Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf was a happy man as his side enjoyed a 2-0 win over strugglers Nuremberg to draw level on points with Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga.
Bremen striker Markus Rosenberg scored on the half hour before Croatian forward Ivan Klasnic's 82nd minute header put Bremen on 40 points alongside Bayern -- who stay top by virtue of a superior goal difference.
"I am happy with the result," Schaaf said. "It was not a shiny, high-entertainment game like the fans want to see, but it was the sort of game you have to win. We didn't always keep the tempo high and we were a bit ponderous at times."
After sacking their coach Hans Meyer at the start of the week, 10-man Nuremberg failed to make an impact after Russian striker Ivan Saenko was sent off in the 20th minute.
Meyer's replacement, Thomas von Heesen, had already lost his first game in charge when his side were beaten 1-0 by Benfica in Thursday night's UEFA Cup clash and his side are third from bottom and deep in the mire.
There was drama at bottom side Duisburg as Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger scored in the 92nd minute to seal a 3-2 Stuttgart win and deny the hosts their first success in five games.
Germany's player of the year Mario Gomez put his side 2-0 up as Stuttgart proved dominant early on.
He followed up a 16th-minute header with a superb strike four minutes from the break after a well-timed pass from Mexican midfielder Pavel Pardo
But Duisburg pulled level when Romanian striker Claudiu Niculescu netted a 49th minute free-kick and then Nigerian striker Manasseh Ishiaku put his side level to cause Stuttgart coach Armin Veh some anxiety on 57 minutes.
It was only Hitzlsperger's strike which saved his side's blushes and keep his side 10th.
"I cannot believe how bad we were in the first half, it was nothing like the standard expected from a Bundesliga game," Duisburg coach Rudi Bommer said.
And Stuttgart coach Armin Veh was a relieved man as his side left it late.
"Things went according to plan in the first half and we could have led by more at the break. In the second-half we made life hard for ourselves, but I am just pleased to get the win," he said.
Hansa Rostock had former Germany midfielder Christian Rahn to thank as his 76th minute header gave his side three precious points at home to Eintracht Frankfurt and the win takes them up to 14th.
And Hertha Berlin picked up three points as Brazilian striker Raffael struck in the 93rd minute to light up a dull tie against Arminia Bielefeld.
There was a battle royal at Karlsruhe as German internationals Simon Rolfes and Steffan Kiessling put Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 up midway through the second half.
But the home side fought back with second-half goals by strikers Sebastian Freis and Joshua Kennedy put them level.
The draw leaves Bayer in third, five points off the top pair.
Energie Cottbus' most famous fan -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- was in the stands in the former East German city to see her side lose 2-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund after she was presented with a Cottbus shirt, a scarf and an engraved silver plate before kick-off.
Croatian international Mladen Petric became the league's top-scorer to take his tally up to 11 as he netted twice and the result leaves Energie Cottbus second from bottom with Dortmund in 12th.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out