Sun, Apr 26, 2009 page18

• Soccer Shorts

  • AGENCIES
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  ■FRANCE

  Lyon stumble at home

  Lyon’s chances of an eighth successive French league title suffered another blow on Friday when they were held to a 0-0 draw by fellow championship hopefuls Paris Saint-Germain. The draw left Lyon in third place, three points behind leaders Marseille who have a game in hand with just four matches left to play. The champions’ home form is beginning to turn into their Achilles heel in the title race as they have now won just three of their last 12 matches at the Stade Gerland. They also face a tough run-in to the campaign, with trips to Marseille and Toulouse still to come. Paris Saint-Germain had their best opportunity when top scorer Guillaume Hoarau was denied by Hugo Lloris in the Lyon goal in the 58th minute, but Lyon could have won six minutes from time when Karim Benzema’s shot come back off the post.

  ■GERMANY

  Hertha move up to second

  Hertha Berlin won 1-0 at Hoffenheim to revive their Bundesliga title hopes on Friday as they moved up to second place, just two points behind VfL Wolfsburg with five matches left. Hoffenheim, without a win since late January, dominated the match, but Hertha struck against the run of play five minutes before the break when Marko Pantelic fed Patrick Ebert on the right and the midfielder slotted past goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand. Hoffenheim kept coming and hit the bar through substitute Boubacar Sanogo in the 77th minute, but mostly ran into a solid Berlin backline, with defender Josip Simunic in commanding form.

  ■ENGLAND

  Wembley pitch to be relaid

  The pitch at the new Wembley Stadium is to be dug up and replaced in the wake of damning criticism from Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the Football Association confirmed on Friday. Wenger branded the surface “a disaster” after Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea, while Ferguson claimed his selection for Manchester United’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Everton 24 hours later had been influenced by fears the likes of Wayne Rooney could be injured on the “spongy and dead” turf. The new pitch is to be laid in time for the FA Trophy final clash between Stevenage Borough and York City on May 9.

  ■SPAIN

  Pepe handed 10-match ban

  The disciplinary committee of the Spanish soccer federation announced on Friday evening a suspension of 10 matches for Real Madrid defender Pepe, for his part in the incidents at the end of Tuesday’s stormy clash with Getafe. The Portugal international pushed over Getafe’s Francisco Casquero for a late penalty, then kicked the veteran midfielder twice whilst he was on the ground and hit Getafe forward Juan Albin. On the other hand, the committee canceled out the yellow card shown to Real striker Gonzalo Higuain for diving in the penalty area.

  ■ENGLAND

  Semi-final to be replayed

  England’s World Cup semi-final with Germany is going to a replay — 19 years after a tear-filled, penalty shootout defeat. Former coach Bobby Robson is reuniting his England team from the 1990 World Cup to raise money for his cancer charity on July 26 at St James’ Park in Newcastle. “Hopefully, this time we’ll get the result we want against Germany,” Robson said on Friday. “We had a good group of players that year; very talented, very tough and ambitious. We got better as the tournament progressed, more accomplished and the fact we lost on penalties and not in open play tells its story.” Paul Gascoigne is expected to play.
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