Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp admitted he was far from happy the Bundesliga leaders had to play in sub-zero temperatures in their 4-0 German Cup quarter-final victory at minnows Holstein Kiel.
“It was like ice hockey on grass,” fumed Klopp as the match went ahead even though the pitch at Kiel’s Holstein Stadion was partly frozen amidst temperatures of minus-18oC. “The pitch was unplayable, but there was pressure from TV not to cancel the game. I was so tense that it was easy to fire up my players as if they were playing in a World Cup final. There was a great danger the players were going to get hurt.”
Klopp’s concern was understandable with his side two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, in which they face Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday.
Photo: AFP
Klopp started with Australian reserve goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak in a near first-choice side as the guests raced into a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes.
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski put Dortmund ahead in front of a sell-out 11,386 crowd when he reacted fastest to an over-head kick from Ivan Perisic to score in the 11th minute.
Japan’s Shinji Kagawa doubled the lead seven minutes later when he took a great diagonal pass from Poland midfielder Lukasz Piszczek and slammed the ball into the top left-hand corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Dortmund were rarely tested by the minnows, who had knocked top-flight FSV Mainz 05 out in the previous round and also beaten second-tier Duisburg and Energie Cottbus on the way to the last eight.
Just as he did in Friday’s 2-0 Bundesliga win at Nuremberg, Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios came off the bench midway through the second half and scored Dortmund’s third in the 80th minute.
Perisic, who provided the final pass for Lewandowski and Barrios to score, was rewarded for his efforts with the final goal on 87 minutes.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),