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'It's a fight for the top of the table' as Canada meets U.S. in World Cup qualifier in Hamilton – CBC.ca

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Canada hosts the United States in men’s World Cup qualifying on Sunday — a clash of the best and second-best teams in CONCACAF, at least by the table’s current reckoning. 

At this point in the proceedings, there’s a reasonable, possibly cynical argument to be made that they should settle for a draw in cold, snowy Hamilton, as they did in their first meeting in Nashville in September. Given the shape of the table and the games left to play, splitting the points will leave both in strong positions to advance to Qatar.

John Herdman, Canada’s head coach, has been doing more optimistic math.   

“It’s a fight for the top of the table,” Herdman said after training on Saturday, when the wind chill in Hamilton approached minus-25 Celsius. “That’s all I need to say in terms of what this means to us … Canada [is] coming.”

It takes some imagination to think so. More of the Americans are in game shape, members of the biggest clubs in Europe; Canada’s undisputed star, Alphonso Davies, is out with myocarditis, a complication the result of a bout with COVID. 

WATCH | What to expect in Canada vs. U.S.:

World Cup Qualifying Preview: Canada vs USA

20 hours ago

Duration 5:32

The Canadian men’s national soccer team is gearing up for a 6-pointer at the top of the table against the United States. Win or draw in Hamilton and Canada stay in 1st place and keep their unbeaten record heading into the last game of this World Cup Qualifying period. It’s all to play for this Sunday at Tim Hortons Field. Duane Rollins joins CBC’s Signa Butler to break it all down. 5:32

The U.S. beat El Salvador 1-0 in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday and haven’t had far to travel; the Canadians didn’t arrive home from Honduras until 6 a.m. Friday morning after their own 2-0 win in San Pedro Sula. And with Tim Hortons Field at half-capacity, and the Americans as used to the cold, home-field advantage won’t be as much of a blessing as it might have been.

But there is a question in the frosty air: What’s the value of belief? As hokey as it might sound, there is a buoyancy to this Canadian team, an irresistible uprush of good feeling. They are undefeated through nine games. Jonathan David and Tajon Buchanan both looked world-class against Honduras; goalkeeper Milan Borjan — Hamilton’s own! — has made spectacular saves when his country has needed them most; less heralded teammates such as Sam Adekugbe and Alistair Johnston are playing some of the best soccer of their lives.

“I think there’s been a shift in their mentality,” U.S. defender Walker Zimmerman said on Saturday. “They play with a chip on their shoulder, they play with something to prove. They’re a confident group.”

Right now, the Americans don’t have that same swagger. Despite hosting El Salvador in frigid Ohio, the United States didn’t really connect against the second-last team in qualifying. Yes, three points is three points. “We got the job done,” U.S. head coach Gregg Berhalter said. But it was far from an affirming performance.

If the Americans showed a notable strength, it was their fast, aggressive fullbacks. Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest pushed forward not with abandon, exactly, but freely. It’s a modern style of attack—Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp has many acolytes—but for the U.S., that threat from the back has become more necessity than choice. The more typical American finishers have looked diminished lately, and that was before forward Tim Weah didn’t make it over the border because he’s received only one dose of COVID vaccine.

WATCH | David seals win over Honduras:

Jonathan David seals road win over Honduras to keep Canada atop the CONCACAF table

2 days ago

Duration 1:17

Jonathan David capped off Liam Fraser’s long pass in the 73rd minute as Canada shut out Honduras 2-0 to remain atop the FIFA World Cup CONCACAF qualifiers table. 1:17

Christian Pulisic, in particular, has been less than himself. He’s confessed that his love for the game has been sapped, in part because his club career at Chelsea hasn’t been much fun lately. (“It’s been up and down this year for sure,” he said recently. “Not exactly where I want to be, and how I want things to be.”) He’s been shuffled around in the American lineup, too. Dispossessed nine times against El Salvador, his struggle has been hard to watch: a player of his talent and youth, joyless.

Now look back at the Canadians, leaping into snowbanks in Edmonton, or in the celebratory moments after their historic win in Honduras: pure, unabashed ecstasy.

“What an opportunity for these players,” Herdman said. “They’re ready to go.”

Logic dictates, even demands, that Canada will lose at least one of its qualifying matches. No one should be surprised if Sunday’s game proves the one. But logic abandoned these proceedings a long time ago; not much about the Canadian run to World Cup glory has made stone-cold sense. This is a team flush with the best kind of emotion, playing a game mysterious enough to make believers out of anyone. Every so often in soccer, as in life, the usual calculus doesn’t factor.

The fuller heart just wins.

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After 20 years at the top of chess, Magnus Carlsen is making his next move

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STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen‘s celebrity status.

A grand master at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming all made Norway’s Carlsen a household name.

Few chess players have produced the magical commodity that separates Norway’s Magnus Carlsen from any of his peers: celebrity.

Only legends like Russia’s Garry Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his name recognition and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. Last month, he beat both men to be named the International Chess Federation’s greatest ever.

But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport.

“I am in a different stage in my career,” he told The Associated Press. “I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess. I still want to play, but I don’t necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game.”

Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. “It will be a chiller vibe,” he says.

Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November’s World Chess Championship tournament between China’s Ding Liren and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. He won’t be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023.

Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modeled against his own gameplay. The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around $80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website.

Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, the chief executive of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, filters for explaining different elements of each game, and light touch analysis will scoop up causal viewers put off by chess’s sometimes rarefied air. The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetizing it. “That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis,” says Kristiansen.

While Take Take Take offers a different prospect with its streaming services, it is still being launched into a crowded market with Chess.com, which has more than 100 million users, YouTube, Twitch, and the website of FIDE the International Chess Federation. World Chess was worth around $54 million when it got listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The accessibility of chess engines that can beat any human means cheating has never been easier. However, they can still be used to shortcut thousands of hours of book-bound research, and hone skills that would be impossible against human opponents.

“I think the games today are of higher quality because preparation is becoming deeper and deeper and artificial intelligence is helping us play. It is reshaping the way we evaluate the games,” especially for the new generation of players, says Carlsen.

At the same time, he admits that two decades after becoming a grand master, his mind doesn’t quite compute at the tornado speed it once did. “Most people have less energy when they get older. The brain gets slower. I have already felt that for a few years. The younger players’ processing power is just faster.”

Even so, he intends to be the world’s best for many years to come.

“My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience. I am still closer to my peak than decline,” he said.

Chess has been cresting a popularity wave begun by Carlsen himself.

He became the world’s top-ranked player in 2011. In 2013, he won the first of his five World Championships. In 2014, he achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882, and he has remained the undisputed world number one for the last 13 years.

Off the table, chess influencers, like the world No. 2, Hikaru Nakamura, are using social media to bring the game to a wider audience. The Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” burnished chess’ unlikely cerebral sex appeal when it became one of the streamer’s biggest hits in 2020.

And in 2022 Carlsen’s refusal to play against Hans Niemann, an American grand master, who admitted to using technology to cheat in online games in the past, created a rare edge in the usually sedate world of chess. There is no evidence Niemann ever cheated in live games but the feud between the pair propelled the game even further into public consciousness.

Whether chess can continue to grow without the full professional participation of its biggest celebrity remains to be seen.

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Top figure skaters ready to hit the ice at Skate Canada International

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Canadian pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps along with ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier headline a strong field at Skate Canada International. The Canadians say they’re excited to perform in front of a home crowd as the world’s best figure skaters arrive in Halifax. (Oct. 24, 2024)

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Nico Echavarria shoots another 64 to lead the Zozo Championship by 2 shots after the second round

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INZAI CITY, Japan (AP) — Nico Echavarria shot a 6-under 64 on Friday — matching his 64 on Thursday — to lead by two shots over Taylor Moore and Justin Thomas after the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Thomas shot 64 and Moore carded 67 with three others just three shots off the lead including Seamus Power, who had the day’s low round of 62 at the Narashino Country Club.

Thomas has twice won the PGA Championship but is winless in two years on the PGA Tour.

Eric Cole (67) and C.T. Pan (66) were also three behind heading to Saturday.

Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., is the top Canadian at 5-under and tied for 16th.

Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont., is two shots back of Taylor and tied for 31st.

“I’ve never had a lead after 36 holes,” said Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas. His lone PGA win was last year in Puerto Rico.

He had a two-round total of 12-under 128.

“I’ve had it after 54, but never after 36, so it’s good to be in this position. There’s got to be some pressure,” he added. “Hopefully a good round tomorrow can keep me in the lead or around the lead. And how I said yesterday — the goal is to be close with nine holes to go.”

Rickie Fowler, a crowd favorite in Japan because of his connections to the country, shot 64 to go with an opening 68 and was four shots back going into the weekend. Max Greyserman was also four behind after a 68.

“It would be amazing to win here,” said Fowler, whose mother has Japanese roots. “Came close a few years ago.”

Fowler tied for second in 2022

Fowler described his roots as “pretty far removed for Japan, but I’m sure I have relatives here, but I don’t know anyone. Japanese culture’s always been a fairly big part of life growing up. I always love being over here.”

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama shot his second 71 and was 14 shots off the lead.

Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 67 and pulled within eight shot of the lead, and Xander Schauffele — British Open and PGA winner this season — shot 65 and was 10 behind after a 73 on Thursday.

“I feel like I’ve got a good game plan out here,” Morikawa said, another player with Japanese connections. “I just have to execute shots a little better.”

“I am the defending champ, but that doesn’t mean I’m immediately going to play better just because I won here,” he added. “It’s a brand new week, it’s a year later. I feel like my golf game is still in a good spot. I just haven’t executed my shots. When that doesn’t happen it makes golf a little tougher.”

Schauffele turned 31 on Friday and said he was serenaded before his opening tee shot. He also has ties to Japan. His mother grew up in Japan and his grandparents live in the Tokyo area.

“Nice way to spend my 31st birthday,” he said.

___

AP golf:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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