UD Las Palmas routed RCD Espanyol 4-0 at home on Friday as the Canary Islands side continued their strong finish to the La Liga season.
Las Palmas, who returned to the top flight last summer after a 13-year absence, have won seven of their past 10 matches to provisionally rise to eighth place before the 35th round’s remaining matches.
Jonathan Viera set up Las Palmas’ opener by Nabil El Zhar in first-half injury time, after an opening stretch that Espanyol had dominated.
Photo: EPA
Helped by a rebound, Viera scored to make it 2-0 in the 49th before he crossed for Pedro Bigas to head in the third goal in the 56th. Substitute Wakaso Mubarak blasted in the fourth in the 75th.
“The important thing is that the team will stay in the first division,” Wakaso said. “We have been working hard for this for the last two months.”
Espanyol were left in 15th, five points from the relegation zone, after a fifth straight round without a win. There are three rounds left after this weekend’s games.
Espanyol were without striker Felipe Caicedo and defender Oscar Duarte due to injury, while midfielder Victor Sanchez was suspended. They also lost Abraham Gonzalez to injury in the first half, while defender Javi Lopez will miss next round’s visit by Sevilla after picking up a fifth yellow card.
Espanyol captain Lopez had harsh words for his team.
“We’re past asking our fans for forgiveness considering how we played in the second half,” Lopez said.
“It was unacceptable. We have three finals left, but playing this way we won’t get it done. This is a difficult day, for the result and the image we gave,” he added.
Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston. The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10. It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning. A first-inning RBI groundout
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions’ outfielder Chen Chieh-hsien, who fractured his left index finger earlier during the World Baseball Classic (WBC), is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks. The Uni-Lions confirmed in a news statement on Friday that Chen had a distal fracture in his left index finger. The diagnosis followed X-ray and CT scans conducted at the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital earlier that day. According to the club, the injury would require four to six weeks to heal. During this period, Chen must wear a protective splint but is permitted to engage in light, sport-specific training. The team plans to
RSS