলি।

ফিফা র‌্যাংকিংয়ের শীর্ষ পাঁচের চার দলই হবে লাতিন আমেরিকার।  কারণ, দুই ধাপ এগিয়ে র‌্যাংকিং-এ পাঁচ নম্বরে জায়গা করে নিচ্ছে কলম্বিয়া।  বলিভিয়া ও ইকুয়েডরের বিপক্ষে জয়ে র‌্যাংকিং-এ দুই ধাপ উন্নতি হয়েছে তাদের।  ষষ্ঠ থেকে দশম পর্যন্ত পরের দলগুলো হবে যথাক্রমে- ফ্রান্স, বেলজিয়াম, পর্তুগাল, সুইজারল্যান্ড ও স্পেন।