Ten Hag worried about 'almost unavoidable' risk of injuries in congested schedule

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Ten Hag worried about 'almost unavoidable' risk of injuries in congested schedule

2024-09-24 23:24 Last Updated At：23:30

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has warned of more injuries to top soccer players because of a growing number of games on their schedule.

Man City midfielder Rodri limped out of Sunday's English Premier League clash with Arsenal because of a knee injury, while other top players Kevin De Bruyne and Martin Odegaard have been sidelined in the early weeks of the season.

Rodri's injury came days after he voiced concerns about an increasingly congested schedule and said players were close to taking strike action.

Ten Hag, speaking ahead of United's Europa League match against FC Twente, said too much is being asked of players.

“There are too many games. It’s clear. Too many competitions," he said on Tuesday. "For the top players, they are overloaded and this is not good for football. In the end of the day it’s maybe good for commercial but there is a limit.

“It’s almost unavoidable that players get injured because of the overload from so many games.”

City is still to confirm the full extent of Rodri's injury after he was photographed in Spain, where he was reportedly undergoing tests.

British media reported there were fears the Spain international has sustained an ACL injury and is set for a long-term absence.

City has not publicly commented on the reports.

Last week, City manager Pep Guardiola said it was up to players to force a change following the growing dispute over the congested schedule.

The Champions League has been expanded this season with two more games in the new-look group stage. Next year's expanded Club World Cup will be a 32-team event for the first time, up from seven. It is slated for the offseason for many major leagues in June-July.

The new Club World Cup format has prompted a legal challenge from players' unions.

World players union FIFPRO has raised concerns about the increasing physical and mental demands on players, but the competition has been welcomed by the European Club Association, which represents the continent’s top clubs, including United and City.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

2024-10-07 08:18 Last Updated At：08:21

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people.

A year after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began.

Israel’s military confirmed a Hezbollah attack on the northern city of Haifa, though it was not immediately clear whether shrapnel from “fallen projectiles” was from rockets or interceptors. Hezbollah said it tried to hit a nearby naval base. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated 10 people, most of them hurt by shrapnel.

Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week. The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.

Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events for the Oct. 7 attack, while rallies continue around the world marking the anniversary.

Beirut’s skyline lit up again late Sunday with new airstrikes, a day after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on Sept. 23. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Israel confirmed the strikes and says it targets Hezbollah. The militant group, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, has called its months of firing rockets into Israel a show of support for the Palestinians.

A separate Israeli strike earlier Sunday in the town of Qamatiyeh southeast of Beirut killed six people, including three children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday, while Israel’s military said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

“It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”

One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. “This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbor, Ali Al Hajj.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group from its border so tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.

The Israeli military is now setting up a forward operating base close to a U.N. peacekeeping mission on the border in southern Lebanon, a U.N. official told The Associated Press. The base puts peacekeepers at risk, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

UNIFIL, created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion, refused the Israeli military’s request to vacate some of its positions ahead of the ground incursion.

An Israeli strike hit a mosque where displaced people sheltered near the main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Another four were killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter near the town. The military said both strikes targeted militants. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue.

Israel's military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, home to a refugee camp dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel has carried out several operations there only to see militants regroup. The military said three soldiers were severely wounded in Sunday's fighting in northern Gaza.

Israel reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of heavily destroyed northern Gaza, where up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained.

“We are in a new phase of the war,” the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” A later statement said three projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported.

Frantic residents fled again. “Since Oct. 7 to the present day, this is the 12th time that I and my children, eight individuals, have been homeless and thrown into the streets and do not know where to go,” said one, Samia Khader.

The Civil Defense — first responders operating under the Hamas-run government — said it recovered three bodies, including a woman and a child, after a strike hit a home in the Shati refugee camp.

Residents mourned. Imad Alarabid said on Facebook an airstrike on his Jabaliya home killed a dozen family members, including his parents. Hassan Hamd, a freelance TV journalist whose footage had aired on Al Jazeera, was killed in shelling on his home in Jabaliya. Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif confirmed his death.

Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The United Kingdom on Sunday advised its citizens against non-essential travel to Israel due to the violent clashes in the Mideast. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also advised against all travel in parts of northern and southern Israel, most of the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

Last week the UK advised its citizens against all travel to Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial arms embargo on Israel, which had prompted an angry response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu had described such calls by Macron as a “disgrace.” Macron's office insisted that “France is Israel’s unfailing friend” and called Netanyahu's remarks “excessive."

Later on Sunday, Netanyahu's office said the two leaders had spoken and agreed to promote “a dialogue” on the matter. Macron's office called the discussion “frank” and said both leaders “accepted their divergence of views.”

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war