SOCCER

A map of the world flashes cyber threat warnings. Into view across the big-screen-covered wall comes live video from World Cup stadiums. Then there’s the incident alarm panels for all eight venues in Qatar.

This command center for the World Cup is all quiet and calm. By November, however, it will be at the heart of operations for the most high-profile sporting event to be staged in the Middle East.

This is a first look inside one of the key locations overseeing security and logistics.

As a screen with the map of Qatar shows starkly, the World Cup is being staged in the most compact setting ever. All eight stadiums being monitored from this room, which is on the Aspire sports campus on the outskirts of Doha, are within a 30-mile radius of the capital of this energy-rich Gulf nation.

Most of the 32 nations will have discovered where they will be playing after the tournament draw takes place in the center of Doha on Friday – the first major gathering of world football in the city since Qatar so unexpectedly won the FIFA hosting vote in 2010. The decision required a major upgrade of infrastructure and for this tiny nation to prepare for an unprecedented influx of supporters.

“We have the capabilities to remotely monitor every system we can, control every system, and thereby change the behavior in the stadiums,” Niyas Abdulrahiman, an executive director with the local organizers, told The Associated Press.

Abdulrahiman was speaking while surrounded by staff peering into banks of monitors.

“We can also receive alarms and notifications as part of our proactive monitoring in the command center. Before something goes wrong.”

Qatar claims it is the most sophisticated system ever seen at a sporting event. In linking the stadiums to one hub, each stadium also has a digital version of itself that allows officials to trace an issue on site.

DENMARK: Christian Eriksen will captain Denmark in a friendly match against Serbia on Tuesday when he plays at Parken Stadium for the first time since suffering cardiac arrest there during the European Championship.

Kasper Schmeichel, who has been the stand-in captain in the absence of the injured Simon Kjær, made the suggestion to hand the armband to Eriksen, Denmark Coach Kasper Hjulmand said Monday.

It is set to be an emotional occasion for Eriksen, who collapsed on the field at the stadium in Copenhagen during the June 12 match against Finland and was later told he was “gone from this world for five minutes.”

Eriksen has resumed his professional playing career at Brentford in the Premier League after being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and scored on his comeback for Denmark on Saturday after entering as a halftime substitute against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

AUSTRIA: Coach Franco Foda will leave his position after the friendly match against Scotland on Tuesday after failing to lead his team to the World Cup.

Foda used a news conference to suddenly announce his imminent departure, saying the time was right because “we couldn’t fulfill our big dream.”

Austria lost 2-1 to Wales in the semifinals of the World Cup playoffs on Thursday.

ITALY: Roberto Mancini will stay on as Italy coach despite the team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup again.

Italy, which won the European Championship only eight months ago, lost to North Macedonia 1-0 in the playoffs on Thursday and will now miss a second straight World Cup. The previous failure led to the dismissal of Coach Gian Piero Ventura and the appointment of Mancini.

However, the Italian soccer federation this time has decided to stick with the coach who revitalized the national team and led it to the Euro 2020 title. The 57-year-old Mancini was given a contract extension through 2026 in May.

COLLEGES

WRESTLING: Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA champion Gable Steveson of Minnesota has been named repeat winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy as the top college wrestler.

WIN magazine announced Steveson had received 49 of 59 first-place votes from a panel of retired coaches, a representative from each of the national wrestling organizations, media members, past winners and fans.

Three-time NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell was runner-up and two-time national champ Nick Lee of Penn State was third.

Steveson won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in August, scoring two takedowns in the last 10 seconds to beat Geno Petriashvili of Georgia 8-5 in the 125-kilogram final.

Steveson won 6-2 over Arizona State’s Cohlton Schultz in the NCAA finals in Detroit on March 19. He is the first heavyweight to win the Hodge Award twice and second Minnesota wrestler to win it, following 133-pounder Jayson Ness in 2010.

FOOTBALL: Pitt Coach Pat Narduzzi agreed on a new contract that will keep him with the Panthers through at least 2030.

The deal comes three months after Narduzzi led Pitt to its first Atlantic Coast Conference championship on its way to an 11-3 record and a No. 13 ranking in the final AP Top 25 poll, the program’s highest postseason ranking since 1982.

Narduzzi is 53-37 in seven seasons with the Panthers. His 53 wins rank fourth all-time in program history.

• Wisconsin running back Chez Mellusi says he has reached out to former Clemson teammate and current Green Bay Packers wide receiver Amari Rodgers for advice on recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Rodgers tore the ACL in his right knee in March 2019 but was playing for Clemson less than six months after undergoing surgery. Mellusi is hoping to be ready for the start of the 2022 season after tearing his left ACL last November.

“I kind of wanted to know what he did, what his regimen was,” Mellusi said. “He told me the things he did. I was really interested in learning from him about that.”

Mellusi, who played for Clemson from 2019-20, rushed for 815 yards and five touchdowns in nine games with the Badgers last year before getting hurt in a Nov. 6 victory at Rutgers. The injury knocked him out for the rest of the season and is sidelining him for spring practice, which began last week.

TENNIS

MIAMI OPEN: Naomi Osaka has made it through to the quarterfinals – just the second time she has managed to advance that deep in any tournament over the last year – by beating Alison Riske 6-3, 6-4, moving into a matchup with Danielle Collins.

Osaka’s only other quarterfinal appearance in the last year was at an Australian Open warm-up tournament in Melbourne in January. Before that, her most recent quarterfinals trip was at Miami a year ago.

Collins is 0-2 in previous matches against Osaka, both straight-set losses on hard courts, one in 2018, the other in 2019.

Daria Saville also got into the quarterfinals, surviving a three-hour match to beat Lucia Bronzetti 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. Saville has climbed a staggering 500 spots in the world rankings in about a month and a half; she was 627th in the world in mid-February and could make the top 100 if she wins her next match against either No. 22 Belinda Bencic or Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who is already assured of moving to No. 1 next week, also rolled into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 14 Coco Gauff.

In the men’s third round, Daniil Medvedev is now two wins away from reclaiming the No. 1 world ranking.

The top seed in Miami beat Spain’s Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-4. A trip to the semifinals is all it would take for Medvedev to leapfrog Novak Djokovic and return to No. 1.

Next up for Medvedev: Jenson Brooksby, who rallied from 0-4 down in the third set to upset No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Defending champion Hubert Hurkacz also advanced, the No. 8 seed fighting past No. 29 Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. No. 14 Carlos Alcaraz got by No. 21 Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4.

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