Real Salt Lake stunned David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy, winning the Major League Soccer title 5-4 on penalties after the championship match ended 1-1 after extra time.
The defeat foiled Beckham’s bid to earn a title in a third national league, after his English Premiership triumphs with Manchester United and a Spanish League title with Real Madrid.
Robbie Russell scored in the seventh round of penalty kicks to seal the win after Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando ma... Read Full Story
Arsene Wenger has told his Arsenal stars to forget about a looming showdown with Chelsea and the absence of injured striker Robin van Persie as they look to book their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League.
A point at home to Standard Liege on Tuesday will ensure the Gunners of progression to the last 16 while victory over the Belgian champions would guarantee them top spot in group H.
That outcome would provide a welcome tonic five days ahead of Chelsea’s visit to... Read Full Story
The Brazilian championship is everything but decided as Sao Paulo crashed to a 3-2 defeat at Botafogo on Sunday.
Jobson put Botafogo in the lead after 14 minutes but goals from Washington (45th) and Jorge Wagner (55th) turned things around in Sao Paulo’s favor.
But Botafogo had the final say, as it was Jobson to complete his hat-trick with goals in the 59th and 59th minute.
The hosts finished the game with only eight active players, as Juninho, Jobson and Rodrigo Dantas were all... Read Full Story
Galatasaray failed to close the gap with Turkish leaders Fenerbahce, being held to a 1-1 draw by Manisaspor.
Initially, things went according to plan for Galatasaray as Harry Kewell put the Istanbul outfit ahead after 38 minutes at Ali Sami Yern stadium.
‘Gala’ failed to hold on to that lead however as Canadian Josh Simpson leveled the score with just eight minutes to go.
The gap with Fenerbahce is as such reduced from three to two points, but ‘Fener’ remain on... Read Full Story
Real Madrid may be out of the King’s Cup but they have made their best league start in 17 years and go into next Sunday’s ‘El Clasico’ at Barcelona with a one-point advantage over the reigning champions.
Real defeated Racing Santander 1-0 on Saturday to wrestle top spot from unbeaten Barca – who drew 1-1 at Athletic Bilbao – and their haul of 28 points from a possible 33 represents their best start since the 1991-92 season.
Last season Real were nine... Read Full Story
Major League Soccer’s finale, MLS Cup, takes place on Sunday in Seattle and (perhaps surprisingly to some) the game between L.A. Galaxy and Real Salt Lake will be broadcast in over 120 countries.
For the benefit of those fans outside of the States, who might be tuning in to watch David Beckham play for the Galaxy (or perhaps admire the intelligent midfield play of Real’s Clint Mathis?) and aren’t familiar with MLS or it’s final, here are some answers to the kind of questions you might ... Read Full Story
Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez was finding it hard to come to terms with seeing his side take control of the French first division at the weekend.
Auxerre capitalised on slip-ups by Lyon and Bordeaux to move into a clear lead on Saturday.
Lyon were held to a 1-1 draw at Grenoble while champions Bordeaux were downed 1-0 at home by Valenciennes.
That left the stage clear for Auxerre to leapfrog this duo with a result against Monaco in the evening game and the former titleholders duly prod... Read Full Story
In-form Brazilian forward Nilmar scored a brace to help slow-starting Villarreal climb into mid-table with a 3-1 home win over Valladolid on Sunday.
Nilmar had scored in both of Brazil’s last two international games – against England and Oman – and continued his purple patch with two more goals.
Argentine Damian Escudero centred for Nilmar after just six minutes and the Brazilian headed a second two minutes after the break for his third goal of the season as he begin... Read Full Story
France’s controversial qualification for the 2010 World Cup has hit a sour note with the French public, with over eight out of 10 people disapproving according to a poll televised on France 2.
France beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1 on aggregate over two legs of a qualifying playoff last Wednesday however a blatant double handball by French captain Thierry Henry proved decisive in the team going to the World Cup.
In an online poll in which 1003 people representative of the count... Read Full Story
Both PSV Eindhoven and Ajax cruised to easy home victories on Sunday, beating Heracles and Heerenveen respectively.
PSV needed a win to restore the original two-point gap with leaders Twente, and opened the scoring through Ibrahim Afellay in the 45th minute. At this point. Heracles were already a man down as Martin Pieckenhagen was sent off in the 28th minute.
Balazs Dzsudszsak made it 2-0 five minutes after half time, Ole Toivonen added a third in minute 62 and the fourth and final g... Read Full Story
