Argentine league leaders Lanus suffered a damaging 2-1 home loss to Chilean club Everton on Tuesday to leave the Buenos Aires side practically eliminated from the group stages of the Copa Libertadores.
Ecuadorean side Deportivo Cuenca , meanwhile, revived their challenge for a final 16 spot with a commanding 3-1 home win over Deportivo Tachira of Venezuela in Group 2.
The day’s third match saw the all-Colombian meeting between hosts Independiente Medellin and America de Cali end in a disappointing 0-0 draw in Group 4.
PHOTO: AP
Everton rallied to shock Lanus in Buenos Aires with a stoppage-time strike from late substitute Jose Munoz.
Lanus took the lead in the 29th minute when Santiago Biglieri was on hand to score after striker Jose Sand had his penalty saved by Everton goalkeeper Gustavo Dalsasso.
Dalsasso produced a man-of-the-match performance with a number of key stops during the encounter, but gave away the penalty for a foul on Lanus playmaker Sebastian Blanco.
PHOTO: EPA
Roberto Gutierrez leveled the scores in the 53rd minute with a searing left-footed drive following a clinical counterattack by the visitors.
Lanus has won five out of six games in the Argentine league since the turn of the year, but form in the Libertadores has been disastrous.
The injury-time winner by Munoz left the Buenos Aires club wallowing in last place in Group 6, with just two points from four games. Everton moved to a share of the lead on seven points with Mexican club Chivas.
Deportivo Cuenca kept pace with the leaders in Group 2 after their win over Deportivo Tachira.
The result pushed Cuenca to the top of Group 2 on six points, ahead of Tachira and Boca Juniors on goal difference, though the Argentines have two games in hand.
Cuenca slumped to a 1-0 loss to Tachira last Wednesday, but controlled the return match in Ecuador with ease.
Jose Granda took advantage of slack marking at a quickly taken short corner to rifle a deflected shot into the roof of Manuel Sanhouse’s net in the 20th minute.
The home side extended the lead in the 40th minute when Villalba twisted free of his marker on the right. The forward’s floated center allowed unmarked Brazilian striker Rodrigo Teixeira to head home.
Cuenca refused to ease up in the second half and Teixeira scored his second when Sanhouse made a mess of a routine long shot from Holguer Matamoros. The Tachira keeper could only push the ball out and the Brazilian accepted the gift to tap home.
A Javier Villafraz free-kick in the 76th minute was scant consolation for Tachira, with Lucas Bovaglio compounding the visitors’ misery with a red card three minutes after the goal.
Goal scorers were in short supply in Group 4 as the two Colombian clubs, Independiente Medellin and America de Cali, followed last weeks 1-1 draw with a 0-0 draw on Tuesday.
The two stalemates have helped neither club. America are all but eliminated after earning just two points from four games. Medellin are tied at the top of the group with four points, but Uruguay’s Defensor Sporting and Brazilian champions Sao Paulo have two games in hand.
America’s Camilo Angulo was sent off after 75 minutes for a second bookable offense.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
BIG NAMES GONE: Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title, reaching semi-finals for the fifth time in six years and finishing second on three occasions Alexander Zverev on Tuesday breezed past Rafael Jodar to stay on course for an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, while Jakub Mensik halted Joao Fonseca’s scintillating run in the quarter-finals. Zverev, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw, put an end to Spanish teenager Jodar’s impressive Roland Garros debut, easing into the semi-finals with a 7-6, (7/3), 6-1, 6-3 win. The 29-year-old Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title. He has finished runner-up on three occasions, including at the 2024 French Open. “I want to win the matches that are ahead of
For some, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the essential spearhead for Portugal’s FIFA World Cup bid, while others believe his presence would prevent Roberto Martinez’s strong side from flourishing. The debate around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner rages on, as it did at UEFA Euro 2024 and four years ago in Qatar — yet Ronaldo endures, ready to play in a record sixth World Cup. The 41-year-old remains a global superstar despite swapping the European elite for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, and is the leading men’s international goalscorer with 143 strikes. With 25 of those coming in 30 games under Martinez, the coach
Taiwanese sprinter Chen Yi-cen on Friday won the silver medal in the women’s 400m final at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, with a time of 53.16 seconds. Chen, 15, was the youngest among the eight finalists, and her performance also met the qualifying standard of 53.50 seconds for the Nagoya Asian Games in Japan in September and October. Chen first made her mark at the National Games in Tainan in 2023, at the age of 13, winning the women’s 400m final in 55.55 seconds to become the youngest gold medalist in the history of the event. Meanwhile,
RSS