Print

Mail

wiki links

Sport Soccer Shorts

■NETHERLANDS

Arsenal rally to beat Ajax

Arsenal rallied from 2-0 down to defeat hosts Ajax 3-2 on the opening day of the Amsterdam four-team tournament on Friday. Inter Milan, under new coach Jose Mourinho, drew 0-0 with Sevilla in the day’s other game. Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice for Arsenal and also laid on a goal for Dane Nicklas Bendtner. Coach Arsene Wenger started with his strongest possible team but the Londoners fell behind in the 33rd minute when a headed clearance from Kolo Toure was snapped up by Luis Suarez, who netted with a fierce volley. Suarez then set up Ajax’s second goal for the unmarked Klaas Jan Huntelaar two minutes later. But Arsenal turned the tide with a three-goal blitz in 15 second-half minutes.



■GERMANY

Hertha struggle to advance

Hertha Berlin struggled to overcome fourth-division Eintracht Trier 3-1 in Frankfurt on Friday to reach the second round of the German Cup, and Bochum needed a penalty shootout to edge Preussen Muenster, another fourth-division club. Marko Pantelic gave Berlin an early lead in the eighth minute, but Trier equalized before halftime. Fabian Lustenberger and Patrick Ebert scored after the break to secure the victory for Berlin, which missed a half-dozen starters for various reasons. Bochum was held to a goalless draw in extra time and won the penalty shootout 6-5 to advance.



■FRANCE

Players in violent bust-up

Nantes midfielder Djamel Abdoun was knocked unconscious after being kicked in the head by team-mate Stefan Babovic during a violent dressing-room bust-up on Friday. The players are to receive stiff penalties, said the French first division team’s technical director, Christian Lariepe, without giving further details. Algerian-born Abdoun, 22, started his career at Paris St Germain and was briefly loaned out to Manchester City last year, while Babovic, 21, has been capped by Serbia.



■ENGLAND

Liverpool beat Lazio 1-0

Liverpool, without injured captain Steven Gerrard, beat Lazio 1-0 at Anfield on Friday in a friendly warm-up for next week’s Champions League match with Xabi Alonso in fine form. Liverpool travel to Belgians Standard Liege for the first leg of the third qualifying round on Wednesday and thigh-strain victim Gerrard at this point looks unlikely to feature. Liverpool fans chanted Alonso’s name constantly during the match and the Spaniard responded with a fine all-action display of passing and running. Liverpool were crisp and assertive with Alonso pulling the strings in front of a 43,062 crowd. They made it eight pre-season games unbeaten, the winner coming in injury-time when Andriy Voronin volleyed home from Jay Spearing’s pass.



■GERMANY

Jens Lehmann steps down

Germany’s veteran goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is handing in his international gloves after 10 years’ service, the German soccer federation (DFB) said on Friday. The 38-year-old Lehmann was the oldest player at Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria when Germany lost to Spain in the June 29 final. The keeper, who quit Arsenal at the end of last season to join Stuttgart, decided to step down after a discussion with Germany’s national coach Joachim Low and goalkeeping coach Andreas Kopke. Lehmann explained he wanted to give a chance for another keeper to prove himself in time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.


This story has been viewed 772 times.