Haller on scoresheet after cancer battle as Union knock Bayern off top

Haller on scoresheet after cancer battle as Union knock Bayern off top
Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi reacts as Sebastien Haller celebrates scoring the 3-1 goal with teammates during their Bundesliga match against SC Freiburg in Dortmund on February 4, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 04 February 2023

Haller on scoresheet after cancer battle as Union knock Bayern off top

Haller on scoresheet after cancer battle as Union knock Bayern off top
  • Six months after a shock diagnosis which saw him miss the entire first half of the season, Haller finally opened his account for the club he joined last summer
  • The Ivory Coast international's second-half header prompted wild celebrations among his team mates

BERLIN: Sebastien Haller crowned his recent return from testicular cancer with an emotional goal for Borussia Dortmund Saturday, as Union Berlin knocked Bayern Munich off the top of the Bundesliga with a dramatic late win over Mainz.
Six months after a shock diagnosis which saw him miss the entire first half of the season, Haller finally opened his account for the club he joined last summer.
The Ivory Coast international’s second-half header prompted wild celebrations among his team mates and helped Dortmund to a 5-1 win over Freiburg which kept them within two points of leaders Union.
Freiburg were reduced to ten men early in the first half after French full-back Kiliann Sildillia was booked twice in the space of two minutes.
Former Freiburg player Nico Schlotterbeck then heaped more misery onto his old club, his low snapshot beating goalkeeper Mark Flekken at the near post to give Dortmund the lead.
Schlotterbeck and Niklas Suele handed Freiburg a lifeline with some farcical defending on the stroke of half-time, allowing Lucas Hoeler to sweep in an unexpected equalizer.
Yet Karim Adeyemi wriggled his way through the Freiburg box to restore the lead with a neat finish early in the second half, before goals from Haller, Julian Brandt and Giovanni Reyna completed the rout.
Meanwhile in the capital, Union Berlin were working on their own fairytale as a late winner from US international Jordan Siebatcheu sent the high-flying minnows top of the table.
Former Union player Marcus Ingvartsen had canceled out Kevin Behrens’ first-half opener with a late penalty, but the Berliners rallied to claim a fourth straight win in 2023.
Eintracht Frankfurt also remained within four points of the top as France forward Randal Kolo Muani ran riot in a 3-0 win over hapless Hertha Berlin.
Having put Frankfurt ahead from the penalty spot, Kolo Muani ghosted through the Hertha back line to make it 2-0 before the half-hour mark, before Aurelio Buta added a third on the stroke of full time.
RB Leipzig’s 0-0 draw at Cologne meant that Frankfurt remain a point adrift of the Champions League places in fifth.
Hertha have slumped to four straight defeats since the beginning of 2023, and are now five points adrift of safety after fellow strugglers Bochum cruised to a 5-2 win over Hoffenheim.
Philipp Hofmann gave Bochum a deserved lead with a tap-in before Philipp Foerster and Takuma Asano showed up a lifeless Hoffenheim defense to make it 3-0 by half-time.
Erhan Masovic and Moritz Broschinski added two more for Bochum after the break, with Christoph Baumgartner and Munas Dabbur grabbing consolation goals for the visitors.


Algeria second team after Morocco to qualify for African Cup

Algeria second team after Morocco to qualify for African Cup
Updated 28 March 2023

Algeria second team after Morocco to qualify for African Cup

Algeria second team after Morocco to qualify for African Cup
  • Striker Baghdad Bounedjah’s early goal was enough for Algeria to beat Niger 1-0 in African Cup of Nations qualifying and book its place at the tournament

CAPE TOWN: Striker Baghdad Bounedjah’s early goal was enough for Algeria to beat Niger 1-0 in African Cup of Nations qualifying on Monday and book its place at the tournament in Ivory Coast next year.
Algeria is the second team to qualify after World Cup semifinalist Morocco.
Bounedjah struck in the sixth minute, putting a shot in the bottom right corner after he was played in by Riyad Mahrez. Algeria held firm in a game played in Tunisia to improve its record to four wins from four in the final qualifiers.
The race is on between Tanzania, Niger and Uganda to take the other qualifying place in Group F alongside Algeria.
Morocco qualified last week without playing after South Africa and Liberia drew 2-2 on Friday. That meant Morocco will definitely take one of the top two places in Group K, which was reduced to a three-team and not four-team group because Zimbabwe was disqualified from the qualifiers.
Morocco celebrated by beating Brazil 2-1 in a friendly on Saturday.
Morocco made history last year in Qatar when it became the first African team to reach the last four of the World Cup and will be considered one of the favorites for the African Cup title next year. The North African nation is enjoying a golden period after hosting FIFA’s Club World Cup in February and being announced this month as part of a joint bid with Spain and Portugal to stage the 2030 World Cup.
Its victory over Brazil was its first against the five-time World Cup winner.
Defending champion Senegal is also top of its African Cup qualifying group and on course to reach the final tournament following forward Sadio Mané’s return to action with his country last week. Senegal can qualify on Tuesday if it wins in Mozambique.
In other qualifiers on Monday, Nigeria gained revenge for a surprise home loss to Guinea-Bissau on Friday by winning in Guinea-Bissau 1-0. Moses Simon converted a penalty in the 30th minute to put Nigeria back on top of Group A.
Angola and Ghana drew 1-1 and Ghana leads a tight Group E by a point from Central African Republic, and three points from third-placed Angola with two rounds of games to play.


With Mbappe quiet, Pavard earns France 1-0 win at Ireland

With Mbappe quiet, Pavard earns France 1-0 win at Ireland
Updated 28 March 2023

With Mbappe quiet, Pavard earns France 1-0 win at Ireland

With Mbappe quiet, Pavard earns France 1-0 win at Ireland
  • France makes it back-to-back wins to open Group B but is far from the easy ride during pevious match

DUBLIN: With Kylian Mbappe kept quiet, France relied on another brilliant finish from recalled defender Benjamin Pavard and two sensational late saves by Mike Maignan to win at Ireland 1-0 in European Championship qualifying on Monday.

Making his first appearance since France’s opening match of last year’s World Cup, Pavard intercepted a stray pass just outside Ireland’s area and sent in a shot that glanced in off the underside of the crossbar in the 50th.

It was the right back’s third goal for France and all three have been screamers. His first, against Argentina in the 2018 World Cup, was voted goal of the tournament.

France made it back-to-back wins to open Group B but this was far from the easy ride that the Netherlands gave Les Bleus in a 4-0 thrashing on Friday. That night, Mbappe scored twice in his first match as France captain but the striker was barely a factor against a resolute Ireland team which defended stoutly early on before piling on the pressure near the end at the Aviva Stadium.

It needed Maignan to produce two stunning stops at corners — first off his own teammate, Jules Kounde, and then from a header from Ireland defender Nathan Collins that was heading into the top corner — to preserve the win.

“It was a tough game. Ireland are always difficult to play here,” France manager Didier Deschamps said. “They were dangerous at the end, especially from set-pieces. We have a young team, but they have quality and character, too.”

France brought Olivier Giroud back into the lineup and the striker, at 36 years, 178 days, became the oldest outfield player in the history of the national team to start.

Giroud was also quiet, though was involved in the highlight of a low-key first half when his header at a corner took a double deflection before Ireland goalkeeper Gavin Bazuna flopped on the ball at Mbappe’s feet.

It fell to Pavard to produce the magic.

“The World Cup didn’t go the way I would have imagined,” the defender said. “But I was happy after every win, I was there for the collective.”

It was Ireland’s opening game of group play.

“We’re disappointed and frustrated, but that’s why they’re such a good team,” Ireland captain Seamus Coleman said of France. “We didn’t allow them a lot of chances. I thought we defended well, kept them quiet.”


Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly

Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly
Updated 27 March 2023

Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly

Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly
  • The Green Falcons are holding one final training session before the Bolivia match on Monday evening, open to the media

JEDDAH: The Saudi Arabia national team continued their training camp on Sunday ahead of Tuesday's friendly with Bolivia at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium.

The training session was held under the supervision of head coach Herve Renard, and included possession exercises and mini-matches.

Players Hassan Al-Tambukti, Abdel-Rahman Al-Aboud and Riyad Sharahili had to miss out on the training session due to injury.

The Green Falcons are holding one final training session before the Bolivia match on Monday evening, which is open to the media.


Ireland wait on captain ahead of France clash

Ireland wait on captain ahead of France clash
Updated 27 March 2023

Ireland wait on captain ahead of France clash

Ireland wait on captain ahead of France clash
  • Seamus Coleman to be given chance to prove his fitness ahead of Euro 2024 qualifier on Monday

DUBLIN: Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman will be given every chance to prove his fitness ahead of Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against France.

The 34-year-old Everton defender has a slight thigh strain and Ireland manager Stephen Kenny is prepared to wait until as late as possible before deciding if his skipper can take part in the Lansdowne Road tie.

“No, he is not ruled out, we will have to see how today goes. We train today,” said Kenny, at a pre-match news conference on Sunday.

“Seamus is a very good player. It’s not so much his experience, it’s that he’s playing well at the moment. Experience is a factor, but his performances for Everton have been very good.

“For footballing reasons, he merits his place in the team because he has been playing very well for Everton and had an injury-free run and been able to train regularly over the last number of months and performed very well for Everton.

“He is the captain, of course, but we’ll have to see on that.”

Republic left wing-back Callum O’Dowda suffered a groin injury during Wednesday’s 3-2 friendly victory over Latvia and while he too has yet to be ruled out, Preston’s Robbie Brady has been drafted in as cover.

Earlier, Morocco stunned Brazil 2-1 on Saturday as the north African side recorded a first ever win over the five-time world champions.

Midfielder Sofiane Boufal, in the 29th minute, gave Morocco the lead before Brazil skipper Casemiro levelled in the 67th minute in Tangiers.

But Abdelhamid Sabiri struck the winner in the 79th minute as Morocco showed that becoming the first Arab or African nation to reach the World Cup semifinals last year was no fluke.

Only 10 of the 23-man squad that took Brazil to a disappointing quarter-final exit at the World Cup made the trip to Morocco for the game.

The injured Neymar was again missing with his number 10 shirt passing to Real Madrid youngster Rodrygo.

Brazil also had a new manager in the dugout with interim coach Ramon Menezes having replaced Tite who stepped down after the World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of Croatia.

The Brazilian Football Confederation hopes to be able to announce the name of its new coach before the start of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in September.

According to Brazilian media, the federation’s first choice is Carlo Ancelotti, currently in charge of Real Madrid.

However, he is not expected to make a decision on his future before the end of the European season.

Before kick-off at the Ibn Batouta stadium on Saturday, both teams paid tribute to Pele, who died last December at the age of 82.

Until Saturday, Morocco had suffered defeats in their only two other meetings with Brazil — 2-0 in a 1997 friendly and 3-0 in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup in France.


Manager Conte leaves Tottenham ‘by mutual consent’

Manager Conte leaves Tottenham ‘by mutual consent’
Updated 27 March 2023

Manager Conte leaves Tottenham ‘by mutual consent’

Manager Conte leaves Tottenham ‘by mutual consent’
  • The Italian launched into a rant about the club before the international break following a 3-3 draw at Southampton

LONDON: Manager Antonio Conte has left Tottenham “by mutual consent,” the Premier League club announced on Sunday.
The Italian, who took over in November 2021, launched into a rant about the club before the international break following a 3-3 draw at Southampton.
Conte leaves with Spurs fourth in the Premier League table.