1/31/2007
Kevin Fylan

BERLIN (Reuters) – Bayern Munich sacked coach Felix Magath and replaced him with former boss Ottmar Hitzfeld in a shock move on Wednesday.

The coaching change came the day after a goalless draw at home to relegation candidates Bochum left the 20-times German champions in fourth place in the Bundesliga, in danger of slipping eight points off the title pace.

"We had to react due to concern over a Champions League place for next season," Bayern said in a statement.
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Dean Jones
January 30, 2007

LONDON (AFP) – Liverpool gave West Ham a lesson in finishing at Upton Park as two brilliant goals from Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch decided this Premiership encounter 2-1 in the visitors' favour.

Kuyts long distance drive opened the scoring just after half-time, and seven minutes later Crouch tucked the ball beyond Roy Carroll after a well-worked move.

A debut goal for substitute Kepa Blanco gave West Ham hope on 77 minutes, but the defeat means that Alan Curbishley has now won just one of his eight league games as their manager.
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1/30/2007
James Eve

ROME (Reuters) – Holders Inter Milan are set for a San Siro stroll on Thursday as they protect a 3-0 Italian Cup semi-final lead over Sampdoria.

Another win for Inter would make it three victories in nine days over Samp, who also lost 2-0 to the league leaders in Serie A at the weekend.

Sampdoria put up a fight on Sunday and might have pushed harder had it not been for the seventh-minute expulsion of Gennaro Delvecchio for headbutting Inter defender Marco Materazzi.
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1/30/2007
Nazvi Careem in Kuala Lumpur

ABU DHABI, Jan 30 (Reuters) – A patriotic United Arab Emirates fan has presented top player Ismael Matar with two camels after the striker scored the goal against Saudi Arabia that sent his country into the Gulf Cup final.

Matar scored in injury time to give his team a 1-0 victory at the weekend. They play Oman in the final on Tuesday.
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1/29/2007
Trevor Huggins

LONDON (Reuters) – Bragging rights in north London and a place in the League Cup final will be at stake when Arsenal's youngsters host Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.

Premier League champions Chelsea await the winners in Cardiff on Feb. 25, with the bookies backing Arsenal after a 2-2 draw in last week's semi-final first leg at White Hart Lane.
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1/28/2007
sportinglife.com

A first-half brace from Daniel Guiza was enough to see European hopefuls Getafe cruise past Osasuna at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez and stretch their unbeaten run to six games.

The former Mallorca striker powered home his first after 28 minutes and he sealed the three points a minute before the break with a classy second.

Getafe dominated the opening exchanges, but only had Fabio Celestini's speculative long-range drive to show for their early domination.

Osasuna responded strongly though and were only prevented from taking the lead by an athletic piece of goalkeeping from Roberto Abbondanzieri.
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Phil Minshull
January 28, 2007

MADRID (AFP) – Reigning Spanish champions and league leaders Barcelona endured some difficult periods but eventually prevailed for a 3-1 victory over Celta Vigo.

The win means that Barcelona preserve their one point lead at the top of La Liga after their nearest rivals Sevilla won 4-2 at Levante.

"This result was a step forward for the team," said Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard.

Barca's Argentine international Javier Saviola headed the opening goal after 34 minutes following a cross from Giovanni van Bronckhorst but the Dutch defender went from hero to villain midway through the second half.
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Stefano Blin
January 28, 2007

ROME (AFP) – Inter Milan maintained their 11-point lead at the top of Serie A and extended their record run of consecutive league wins to 14 matches with a 2-0 victory at 10-man Sampdoria.

But the game was marred by Inter's Italian international defender Marco Materazzi once again being the victim of a headbutt.

Materazzi was the man infamously butted by French superstar Zinedine Zidane in the World Cup final last year.

On Sunday, it was Sampdoria's Gennaro Delvecchio who was the guilty party and he was sent off in the seventh minute for the assault.
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Cyril Julien
January 28, 2007

BERLIN (AFP) – Werder Bremen moved back to the top of the German first division after a comfortable 3-0 win at home to struggling Hanover.

Tim Borowski, Hugo Almeida and Per Mertesacker scored the goals that sunk the visitors as Werder moved back above Schalke 04 – who won 3-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday – on goal difference.

Having scored a glut of goals – nine – in their last two clashes with Hanover, Werder were always likely to have a field day and did enough to start the second half of the campaign as they did the first – on top of the league.
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1/27/2007
Simon Baskett

MADRID (Reuters) – Real Madrid slumped to their third defeat in five games when they went down 1-0 at Villarreal in the Primera Liga on Saturday.

Villarreal, who had won once in their previous six outings, notched up their first ever victory against Real when 19-year-old midfielder Marcos clipped the ball home after a slick passing move midway through the second half.

Real, missing AC Milan-bound Ronaldo, David Beckham, the injured Raul and the out-of-favour Antonio Cassano, barely managed to threaten the Villarreal goal in a toothless performance at the Madrigal.
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