PORTUGAL
‘Students’ stun Sporting
Surprise-package Academica earned a shock 1-0 win over Sporting in Sunday’s Portuguese Cup final, snatching the trophy thanks to an early goal by winger Marinho. Coimbra-based Academica, nicknamed “the students,” had won the Cup only once before, in its very first edition in 1939. The defeat dealt a severe blow to Sporting and coach Ricardo Sa Pinto, who end the season trophyless. Marinho, the shortest player on the pitch, wrote his name in Academica’s history books when he sneaked behind Sporting’s defense and headed home after only four minutes. Sporting were slow and often clumsy in their buildup play, and they succumbed to Academica’s focused and well-organized tactics. The Lisbon club missed their best chance to equalize in the second half when Dutch striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel failed to beat goalkeeper Ricardo when through on goal.
ITALY
Torino, Pescara promoted
Torino will be back in Serie A next season following an absence of three years after beating Modena 2-0 on Sunday. The result assured Torino of promotion as they cannot be caught by Hellas Verona or US Sassuolo Calcio heading into the final round of matches at the weekend. Delfino Pescara 1936 joined Torino in the top flight after a 19-year wait, following a 3-1 win at Sampdoria. They are two points behind Torino. Nnamdi Oduamadi and Giuseppe De Feudis scored a goal in each half for Torino at a sold-out Stadio Olimpico. A brace from Gianluca Caprari, either side of Ciro Immobile’s goal, handed Pescara victory in Genoa. Zdenek Zeman’s young, attacking team has scored 89 goals this season — 36 more than any other team in the division. Verona and Sassuolo were joined in the promotion playoffs by Vicenza Calcio and Sampdoria.
AUSTRIA
Salzburg complete double
Red Bull Salzburg completed the Austrian double on Sunday with an embarrassingly one-sided 3-0 win over holders SV Ried in the Austrian Cup final. Salzburg, who wrapped up the Austrian Bundesliga the previous week, needed only 15 minutes to take a 2-0 lead with a penalty converted by Brazilian forward Leonardo and a Frank Schiemer header. There was no way back for Ried after that, despite the backing of most of the fans in a disappointing 16,000 crowd at the Ernest Happel-Stadion. Stefan Hierlaender added a third in stoppage-time. Ten players were booked in a niggly, bad-tempered encounter as Salzburg won the Cup for the fifth time. Salzburg have dominated Austrian soccer since the club was taken over by the Red Bull energy drinks company in 2005, winning the league four times in the past six seasons, although it was their first Cup win in that time.
MEXICO
Santos Laguna claim title
Daniel Luduena and Oribe Peralta scored either side of halftime as Santos Laguna beat Monterrey 2-1 to claim the Mexican title on Sunday. Santos won the two-legged finals series 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw the previous week in Monterrey. The playoff decided the second half of Mexico’s split season, the Clausura. The first-half title — the Apertura — was won by Tigres UANL. Luduena opened the scoring in the sixth minute and Oribe Peralta extended the lead in the 65th. Aldo de Nigris pulled one back for Monterrey in the 79th minute. The title is Santos Laguna’s fourth since the club was founded in 1983 and they extracted some revenge after Monterrey defeated them 4-3 on aggregate in last month’s CONCACAF Champions League final.
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
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Taiwanese e-sports team Ban Mei Gaming (BMG) claimed second place at this year’s Arena of Valor International Championship (AIC 2024) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after losing to the Thai team Bacon Time (BAC) in the finals on Sunday In the final match, BMG faced BAC, who finished top in the winners’ bracket, but lost 0-4. However, BMG still walked away with US$100,000 in prize money for finishing runners-up. The AIC 2024 began with 16 teams competing in the Swiss Stage, where teams played up to five rounds. Those securing three wins advanced to the Knockout Stage, while teams
Japan’s national high-school soccer tournament is thriving after more than 100 years, attracting huge crowds, millions watching on TV and breeding future stars, despite professional clubs trying to attract young talent. The annual tournament kicked off on Saturday and is still regarded as the pinnacle of amateur soccer with young players dreaming of playing in the final in front of tens of thousands at the National Stadium in Tokyo. Matches are a massive occasion for the whole school as student cheering squads wave flags, bang drums and roar on their teams in a spectacle of noise and color. “All the
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