Gustavsson Out as Matildas Coach After Australia Olympic Exit 

Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson sits on the bench prior to a women's group B soccer match between Zambia and Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nice, France. (AP)
Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson sits on the bench prior to a women's group B soccer match between Zambia and Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nice, France. (AP)
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Gustavsson Out as Matildas Coach After Australia Olympic Exit 

Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson sits on the bench prior to a women's group B soccer match between Zambia and Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nice, France. (AP)
Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson sits on the bench prior to a women's group B soccer match between Zambia and Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nice, France. (AP)

Football Australia on Thursday parted ways with Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson, following a disastrous Olympic campaign that saw them fail to reach the quarter-finals.

Gustavsson, 50, leaves after four years in charge.

"We thank him for his strong contribution, passion and commitment during that time and wish him every success for the future," Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said in a statement.

The process to find Gustavsson's replacement would "commence immediately", Johnson added.

A 2-1 Olympic defeat to the United States sealed the Matildas' earliest exit from an Olympic Games since their debut in 2000.

It is a sharp fall from grace for the Australian team which finished fourth in Tokyo three years ago.

Under Gustavsson's stewardship, Australia had also reached the semi-finals of last year's Women's World Cup, which they co-hosted with New Zealand.

Australia lost their opening game in Paris 3-0 to Germany and despite bouncing back with a 6-5 win over Zambia, defeat to the United States sealed their exit.

Their faint hopes of scraping into the quarter-finals as one of the best third-placed teams ended when Canada beat Colombia 1-0.

Defending champions Canada went through instead despite being docked six points for a spying scandal.

Canadian head coach Bev Priestman was sent home and hit with a one-year ban from football after a member of her coaching staff used a drone to spy on a New Zealand training session before their opening match.

"It has been a great honor and privilege to have been able to be the head coach of the Matildas over the past four years," Gustavsson said in a statement.

"Australian football will be forever in my heart, and I will be watching on and cheering on your success in the future."



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.”