Int Football - Around the world in 80 goals

Eurosport - Mon, 10 Nov 14:52:00 2008

Our weekly look at football around the globe sees a new champion crowned in Sweden.

FOOTBALL Kalmar Rydström - 0

SWEDEN

Kalmar won Sweden's Premiership for the first time, securing the title after a 2-2 draw with Halmstad.

Kalmar, from Sweden's south east, had built up a lead going into the final rounds before runners-up IF Elfsborg mounted a late challenge.

Elfsborg beat Gefle 2-1 to move to 63 points, but the draw, thanks to goals from Daniel Sobralense and Patrik Ingelsten, meant Kalmar won the title by a point.

NETHERLANDS

AZ Alkmaar retained top spot on goal difference from Ajax Amsterdam and NAC Breda after cruising to a 3-0 win over Steve McClaren's Twente Enschede with Brazilian Ari scoring twice.

Ajax, who lost striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar to an ankle injury, recorded a 5-2 home win over Sparta Rotterdam while Breda were 2-0 winners at Graafschap Doetinchem on Friday.

All three sides have 22 points, two clear of Gronigan and four ahead of champions PSV Eindhoven following their fourth league defeat of the season, a 1-0 loss at NEC Nijmegen.

GREECE

Olympiakos Piraeus stayed top of the Greek Super League after grinding out a dour goalless draw with arch-rivals Panathinaikos on Sunday.

Their lead has been cut to just one point after PAOK beat Panionios 2-0 thanks to an early penalty from Vladan Ivic and a late strike from Bosnian striker Zlatan Muslimovic. Xanthi are third with 18 points after their 1-1 draw at home to AEK Athens.

PORTUGAL

Porto knocked holders Sporting out of the Portuguese Cup 5-4 on penalties in an ill-tempered fourth round match on Sunday.

Extra time ended with the scores locked at 1-1 before Porto goalkeeper Helton snapped the deadlock when he saved Sporting's defender Abel's penalty attempt.

Three players were sent off, while the referee dished out 14 yellow cards in total during the match.

Brazilian striker Liedson opened the scoring for Sporting after he headed home a poor clearance by Porto defender Fernando after 29 minutes.

Porto levelled when Brazilian striker Hulk raced between two defenders to beat keeper Rui Patricio with a powerful shot after 59 minutes.

ARGENTINA

River Plate fought back from three goals down to draw 3-3 at home to Huracan in Diego Simeone's final match as coach on Sunday.

At the other end of the Argentine Apertura table, Boca Juniors stayed level on points with leaders San Lorenzo after a stunning injury-time free kick by Juan Roman Riquelme gave them a 1-0 win at Arsenal.

Simeone left defending champions River Plate with the team bottom of the table and having extended their winless domestic run to 12 games.

San Lorenzo, who have 29 points, stayed top on goal difference from Boca after struggling to a 2-1 win over Gimnasia-Jujuy.

Boca, also struggling on a hot afternoon, stole the points at Arsenal when playmaker Riquelme floated a free kick over the wall and into the top corner.

Surprise package Tigre dropped two points behind the leading pair after drawing 2-2 at Colon on Saturday.

BRAZIL

Palmeiras title hopes faded after a 1-0 loss at home to fellow Brazilian Championship title contenders Gremio after a blunder by World Cup winning goalkeeper Marcos.

Gremio midfielder Tcheco scored in the 72nd minute when he floated a free kick into the Palmeiras area, the ball eluded a cluster of players and bounced softly into the net as Marcos stayed rooted to his line.

Palmeiras, who started the weekend second in the table, dropped to fourth and fell four points behind leaders Sao Paulo, who won 3-2 at Portuguesa.

Gremio's win took them second while Cruzeiro moved into third, ahead of Palmeiras on the number of games won, after beating relegation-threatened Fluminense 1-0 with a second half Ramires goal.

Flamengo, fifth with 60 points, beat Botafogo 1-0 in their Rio de Janeiro derby with a late penalty converted by former Brazil and Manchester United midfielder Kleberson.

MEXICO

Guadalajara, Mexico's most popular club, were left facing an early exit from the Apertura Championship after losing 2-1 at Puebla.

Puebla picked up only their second win of the tournament and their first under coach Mario Carillo after Guadalajara coach Efrain Flores controversially decided to field a reserve team.

The 18 teams play each other once in the competition but are divided into three groups, with the top two in each qualifying for the quarter-final.

The two teams with the best record of the remainder, regardless of group, also go through, a criteria which now represents Guadalajara's only realistic hope of qualifying.

America, the country's richest club, kept their faint hopes alive by beating Monterrey 1-0 with an early goal from Argentine Alfredo Moreno.

BOLIVIA

Aurora beat local rivals Wilstermann 1-0 in a Cochabamba derby which ended in uproar after the winners had Eduardo Zenteno sent off late in the game.

Centeno dallied over leaving the field and around one dozen police came on to hurry him up.

Other Aurora players leapt to Centeno's defence and aimed karate kicks at the police, who responded by using pepper spray. At one point, Aurura goalkeeper Silvio Dulcich picked up a corner flag to use as a weapon against the officials.

The referee appeared to abandon the game at one stage but changed his mind after Wilstermann protested.

Dulcich was sent off, the game was re-started and Aurora held on for a win.

The match was part of an end-of-season tournament to decide Bolivia's final representatives in next year's Libertadores Cup, Aurora won the Clausura tournament, their first major title, last week.

PARAGUAY

Olimpia had two players sent off before halftime as they lost a stormy derby 3-1 to bitter rivals Cerro Porteno.

Cesar Ramirez gave Cerro a fourth-minute lead and tempers flared when Marco Lazaga equalised just after the half hour and appeared to provoke the Cerro bench with his celebration.

The incident sparked a brawl involving players and officials from both sides, which held up play for seven minutes and ended with Olimpia coach Ever Almeida and his Cerro counterpart Pedro Troglio being sent off along with several other members of the respective benches.

Olimpia then had Edison Gimenez and Lazaga sent off in quick succession, both for second yellow cards.

Paraguayan media said a ball boy was also sent off in the second half and another fight broke out in the players' tunnel after the game.

Second half goals from Erwin Avalos and Celso Ortiz gave Cerro their sixth win in eight meetings against their old rivals.

Sol de America, who beat Silvio Pettirossi 3-1, lead the Apertura championship on goal difference from Libertad, who were held 2-2 by 12 de Octubre.

COLOMBIA

Defending champions Boyaca Chico missed out on the last eight of the Clausura championship when they lost 1-0 at home to Atletico Nacional, Luis Alberto Perea scoring the only goal.

Chico are six points behind eighth-placed La Equidad with one match to play.

Leaders Tolima, who won 1-0 at Envigado, and second-placed Medellin, who beat La Equidad 2-1, have already qualified.

ECUADOR

Deportivo Quito stayed three points clear of Barcelona in the Championship's final stage after the two sides drew 1-1.

Pablo Palacios gave Barcelona an eighth-minute lead with his 16th goal of the competition and Martin Andrizzi equalised early in the second half when his attempted cross flew into the net.

Quito have 13 points from five games -- including three bonus points carried through from earlier stages of the tournament -- in the six-team table.

El Nacional joined Barcelona on 10 points after beating Macara 1-0.

URUGUAY

Danubio beat defending champions Defensor Sporting 1-0 despite playing the entire second half with 10 men after Javier Delgado was sent off in the 45th minute.

Matias Perez scored in the 76th minute to keep Danubio second in the championship's first stage, one point behind leaders Nacional who beat Rampla Juniors 2-0 with first-half goals from Oscar Morales and Alexander Medina.

PERU

Sport Boys, one of the country's most popular clubs, were condemned to relegation after losing 3-1 at Melgar.

The defeat completed a miserable year for the Callao-based team, who have been beset by financial problems with players complaining they have not been paid for five months.

Deportivo San Martin, leaders of the championship's second stage, stayed six points clear with a 1-0 win over struggling Alianza Lima, who had Henry Quinteros sent off after only 10 minutes for a foul on Pedro Garcia.

Ronald Quinteros scored San Martin's winner early in the second half.

CHILE

Universidad Catolica sneaked into the Clausura Championship quarter-finals with a 2-0 win at Nublense on the final day of the qualifying stage.

Catolica finished second in Group Two after overtaking La Serena, who lost 3-2 at Santiago Morning.

Universidad de Chile, Colo Colo, Rangers, Palestino, O'Higgins and Huachipato also qualified while Cobreloa and defending champions Everton will take part in a playoff to decide the final spot under the tournament's complex rules.

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  1. doubt it!

    From doubt.it.man, on Mon 10 Nov 1:44PM
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