PREMIER LEAGUE
Vermaelen goes to Barca
Barcelona finally won the race to sign Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen on Saturday. The Spanish club had been battling with Manchester United for the Belgium international’s signature over the past few weeks and Luis Enrique’s team got their man for a reported fee of ￡15 million (US$25 million). “Thomas Vermaelen has agreed to join Barcelona in a permanent transfer for an undisclosed fee,” a statement on Arsenal’s Web site confirmed. “Vermaelen passed his medical in Barcelona on Saturday. His transfer is subject to the completion of the normal regulatory process. Everyone at Arsenal would like to thank Thomas for his contribution during his time at the club and wish him well for the future.”
PREMIER LEAGUE
Southampton sign Forster
England international goalkeeper Fraser Forster joined Southampton from Celtic on Saturday, penning a four-year deal believed to be worth ￡10 million. The 26-year-old, who was part of the England squad at the World Cup in Brazil, began his career with Newcastle United, and had loan spells at Stockport County, Bristol Rovers and Norwich City before joining Celtic in 2010.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Fulham loan Stekelenburg
Monaco have signed Dutch international goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg from Fulham on a seasonlong loan, the Principality club said on their Web site on Saturday. The 31-year-old, who was first choice for the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup, will provide competition for Croatia’s Danijel Subasic. The former Ajax and Roma shot-stopper, who has 54 international caps, is to wear the No. 16 shirt.
J-LEAGUE
Gamba Osaka lead pack
Gamba Osaka’s seemingly relentless move toward the top of the J-League continued on Saturday as goals from Yasuyuki Konno and Takashi Usami gave them a 2-0 win at Omiya Ardija. Kawasaki Frontale are third after a 2-1 home win over second-placed Urawa Reds, who lost their chance to leapfrog top-placed Sagan Tosu. Both have 37 points, but Tosu, who were not in action on Saturday due to a typhoon, lead on goal difference. Gamba Osaka, the team in form with five straight league wins, are fifth. Yoshito Okubo and Renato scored for Frontale, while Tsukasa Umesaki replied for the visitors. Kashima Antlers are in fourth spot after a 90th-minute goal from Yasushi Endo for a 3-2 win at Nagoya Grampus. Antlers went behind twice — to a goal from Keisuke Nagai and Josh Kennedy’s penalty — before Endo’s winner left Akira Nishino’s team in the relegation zone. FC Tokyo looked to continue their impressive run at a demoralized Cerezo Osaka, but the home team held on for a 0-0 draw despite Diego Forlan’s outburst at the bench after being substituted. Kashiwa Reysol salvaged a point at Yokohama F. Marinos, coming back from 2-0 down to get a 2-2 draw. Vissel Kobe left it late to seal the win after dominating Albirex Niigata for 90 minutes. Hiroyuki Komoto’s headed goal from a corner kept Vissel in touch with the leaders with the 1-0 win. Shimizu S-Pulse, who recently fired their Iranian-American manager Afshin Ghotbi, picked up three points by beating bottom club Tokushima Vortis 1-0. Kazuya Murata scored in the 69th minute for S-Pulse’s 200th home win in J1. Elsewhere, Ventforet Kofu and Vegalta Sendai fought out a 0-0 stalemate to leave both teams in danger of being sucked into a relegation dogfight.
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
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