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Montenegro and Millwall Goalkeeper Sarkic Dies Aged 26

Matija Sarkic playing for Montenegro in a World Cup qualifier in Norway in 2021. Hakon Mosvold Larsen / NTB/AFP
Matija Sarkic playing for Montenegro in a World Cup qualifier in Norway in 2021. Hakon Mosvold Larsen / NTB/AFP
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Montenegro and Millwall Goalkeeper Sarkic Dies Aged 26

Matija Sarkic playing for Montenegro in a World Cup qualifier in Norway in 2021. Hakon Mosvold Larsen / NTB/AFP
Matija Sarkic playing for Montenegro in a World Cup qualifier in Norway in 2021. Hakon Mosvold Larsen / NTB/AFP

Montenegro and Millwall goalkeeper Matija Sarkic has died at the age of 26, his club and national football association announced on Saturday.
The Montenegro Football Association said he "died suddenly early this morning", calling him a "beloved member of the 'Brave Falcons', an eternally smiling guy."
Grimsby-born Sarkic played nine times for Montenegro. He made his debut against Belarus in 2019 and started in goal in a friendly against Belgium on June 5, AFP said.
His twin brother Oliver is a midfielder with Montenegrin champions Decic Tuzi.
He started his club career in the youth academy at Anderlecht before moving to Aston Villa in 2015.
He had loan spells at Wigan, Stratford and Havant & Waterlooville in England, and Livingston in Scotland, before joining Wolves in 2020. After further loan spells at Shrewsbury, Birmingham and Stoke, he moved to Millwall.
"Millwall Football Club is completely devastated to announce that Matija Sarkic has passed away at the age of 26," his English Championship club said in a statement.
"Sarkic, The Lions' number one goalkeeper, made 33 appearances for the club since joining from Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2023."
"Everyone at the club sends their love and condolences to Matija's family and friends at this immensely sad time."
The Montenegro football federation echoed the sentiment.
"In the jersey of that iconic London club, he left a mark, which was yet to become part of a bigger and more beautiful story. Premature death stopped that and caused great pain to the Sarkic family."

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Al Rajhi Takes over Dakar Rally Lead after Miserable Stage for Lategan

Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Al Rajhi Takes over Dakar Rally Lead after Miserable Stage for Lategan

Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)

Local driver Yazeed Al Rajhi took advantage of a miserable stage by South Africa's Henk Lategan to grab the Dakar Rally lead in the Saudi Arabia desert on Tuesday.

Lategan led the Dakar for the past week, but errors and bad luck on the 357-kilometer ninth stage from Riyadh south-east to Haradh turned his overall lead of more than five minutes over Al Rajhi into a potentially decisive seven-minute deficit.

The rally has effectively two days and 400 kilometers remaining in the dunes of the Empty Quarter. The last day, Friday, is a ceremonial drive to the finish line in Shubaytah.

Al Rajhi, like Lategan, has never won the Dakar. This is the Saudi's 11th attempt with a best finish of third in 2022. He'd been lying second since last Wednesday. The title race appears to be between only them.

Third-placed Mattias Ekström of Sweden and five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar were about 25 minutes behind.

“It's a bit of disaster to be honest,” Lategan said. “About 13 kilometers in we got lost. We thought we missed the waypoint but we actually had it. When we got lost we got one puncture and then towards the end we got another one and the wheel is actually flat. So, it was a messy, messy, messy day for us but it's not the end of the world, we're still in it.”

Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings were 11th on the stage and Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk third.

“We did a great job like we planned to,” Al Rajhi said. “We pushed well. We enjoyed it, that's the most important. I hope everything goes well the next two or three days to win the Dakar ... I will fight to win. It won't be easy.”

Al-Attiyah won the stage ahead of Belgium’s Guillaume de Mévius in under three hours to rise to one minute off third place overall.

His 49th car stage win, and first in the Dakar for Romanian manufacturer Dacia, lifted him to only one behind the record jointly held by Finland's Ari Vatanen and France's Stephane Peterhansel.

Sanders cushions motorbike lead Australian rider Daniel Sanders bolstered his motorbike lead to nearly 15 minutes when closest challenger, Spain's Tosha Schareina, crashed early.

The back wheel of Schareina's Honda hit a rock and sent him flying only 20 kilometers in. He resumed racing but the nearly four minutes he finished behind Sanders dropped him in the general standings.

Schareina's teammate Adrien van Beveren of France remained third, more than 20 minutes behind, while Sanders' KTM teammate Luciano Benavides of Argentina strengthened his position in fourth place by winning his second successive stage.

Benavides, thanks to collecting time bonuses of nearly five minutes by opening the way, beat Van Beveren by nearly two minutes, and repeated his win into Haradh two years ago. Sanders was third after leading until about 70 kilometers from the end.

“I only got lost a couple of times ... and lost a little bit of time,” Sanders said. “I could have pushed and made some more (time) but it's not too bad.”