■ SOCCER
Fan gets festive shock
A fan had a rude shock when he opened the first door on his treasured Schalke 04 advent calender when he found the face of one of his beloved side's arch-rivals grinning back. Passionate Schalke fan Tobias Meier, 28, was horrified to find not only a chocolate, but Werder Bremen's star midfielder Diego smiling back at him when he opened up the first door on Dec. 1. To add insult to injury, his father Peter, 50, had the same problem with his Royal Blues calender after a mistake at the Italian printers meant roughly 40 of the 40,000 Schalke calenders were printed with pictures of Bremen stars. "We were totally shocked," Tobias told German tabloid Bild. "We immediately opened the other doors and found there were Bremen stars behind every window -- it wasn't the surprise I was expecting."
■ SOCCER
Dortmund hit Bielefeld for six
Borussia Dortmund crushed Arminia Bielefeld 6-1 in the Westphalia derby after running riot with four second-half goals in the Bundesliga on Friday. Dortmund, fresh from a 2-1 win over champions VfB Stuttgart last weekend, took a 2-0 lead before the break with Tinga's early strike and an own-goal by Markus Schuler. Mladen Petric headed his eighth goal of the season from a Dede cross to make it 3-0 two minutes into the second period. Nelson Valdez converted a penalty for the fourth goal before Florian Kringe slotted home right-footed from a Petric pass and Giovanni Federico made it 6-0 in the 67th minute. Oliver Kirch's reply for Bielefeld in the 81st minute will have come as no consolation at all.
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Anderlecht await their fate
UEFA will decide next week whether to punish Anderlecht after their fans threw objects onto the field during their UEFA Cup match with Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs midfielder Didier Zokora was hit by what appeared to be a cigarette lighter toward the end of Thursday's 1-1 draw in Brussels, while visiting goalkeeper Paul Robinson handed a match official a metal bar that landed on the turf. UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings against the Belgian champions on Friday after receiving the referee's match report and its disciplinary committee will hear the case on Thursday. Anderlecht have already been in trouble this season when they were fined US$16,200 after their fans threw objects and tried to get onto the field during a Champions League qualifying match against Fenerbahce.
■ CRICKET
West Indies win series
The West Indies made Zimbabwe pay for letting a good start slip on Friday to win the fourth one-day international by five wickets and take an insurmountable 3-1 series lead. Zimbabwe openers Vusi Sibanda (96) and Hamilton Masakadza (80) put on 167 for the first wicket before Masakadza was stumped for 80 off the bowling of Rawl Lewis in the 37th over. Zimbabwe then lost eight wickets for just 65 run in 13.1 overs at Queens Sports Club to total 232-9. Runako Morton hit 79 off 109 balls, Marlon Samuels 62 off 71 and Bravo 41 off 41 as the West Indies reached 234-5 with three overs to spare and clinch the series ahead of today's final game in Bulawayo. Sibanda was run out for 96 in the 39th over, and Zimbabwe's innings lost momentum completely. Much of that had to do with the good bowling of Jerome Taylor, who ripped through a Zimbabwean middle order intent on playing attacking strokes rather than consolidating the team's impressive start.
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