Sports

Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

Chelsea drop points against stubborn United

It’s hard to know what Ralf Rangnick would have made of Manchester United’s performance against Chelsea last night. A point, from their 1-1- draw, is probably as much as could be expected given the circumstances.

Rangnick, United’s manager-in-waiting, is yet to be appointed and it was down to Michael Carrick to steer the team in the right direction.

Leaving out Cristiano Ronaldo was a bold move, although it made sense in a game that United needed effort and energy to counter Chelsea’s threat.

United even had their noses in front when Jadon Sancho opened the scoring, before Jorginho converted a second-half penalty. How Chelsea were unable to find a winner – they had 24 attempts to United’s three – is likely to be a point of discussion on the training ground this week.

Manchester City beat West Ham United 2-1 to move to just a point behind leaders Chelsea, who are two points ahead of Liverpool, 4-0 winners over Southampton on Saturday.

Ranieri’s warm welcome blown away in a blizzard

Claudio Ranieri received a warm welcome from the fans on his return to Leicester City before Jamie Vardy and company reminded him of his status as a “former” boss.

Ranieri, who famously steered Leicester to Premier League success five years ago, has a tougher task these days as the man in charge at Watford, who are 16th on the table.

Vardy’s two goals were the difference as Leicester got to grips with the conditions at the King Power Stadium and secured a 4-2 victory in heavy snow.

Conte realises the size of Spurs task

Humiliated Tottenham Hotspur will have to wait a little longer to make up for last week’s embarrassing loss to Slovenian minnows NS Mura after yesterday’s English Premier League match against Burnley was postponed.

Tottenham would’ve been keen to put the loss behind them but constant snow caused the game at Turf Moor to be postponed.

Last week, Spurs suffered a late goal to lose 2-1 to Mura, who had lost their previous four games in Europe’s third-tier competition.

That defeat, in which Spurs played with 10 men following Ryan Sessegnon’s first-half red card, left new manager Antonio Conte with little doubt about the size of the task ahead of him.

Spurs will have to beat group leader Rennes in their final game to stay in the competition.

Napoli remember Diego with stunning win

A year after the death of Diego Maradona, Napoli remembered their former player with a 4-0 thrashing of Lazio that lifted them three points clear at the top of Italy’s Serie A.

After revealing a statue of Maradona, who was instrumental in their two Serie A title winning campaigns in 1987 and 1990, before the game, Napoli moved through the gears with goals from Piotr Zielinski, Fabian Ruiz and a double from Dries Mertens.

Milan fell three points adrift of Napoli after suffering a surprise 3-1 loss to Sassuolo.

50 from 50 for impressive Haaland

Just days after Borussia Dortmund crashed out of the Champions League, Erling Haaland was back in action and making history on Saturday.

Dortmund’s Norwegian striker became the youngest player to reach 50 goals in Germany’s Bundesliga when he volleyed home the last of his side’s goals in a 3-1 win over Wolfsburg.

Remarkably, Haaland, who was 21 years and 129 days old on Saturday, has scored an average of a goal per game – that’s right, 50 goals in 50 games – since joining Dortmund in 2019.

A hip injury had sidelined him since October 19, and he was a spectator last week when Sporting Lisbon snuffed out Dortmund’s hopes of progressing to the knockout phase of the Champions League.

Messias’ debut goal keeps Milan in Champions League

Junior Messias had a Champions League debut to remember when he scored a late winner to keep alive AC Milan’s hopes of progressing in the competition.

Messias, who has a backstory worthy of a Hollywood script, headed home the only goal of the game to condemn Atletico Madrid to a 1-0 defeat.

On loan to Milan from second division club Crotone, the 30-year-old arrived late to professional football after moving to Italy from Brazil.

Working as a delivery driver six years ago, he was convinced to give up the job to play in the fifth tier of Italian football from where he began his climb to the top. His loan move could be made permanent at the end of the season.

Big names set to clash in World Cup play-offs

Portugal and Italy will meet for a place at the World Cup, assuming they can both get past their semi-final play-off opponents.

2016 Euro champions Portugal have been drawn against Turkey, and Italy host North Macedonia in one-off play-off matches.

Assuming they do win, Portugal will take on 2020 Euro winners Italy in a do-or-die clash for a place at next year’s World Cup in Qatar.

Twelve teams will play-off for the final three European places.

European World Cup qualifying play-offs, semi-finals: Path A: Scotland vs Ukraine; Wales vs Austria. Path B: Russia vs Poland; Sweden vs Czech Republic. Path C: Italy vs North Macedonia; Portugal vs Turkey.

Record crowd can’t inspire Matildas against US

A record crowd for a Matildas home fixture was not enough to inspire victory as world number one the United States scored a 3-0 win at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.

The home team went behind after just 25 seconds and were unable to find a way into the contest, which was played in front of a record 36,109 supporters.

West Aussie Sam Kerr, who scored a hat-trick for her club side Chelsea before embarking on the long trip to Sydney, had limited preparation, and also had to cope with a family bereavement in the lead up to the match.

Australia take on the US in a second friendly match in Newcastle on Tuesday.

Glory finding it tough at start of road trip

Daniel Sturridge will be given time to get ready for the rigours of regular action after sitting out of Perth Glory’s 1-0 defeat to Western United at AAMI Park in Melbourne.

Sturridge made a brief cameo appearance in Glory’s first game of the season – a draw at home to Adelaide United – but will not be risked on the road.

Glory were undone by a controversial goal when the ball appeared to have run out of play before Connor Pain’s cross hit a post and fell to Dylan Wenzel-Halls, who scored the simplest of goals.

It was Glory’s second loss in a matter of days after a youthful side lost in an FFA Cup play-off on penalties against Melbourne Victory. Glory, whose average age was just 18, went behind against a young Victory side in the first minute but drew level through Josh Anasmo.

Victory held their nerve in the shootout to progress to the FFA Cup Round of 32.

Halloran stunner earns Adelaide worthy point

Ben Halloran’s expert finish from a difficult angle earned Adelaide United a point in a 2-2 A-League draw against Melbourne City on Saturday.

It was a blow to City who had a two-goal lead thanks to Jamie Maclaren’s close-range finish and Andrew Nabbout’s stunner with the outside of his right boot.

But after Stefan Mauk pulled a goal back for the home side at Coopers Stadium, Halloran went one better, seizing possession of the ball wide on the right and firing over stranded goalkeeper Thomas Glover.

Melbourne Victory went top of the A-League by capitalising on City’s slip with a 3-0 win over Brisbane Roar.




Recent Articles