■GERMANY
Hoffenheim held at Cologne
Third-placed TSG 1899 Hoffenheim missed a chance to close in on the Bundesliga leaders after having to settle for a 1-1 draw at Cologne on Friday. Cologne captain Lukas Podolski fired the hosts into the lead with a left-footed drive as Hoffenheim failed to create any meaningful chances in the first half. Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick then switched to a risky second-half formation, leaving just two defenders at the back, and the move paid off almost instantly. Demba Ba stunned Cologne goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon with a shot from the edge of the area to equalize in the 54th minute. However, apart from a Vedad Ibisevic chance a few minutes later, the visitors’ attacks quickly fizzled out and Cologne, who had hit the post in the first half, looked more likely winners. Cologne’s Martin Lanig wasted their best chance to clinch all three points 12 minutes from time, firing at well-placed goalkeeper Tom Starke from close range.
■TOGO
Two officials detained
Two members of Togo’s interim soccer federation have been detained on suspicion of being involved with the fake national team that played an unsanctioned match against Bahrain this month, a security official said on Friday. Meanwhile, former Togo coach Tchanile Bana — who was banned for his role as the organizer behind the scandal — is now “on the run,” said Colonel Damehane Yark, commander of the Togolese National Paramilitary Gendarmerie. Yark said federation officials Antoine Folly and Doucoure Mamadou had been held for questioning on Friday following a dawn raid. Folly was a member of the disciplinary commission investigating the Sept. 7 game and Mamadou is a special assistant to the federation’s president. The pair are suspected of being behind fake documents sent to the Bahrain Football Association to set up the match, Yark said.
■ENGLAND
Spurs set to sign Khumalo
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp said on Friday that the English Premier League side were hopeful of concluding a £1.5 million (US$2.4 million) deal for South Africa’s World Cup defender Bongani Khumalo. The 23-year-old had a trial at White Hart Lane and is expected to move from South African league side Supersports when the transfer window opens in January. “We’re in the process of doing a deal for him. He’s not expensive. We had him over on trial and we like him. He’s got potential and we’ve got a tie up with the club Supersports, so we’ve taken him on,” Redknapp said. Khumalo, who was born in Swaziland, scored during this summer’s World Cup win over France. His arrival will be a significant boost to Redknapp, who has seen Michael Dawson join fellow centerback Jonathan Woodgate on the long-term injury list.
■ENGLAND
Best’s awards up for auction
George Best’s 1968 European Cup winners’ medal will go under the auctioneer’s hammer along with a collection of the Manchester United and Northern Ireland midfielder’s other awards next month. Bonhams, who will auction the collection on Oct. 20 under instruction from the executors of Best’s estate, said the guide price for the medal would be between £90,000 and £120,000. Best, who died aged 59 in 2005 after a long battle with drink and its associated health problems, was part of the United team that became the first English side to win the European Cup with a 4-1 win over Benfica. The total amount expected to be raised is estimated at about £270,000.
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