There has never been a World Cup match schedule like this one. The first World Cup ever played in November and December — to avoid Qatar’s desert heat — is just the starting point for other unique features. For players and fans in Qatar, and viewers worldwide, the games come around early and often on a more intense schedule than any previous group stage. Four separate kickoff time slots are needed to make this tournament work, though they were used on the first Saturday of previous tournaments. In Qatar, there will be back-to-back-to-back-to-back games for seven straight days to squeeze this World Cup into only 29 days. That’s three total days fewer than were used to play the 2018 tournament in Russia and the 2014 edition in Brazil. A 32-day tournament using five full weekends wasn’t available this time because of the deal FIFA had to strike with European leagues and clubs in 2015 to drop the World Cup into the middle of their domestic season. The European Leagues group had warned of “very severe damage” being done to its members’ sporting and financial interests by shutting them down for at least six weeks. While storied clubs and stars like Erling Haaland take an extended break or head to training camps, World Cup players have an intense time ahead. Teams in Groups G and H, like Brazil and Portugal, have the fewest possible rest days. To win the title, they will have to play seven games in only 25 days. The World Cup doesn’t even pause between the group stage and the round of 16. “This will be a very tiring tournament, and it’s true we start later,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said after the draw on April 1. “The only advantage I see is starting on the 24th,” he said, noting that teams which play on Nov. 21 — England, Netherlands, United States — have fewer days to prepare. Santos, who wants those extra pre-tournament days for practice, pointed to the dilemma facing most of the 32 coaches at a World Cup where typically 75% of selected players are employed by European clubs. European domestic leagues were mostly playing games right up to Sunday on the last day before players had been mandated by FIFA to be with their national teams. That leaves only one week of official preparation time instead of at least two weeks before a normal World Cup. In the Premier League on Sunday, Ecuador players Moisés Caicedo and Pervis Estupiñán were on the field for Brighton exactly one week before their national team opens the World Cup against Qatar. When the clock in Doha ticked past midnight into Monday — FIFA’s Nov. 14 deadline for players to be on national-team duty — squad members from Argentina, Brazil, France, Poland and Serbia were still on the field in Italy, where the Juventus-Lazio game finished close to 11 p.m. local time. “We don’t have time to prepare the team, just seven days,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said in April. “It will not be easy for us.” There was no perfect solution when FIFA confirmed the inevitable switch of dates in 2015, accepting the World Cup could not be played or organized in June, when temperatures in Qatar reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Read more: Players who will be absent from Qatar World Cup including Haaland, Salah Seven years ago, the favored European option of a January 2022 tournament was dismissed by FIFA’s then-leaders because of a direct clash with the Winter Olympics in Beijing. “It is, of course, not an ideal situation to play in November and December,” then-UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino (now FIFA president) said in March 2015, “and we would have preferred to play in January because it would have had less of an impact.” Still, the agreement to play in November and December did create a five-month delay that proved essential when the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc with international soccer. Nearly all World Cup qualifying games scheduled in 2020 were postponed. When it came to finalizing World Cup dates, one red line was ensuring the Premier League would have its traditional Dec. 26 games. The happy solution for Qatar was staging a four-week tournament with a traditional and auspicious Sunday final — the emirate’s National Day on Dec. 18 Read more: Qatar World Cup 2022: Viewer's guide

After losing the first Test on the back of a miserable batting display in their second innings in Durban, Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque said they were abused by their South African counterparts on the field. He however did not disclose the terms of abuse. In the final innings of the Test, Bangladesh needed 274 runs to win the match or bat for just over a day to save the match. But the visitors lasted just 19 overs.   Bangladesh tumbled for 53 in 19 overs, their second-lowest total in Tests, and lost the match by 220 runs. Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner of the hosts, scalped seven wickets in the last innings of the match.  READ: Durban Test: Tigers fold inside an hour on day 5 “Sledging is common in the cricket field. We don't mind if somebody sledges us, but what they did in this Test was abusive. The umpires did not notice the abuse,” Mominul said in the post-match conference.  Mominul did not disclose what actually South African cricketers told them or what they have done with them.  “We cannot share those things, and we did not lodge any complaint to the match-referee. One thing I can say is that the ICC should bring neutral umpires in Tests. As the Covid-19 situation improved, I think the tradition of deploying neutral umpires in Tests should be back on the field,” the Bangladesh captain added.  Adrian Holdstock and Marais Erasmus were the umpires of this match. Both are South African.  Bangladesh were charged up ahead of the Test series as they won the ODI series right before this series. It was the first time that Bangladesh won an ODI and an ODI series on the soil of South Africa. 

Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi is among four players in the Paris Saint-Germain squad to have tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of the team's French Cup game on Monday night. PSG added that one staff member also had COVID-19 in a statement on Saturday night. None of them were named at that point, but in a further statement on the team's medical news Sunday the club named Messi, left back Juan Bernat, backup goalie Sergio Rico and 19-year-old midfielder Nathan Bitumazala. Read: Champions League 2021-2022: Will Messi and Ronaldo meet in the Round of 16? PSG is playing at third-tier Vannes. Last year's runner-up Monaco was in action later Sunday at second-tier Quevilly-Rouen in one of 13 games scheduled for the day as sides bid to reach the last 16. Monaco said Saturday that seven players had COVID-19 but none showed any worrying signs and are isolating.

All the members of the Bangladesh national team have tested negative for Covid-19 in New Zealand, said Khaled Mahmud, the team director touring with the Bangladesh team. As all the players are now free from the virus they will be allowed to join practice sessions outside from Tuesday. “We will start practice sessions from Tuesday at the Lincoln University Ground,” Mahmud said. “We will also get the gym facilities there. And we are now allowed to move to the team hotel and do all normal activities.” With the negative results of all the players, the doubts over this series have been wiped away. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) earlier said if any player tests positive and Cricket New Zealand extends the period of quarantine, the series might need to be rescheduled at a later date. Also read: Tigers hope for negative Covid-19 results to take to field All the Bangladesh players have been going through tight quarantine measures since the home series against Australia and New Zealand ahead of the T20 World Cup— where they also had to stay in a tight bio-bubble. After the World Cup, Bangladesh also maintained a bio-bubble against Pakistan at home. It was the third Covid-19 for the Tigers in New Zealand. All the players returned negative in the previous two tests as well. However, the spin-bowling coach Rangana Herath tested positive in the second test. He is yet to test negative and get the clearance from the New Zealand health department to join the team. Bangladesh team was supposed to maintain a three-day quarantine before benign allowed to train outside. But after Rangana tested positive, the quarantine period was extended. The first Test of the series will begin on January 1 while the second and final Test of the series will commence on January 9. This is the second series for Bangladesh in the ongoing second cycle of the World Test Championship. The Tigers has started the new cycle of the event with the two-match series against Pakistan at home that they lost 2-0. Also read: Strict quarantine puts Bangladesh’s New Zealand tour in jeopardy Bangladesh will miss the service of Shakib Al Hasan in this series along with Tamim Iqbal. While Shakib is on leave due to family reasons, Tamim is yet to be fit to play international cricket. He has been suffering from several injuries. Before this series, Bangladesh took on New Zealand in 15 Tests and lost 12 of them with the other three ending up in draws.