SOCCER
Chile and Peru draw
Chile and Peru on Friday missed the chance to take a big step toward Copa America quarter-final qualification, playing out a dour 0-0 draw in their Group A opener in Arlington, Texas. The teams were striving to join Argentina on three points after the defending champions’ 2-0 victory over Canada, whose qualification hopes have been boosted by the draw. The stalemate reflected Chile and Peru’s struggles in the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying, where they have jointly managed just four goals across 12 matches. Chile’s Alexis Sanchez squandered the game’s best opportunity in the 16th minute. The former Inter and Arsenal forward missed a golden opportunity when he received Victor Davila’s low cross, only to send his close-range effort soaring over the crossbar. Chile showed more attacking flair, but failed to execute the crucial final pass in a first half marred by injuries, with Peru’s Luis Advincula subbed off in the 35th minute and Chilean midfielder Diego Valdes being replaced at halftime. Peru’s Miguel Araujo nearly broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute, forcing Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo into an acrobatic save with a well-connected header from Sergio Pena’s free-kick. Bravo’s performance in goal capped a special night for the former Barcelona and Manchester City player, who at 41 years, 2 months and 16 days became the oldest-ever Copa America player.
Photo: AFP
RUGBY UNION
England beat Japan
England yesterday beat Japan 52-17 in an eight-try performance at the National Stadium in Tokyo. It was the first time England played an official Test match in Japan. The hosts took an early 3-0 lead, but Chandler Cunningham-South put England ahead with a try in his first Test start as England marched to a 26-3 halftime lead.
BASEBALL
A’s pitcher wins weird
Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Newcomb on Friday picked up a win with a pickoff and without officially facing a batter in their 6-5 victory against the Minnesota Twins. With Oakland trailing 5-4, Newcomb came on in relief of Lucas Erceg to face Minnesota’s Willi Castro with Austin Martin on first and two outs in the eighth inning. With a 1-1 count on Castro, the left-handed Newcomb picked off Martin to end the inning. Shea Langeliers hit a two-run homer off Jhoan Duran in the bottom of the eighth to give the A’s the lead and Mason Miller pitched the ninth and sealed the win. Oakland said that Newcomb (1-0) was the first pitcher in their 124-year history to earn a victory without facing a batter.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
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
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
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
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