Zlatan Ibrahimovic lit up a night of friendlies most club coaches had castigated as an unnecessary intrusion into their domestic campaigns as the Sweden star scored four times to give his side a 4-2 win over England on Wednesday.
Ibrahimovic saved his most spectacular goal for last, an outrageous long-range bicycle kick in in stoppage-time that drew a standing ovation from the Sweden dugout.
There was also further evidence France’s 1998 World Cup winning captain Didier Deschamps was having a dynamic effect on the present team as they followed up their impressive 1-1 draw against world and European champions Spain in a World Cup qualifier last month with a 2-1 win over Euro 2012 finalists Italy in Parma.
Photo: Reuters
Elsewhere, two Euro 2012 semi-finalists Germany and Portugal had to settle for draws — the Germans drawing 0-0 with archrivals the Netherlands in Amsterdam and the Portuguese held 2-2 by Gabon.
A poor result in a friendly does not often provoke a sacking, but Chile’s Argentine coach Claudio Borghi was told enough was enough after his side slumped to a 3-1 defeat by Serbia. The loss came on top of a disappointing series of results in South American qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni also will not be feeling too comfortable as his side slumped to a 1-0 home defeat by Greece — their second successive home reverse following the 6-1 humiliation by Germany in a World Cup qualifier last month.
Scotland are looking for a new manager and while they gained a welcome win in caretaker manager Billy Stark’s first game in charge since Craig Levein was relieved of his duties, a 2-1 away victory over minnows Luxembourg will not have his paymasters rushing to sign him up on a permanent basis.
Lionel Messi was kept scoreless as Argentina were held 0-0 in Saudi Arabia, but Barcelona teammate Pedro Rodriguez scored twice as Spain defeated hosts Panama 5-1.
Luis Suarez scored in the second half to cap Uruguay’s 3-1 win in Poland, while Neymar scored in the 64th minute as Brazil drew 1-1 with Colombia.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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