27 Sports Monday, March 18, 2019 Wolves shock ‘poor’ Manchester United to reach FA Cup semis ‘We’re in a great position in the league, we’ve got the Champions League’

WOLVERHAMPTON: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted challenge when Barcelona come.” Manchester United produced the poorest performance Wolves head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was delight- of his reign as Wolves sent them crashing out of the FA ed after his side reached the club’s first FA Cup semi- Cup on Saturday with a 2-1 quarter-final win. final for 21 years. “It means a lot of course. The FA Cup is But United’s interim manager was remarkably upbeat the oldest competition and we played well,” he said. “We despite his side’s flat performance, saying they had plen- achieved it with the amazing support of our fans believ- ty more to fight for as they aim for a top-four finish in ing in us and the noise was fantastic. “When we achieved the Premier League and look forward to a Champions it, we achieved it together. Now we have to prepare for League last-eight tie against Barcelona. the next one.” Wolves had the best chance of the first United were well beaten by an eager Wolves side who half, two minutes before the break. Ruben Neves sent scored two goals in the space of six minutes in the sec- Jota galloping clear for a one-on-one with Sergio ond half through Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota, with Romero, but the United goalkeeper beat his curling shot Marcus Rashford’s injury-time effort a consolation. away. After the break Romero kept United in the game Solskjaer had presided over a run of just two defeats with two superb saves to deny a bullet header from in 18 games since replacing Jose Mourinho in December, Jimenez and a rising chip from Joao Moutinho as Wolves progressing to the quarter-finals of the Champions got on top. Wolves scored the goal they had been League and the FA Cup. But they now go into the inter- threatening in the 70th minute. national break with back-to-back defeats after losing to Jimenez was forced backwards with his back to goal Arsenal last week, with Rashford’s goal their only real after being crowded out following a superb run by chance of the game. Moutinho, who breezed through three challenges cutting “Today was the poorest performance we’ve had since in from the left. But the Mexican swivelled 180 degrees I’ve been here,” said Solskjaer. “It was a big step back- after getting a lucky bounce off Paul Pogba and drilled a wards. There was a lack of urgency going forwards and a low shot past Romero. lack of forward passing and a lack of regains. “We felt Six minutes later Wolves put the tie beyond United too comfortable in possession and we never put their when Neves sent Jota racing clear on the counter and keeper under pressure or their defenders under pres- the Portuguese left Luke Shaw in a heap before firing an sure.” unstoppable left-foot drive inside Romero’s near post. But Solskjaer delivered a positive message to fans. Referee Martin Atkinson showed United defender Victor WOLVERHAMPTON: Manchester United’s English forward Marcus Rashford (2nd R) vies with Wolverhampton “We’re in a great position in the league, we’ve got the Lindelof a red card for lunging in on Jota but it was over- Wanderers’ Moroccan midfielder Romain Saiss during the FA Cup quarter-final football match between Champions League,” he said. “You can’t sulk for too turned by VAR. Rashford pulled one back with a shot on Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United at the Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, central England on long. We’ve got so much to play for. Man United in April the turn in the fifth minute of the five added one, but it Saturday. — AFP and May always find their form. We can’t wait for the was too little, too late. — AFP

Hertha had defender Jordan Torunarigha and substitute supplied the cross for Reus to convert to claim the three Reus sends striker Vedad Ibisevic sent off in the final few minutes points. In the dramatic closing moments, Kalou’s of a bad-tempered match. replacement Ibisevic was also dismissed for throwing “The most important thing was the three points we the ball in the face of the Dortmund goalkeeper. Dortmund top with took,” Dortmund captain Reus told Sky. “We dominated Earlier, Schalke’s miserable run was extended to six Africa Cup of Nations the second half and played better football the first. straight defeats after losing 1-0 at home to RB Leipzig late winner “We’re struggling to win, but that’s the only way we’ll in Huub Stevens’ first game back as caretaker coach. host Egypt bogged get more confidence,” he added, after Dortmund also The Dutchman has been hastily hurried back for his needed two late goals to beat strugglers Stuttgart last third stint in charge after predecessor Domenico BERLIN: Marco Reus admits Borussia Dortmund are weekend. Kalou capitalised on a mistake by Dortmund Tedesco was fired on Thursday, two days after the 7-0 down in domestic struggling to pick up wins in the Bundesliga title race, goalkeeper Roman Burki with just four minutes gone to thrashing at Manchester City in the Champions League. even as his late goal sent them top by sealing give Hertha the lead. Delaney equalised by charging However even Stevens, who lifted the UEFA Cup as football crisis Saturday’s dramatic 3-2 victory at Hertha Berlin. through a huge gap in midfield and firing home, his 14th- Schalke coach in 1997, could not arrest their dreadful Dortmund’s win leaves them three points clear of minute shot deflecting off Hertha defender Karim Rekik. run, which has seen them fail to win any of their last defending champions Bayern Munich, who must bounce Kalou restored Hertha’s lead by drilling home a penalty eight league games. Timo Werner stabbed home CAIRO: Little more than three months before it hosts back from their Champions League exit to Liverpool by after a Julian Weigl handball 10 minutes from the break. Leipzig’s winner with 14 minutes gone in Gelsenkirchen the Africa Cup of Nations, Egyptian football has been beating Mainz. Ivorian striker Salomon Kalou twice Dortmund drew level again when Zagadou, 19, headed after Yussuf Poulsen had rattled the crossbar. plunged into its latest crisis with major clubs squab- bling, games regularly called off and security services breached Dortmund’s defence in a poor first half by the home a Jadon Sancho corner two minutes after the The defeat saw Schalke drop to 15th in the table, intervening amid ongoing safety concerns. visitors, who have taken 12 points from a possible 21 in break. With five minutes left, Torunarigha was sent off leapfrogged by Augsburg who enjoyed a 3-1 comeback “This is the hardest season in the history of their last seven league games. for a second yellow card after fouling Dortmund win at home to second-from-bottom Hanover. Sergio Egyptian football,” Amer Hussein, chairman of the Danish midfielder Thomas Delaney and defender defender Achraf Hakimi, just before Delaney hit the Cordova equalised for Augsburg to cancel out Hendrik domestic league’s competition committee which Dan-Axel Zagadou twice equalised for Dortmund crossbar. With time running out and Dortmund growing Weydandt’s shock early goal for Hanover to make it 1-1 schedules matches, told AFP. With leading top-flight before Reus’ late strike at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. desperate after wasting a string of chances, Sancho at the break.—AFP clubs also involved in African and pan-Arab competi- tions, the knock-on effect on the domestic calendar has this year thrown the Egyptian league into disar- ray. It does not augur well for June and July, when Killorn, Lightning Egypt will host the Cup of Nations for the fifth time, with 24 teams participating for the first time in an expanded format. Egypt was chosen ahead of South crush Capitals Africa after Cameroon was stripped of its hosting duties by the Confederation of African Football. The tournament is due to take place during the searing TAMPA BAY: Alex Killorn recorded his first career hat Egyptian summer, from June 21 to July 19. trick, Tampa Bay set a franchise record for wins in a sea- The domestic league is set to run on well beyond son, and the Lightning beat the visiting Washington the end of the Cup of Nations, with the possibility of Capitals 6-3 on Saturday in the first meeting this season extended runs in international competitions for Cairo between the Eastern Conference’s two division leaders. giants Al Ahly and Zamalek potentially making things The Lightning notched their 55th victory and became just even more complicated. the fourth team in NHL history to win 54 games or more in The hasty preparations for the Cup of Nations consecutive seasons. Tyler Johnson, Erik Cernak and Yanni have compounded the league’s woes at a time when Gourde also tallied, and Nikita Kucherov notched two Ahly and Zamalek have been hitting out at organisers assists for the Lightning, who won their fourth straight. along with their new, Saudi-funded rival Pyramids FC. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots and won for the 13th In February, Pyramids FC publicly accused the time in his past 14 starts. Alex Ovechkin had two goals, and federation of favouring their rivals. The club called John Carlson added a marker and an assist for Washington, the scheduling of fixtures an “injustice” to them and which lost for just the third time in its past 15 games. threatened to complain to FIFA. Turki Al Sheikh, an Braden Holtby allowed four goals on 33 shots. influential Saudi businessman and a close political advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, OILERS 3, COYOTES 2 (OT) has bankrolled the club after buying it last summer. Connor McDavid scored his second goal of the game He has completely rebranded it with an aggressive 58 seconds into overtime as Edmonton claimed a victory marketing campaign and gone on a signing spree, in Glendale, Ariz. Mikka Koskinen made 28 saves for the bringing in foreign players from the likes of Brazil and Oilers, and Matthew Benning added a goal. Alex Syria. Al-Ahly, Egypt’s and Africa’s most successful Galchenyuk scored twice for Arizona. Coyotes goalie club, have even refused to comply with the packed Darcy Kuemper stopped 22 shots. GENOA: (From L) Genoa’s Danish midfielder Lukas Lerager, Juventus’ Brazilian defender Alex Sandro and domestic schedule. They implicitly hit out at Pyramids FC, saying they would not bow to “pressure from a BRUINS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT) Juventus’ Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur go for a header during the Italian Serie A football Match Genoa vs Juventus yesterday at the Luigi-Ferraris stadium in Genoa. — AFP certain party”. Brad Marchand scored at 3:30 of overtime as Boston “Tensions are running high and that frightens foot- returned home and snapped a three-game losing streak ball officials in Egypt with the Africa Cup of Nations with a victory over Columbus. Patrice Bergeron also broadcasters. “We did not put in a good performance, we around the corner,” said Amir Abdel Halim of popular scored for Boston, and Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves. The Juventus suffer first made some mistakes and then this goal came out of Egyptian football website Fil Goal. He said football Bruins put together a streak of 19 straight games with a nowhere. “Much like the Coppa Italia defeat to Atalanta, authorities were trying to contain the “anger of Ahly point, the longest in the NHL this season, before going 0- we picked the right game to lose, because it’s just before supporters”, while also encouraging new “invest- 3-0 on a three-game trip to Pittsburgh, Columbus and league defeat of the the break for international duty, so we have time to unplug ments in Egyptian football embodied in Pyramids Winnipeg. Matt Duchene scored the lone goal for the Blue and rest. FC”. In the face of this wave of postponements and Jackets, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. season at Genoa “I am actually happy for Stefano, because if anyone had growing fan impatience, Egypt’s powerful security Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo stopped 31 shots. to score against us, I’m glad it was Sturaro. He’s a lovely services have stepped in, in a country where football guy and suffered so much, out of action for practically a and politics have made for a lethal mix. BLACKHAWKS 2, CANADIENS 0 year with that tendon injury, so he deserves it.” The country is still scarred by the deadly clashes Corey Crawford made a career-high 48 saves in his GENOA: Juventus fell to their first Serie A defeat of the Juve had dropped points just three times this season which caused nearly 100 deaths on the sidelines of hometown as visiting Chicago won its fifth in a row, beat- season yesterday as Genoa ran out 2-0 winners days after going into the game, with draws against Genoa, Atalanta matches involving Ahly and Zamalek in 2012 and 2015 ing Montreal. Connor Murphy and Brendan Perlini were the Turin club’s Champions League heroics against and Parma, while they were unbeaten overall in the top- respectively. “Ninety-five percent of postponements the goal-scorers, both on assists from Alex DeBrincat. Atletico Madrid. Stefano Sturaro, who joined Genoa on flight for the last 31 rounds, since losing 1-0 to Napoli on are because of the security services” Hussein Crawford, who missed 28 games in the middle of the sea- loan from Juventus in January before the deal was made 22 April 2018. explained. “There is no football without security.” son due to concussion issues, posted his second shutout of permanent, put the home side in front in the second half However, the hosts started the brighter as Christian In the politically turbulent period after the 2011 2018-19. He owns a 1.48 goals-against average during a before fellow substitute Goran Pandev secured the shock Kouame forced a good save from former Genoa goalkeep- uprising that toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, five-game winning streak. The Canadiens are 6-10-1 fol- result with 10 minutes remaining. er Mattia Perin before Cesare Prandelli’s side were award- some fan groups attached to the two powerhouse lowing an impressive 8-1-1 stretch. Cristiano Ronaldo inspired a remarkable European ed a penalty for handball, only for a Video Assistant clubs were instrumental in mobilising demonstrations comeback for the Italian champions on Tuesday when he Referee (VAR) review to overturn the decision. and rallying supporters to political causes. BLUES 5, PENGUINS 1 scored a hat-trick to overturn a 2-0 first-leg defeat Juventus thought they had gone in front after the break Last month, after weeks of media mudslinging Vince Dunn scored twice, and Pat Maroon had a goal against Atletico and send his side through to the quarter- when Paulo Dybala swept home a finish, but VAR chalked between Ahly and Pyramids, the EFA announced that and an assist as St. Louis ended a three-game losing finals with a 3-2 aggregate win. the goal off for an offside in the build-up. Sturaro then the match between both teams would be postponed streak by winning at Pittsburgh. Oskar Sundqvist and Jay However, the Portuguese was left out of the matchday curled a finish into the corner against his parent club just “on orders from security services”. “The EFA should Bouwmeester also scored, and Colton Parayko and squad for the trip to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris and Juve minutes after coming on, before Pandev made sure of the have stuck to its original schedule” instead of “wanti- Robert Thomas each had two assists for St. Louis, which coach Massimiliano Allegri was left frustrated as Genoa three points with a powerful finish. Despite the result, ng to please everyone,” said Marwan Ahmed from built a 4-0 lead through the game’s first 23 minutes. took points off his side for the second time this season, Juventus remain 18 points clear of second-placed Napoli influential website King Fut.—AFP Jordan Binnington made 40 saves and is 17-4-1 in his first having drawn 1-1 in Turin in October. at the summit of the table, while Genoa climbed above 22 NHL starts. —Reuters “I expected a different Juventus,” Allegri told Italian Sassuolo into 12th place on 33 points. — Reuters