Villa goal sends Spain into the semi-finals

BLOEMFONTEIN (South Africa): Spain edged Iraq 1-0 to make the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup yesterdsay and equal the world record for the longest winning streak by a national team.

A second-half goal by Valencia striker David Villa undid the resiliant Asian champions for two wins out of two in Group A to ensure a place in the last four where they are likely to meet either Brazil or Italy.

The hard fought victory wrote their names in the history books with Spain, who have not been beaten since November 2006, matching the record of 14 straight victories held by Australia, Brazil and France.

They also moved to within one win of equalling the 35-match unbeaten run by Brazil between 1993 and 1996.

Vicente del Bosque was forced to start without Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas who limped out of training on Tuesday after a strong tackle by Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Iraq coach Bora Milutinovic also rested several players, including star striker Younis Mahmoud, with his focus on their last match of the group stages against New Zealand, which he believes they can win.

Compared to their 5-0 thrashing of New Zealand on Sunday, this was a much tougher test for Spain .

It took them eight minutes to unleash their first shot when Cazorla’s left foot strike was easily gathered by goalkeeper Mohammed Kassid.

Iraqi forward Alaa Abdul Zahra found the target soon after but it never threatened Iker Casillas, winning his 94th cap, in the Spanish goal.

Pique’s glancing header went close on 15 minutes and Fernando Torres, Spain’s hat-trick hero against New Zealand, almost got on the end of a looping Xavi through ball minutes later.

Spain’s best chance came midway through the half when Cazorla fired a cross in from the right to find an unmarked Villa whose left-foot volley whistled past the post.

Spain were threatening a goal but a composed Iraq held tight, getting bodies behind the ball effectively and they went to the break all square.

The European champions upped the tempo after the restart and Villa should have buried a golden opportunity eight minutes into the half when he fired a close range header straight at the goalkeeper.

But he made no mistake a minute later when he got on the end of a Joan Capdevila cross and angled his header into the right-hand corner to break the deadlock.

It fired up Spain with Alonso, Torres and Mata all going close but Iraq never gave up, fighting bravely to the bitter end but unable to draw level.

Spain, with six points, play their last group match against South Africa in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

— AFP

Selangor stay on winning track as league resumes

GEORGE TOWN: Selangor continued their winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Perak when the Super League action resumed after a two-week break last night.

A 50th minute strike by R. Surendran at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh was enough for the Red Giants to maintain their one-point advantage over Perlis at the top of the table.

At the Darulmakmur Stadium in Kuantan, Perlis, who have played one game more than Selangor, stayed hot on the heels of the pacesetters after overcoming Pahang 3-1.

After firing blanks in their last two matches, Perlis broke their goal drought after 30 minutes through national midfielder Azi Shahril Azmi.

The Northern Lions’ top scorer, Nizarudin Yusof, extended the lead in the second half with goals in the 52nd and 66th minutes before Pahang pulled back a consolation goal through R. Kartigesu in the last minute of the match.

Kedah came from behind to beat Negri Sembilan 3-1 at the Darulaman Stadium in Alor Setar. The win not only snapped the reigning champions’ four-match winless run but also allowed them to move into third spot at the expense of their opponents.

Negri took the lead with a goal by Mohd Zaquan Adha but Kedah hit back in the second half with goals by Sabree Abu, Khyril Muhymeen and former Penang striker Azrul Ahmad.

Kelantan celebrated their return to the Sultan Mohd IV Stadium in Kota Baru with an emphatic 3-0 victory over UPB My-Team, courtesy of a brace from Indra Putra Mahayuddin.

The national player struck in the 13th and 42nd minutes before Mohd Badri Radzi completed the scoring in the 62nd minute.

An estimated 15,000 fans turned up to watch the Red Warriors’ first match at home since April 11 when their stadium was suspended for crowd trouble.

At the Sultan Ismail Stadium in Kuala Terengganu, KL Plus distanced themselves from the relegation battle after picking up three points against Terengganu.

The 2-0 victory lifted the 11th placed highwaymen to 21 points, 10 ahead of next-to-bottom Pahang. in the drop zone.

By LOGANATH VELLOO

http://thestar.com.my/sports/

C. Ronaldo: The Reds announced they had accepted a world-record offer of £80million from Real Madrid

The beginning of the end to Cristiano Ronaldo's glorious United career came on 11 June 2009, when the Reds announced they had accepted a world-record offer of £80million from Real Madrid.

In six years at Old Trafford, the Portuguese winger exhausted all superlatives as he matured from the inexperienced youngster who left Sporting Lisbon in 2003 to become the best footballer on the planet.

The story goes that Sir Alex was persuaded to buy Ronaldo - largely unknown when he signed as an 18-year-old for £12.24m in 2003 - by his players on the plane home from a pre-season friendly against Sporting. In truth, the boss had long been aware of his ability. The urgency stemmed from other clubs’ increasing interest. This was a target Sir Alex simply could not miss out on.

Ronaldo wasted little time in showing off his sublime skills with a stunning 30-minute debut against Bolton at OT in August 2003. There was a buzz of excitement as soon as he stepped off the bench and, after 39 appearances and eight goals that season – including the opener in the 3-0 FA Cup final win over Millwall – he was named Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year.

His second term didn’t quite live up to his first, but late season form saw him end 2004/05 with nine goals in 50 appearances. In 2005/06 Ronny again reserved his best form for the latter stages, but the inconsistencies of a developing young player were being ironed out. He departed, full of hope and with great expectations, for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany - what turned out to be a truly defining moment in his career. In the quarter finals, Portugal met England and, after Wayne Rooney’s sending off, Ronaldo became the pantomime villain for the English press. Some doubted he would return to Manchester. But Sir Alex assured him any ill-feeling would blow over. It’d happened with Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Ronaldo met the inevitable boos with the best football of his life.

United’s title success in 2006/2007 was a team effort, but one man took the lead role in every major plotline. It began with the barnstorming 5-1 win over Fulham – Ronaldo and Rooney ran the show and publicly banished claims they were at odds. Dazzling wing-play was backed with regular assists and crucial goals. His form that season brought a glut of individual accolades and, despite interest from other clubs - notably Real Madrid - he extended his contract until 2012.

Ronaldo improved further in 2007/08, netting a staggering 42 goals in all competitions. In May 2008 he fired United to domestic and European glory; scoring a decisive penalty on the final day of the league campaign and a powerful header in the Champions League final in Moscow. His staggering individual performances gleaned a clean sweep of club and domestic individual honours, with global gongs soon to follow.

At Euro 2008, Ronaldo’s future was again the subject of claim and counter-claim. Happily, in the end, he pledged his allegiance to United, although ankle surgery delayed his start to the 2008/09 campaign. He made his return as a substitute against Villarreal in the Champions League and was given a rousing home reception. Two months later, his 100th Reds goal arrived against Stoke City at OT on 15 November 2008.

Ronaldo’s magical 2008 was rounded off with another string of individual honours. In October he was named FIFPro Player of the Year, and in December became the first United player since George Best in 1968 to be awarded the prestigious Ballon d’Or trophy. To cap it off, in January 2009, he became the first Red to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award. "This is the climax of a fantastic era," he said at the ceremony in Zurich. "I'm lucky to be part of United's history. It's one of the most important moments of my life, I hope to be back in this position again."

While Ronaldo did not dominate on the field in 2008/09 to the same degree as he did in 2007/08, he still played a significant role as the Reds achieved a hat-trick of league titles and reached a second successive European Cup final. For example, Cristiano scored in all three knock-out rounds of the Champions League, including the club's Goal of the Season to defeat Porto in the quarter-final second leg in his native Portugal and a double in the semi-final second leg against Arsenal at the Emirates.

In his final appearance of the season at Old Trafford, Ronaldo received his third championship medal after the Reds sealed the title with a point against Arsenal. At that stage, there was no indication that Cristiano was contemplating an exit - but that all changed less than a month later when the club announced it had accepted Real Madrid's record £80m offer.

Brazil 4 - 3 Egypt

Last gasp winner from Kaka

Brazil had to rely on a 90th-minute Kaka penalty to overcome plucky Egypt and claim a barely-deserved win to start their Confederations Cup defence in Bloemfontein.The South Americans looked to be on their way to an easy win in Group B after first-half goals from Kaka, Luis Fabiano and Juan opened up a 3-1 lead at the break.But a fragile first-half defensive performance meant they never fully looked in control of the contest and two goals in as many minutes soon after the re-start, from Mohamed Shawky and first-half scorer Mohamed Zidan, had the Africans dreaming of a memorable win.Those hopes were dashed a minute from time, however, when defender Ahmed Al Muhamadi handled a Lucio shot on the line and was given his marching orders.

Kaka, who had been a largely peripheral figure, then stepped up to coolly convert the spot-kick and deny Egypt.Brazil had looked set for an easy afternoon when new Real Madrid signing Kaka put them ahead after five minutes.Kaka, who signed for the Spanish giants for a reported fee of 68million euros last week, twice juggled the ball past a pair of would be defenders on the edge of the area before calmly slotting past goalkeeper Essam El Hadary.It was an ominous beginning from the Selecao but, to Egypt's credit, they rallied immediately and were level four minutes later.The Pharaohs' path to goal was made easier by some lax Brazilian marking as they failed to track Mohamed Aboutrika's run down the right flank.The winger had all the time he needed to pick out Zidan, who headed home at the back post after his markers had also failed to keep a watchful enough eye.

It was a moment of lost concentration that would typify Brazil's defensive performance but such was their attacking threat it seemed that would be of little concern.Indeed, they took only three minutes to regain their lead when Luis Fabiano deftly guided an Elano free-kick past a diving El Hadary.Juan then missed a good chance for a third when he headed over from an Elano corner with less than 30 minutes played.Egypt were being outplayed but a second goal was not beyond them as they were continually allowed space to break forward.Veteran Hassan Ahmed passed up two good chances for the Africans as he failed to control a clever throughball from Zidan, before taking too long to shoot in the area and allowing a slow-retreating defence to relieve him of the ball.Brazil coach Dunga was cutting an agitated figure on the touchline and ironically it was one of his central defenders, Juan, who offered him some relief when he headed in an Elano corner after 37 minutes.Egypt gave warning they were not willing to lie down in injury-time when Hosni Abd Rabou narrowly headed over Sayed Moawad's left-wing cross. It was a warning Brazil would not heed as they conceded their two-goal advantage in two frantic minutes soon after the break.

Again Egypt were allowed space down the flank and Aboutrika drove forward before pulling the ball back to Shawky, who drilled a shot low past Julio Cesar with 54 minutes on the clock.A minute later, the Brazilian goalkeeper was again fetching the ball out of his net.This time the Egyptians took a more direct route to goal as Aboutrika flicked a pass behind the defence for Zidan, who took a touch before thrashing his shot past an exposed Cesar.It was a stunning salvo from the Egyptians, who last week lost 3-1 to Algeria in a World Cup qualifier, and their more fancied hosts failed to find a response.The game looked set to be heading for a draw until the final moments when Lucio met a corner with a clean volley that Al Muhamadi kept out with an outstretched arm.The defender then writhed around in pain, claiming the ball had hit his face, but referee Howard Webb was not fooled, showing him a straight red and awarding Brazil a penalty.Kaka then made no mistake from the spot as he stroked the ball into the right-hand corner.