Archive for the ‘FC Groningen’ Category
ROME : Former Juve forward Adrian Mutu scored a late penalty to deny his former club Fiorentina a priceless victory at the Stadio Franchi on Sunday.
Juventus started the day in second place but dropped to third after the loss of two points allowed Roma, who cruised to a 3-0 win at Parma, to leap-frog them as Inter Milan’s closest challengers.
Fiorentina came into the game with one of only two unbeaten records this season but needed the Romanian striker’s successful penalty two minutes from time to snatch a share of the spoils.
Juve boss Claudio Ranieri, returning to his former club, had surprisingly left Alessandro Del Piero on the bench but his replacement Vincenzo Iaquinta opened the scoring on 23 minutes, pouncing on a loose ball after a collision between Fiorentina pair Dario Dainelli and Alessandro Gamberini left the striker free in the box.
Despite almost snatching the win, Ranieri admitted his side would struggle to keep up with the best teams this season.
“We want to compete, but we can only do so if the other big clubs give us the opportunity. We did enough to win today, but weren’t sharp enough in those final minutes.”
Fiorentina looked naturally jaded following their penalty shoot-out victory over FC Groningen of the Netherlands in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night.
After the break Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli went for broke, pushing Christian Vieri into the fray in an attacking line-up.
Chances came thick and fast at both ends before Nicola Legrottaglie blocked a Vieri header with his arm and the referee pointed to the spot, allowing Mutu to rifle home the equaliser.
“We were in the thick of the action right from the start and until Vincenzo Iaquinta’s opening goal, Juve did not have a single chance,” said Prandelli, who praised his team’s effort.
“All we were missing was a little bit of sharpness, but I could not have asked for more from my men. Despite the fitness worries, they overcame that obstacle with sheer heart.”
Francesco Totti scored a brace as Roma bounced back from their midweek Champions League defeat at Manchester United (1-0) to move back above Juventus into second.
It was the Giallorossi’s first win in four league games and Parma were the ideal opponents to end Roma’s recent poor run of results, that included a 4-1 home defeat to Inter last weekend.
“It is true we did not lock the result away immediately, but neither did we struggle,” said Roma boss Luciano Spaletti.
“We maintained our balance and showed great character in reacting to the defeats with Inter and Manchester United. I am sure my men will be able to take the right things from this win without letting themselves get over-excited.”
They opened the scoring on three minutes as Mirko Vucinic robbed Paolo Castellini to set up Totti with an easy tap-in.
Amantino Mancini made it 2-0 on the counter-attack and following the dismissal of Parma’s Bernardo Corradi on 27 minutes, Totti wrapped up the points late on following good work from Daniele De Rossi.
European champions AC Milan scored an impressive 5-1 victory at Lazio to move them up to eighth place in the table, seven points behind the leaders.
It was a welcome goal spree for Milan who lost to Celtic earlier this week in the Champions League and had previously only won one of their first six league games.
In other matches, Genoa are up to fifth after beating Cagliari 2-0 at home while Livorno remain rock bottom on two points from seven games after a 1-0 loss at Catania.
On Saturday Julio Cruz scored both goals in a 2-1 victory over Napoli at the San Siro as champions Inter consolidated their lead at the top of the table. – AFP/de
Results:
Palermo 1 Reggina 1
Genoa 2 Cagliari 0
Parma 0 AS Roma 3
Siena 3 Empoli 0
Fiorentina 1 Juventus 1
Catania 1 Livorno 0
Torino 1 Sampdoria 0
Lazio 1 AC Milan 5
Channel News Asia
Real Sociedad Back On Top
Posted on: February 25, 2003
- In: Ajax | Deportivo | FC Groningen | Feyenoord | Inter Milan | PSV Eindhoven | Schalke
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Real Sociedad back on top
LONDON
FEB. 24.
Real Madrid spent a night in first place, thanks to a game-winning goal from Ronaldo, but Real Sociedad’s first win in its last four Spanish football league matches put it back on top on Sunday.
In Italy, Inter Milan and Juventus stayed tied atop the Serie A standings while AC Milan’s match at Torino was suspended because of fan violence with the visitors leading 3-0.
Arsenal stretched its lead in the English Premier League to five points after beating Manchester City 5-1 while Bayern Munich moved 10 points clear in the German Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Nuremburg.
Ronaldo’s match-winner on Saturday put Real Madrid in first place with a 3-1 win over Valladolid. Roberto Carlos and Javier Portillo also scored for Madrid while Fernando Sales scored for the visitors.
Sociedad, which has led the Spanish league since October, beat Osasuna 2-0 with goals from Darko Kovacevic and Mikel Alonso to take back the lead.
Inter and Juventus enjoyed easy wins as the Milan side beat Piacenza 3-1 and defending champion Juventus beat Como by the same score.
Valencia in third place
Defending Spanish champion Valencia stayed in third place by beating Rayo Vallecano 4-0, while Diego Tristan scored a hat-trick and Roy Makaay added two more as Deportivo de La Coruna trounced Alaves 6-0.
FC Barcelona continued its resurrection under coach Radomir Antic, beating Betis 4-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Argentine Javier Saviola.
Sociedad leads the league with 47, followed by Madrid and Valencia with 45 each. Deportivo is next with 42.
Juventus posts win
Flu-stricken Juventus downed last-place Como as Marco Di Vaio and Mauro German Camoranesi scored for Juventus and Juarez added an own-goal. Fabio Pecchia scored for Como.
Inter, which got three goals in four minutes from Gabriel Batistuta and Christian Vieri, trounced Piacenza.
Saturday night’s match between struggling Torino and AC Milan was stopped in the 63rd minute as the two teams were unable to continue play amid fumes of tear gas canisters fired by riot police. Clarence Seedorf scored two and Filippo Inzaghi added the third.
Juventus and Inter have 48 points each, followed by AC Milan with 43, Lazio with 40 and Chievo with 37.
Arsenal on the rampage
Defending champion Arsenal got its first goal from Dennis Bergkamp, and Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira followed. Nicolas Anelka scored a consolation goal for Manchester City.
Manchester United was unable to keep pace at the top, coming from behind to draw 1-1 with Bolton. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored in injury time for the Red Devils.
Newcastle moved into third place with a 3-0 win over Leeds and Everton rallied with two late goals by Tomasz Radzinski to upend Southampton 2-1.
Arsenal is in first place with 60 points, followed by Man United with 55 and Newcastle with 52. Chelsea and Everton are next with 48 points each.
Bayern’s run continues
Bixente Lizarazu and Giovane Elber helped Bayern Munich beat Nuremberg, running its home unbeaten streak to 31 matches.
Second-place Borussia Dortmund fell a further two points behind, playing out a 2-2 draw with Schalke. Jan Koller and Ewerthon scored for Dortmund to erase a two-goal deficit.
Bayern leads the league with 50 points, well ahead of Dortmund with 40. Stuttgart, which beat Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0, is next with 39, followed by Schalke with 36.
PSV Eindhoven stretches lead
PSV Eindhoven stretched its lead in the Dutch premiership to seven points after beating NAC Breda 1-0 while second-place Ajax lost its second match of the season, falling to FC Utrecht 1-0.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink got the winner for PSV while Dirk Kuyt sank Ajax.
Feyenoord topped FC Groningen 4-1 to put itself back in the running for the Dutch league’s second Champions League spot.
PSV leads the league with 54 points, followed by Ajax with 47 and Feyenoord with 43.
Panathinaikos in lead
Red-hot Nikos Lymberopoulos scored two goals as Panathinaikos stayed atop the Greek league after beating Aris 3-1. Lymberopoulos has scored eight goals in his last six league matches.
Defending champion Olympiakos stayed second by holding off a fighting PAOK Thessaloniki 4-3. Pandelis Kaffes scored all three for PAOK.
Panathinaikos, which has won nine straight, is in first place with 47 points, followed by Olympiakos with 45 and PAOK with 39. AEK, which beat Kallithea 3-1 behind three Vassilis Tsartas goals, has 38.
Hindu On Net
KUALA LUMPUR Sept 23 – The late Mokhtar Dahari, who struck fear in the hearts of defenders throughout Asia during his heyday, has been named among the top 30 Asian players of the century.
He was picked in a poll conducted among Asian sports journalists and football experts by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
Mokhtar, who passed away in 1991, was the second Malaysian to be honoured by the IFFHS. The first was Chow Chee Keong who was named among the top 30 Asian goalkeepers of the century in a previous poll.
While Mokhtar was ranked 30th on the IFFHS list, Singapore’s Fandi Ahmad is just a rung higher at 29.
Fandi, who recently announced his retirement from international football, was one of the few Asian players to have had European experience following his short stint with FC Groningen of Holland in early 80’s.
The best ranked South East Asian players though are from Thailand who have Piyapong-Pue On on 19th spot and Sritong-In Natipong on 25th.
Heading the list is South Korea’s Cha Bum Kun who coached the South Korean side to the France 98 World Cup.
He had a grand stint as a player in Germany and scored 98 goals in 308 appearances in the German Bundesliga for Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen. He was also a member of South Korea’s 1986 World Cup side.
Another South Korean Kim Joo Sung is second in the rankings. He had participated in the final rounds of the 1990 and 1994 World Cup and was a three-time Asian Footballer of the Year.
Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Mohammed Majid is third with Japanese Kazu Miura and Kumishige Kamamoto fourth and fifth respectively.
The top four on the Asian list are candidates for next year’s election of the World Best Player of the Century to be done at IFFHS World Football Gala 99 at the Mierotels Hall in Rotenburg, Germany, on Jan 10.
Utusan Malaysia
My Soccer World 