■FRANCE
Marseille leapfrog Lyon
Marseille overtook Lyon at the top of Ligue 1 on Sunday after they beat Grenoble 4-1 and the seven-times champions only drew 2-2 at home to mid-table Monaco. The first goal that led to Lyon’s downfall was scored in the 34th minute by Croatian midfielder Jerko Leko, who was perfectly set up by a backpass from South Korea’s Park Chu-young after a swift counterattack. Lyon’s France striker Karim Benzema hit the woodwork five minutes later and the champions had another chance on the hour when Monaco keeper Stephane Ruffier blocked Jean Makoun’s header. Five minutes later, Lyon got back into the game when Cris headed home a Juninho long-range free-kick, but just a minute later Colombian striker Juan Pablo Pino had put Monaco back in front. Lyon leveled nine minutes from time when Frederic Piquionne’s scissor-kick went in after a scramble in the penalty area. They pushed hard to snatch a victory, but Monaco’s defense held tight. A few hours earlier, in a packed Stade Velodrome, Marseille had to wait until the 52nd minute for their opener, which came when Nigerian defender Taye Taiwo converted a penalty after Laurent Battles brought down Mathieu Valbuena. Brazilian central defender Hilton made it two seven minutes later, heading home a Valbuena corner. Taiwo sealed Marseille’s victory with his second, blasting in a 25m free-kick in the 65th minute and Brazilian striker Brandao added another one minute from time. Also on Sunday, Lille and Paris Saint-Germain shared the points in a 0-0 draw.
■NETHERLANDS
Ajax knock in seven
Luis Suarez scored three goals, including two from the penalty spot, to help Ajax rout Willem II 7-0 on Sunday and keep alive the team’s hopes of playing in the Champions League next season. Dario Cvitanich scored first for Ajax in the second minute from Suarez’s pass. He then set up Cameroon midfielder Eyong Enoh for the second in the 10th minute. Cvitanich got the third in the 20th minute, before Suarez made it 4-0 from the penalty spot in the 35th minute after defender Gregory van der Wiel was fouled in the area. Urby Emanuelson collected Cvitanich’s pass to score the fifth in the 45th minute and Suarez scored two more goals in the second half to bring his season tally to 20. Willem II’s Angelo Martha was dismissed in the 82nd minute for fouling Suarez, who then scored his seventh penalty of the season. Also on Sunday, veteran striker Roy Makaay scored a hat-trick, including a 59th-minute penalty, to help Feyenoord defeat Heracles Almelo 5-1. Kelvin Leerdam and Denny Landzaat scored the other goals for Feyenoord, while Bas Dost netted a 34th-minute consolation for Heracles. Viktor Elm scored in the 53rd minute to help SC Heerenveen beat FC Volendam 1-0, and Lasse Nilsson, Civard Sprockel and Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored a goal each to give Vitesse Arnhem a 3-2 win at FC Groningen.
■BRAZIL
Flamengo earn final spot
Defender Juan scored a first-half goal to give Flamengo a 1-0 win over rivals Fluminense and a spot in the Rio Cup final on Sunday. Flamengo will face Botafogo, who routed Vasco 4-0 in the other semi-final on Saturday. Corinthians earned a last-minute 2-1 victory at Sao Paulo in the first leg of the state championship semi-finals after defending champions Palmeiras fell 2-1 to Santos on Saturday. Juan gave Flamengo the win in front of nearly 70,000 fans at Maracana Stadium with a low left-footed shot from outside the area.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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