SOCCER
San Marino end victory wait
San Marino, the world’s worst team according to the FIFA rankings, made history on Thursday by beating Liechtenstein 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League to claim their first-ever competitive win. The tiny country of about 30,000 people, surrounded by Italy, came into the match at their San Marino Stadium looking for a first win of any sort since beating Liechtenstein in a friendly in 2004. Liechtenstein had a goal disallowed for a tight offside in the first half before San Marino pounced on a defensive error to grab the winner in the 53rd minute through Nicko Sensoli. Aged 19, he had not been born when the team who sit 210th and last in the world rankings last won a game The whipping boys of international football had been building up to this having claimed draws in friendly matches against Seychelles, Saint Lucia, and Saint Kitts and Nevis over the past two years. They are in the three-team Group 1 of the bottom tier League D in the UEFA Nations League, with Gibraltar their other opponents.
RUGBY
Fiji into Pacific semis
Fiji booked their place in the Pacific Nations Cup semi-finals yesterday after holding off Tonga to claim a convincing 50-19 win in Nuku’alofa. The visitors finished as Group A winners and would play either Japan or the United States in Tokyo on Saturday next week.
Samoa also went through to the semis as Group A runners-up, which would also be played in the Japanese capital. Almost 100 years to the day since Fiji and Tonga first met in a Test match, Fiji rushed out to an early lead with three tries in the opening 11 minutes. However, a yellow card for Fiji’s Adrea Cocagi — later upgraded to a 20-minute red — turned the tide midway through the first half as Tonga scored three tries to draw level.
Fiji dug in and their quality showed in the second half, eventually running out comfortable winners.
CYCLING
Berrade wins stage 18
Spaniard Urko Berrade soloed to victory on Thursday at the 18th stage of the Vuelta a Espana in the Basque Country as Australia’s Ben O’Connor held the overall race leader’s red jersey with three days to go.
Berrade, 26, gave his Kern Pharma team their third stage win of this year’s race, powering over the line in his home region four seconds ahead of Swiss Mauro Schmid. Another Kern Pharma rider Pau Miquel crossed the line in third.
In a group of pursuers far from the race lead, O’Connor, riding for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team, held his five-second advantage on Slovenian three-time champion Primoz Roglic. Berrade was part of a first peloton of about 40 riders who took off early in the medium mountain stage more than 179.5km from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Maeztu. The rider from Pamplona proved strongest in the closing stages, sealing his first victory to add to teammate Pablo Castrillo’s two stage wins. “For our small team, this Vuelta was very important. It’s a dream what’s happening to us,” said Berrade of his delight at winning “the stage closest to home, with all my family watching me, friends.” Today is to feature another decisive mountain top finish before the final time trial in Madrid tomorrow.
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about £2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday poured in 35 points as the Thunder grabbed a bounce-back 118-108 victory in Portland to push their NBA-best record to 37-8. The Thunder, surprised by the short-handed Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, fended off a late surge from the Trail Blazers to snap their four-game winning streak. Jalen Williams scored 24 points and Isaiah Joe added 16 off the bench. Center Isaiah Hartenstein, back after a five-game absence with a calf injury, added 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a big block. The Western Conference leaders were under pressure late as Portland, trailing by 15 heading
The Golden State Warriors on Wednesday withstood Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 52-point outburst to beat the Western Conference leading Thunder 116-109. Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Warriors superstar Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as Golden State erased a double-digit deficit and pulled away late for the victory. “We just stayed solid,” said Curry, who entered the contest mired in a shooting slump and had just four points on one basket in the first half. “Just all-around effort.” The Thunder, fueled by 31 first-half points from Gilgeous-Alexander, led by as many as 14 in the