Established 1961 27 Sports Thursday, August 22, 2019 Ajax finish with 10 men and a goalless draw in Cyprus Game was goalless but packed with incident PARIS: Ajax finished with 10 men on Tuesday but end to score. We were quite unlucky not to. We moved closer to the Champions League group still believe we can go through.” stage with a 0-0 draw away to APOEL in Nicosia There was only goal from open play in the in a playoff round first-leg match. night’s three matches, but it was a pretty strike to The game was goalless but packed with give Slavia Prague a 1-0 victory in Cluj. incident. Nicolae Stanciu played a 28th-minute corner to Ajax, a four-time winner of the competition and Lukas Masopust, lurking outside the penalty area. a semifinalist last season, dominated possession The midfielder flighted the ball into the far corner and created a string of promising situations. of the net with the gentlest of long-range volleys. But the lively home attack, with 22-year-old “We practiced those corner kicks two days ago Jordanian Musa Suleiman showing some eye- and I couldn’t hit the ball well,” said Masopust catching form, created the most dangerous adding that team captain Tomas Soucek “told me chances. today to try it with the side-foot and it worked.” Ajax conceded a string of free kicks in the sec- Cluj coach Dan Petrescu was less impressed. ond half and Noussair Mazraoui paid the price “Was it a pass or a shot?” he asked. “It was like when a flailing tackle on Uros Matic earned him a table tennis.” second yellow card with 10 minutes to play. Cluj won a penalty in the 79th minute, but Veteran striker Klass Jan Huntelaar, who came Ondrej Kolar saved French striker Billel Omrani on with 12 minutes left, had a clear opportunity to left-foot spot kick. win the game in added time, but the 36-year-old’s “I knew that the penalty-taking player always tame chip was cleared. waits until the very last moment before kicking “We gave the ball away too easily and we must the ball, so I waited, did not lose my nerve and improve next week,” said Ajax attacker Dusan saved it,” said Kolar. “It was my first saved Tadic. “I expect the same compact defensive zone penalty for Slavia.” from APOEL in the second game. But we need to In Austria, Linz ASK fell behind to Club Brugge play much better.” in the eighth minute and despite a late siege of the While Ajax were disappointed with an away visitors’ goal, lost 1-0. draw, Nicholas Ioannou, APOEL captain, was hap- Centre back Gernot Trauner was caught in NICOSIA: APOEL’s midfielder Musa Suliman is marked by Ajax’s defender Nicolas Tagliafico (R) during the UEFA py with his team’s chances. possession by Lois Openda and clumsily ran into Champions League playoff football match between Cyprus’ APOEL Nicosia and Netherland’s Ajax Amsterdam at the “We played really well,” he said. “We defended the striker. Hans Vanaken slammed home the GSP stadium in Nicosia. — AFP very well and had some good chances at the other penalty kick. —AFP I won’t be a one-man show, says designated DFB chief Keller Ancelotti’s Napoli BERLIN: The designated president of UEFA and global soccer body FIFA, the German football association (DFB), was the third consecutive DFB presi- hope of toppling Fritz Keller, said yesterday he will not dent to be embroiled in a scandal. take over international positions or run His predecessors Wolfgang the DFB as a one-man show, after get- Niersbach and Theo Zwanziger were Juventus ting the backing of professional and indicted in Switzerland earlier this amateur associations. month over a payment related to the Keller, who has been chairman of hosting of the 2006 World Cup. MILAN: As the sole survivor of a coaching shuffle Bundesliga side Freiburg since 2010, The DFB is now hoping Keller, who among the leading challengers, Carlo Ancelotti could was the only name put forward by a became a Freiburg vice president back have the best chance to end Napoli’s 30-year wait for DFB commission in charge of finding a in 1991, can again steady the ship. “This the Serie A title. new head of the seven million-member task was not part of my lifeplan,” Keller Yet Antonio Conte’s arrival at Inter Milan has also association earlier this month. said. “I am and was happy with what I raised expectations of an end to Juventus’s long domi- He will still need to be elected on did in Freiburg with my colleagues and nation in the season that kicks off on Saturday. Serie A Sept. 27. “In the future it will not be a my family business. But football is runners-up Napoli have not held the Scudetto aloft one-man show. There will be tasks on worth it. since Argentine legend Diego Maradona inspired them different shoulders who will each be “I see my work on a national level. I to their only titles in 1987 and 1990. responsible. There is no other way,” he do not want to be in bodies such as Ancelotti’s campaign begins in Fiorentina on told a news conference. “We have to FIFA and UEFA. This is a 24-7 job, a FREIBURG: File photo shows SC Freiburg’s president Fritz Keller answers journalists’ Saturday, after Juventus, now coached by Maurizio work together.” full-time job.” Keller said DFB Vice questions before the German first division Bundesliga football match SC Freiburg v Sarri, open their quest for a ninth consecutive title in His predecessor Reinhard Grindel President Rainer Koch would take over Mainz 05 on August 17, 2019 in Freiburg, southern Germany. — AFP Parma. Chinese-owned Inter Milan have also changed stepped down in April after coming the international roles. coaches with former Juventus and Chelsea boss Conte under pressure over income he “I do not want to miss being able to back home in Italy. Marco Giampaolo takes over at AC received from a DFB subsidiary and a go to watch a local game or go eat a one association chief absent. moved on to join bigger clubs. Milan and Paulo Fonseca at Roma. watch he had been given by Ukrainian sausage or go watch a top match,” he Small-budget club Freiburg have Keller, an entrepreneur in the field Sarri came close two years ago when he guided businessman and soccer administrator added. Keller got the unanimous back- been known for their no-nonsense of wine and gastronomy, has been a Napoli to runners-up spot, just four points behind Grigory Surkis. ing from all first and second division approach to the game, playing an excit- member of the German football Juventus, before moving to Chelsea. At 60, Sarri Grindel, who sat on the executive clubs. He also got 37 of 38 votes from ing brand of football while also produc- league (DFL) supervisory board returns to Italy to coach Juventus as the champions boards of the European association local and regional associations, with ing scores of talented players who have since 2016. — Reuters look for a new direction despite five trophy-laden sea- sons under Massimiliano Allegri. The decision by Napoli-native Sarri to move north has hurt in his home town. “For us Neapolitans, that was a betrayal,” said captain Lorenzo Insigne. “Now Rummenigge suggests Sanches we have to try to beat him at all costs.” Ancelotti How humble HK Sevens embarks on the second year of his three-year contract, and wants silverware this campaign. and Boateng could leave Bayern The 60-year-old has won titles in Europe’s five shaped world rugby biggest leagues. His Serie A title came with AC Milan BERLIN: Bayern Munich CEO Karl- HONG KONG: As Japan gears up to host Asia’s first Rugby World Cup, back in 2004. He arrived in Naples boasting three Heinz Rummenigge has suggested Champions League trophies from his spells with Milan that Renato Sanches and Jerome they might give a nod of thanks in the direction of continental neighbours Hong Kong for helping to make it all possible. and Real Madrid, and a Premier League title from his Boateng may be heading for the exit two-year tenure at Chelsea. door at Bayern Munich, telling Sky The Hong Kong Sevens has grown from an end-of-season bash to a globally acclaimed festival of rugby, inspiring the World Cup Sevens and The veteran coach insists he has learned from his Germany that both players will find it “transitional” first season. “We drew back the arrow, difficult to break into the first team World Sevens Series — and tens of thousands of fans, who don outra- geous fancy dress and party till they drop in the stands. now we are ready to fire,” he warned. Ancelotti has this season. bolstered in all areas with the arrival of defender Portuguese midfielder Sanches and Its 43-year history has been liberally sprinkled with legends such as Jonah Lomu, David Campese, Waisale Serevi and Zinzan Brooke. Kostas Manolas, midfielder Elif Elmas and winger German defender Boateng have both Hirving Lozano. pushed for a move away from Bayern The city holds the accolade of being the only two-time hosts of the in recent months. Both have dropped Sevens World Cup (1997 and 2005), reward for Hong Kong’s pivotal role in developing the oval-ball game across the world’s most populous continent. NEW-LOOK INTER down the pecking order in their posi- Inter are being remodelled by former Italy boss tions.