UEFA CUP
Tottenham and Everton, once proud members of the English Premier League’s original “big five” before turning into serial under-achievers, were struggling to salvage their UEFA Cup dreams on Thursday.
Spurs, rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, beat Poland’s Wisla Krakow 2-1 at White Hart Lane, while Everton twice came from behind to secure a 2-2 home draw with Belgian side Standard Liege in their first round, first-leg ties. Elsewhere, Manchester City and Aston Villa needed to battle back to clinch crucial away victories in Cyprus and Bulgaria respectively, while FA Cup winners Portsmouth marked their first European tie with a 2-0 home success over Guimaraes of Portugal.
PHOTO: AP
Darren Bent grabbed the winner for Tottenham Hotspur against Wisla Krakow in the 73rd minute to hand coach Juande Ramos his first win of the season. David Bentley had given the Londoners the lead in the first half, but Tomas Jirsak leveled within a minute to give the Poles a vital away goal.
“It will be a tough game in Poland and we have to make sure we do not lose there,” Spurs assistant manager Gus Poyet said.
At Goodison Park, Standard Liege, who lost narrowly to Liverpool in a Champions League qualifier last month, were in front against Everton after just nine minutes through Dieumerci Mbokani. Yakubu equalized, before Joseph Yobo’s own goal put the Belgians ahead again. Ecuador’s Segundo Castillo, making his home debut, leveled for Everton with a long-range drive seven minutes before the interval.
“Hopefully we will play better and defend better [in Belgium],” Everton manager David Moyes said.
Manchester City, now bankrolled by the petro-billions of a Middle East sheikh, fell behind to a 49th-minute goal from Klodian Duro at Cypriot minnows Omonia Nicosia. But they were rescued by Brazilian striker Jo who grabbed his first goals since his move from CSKA Moscow in the summer. Jo overshadowed his illustrious compatriot Robinho with crucial strikes in the 59th and 72nd minutes to secure a 2-1 win.
“They were two good finishes and he will settle down now,” City boss Mark Hughes said.
England international Gareth Barry scored on his 400th club appearance as Aston Villa came from behind to defeat Litex Lovech 3-1, before the Bulgarians went on to finish the tie with nine men. Ivelin Popov gave the home side a 10th-minute lead from a free-kick, before Nigel Reo-Coker leveled for Martin O’Neill’s team. Barry converted a 72nd-minute penalty to edge Villa in front, before Stiliyan Petrov added a 90th-minute third goal to give the English side a vital two-goal cushion.
At Fratton Park, Lassana Diarra opened the scoring against Guimaraes after 39 minutes, with Jermain Defoe adding the second for Portsmouth on the hour mark. In between, Defoe also missed a penalty, while Guimaraes also fluffed a spot kick when Fajardo hit the crossbar.
Struggling AC Milan, the seven-time European champions, earned their first victory of the season in a 3-1 success over FC Zurich at the San Siro.
Goals from Marek Jankulovski, Pato and Marco Borriello gave Milan a three-goal start, before Dusan Djuric pulled one back for the visitors.
Australian international Harry Kewell and fellow former Liverpool teammate Milan Baros (two) were on target as Turkey’s Galatasaray won a 4-3 thriller at Swiss side Bellinzona.
Former England manager Steve McClaren saw his Dutch side FC Twente lose 2-1 at French hosts Rennes, while former European champions Benfica went down 3-2 in Napoli.
Sevilla, champions in 2006 and last year, saw off Salzburg 2-0, while Scotland’s Motherwell lost 1-0 at AS Nancy.
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