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Uruguay beat Saudi Arabia to enter pre-quarters (Lead)
Rostov-on-Don (Russia), June 20 (IANS) Veteran striker Luis Suarez marked his 100th international with a winning goal as Uruguay defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 in a Group A clash here on Wednesday to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup.
Suarez’s 23rd-minute strike from close range decided the match as Saudi Arabia lost their second consecutive loss and joined Egypt in getting eliminated. Following the win, Uruguay and hosts Russia have entered the second round from the Group A.
Uruguay and Saudi Arabia had contrasting fortunes in their opening matches. While Uruguay defeated Egypt 1-0, the Asian outfit suffered a morale-shattering 0-5 defeat to hosts Russia.
For Saudi Arabia, the match at the Rostov Arena here was their first in World Cup history against a South American side. And they put up an improved performance, though having to bear another loss.
The match had a barren first 20 minutes, lacking real intensity and potential scoring chances but the South Americans clearly showed that they are here to dominate.
Uruguay got ahead in the 23rd minute. Goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais came off his line, stretched out an arm to punch clear a corner from Carlos Sanchez from the left and missed it completely. It dropped kindly for FC Barcelona striker Suarez at the far post and he made no mistake with a left-foot tap-in as he scored his 52nd international goal.
After the goal, the match intensified with both teams, especially Saudi Arabia showing good football, at both ends.
Three minutes after conceding the lead, Hattan Bahbir cut in from the right and shot with his left foot, forcing Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera to tip over his own cross-bar.
Couple of minutes later, Bahbir again got an opportunity to pull the Saudis level. Uruguay defender Diego Godin misjudged the flight of a cross from the left and the ball dropped for Bahbir, whose stab inside the Uruguay penalty area sent the ball over the cross-bar.
Bahbir continued to impress but his finishing and those of his teammates, lacked precision as Uruguay held a 1-0 lead at half-time.
After the break, Uruguay went about their business of controlling play, with their players keeping the ball possession and ping the ball about in midfield before getting forward, even as Saudi Arabia lacked the firepower. The Uruguayan midfield trio of Rodrigo Bentancur, Sanchez and Matias Vecino dominated.
Uruguay head coach Oscar Tabarez felt that the pace of the game was slowing down and decided to infuse fresh energy in the form of midfielder Lucas Torreira and left-back Diego Laxalt, who substituted for Vecino and Cristian Rodriguez respectively.
The first chance in the second half fell to Uruguay in the 62nd minute when Martin Cacares played a long ball from way behind for Edinson Cavani, who floated in a cross towards Carlos Sanchez at the far post. The header from Sanchez, however, sailed high over the cross-bar.
Later, Saudi Arabia showed some desperation but they lacked that final pass to make a decisive move inside the Uruguay box. Inexperience was clearly visible from the way the Saudis played. And the equaliser didn’t arrive, sending Uruguay to the Round-of-16.
–IANS
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International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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