Fading Mexican champions Pachuca had three sent off as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Monterrey, who also had a player dismissed in a stormy game.
Pachuca coach Enrique Meza criticised his team after Argentine forward Damian Alvarez and Mexican internationals Jaime Correa and Fausto Pinto were shown the red card in the last half hour of Saturday's match.
"We did enough to deserve the defeat," said the former Mexico coach. "Our conduct left much to be desired, we stopped playing and tried to win the game on the base of... mis-channelled aggression."
Chilean international Humberto Suazo gave Monterrey a 27th minute lead but Christian Gimenez levelled two minutes later for the Beavers.
Despite having Jesus Arellano sent off for dissent in the 37th minute, Monterrey went back in front with another Suazo goal before Luis Perez completed the scoring with an injury-time penalty.
Alvarez was sent off for fighting, Pinto for an ugly foul and Correa for protesting the penalty award as Pachuca lost their heads.
Pachuca, the CONCACAF champions, are third in Group One with 19 points from 14 games and Monterrey and fifth in Group Two with 13.
Santos Laguna stayed top of Group Two with an impressive 5-2 win at Atlas, Group One leaders Toluca drew 0-0 at Chiapas and Morelia gave new coach David Patino a winning start by beating Tigres UANL 1-0.
Cesar Luis Menotti's Tescos UAG squandered a halftime lead as they went down 3-2 at home to San Luis. Colombian forward Tressor Moreno scored twice as the visitors struck three times in 14 minutes in the second half.
The win took San Luis top of Group Three and left the Owls bottom of Group One.
21 October 2007
Liverpool have emerged as front runners to sign Simon Kjaer, one of the most highly-rated teenage talents in Europe.
The 18-year-old defender has been courting interest from Europe's top clubs with some fine performances for Danish club FC Midtyjlland.
Real Madrid are among the clubs tracking the defender's progress, but it is believed Liverpool have jumped to the head of the queue after sending scouts to watch the player.
Agent Mikkel Beck told The Sunday Sun: "You realise how special this kid is when Liverpool watch him and tell you he's good enough to play in their first team. Messi, Rooney, Dos Santos - he is special like them. Lille and Monaco were the first to show an interest, then Real made a much better offer and it was turned down. He is worth a lot more."
18 October 2007
Barcelona's Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o has been granted Spanish citizenship, after swearing allegiance to the country's constitution.
It means 24-year-old Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure is now the Catalan side's only non-EU player.
It follows Brazil's Ronaldinho and Mexican Giovanni Dos Santos becoming EU citizens back in August.
The Spanish football federation's move to consider Africans as EU players may make the changes of status unnecessary.
This follows the Spanish parliament's ratification in April last year of the Cotonou Accord, which was signed in 2000.
The agreement means workers from 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific nations can be treated as guest workers under European Union designation.
Eto'o, who is expected to be sidelined until December after undergoing surgery on an injured tendon in his right thigh, joined Barcelona from Mallorca in 2004.
The Cameroon striker helped the team win the Champions League in 2006 and the Spanish league in 2005 and 2006.
The 26-year-old began his career with Real Madrid and had loan spells with Leganes and Espanyol.
He has been voted Africa's top player three times.
18 October 2007
Newcastle target Edmilson admits he will not be signing a new contract at Barcelona.
The Brazilian international moved to Camp Nou in 2004 and helped them to UEFA Champions League glory in 2006.
However, his time with the Catalan giants has been dogged by injury, including two serious knee ligament problems - one which ruled him out of the 2006 World Cup finals.
He is currently recovering from a summer operation on his knee and is not expected to return to fitness until January.
The 31-year-old was targeted by both AC Milan and Newcastle in the summer and English sources continue to suggest that he could move to Tyneside as early as January.
But the player himself seems set on regaining his fitness first.
"I am training hard to get physically fit and will be until the end of my contract," he told the media in Brazil.
"Personally I know that this is my last season at Barcelona. I want to be able to play again without feeling pain. I couldn't show the best of me last year but now I am a little bit better. Unfortunately I haven't been able to repeat yet at Barcelona the good performance that I had at Lyon."
Edmilson confirmed that he was close to joining Milan in the summer.
"Before the season began, I was approached by the people from Milan - there was a possibility but my knee was not good," he admitted.
Meanwhile, Barca striker Samuel Eto'o has been granted a Spanish passport.
La Liga rules state that clubs can only have three non-EU players in their squads.
Barca now only have one non-EU player in their squad, Yaya Toure, as both Ronaldinho and Giovani dos Santos were also granted Spanish citizenship earlier this year.
16 October 2007
Txiki Beguiristain has admitted that signing Santiago Ezquerro and Eidur Gudjohnsen may have been mistakes as Barcelona did not expect their youngsters to flourish so quickly.
The duo have become fringe players at Camp Nou following the sudden rise of such talents as Giovani Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic and could be sold if a suitable offer comes in.
"There will always be mistakes because you have to have the players who are numbers 21, 22 and 23 in the squad," Beguiristain told RAC 1.
Barca's technical secretary revealed that while Gudjohnsen is confident of winning back a place in the side, Frank Rijkaard and his staff prefer to use the new kids on the block.
"Gudjohnsen believes that he still has a chance here, but at the moment the coaches are giving more time to Giovani and Bojan," he explained.
Neither Ezquerro nor Gudjohnsen have played a single minute for Barcelona this term and the Spanish giants may look to use the January transfer window to move them on.
"If Ezquerro and Gudjohnsen are not given playing time then we will have to look for a situation that suits everyone," Beguiristain added.
"What is clear is that if there is an offer then first of all we will have to talk to the player. I know that Ezquerro is thinking about playing abroad."
Gudjohnsen was linked with Manchester United over the summer and was also said to be a target of both Newcastle and West Ham.
Ezquerro has reportedly been interesting Premier League sides such as Everton and Bolton, but he was keen on a return to Athletic Bilbao in the summer.
08 October 2007
Brazilian championship leaders Sao Paulo suffered their second 1-0 defeat in four days on Sunday when they were beaten by relegation-threatened Corinthians.
Defender Betao headed the only goal four minutes from time to give Corinthians their first win in three games under Nelsinho Baptista, their fourth coach of the year.
It was also the first time they had beaten local rivals Sao Paulo since 2003.
The win failed to pull Corinthians out of the relegation zone, leaving them 17th in the 20-team table with 37 points from 30 games. The bottom four go down.
Second-placed Cruzeiro failed to take advantage of Sao Paulo's slip-up when they were held 0-0 by lowly Goias.
Defending champions Sao Paulo, who have 63 points, are still 11 clear of Cruzeiro with eight games to go after their fifth defeat in 30 games.
Third-placed Santos closed the gap on Cruzeiro to one point by beating hapless Botafogo 2-1 on Saturday with an 89th minute goal from Renatinho.
Rodrigo Tabata had put Santos ahead with a 50th minute penalty and Dodo fired the equaliser in the 66th minute.
It was Botafogo's third defeat in eight days under new coach Mario Sergio.
The weekend's results left only five points between Sport Recife in seventh place and Corinthians in 17th.
Atletico Mineiro, under former Brazil coach and goalkeeper Emerson Leao, won for the first time in eight matches, coming from behind to beat Sport Recife 3-1.
Atletico are 16th, ahead of Corinthians on the number of games won.
Fluminense beat Flamengo 2-0 in the "Fla-Flu" derby in Rio de Janeiro after Somalia and Thiago Neves scored at the start of each half.
06 October 2007
The two teams yet to taste defeat this season maintained their unbeaten records after Atlante and Santos drew 2:2 in Cancun. Goals from Christian Benitez and Daniel Luduena put Santos two goals up and seemingly on their way to a sixth straight win. Venezuelan striker Giancarlo Maldonado put Atlante back into contention on 67-minutes with his sixth goal of the campaign and David Toledo drew them level on 79-minutes.
Pachuca returned to winning ways with a 4:1 demolition of San Luis, despite going behind to a Victor Piriz goal on the stroke of half-time. Pachuca was level a minute into the second-half through Juan Carlos Cacho, before a Christian Gimenez header and a double-strike from defender Paul Aguilar sealed the win for Enrique Meza's team. The final goal even came after Pachuca had been reduced to 10-men following a red card for midfielder Jaime Correa.
A 4:1 win at Veracruz saw Cruz Azul close the gap on the leaders although, like Pachuca, the visitors had to come from behind. Daniel Rios had Veracruz ahead on 11-minutes, but two goals from Richard Nunez had Cruz Azul ahead before the break, with late goals from Cesar Villaluz and Cesar Delgado making the points safe.
America beat Atlas 2:1 thanks to goals in each half from Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabanas. A late goal from Bruno Marioni was all that Atlas could muster, leaving them with just a point to their name after six matches.
After a slow start to the season, a Sergio Santana goal just before the break was enough for Guadalajara to beat UANL Tigres. In what was a round of comebacks, Morelia battled back from an early goal down at Monterrey to win 2:1. Egidio Arevalo put Monterrey ahead on 11-minutes, but goals from Luis Angel Landin and Gabriel Choy Gonzalez either side of the interval ensured that Morelia went home with three points.
Elsewhere Toluca handed out a 4:0 beating to Necaxa, with two late goals in each half. An Everaldo Barbosa own goal set Toluca on their way on 42-minutes and their lead was doubled before the break through Diego De la Torre. The visitors had substitute Angel Eduardo Reyna dismissed within two-minutes of coming on and their day was made worse still with further goals from Carlos Morales and Vicente Sanchez in the last 10-minutes.
A last-minute headed goal from Esteban Solari secured a first win of the season for UNAM Pumas, 2:1 victors at Jaguares Chiapas. Argentinean striker Solari had put Pumas ahead just before the break, but Jaguares looked to have secured a point three-minutes from time when defender Melvin Brown drew them level. Newly promoted Puebla also secured their first win of the campaign, with Alvaro Gonzalez scoring twice either side of a Jose Hiber Ruiz goal in beating bottom of the table UAG Tecos 3:0.
05 October 2007
Antonio Di Natale will not play in Atalanta-Udinese after the sudden death of his mother. 'There are more important things than football.'
The forward has been on sensational form of late with a series of decisive and spectacular goals for both Udinese and Italy.
He was set to take a leading role in Saturday's trip to Bergamo, but Coach Pasquale Marino and the club have released him on compassionate leave.
'There are more important things than football,' said Marino. 'Toto was not put under any pressure and we are close to him.'
In fact, if he feels up to it, Di Natale can still be added to the squad ahead of the 17.00 UK time kick-off at the Stadio Azzurri d'Italia.
'As for the tactical situation, we have valid alternatives like Antonio Floro Flores. He is in good shape and once he scores that first goal, he will get even better.'
The Friulani have won three of their last four games, interrupted by a surprise 3-2 defeat at Genoa.
'We are looking for consistency. That is why, even though we will play our usual attacking style, I will ask my team to be particularly wary of their dangerous strikers.'
