Thierry Henry scored twice as France thrashed Egypt 5-0, and the Czech Republic picked up a lopsided victory 4-0 over Turkey in two key European soccer friendlies on Wednesday.
A night packed with several dozen exhibition matches also saw five Euro 2004 qualifiers contested with Georgia, Israel and Slovenia picking up important victories.
PHOTO: AFP
Georgia upset Russia 1-0 in a Group 10 match. In Group 1, Slovenia moved into second place with a 3-1 win at Malta. Israel took third in the same group with a 2-0 victory over Cyprus in Palermo, Sicily.
In other qualifiers, Group 4: Latvia 3, San Marino 0. Group 8: Andorra 0, Estonia 2. In key friendlies:
Mexico 0, Brazil 0
In Guadalajara, Mexico, Brazilian star Ronaldo was outshone by Mexican defender Rafael Marquez, as the sluggish World Cup champions came away with a scoreless draw. Mexico's Omar Briseno disarmed Ronaldinho on the only shot he had on goal, while a faster and more aggressive Mexico saw its shots repeatedly sail wide or high past the hands of goalkeeper Dida.
France 5, Egypt 0
At Paris, French captain Marcel Desailly made history as France's most-capped player, winning his 104th cap to top the old mark of 103 by Didier Deschamps. Henry scored twice in the first half with his Arsenal teammate Robert Pires scoring just before the interval. Djibril Cisse and Olivier Kapo also scored in the second half.
Netherlands 1, Portugal 1
At Eindhoven, Netherlands, Patrick Kluivert's 37th goal in an orange shirt equaled Dennis Bergkamp's Dutch national scoring record. The Barcelona striker picked up Roy Makaay's 27th-minute backheel and side-footed his shot through 'keeper Ricardo's fingertips and inside the post. Midfielder Simao Sabrosa equalized 12 minutes for time when he drove the ball through the legs of Frank de Boer. A bad deflection sent 'keeper Edwin van der Sar sprawling in the wrong direction.
The Dutch have won only once in eight meetings with Portugal. National coach Dick Advocaat stretched his unbeaten record to 14 games at the helm.
Spain 4, Ecuador 0
Striker Fernando Morientes scored three goals as Spain cruised over Ecuador in a friendly match at the Vicente Calderon stadium.
Morientes netted in the 20th, 22nd and 64th minutes on his return to the national side after being omitted from Spain's last four matches. The Real Madrid striker was re
Germany 1, Serbia
and Montenegro 0
At Bremen, Germany, Germany capitalized on a goalkeeping mistake to snap its winless streak with the victory on a goal by midfielder Sebastian Kehl. Germany, the World Cup runner-up, won for the first time in four games. It had goalkeeper Frank Rost to thank for the victory, while the error by the visitors' goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric led to Germany's goal. Kehl picked up a loose ball and fired from some 30m. Jevric tried to punch it away but instead diverted it inside his own post on the hour.
Czech Republic 4, Turkey 0
At Prague, the Czechs scored four first-half goals and buried Turkey. Tomas Rosicky opened the deluge in the second minute with three others getting into the act: Jan Koller (20th), Vladimir Smicer (37th) and Milan Baros (38th).
Switzerland 1, Italy 2
Alexander Frei gave Switzerland the lead in the fifth minute, but Nicola Legrottaglie equalized for Italy and Cristiano Zanetti got the winner.
Libya 1, Argentina 3
Javier Saviola, Juan Riquelme and Pablo Aimar scored for Argentina while Tariq al-Taib had equalized for Libya in the first half.
Denmark 1, Ukraine 0
At Copenhagen, Denmark, Thomas Graversen scored a first-half goal to give the Danes the victory. Claus Jensen took a corner kick in the 36th minute and Graversen, who was free of Ukrainian defenders, headed the ball past Ukraine goalkeeper Dmytro Shutkov.
In 2004 European qualifiers:
Georgia 1, Russia 0
At Tbilisi, Georgia, Malkhaz Asatiani scored in his international debut for the upset win over Russia and Georgia's first victory in Euro 2004 qualifying. The match was scheduled for last Oct. 12, but was suspended after 40 minutes due to a power failure. Russia refused to replay the game the next day.
Israel 2, Cyprus 0
At Palermo, Sicily, Walid Badier scored an 88th-minute match-winner for Israel's victory. The win gave Israel seven points in four games and put it in third place in the group behind France and Slovenia. France has won its five games.
Malta 1, Slovenia 3
At Valletta, Malta, Slovenia moved into second place in the group with the victory. Zlatko Zahovic gave the Slovenes a 1-0 lead after 15 minutes with Ermin Siljak scoring twice in the 37th and 57th.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
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