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Tuesday, December 31, 2013
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LONDON — New manager Tim Sherwood earned his first win at White Hart Lane on Sunday as Tottenham easily beat Stoke 3-0 in the Premier League. Roberto Soldado converted his fifth penalty of the season in the first half while Aaron Lennon and Mousa Dembele added goals in the second for a comfortable win. It was Tottenham’s first clean
sheet in the league since Nov. 3 and the win puts Spurs level on points with Manchester United with 34 at the halfway point of the season. Tottenham next travels to Old Trafford to play United on Wednesday. Stoke never looked like threatening the Spurs goal, although had a penalty appeal waved away when Michael Dawson hacked down Oussama Assaidi in the box when the game was goalless.
AP Photo/John Walton/PA
Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross, left, blocks a volley from Tottenham Hotspur’s Emmanuel Adebayor with his hands to give away a penalty during the English Premier League match at White Hart Lane, London. Sunday Dec. 29, 2013.
Celtic beats Inverness ‘Wild natured’ Suarez accused of diving by Mourinho 1-0 in Scottish league
Chelsea’s Samuel Eto’o, celebrates after scoring against Liverpool, during their English Premier League soccer match, at the Stamford Bridge Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013.
AP Photo/Bogdan Maran
Chelsea beats Liverpool 2-1 in Premier League Associated Press Writer
LONDON — Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto’o scored first-half goals as Chelsea came from behind to secure a 2-1 win over title rival Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday. After Martin Skrtel put the Reds in front from close range at Stamford Bridge after only four minutes, Hazard hit back in the 17th with a superb strike. Eto’o gave Jose Mourinho’s team a decisive lead from Oscar’s back pass in the 34th. nature” and simulating after the striker protested he should have been given a penalty when Eto’o obstructed him in the box in the second half. “Suarez lost a duel with (Cesar) Azpilicueta, Azpilicueta has the ball and is leaving the box with the ball and now he’s doing an acrobatic swimming pool jump to try to get the penalty,” Mourinho said. “When the situation is like this and you are losing comes the nature of the player, the wild nature of the player or the cultural nature of the player.” With captain John Terry becoming the fourth Chelsea player to make 600 appearances for the club, the game started at a high tempo, with both sides involved in a gritty contest for possession. After Eto’o
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Tottenham beats Stoke 3-0 in Premier League Associated Press Writer
Third-place Chelsea trails leader Arsenal by two points and Manchester City by one point. Liverpool is six points adrift after slipping to a second consecutive loss. Hazard was splendid throughout in his playmaker role, while Chelsea’s defenders did a good job of containing Luis Suarez, who was reunited with Branislav Ivanovic for the first time since he bit the Serbian defender on the arm last season and was banned for 10 games. “The kid is giving everything,” Mourinho said about Hazard. “He was a very talented player, but he was a kid enjoying football in a funny way. Now he understands his responsibilities. I’m so happy with the kid.” Mourinho also accused Suarez of showing his “wild
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
was lucky to escape a booking for his challenge on Jordan Henderson, Liverpool made the most of the subsequent free kick, with Skrtel scoring a poacher’s goal from close range. Chelsea failed to clear Philippe Coutinho’s free kick, Suarez headed the ball beyond Ivanovic and Skrtel tapped it home. Chelsea reacted immediately, only for Hazard to see his effort saved before Gary Cahill headed wide from Frank Lampard’s free kick in the eighth minute. Chelsea’s penalty appeals were waved away by referee Howard Webb after Hazard appeared to be clipped by Lucas in the box, and Lampard forced keeper Simon Mignolet to tip the ball over with a trademark powerful shot from outside the
box. The home side was rewarded for its pressure soon afterward when Hazard gave Mignolet no chance with a superb curling shot for his eighth league goal of the season. Mourinho was forced to make an early defensive change as the injured Ivanovic was replaced by Ashley Cole after 30 minutes. But Liverpool struggled to contain the Blues’ relentless attacks and Eto’o converted his team’s dominance into a goal when he scored from close range from Oscar’s pass, despite Mignolet getting a hand to the ball. The Reds continued to threaten on the break and had a chance to level before the interval, with Joe Allen’s shot from the right side of the box drawing a good diving save from Petr Cech. There were further scoring chances in the second half, with Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho unlucky to see his looping header hit the crossbar from a free kick as Cech looked well beaten. At the other end, Eto’o missed a clear-cut chance when he fired straight at Mignolet from a good
position in the 54th. Suarez’s volley four minutes later was easily stopped by Cech as Liverpool created more space in the hosts’ half. But Chelsea weathered Liverpool’s attacks and could even have won by a bigger margin. Former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres eased past Mamadou Sakho and Skrtel but failed to beat Mignolet with his shot in the closing stages. “Christmas Day eating our turkey we were top of the league. A few days and games later we’re fifth. I think that’s the way it will go between now and the end of the season,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. “I think it’s brilliant and it makes it really exciting.”
Reuters
Associated Press Writer
Luis Suarez’s “wild nature” was on display as he tried to win a penalty with an “acrobatic swimming pool jump” that deserved a yellow card for simulation, according to Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. Chelsea had done well to stifle the Liverpool marksman before the flash point in the final stages of their absorbing 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday that left Mourinho and Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers in firm disagreement. Trailing after goals by Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto’o following Martin Skrtel’s early strike, Suarez set off after Chelsea fullback Cesar Azpilicueta only for Eto’o to block his run, leaving the Uruguayan on the floor appealing in vain to referee Howard Webb. “The player is amazing and I love his quality, commitment and ambition to play,” Mourinho told British media of Premier League top scorer Suarez, banned for 10 games after biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in a game last April. “I know him from his time at Ajax. A very nice boy. He does everything to win, and Brendan has done a very good job with him because he’s changed. No doubt, he’s changed. “But when you are losing, the nature comes out of the player. The wild nature, the cultural nature of the player. Culturally, people from that area, they like it. Not just that area. There’s a corner in Europe, where I belong too, where they like that too. “One of the things we have good in this country is we don’t like simulation. It’s not good for our game. Azpilicueta had the ball, he was leaving the box, and now Suarez is doing an acrobatic swimming pool jump to try and get the penalty because he’s so clever he knows he’s in the penalty area right in front of the Liverpool supporters. “I hate players who try to provoke situations, and he tries too much to provoke these situations. Suarez lost that duel with Azpilicueta, Eto’o comes in and it looks like somebody shot him in the back. Webb is 10 metres away and the only mistake he made was not giving him a yellow card.” Cameroon striker Eto’o was at the centre of a number of incidents in the intense clash before he toe-poked home his third league goal of the season that helped Chelsea to a 2-1 win to stay within two points of league leaders Arsenal. As well as the Suarez penalty claims, Eto’o was guilty of a poor challenge on Jordan Henderson that resulted in the free-kick from which Skrtel put Liverpool ahead in the third minute.
GLASGOW, Scotland — Celtic will start the new year with its unbeaten record intact after defeating Inverness 1-0 in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday. Kris Commons’s low shot for his 15th goal of the season gave the visitors an early lead before Fraser Forster made two decisive saves to maintain Celtic’s advantage. Neil Lennon’s side has dropped only six points in 18 matches and leads second-place Motherwell by 11 points. Motherwell won 5-1 at Partick Thistle and Aberdeen went third with a 1-0 win against Ross County.
Luis Suarez
Argentinos Juniors bring back man who gave them most titles
Reuters
BUENOS AIRES - Former Chile coach Claudio Borghi is returning to former South American champions Argentinos Juniors where he shone as a striker and whose team he steered to the club’s third Argentine league title in 2010. “Claudio Borghi, the man with most victories in the history of Argentinos Juniors, is once again coach of “El Bicho” (the bug),” the club based in the Buenos Aires barrio of La Paternal said on Sunday. “The trainer will sign a contract until June 2015. La Paternal is partying,” they said on their website (www. argentinosjuniors.com.ar). Borghi, a talented striker in Argentina’s World Cup-winning squad in 1986, helped Argentinos win Argentine league titles in 1985 and 1985, followed the same year by the South American Libertadores Cup. The 49-year-old, who had a disappointing spell at Boca which lasted 14 matches after winning the Clausura title with Argentinos in 2010, has been out of work since being sacked by Chile in 2012 midway through the South American World Cup quali-
fiers. Borghi will travel to Buenos Aires from Chile, where he has lived moistly since retiring as a player at Santiago Wanderers, in the coming days to sign for Argentinos. He will replace Ricardo Caruso Lombardi, who leaves Argentinos in the bottom three of the relegation standings based on teams’ average points over three seasons with the threat of the drop in May. “Argentinos needed to make a strong statement for the fight in the next tough semester and that was Claudio Borghi’s return,” the club said, calling the news a Christmas present for the fans. Borghi is the second coaching change in the Argentine top flight in mid-season. San Lorenzo, who won the Inicial (former Apertura) championship this month, have lost coach Juan Antonio Pizzi to Valencia with Edgardo Bauza taking charge for the Final championship in February. Bauza has the pedigree to try to fulfil San Lorenzo’s dream of winning the Libertadores Cup for the first time, having turned LDU Quito into the first Ecuadorean side to win South America’s elite club trophy in 2008.