■ FRANCE
Bordeaux leapfrog Toulouse
Yoann Gourcuff scored one goal and set up another on Saturday to lead Bordeaux to a 2-1 victory that snapped Toulouse’s four-match winning streak in Ligue 1. The France playmaker skipped past defenders Mauro Cetto and Mohamed Fofana with a clever back-heel move, before scoring from close range in the 29th minute. David Bellion doubled the lead for Bordeaux in the 40th minute after receiving Gourcuff’s headed pass and dribbling past Cetto to unleash a diagonal strike. Etienne Capoue pulled a goal back for Toulouse in injury time, taking advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Mathieu Valverde. Bordeaux leapfrogged Toulouse into second place on goal difference, with 17 points after nine rounds. Also on Saturday, it was Caen 2, Grenoble 2; Monaco 1, Nice 2; Paris Saint-Germain 3, Lorient 2; Nantes 1, Saint-Etienne 0; Sochaux 1, Le Havre 1; and Lyon 2, Lille 2.
■ NETHERLANDS
NAC Breda beat PSV, go top
NAC Breda beat defending champions PSV Eindhoven 2-1 on Saturday to go top of the Dutch league. PSV captain Timmy Simons scored an own-goal to put NAC in front in the 14th minute and Ghana forward Matthew Amoah doubled the advantage with his league-leading ninth goal of the season in the 87th minute. PSV, who host Marseille in the Champions League on Wednesday, scored through Ibrahim Afellay in the 90th minute. NAC have 15 points after six rounds. FC Groningen, who lost 1-0 to Ajax to end their five-game winning streak, dropped to second with 13 points. PSV stayed third with 12 points. Ajax have 10 points. In Amsterdam, Jan Vertonghen set up Oleguer for the game’s only goal in the 37th minute. Also on Saturday, Boldizsar Bodor and Sekou Cisse scored to help Roja JC to a 2-2 home draw with SC Heerenveen. Christian Grindheim and Arnar Smarason scored in the 38th minute and 87th minute for Heerenveen. Marko Arnautovic and Eljero Elia scored in FC Twente’s 2-0 win over Heracles Almelo.
■ ARGENTINA
San Lorenzo win again
San Lorenzo won their sixth match in a row on Saturday when they beat promoted San Martin-Tucuman 1-0 to stay top of the Argentine Apertura championship. Forward Andres Silvera scored the winner in the 25th minute after a mistake by defender Juan Monge, who had been close to giving the visitors the lead three minutes earlier. San Lorenzo, whose coach Miguel Angel Russo is among the favorites to take over the Argentina national team following Alfio Basile’s resignation on Thursday, have 25 points from 10 games. Tigre stayed five points behind in second place with a 3-0 win over Lanus, Martin Morel scoring twice after Leonel Altobelli had put them ahead. Independiente gave Miguel Angel Santoro a winning start to his sixth stint in charge by winning 2-1 at Colon, with two first-half goals from Leonel Nunez.
■ AFRICA
Al Ahli, Coton Sport in final
Egypt’s Al Ahli will meet Coton Sport of Cameroon in the African Champions League final after both sides won their semi-final, second-leg matches on Saturday. A 26th minute goal from Angola international Flavio, from a trademark cross by compatriot Gilberto, handed Al Ahli a 1-0 win over Enyimba in Cairo after a goalless first leg. Ahli are only the second team to reach four successive African Champions League finals. Coton Sport will play in their first Champions League final after a 4-0 win over Dynamos of Zimbabwe in Garoua, Cameroon. Coton Sport are the first side from Cameroon to reach the final since 1980.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors
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