■ BRAZIL
Ref changed for big match
The referee for yesterday’s decisive Brazilian championship match between Goias and Sao Paulo was changed after the country’s soccer federation (CBF) said it had been told of a plot to try and fix the result. The CBF said it trusted Wagner Tardelli, the official originally selected to take charge of the match on the last day of the season, but had decided to appoint a new official as a precaution. It did not give any details as to who might have been behind the attempted bribery or how the situation came to light. “On Saturday morning, the CBF received an alert that an attempt was being made to manipulate the result of the Sao Paulo-Goias game,” the CBF said on its Web site. “A new draw was made for the match in question, despite recognizing the honesty and good character of referee Wagner Tardelli, who in 20 years of refereeing has always demonstrated the most correct behavior and conduct.”
■JAMAICA
Cuba through to semis
Cuba beat Antigua and Barbuda 3-0 to become the first team to reach the Caribbean championship semi-finals at Trelawny Stadium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Guadeloupe beat Haiti 3-2 to put the champions’ title defense at risk. Yenier Marquez (7th minute), Roberto Linares (20th minute) and Jaine Colome with a 35th minute penalty led Cuba’s first-half dominance. Antigua, handed six yellow cards, finished with 10 men when Ranja Christian was sent off 10 minutes from time. Cuba, who had beaten Guadeloupe in their opening game, had a maximum six points in Group B, followed by Guadeloupe on three, and Antigua and Barbuda and Haiti with one each.
■NETHERLANDS
Victorious Alkmaar stay top
Ari and Mounir El Hamdaoui scored for AZ Alkmaar to beat Heracles Almelo 2-0 and remain top of the Dutch league on Saturday. Australia midfielder Brett Holman set up Ari for the opening goal in the 19th minute and El Hamdaoui increased the lead in the 85th minute with his 14th league goal. Substitute Otman Bakkal scored twice to help defending champions PSV Eindhoven to a 4-2 comeback win over FC Groningen. Marcus Berg and Goran Lovre scored to give Groningen a 2-0 lead, before Bakkal pulled one back. Captain Timmy Simons fed Bakkal for the equalizer in the 57th minute and Danko Lazovic added goals in the 60th and 69th minutes. Steven McClaren’s Twente followed their midweek UEFA Cup win over Schalke with a 6-2 routing of Sparta Rotterdam. Twente’s Blaise N’Kufo scored in the 30th and 38th minutes after teammate Kenneth Perez found the net in the 22nd minute. Sparta’s Donovan Slijngard scored an own-goal in the 43rd minute. Marko Arnautovic and Youssouf Hersi also scored for Twente, while Rydell Poepon and Arne Slot replied for Sparta.
■PORTUGAL
Porto win to keep in touch
FC Porto beat Setubal 3-0 to get back in touch with the Portuguese league leaders on Saturday. Three second-half goals allowed the three-time defending champions to collect their third straight win and improve to 20 points with a game in hand. Leixoes lead with 23 points. Bruno Alves opened the scoring two minutes before Freddy Guarin scored in the 68th minute, while Lucho Gonzalez capped the scoring in the 80th minute. Nene scored twice as Nacional joined Porto on 20 points following a 4-2 victory over Belenenses. Nene has seven goals and only trails Pacos Ferreira striker William, who scored in a 2-1 loss to Academica, who snapped a seven-match winless run.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
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