■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.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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