Category — Other Leagues
Liberian striker Anthony Laffor scored a hat-trick
Liberian striker Anthony Laffor scored a hat-trick as South African Premiership leaders SuperSport United trounced Mamelodi Sundowns 4-1 in a Pretoria derby. The victory lifted defending champions SuperSport to 49 points, six more than Orlando Pirates and nine ahead of Kaizer Chiefs as the race for the title enters the closing stage.
Sundowns are 11 points adrift in fourth place with five fixtures left and virtually out of the title race while raising doubts about the future of French coach Henri Michel. Laffor, who played in his homeland and Ghana before arriving in South Africa four years ago, claimed his second hat-trick of the championship season and lies third on the scorers list with 11 goals.
He broke the deadlock at Super Stadium after 23 minutes by rounding goalkeeper Calvin Marlin and his low cross set up the second goal for midfielder Daine Klate soon after to give United a 2-0 half-time lead. There was no second-half comeback from expensively assembled Sundowns and Laffor struck again on 65 minutes after Glen Salmon won a race for possession and played the ball into the path of the lethal Liberian.
Sundowns embarrassment was completed 12 minutes from full-time when Laffor got to a cross first and national squad member Marlin had to pick the ball out of his net once more. The losers were reduced to 10 men when another Bafana Bafana (The Boys) contender, defender Matthew Booth, was shown a red card for a late tackle on Mozambican midfielder Elias ‘Domingues’ Pelembe.
Zambian substitute Collins Mbesuma finally gave Sundowns supporters some cheer with a consolation goal and SuperSport goalkeeper Andre Arendse made several late saves. The keeper, who turns 42 in June, was recalled in place of Ugandan Dennis Onyango as coach Gavin Hunt rang the changes after an African Champions League loss at Kampala City Council last weekend.
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March 20, 2009 No Comments
US Major League Soccer season starts with a shocker
Seattle Sounders opened the Major League soccer season in style with a 3-0 thumping of the New York Red Bulls to a sell-out crowd on Thursday night – casting aside the off-season saga of David Beckham’s future.
The newest team in the MLS, Seattle have sold over 20,000 season tickets and in a passionate stadium in front of 32,000 fans there was little thought of L.A Galaxy’s Beckham, who will miss the first part of the season while he stays with AC Milan in Italy. There was a full-blooded atmosphere at Qwest Field as the ‘Rave Greens’ began their first campaign in USA’s top league playing at a fast pace against a New York side that looked far from certain in defence.
Colombian international Fredy Montero opened the scoring in the 11th minute, finishing off a fine passing move with a confident 15 yard strike. The impressive Montero then set up Brad Evans for Seattle’s second in the 25th minute as the home side threatened to run amok. The only surprise was that it took until the 75th minute for the Sounders to add their third when Red Bulls defender Mike Petke was woefully caught in possession and Montero dribbled goalwards before blasting home.
“There was so much expectation but we had to perform and we had to do that – it’s great that we could,” said Sounders keeper Kasey Keller back in the United States after a career in England, Spain and Germany. Qwest Field is home to the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and the venue was re-arranged for it’s MLS debut with the upper tier closed off and covered with flags and decorations.
The result was a sell-out in the 32,000 lower tier and MLS commissioner Don Garber was delighted with the first appearance of the league’s newest franchise. “It shows what soccer can be in this country, this is absolutely spectacular and defines what we want to see in Major League Soccer,” he told ESPN television.
The Sounders featured in the old North American Soccer League (NASL) and then the United Soccer Leagues (USL) before winning an expansion slot in the MLS. Portland is expected to be named as the newest expansion team on Friday.
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March 20, 2009 No Comments
Swiss Cup updates
FC Luzern, FC Basel, Young Boys Bern and Sion are the four teams that make an appearance in the semi finals of the Swiss Cup.
Quarter final action started on March 4th, when Young Boys bern easily defeated Grasshopper 3-0 at their own stadium, which was also a host venue of Euro 2008.
Sion secured their ticket to the semi finals thanks to a 1-2 win at Sankt Gallen on Tuesday. Luzern beat Concordia Basel 0-2 and FC Basel were just a bit too strong for FC Zürich, 0-1.
If Basel were to win the tournament, it would be their third consecutive Cup trophy. Of the four semi-finalists, Young Boys have to go furthest back to their most recent victory, which was achieved in 1987.
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March 19, 2009 No Comments
Juventus offering £11m for Malouda
Juventus are preparing an £11million summer bid for Chelsea star Florent Malouda, The Sun reported. The Italian giants will swoop for the French international midfielder after making contact with his representatives.
Juve have targeted Malouda after Czech Republic legend Pavel Nedved, 36, announced last month he will retire at the end of this season. A top source at the Turin club said: “We have been looking at a number of options and Malouda is very high on this list. “Let’s see what happens at the end of the season.”
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March 17, 2009 No Comments
Warm welcome for Juan Roman Riquelme
Boca Juniors playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme was given a rapturous reception on Sunday in his first game since quitting the Argentine national side.
The Bombonera stadium echoed to cries of “Riquelme” as Boca took the field for their game with Argentinos Juniors and fans displayed banners supporting the enigmatic midfielder. Riquelme blamed Argentina coach Diego Maradona, himself a Boca fan and hero among the club’s followers, for his surprise decision last week to quit, saying they could not work together.
Some fans turned against Maradona with banners calling him a traitor for comments he made about Riquelme’s playing style last week which upset the former Barcelona and Villarreal player and prompted his decision to quit. “I’m happy with the decision I’ve made and I hope I don’t have to talk about this subject any more,” Riquelme said in a television interview afterwards.
Boca won 3-0, defender Juan Forlin and strikers Luciano Figueroa and Rodrigo Palacio sharing the goals, and moved up to ninth in the Clausura championship with nine points from six games, six behind leaders Lanus who beat Colon 2-1 on Saturday.
Troubled Racing Club won for the first time in the championship, beating Godoy Cruz 1-0 with a 75th minute header from Pablo Caballero. The visitors had Hernan Encina sent off in the 38th minute after he was booked twice in three minutes. Despite the win, Racing, who have just emerged from ten years of bankruptcy and are one of the country’s most popular clubs, remained bottom with four points. – FIFA
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March 16, 2009 No Comments
