■FRANCE
Lyon stumble at home
Lyon’s chances of an eighth successive French league title suffered another blow on Friday when they were held to a 0-0 draw by fellow championship hopefuls Paris Saint-Germain. The draw left Lyon in third place, three points behind leaders Marseille who have a game in hand with just four matches left to play. The champions’ home form is beginning to turn into their Achilles heel in the title race as they have now won just three of their last 12 matches at the Stade Gerland. They also face a tough run-in to the campaign, with trips to Marseille and Toulouse still to come. Paris Saint-Germain had their best opportunity when top scorer Guillaume Hoarau was denied by Hugo Lloris in the Lyon goal in the 58th minute, but Lyon could have won six minutes from time when Karim Benzema’s shot come back off the post.
■GERMANY
Hertha move up to second
Hertha Berlin won 1-0 at Hoffenheim to revive their Bundesliga title hopes on Friday as they moved up to second place, just two points behind VfL Wolfsburg with five matches left. Hoffenheim, without a win since late January, dominated the match, but Hertha struck against the run of play five minutes before the break when Marko Pantelic fed Patrick Ebert on the right and the midfielder slotted past goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand. Hoffenheim kept coming and hit the bar through substitute Boubacar Sanogo in the 77th minute, but mostly ran into a solid Berlin backline, with defender Josip Simunic in commanding form.
■ENGLAND
Wembley pitch to be relaid
The pitch at the new Wembley Stadium is to be dug up and replaced in the wake of damning criticism from Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the Football Association confirmed on Friday. Wenger branded the surface “a disaster” after Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea, while Ferguson claimed his selection for Manchester United’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Everton 24 hours later had been influenced by fears the likes of Wayne Rooney could be injured on the “spongy and dead” turf. The new pitch is to be laid in time for the FA Trophy final clash between Stevenage Borough and York City on May 9.
■SPAIN
Pepe handed 10-match ban
The disciplinary committee of the Spanish soccer federation announced on Friday evening a suspension of 10 matches for Real Madrid defender Pepe, for his part in the incidents at the end of Tuesday’s stormy clash with Getafe. The Portugal international pushed over Getafe’s Francisco Casquero for a late penalty, then kicked the veteran midfielder twice whilst he was on the ground and hit Getafe forward Juan Albin. On the other hand, the committee canceled out the yellow card shown to Real striker Gonzalo Higuain for diving in the penalty area.
■ENGLAND
Semi-final to be replayed
England’s World Cup semi-final with Germany is going to a replay — 19 years after a tear-filled, penalty shootout defeat. Former coach Bobby Robson is reuniting his England team from the 1990 World Cup to raise money for his cancer charity on July 26 at St James’ Park in Newcastle. “Hopefully, this time we’ll get the result we want against Germany,” Robson said on Friday. “We had a good group of players that year; very talented, very tough and ambitious. We got better as the tournament progressed, more accomplished and the fact we lost on penalties and not in open play tells its story.” Paul Gascoigne is expected to play.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS