■UKRAINE
Shevchenko rejoins Kiev
Former European Footballer of the Year Andriy Shevchenko has agreed to rejoin Dynamo Kiev from Chelsea. “Shevchenko has signed a two-year contract,” the Ukrainian club said on their Web site on Saturday. Kiev added the 32-year-old Ukraine striker would be presented as their player yesterday. On Friday, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said he could not guarantee Shevchenko first-team soccer. “I spoke with Shevchenko and he would like to play with continuity here. For me it is difficult to give him this possibility and I think he has taken the right decision [to move],” Ancelotti said.
■PORTUGAL
Porto go top of the table
New striker Radamel Falcao’s early goal helped four-time defending champions FC Porto beat Naval 3-1 in the Portuguese league on Saturday. The Colombia striker, signed from Argentina’s River Plate in the summer to replace the departed Lisandro Lopez, notched his third goal in as many games in the eighth minute at Bento Pessoa Stadium. Silvestre Varela made it 2-0 in the 61st minute, before Rolando’s own-goal in the 75th minute cut the lead to one. Ernesto Farias re-established the two-goal cushion two minutes later as Porto moved to the top of the table with seven points from three games. Also on Saturday, Pacos Ferreira drew 0-0 with Guimaraes.
■GREECE
Aris held by rivals Iraklis
Javier Campora scored two goals as Aris drew 2-2 at crosstown rivals Iraklis on Saturday in a match delayed for 45 minutes just a few seconds after kickoff when an Iraklis fan slapped and shouted obscenities at Aris goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis. Private security employees did nothing to prevent the fan from reaching Sifakis and the fan was not arrested. The draw moved both clubs to the top of the Greek league alongside Asteras, with all the teams on four points. Asteras had earlier beaten Kavala 1-0 away from home. Campora put Aris ahead with a low drive in the 21st minute, but four minutes later, Victoras Iacob leveled with a powerful header. Campora put his team ahead again with a header off a cross from Sergio Koke in the 38th minute, but in the 58th minute Denis Epstein converted a penalty. Also on Saturday, Panionios drew 1-1 at home with Ergotelis.
■NETHERLANDS
Alkmaar down Willem II
Hector Moreno and Brett Holman scored for AZ Alkmaar, who beat Willem II 2-1 to move atop the Dutch league on Saturday. Sergio Zijler grabbed the lone goal for Willem 11 in the 23rd minute. AZ lead the standings with 12 points, two more than Feyenoord and FC Twente, who have a game in hand. Also on Saturday, VVV-Venlo maintained their unbeaten run by holding NEC Nijmegen 1-1 for their fifth straight draw. Japan midfielder Keisuke Honda set up Sandro Calabro for the opening goal in the 30th minute, before Ramon Zomer equalized for NEC six minutes after the break. FC Utrecht downed Sparta Rotterdam 2-0 with goals from Jacob Lensky and Gregoor van Dijk.
■ENGLAND
Lennon set for recall
Aaron Lennon looks set to be recalled for England’s World Cup qualifier against Croatia when a victory would secure qualification for South Africa 2010. The speedy winger has impressed national manager Fabio Capello in the early weeks of the season, having helped Tottenham win their first four matches of the Premier League season.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
RSS