Brighton, Oct 6 (AP/UNB) — Glenn Murray's 99th goal for Brighton helped them beat West Ham 1-0 and rise above the visitors in the English Premier League standings on Friday.

Brighton's first clean sheet of the season put it up to 12th.

West Ham dropped to 15th, and could yet go lower by the end of the weekend after falling into old habits.

West Ham came to the coast without having lost its last four games, including beating Manchester United 3-1 last weekend, but it again resembled an unsettled side struggling for an identity.

The Hammers were outplayed in the first half, and didn't begin to threaten until more than an hour passed. But free kicks and headers regularly flew over the crossbar.

Brighton substitute Jurgen Locadia was unlucky near the end when his goal, from a close-range rebound, was ruled out for the most marginal of offside calls.

New York, Oct 6 (AP/UNB) – Cristiano Ronaldo's image is vanishing from the website of a key sponsor. The stock price for his Juventus team dropped 10 percent on Friday.

A week after a Nevada woman filed a civil lawsuit accusing Ronaldo of rape in 2009, attempts by the five-time world player of the year and his Italian club to sway public opinion in his favor have not succeeded.

Sponsors are continuing to express concern about the case despite a denial from Ronaldo, who has not addressed why Kathryn Mayorga's legal team says a $375,000 settlement was reached in 2010 over the alleged assault by the soccer star in Las Vegas.

A week ago, the new edition of the FIFA video game franchise was released with Ronaldo as a cover star. While EA Sports has not suspended the sponsorship, it has been distancing itself from the face of its game in recent days.

The company home page still uses athletes to represent NFL, NBA, NHL, UFC and golf games. But a block of teal has replaced the spot on a banner occupied by Ronaldo until Tuesday, according to an Associated Press analysis through archived versions of the website.

The top of the FIFA 19 section of the EA website prominently showcased Ronaldo wearing the famed black-and-white Juventus jersey until at least Sunday. By Tuesday it had been replaced by a picture of four men in front of a television playing the game. At that point, a black-and-white photo of Ronaldo still appeared on the bottom right of the site. On Friday, that was replaced by an image of Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar.

Now, the only visual representation of Ronaldo on the webpage is Ronaldo on the cover of the game box with Neymar.

Such a move won't be taken lightly.

"They have to tread carefully so that they are not pre-judging him before an investigation reaches its conclusion," said Simon Leaf, a sports and commercial lawyer at London-based Mischon de Reya. "At the same time, the brand will have to be careful because depending on the commercial deal they reached it's not that uncommon for these deals to include clauses to oblige the brand to make use of the rights they are getting."

EA Sports declined to comment specifically on downplaying its online association with Ronaldo. It had already called the allegation against the Portugal captain "concerning" in a statement to the AP that reminded "ambassadors to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with EA's values."

Nike, with has a reported $1 billion deal with Ronaldo has also said it was "deeply concerned by the disturbing allegations."

Another sponsor spoke out on Friday: DAZN, the internet sports streaming platform which signed Ronaldo as a global ambassador in August.

"We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and continue to monitor the situation closely," DAZN told the AP.

Ronaldo could return to the field on Saturday for the first time for Juventus since issuing a statement on Wednesday denying he raped Mayorga in a Las Vegas penthouse in 2009. Juventus prepared for the league match in northeast Italy against Udinese by offering full support for Ronaldo.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri on Friday praised his "great professionalism and seriousness both on and off the field." He echoed tweets from Juventus, which said "events allegedly dating back to almost 10 years ago do not change" the club's view about his "great professionalism and dedication."

Juventus paid 112 million euros (then $132 million) to sign Ronaldo from Real Madrid in July in an attempt to elevate the club's global appeal and win the Champions League. But in the week when the controversy around Ronaldo mounted, the club's shares have dropped 20 percent on the Italian Stock Exchange. They fell by 10 percent alone on Friday in the aftermath of sponsors voicing concerns about Ronaldo's alleged conduct.

"Often these kind of issues are the most contentious issues when coming to negotiate sponsorship contracts," said Leaf, who has represented soccer clubs, sponsors and players on such deals.

Mayorga's legal team said it will ask a judge to void the non-disclosure agreement that the attorneys say Mayorga signed while accepting a $375,000 payment from Ronaldo in 2010. The civil lawsuit filed Sept. 27 in state court in Las Vegas alleges Ronaldo hired a team of what the document called "fixers" to pressure Mayorga to keep quiet.

Gestifute, the sports agency representing Ronaldo, has not responded to questions about the settlement. Sponsors contacted by the AP would not say if they were previously aware of it.

"There is a potential argument the athlete would have to disclose something like this before entering in the contract so the brand is aware of the issue," Leaf said. "Or it could be a case they mispresented themselves as a good clean athlete where there are skeletons the company would want to know before entering into the deal."

Sylhet, Oct 5 (UNB) – Bangladesh conceded a 1-0 goal defeat against visiting Philippines in their Group B second match of the 5th Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football Tournament disappointing around 25 thousand local crowds at Sylhet District Stadium here on Friday.

Midfielder Kenshiro Michael Daniels scored the match winner goal in the 24th minute in a counter attack for Philippines, the side emerged group champions having another win against hapless Laos by 3-1 goals.

Bangladesh stayed in the race of the last-four of the six-nation tournament placing group runners-up as started the tournament campaign with 1-0 win against Laos in the opener.

Bangladesh played attacking game from the beginning and missed the first chance in the 4th minute as Captain Topu Barman’s header attempt fisted by Philippine goalie Michael Louie Casas. Just after three minutes, Rabiul Hasan took a powerful shot from right flank but his shot gripped by goalie.

Bangladesh squandered two chances more in the 69th and 80th minutes. Forward Nabib Newaz Ziban’s header attempt off a cross of Tawhidul Alam Sabuj went out edging the post and substitute forward took a cross from the left flank cleared by a Philippine defender.

Bangladesh tried their best till the end to come back in the game with pressing game, including two attempts each was by substitute forward Rabiul Hasan and defender Rahmat Mia, but Philippines defended all their efforts.

Bangladesh will play the semifinal in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday against the Group ‘A’ champions, which will be decided after the match between Palestine and Nepal in Sylhet on Saturday.

Points Table: 

Group A

Teams                    P        W       L       D       Pts

Palestine                1        1        0        0        3

Tajikistan               2        1        1        0        3

Nepal                     1        0        1        0        0

Group B

Teams                    P        W       L       D       Pts

Philippines             2        2        0        0        6

Bangladesh           2        1        1        0        3

Laos                      2        0        2        0        0

Dhaka, Oct 5 (UNB) – Bangladesh through to final of the six-nation first SAFF Under-18 Women’s Championship by routing hosts Bhutan 4-0 goals in the 2nd semifinal at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu on Friday.

Bangladesh will play the final of the maiden edition championship against Nepal at the same venue on Sunday (Oct 7).

Nepal reached into the final denying the South Asian giant India by 1(2) - 1(1) goals in a penalty shootout in the 1st semifinal after 1-1 in the stipulated and extra time on the same day.

In the semifinal, Bangladesh took the lead in the very second minute as Sanjida Akhter’s 25-yards right-footed shot from the right-top corner of the box found the net deceiving goalie, 1-0.

Bangladesh dominated the first half by 2-0 goals as Mishrat Jahan Mousumi placed the ball home from the top of the six yard box in the stopgap time after 45 minutes.

Krishna Rani Sarkar and Shamsunnahar extended the winning margin scoring one goal each in the 60th and 86th minutes respectively, 4-0.

Bangladesh reached into the semifinals as the Group B champions with all-win record as crushed Pakistan by a record 17-0 goal - the highest margin victory for Bangladesh football at any level senior or age-group - in the second match, starting their campaign with a 2-1 goal win against Nepal.

Hosts Bhutan managed a seat for semifinal as the Group A runners up crushing the Maldives by 13-0 goals after a 0-4 loss against Group A champions India.

Nepal placed Group B runners up by defeating hapless Pakistan by 12-0 goals in the second match.

Dhaka, Oct 5 (UNB) – The third round of the PGM UMW Championship will resume on Saturday morning as Friday’s play was suspended due to rain at Impian Golf and Country Club in Selangor, Malaysia.

The only Bangladesh golfer in the Asian Development Tour (ADT) with purse of approximate US$58,000, Shakhawat Hossain Sohel, shared 8th spot for the cut in the meet, aggregating two-under-par 140 [68-72] after the second round on Thursday. He shared his spot with five other golfers after the second round.

Sohel, who tasted maiden ADT title clinching PGM MIRI Championship to earn US$9,503 at Eastwood Valley Golf and Country Club also in Malaysia in early September 2018, traded three-under 68 opening in this tournament on Wednesday.

South African golfer Mathiam Keyser maintained the solo lead with aggregating a nine-under 133 [61-72] after the second round, for a one shot lead above the Thai golfer Poom Pattaropong.

The third round will resume at 7:30am on Saturday and the round four will not start before 10am.

END/UNB/BK/AM