Chelsea eased to a 3-0 win over Burnley yesterday to chalk up their fourth successive win under new manager Carlo Ancelotti thanks to goals from Nicolas Anelka, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole.
The scoreline might look comfortable but the Premier League title hopefuls were frustrated until deep into first-half stoppage time, when Anelka finally broke through Burnley’s defences.
Ultimately, however, this was a deserved victory against a side who have already bloodied the noses of Manchester United and Everton this season.
Burnley had travelled south with a spring in their step but this defeat will serve as a reminder to Owen Coyle’s newly-promoted team that the top flight can be an unforgiving environment.
The only disappointment for Ancelotti was that his side did not bolster their goal difference by an even greater margin and Anelka, for one, could have helped himself to a hatful in the first half alone.
With Burnley eying the clock as it ticked into first half stoppage time, Michael Essien split their defense to release Didier Drogba and the Ivorian’s cross was bundled in at the back post by Anelka.
That left Burnley’s hopes of snaffling a point hanging by a thread and they were dashed entirely moments after the re-start, when Frank Lampard’s chipped cross into a crowded penalty area was headed in by a diving Ballack.
A two-goal cushion allowed Chelsea to relax and play some picture-book soccer. A particularly pretty move in the 52nd minute led to the third goal, Lampard’s lofted pass allowing Cole to flash a first-time volley over diving Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen for just his third strike in three years.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book