SPAIN
Xavi’s health in doubt
As the player that makes the reigning European and world champions tick, fans are hoping Xavi Hernandez can hold off the effects of fatigue and injury to lead La Roja to more glory in Poland and Ukraine. At 32, the outstanding man in Spain’s triumphs at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup has at least one major international tournament left in him. However, is he fit enough, mentally and physically, to live up to the incredibly high standard he has set himself since finally coming to the international fore at Euro 2008, when he was named player of the tournament? Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque — who is having to deal with the loss of Carles Puyol to a knee injury as well as doubts over the physical condition of David Villa — needs the Barcelona playmaker on top of his game if La Roja are to become the first nation to win three successive major international titles. Xavi has averaged more than 60 matches a year since 2008. His body is feeling the effects, with a chronic calf-muscle injury in particular taking its toll, but the player himself insists he feels in good health and has a good few years left in the tank. “I am not thinking about the end of my career. I want to play all the time, I can be a bit of a pain in that regard,” he said recently.
SOUTH AFRICA
Pirates win second title
The Orlando Pirates have won a second successive South African Premier League title, after two Benni McCarthy goals helped them to a 4-2 win at Lamontville Golden Arrows in Durban on Saturday. The Pirates finished two points ahead of fellow Soweto side the Moroka Swallows, who were the only team who could still overtake them on the final day of the campaign. The Swallows won their last game away in Maritzburg, but it was to no avail, after the Pirates came from 1-2 down to retain the title with a total of 58 points from 30 matches. The 34-year-old McCarthy, released in April last year by West Ham, engineered the turnaround with two second-half goals in front of a crowd of 52,000. The Pirates have now won nine championships, just one behind their arch rivals and current record-holders the Kaizer Chiefs.
SCOTLAND
Hearts win Scottish Cup
The Hearts won the Scottish Cup for the first time in six seasons, brushing aside Edinburgh rival Hibernian to win the final 5-1 at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Saturday. Defender Darren Barr put the Jambos ahead in the 15th minute and Rudi Skacel doubled the lead 12 minutes later. James McPake reduced the deficit just before halftime to revive Hibs’ hopes of a first ever cup win, but Danny Grainger and Ryan McGowan scored in the first five minutes of the second half to make it 4-1. Skacel added his second goal with 15 minutes remaining to complete the most one-sided Scottish Cup final since the Rangers beat Aberdeen 4-0 in 2000.
MONACO
Marco Simone parts ways
Monaco have parted ways with manager Marco Simone and his technical staff, the Ligue 2 outfit announced on Saturday. “The management at Monaco has decided not to renew the team of coaches and announces the departure of Marco Simone, Frederic Barilaro, David Barriac and Lionel Iacono,” a club statement said. Simone joined Monaco in September last year, with the 2004 Champions League finalists languishing in the relegation zone, and guided them to an eighth-place finish this season.
RUGBY UNION
Sharks beat Cheetahs
Meyer Bosman scored a late try against his former team to finally put the Sharks out of range of the Cheetahs and seal a 34-20 win in an all-South African tussle in the Super 15 on Saturday. Replacement back Bosman went over for the Sharks’ fourth try with six minutes left at the Cheetahs’ Free State Stadium. It ensured the Durban-based team continued its late-season surge and stayed on track for the playoffs. J.P. Pietersen, Frederic Michalak and Lwazi Mvovo also crossed for the Sharks, but the Cheetahs battled and dragged themselves back to within four points at 24-20 before the visitors’ strong finish. The bonus-point win lifts the Sharks into sixth in the overall standings. It was their fourth victory in five games.
GOLF
McDowell in Volvo semis
Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell defeated Spanish star Sergio Garcia in a thrilling extra-hole duel to reach the Volvo World Match Play Championship semi-finals on Saturday. World No. 20 McDowell, who had knocked out England’s Richard Finch in the morning’s last 16, was forced into a 19th-hole decider after missing a straightforward five-foot putt on the 18th. Garcia wasted his reprieve when he pushed his putt four feet past the hole after the Northern Irishman had held his from five feet. McDowell was set to face Rafael Cabrera-Bello, the last remaining Spaniard, in yesterday’s semi-finals. Cabrera-Bello came from behind to beat compatriot Alvaro Quiros 3 and 1. Yesterday’s other semi-final sees 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie, playing in his 500th European Tour event, facing Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium. Lawrie defeated Thomas Bjorn 5 and 4 in the last 16, before seeing off South Africa’s Retief Goosen 6 and 5. Colsaerts defeated Brandt Snedeker of the US 4 and 3 in his quarter-final.
RUGBY UNION
Leinster wins Heineken Cup
Leinster powered to a 42-14 win over Irish rival Ulster in Saturday’s Heineken Cup final to lift European club rugby’s premier title for an unprecedented third time in four seasons. The defending champions, who also won in 2009, were rarely troubled at Twickenham in completing the biggest final win in 17 years of the tournament. Sean O’Brien scored the first of Leinster’s four tries in the 12th minute, although referee Nigel Owens needed the TV official to rule whether the flanker made it to the tryline. Prop Cian Healy crashed over from close range for a 14-6 halftime lead. A converted penalty try stretched the lead and, after Dan Tuohy crossed for Ulster, Leinster replacements Heinke van der Merwe and Sean Cronin struck in the last five minutes.
RUGBY UNION
Guildford gets call-up
New Zealand winger Zac Guildford has been called into the All Blacks training squad to prepare for June rugby Tests against Ireland after injuries to Richard Kahui and Corey Jane. Coach Steve Hansen announced yesterday that the Canterbury Crusaders back will join the 35-man squad for training camps in Auckland and Wellington, leading up to the first Test against Ireland on June 9. Guildford was initially omitted from the squad, possibly as a lingering result of his past record of alcohol-related misbehavior. The 23-year-old gave up alcohol after assaulting two men in a Cook Islands bar in November last year. Guildford said: “I knew if I worked hard, kept out of trouble and did the right things on the field then eventually it would come.”
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
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
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
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