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Sweden see off Czechs at hockey worlds

Co-hosts Sweden maintained their perfect record at the at the World Ice Hockey Championships, earning their second win of the tournament by beating the Czech Republic 4-1 at the ice of Globen arena on Saturday.

Sweden see off Czechs at hockey worlds

Sweden got an early lead through Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen, who swept home a rebound past Czech goalie Jakub Stepanek after 2:42.

Defender Niklas Kronwall added his goal just 50sec into the second, beating Stepanek with a sharp-angled shot to lift Sweden 2-0 up.

Jakub Petruzalek reduced arrears 3:44 into the third period, sweeping the puck in after Sweden team goalie Viktor Fasth schoolboy’s mistake, but Joel Lundqvist dashed Czech hopes with his insurance goal at 50:24.

Czech coach Aloiz Hadamczik subtituted Stepanek for the sixth field player in the late stages but only to allow Niklas Persson to finalise the scoring with his empty-netter with 1:56 to go.

The United States, bidding for their first world title since 1960, meanwhile snatched a hard-fought 5-4 overtime win against Canada.

US skipper Jack Johnson was the hero scoring the sudden-death winner — his second powerplay goal of the match — to secure his side’s leading position in their preliminary group standings.

Winnipeg Jets’ striker Jim Slater got the US off to a flying start just 1:10 into the match with a wristed puck home through the traffic.

Canada replied positively striking back twice through New York Islanders’ forward John Tavares and Carolina Hurricanes’ Jeff Skinner for a 2-1 lead before Johnson levelled at 2-2 at 33:54.

In the third period the opponents traded goals twice again as Patrick Dwyer and Nate Thompson scored for Americans, while Evander Kane and Duncan Keith were on target for Canada.

The United States, who started the overtime on powerplay after Tavares was sinbinned for time wasting, needed just 1:47 to score the winning goal through

Johnson, who beat Canada’s goalie Cam Ward with a mid-range wrist shot.

“Canada is always a formidable opponent,” said US team manager Scott Gordon.

“Look at their roster, there are few guys that scored less than 20 goals in the (regular NHL) season.

“The key for us was that we played a complete game in all three zones. And our powerplay was huge tonight.”

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CRIME

Spain women’s World Cup players demand more heads roll as Rubiales in court

The crisis within Spanish football deepened Friday as the women's World Cup winners demanded more heads roll at its scandal-hit RFEF federation whose disgraced ex-boss appeared in court on sexual assault charges.

Spain women's World Cup players demand more heads roll as Rubiales in court

Just hours after Luis Rubiales was quizzed by a judge for kissing midfielder Jenni Hermoso, all but two of Spain’s 23 World Cup players said they would not don the national shirt without deeper changes within the RFEF, demanding its current interim head also resign.

The statement came as the squad’s new coach Montse Tome was to announce the lineup for two upcoming UEFA Women’s Nations League matches against Sweden and Switzerland, which was promptly postponed, federation sources said.

“The changes put in place are not enough,” said a statement signed by 39 players, among them 21 of the 23 World Cup winners.

Demanding “fundamental changes to the RFEF’s leadership”, they called for the “resignation of the RFEF president” Pedro Rocha, who took over as interim leader when FIFA suspended Rubiales on August 26.

But the federation insisted Rocha would “lead the transition process within the RFEF until the next election”, insisting any changes would be made “gradually”.

A federation source said a leadership election could take place early next year.

“This institution is more important than individuals and it’s crucial it remains strong. We’ll work tirelessly to create stability first in order to progress later,” Rocha said in the statement.

Despite a string of recent changes, the federation remains in the hands of officials appointed by Rubiales, and the players are demanding structural changes “within the office of the president and the secretary general”.

Brought to court by a kiss

The bombshell came after days of optimism within the RFEF that the players would come round after it sacked controversial coach Jorge Vilda, appointed Tome in his stead and pledged further changes, not to mention Rubiales’ long-awaited resignation on Sunday.

On August 25, 81 Spain players, including the 23 world champions, had started a mass strike saying they would not play for the national team without significant changes at the head of the federation.

Earlier on Friday, Rubiales appeared in court where he was quizzed by Judge Francisco de Jorge who is heading up the investigation into the kiss, which sparked international outrage and saw him brought up on sexual assault charges.

At the end of the closed-door hearing, in which Rubiales repeated his claim that the kiss was consensual, the judge ordered him not to come within 200 metres of Hermoso and barred him from any contact with the player.

At the weekend, the 46-year-old had described the kiss as “a spontaneous act, a mutual act, an act that both consented to, which was… 100 percent non-sexual” in an interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan.

Hermoso, 33, has insisted it was not, describing it as “an impulsive, macho act, out of place and with no type of consent on my part”.

Speaking to reporters outside court, Hermoso’s lawyer Carla Vall said they were “very satisfied” with the hearing.

“Thanks to this video, everyone can see there was no consent whatsoever and that is what we will demonstrate in court.”

Allegations of coercion

Hermoso herself will also testify before the judge at some stage, who will then have to decide whether or not to push ahead with the prosecution. No date has been given for her testimony.

The complaint against Rubiales, which was filed by the public prosecutors’ office, cites alleged offences of sexual assault and coercion.

Under a recent reform of the Spanish penal code, a non-consensual kiss can be considered sexual assault, a category which groups all types of sexual violence.

If found guilty, Rubiales could face anything from a fine to four years in prison, sources at the public prosecutors’ office have said.

In their complaint, prosecutors explained the offence of coercion related to Hermoso’s statement saying she “and those close to her had suffered constant ongoing pressure by Luis Rubiales and his professional entourage to justify and condone” his actions.

At the hearing, Rubiales also denied coercion.

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