GERMANY
Mainz continue streak
FSV Mainz 05 chalked up their fourth successive home victory on Friday, beating lowly Nuremberg 2-1 to climb to fifth in the Bundesliga. Mainz, beaten in only one of their last six games, have 17 points from 11 matches and are one point ahead of champions Borussia Dortmund. Nicolai Mueller fired them into a 12th-minute lead and Austrian Andreas Ivanschitz doubled the lead nine minutes later after completing a quickfire one-touch passing move. The hosts were in complete control at that point, but they eased off and Nuremberg pulled a goal back when Per Nilsson headed in at the far post five minutes before the break.
SPAIN
Sloppy Betis lose at home
In-form Real Betis Balompie missed out on a chance to go third in La Liga when they were beaten 2-1 at home by Andalucian rivals Granada on Friday. Pepe Mel’s side dominated with their high-tempo attacking soccer, but were sloppy in defense and gifted struggling Granada a victory that dragged them out of the bottom three and up to 15th. The visitors led after eight minutes when Betis failed to deal with a low center and Gabriel Torje pounced on a loose ball to score. Betis struggled to carve out clear openings until Alex Martinez crossed for unmarked striker Ruben Castro to volley the equalizer in the 62nd minute. The hosts looked favorites to go on and triumph, but with 16 minutes to go Mikel Rico picked up another loose ball in the area, spun away from his marker and lashed the winner high into the net.
ENGLAND
Wilshere recall ‘too soon’
Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere believes his recall to the England squad has come “a bit too soon” after only three club appearances following a 17-month injury layoff. The creative 20-year-old, who England fans have long pinned their hopes on as a missing piece of the puzzle, was named in Roy Hodgson’s squad for Wednesday’s friendly in Sweden. “Maybe it is a bit too soon to be called up,” he told the BBC on Friday. Wilshere picked up the last of his five caps against Switzerland in June last year.
SPAIN
Del Bosque calls up Mata
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque announced a weakened squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Panama as the world and European champions make the trip without key stars Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres. Del Bosque did recall Chelsea playmaker Juan Mata, who has been in sparkling club form and was overlooked for the recent 2014 World Cup qualifiers when Spain won 4-0 in Belarus, before being held 1-1 by France. Mata was English Premier League player of the month last month and has been rewarded with a recall, although the former Valencia man played at Euro 2012 where his only appearance was a late cameo during the 4-0 win over Italy in the final.
UNITED STATES
Roxburgh to join Red Bulls
Andy Roxburgh, a former Scotland manager and UEFA’s technical director from 1994 until earlier this year, was hired on Friday as sporting director of the New York Red Bulls. One day after the squad was ousted from the Major League Soccer playoffs by DC United, it hired the 69-year-old from Glasgow to take charge of all soccer-related activities with the club starting immediately. “I am excited and honored to be given the opportunity by [Austrian club owner] Dietrich Mateschitz to contribute to the development of such an outstanding soccer organization,” Roxburgh said in a statement.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier