Struggling Sunderland sacks Bruce

Updated December 01, 2011 07:46:38

Sunderland sacked manager Steve Bruce on Wednesday after chairman Ellis Short said results were "simply not good enough".

The north-east club's 2-1 home defeat by fellow strugglers Wigan on Saturday left Sunderland 16th in the English Premier League and just two points above the relegation zone.

Former Manchester United defender Bruce joined the Black Cats from Wigan before the 2009/10 season and struggled to win the affection of some Sunderland fans who resented his boyhood support of local rivals Newcastle United.

But, despite some of the taunts aimed at Bruce at the weekend by angry fans at the Stadium of Light, Dallas-based businessman Short said his was not a knee-jerk decision.

"This has been a difficult time for everyone at Sunderland and is not a situation that any of us envisaged or expected to be in," said Short in a statement released on Sunderland's official website.

"It is my job as chairman to act in the best interests of our football club at all times and I can assure everyone that this is not a decision I have taken lightly.

"Sadly, results this season have simply not been good enough and I feel the time is right to make a change.

"Steve has acted with honesty and integrity throughout, which is testament to the character and commitment he has shown during his time at Sunderland.

"I would like to personally place on record my thanks to him for his significant contribution to our football club over the past two-and-a-half years and everyone here at Sunderland naturally wishes him the very best for the future.

"I would also like to thank our fans, who have endured a trying start to the season. Their support continues to be the driving force behind our club and is vital as we now look to the future."

Even those fans not intrinsically hostile to Bruce were left questioning some of his dealings in the transfer market.

For example, he signed Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan for a club record 13 million pounds in August 2010 only to fail to get the best out of a forward who scored just 11 goals in 37 appearances in his 13 months in the Premier League.

In September, Sunderland loaned Gyan to wealthy United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain.

Then chairman Niall Quinn, now Sunderland's head of international development - Short was still the club's owner - explained the move by saying: "This puts Steve and his recruitment options in a far stronger position for the January window."

But now Bruce will not have the chance to spend those funds.

Assistant manager Eric Black is set to fill the vacancy for Sunderland's visit to Wolves on Sunday.

Former Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill, and fellow ex Premier League bosses Mark Hughes and Rafael Benitez are among those being touted as permanent replacements for Bruce.

AFP

Tags: english-premier, soccer, sport, england, australia

First posted December 01, 2011 07:42:15

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England tackles France as Euros pit Spain against Italy

Updated December 03, 2011 09:12:20

Defending champion Spain and 1968 winner Italy will clash in Group C of Euro 2012 after the draw for next year's finals in Poland and the Ukraine was made in Kiev on Saturday morning.

The Republic of Ireland and Croatia make up the pool, with the top two sides progressing to the quarter-finals.

England was drawn in Group D with co-hosts Ukraine, Sweden and two-time winners France.

In a mouth-watering Group B, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Portugal were all drawn together, while co-hosts Poland will face Greece, Russia and the Czech Republic in Group A.

World and European champions Spain will tackle Italy in its opening group game in the Polish city of Gdansk on June 10.

Vicente del Bosque's side overcame the Italians on its way to victory at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, with Cesc Fabregas netting the winning penalty in a quarter-final shoot-out following a 0-0 draw.

Group B appears to be the most finely balanced on paper.

Portugal and the Netherlands famously shared an ill-tempered last-16 match at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, which Portugal won 1-0 in a game that featured a record 16 yellow cards and four dismissals.

"It's a difficult draw but a great draw," Netherlands playmaker Wesley Sneijder said.

"We know our three opponents very well. If we manage to beat them and get out of the group, we'll be well placed to win the tournament. I'm confident."

Denmark, champion in 1992, last crossed swords with Portugal in qualifying, with its 2-1 victory in Copenhagen in October obliging Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates to qualify through the play-offs.

The opening Group D clash between England and France at Donetsk's Donbass Arena on June 11 will probably go a long way towards determining which side finishes top of its pool.

The teams previously met in their opening group match at Euro 2004, when two late strikes from Zinedine Zidane gave France a 2-1 victory after Frank Lampard had headed England in front.

"England are one of the biggest nations in football," France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said.

"They'll start as favourites in the group ... Behind England, the Ukraine, Sweden and France will fight for second place."

The tournament kicks off on June 8, when Poland will take on 2004 champions Greece at the National Stadium in Warsaw, with the final taking place at Kiev's Olympic Stadium on July 1.

Earlier in the day, organisers insisted the tournament would be a huge success despite concerns about a lack of hotel rooms and inadequate infrastructure.

"Euro 2012 will be a resounding success, a milestone in the history of European football," declared UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino at a press conference at the Olympic Stadium.

"Airports, roads, train stations and hotels have been developed or built from scratch.

"Poland and the Ukraine are ready to cope with a massive influx of tourists next summer. Work that normally takes 20 years has been done in a few years."

After repeated delays and spiralling costs, the Ukraine has now opened the stadiums in its four host cities.

The Olympic Stadium is the most expensive jewel in the tournament's crown - at a cost of more than $US550 million - with completely new venues in Lviv and Donetsk to go with the refurbished stadium in Kharkiv.

AFP

Tags: euro, soccer, sport, ukraine, poland

First posted December 03, 2011 08:50:18

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Roar beaten by better team: Ange

Updated December 05, 2011 22:48:52

All good things must come to and end and Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou believes not even Lionel Messi could have saved the A-League club's 36-game unbeaten run from extinction on Sunday.

Sydney FC's 2-0 win over the Roar at Kogarah Jubilee Oval officially drew the curtain on Brisbane's amazing run, a record in top-level Australian sport.

Postecoglou could have pointed to the fact his star playmaker Thomas Broich missed the match with a heel injury, or suggested his team could have felt a sense of anti-climax after clinching the record with a 4-0 win over Perth last weekend.

But the coach was not in the mood for excuses, saying his men had been simply outplayed by the enthusiastic Sky Blues.

"They're the beautiful excuses we can all pull out but football is not that simple," Postecoglou said.

"Sometimes you just meet a better opponent.

"It doesn't matter if we had Thomas out there or Lionel Messi out there, it doesn't matter.

"We tried hard enough, the effort was there, we tried to play our football in difficult conditions but it just wasn't to be."

Postecoglou insisted his players had not relaxed after their record-breaking feats, nor did he buy into suggestions the record had proved a distraction.

"We never saw it as a distraction or any added pressure, it was just something that was happening because we were doing well," he said.

"Sometimes when you get on a run like ours I think people expect you to win all the time.

"But that's not how sport works. That's our second loss in I think 42 games, that's a fair run we've had and we've just got to keep going."

Championship-winning Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka rated the win among his proudest moments at the club but urged his players to build on the result.

"I am proud to be a part of this team, part of this club, because tonight was something special for us," Lavicka said of his men, who reclaimed third spot.

"I think it was our best team performance of the season.

"I would like to see the team keep that performance, that level going in upcoming games."

The Roar remain atop the competition table but now sit only three points ahead of the improving Central Coast Mariners, who claimed their fifth win in six games with a 4-0 demolition of Adelaide on Saturday night.

That performance prompted Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond to declare Central Coast the hottest team of the competition ahead of next weekend's F3 derby.

"What they did to Adelaide, I thought they were extremely good," van Egmond said.

The Jets claimed their first win in four games as they came from behind to beat a star-studded Melbourne Victory 3-1 in front of more than 17,000 fans on Saturday.

The Victory and their star recruit Harry Kewell put in a decent performance but the result will likely put some heat back on under-fire coach Mehmet Durakovic.

"This game's all about winning and we need to win games," Durakovic said.

Melbourne Heart and Perth Glory returned to winning ways with home wins over Wellington and Gold Coast respectively.

AAP

Tags: sport, soccer, a-league, sydney-2000, nsw, brisbane-4000, qld, australia

First posted December 05, 2011 09:07:48

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Liverpool downs Chelsea again, City sting Arsenal

Updated November 30, 2011 10:32:26

Liverpool piled more pressure on Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas with a 2-0 victory over the stumbling Blues in the League Cup quarter-finals at Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas has found his position under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks following a poor run that included three defeats in four Premier League matches and Liverpool's second win at Chelsea in the last nine days will inevitably bring renewed speculation about the young Portuguese coach's future.

"I thought Liverpool were superior all the way through. They had a strong desire to kill the game off and we couldn't match it," Villas-Boas said.

"We have to be critical of ourselves and shouldn't accept this result."

Elsewhere, Manchester City moved into the semi-finals with a 1-0 win over Arsenal as Sergio Aguero hit a late winner for the Premier League leaders.

"It was a difficult win and Arsenal played very well," said City manager Roberto Mancini.

"It was a great goal and counter attack is the perfect goal.

"It's important we won and we want to try and go to the final."

Chelsea had an early penalty appeal turned down when Sebastian Coates appeared to foul David Luiz, but referee Phil Dowd did point to the spot in the 20th minute when Blues defender Alex handled a Jose Enrique cross.

However Andy Carroll's troubled spell with Liverpool took a turn for the worse as his penalty was saved by Ross Turnbull.

Florent Malouda went close for Chelsea when his second half effort hit the bar, but Liverpool took the lead through Maxi Rodriguez in the 58th minute.

Rodriguez also scored in Liverpool's 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League nine days ago and the Argentina midfielder could not miss this time after Craig Bellamy set him up for a simple tap-in.

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres drew a blank against his old club and it was Liverpool who scored again through Martin Kelly, the young defender heading in his first senior goal from Bellamy's free-kick in the 63rd minute.

At the Emirates, Mancini made 10 changes but it was hardly an under-strength team since it included the likes of former Arsenal stars Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure, as well as Edin Dzeko and Owen Hargreaves.

Inevitably Nasri was jeered on his first return to Arsenal since his acrimonious move to City in August, but he had the last laugh as City went through.

City's understudies played on the backfoot for much of the contest but looked more formidable when Mancini sent on Argentina forward Aguero before half-time.

And it was Aguero who got the decisive goal in the 83rd minute as his excellent strike completed a sweeping move involving Dzeko and Adam Johnson after an Arsenal corner.

Championship side Cardiff enjoyed a 2-0 win over struggling Blackburn that left under-fire Rovers boss Steve Kean facing a fight to avoid the sack.

Kean must have been shifting uncomfortably in his seat when Scotland striker Kenny Miller put Cardiff ahead in the 19th minute with a cool finish after Morten Gamst Pedersen squandered possession in midfield.

Kean sent his players out early before the start of the second half. But Anthony Gerrard piled on more misery for the Rovers boss in the 50th minute when he headed home to clinch Cardiff's first win over a top-flight club in the League Cup since 1986.

"We're disappointed. We've got a big game in Wales at the weekend against Swansea so we made a few changes," Kean said.

"We thought that team would be enough but full credit to Cardiff. I felt the second goal was a handball and we were expecting a foul."

Manchester United host Championship club Crystal Palace in the last quarter-final tie on Wednesday.

AFP

Tags: sport, english-premier, soccer, england, united-kingdom

First posted November 30, 2011 09:54:22

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Sky Blues the limit for streaking Roar

Updated December 05, 2011 07:59:12

The longest running undefeated streak in top-level Australian sport is over after Sydney FC ended Brisbane Roar's amazing 36-game unbeaten run with a shock 2-0 win at Kogarah Oval on Sunday.

Defying the odds on the back of two straight defeats, Sydney stunned the Roar with an opener to young gun Dimi Petratos after just 36 seconds and never looked back with star signing Brett Emerton also scoring in one of club's most memorable wins.

The result halted the Roar's run just a week after they eclipsed the previous Australian sporting record of 35 matches set by Eastern Suburbs rugby league club in the 1930s.

It was Ange Postecoglou's side's first loss since a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Melbourne Victory on September 12, 2010, some 448 days ago, and the first time it has failed to score in a match since that day.

Postecoglou offered no excuses and insisted he knew this day was coming.

"It's something you prepare for every week," he said.

"Every week's been a challenge, it's never easy and we know every week if we're not on our game then ... there's a possibility you lose. It's all a part of sport.

"It's not a surprise but it hasn't happened often to us."

Championship-winning Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka rated the win among his proudest moments at the club but urged his players to build on the result.

"I am proud to be a part of this team, part of this club, because tonight was something special for us," he said of his men, who reclaimed third spot.

"I think it was our best team performance of the season.

"I would like to see the team keep that performance, that level going in upcoming games."

While the Roar were without star playmaker Thomas Broich (heel), they were barely let into the game by an enthusiastic Sky Blues spurred on by 11,555 fans who braved a miserable Sydney afternoon.

Lavicka's side had spoken about its desire to arrest a worrying trend of poor starts, but even it could not have predicted such an explosive beginning.

Many in the crowd had barely taken their seats at the Kogarah venue when defender Pascal Bosschaart knocked the ball into a dangerous area and striker Bruno Cazarine produced a clever flick to put Petratos in space.

Making his first start of the season with Mark Bridge injured and fellow young gun Terry Antonis rested, Petratos finished with all the composure of a seasoned professional to start an electrifying performance for the 19-year-old.

If the Roar were rattled then, they were completely shocked when Sydney doubled the advantage in the 20th minute.

There was a touch of fortune and even suggestions of an own goal as the impressive Emerton curled a corner in towards goal and the ball took several deflections off Theoklitos and found the back of the net.

Brisbane, unable to find the sort of cohesion and control that has made it near untouchable in the past year, was restricted to only a handful of forays into Sydney's area.

The Roar's best chance of the half fell in the 41st minute, when Besart Berisha just failed to get on the end of a dangerous Issey Nakajima-Farran ball.

They threatened again shortly after the break when Berisha forced a good save out of Liam Reddy.

But while there was a sense a Brisbane comeback would be inevitable, it failed to eventuate as Sydney continued to control the match and defended superbly.

Petratos, the impressive Nicky Carle, Karol Kisel and substitute Juho Makela all came close but their failure to add to the score meant little when the final whistle sounded to bring the curtain down on the Roar's slice of history.

Sydney must back up to face Perth Glory in Campbelltown on Wednesday but captain Terry McFlynn said spirits will remain high.

"I think this performance has shown what we're about this season," he said.

Sydney FC: 2 (D Petratros 1', B Emerton 20')

Brisbane: 0

AAP

Tags: soccer, sport, kogarah-2217, sydney-2000, australia, brisbane-4000, nsw

First posted December 04, 2011 18:59:02

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Mariners rout hapless Reds

Updated December 02, 2011 22:44:42

Adelaide United fell to its worst ever home defeat as Central Coast ran riot in a 4-0 thrashing at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.

Classy midfielder Michael McGlinchey set up three of the four goals as Adelaide, once touted as a championship contender, crashed to its worst ever home result - eclipsing a 4-1 defeat by Sydney FC in 2006.

The Reds are second last on the ladder with just two wins.

Mariners defender Patrick Zwaanswijk netted twice, with striker Bernie Ibini and livewire Mustafa Amini also scoring in a ruthless trouncing.

The blitz began courtesy of Amini, who had three shots at goal in a sparking seven-minute cameo - the last finding the net.

Amini slotted from 20 metres after pouncing on a perfect McGlinchey through ball which sliced Adelaide's defence in the 29th minute.

Three minutes later, McGlinchey again was the provider, playing Ibini into space just 10 metres from goal and the Nigerian-born striker slammed a right-footer into the top netting.

"I think we were," Amini told Grandstand when asked whether the Mariners were a four-goal-better side.

"We played well tonight, we played really well, and we're working on our attack in training and four goals come and it's starting to come out.

"It was good to get a 4-0 win - we made a statement out there tonight, and it was good to get 90 minutes under my belt."

Central Coast will return to Gosford to prepare for next weekend's local derby against the Jets at Newcastle.

"Hopefully we we win that for our fans and we get a good crowd up there," Amini said.

Adelaide's fortunes went from bad to worse in the 37th minute when Ibini out-jostled Reds captain John McKain and turned on goal inside the box.

The Mariners marksman unleashed a right-footer which struck a side bar while having his shorts tugged by McKain, whose offence led to a yellow card and a penalty.

Dutchman Zwaanswijk was given the honours and his sweet left-footer sailed past despairing Reds goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic.

The three goals in nine minutes floored a confidence-sapped Adelaide, which slipped further 20 minutes into the second half with McGlinchey again the creator.

The New Zealand-born midfielder launched a free kick from 30 metres out which arrowed in to Zwaanswijk, who was inexplicably unmarked inside the box.

As the rattled Reds defence watched, Zwaanswijk floated high to score the easiest of headers and confirm the utter dominance of the second-placed Mariners.

Central Coast coach Graham Arnold rated the 4-0 win as his club's most complete performance of the season.

"The first half, obviously, was outstanding," he said.

"Tonight was, without doubt, our best performance."

Adelaide United boss Rini Coolen said his team lacked the confidence to compete with the Mariners.

"I'm not happy, I'm very disappointed with all my players," he said.

"It is a big disappointment for us and our supporters .... but we have to move on and still believe."

Central Coast: 4 (M Amini 29', B Ibini-Isei 32', P Zwaanswijk 38', R Griffiths 65')

Adelaide Utd: 0

ABC/AAP

Tags: a-league, soccer, sport, adelaide-5000, sa, gosford-2250, nsw, australia

First posted December 02, 2011 22:08:15

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