English midfielder Joe Cole netted his first goal for LOSC Lille Metropole on Saturday, but the reigning French champions were denied a home win after Kevin Monnet-Paquet popped up in injury-time to rescue a 1-1 draw for Lorient.
Cole, who has settled down well in France following his surprise loan move from Liverpool, scored on 34 minutes, bulldozing home a quality strike after receiving the ball about 25m out.
The dropped points left Lille sixth in the table, with 13 points from eight games, four behind pacesetters Olympique Lyonnais, who romped past Girondins de Bordeaux 3-1 to stay joint-top on 17 points with Paris Saint-Germain and Toulouse.
PSG clinched a 3-0 win at Montpellier Herault with Javier Pastore scoring twice, the second of which was a wonder strike, and Kevin Gameiro tucking away his fifth of the season.
Toulouse kept pace at the top with a 1-0 win over struggling AS Nancy-Lorraine.
Lille coach Rudi Garcia saw his decision to rotate his squad backfire to an extent with the draw following hot on the heels of a midweek stalemate with Bordeaux.
He needs as many fresh faces on hand for tomorrow’s Champions League encounter against Turkey’s Trabzonspor.
Lyon thanked two goals from France international striker Bafetimbi Gomis and another from Brazilian favorite Michel Bastos for their win over Bordeaux with an Anthony Modeste penalty for the midtable visitors a mere consolation in the 84th minute.
Olympique de Marseille still cannot find their form after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Valenciennes, which left Didier Deschamps’ side just two points off the drop zone.
In other action, Stade Malherbe Caen won 4-2 at Evian, while OGC Nice and Dijon FCO drew 1-all.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB