Sat, Nov 27, 2004 - Page 19 News List

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk still unbeaten

UEFA CUP Newcastle won 4-0 at Sochaux and Dnipro beat Austria Vienna 1-0 for their third straight wins as Hereenveen beat Stuttgart

AP , LONDONAP, LONDON

In Group F, Rangers went top after a 3-0 win over Grazer AK off second half goals from Nacho Novo, Shota Arveladze and Hamed Namouchi. Dutch side AZ Alkmaar beat Amica Wronki 3-1 for its second straight win, with Barry van Galen, Martijn Meerdink and Stein Huysegems all scoring before halftime. Rangers and AZ Alkmaar have six points, Grazer four, Auxerre one and Amica zero.

In Group H, Lille went top with a 2-1 win over AEK Athens. Lille scored in the 26th minute through Milivoje Vitakic and doubled its lead in the 63rd with a 25m drive from Matthieu Debuchy. The Greeks narrowed the margin in the 71st with a close-range flick by Kofi Abonsah.

In St. Petersburg, Julio Baptista scored a 71st-minute equalizer as Seville salvaged a 1-1 draw at Zenit. Russian international Andrei Arshavin scored the 35th-minute opener. Lille has six points, Zenit and Seville four, Aachen three and AEK zero.

Steaua Bucharest jumped to the top of Group B with a 2-1 win over Besiktas. Adrian Neaga and Cristian Ciocoiu scored for Steaua, who had striker Daniel Oprita sent off in the 70th minute for an intentional handball. Ibrahim Akin scored for Besiktas.

Parma lost to a thundering free kick from Uruguay's Juan Curbelo deep into injury time in Liege, Belgium. Parma went ahead at halftime through Andrea Pisanu. Standard leveled in the 54th through Karel Geeraerts.

Steaua has six points, with Besiktas, Bilbao, Standard and Parma all on three.

The penultimate rotation is Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson doesn't believe captain David Beckham is "finished as a football player" -- but plans to meet with the Real Madrid player early next year.

Eriksson said Beckham's form could be suffering in Spain because he is being played away from his strongest position on the right flank. Beckham has preferred to play in central midfield at Madrid.

"I don't want to discuss the tactics of Real Madrid, because that's not up to me," Eriksson said. "But for me, he can do better if he plays on the right of either a midfield three or four. It will happen for him, though. I can't believe he's finished as a football player, and he's not. I'm quite sure about that.

Beckham has been replaced in Madrid's last two games before an hour and appears not to have recovered his form since recently returning from a month's absence with two broken ribs.

England hosts the Netherlands in a friendly on Feb. 9 at Villa Park.

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