Uruguay beats Chile 1-0 to advance

AREQUIPA, Peru (AP) - Adrian Luna's free kick in the 38th minute Sunday gave Uruguay a 1-0 victory over Chile in the second round of South American qualiyfing for the Under-20 World Cup.

The victory guarantees Uruguay a place in the Under-20 World Cup later this year in Colombia. Uruguay is the first South American country to book a place. The top four teams in regional qualifying advance to the U20 World Cup, and the top two get berths in the 2012 London Olympics.

Uruguay has seven points in three matches and Chile has lost all three matches. Two rotations remain.

In the second match, Colombia and Ecuador drew 0-0 to move Ecuador to five points and leave Colombia with one.

Brazil played Argentina in a late match.

Brazil has six points in its first two matches and Argentina has three.

  

Real Madrid beats Real Sociedad 4-1 in Spain

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Cristiano Ronaldo scored a double to lead Real Madrid to a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday as the Spanish giants stayed seven points behind league leader Barcelona.

Jose Mourinho's team had to win after its fierce rivals opened up a 10-point gap through their league-record 16th straight win on Saturday.

Madrid responded to the challenge with a convincing performance to stay perfect in 11 games at Santiago Bernabeu stadium this season.

"We know our margin of error is limited," said Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso, who started his career with Sociedad. "The important thing is the victory and to keep earning points."

Kaka opened the scoring in the eighth minute, placing a left-footed shot into the far corner after Sociedad midfielder Gorka Elustondo had erred in clearing a cross and the ball fell to the Brazil playmaker in the area.

Ronaldo blasted in the second in the 21st, feinting with his right, before crossing to his left and firing in from outside the area and ending his four-game scoring drought.

The Portugal forward then headed home a corner by Mesut Oezil in the 42nd, and Emmanuel Adebayor capped the win in the 89th with his first league goal since joining Madrid on loan from Manchester City.

Real Sociedad got its consolation goal when a shot by Raul Tamudo was blocked by goalkeeper Iker Casillas but rebounded off Alvaro Arbeloa and into the net in the 72nd.

Casillas played his part in Madrid's victory by twice denying Tamudo from point-blank range in the first half.

Mourinho said he was focusing on his own team's performance, rather than catching Barcelona.

"I am here to end in first place, but if we end up second, it's not a problem," he said. "The only thing we can't do is give away the competition."

Elsewhere, Valencia beat Hercules 2-0, while Sevilla and Malaga drew 0-0 in a dull Andalusian derby as both teams let important points slip.

After dropping five of its last nine points and struggling to score, Mourinho deployed his most attacking starting 11 of the season with Ronaldo and Kaka playing alongside Oezil, and Adebayor leading the attack.

The new-look lineup showed immediate results, Kaka sending a shot just wide of the left post 20 seconds in. And the former AC Milan star soon put his team ahead.

Sociedad looked to counterattack and came close to surprising the hosts moments after Kaka's opener, Casillas spilling a cross but quickly recovering to make a great save of a strike by Tamudo.

After a week of speculation about Ronaldo's form, he answered his critics by peppering Sociedad's goal with shots and made it 2-0 before Casillas again saved a stabbed shot from Tamudo from inside the six-yard box.

"Going into halftime up 3-0 was very good and (Casillas) was largely responsible for that," Alonso said.

Ronaldo's second pulled him level with Lionel Messi on 24 goals in their personal duel to be top scorer. Messi had provisionally moved ahead of Ronaldo with his hat trick against Atletico Madrid on Saturday. Ronaldo has 34 goals in all competitions, compared to Messi's 40.

Madrid could have made a rout of it in the second half. Ronaldo came close to a a third, Kaka hit the crossbar and Oezil had a goal disallowed for offside.

At Mestalla stadium, Aritz Aduriz scored Valencia's opener two minutes before halftime, controlling a pass by strike partner Roberto Soldado and tapping past goalkeeper Juan Calatayud for his ninth goal of the season.

Tino Costa made it 2-0 with a curling left-footed free kick in the 53rd.

With its sixth win in seven games, Valencia closed to within one point of third-place Villarreal, while Hercules slumped to a fourth straight defeat.

After an uneventful first half at Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, Sevilla improved following the restart but could not break through as Alexis Ruano and Frederic Kanoute missed clear-cut chances.

Malaga's best scoring opportunity came near the final whistle, when Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop had to save Weligton's header.

Sevilla moved into seventh place but remained six points away from the Europa League positions.

"These slip ups are moving us farther away from our goal (of playing in Europe next season)," said Sevilla coach Gregorio Manzano. "We have to try harder to convert our scoring chances."

Last-place Malaga fell four points from safety as its relegation rivals_ Levante and Almeria_ won this week.

  

Ronaldinho scores 1st goal with Flamengo in Brazil

SAO PAULO (AP) - Ronaldinho scored his first goal for Flamengo on Sunday, converting a first-half penalty in his team's 3-2 victory over Boavista in the Rio de Janeiro state championship.

The result sent Flamengo into the semifinals of the Guanabara Cup, the first stage of the Rio tournament, and extended the team's winning start to the season to six matches.

Ronaldinho struck his penalty firmly into the top left corner in the 24th minute, then sprinted to celebrate by punching the air and doing his traditional samba dance in front of Flamengo's cheering fans.

It was only his second match in Brazilian football after 10 seasons in Europe playing for Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and most recently AC Milan.

   

Lille draws 1-1 at Auxerre in French league

PARIS (AP) - Lille missed the chance to move seven points clear at the top of the French league when it conceded a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw at Auxerre on Sunday.

Lille took the lead in the ninth minute when striker Moussa Sow got his league-leading 15th goal of the season with a brilliant bicycle kick from just inside the penalty area, but Poland defender Dariusz Dudka replied with just four minutes remaining.

"It's two points lost. But we've come away empty-handed from here so many times in the past that it (feels like) a point gained," Lille coach Rudi Garcia said. "We know we're the team to beat because we're at the front, but we will have to learn from experiences like this."

Lille should have led by more late in the first half, but midfielder Eden Hazard chose to shoot from a narrow angle rather than passing to the unmarked Sow lurking inside the area.

Lille paid the price for that missed chance. Auxerre won a free kick near the left corner flag, and Anthony Le Tallec flicked it on perfectly for Dudka to slide the ball home at the far post.

The draw means Lille is five points ahead of Paris Saint-Germain and Rennes, who are second and third respectively.

But Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez thinks Lille can go all the way this season. "Lille will be champions, they deserve to be," Fernandez said. "Rudi Garcia is doing some really good things with his team.

Lille have been playing with the same team for the last three or four years."

Seven-time former champion Lyon failed to close the gap and remains in sixth place, seven points behind the leader, after drawing 0-0 at home to Bordeaux in a drab game of few chances.

Lyon's best chances fell to playmaker Yoann Gourcuff and striker Lisandro Lopez, but both shot straight at Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso.

Earlier, Moussa Sissoko scored both goals as Toulouse beat struggling Monaco 2-0 at home to climb up to seventh place.

Monaco remains deep in relegation trouble in 19th spot, and coach Laurent Banide warned his players they will be relegated unless they start improving soon.

"We were nonexistent in the first half. To win a game you have to have all the necessary ingredients," he said. "Even though we came up against a very good Toulouse team, I'm very disappointed by our performance. It's worrying and you have to ring the alarm bell."

  

FC Porto beats Rio Ave 1-0 in Portugal

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - FC Porto beat Rio Ave 1-0 at home to stay undefeated and 11 points clear of second-place Benfica in the Portuguese league.

Silvestre Varela scored what proved to be the winner in the sixth minute, heading home a cross from midfielder Joao Moutinho.

Three Argentines gave Benfica its eighth consecutive win, downing Setubal 2-0. Nicolas Gaitan scored Benfica's opener in the 45th, firing in Javier Saviola's assist, and substitute Franco Jara doubled the lead with an acrobatic kick in the 78th.

Benfica has a game in hand over its league rivals.

Elsewhere on Sunday, it was: Guimaraes 0, Nacional 0; Portimonense 0, Pacos Ferreira 1; Academica 3, Beira Mar 3; and Leiria 0, Olhanense 2.

  

Man City to rotate strikeforce ahead of hectic schedule

MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s first team coach David Platt revealed the club will rotate their expensively-assembled strikeforce for the rest of the campaign after an emphatic 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.

A first-half hat-trick by Carlos Tevez, who was celebrating his 27th birthday, delivered all three points for City, who could even afford to leave new signing Edin Dzeko on the bench at Eastlands.

While Dzeko’s omission raised eyebrows before kick-off, Platt revealed City had no qualms about resting their strikers when tactics dictated.

“It’s a hell of a problem isn’t it?” joked Platt.

“We can play in different ways and we felt that if we played this way today, we could open them up.

“You will get games when Carlos and Edin play together and there are so many games that I think our longest break between now and the end of the season is five days.

“If we want to achieve what we want to achieve, and keep progressing in two cup competitions, then we need our whole squad to be there.

“We will look at each game as it comes and decide whether we play with one front man, with two front men, whether Carlos plays off Edin.”

City’s hopes of challenging for the championship were aided by the spectacular events at Newcastle where one of Platt’s former clubs Arsenal threw away a 4-0 lead to draw with the home side - a result which, claimed Platt, helped make up for the disappointment of a relatively flat second half display from City.

“We came off a little bit disappointed not to have got more goals and played in the way we did in the first half,” he said.

“You come out with all the old cliches – ‘It’s still 0-0, go out and win the second half as well, goal difference is important.’

“But human nature means you take the foot off the pedal. And in the Premier League, if you lose that five per cent – coupled with the reaction from the opposition – then you see what happened.

“Then you see what’s happened at St James’ and I’d rather be in our dressing room than Arsenal’s.”

Next up for City is the small matter of a trip to Old Trafford on Saturday where they face league leaders United in a derby fixture that could have a major say in deciding the eventual title winners.

“Our manager believes we can win every match,” added Platt. “Next week is a very, very difficult game for us, there is no doubt. But the manager will already have started preparing for that game.”

   

It is all dark and gloomy for Ballack in German team

BERLIN: Fuming after being substituted on Saturday and left out of the Germany squad to face Italy, Michael Ballack must now wait until next month to discover whether he still has an international future.

Ballack made only his second start for Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday since a broken leg kept him out of football since September, but was replaced after 67 minutes in his team’s 1-0 German league defeat at 10-man Nuremberg.

He was visibly upset at Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes’ decision to replace him with Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok.

It looks increasingly as though Ballack is playing for his international place with whispers growing Germany coach Joachim Loew may no longer need his former captain.

On Friday, Loew opted to leave Ballack out of the 22-man squad to face the 2006 World Cup winners in Dortmund for Wednesday’s friendly.

Short of fitness, and with Germany having reached the semi-finals at last year’s World Cup without him, Loew has said he will discuss Ballack’s future with him before next month’s Euro 2012 qualifier with Kazakhstan.

Ballack suffered a fall from grace last year when Chelsea declined to extend his contract and he returned to the Bundesliga to sign for Leverkusen in July, but the 34-year-old needs to impress the national coach.

“We all know that Michael was still missing something after he played his first 90 minutes following a long injury,” Loew had told German daily Bild.

“He is still finding his rhythm and he has made a good impression. If everything runs accordingly, we will meet in the middle of March to look at what the next step is.”

Football-mad Germany was distraught at the loss of Ballack in May, but by the end of the World Cup in July, pundits were suggesting perhaps the injury was a blessing in disguise and questioning whether the ex-captain was needed.

Ballack has not played for Germany since the pre-World Cup 1-0 defeat to Argentina last March.

  

Ferguson eyes derby clash to reignite MU’s title charge

WOLVERHAMPTON: Alex Ferguson believes next weekend’s high-octane derby will give Man-chester United the perfect incentive to bounce back from losing their 29-match unbeaten run.

United slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat at rock-bottom Wolves on Saturday as their lead at the top of the Premier League was reduced to four points over Arsenal.

And despite the midweek international break, which Ferguson believes is ill-timed, the Scot insists Saturday’s game against Manchester City at Old Trafford could not have come at a better time.

“It’s a terrific game to try to recover from a defeat. It’s a massive game. It’s something to look forward to,” said the United boss.

“Unfortunately, we have internationals in midweek. To my mind that is crazy, but we have to get on with it.

“We have plenty of players who are not involved in international games and they will all play next week.

“We have to give consideration to the ones who are travelling, have to play, and then come back for the City game on Saturday lunchtime.”

Ferguson admitted he was upset at seeing the chance of going through the Premier League season unbeaten shattered by lowly Wolves at Molineux.

“We’re disappointed, obviously. It has been a long run for us and the players have done us all proud, but today in the second-half, we didn’t really get going.”

Ferguson believes his side wasted too many opportunities in the first half and then failed to get to grips with an increasingly “difficult” pitch, barely forcing Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey into a second-half save.

Adding to Ferguson’s misery was the sight of Rio Ferdinand being forced out of the game after injuring his calf in the warm-up.

“Rio has done his calf in the warm-up unfortunately, so he’ll be out for a couple of weeks,” said Ferguson.

“It was late to have to make the change. I already had Jonny Evans as a substitute. Normally I would have put Chris Smalling there. He has been playing recently.

“We had to pull Chris in as a substitute because Jonny had already done the warm up. It was a blow because the experience Rio has got is always vital in games like that.”

A superb individual goal by winger Nani had fired United ahead on three minutes at Molineux, but Wolves equalised with a fine header by full-back George Elokobi.

Five minutes before half-time Kevin Doyle was deemed to have got the final touch on a Nenad Milijas free-kick to put Mick McCarthy’s side 2-1 up. 

  

Struggling West Bromwich sack manager Di Matteo

WEST BROMWICH: West Bromwich Albion fired manager Roberto Di Matteo yesterday as the team battle against relegation from the Premier League.

A 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Saturday was West Brom’s 13th loss in 18 games in all competitions, leaving the team only two points above the drop zone.

The 40-year-old Di Matteo had been in charge for less than 20 months before West Brom announced yeterday that he was being “relieved ... of his duties and placed ... on gardening leave.”

“This has been a tough decision but we, as a board, believe it is the right one to give the club the best possible chance of remaining in the Premier League,” West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace said in a statement. “Our poor sequence of results stretches back more than three months and there has been little sign of it coming to an end.

“If this run continues much longer, achieving our goal of retaining our Premier League status will become increasingly difficult. That is why we felt compelled to act now.”

Di Matteo, a former Italy midfielder who was hired by West Brom in June 2009, secured the team’s instant return to the Premier League last May.

After losing two of their first nine league games, West Brom was a contender for Europa League qualification. But the team have won only three times since then and taken one point from their past three games.

  

Forest boss Davies modest about their chances

LONDON: Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies insists his side will struggle to win automatic promotion from Division Two even though they went second in the table with a 1-0 win over Watford.

Marcus Tudgay bagged the only goal at the City Ground on Saturday after just 51 seconds to secure a sixth successive win which left former European champions Forest seven points behind leaders QPR with two games in hand.

But Davies said: “I think we are great candidates for the play-offs but if I am totally honest I think we are a little bit short for going up automatically. That is my honest evaluation.

“At the end of the day I look at what our rivals like Queens Park Rangers, Cardiff and Leicester are doing in terms of preparing themselves for the remainder of the season and that’s why I take the view that I am.

“But we have 18 games left to play, 18 big games, and we will attempt to accumulate as many points as we can. But we know that every point will be difficult to get.”

At Turf Moor, Burnley beat third placed Norwich 2-1.

Dean Marney lashed home Chris Eagles’ pass from outside the penalty area to give Burnley a 33rd-minute lead and, though Grant Holt equalised in the 65th minute, Jay Rodriguez turned home the winner nine minutes from time.

South Africa striker Davide Somma bagged a 56th-minute winner as fifth-placed Leeds defeated Coventry 1-0 at Elland Road.

Millwall are just one place outside the play-off places after Kevin Lisbie struck in stoppage time to secure a dramatic 1-0 win over Doncaster at The Den. 

  

Meireles goal hands Liverpool victory at Stamford Bridge

LONDON: Fernando Torres suffered a dismal debut as Chelsea’s £50mil striker was substituted following a lacklustre display in his new side’s 1-0 defeat against his former club Liverpool yesterday.

Torres was hauled off after just 66 minutes of his first Chelsea appearance and the Spain striker had even more reason to forget his Stamford Bridge bow when Liverpool’s Raul Meireles bagged the winner for his old team just moments after his premature exit.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish won the tactical battle with his Chelsea counterpart Carlo Ancelotti and defeat leaves the Blues, who are 10 points behind leaders Manchester United, with virtually no chance of retaining the Premier League title.

Dalglish’s side are now just six points behind Chelsea and it is not impossible that Torres could see his former team beat his new club to a place in the Champions League.

Maxi Rodriguez’s wayward pass gave Torres a clear sight of goal from the edge of the area but his hurried shot sailed high over the bar.

After playing a 4-3-3 formation for much of the season, Ancelotti tinkered with his tactics to accommodate Torres and opted to play the Spaniard alongside Didier Drogba, with Nicolas Anelka tucked in behind the front two.

However, with Liverpool playing three centre-backs, there was little room for Torres to influence the game and he was crowded out whenever the ball came his way.

Torres briefly escaped his shackles with a clever run onto Drogba’s pass, only for Jamie Carragher to snuff out the danger with a superb sliding block.

After sitting back for long periods, Liverpool should have taken the lead when Steven Gerrard’s low cross found Maxi Rodriguez unmarked at the far post.

The Argentine midfielder looked certain to score yet somehow managed an astonishing miss as he scooped his close-range effort onto the bar.

When Gerrard whipped over a low cross in the 69th minute, Cech and Ivanovic left the task of clearing to each other and Meireles punished their confusion by steering the loose ball into the net from close-range. 

  

Shock call-ups for Walker and Stockdale

LONDON: England manager Fabio Capello on Saturday called up uncapped Aston Villa defender Kyle Walker and Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale for Wednesday’s friendly against Denmark in Copenhagen.

Tottenham’s Michael Dawson returns to the squad following his injury last year suffered against Bulgaria at Wembley, while there is also a place for Everton’s Leighton Baines.

But Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was missing from the 25-man squad after injuring his calf in the warm-up before Saturday’s shock 2-1 defeat at Wolves.

Walker, who is just 20, has excelled in loan spells with both QPR and Aston Villa after Spurs boss Harry Redknapp decided there was no short-term use for the Sheffield-born player at his parent club Tottenham.

Stockdale was also called into the squad for the first time, although his role is very much as back-up to first-choice pair Joe Hart and Ben Foster.

Frank Lampard also returns for the first time since August and there is also a call-up for highly-rated West Ham midfielder Scott Parker, who made Capello’s provisional World Cup squad but was dumped without playing a minute of the warm-up matches against Mexico or Japan.

There is no place for Cardiff’s Jay Bothroyd, who made his debut against France in November, while Jack Wilshere is the only one of the youngsters Capello used in that game to survive.

With new Liverpool striker Andy Carroll ruled out by a thigh injury, Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe are joined by Gabriel Agbonlahor in the forwards reckoning.

  

Messi hat-trick sends Catalans into the record books

MADRID: Lionel Messi hit a hat-trick as Barcelona made history on Saturday by winning a record 16th successive Spanish League match to beat the previous best of Alfredo Di Stefano’s 1960-1961 Real Madrid.

Messi scored all the goals in the 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou as the defending champions opened up a 10-point lead over Real Madrid who face Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Argentine magician Messi waltzed through the Atletico defence to give Barcelona the lead in the 17th minute and, after wasting a further chance, he pounced again in the 28th minute.

Atletico came out of their shell at the start of the second half but it was Barcelona who had the cutting edge with Messi scoring again from close range 11 minutes from time.

“We wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for Leo in our team,” said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola of his Argentine superstar.

“Without him we wouldn’t have won so comfortably. You always need to have players who can do something different.

“Real Madrid won 15 because they had Di Stefano.

“We have now won 16 because we have Messi.”

Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores was full of praise for Messi.

“He is the best player I have seen – the Di Stefano of the 21st century.”

Earlier on Saturday, a fine Valmiro Valdo finish gave Levante a shock 1-0 win in their derby clash with Champions League-chasing Villarreal. Struggling Levante were given little hope going into the game against third-placed Villarreal, who had not been beaten at home since May last year and had only drawn one game this season against Valencia.

Levante got the only goal of the game two minutes into the second half with Valdo rounding the keeper and then sliding the ball home with aplomb.