Lukaku double drives Belgium

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) called for Russia to be completely banned from the Rio Olympics and other international sport after an investigation found rampant state-run doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and other events.

An investigation by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren for WADA found the FSB secret service helped "the state-dictated failsafe system" carried out by the sports ministry and covering 30 sports.

"WADA calls on sport movement to deny Russian athletes participation at international competition including Rio until 'culture change' achieved," the international anti-doping agency spokesman Ben Nichols said in a statement on Twitter.

International Olympic Committee members were to hold an emergency telephone conference on Tuesday to decide provisional sanctions over what IOC president Thomas Bach called "a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games."

McLaren's report said the cover up started in 2010 after Russia's "abysmal" results at the Vancouver Winter Olympics and continued until 2015 after the Sochi Games.

President Vladimir Putin made the Sochi Games a showcase event and more than $50 billion was spent putting it on.

Russia, which had strongly denied any state involvement, is already banned from international athletics by the world body, the IAAF, because of doping exposed last year.

There will no be mounting pressure for that to be extended even though Bach and some international federations have said there has to be a way for athletes proved to be clean to compete in Rio.

"The IOC will not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any individual or organisation implicated,” Bach said in a statement announcing the IOC conference on Tuesday.

McLaren's report said the Sports Ministry under Vitaly Mutko organised the subterfuge under which tainted urine samples were replaced and kept away from international observers.

Failsafe doping

"The Moscow laboratory operated for the protection of doped Russian athletes within a state-dictated failsafe system," McLaren said.

"The Sochi laboratory operated a unique sample swapping methodology to enable doped Russian athletes to compete at the Winter Olympic Games," he added.

McLaren did not make any recommendations on sanctions. But the call by WADA is likely to followed up by the United States and Canadian anti-doping agencies.

Both had said before the report's release that a blanket ban on Russia from Rio, which starts August 5, should be considered if the evidence was damning.

"The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athletes' analytical results or sample swapping and the active participation and assistance of the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service), CSP (Center of Sports Preparation for Russian athletes) and both Moscow and Sochi laboratories," McLaren said.

WADA mandated McLaren to investigate allegations made by former Moscow anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov in May.

Whistleblower hiding

Rodchenkov is now in hiding in the United States and wanted by Russian authorities.

McLaren called the Rodchenkov "a credible and truthful person" despite admitting to concoting doping cocktails for Russian athletes.

"I realize there are other aspects of his life that are not appropriate," McLaren said. "I didn't need to get into that."

McLaren dismissed any notion that having less than two months to conduct the investigation or the reluctance of some witnesses to come forward compromised the results.

"I'm supremely confident in our findings," McLaren said. "We've had a very intense 57 days."

McLaren said his report was handed over to WADA on Saturday and had not been leaked in advance.

He said a US-Canadian letter pushing for a total ban on Russian competitors at Rio was based on "rampant speculation" about the findings.

"I don't think it has any impact whatsoever on the report and I pay no attention to it," McLaren said. "I'm positive the report was not leaked. What others did was all speculation."

Rodchenkov said an intricate doping program was "working like a Swiss watch" at Sochi and helped at least 15 Russian medalists by making positive samples vanish and removing and re-sealing some samples.

McLaren said the evidence of tampering with sample bottles in Sochi was apparent and that similar bottles could be used at Rio without fear.

"The bottles can be described as tamper evident," he said. "With relatively easy training, people can idenitify if there are any problems in Rio."

He said there should be no problems with sample bottles in Rio.

McLaren found some Russian officials involved in the doping program were on national sport federations but added, "What we don't know is how far their knowledge goes."

There was no mandate to find individual dope cheats or conclusions about people being forced to dope in the Russian program.

President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday to congratulate the winning team, President Vladimir Putin, and Russia after the World Cup final, which he called "one of the best ever!"

"Congratulations to France, who played extraordinary soccer, on winning the 2018 World Cup. Additionally, congratulations to President Putin and Russia for putting on a truly great World Cup Tournament one of the best ever!," he wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the national team of France defeated Croatia 4-2 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final match in Moscow to snatch its second World Cup Trophy.

Kevin De Bruyne was included in Belgium's squad for next week's Nations League matches but Romelu Lukaku was omitted after asking for time off to concentrate on getting fit after his move to Napoli, coach Domenico Tedesco announced on Friday.

There had been much speculation about the international future of the 33-year-old De Bruyne, who had complained about a potentially exhausting season with multiple commitments ahead for both his club Manchester City and the Belgian side.

But Tedesco, while omitting several regulars to open the way for younger players, said De Bruyne was essential to his plans to bring on a younger generation during the six matches of Nations League Group A2 between September and November.

Belgium start against Israel on Sept. 6, in a match that has been moved from Brussels to Debrecen in Hungary because of security concerns, and face France in Lyon three days later.

"We have these six months now till we start the qualification for the World Cup to try something. We can bring in fresh players to test a little bit, see how they're going to perform and to give them the stage," Tedesco said at a press conference.

FUTURE

As a result, Yannick Carrasco, Leonardo Trossard and Axel Witsel have been dropped after the coach called them to explain his plans but he said they might yet be called up again in the future.

"We know their qualities so we can try others now. But Kevin (De Bruyne) is an exception. Kevin is our captain and I think that around Kevin we can let grow these young players," the coach added.

Lukaku, whose move from Chelsea to Napoli was finalised on Thursday, had asked for time off to work on his fitness but was expected back later in the year, the coach added.

There was a first call-up for 18-year-old Julien Duranville from Borussia Dortmund while central defender Jan Vertonghen has retired from international football and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is refusing to play under Tedesco.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Koen Casteels (Al Qadsiah), Thomas Kaminski (Luton Town), Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest)

Defenders: Timothy Castagne (Fulham), Zeno Debast (Sporting Lisbon), Maxim De Cuyper (Club Brugge), Koni De Winter (Genoa), Wout Faes (Leicester City), Thomas Meunier (Lille), Arthur Theate (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Midfielders: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Julien Duranville (Borussia Dortmund), Arne Engels (FC Augsburg), Orel Mangala (Olympique Lyonnais), Amadou Onana (Aston Villa), Alexis Saelemaekers (AC Milan), Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa), Arthur Vermeeren (RB Leipzig)

Forwards: Johan Bakayoko (PSV Eindhoven), Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta), Jeremy Doku (Manchester City), Dodi Lukebakio (Sevilla), Lois Openda (RB Leipzig).

France have shut out all the euphoria back home over their run to the World Cup final in order to play a perfect match against Croatia on Sunday, France captain Hugo Lloris said.

The goalkeeper said the team were not being swept up by the wave of celebrations back home and were keeping their focus firmly on their shot of earning a second World Cup title after 1998 when they take on the Croatians in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

"To be honest we are in our little bubble and we don't know what is happening in France," Lloris told reporters on Saturday.

"We are far from thinking that we have reached our goal. We will face a high-quality opponent and they deserve as much credit as we do.

"They have displayed their physical and mental strengths and tomorrow we will need a great French team to win."

France have never needed to go beyond 90 minutes in their run to the final after beating Argentina in the round of 16, Uruguay in the last eight and Belgium in the semi-finals.

But Croatia had to battle from a goal down in all three of their knockout matches to beat Denmark, Russia and England.

They played extra time in all of them and needed penalties against the Danes and hosts Russia.

"Croatia have shown their mental strength which is quite incredible. They have managed to qualify after extra time three times in a row. There is something special in this team," Lloris warned.

"They also have an incredible collective strength. We have a lot of respect for them. We need to perform at a high level and deliver a perfect match to win," said the keeper.

France are in their third World Cup final after winning in 1998 and losing to Italy in 2006. They also reached the Euro final on home soil two years ago only to lose to Portugal.

Lloris said that defeat was not on their minds any longer, with many current players not part of the 2016 team.

"I think that our team is quite calm. I do not really know if we realise how far we have come but it is better that way," Lloris said. "We have this inner strength from the beginning of the tournament with which we can overcome any challenge."

"Tomorrow will be the most important match of our career. It will be a special match because it is a World Cup final and we have to stay in our bubble to focus on the ultimate goal."

Morocco head coach Walid Regragui has warned the Belgian-born players in his squad to stay focused when they face Roberto Martinez's men in the World Cup on Sunday, saying they risk costly mistakes if they get emotional on a "special" occasion.

Morocco, ranked 22nd in the world, have four Belgian-born players in their squad: Midfielder Selim Amallah and forward Ilias Chair were born there, while midfielder Bilal El Khannouss and winger Anass Zaroury both played for Belgium at the youth level before switching sides to Morocco.

"For any dual national .. they have a special emotion and that's a positive energy and you have to draw on that," Regragui told reporters on Saturday.

"But it is a match that we need to win (irrespective) of who we are playing. We have to focus on that.

"We know that this is a special match for them, but we have to put that into context. You cannot get too emotional because that could lead you to make mistakes. And that could be very expensive for us."

Regragui, who took over Morocco in September after Vahid Halilhodzic was fired, said the team were eager to pull off a surprise against giants Belgium as they look to come out of Group F, which he described as "the group of death".

Morocco are tied with Croatia on one point, with Belgium the leaders on three points and Canada bottom with zero.

"Belgium are favourites, they have outstanding players and an excellent coach... They have great players even on the bench. They have experience... it will be a tough game," the 47-year-old coach said.

Regragui said the goalless draw with Croatia would help them play in a relaxed mood against Belgium and that they would not fear taking risks.

"We can give Belgium problems in midfield and technically we need to be much better... we need to keep possession and create chances, and if we do that we will keep Belgium under pressure."

But Regragui has to deal with fitness issues, with defender Noussair Mazraoui a doubt after being stretchered off in the game against Croatia with a hip injury.

"He is out for now but hopefully he will back for tomorrow," Regragui said. "Mazraoui and Achraf (Hakimi) and other players including the captain (Roman Saiss) have some fitness issues but hopefully they will be back.

"We have three games in this group stage and we hope to go further than that, and we have to try to do that without taking any risks with injuries. We will decide tomorrow if we can start them but they are ready."

Morocco beat Belgium 4-1 the last time the teams met in 2008 in an international friendly.