■NETHERLANDS
Arsenal rally to beat Ajax
Arsenal rallied from 2-0 down to defeat hosts Ajax 3-2 on the opening day of the Amsterdam four-team tournament on Friday. Inter Milan, under new coach Jose Mourinho, drew 0-0 with Sevilla in the day’s other game. Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice for Arsenal and also laid on a goal for Dane Nicklas Bendtner. Coach Arsene Wenger started with his strongest possible team but the Londoners fell behind in the 33rd minute when a headed clearance from Kolo Toure was snapped up by Luis Suarez, who netted with a fierce volley. Suarez then set up Ajax’s second goal for the unmarked Klaas Jan Huntelaar two minutes later. But Arsenal turned the tide with a three-goal blitz in 15 second-half minutes.
■GERMANY
Hertha struggle to advance
Hertha Berlin struggled to overcome fourth-division Eintracht Trier 3-1 in Frankfurt on Friday to reach the second round of the German Cup, and Bochum needed a penalty shootout to edge Preussen Muenster, another fourth-division club. Marko Pantelic gave Berlin an early lead in the eighth minute, but Trier equalized before halftime. Fabian Lustenberger and Patrick Ebert scored after the break to secure the victory for Berlin, which missed a half-dozen starters for various reasons. Bochum was held to a goalless draw in extra time and won the penalty shootout 6-5 to advance.
■FRANCE
Players in violent bust-up
Nantes midfielder Djamel Abdoun was knocked unconscious after being kicked in the head by team-mate Stefan Babovic during a violent dressing-room bust-up on Friday. The players are to receive stiff penalties, said the French first division team’s technical director, Christian Lariepe, without giving further details. Algerian-born Abdoun, 22, started his career at Paris St Germain and was briefly loaned out to Manchester City last year, while Babovic, 21, has been capped by Serbia.
■ENGLAND
Liverpool beat Lazio 1-0
Liverpool, without injured captain Steven Gerrard, beat Lazio 1-0 at Anfield on Friday in a friendly warm-up for next week’s Champions League match with Xabi Alonso in fine form. Liverpool travel to Belgians Standard Liege for the first leg of the third qualifying round on Wednesday and thigh-strain victim Gerrard at this point looks unlikely to feature. Liverpool fans chanted Alonso’s name constantly during the match and the Spaniard responded with a fine all-action display of passing and running. Liverpool were crisp and assertive with Alonso pulling the strings in front of a 43,062 crowd. They made it eight pre-season games unbeaten, the winner coming in injury-time when Andriy Voronin volleyed home from Jay Spearing’s pass.
■GERMANY
Jens Lehmann steps down
Germany’s veteran goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is handing in his international gloves after 10 years’ service, the German soccer federation (DFB) said on Friday. The 38-year-old Lehmann was the oldest player at Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria when Germany lost to Spain in the June 29 final. The keeper, who quit Arsenal at the end of last season to join Stuttgart, decided to step down after a discussion with Germany’s national coach Joachim Low and goalkeeping coach Andreas Kopke. Lehmann explained he wanted to give a chance for another keeper to prove himself in time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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