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Light Pistorius Scots and Poles sentence could spark play out thrilling ‘crisis of trust’ draw in Warsaw THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,16 2014 19 Fighting for Philadelphia’s boxing legacy Page 16 GERMANY: Ireland’s Jeffrey Hendrick (second from left) and Germany’s Mario Goetze challenge for the ball during the Euro 2016 Group D qualifying soccer match. — AP Ireland heap more misery on Germany GERMANY: John O’Shea marked his 100th cap with a The result keeps Germany fourth in the Group D defensive midfielder Matthias Ginter and putting Lukas last-minute equaliser to seal Ireland’s dramatic 1-1 table, but level on four points with Scotland while the Podolski on the right wing. draw with Germany on Tuesday as the world champi- Irish are level on seven points with leaders Poland, but Julian Draxler pushed inside from the wing as a sec- on’s Euro 2016 qualifying woes continued. second on goal difference. ond attacking midfielder alongside Mario Goetze in a Germany were heading to a 1-0 win in Germany host minnows and bottom side Gibraltar 4-1-4-1 formation. The Germans lack of finishing grew Gelsenkirchen after a Toni Kroos’ goal before O’Shea in Nuremberg next month while Ireland had a confi- more acute. stabbed his shot home with the game’s final kick to cel- dence boost ahead of their clash with Scotland in Podolski went down hard in the area on 58 minutes ebrate his landmark in style. Glasgow. amidst a posse of Irish defenders, but referee Damir “Germany had far more chances. In the last ten min- But three months after winning the World Cup, Skomina judged the Arsenal star had fouled Ireland utes, we had to hope to get something on the counter,” Germany again produced a below-par performance centre-back Marc Wilson in the process. said the centre-back after beating Germany goalkeep- which has not been helped by a host of injuries and With an hour gone, Ireland manager Martin O’Neill er Manuel Neuer. retirements. also went for a change of tactics. He switched striker “At the end, the best goalkeeper in the world could- Loew was forced into two changes after both Robbie Keane for Everton midfielder Darron Gibson n’t keep it out. It was a great moment.”We have a fan- Chelsea’s Andre Schuerrle and Borussia with the Irish struggling to contain the waves of tastic spirit, we didn’t want to come off having lost with Moenchengladbach’s Christoph Kramer dropped out German attacks in the middle. people thinking we just did ok.” with flu. Ireland were chasing their first win over Goetze seemed to have been fouled in the area After their 33-match unbeaten run in qualifiers was Germany in 20 years, but Germany made a bright start with 68 minutes gone, but Skomina waved play on as ended by Saturday’s 2-0 shock defeat to Poland in with left-back Erik Durm hitting the crossbar after just Loew threw on striker Max Kruse for Draxler on 70 min- Warsaw, Germany’s finishing again deserted them as five minutes from 32 metres. utes. Just seconds later Kroos’ shot beat Forde from 25 Ireland claimed a deserved point. Just as they did in Warsaw, Germany enjoyed over metres and crashed in off the left post, which looked to COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s Michael Krohn-Dehli between Portugal’s Eliseu (left) and Nani dur- “We’re all disappointed. I think that was Ireland’s 65 percent possession, but, just like Poland before have spared the world champions’ blushes. ing their Euro 2016 group I qualifying soccer match . — AP only chance of the game and they scored from it,” said them, the Irish defence repeatedly thwarted the But the Irish grew in confidence in the dying stages Germany coach Joachim Loew. German attack. when Wes Hoolahan had his shot blocked before “In the last few minutes, we were simply naive. “It Ireland defended doggedly in the first 45 minutes, O’Shea had Irish eyes smiling. An overhit cross was Ronaldo header was a difficult game, Ireland packed their entire team and Germany’s Neuer had an easy half as he did not looped back into the area and O’Shea beat Mats behind the ball and we should have had some have to make a single save. Hummels to the dropping ball to nudge past sinks Denmark patience.” Loew made a tactical switch at the break, taking off Germany’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. — AFP COPENHAGEN: A headed goal in second- Boilesen 10 minutes into the second half Colombia half injury time by Cristiano Ronaldo gave when the left back was stretchered off Portugal a much-needed 1-0 win over having been knocked out cold by a thun- Denmark in their Group I Euro 2016 quali- dering clearance from Daniel Agger. defeat Canada fier on Tuesday. The Danes enjoyed plenty of posses- Ronaldo rose to meet Ricardo sion after that, passing well on the slick, HARRISON: James Rodriguez scored in the 74th minute to Quaresma’s cross and bury his header past rain-soaked Parken pitch, but despite give Colombia a 1-0 victory over Canada on Tuesday in an Kasper Schmeichel to claim all three points being roared on by a sell-out crowd of international football friendly. after referee Felix Byrch played five min- 36,562 they rarely threatened the The Real Madrid striker, who was the top goal scorer in utes stoppage time at the end of the Portuguese goal and were eventually pun- this year’s World Cup, rescued the South American squad game. Denmark’s best chance of the match ished. from a spirited display by the 120th-ranked team in the came when Pierre Hojbjerg muscled his “We knew that Denmark were very world. way through and fed Christian Eriksen, strong,” Santos told reporters. “I think they It was Colombia’s second victory in five days after a 3-0 who teed up Michael Krohn-Dehli to fire in saw the match against France and a shot that came back off the far post. changed from their normal tactics, from a triumph over El Salvador on Friday at the same suburban Ronaldo’s goal lifts Portugal off the bot- 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 trying to control the match. New York pitch, home of Major League Soccer’s New York tom of the table and into third in the five- With time running out, Ronaldo took cen- Red Bulls. team group on three points. Denmark tre stage, first enduring the jeers of the Radamel Falcao, a striker for Manchester United on loan remain second, level on four points with crowd as he was yellow-carded in the final from Monaco, was pulled in the 67th minute. His best scor- leaders Albania. minute for a tackle on Hojbjerg, before ing chance came early in the second half when he split Portugal coach Fernando Santos scoring the game’s decisive goal a few two defenders but lofted a shot over the crossbar from praised his captain after his late goal, say- minutes later. atop the penalty area. ing: “Cristiano is Cristiano. He is a winner, An angry Denmark coach Morten Olsen The match was the closer of an international friendly and there are no adjectives to describe hammered his side for their lapse in con- twin bill that opened with Ecuador defeating El Salvador 5- him.” centration that led to Ronaldo’s goal. “You 1. Two goals each from Enner Valencia and Joao Plata pow- Ronaldo announced his presence as have to know the last five minutes you early as the seventh minute with a thump- have to play with discipline and concen- ered Ecuador. Plata found the net in the 16th and 25th ing shot on target before teeing up Danny tration so that these things don’t happen,” minutes while Valencia scored in the 18th and 73rd min- six minutes later. Both efforts were saved, he said. “You have to be professional, utes and Cristian Penilla added the match’s final goal in the however, by Schmeichel in the Danish these are very important points that we 83rd minute. The only Salvadoran goal came off a penalty HARRISON: Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan (right) defends against Colombia’s Juan goal. Denmark lost defender Nicolai lost here.” —AFP kick by Rafael Burgos in first-half stoppage time. — AFP Quintero during the second half of an international soccer friendly match. — AP.

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