Franco di Santo’s late penalty earned Werder Bremen a 1-0 win over Hamburg SV in the northern derby on Sunday to leave the visitors last in the Bundesliga.
Di Santo sent Rene Adler the wrong way in the 84th minute after Valon Behrami was sent off for pulling back Zlatko Junuzovic.
It was a hard-fought game with few real chances and many fouls. Bremen defender Jannik Vestergaard went off early after a bad challenge from Rafael van der Vaart.
Hamburg’s best chance fell to Zoltan Stieber, but he shot just wide in the 28th minute.
Bremen rallied late. Former Hamburg youth Leven Oztunali drew a fine save from Adler, before Di Santo spoiled Bruno Labaddia’s second debut as Hamburg coach.
Labbadia was reappointed on Wednesday last week in a bid to stave off relegation, becoming the club’s fourth coach of the season. Hamburg are the only founding members of the Bundesliga never to have been relegated, but they are four points from safety after their fifth consecutive loss.
Hamburg have not scored in a club record six games.
Kevin de Bruyne equalized for VfL Wolfsburg to draw 1-1 at home with Schalke 04 in the late game.
The home side dominated, especially in the second half, only for Schalke’s Leroy Sane to score on a counterattack after a corner in the 53rd minute.
The corner was headed clear and the 19-year-old ran from his own half at isolated defender Christian Traesch and got a lucky bounce from Maximilian Arnold’s despairing challenge, before tucking the ball inside the post.
“We had seven players from the youth setup in the starting lineup. That’s a great thing for the club,” Schalke coach Roberto di Matteo said.
Ricardo Rodriguez struck the crossbar for Wolfsburg early in the second half and Ralf Faehrmann made a host of saves to keep the hosts at bay, but De Bruyne earned his side a point with a well-struck long-range effort into the bottom corner in the 78th minute.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two