Monday, June 24, 2013

Soccer: Spain reach semi-finals with 3-0 win over Nigeria

FORTALEZA, Brazil, June 23 (Reuters) - Spain, the defending World champions survived a first-half shelling by Nigeria before securing their place in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup with a 3-0 win over the African champions who were eliminated from the tournament on Sunday.

A superb individual goal from Jordi Alba, one of eight Barcelona players in the starting lineup, put Spain ahead after only three minutes before Fernando Torres took his tournament tally to five with a 62nd minute diving header, three minutes after replacing Roberto Soldado.

 Spain were given a good examination by a hard-running Nigeria for most of the first half, but poor finishing cost the Super Eagles any chance of a victory. Alba rounded off Spain's win with his second goal in the 88th minute.

Spain took almost total control after the restart and will face Italy, who they beat 4-0 in last year's Euro 2012 final, in Thursday's semi-final in Fortaleza.

Source.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Spain beat Uruguay 2-1 to win Confederations Cup opener



Spain dominates Uruguay 2-1 to win Confederations Cup opener. Spain had 77 percent of the possession in the first half, and 71 in the match.

The World Cup champions did get two first-half goals just after Fabregas' miss - one in the 20th from Pedro and another 12 minutes later by striker Roberto Soldado.

Spain had a little luck with the first goal, which may have been heading wide when it took a huge deflection off Uruguay defender Diego Lugano to beat goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.

The second was perfect finishing by Soldado after a cute reverse pass from Cesc Fabregas.
Luis Suarez scored a consolation goal with a delicately curling free kick for Uruguay in the 88th.

Spain is trying to win the only major trophy it lacks to go with a 2010 World Cup and two consecutive European championships.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Heung-Min Son joining Bayer Leverkusen

Heung-Min Son,soccer

Sporting director Oliver Kreuzer said that attacker Heung-Min Son, 20 is on the verge of joining Bayer Leverkusen.

Both Borussia Dortmund and Leverkusen had made it known that the attacker will be a valuable addition to their squad ahead of next season.

Leverkusen now seem to have beaten Dortmund to Son's signature and the deal could be completed in the upcoming days.

"I expect Son to make the move to Leverkusen. We think that the transfer will be a done deal in the next few days," Kreuzer told Sky Sport News.

Son joined Hamburg in the summer of 2008 and had since developed into one of the most sought-after players in the Bundesliga.

The South Korea international's current deal with HSV is due to expire in the summer of 2014, but Hamburg are ready to part ways with the versatile attacker for a transfer fee in the region of 10 million euros.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Soccer USA beat Germany 4-3

Soccer USA,Germany

WASHINGTON -- Jozy Altidore's first-half goal, which is his first for the USA in 19 months, set the tone of the game for a 4-3 win over Germany in the Centennial Celebration match in front of 47,359 at RFK Stadium on Sunday. Clint Dempsey had two goals in the second half to put away the result, as the Americans beat Germany for the first time since the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Altidore broke his drought in the 13th minute, hitting a wondrous first-time volley off a cross from Graham Zusi. He had not scored in the run of play for the USA since June 2011, and it was his first international goal since a penalty kick against Slovenia in November 2011.

After four minutes, USA had a lucky goal, as German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen failed to handle Benedikt Howedes' backpass and allowed the ball to creep into the low left corner of his goal.

Miroslav Klose entered the match a goal behind Gerd Muller's German record of 68 international goals, and he nearly brought Germany within 2-1 in the 24th minute. He split the U.S. center backs and finished past Tim Howard, but he was judged to be offside.

Per Mertesacker had an earlier chance to open the scoring, but the Arsenal defender fluffed his chance from close range. Germany got on the board in the 52nd minute, though, with Heiko Westermann heading home Max Kruse's corner kick. The Hamburg defender gained separation from Omar Gonzalez and connected for a clean header to slice the deficit in half.

Clint Dempsey restored the two-goal edge in the 60th minute, blasting home an effort off a cross from Altidore. The forward latched onto a long ball from Jermaine Jones, taking it down off his chest. Even though his touch took him away from goal, he remained patient and spotted both Michael Bradley and Dempsey in the box. The Tottenham attacker made no mistake with his first-time hit to make it 3-1.

Dempsey added his second in spectacular fashion minutes later, as he put a perfectly placed left-footed hit from long range past ter Stegen to bring the capacity crowd to a fever pitch. Even though Kruse's vicious right-footed strike and Draxler's opportunistic tap-in brought Germany within 4-3, the USA saw out the victory, ensuring that U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann defeated his former national side and assistant coach, Germany manager Joachim Low.

Of note in the U.S. lineup was that Seattle Sounders midfielder Brad Evans was handed the start at right back, and he more than held his own in providing service down the right flank while marking up Lukas Podolski. Fabian Johnson moved into an advanced winger role and played the first half before coming off in favor of Brad Davis.

source yahoo news