American media: The United States has withdrawn from the “U-17” World Cup

American media reported on Wednesday that its national team had withdrawn from the FIFA U-17 World Cup scheduled for Qatar, due to security concerns.

The Athletic website and the US Soccer Collective platform reported, citing sources without revealing their identity, that the players were informed of the decision a few days before the tournament, which begins on the 19th of this month.

The US Soccer Federation did not immediately confirm the news, nor did it respond to Agence France-Presse's request for comment. The United States was supposed to participate as one of 48 teams in the U-17 World Cup, in a group that included Montenegro, Chile, and Algeria. The tournament became held annually as of last year, with Qatar hosting it for five consecutive years. When announcing the decision to choose the host country in 2024, FIFA said that the adoption of one host country for several editions aims to benefit from “the existing football infrastructure in a way that serves the efficiency of organizing the tournament and sustainability.”

Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko achieved a resounding surprise in the men's singles competitions at the Stockholm Open Tennis Championship, after he ousted Norwegian Casper Ruud, the defending champion and second seed, by beating him 6/7, 6/4, 6/3, in the second round, on Wednesday.

Shevchenko, ranked 107th in the world and a qualifier, succeeded in overturning his deficit in the first set to a well-deserved victory, during a confrontation that lasted two hours and 17 minutes, during which he scored 50 decisive shots.

This is the second victory for the Kazakh player during the current season over one of the top 20 players in the world, after he previously defeated American Ben Shelton in the Miami Masters Championship (1000 points category). He also celebrated his sixth victory in his career against players in the top 50 list.

Shevchenko reached the quarter-finals of an ATP tournament for the third time this year, setting up a match with Argentine Thiago Agustín Tirante, continuing his successful career in the tournament.

On the other hand, this loss ended the career of Ruud, ranked 18th in the world, this season without achieving any title, for the first time since 2019.

American Taylor Fritz, ranked tenth in the world, also qualified for the quarter-finals by defeating Britain's Cameron Norrie in two sets to no response.

Frenchman Ugo Hombre also qualified for the quarter-finals after an easy victory over Croatian Borna Goyo.

The French star will play in the quarter-finals against Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

In another confrontation, the Chilean Alejandro Tabello advanced by defeating the other Italian, Lorenzo Sonego, after a marathon match that lasted two hours and 53 minutes.

The total prize money for the Stockholm Tennis Championship is 723,435 euros.

Slaven Bilic, coach of the Croatia national team, confirmed that he has not forgotten the humiliating loss to England, 0-7, in the European Nations League competitions during the last international break.

After this heavy loss, the Croatia national team presented a better performance in a match that ended with its loss to Spain with a score of 1-2, and is preparing for a new confrontation against England, Thursday, at Wembley, striving strongly to restore the pride of its country.

Bilic said in a press conference on Wednesday: “Last month’s match against England is still stuck in my mind.”

He added, in statements reported by the British News Agency: “We proved our true level against Spain, and we want to confirm that what happened in the first match against England was just a setback.”

He continued: “I told the players that the performance we presented against Spain last month is our ambition. We must perform with a high and fighting spirit, and we will see tomorrow whether we can do that.”

He stressed: “We have an opportunity at Wembley to prove that what happened in Rijeka was just a collective catastrophe.”

Croatia ranks third in the group, behind Spain and England.

Regarding this, Bilic said: “Continuing in the first level of the Nations League is an important step, and occupying third place will be an important step that will benefit us greatly in the qualifiers for the European Nations Championship (Euro 2028).”