Belgium on Monday held off a battling Wales, and Italy gave sacked coach Luciano Spalletti a winning send-off in FIFA World Cup qualifying.
Elsewhere Manchester City star Erling Haaland’s goal lifted Norway past Estonia, Luka Modric was among the scorers in Croatia’s 5-1 rout of the Czech Republic, and the Faroe Islands left it late to down Gibraltar 2-1.
Giacomo Raspadori and Andrea Cambiaso scored in each half as Italy beat Moldova 2-0 to inject a smidgeon of pride back in the Azzurri camp after last week’s 3-0 thrashing by Norway which cost Spalletti his job.
Photo: AFP
The Italians trail Norway by nine points in European qualifying Group I and are at risk of missing a third straight World Cup.
Even though they have played two games fewer, their ticket to the US, Canada and Mexico next year is far from certain.
Only top spot in each group guarantees automatic qualification with Italy’s best hopes appearing to rest on finishing second and reaching the playoffs.
“When you’re the national team coach you have no excuses, it’s you who selects the squad,” Spalletti told public broadcaster Rai. “It’s the coach who has to make the difference, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to do that.”
Over in Brussels, Belgium raced to a three-goal lead over Wales courtesy of Romelu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans and Jeremy Doku inside half an hour.
Wales rallied through a Harry Wilson penalty, Sorba Thomas and Brennan Johnson to stun the side ranked eighth in the world.
However, Kevin de Bruyne rode to his nation’s rescue, as he has so often in a stellar career, by steering in Tielemans’ perfect cross in the 88th minute.
It left Wales sitting second in Group J, one point behind North Macedonia, 1-0 winners over Kazakhstan, and three in front of Belgium, who have two games in hand.
This was Wales manager Craig Bellamy’s first defeat in his first 10 matches in charge.
“Getting back as close as we did is probably why it’s as painful as it is,” Wales captain Ben Davies told the BBC. “We knew we could do a lot better. You could see in the second half, we managed to nick a goal before halftime, and it gave us something to hang on to, and we pushed them close.
“We have plenty more games. We just have to focus on ourselves, and hopefully results go our way,” he said.
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative
RSS