Standard Liege’s victory in Belgium’s soccer league, the first by a club from the French-speaking south for 25 years, is being hailed as a “renewal” for the whole Walloon community in a nation riven by intercommunal differences.
When Liege beat their championship rivals Anderlecht, from the Brussels region, on Sunday to secure the trophy, the 2-0 victory swiftly gained significance beyond soccer rivalries, as politicians from the French and Dutch-speaking communities were eager to point out.
“We have not just witnessed a great event for the club. We are seeing something enormous for the whole town and even for the whole region,” said Belgium’s francophone health minister Laurette Onkelinx.
“This is the new Wallonia which we are seeing through this title of Belgian champions. The Walloons are finding themselves again with this victory,” she said.
Tension between Belgium’s two main communities, the richer Dutch speaking Flanders to the north and the poorer francophone Wallonia to the south, has risen over the past year, even leading to fears in some quarters that the country could split along its linguistic faultline.
The intercommunal rows, in a country where only the capital Brussels is officially bilingual, prevented the formation of a coalition government for nine months following a general election last June.
The long-running political impasse heightened tensions long fueled by cultural stereotypes, especially the Flemish view of the Walloons as poor scroungers off the state.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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