Brazil’s Cruzeiro put themselves in a strong position to claim a third Libertadores Cup title when they ground out a scoreless draw at Estudiantes in a scrappy first leg of the final in La Plata on Wednesday.
Brazil national team goalkeeper Fabio shone for the visitors with five brilliant saves, including two from Estudiantes danger man Juan Sebastian Veron in the first half, before Cruzeiro almost snatched a late winner.
Despite the disappointing outcome, the Argentine side did manage to complete all their home games without conceding a goal and will still fancy their chances of causing an upset in the second leg in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday.
PHOTO: AFP
It was a tactical victory for the Brazilians who packed their midfield, cut the ball supply to Estudiantes’ forwards and reduced the Argentine side to counterattacks and set pieces to try and force a breakthrough.
Niggling fouls on both sides took the flow out of the game, with Cruzeiro penalized 28 times and Estudiantes 23 times. The home side also failed to take advantage of 10 corners.
“We had the best chances ... but their goalkeeper had his night,” said Veron, whose side are looking for a fourth victory in the competition for Estudiantes.
Man of the match Fabio, Cruzeiro’s captain, said: “It’s a good result, the team played well, it was very difficult. We even had chances to score. My hardest save was in the first half face-to-face [with Perez].”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite