Sports

Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

Benitez sacked after loss to Norwich

Rafa Benitez has been sacked as Everton manager just six months into the job after relegation-threatened Norwich City scored an upset win at Carrow Road.

Benitez, a former Liverpool manager, was unpopular with Everton fans from the start.

The Toffees have lost nine of their past 12 games and have plummeted to 16th on the table, just six points above the relegation zone.

Defeat to Norwich, who climbed off the bottom of the table with the 2-1 victory, was the final straw for Benitez.

Harrison hat-trick as Leeds sink Hammers

Jack Harrison scored the first hat-trick of his career as Leeds United continued their Premier League revival with a 3-2 win over West Ham United at the London Stadium.

Having scored just once in the Premier League all season – the opening goal in a win over Burnley in Leeds’ last league match – Harrison was on fire against the Hammers.

Leeds’ two recent victories come after a sequence of three defeats, which included a 7-0 mauling by Manchester City.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side are now 15th, nine points clear of the relegation places.

Guess what? Manchester City won again

Kevin De Bruyne’s sixth goal of the season was the deciding factor in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Saturday.

City have now won their past 12 Premier League matches and are 13 points ahead of third-placed Chelsea, whose title hopes have all but gone.

Despite missing the twin attacking threat of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane due to Africa Cup of Nations duties, Liverpool stayed second on the table and 11 points behind City.

Takumi Minamino celebrated his 27th birthday by scoring Liverpool’s third goal in a 3-0 win over Brentford.

Coutinho inspires Villa fightback

Philippe Coutinho scored a late equaliser in his first game for Aston Villa as Manchester United blew a two-goal lead.

Coutinho, signed from Barcelona, came off the bench with Villa trailing 2-0. After involvement in the lead up to Jacob Ramsey’s goal, the Brazilian midfielder stabbed the ball home from close range to rescue a point.

United continued to struggle under manager Ralf Rangnick, who was without Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford for the Villa clash.

Debut goal for Japanese import

Japan striker Hiroshi Ibusuki could hardly have wished for a better start to life in the A-League.

The former Shimizu S-Pulse striker, who spent four years playing in Spain, came off the bench for Adelaide United to score a late equaliser against Melbourne City.

George Blackwood had given Adelaide the lead but goals from Andrew Nabbout and Jamie McLaren had edged City ahead before Ibusuki struck.

He had been on the pitch just 13 minutes before firing home from close range.

Glory ready to return to action

Forty-two days after their last A-League game, Perth Glory will finally return to action on Wednesday night when they take on Brisbane Roar at Moreton Daily Stadium.

While Glory have contemplated Christmas in hotel lockdown – before they were given a reprieve – and missed five scheduled matches due to COVID-19 complications, Brisbane have played twice. They lost 1-0 to Western United on December 11 and drew 1-1 with Sydney on Saturday.

Brisbane, who have played one game more than Glory, are last on the table, two points behind third-from-bottom Perth.

Former Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City star Daniel Sturridge could feature in the Glory starting line-up for the first time after managing just a handful of minutes off the bench in the club’s first game of the season.

Algeria on brink of Africa exit

Africa Cup of Nations defending champions Algeria suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea to end a 35-match unbeaten sequence.

Algeria, featuring Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez, could face an early exit from the tournament with just a point from their first two games. They drew their tournament opener 0-0 against Sierra Leone.

After a string of low-scoring matches, which produced just 12 goals in the first 12 games, host nation Cameroon hammered Ethiopia 4-1, Nigeria beat Sudan 3-1 and Tunisia smashed Mauritania 4-0 to breathe life into the competition.

Inter’s streak halted by Atalanta

Serie A leader Inter Milan’s eight-match winning streak came to an end after they were held to a 0-0 draw by fourth-placed Atalanta.

Inter had won all their league matches since a 1-1 draw with city rivals AC Milan in early November.

Milan, who are two points behind Inter, will have the chance to go top of the table when they take on Spezia tonight (January 16).

Paulo Dybala and Weston McKennie were on target as Juventus beat struggling Udinese 2-0. Juventus are fifth, nine points behind Inter.

Goals keep flowing for Bayern

Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich set yet another record in Germany’s Bundesliga.

The 4-0 win over Cologne was the 66th successive game in which Bayern have scored. The last time they failed to find the net was in February 2020 when they drew 0-0 with RB Leipzig.

Bayern remain six points clear at the top with second-placed Borussia Dortmund keeping up the pressure with a 5-1 win over Freiburg.

Meanwhile, Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer made two penalty saves but couldn’t prevent his side from losing 2-1 to Bayer Leverkusen.

Sommer denied Patrik Schick and Kerem Demirbay from the spot but was beaten by Robert Andrich’s volley and a Schick free-kick, as Leverkusen climbed to third on the table.

Gunners show resolve in Cup semi

Ten-man Arsenal pushed Liverpool all the way to earn a goalless draw in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Anfield.

Liverpool were given a helping hand when Granit Xhaka was sent off for denying Diogo Jota a goalscoring opportunity.

The teams will meet in the second leg at the Emirates Stadium on Friday (January 21, Perth time).

Chelsea confirmed their place in the February 27 final at Wembley by beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the second leg to seal a 3-0 aggregate victory.




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