Mexico vs Italy 1-2 - All Goals - Confederations Cup - 2013
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Monday 17 June 2013
Confederation Cup: Italy beats Mexico 2-1
The Juventus midfielder lifted a free-kick over the wall and high into the Mexico goal with keeper Jose de Jesus Corona left with no chance on 27 minutes.
Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez sent Gianluigi Buffon the wrong way from the penalty spot on 34 minutes for the equaliser after Andrea Barzagli had clumsily bundled Giovani Dos Santos to the ground.
Barzagli was fortunate to avoid a straight red with replays showing there were no defenders between him and Buffon when he bundled Dos Santos to the ground.
Balotelli won it for the former World Cup holders with 12 minutes remaining of normal time when he outmuscled Francisco Rodríguez before sending the ball beyond Corona in the Mexico goal from deep inside the area.
Balotelli was booked for whipping off his shirt, but did not seem to care much with Italy getting their tournament off to a perfect start.
Cesare Prandelli's side face Japan in their next Group A match with Mexico meeting host nation Brazil on Wednesday.
Brazil began their campaign with a 3-0 win over Japan on Saturday evening.
Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez, the only player to score in a competitive game for Mexico in 2013, started up front for El Tricolor while Mallorca attacking midfielder Dos Santos was also recalled after starting the game against Costa Rica on the bench.
Italy deployed a new 4-3-2-1 system with Juventus duo Emanuele Giaccherini – who scored Italy’s fastest ever goal after 19 seconds against Haiti this week – and Claudio Marchisio.
Andrea Pirlo won his 100th cap and was majestic, but Mexico contributed to a lively contest that sped from end to end with some regularity.
Italy carved out the first chance of the night when Riccardo Montolivo picked out Balotelli, but his shot was halted by Jose de Jesus Corona.
Dos Santos picked out Guardado in space on 12 yards, but his shot came back off the bar from 12 yards with Buffon beaten.
Another Pirlo free-kick broke to Montolivo early in the second half, but his shot was held by Corona.
Balotelli should have been awarded a penalty around the hour-mark when he was clearly felled by Hector Moreno, but the referee was not interested his appeals.
Andrés Guardado threw a fine free-kick into the heart of the Italy box, but Gerarrdo Flores nodded wide of goal when it looked easier to find the target.
Confederation Cup: Dominant Spain down Uruguay 2-1
Both Spain goals came in a first half dominated by the FIFA World Cup™ holders. Pedro opened the scoring in Recife with a deflected effort before Roberto Soldado grabbed his sixth Spain goal in ten internationals.
Luis Suarez struck a superb late free-kick which with what was only Uruguay's second shot on target.
The tone was set in the opening stages, as Spain enjoyed a remarkable 92 per cent of the ball in the first five minutes. That was an omen of things to come.
La Furia Roja took the lead when a Xavi corner was partially cleared by the Uruguay defence. The ball found its way to Pedro whose strike from the edge of the box took a huge deflection off Uruguay captain Diego Lugano and flew past Fernando Muslera.
Things did not get any better for La Celeste's goalkeeper, who continued an unhappy 27th birthday by conceding again after the half-hour mark.
Iniesta sent Pedro wide on the right who in turn found Fabregas in the centre of the pitch. The Barcelona maestro pulled off a quite brilliant reverse pass to find Soldado on the edge of the box. Spain's No14 made no mistake and calmly found the net.
The second half represented something of a procession for Vicente Del Bosque's men. Roberto Soldado went closest to adding another Spanish goal but he was inches away from a dangerous Pedro cross.
Luis Suarez struck late on, but it was not enough for the South American champions, as Spain survived a tetchy final few moments to collect all three points.
A lot of the pre-match talk was about Iker Casillas' inclusion in the starting XI, but the Real Madrid man was hardly troubled. It is likely Spain's No1 will have an even quieter evening when the FIFA World Cup holders face Tahiti at the Maracana on Thursday.
Sunday 16 June 2013
Confederation Cup: Brazil beat Japan 3-0
Barcelona-bound Neymar got the hosts off and running after three minutes, Paulinho struck the second just after the restart while Jo made it three in stoppage time.
The first round of matches in group A will be completed on Sunday when Concacaf Gold Cup winners Mexico take on Italy, who secured a place in the event as runners up to European champions Spain.
Spain, who are also the World Cup holders, start their group B campaign against Uruguay at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife also on Sunday.
Hockey: National coach Revington quits, but MHC reject his resignation
Revington e-mailed his resignation to Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) vice-president Manjit Majid Abdullah yesterday, citing outside interference in team matters as the main reason for his decision.
The decision has thrown the national team’s preparation for the World League semi-finals, which will be held in Johor Baru from June 29-July 7, in disarray.
Manjit, who is also the chairman of the coaching committee, said yesterday that they had rejected his resignation and want Revington to review his decision to quit.
Manjit said that the 16 members of the coaching committee who attended the meeting yesterday unanimously rejected Revington’s quit decision.
“I will speak with Revington and tell him of our decision and also try to convince him to stay on. We need him and he has done a good job, thus far.
“We understand his position and agree that there have been issues which he had raised that were not dealt with. But I can assure him that we will look into all these matters and resolve them,” said Manjit.
“The president (Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah) has said that he would act on Revington’s complaints.”
The MHC coaching committee have also recommended that Lim Chiow Chuan and K. Dharmaraj be removed as 1MAS director and national juniors coach respectively.
Both are alleged to have been among those who have interfered with senior team matters.
“Revington has complained that some players have not been following his orders ... This has been going on for three months now,” said Manjit.
“The matter was brought to our attention but we thought that it had been resolved. The quit letter has taken us by surprise, especially when we are faced with such a big assignment in two weeks’ time.”
Manjit said that A. Arulselvaraj would remain as assistant coach and former national coach Sarjit Singh would be named interim coach should Revington stick to his decision.
“The matter is for the MHC management committee to deal with. They are due to meet on June 30 in Johor Baru,” said Manjit.
The coach and team manager George Koshy could not be reached for comments.
Badminton: Chong Wei bags Indonesia Open
The nine-time Malaysia Open champion never looked at his best, making some clumsy errors, but still kept focus to have a steady lead over the German.
A relentless string of attacks by the Malaysian threw the German off guard, as he succumbed to a 15-21 defeat in the first game.
Zwiebler, who was making his first ever Super Series Premier final, started a little stronger in the second game, taking a quick 5-2 lead. Chong Wei, however clawed back to take the lead for the first time at 7-6 and into the second interval leading 11-7.
Chong Wei, who will be competing at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships in Guangzhou, China from Aug 5-11, showed that he is definitely on form for the World Championships by wrapping up the second match 21-14.
Chong Wei, who was sporting a ‘We Love Taufik” tshirt after the match, paid tribute to his Indonesian former Olympic and World Champion friend who retired from international duties after going down to India’s B.Sai Praneeth in the first round.
“I want to thank the crowd for coming out to support me, as this is my fifth Indonesia Open title. You all know that I gave the tournament a miss due to injury last year,” Chong Wei said.
When asked about his T-shirt, Chong Wei replied “Taufik is a great friend, and I wish him all the best, I also hope that he will continue to train more ‘Taufik Hidayats’ for Indonesia”.
With the Indonesian Open title, Chong Wei adds a fourth title to his closet, after winning the Victor Korea Open Super Series Premier, Maybank Malaysia Open Super Series and the Yonex Sunrise India Open Super Series already this year.
Earlier today, China’s eight seeded women’s doubles duo Bao Yixin-Chang Shu pulled off a major upset over world No.1 and reigning World Champions Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang also of China in a three game thriller 15-21, 21-18, 21-18.
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Tuesday 4 June 2013
(Video): Kuantan Port vs Penang Goal Highlights
A late strike by Khairul Anwar, just his second league goal this campaign, landed Penang the league crown.
Let's watch the video by Arena Penang FA
FAM League: Panthers crowned league champions
The islanders, who secured promotion to the Premier League a week ago, added the league title with four matches to spare.
A late strike by Khairul Anwar, just his second league goal this campaign, landed Penang the league crown.
The Panthers were rampant throughout this season under the tutelage of former star player Merzagua Aberrazak, who now has to leave the state to obtain his official A-level coaching license from an African Confederation (CAF) affiliate country.
Penang will receive the FAM Cup trophy at the City Stadium before their league tie against Kedah Malays on June 16.
In the other FAM Cup matches, Kuantan FA and Land Forces kept up the pressure on second-placed PBAPP FC for the second promotion berth after securing convincing wins.
Land Forces trounced Sabah’s Chebagoo FC 6-0 to move up to 26 points, just three points behind PBAPP.
Kuantan FA lie three points behind following their 4-2 triumph over Malacca.
Kelantan club side Tumpat FA also kept their faint hopes alive with a hard-earned 1-0 win over basement team YBU FC in Ipoh.
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