Mozambique 2-2 Benin: Keeper errors doom Benin

January 13, 2010


A pair of costly errors by Benin goalkeeper Yoann Djidonou helped Mozambique earn a 2-2 draw on Tuesday in the nations’ Group C opener at the African Cup of Nations in Angola.

Benin started the better of the two sides and took a deserved lead in the 15th minute. Mozambique goalkeeper Kapango hauled down Razak Omotoyossi in the penalty area, and the striker slotted home up the middle from the spot for a 1-0 lead.

Six minutes later, Mozambique gifted Benin a second goal when Dário Khan slotted into his own net during a scramble in front of goal.

The east coast side, though, were resilient and pulled a goal back on the half hour after an error by Benin goalkeeper Yoann Djidonou. A corner kick from the far side was punched high into the air, but with Djidonou caught out it gave Almiro Lobo the chance to send a looping header into an open net.

Djidonou then was guilty of another horrible error in the 54th minute that led to Mozambique nodding the match at 2-2.

After coming well out of his area to clear the ball, Djidonou was caught out on a quick throw in. The ball was crossed into the center of the area, where Fumo slotted home into an open net.

Both sides pressured after the equalizer, but neither was able to come through with the decisive goal.

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Domenech ridicules bonus claims

November 24, 2009


France coach Raymond Domenech on Monday dismissed claims that he had received a bonus of 862,000 euros for successfully guiding the side to next year’s World Cup finals.

The combative 57-year-old – whose team reached the finals in controversial circumstances last Wednesday as Thierry Henry’s double handball set up the decisive goal in the 2-1 aggregate victory over the Republic of Ireland – told France Bleu that France Football’s claims over his bonus were way over the mark.

“The figure they cite is totally astounding,” said Domenech, who has never won over the French fans despite taking the team to the 2006 World Cup final.

“If it really was that, I would be as happy as anything.

“But it is way over the mark. I won’t even try and contradict the information because it is their usual editorial line. It is a lie. Money is not my motivation.

“If I was coach of a club, I would be earning 10-times the amount I am at the moment.

“It is not a question of money. It was Roger Lemerre (France coach from 1998-2002) who said that ‘We have one function, one real role, to be coach of France, that is enough’. I would do it for free, it is an honour to have such a post.”

Domenech said that football treated its best paid people with less respect than other sports.

“In tennis, one hears of this and that tournament with astonishing prizemoney. In motorsport the wages are astronomical. In golf, the more money one wins the more one is respected. In football it is the reverse.

“One is given the impression that those who make money in football are cheating.

“It is astonishing.”

PARIS (AFP)

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Hand of Henry goal makes strong case for video evidence

November 19, 2009

France’s decisive goal against Ireland in their World Cup play-off will only add further weight to the case for using a video ref, or extra goal-line officials, at least in the biggest matches.

The controversial extra-time strike from William Gallas took France through to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, while leaving the Irish barely able to contain a sense of frustration and injustice.

It was goal which should not have stood, as TV pictures made plain. French captain Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball, not once, but twice before crossing for Gallas to score from close range.

Once again, fans are wondering how a mistake of such magnitude, in such a high-stakes game,  could be allowed to happen.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini both disagree with the use of video referees but their case would have been a hard one to make in front of Irish fans on Wednesday. Soccer’s top officials say a video referee will only slow down the game. True enough, but would it not be better to stop the game and get the right decision rather than continue and see a faulty decision stand?

Platini, for his part, has managed to push through the idea of an extra official behind both goals with an eye on spotting such infringements. Currently the idea is being piloted in UEFA’s second-tier Europa League, but it may now be time to take the brave decision to introduce this across the board.

If we see another “Hand of God” moment in South Africa, perhaps one that decides the final, will football’s reputation survive it?

TO: France’s team captain Thierry Henry reacts in their World Cup qualifying playoff return leg match against Ireland at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis near Paris November 18, 2009. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

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Keane, Doyle hit out at Platini and Blatter

November 19, 2009


Ireland will be absolutely mad for a few days considering the way they were dumped out of the World Cup. William Gallas’ decisive goal was set up by Thierry Henry who handled the ball twice before crossing it to Gallas. The Irish players were devastated, with Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle blasting the Fifa and Uefa presidents claiming they would be “delighted” with France reaching the World Cup.

“They’re all probably clapping hands, Platini sitting up there on the phone to Sepp Blatter, probably texting each other, delighted with the result,” Keane told BBC Radio Five Live.

His teammate Doyle agreed with the Tottenham Hotspur striker. “It was clearly a handball. If we would’ve handled the ball, I’m sure it would have been seen by the referee or the linesman. It is difficult. We are playing in Paris in front of a big French crowd. The president of Uefa (Michel Platini) is here and it is just difficult for us to get. ”

Keane also criticised the late decision to seed the play-off ties when it emerged that established football powers such as France, Portugal and at one stage Germany could be involved.

“Germany had a chance of being in the (play-offs) as well. With two massive countries there’s no way in a million years that there’s going to be a fair draw.”

Paul Haring

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Pressure is on Barcelona-Sneijder

November 5, 2009


Wesley Sneijder’s late winner against Dynamo Kiev (1-2) caused a dramatic turn around in Group F. Inter Milan started the day at the bottom of the group but thanks to the win they now have a one-point lead at the top with two matches to play.

Sneijder was a doubt to play in Kiev, but scored the decisive goal.

The Dutchman passed a late fitness test in order to start against Dynamo, netting the stoppage-time goal that secured a 2-1 victory.

Sneijder stated after the match that “the pressure is now on Barcelona.”

“There was a dose of good luck, but also lots of courage in this victory and I was lucky to score,” the 25-year-old playmaker told Sky Sports Italia.

“I’m very pleased because I managed to give my contribution tonight. This is an extremely important victory for us, now we have two games to get the three points necessary to qualify.

“Thanks to this victory we can go and play at the Camp Nou in Barcelona with a bit less pressure.”

Paul Haring

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Valencia ride luck to down troubled Malaga

November 2, 2009


Valencia reclaimed fourth spot from Real Mallorca thanks to a fortunate 1-0 win over bottom side Malaga on Sunday with defender David Navarro’s first goal of the season clinching the points.

Centre-back Navarro jumped highest at the back post to head in a Pablo Hernandez cross for the winning goal on 68 minutes as Valencia moved a point behind third-placed Sevilla.

“No games are easy and this one against Malaga certainly wasn’t,” said Valencia coach Unai Emery. “It was a tough game in which we had our chances but so did Malaga and we needed a big save from Cesar (Sanchez) towards the end.”

Malaga continue to prop up the table having not won since the opening day of the season when they thrashed Atletico Madrid 3-0.

David Villa, the league’s joint top-scorer with seven goals, almost scored for Valencia in the third minute when his cross crashed against the post to safety.

Juan Mata then had a goal ruled out for offside and Pablo Hernandez went agonisingly close with a drive as Malaga were over-run.

Albert Luque had the hosts’ best first half chance sliding in at the back post but could not get a foot on the devilish cross.

Villa went close with a lobbed effort in the second half but the goal was to come from a surprising source as Navarro capitalised on some slack defending to head home.

Malaga spurned several chances to equalise with Valencia goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez in fine form.

Real Mallorca are a point behind Valencia after maintaining their 100 percent home record with a 1-0 win over Racing Santander on Sunday.

Cameroon striker Pierre Webo scored the decisive goal to make it a perfect five wins for Mallorca at their fortress-like Ono Stadium.

Deportivo La Coruna can move above Mallorca and join Valencia on 18 points with a home win over Sporting Gijon later on Sunday.

Earlier Villarreal powered out of the bottom three thrashing promoted Tenerife at El Madrigal where three of the hosts’ five unanswered goals came in a magical six-minute spell.

“We won 5-0 but it was far from easy and in fact Tenerife were the most difficult team we have faced,” said Villarreal coach Ernesto Valverde.

“The big difference was that on this occasion our strikers were clinical and killed off the game especially at the start of the second half.”

An action-packed start to the second half saw veteran French midfielder Robert Pires put Villarreal 2-0 up 60 seconds after the break before Giuseppe Rossi (51 min) and Jose Llorente (52) put hapless Tenerife to the sword.

Llorente had opened the scoring after 14 minutes and Ruben Cani ended the goal-scoring rout in the 88th minute.

After going seven games without a win Villarreal have now recorded successive victories and move up five places to 13th in the table.

Villarreal’s win sees Atletico Madrid, who face Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday, fall into the bottom three with just one win from nine games.

Tenerife hover just above the relegation zone after failing to collect a point on their travels.

MADRID (AFP)

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Liverpool booed as Lyon inflict fourth straight defeat

October 21, 2009


An injury-time goal from substitute Cesar Delgado clinched a dramatic 2-1 victory for Lyon in their Champions League group visit to Liverpool on Wednesday, inflicting a fourth successive defeat on the English side for the first time in more than two decades.

The Anfield crowd booed their team on the final whistle after they had squandered a first half lead handed them by Yossi Benayoun and the defeat leaves major question marks over whether Rafa Benitez can deliver silverware for his club this season.

Liverpool looked in control of the game until a 72nd minute equaliser from substitute defender Maxime Gonalons and worse was to follow, a minute into added time, when Delgado slid in at the far post to meet Sidney Govou’s cross for a memorable winner.

Benayoun struck five minutes before the interval, ending an anxious period for the home side who had lost Steven Gerrard after only 25 minutes, presumably due to a recurrence of the groin injury which had kept him out of the bizarre weekend defeat against Sunderland with the decisive goal deflected off a beach ball.

Just ten minutes had gone here when impressive full-back Aly Cissokho delivered a stunning far post cross onto the head of Lisandro only for the Lyon striker to place his effort too close to Jose Reina who responded with a reflex save.

That attack exploited Liverpool’s teenage debutant Martin Kelly, thrown into the fray in place of the injured Glen Johnson, but after a couple of early anxious moments, the right-back coped well with the occasion.

Before his departure, Gerrard had set up a ‘goal’ for Dirk Kuyt, only for the effort to be ruled out for a push by the Dutchman on Jeremy Toulalan.

Just before half-time Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris made a magnificent block to keep out a powerful header from Gerrard’s replacement Fabio Aurelio.

By then, however, Liverpool were a goal to the good against the French visitors.

Benayoun drove Liverpool forward on the counter attack, feeding Aurelio wide on the left from where his low shot was missed by a number of bodies in the six-yard before being driven home calmly by the Israeli international.

With the Spanish international forward Fernando Torres still injured, Benitez had opted to hand Ngog his first start of the season in the by- now familiar 4-2-3-1 formation Liverpool have adopted.

David Ngog came close to marking his call-up just before the hour, taking an excellent cross from Kelly on his chest but being able to only produce a tame left-foot shot wide.

The second period had opened with Anthony Reveillere sending a dipping shot over the Liverpool crossbar but, as the half wore on, the visitors seemed to be running out of ideas at the attacking end.

That changed dramatically in the 71st minute when Gonalons headed Lyon level following an acrobatic double save from Reina. Liverpool’s Spanish keeper only half cleared a corner with his punch but seemed to have made amends with blocks to deny efforts from Toulalan and Govou.

The rebound from that second attempt fell unkindly for the home goalkeeper and Gonalons was well placed to steer an uncontested header into the unprotected net.

Substitute Martin Skrtel hooked a shot over the bar and Javier Mascherano saw a long-range attempt saved before the dramatic finale brought defeat.

PARIS (AFP)

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Fan beaches Liverpool´s title hopes

October 18, 2009


Instant notoriety is guaranteed for a young spectator who effectively condemned Liverpool to a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland here at the Stadium of Light.

The ’supporter’, who was wearing a dark blue top – the colour of Liverpool’s city rivals Everton – has been captured on YouTube throwing a beach ball into the Liverpool penalty area during a Sunderland attack.

He could not have imagined the consequences before a shot from Darren Bent struck the ball and diverted it past goalkeeper Pepe Reina for the decisive goal in Saturday’s match.

It was an incident which provoked surprising responses from the two managers, with Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez remarkably sanguine about a goal that brought about his team’s third successive defeat.

Asked if the goal should have been disallowed, Benitez said: “It’s a technical question. It could be a goal, but it’s difficult to say. In this case, I think it should be a goal.”

Steve Bruce, the Sunderland manager, was not so certain after speaking to a referee after the game about “outside interference”.

He said: “I’ve been told the laws of the game state it should have been disallowed and the game restarted with a drop ball. But does anybody know that rule?”

Bent didn’t care who was right. He was just happy to claim a goal which meant he’d scored in each of Sunderland’s last five games.

It also moved him level with Liverpool’s Fernando Torres as the Premier League’s top scorer with eight goals.

Bent, who is staking a powerful claim for an England return, said: “It was a strange goal, but I will take it.”

While it was a freakish winner, the outcome of the game was the right one with Sunderland confirming the promise they showed in drawing at champions Manchester United a fortnight earlier.

They outclassed a Liverpool team who were deprived of Torres and Steven Gerrard through injuries and could not fill the gap in class left by those two internationals.

This was their third successive defeat and their fourth in the league this season – and no team has won the championship after losing so many times in the past decade.

However, Benitez is refusing to accept that Liverpool’s pursuit of the title is over.

He said: “This is a bad defeat, but in a normal season, teams at the top would be wining every single game.

“This is a bit different. Chelsea have lost twice and I’ve seen a lot of teams at the top losing games.

“If we win the next two or three games, we could be top of the table. It’s a question of keeping our confidence and working hard. We have to analyse things and see if we are making mistakes,” the Spaniard said.

Bruce said: “I thought we deserved it. We had three one-on-ones in the second-half and could have scored more.

“There was a great atmosphere and maybe the players have not been able to handle it in the past, but they did this time and it’s pleasing.

“We had a bit of luck with the goal, but we took them on and beat them hands down,” the former United captain added.

Sunderland moved above Liverpool with this victory and into seventh place. On this evidence, they could go even higher and it would be no surprise if they still head the Anfield club at the end of the season.

That is the measure of the progress they have made this season thanks to Bruce’s shrewd transfer activity.

SUNDERLAND, England (AFP)

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Mourinho banking on born winner Eto´o

September 16, 2009


Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho insisted on Tuesday that striker Samuel Eto’o would have no more motivation to beat former team Barcelona than he does anyone else as he is already a born winner.

Inter host the holders in their Champions League Group F opener in a match that immediately pits Eto’o and Barca’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic against the teams they left only a couple of months ago.

The manner of their departures was wildly different, though, as Ibrahimovic left in search of the European success that eluded him during five years in Italy while Eto’o was forced out of Catalonia against his will, as a make-weight in the deal to bring the big Swede to Spain.

But Mourinho said revenge will not be on the mind of the Cameroon forward.

“I think Samuel is one of those types of player who is always motivated, he was born to win, someone who likes to play with a ball,” said the Portuguese boss, who like Eto’o has previously won this competition.

“He left Barcelona with the team in his heart because he felt no negative sentiments towards them.

“I don’t think this match will be anything special for him, I think he’ll play with the same stimulus he has every other match.

“He has absolutely nothing to prove, we all know what his qualities are and he owes nothing to Barcelona because he has already given them a lot.

“He seems normal to me and let’s not forget, he’s not a child, he’s a player with a lot of experience.”

Eto’o won two Champions League titles with Barca, in 2006 and 2009, scoring the decisive goal in both finals.

Last season he was part of a team that dazzled both at home in Spain and in Europe, culminating in a sensational performance in the 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the final in Rome in May.

And Mourinho admits that Wednesday’s opponents are the benchmark for his team.

“We’re building a team here, Barcelona is a football school, a team that has kept the same philosophy over many years,” he said.

“We’re not a school, we’re a team beginning a period in which we’ll try to play in a certain way with a different philosophy.

“But we also want to become a school, with our own characteristics obviously adapted to the reality of Italian football but also that of European football because we crave success in the Champions League.

“But tomorrow’s game is one rich in quality players.”

Regardless of what happens, though, Mourinho insists there will still be a long way to go after the match.

“Inter-Barcelona is one game in a group of six matches, it’s not a question of life or death, neither team can be knocked out of the Champions League and hence there won’t be the drama, the tension or the stress of a knock-out match.”

MILAN, Italy (AFP)

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Toluca, Marathon battle for Group B lead

September 15, 2009


It’s still early in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage, but a battle for Group B supremacy will take place at Nemesio Diaz as Toluca host Marathon on Thursday night.

Both teams have won their first two matches and are two of four teams among the final 16 to have secured the full six points from their first two matches.

Toluca comes into the match off a 1-0 victory against Indios in Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican Apertura on Saturday. Chilean Hector Mancilla scored the game’s lone goal, heading in Antonio Naelson’s cross two minutes before halftime.
Indios, which was reduced to 10 men in the 63rd minute when Juan Ramon Curbelo was sent off for a late challenge on Naelson, had an equalizer disallowed by the referee in the second half.

Toluca is eight points clear of San Luis in Apertura’s Group 1 and is atop the entire league with six wins in its first eight matches.

But Los Choriceros also received a bit of bad news Saturday when goalkeeper Hernan Cristante was replaced in the final quarter hour after suffering a dislocated patella in his left knee.

Marathon also sits atop the Honduran Apertura, two points clear of rival Olimpia after 10 rounds. Mitchell Brown struck for a pair to lift Marathon to a 2-0 win at Hispano on Saturday, stretching his team’s league unbeaten streak to four straight.

In what is essentially an elimination match, D.C. United travels to Trinidad & Tobago to take on San Juan Jabloteh in a meeting of winless teams in Group B at Hasley Crawford Stadium Tuesday night in Port-of-Spain.

D.C., which secured just one point in last year’s group stage, will be playing its third match in six days. On Wednesday, United defeated the Kansas City Wizards 1-0 with Luciano Emilio scoring his ninth goal of the year.

On Saturday,however , D.C. fell to the Seattle Sounders FC for the second time in 10 days at RFK Stadium with Colombian Fredy Montero striking the decisive goal six minutes from full time. Montero also scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, a win that clinched the Sounders FC berth in next year’s CONCACAF Champions League.

It was D.C.’s first Major League Soccer home loss of the season.

Jabloteh is currently second in the Digicel Pro League, two points behind Joe Public. The two sides played to a goalless draw on Tuesday. Jabloteh bolstered its defense by adding Glenton Wolfe from W Connection, where he was used mostly for the Savonetta Boys reserves.

However, having been listed on W Connection’s roster as far back as the Preliminary Round, he is ineligible to play for Jabloteh in the Champions League this season.

“I want to be more active,” Wolfe told the Digicel Pro League website. “I wasn’t getting that at Connection.”

By Dylan Butler

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