■PORTUGAL
Porto rally for a point
FC Porto rallied for a 1-1 draw against lower-table Pacos Ferreira on Saturday, while Sporting held off Nacional for a 3-2 victory. Radamel Falcao’s goal in the 86th minute saw the defending champions earn a point after Maykon picked his spot to put the visitors ahead three minutes earlier. Porto, who don’t lead the league at the halfway point for the first time in eight years, improved to 33 points to sit three back of joint leaders Benfica and Braga. Sporting extended their season-best run to four straight wins in all competitions despite Ruben Micael’s 24th-minute score putting the visitors ahead at the Alvalade Stadium. Miguel Veloso started the rally a minute later, then Liedson put the hosts ahead with his left foot in the 60th minute. The Portugal striker added a second in the 72nd minute after meeting Veloso’s cross inside the area. Nacional scored through Edgar in the 82nd minute, but Sporting held on to move three points clear of Nacional and into fourth with 27 points. Also, Andres Castro’s 51st-minute goal gave Olhanense their second victory of the season, a 1-0 win over Naval. Meanwhile, Tiago Targino’s 87th-minute goal saw Guimaraes earn a draw against bottom-of-the-table Setubal.
■NETHERLANDS
PSV cruise to cup win
PSV Eindhoven, unbeaten in all competitions this season, cruised to a 3-1 win at Heerenveen in the Dutch Cup fourth round on Saturday. Hungarian Balazs Dzsudzsak opened the scoring with a 16m shot after the Heerenveen defense failed to clear the ball in the 26th minute. Ibrahim Afellay then set up Danko Lazovic for the second goal midway through the second half. A superb lob from Gerald Sibon pulled one back for Heerenveen, but in stoppage-time Nordin Amrabat restored the two-goal lead for PSV, who are second in the Dutch league. PSV now host Feyenoord, who handed the Eindhoven team their last defeat in March, in the quarter-finals on Jan. 27.
■SCOTLAND
Rangers go nine clear
Rangers moved nine points clear of Celtic in the Scottish Premier League title race on Saturday after beating Hamilton 1-0 as their Glasgow rivals were held 1-1 at home by bottom-placed Falkirk. Nacho Novo scored the winner as an under-strength Rangers moved closer to a second straight title. Rangers manager Walter Smith had to select several youngsters as substitutes because of first-team regulars being unavailable. With the usual strike partnership of Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd unavailable through suspension and injury respectively, Novo was deployed alongside Kyle Lafferty. Carl Finnigan gave Falkirk a 19th-minute lead after a slip by Darren O’Dea and Celtic struggled, before Georgios Samaras leveled with an individual goal five minutes before the break. Dundee United moved past Hibernian into third after a 1-0 win over the Edinburgh side at a rainy Tannadice. Also on Saturday, Motherwell beat Kilmarnock 3-0 and Michael Stewart’s first-half penalty gave Hearts a 1-0 victory over St Mirren.
■GREECE
Ten-man PAOK beat Asteras
Substitute Vassilis Koutsianikoulis gave 10-man PAOK a 1-0 win over Asteras in the Greek league on Saturday. Koutsianikoulis scored on a counterattack in the 54th minute after receiving a pass from Vladan Ivic as PAOK retained third place in the standings with 37 points, seven less than leaders Panathinaikos. PAOK’s Vieirinha was sent off in the 20th minute. Also on Saturday it was Iraklis 1, AEK Athens 1 and Xanthi 1, Ergotelis 0.
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
RSS