SOCCER
West Brom sneak through
The Premier League’s West Bromwich Albion won a penalty shootout 4-3 to beat third-tier Peterborough United in a dramatic FA Cup fourth-round replay on Wednesday. The game finished 1-1 after extra-time, Peterborough taking the lead having dominated the first half when winger Jon Taylor found space to slot home after 55 minutes. Midfielder Darren Fletcher grabbed West Brom’s equalizer with a crisp half-volley from the edge of the penalty area. Lee Angol missed the decisive spot-kick in the shootout for Peterborough and West Brom will travel to Reading.
BOXING
Golovkin to defend in April
World middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin will defend his world titles against undefeated challenger Dominic Wade in Los Angeles on April 23, it was confirmed on Wednesday. The unbeaten Golovkin, regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, will be chasing his 35th career victory when he takes on Wade at the Los Angeles Forum. The 33-year-old Kazakh is one of the most explosive fighters in boxing, with 31 knockouts in his 34 fights to date. In his last bout, Golovkin destroyed Canada’s David Lemieux in eight rounds to add the IBF crown to his WBA, WBC and IBO belts. “Dominic Wade is a very hungry and skilled middleweight who is undefeated and will be another big test for me,” Golovkin said in a statement. Wade, 25, is unbeaten in 18 fights, with 12 knockouts. “I’ve worked hard my entire career to get to this point. I’m poised and ready to take on the challenge,” Wade said.
SOCCER
US rout Costa Rica 5-0
The US women’s opening set-piece finally paid off. Alex Morgan scored off it 12 seconds in and added another goal in the 62nd minute as the US opened CONCACAF qualifying for the Rio Olympics with a 5-0 victory over Costa Rica in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday night. Morgan’s goal was the fastest in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying history, and the team said it is believed to be the fastest in US history. It came on a designed play that the team uses off most opening kickoffs. The match was the US’ first competitive game since winning the World Cup. They have won three straight Olympic titles and four of the five in women’s soccer. The US roster features only 13 of the 20 players who were on the World Cup team. Christie Rampone and Megan Rapinoe are injured, and Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux are pregnant and will miss the Olympics. Carli Lloyd and Crystal Dunn also scored first-half goals, and substitute Christen Press scored in the 83rd minute. In Wednesday’s other Group A opener at Toyota Stadium, Maribel Dominguez scored a hat-trick as Mexico routed Puerto Rico 6-0.
SOCCER
Mexico beat Senegal 2-0
Jesus Duenas and Rodolfo Pizarro scored second-half goals to help Mexico beat Senegal 2-0 in an exhibition game on Wednesday night. Playing before a pro-Mexico crowd of 15,588 at Marlins Park, Mexico finally broke through in the 73rd minute on Duenas’ strike. Candido Ramirez, who entered the match a minute earlier, centered a pass from the left wing to Duenas, who headed from the edges of the six-yard box. Mexico secured the victory on Pizarro’s goal in the 87th minute. Pizarro retrieved Hirving Lozano’s cross from the right wing and one-timed a shot past goalkeeper Pape Ndiaye. Mexico have improved to 3-0 since Juan Carlos Osorio took over as coach in November last year.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS