DOHA, Qatar — England forward Raheem Sterling has left the team’s World Cup camp in Qatar and returned to Britain after a break-in at his home.
The 27-year-old Chelsea player missed England’s 3-0 victory over Senegal in the round of 16 on Sunday and it was not known if he would be back for the quarterfinal match against France on Saturday.
“We’ve got to give him time to try to resolve that or be there for his family,” England Coach Gareth Southgate said. “That’s the most important thing at this time, so we’re going to give him that space.”
England announced 90 minutes before kick off against Senegal at Al Bayt Stadium that Sterling would be unavailable because of a “family matter.”
Police in the English county of Surrey outside London said in a statement they were investigating “a burglary at an address in Oxshott, Leatherhead.” The statement said police were contacted Saturday night “after the occupants of the property came home and discovered a number of items including jewelry and watches had been stolen.”
“No threat of violence was involved as the items were discovered stolen retrospectively. Inquiries into the circumstances are ongoing,” police said.
The police later issued an update to say they were still investigating when the theft happened, and responded to reports that the thieves were armed.
“We are aware of media reports stating there were armed suspects involved, however, at this time, we would reassure our communities that no witnesses have come forward to this effect and there are no reports of any threats of violence linked to this incident,” the statement said.
Sterling had not been expected to start against Senegal, with Phil Foden selected ahead of him.
“Our thoughts are with him and his family,” England captain Harry Kane said. “It is a private matter with him, but it’s never easy to see one of your teammates and friends have to deal with something like that.”
TV RATINGS: The United States’ tournament-ending 3-1 loss to the Netherlands at the World Cup was seen by 16.5 million on U.S. English- and Spanish-language television and digital streams, according to figures released by Fox and Telemundo.
Fox said its coverage of the round of 16 match, which started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, was viewed by an average of 12.9 million. That included almost 600,000 on its digital streaming services.
Telemundo said its Spanish-language coverage was seen by 3.58 million, including 1.26 million for its digital streams on Telemundo and Peacock.
Viewers were down from the previous two U.S. round of 16 matches, according to figures provided by Nielsen. The 2-1 extra-time loss to Belgium in 2014, which began at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday, was seen by 18.1 million on ESPN and Univision. The 1-0 extra-time loss to Ghana in 2010, which kicked off at 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday, was viewed by 17.9 million on ABC and Univision.
The top U.S. markets for the viewership of the United States-Netherlands match were Cincinnati, with a 10.4 rating and 33 share; Washington, D.C. (9.9/33), Kansas City (9.9/33) and Austin, Texas (9.8/35). The rating is the percentage of television households in a market tuned to a telecast, and the share is the percentage among households with TVs on at the time.
URUGUAY: Four Uruguay players were charged with offensive behavior by FIFA for their angry pursuit of the referee after being eliminated from the World Cup.
The Uruguayan soccer federation also faces an extra charge of discrimination, FIFA said without giving details.
The Uruguay team thought it should been awarded a penalty kick in stoppage time of its 2-0 victory over Ghana on Friday. One more goal would have sent Uruguay to the round of 16 instead of South Korea.
FIFA said Edinson Cavani, Jose Maria Gimenez, Diego Godin and Fernando Muslera face disciplinary cases for “offensive behavior and violations of the principles of fair play” and misconduct.
Cavani, Godin and Muslera were each playing at their fourth World Cup and Gimenez was at this third.
They were among a group of players who confronted German referee Daniel Siebert after the final whistle at Al Janoub Stadium.
FIFA did not specify a timetable for its disciplinary committee to rule on the cases.
GERMANY: Oliver Bierhoff is the first managerial casualty of Germany’s early World Cup exit after agreeing to resign as managing director of the country’s national soccer teams and academy.
The German soccer federation said Bierhoff agreed to prematurely end his contract. It was due to run through the 2024 European Championship.
Germany is set to host that tournament but there are concerns about the team’s direction after a second successive World Cup exit at the group stage coming after its second-round exit from the European Championship last year.
Bierhoff had a management role with the federation for 18 years since becoming manager of the men’s national team in 2004, two years after the former forward’s last game for Germany. He took over all of the national teams and academy in 2018 and received another promotion this year.
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