They never qualified for the World Cup. But the Dutch stars scored a win to remember over runner up Germany on Wednesday as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Ruud van Nistelrooy came off the bench to fire the vital goals in a 3-1 triumph.
After Barcelona's Patrick Kluivert had given the star-studded Dutch team the lead in Gelsenkirchen, Fredi Bobic marked his return to the German lineup after four years with an equalizer.
PHOTO: AP
But Chelsea'a Hasselbaink and Manchester United's Van Nistelrooy scored twice in 10 minutes to clinch a victory to delight the 6,000 Dutch fans in the Parkstadion in one of the friendly games being staged on Wednesday alongside three competitive matches in Europe.
PHOTO: AP
French victory
European champion France cruised to a 3-0 victory over Yugoslavia despite the absence of Zinedine Zidane and Patrick Vieira. Of the backup players, Eric Carriere scored twice and Olivier Kapo hit the other at the Stade de France.
Italy and World Cup semifinalist Turkey tied 1-1 in Pescara with two Inter Milan players scoring. Emre Belozoglu put the visitor ahead in the 28th minute only for Christian Vieri to level for the Italians 10 minutes later.
Wales charged five points clear of Italy and Yugoslavia in their Euro 2004 qualifying group.
Gary Speed and John Hartson headed the goals in a 2-0 victory at Azerbaijan to give Mark Hughes' team a surprisingly big lead in a group expected to have been dominated by the Italians and Yugoslavs.
The game was one of three Euro 2004 qualifying games which didn't include any of the main contenders. Cyprus edged Malta 2-1 in Group 1 and Latvia won 1-0 at San Marino.
Meanwhile South American powerhouses Brazil and Argentina also were engaged in friendlies and won their matches against the World Cup co-hosts.
Ronaldo scored twice and Ronaldinho netted a matchwinning late penalty for Brazil in a 3-2 victory at South Korea while Argentina returned to form with a 2-0 beating of Japan.
At Saitama, Japan, two goals in two minutes by Lazio defender Juan Pablo Sorin and Inter Milan's Hernan Crespo gave Argentina a 2-0 victory over a Japanese lineup missing its biggest names.
A 10th-minute goal by Jose Mari Romero earned Spain a 1-0 victory over Bulgaria while, on a rainsoaked field in Braga, Pedro Pauleta scored twice in the first half and Luis Figo missed a penalty as Portugal beat Berti Vogts' visitor Scotland 2-0.
Missing stars
In a matchup of two teams missing top players, the Czech Republic -- without Borussia Dortmund's Tomas Rosicky and Jan Koller -- tied 3-3 in Teplice with Sweden, which was missing Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Ajax Amsterdam and Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg.
AC Milan striker Jon Dahl Tomasson hit the first as Denmark scored a 2-0 victory over Poland, as Ukraine was held 1-1 by Slovakia and Croatia beat Romania 1-0, while Israel won 3-2 at Macedonia and Hungary and Moldova tied 1-1. Norwey edged Austria 1-0 and Greece and Ireland tied 0-0.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but