Zlatan Ibrahimovic lit up a night of friendlies most club coaches had castigated as an unnecessary intrusion into their domestic campaigns as the Sweden star scored four times to give his side a 4-2 win over England on Wednesday.
Ibrahimovic saved his most spectacular goal for last, an outrageous long-range bicycle kick in in stoppage-time that drew a standing ovation from the Sweden dugout.
There was also further evidence France’s 1998 World Cup winning captain Didier Deschamps was having a dynamic effect on the present team as they followed up their impressive 1-1 draw against world and European champions Spain in a World Cup qualifier last month with a 2-1 win over Euro 2012 finalists Italy in Parma.
Photo: Reuters
Elsewhere, two Euro 2012 semi-finalists Germany and Portugal had to settle for draws — the Germans drawing 0-0 with archrivals the Netherlands in Amsterdam and the Portuguese held 2-2 by Gabon.
A poor result in a friendly does not often provoke a sacking, but Chile’s Argentine coach Claudio Borghi was told enough was enough after his side slumped to a 3-1 defeat by Serbia. The loss came on top of a disappointing series of results in South American qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni also will not be feeling too comfortable as his side slumped to a 1-0 home defeat by Greece — their second successive home reverse following the 6-1 humiliation by Germany in a World Cup qualifier last month.
Scotland are looking for a new manager and while they gained a welcome win in caretaker manager Billy Stark’s first game in charge since Craig Levein was relieved of his duties, a 2-1 away victory over minnows Luxembourg will not have his paymasters rushing to sign him up on a permanent basis.
Lionel Messi was kept scoreless as Argentina were held 0-0 in Saudi Arabia, but Barcelona teammate Pedro Rodriguez scored twice as Spain defeated hosts Panama 5-1.
Luis Suarez scored in the second half to cap Uruguay’s 3-1 win in Poland, while Neymar scored in the 64th minute as Brazil drew 1-1 with Colombia.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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