■ FRANCE
Bordeaux leapfrog Toulouse
Yoann Gourcuff scored one goal and set up another on Saturday to lead Bordeaux to a 2-1 victory that snapped Toulouse’s four-match winning streak in Ligue 1. The France playmaker skipped past defenders Mauro Cetto and Mohamed Fofana with a clever back-heel move, before scoring from close range in the 29th minute. David Bellion doubled the lead for Bordeaux in the 40th minute after receiving Gourcuff’s headed pass and dribbling past Cetto to unleash a diagonal strike. Etienne Capoue pulled a goal back for Toulouse in injury time, taking advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Mathieu Valverde. Bordeaux leapfrogged Toulouse into second place on goal difference, with 17 points after nine rounds. Also on Saturday, it was Caen 2, Grenoble 2; Monaco 1, Nice 2; Paris Saint-Germain 3, Lorient 2; Nantes 1, Saint-Etienne 0; Sochaux 1, Le Havre 1; and Lyon 2, Lille 2.
■ NETHERLANDS
NAC Breda beat PSV, go top
NAC Breda beat defending champions PSV Eindhoven 2-1 on Saturday to go top of the Dutch league. PSV captain Timmy Simons scored an own-goal to put NAC in front in the 14th minute and Ghana forward Matthew Amoah doubled the advantage with his league-leading ninth goal of the season in the 87th minute. PSV, who host Marseille in the Champions League on Wednesday, scored through Ibrahim Afellay in the 90th minute. NAC have 15 points after six rounds. FC Groningen, who lost 1-0 to Ajax to end their five-game winning streak, dropped to second with 13 points. PSV stayed third with 12 points. Ajax have 10 points. In Amsterdam, Jan Vertonghen set up Oleguer for the game’s only goal in the 37th minute. Also on Saturday, Boldizsar Bodor and Sekou Cisse scored to help Roja JC to a 2-2 home draw with SC Heerenveen. Christian Grindheim and Arnar Smarason scored in the 38th minute and 87th minute for Heerenveen. Marko Arnautovic and Eljero Elia scored in FC Twente’s 2-0 win over Heracles Almelo.
■ ARGENTINA
San Lorenzo win again
San Lorenzo won their sixth match in a row on Saturday when they beat promoted San Martin-Tucuman 1-0 to stay top of the Argentine Apertura championship. Forward Andres Silvera scored the winner in the 25th minute after a mistake by defender Juan Monge, who had been close to giving the visitors the lead three minutes earlier. San Lorenzo, whose coach Miguel Angel Russo is among the favorites to take over the Argentina national team following Alfio Basile’s resignation on Thursday, have 25 points from 10 games. Tigre stayed five points behind in second place with a 3-0 win over Lanus, Martin Morel scoring twice after Leonel Altobelli had put them ahead. Independiente gave Miguel Angel Santoro a winning start to his sixth stint in charge by winning 2-1 at Colon, with two first-half goals from Leonel Nunez.
■ AFRICA
Al Ahli, Coton Sport in final
Egypt’s Al Ahli will meet Coton Sport of Cameroon in the African Champions League final after both sides won their semi-final, second-leg matches on Saturday. A 26th minute goal from Angola international Flavio, from a trademark cross by compatriot Gilberto, handed Al Ahli a 1-0 win over Enyimba in Cairo after a goalless first leg. Ahli are only the second team to reach four successive African Champions League finals. Coton Sport will play in their first Champions League final after a 4-0 win over Dynamos of Zimbabwe in Garoua, Cameroon. Coton Sport are the first side from Cameroon to reach the final since 1980.
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
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their