Soccer Sports News & Betting

Results from the 13th round of Spain’s first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Saturday’s Games

Getafe 3, Real Madrid 1

Sevilla 0, Barcelona 3

Sunday’s Games

Recreativo Huelva vs. Villarreal

Valladolid vs. Mallorca

Malaga vs. Osasuna

Almeria vs. Deportivo La Coruna

Athletic Bilbao vs. Numancia

Espanyol vs. Sporting Gijon

Valencia vs. Real Betis

Atletico Madrid vs. Racing Santander

Saturday, Dec. 6

Sporting Gijon vs. Atletico Madrid

Villarreal vs. Getafe

Barcelona vs. Valencia

Sunday, Dec. 7

Mallorca vs. Recreativo Hueva

Osasuna vs. Valladolid

Deportivo La Coruna vs. Malaga

Numancia vs. Almeria

Racing Santander vs. Athletic Bilbao

Real Betis vs. Espanyol

Real Madrid vs. Sevilla.

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Italian Football Results.

Results in the Serie A, the Italian first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Saturday’s Games

Catania 1, Lecce 1

Juventus 4, Reggina 0

Sunday’s Games

Atalanta vs. Lazio

Cagliari vs. Sampdoria

Genoa vs. Bologna

Inter Milan vs. Napoli

AS Roma vs. Fiorentina

Siena vs. Torino

Udinese vs. Chievo Verona

Palermo vs. AC Milan

Saturday, Dec. 6

Chievo Verona vs. AS Roma

Lazio vs. Inter Milan

Sunday, Dec. 7

Atalanta vs. Udinese

Cagliari vs. Palermo

Lecce vs. Juventus

AC Milan vs. Catania

Napoli vs. Siena

Reggina vs. Bologna

Sampdoria vs. Genoa

Torino vs. Fiorentina.

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French Football Results.

Results from the 16th round of the French first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Saturday’s Games

Lille 1, Lorient 1

Le Havre 0, Nantes 2

Auxerre 0, Monaco 1

Le Mans 2, Caen 0

Nice Grenoble (postponed due to torrential rain)

Lyon 0, Valenciennes 0

Sochaux 0, Bordeaux 0

Sunday, Nov. 30

Toulouse vs. Marseille

Nancy vs. Saint-Etienne

Rennes vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Saturday, Dec. 6

Bordeaux vs. Valenciennes

Caen vs. Rennes

Lille vs. Toulouse

Marseille vs. Nice

Saint-Etienne vs. Le Havre

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Le Mans

Sunday, Dec. 7

Grenoble vs. Auxerre

Lorient vs. Nancy

Monaco vs. Sochaux

Nantes vs. Lyon.

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Portuguese Football Results.

Results from the 10th round of the Portuguese first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Friday’s Game

Leixoes 1, Naval 1

Saturday’s Games

Belenenses 0, Maritimo 2

Sunday’s Games

Trofense vs. Rio Ave

Pacos Ferreira vs. Amadora

Braga vs. Nacional

Sporting vs. Guimaraes

Monday’s Games

FC Porto vs. Academica

Benfica vs. Setubal.

Sunderland manager Roy Keane suggested that his 100th match in charge could be his last after seeing his team crushed 4-1 by Bolton in the Premier League on Saturday.

Djibril Cisse put Sunderland into an 11th-minute lead, but the team capitulated and defensive mistakes gave Bolton a route back into the game.

After slumping to a fifth loss in their last six matches, Keane’s side fell to 18th in the 20-team standings.

“I ask myself every single day if I am the right man for Sunderland,” Keane said. “I asked myself this morning and I said that I was. Tomorrow morning if the answer’s no we will have to look at it.

“I have to be honest in my assessment. It’s not about what’s best for Roy Keane. It’s Sunderland Football Club. I might wake up on Monday morning and think I’m the right man. On Tuesday it might be different.”

Cisse’s opener was quickly canceled out by Matthew Taylor and by the 21st Gary Cahill had put Bolton ahead.

Johan Elmander compiled Keane’s misery either side of the break after exploiting slack defending.

“I’m the manager of this football club and ultimately I’m responsible and I’ve never shied away from that,” Keane said. “That’s part of being a manager and that’s why I take full responsibility for today and the run we’re on and everything else.”

Results Saturday in English football (home teams listed first):

Premier League

Aston Villa 0, Fulham 0

Middlesbrough 0, Newcastle 0

Stoke 1, Hull 1

Sunderland 1, Bolton 4

Wigan 2, West Bromwich Albion 1

League Championship

Burnley 3, Derby 0

Charlton 0, Southampton 0

Crystal Palace 0, Queens Park Rangers 0

Ipswich 1, Sheffield United 1

Nottingham Forest 1, Barnsley 0

Plymouth 1, Blackpool 2

Preston 2, Bristol City 0

Sheffield Wednesday 3, Norwich 2

Watford 1, Doncaster 1

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1, Birmingham 1

League One

Northampton 1, Colchester 2

Walsall 2, Swindon 1

League Two

Accrington Stanley 1, Bury 2

FA Cup

First Round Replay

Grays Athletic 0, Carlisle 2

FA Cup

Second Round

Bournemouth 0, Blyth Spartans 0

Bradford 1, Leyton Orient 2

Chesterfield 0, Droylsden 1 (abandoned at halftime due to fog)

Eastwood Town 2, Wycombe 0

Fleetwood Town 2, Hartlepool 3

Forest Green 2, Rochdale 0

Gillingham 0, Stockport 0

Kidderminster 2, Curzon Ashton 0

Leicester 3, Dagenham & Redbridge 2

Millwall 3, Aldershot 0

Morecambe 1, Cheltenham 1 (abandoned due to fog in 65th)

Peterborough 0, Tranmere 0

Scunthorpe 4, Alfreton Town 0

Southend 3, Luton 1

Torquay 2, Oxford United 0.

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Greek Football Results.

Results from the 12th round of the Greek football league:

Saturday’s Games

Thrasivoulos 1, PAOK 2

Larissa 2, Iraklis 0

Panathinaikos 1, Asteras 1

Sunday’s games

Aris vs. Panserraikos

Ergotelis vs.Xanthi

Levadiakos vs. AEK

Olympiakos vs.Panionios

Panthrakikos vs. OFI.

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Scottish Football Results.

Results Saturday in Scottish football (home teams listed first):

Premier League

Hearts 2, Rangers 1

Aberdeen 2, Motherwell 0

Celtic 1, Inverness 0

Falkirk 1, Hibernian 1

Hamilton 1, Kilmarnock 0

St. Mirren 0, Dundee United 2

First Division

Dundee 1, St. Johnstone 1

Scottish FA Cup

Third Round

Airdrie United 3, Cove Rangers 0

Albion 1, Queens Park 2

Clachnacuddin 0, Stenhousemuir 5

Clyde 2, Montrose 0

East Fife 2, Arbroath 0

East Stirling 2, Livingston 1

Elgin vs. Spartans (ppd., frozen field)

Forfar vs. Stranraer (ppd., frozen field)

Forres vs. Dalbeattie (ppd., frozen field)

Inverurie vs. Vale of Leithen

Lochee United vs. Ayr (ppd., frozen field)

Peterhead 2, Morton 1

Raith 0, Alloa 0

Ross County 2, Dumbarton 2

Stirling 2, Partick Thistle 3.

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German Football Results.

Results from the 15th round of the Bundesliga, the German first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Friday’s Games

Hertha Berlin 2, FC Cologne 1

Saturday’s Games

Werder Bremen 5, Eintracht Frankfurt 0

Bayer Leverkusen 0, Bayern Munich 2

Hannover 3, Karlsruher 2

Borussia Moenchengladbach 1, Energie Cottbus 3

Hoffenheim 3, Arminia Bielefeld 0

Sunday’s Games

Stuttgart vs. Schalke

Bochum vs. Hamburger SV

Borussia Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg

Friday, Dec. 5

Bayern Munich vs. Hoffenheim

Saturday, Dec. 6

Schalke vs. Hertha Berlin

Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Bochum

Karlsruher vs. Werder Bremen

Energie Cottbus vs. Stuttgart

Arminia Bielefeld vs. Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Moenchengladbach vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Sunday, Dec. 7

Wolfsburg vs. Hannover

FC Cologne vs. Hamburger SV.

American goalkeeper Brad Friedel of Aston Villa made a record 167th consecutive Premier League appearance Saturday against Fulham.

The 37-year-old, who started the streak in August 2004 with Blackburn, overtook the previous record set by Portsmouth’s David James in April. He earned a third straight shutout in the 0-0 draw.

“Is it nice that I have been able to get a run of games? Yes, absolutely, but I hope to have many more games ahead of me,” Friedel said. “I have never appeared in a game hoping to attain an appearance record. I appear because I am under contract to play football and I love football.

“It really hadn’t entered my mind until recently when the statisticians said I have a chance to break the record.”

Work permit issues forced Friedel to bounce around Europe and the United States - playing for Galatasary, Brondby and the Columbus Crew - before finally joining Liverpool in December 1997.

He struggled to start for the Anfield team and in 2000 joined Blackburn, where he spent eight years before seeking a new challenge at Villa.

“It is remarkable in this day and age, whether you are a ‘keeper or not, to play that number of games consecutively. It is fantastic,” Villa manager Martin O’Neill said. “Well done to him. During the last eight or nine years, from leaving Liverpool to the career he has had at Blackburn, Brad Friedel has been so consistent.

“Last year was maybe his best ever season and he wants to try and emulate that this year for us.”

Friedel also played 82 games for the United States from 1992-2004.

“I have been fortunate with injuries, touch wood, and when I have got the odd knock it has always seemed to coincide with international breaks,” Friedel said. “Since I retired from international football, I have managed to rest up between domestic games, too.”

Liverpool is scrutinizing every aspect of how Fernando Torres plays and trains after its record signing was ruled out with a hamstring injury for the third time this season.

The setback, ruling the Spain striker out for up to three weeks, came less than a month into his latest comeback after playing in Wednesday’s Champions League victory over Marseille, and just as the Reds try to break away from Chelsea atop the Premier League.

“It is worrying me because it has happened a few times,” said Torres, who was also sidelined twice last season. “After this latest injury the important thing is to recover without rushing a comeback date and trying to make sure it does not happen again.”

The 24-year-old Torres had not had any similar muscle or hamstring problems before joining from Atletico Madrid in the 2007 offseason for 20.3 million pounds (then $41 million; 30 million euro).

Now he is working with Rafa Benitez and his medical staff to discover why his right hamstring is so prone to injury, particularly on international duty.

“The situation is that we have to start again analyzing everything and start with the prevention,” Benitez said Friday. “It’s not difficult, it’s not one of the worst injuries, but it can happen again and again the same problem so we have to analyze the small things.

“Sometimes it’s how you walk, sometimes it’s the boots, sometimes it’s if you have been doing some exercises before and it is making it worse. You never know, but I was talking with Torres 10 minutes ago a little and he was thinking about solutions.”

Benitez insists that Torres, who scored 33 goals in his debut season last year, was not rushed back after tearing his hamstring during Spain’s World Cup qualifying win at Belgium last month.

“It has happened three times with the national team so it is something we have to analyze, we knew maybe they were doing something that is not the best for the player,” Benitez said. “With the new staff with the national team there was better communication and it was easier, but after a few weeks we have the problem again so we have to analyze this.”

Benitez said no pressure will be put on Torres to make a swift return, and his absence will give his strike rivals a chance to shine.

“We have Keane and when we bought him it was with the idea that he can score goals. We also have Dirk Kuyt, David Ngog and Ryan Babel,” Benitez said. “Hopefully they can score enough goals and we can talk about Fernando in three weeks’ time.

“We have shown enough quality and character without him and hopefully we can do it again.”

Results from the 15th round of the Bundesliga, the German first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Friday’s Game

Hertha Berlin 2, FC Cologne 1

Saturday’s Games

Werder Bremen vs. Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Bayern Munich

Hannover vs. Karlsruher SC

Borussia Moenchengladbach vs. Energie Cottbus

Hoffenheim vs. Arminia Bielefeld

Sunday’s Games

Stuttgart vs. Schalke

VfL Bochum vs. Hamburger SV

Borussia Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg.

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Bayern to miss three players at Leverkusen.

Bayern Munich will be without captain Mark van Bommel, central defender Martin Demichelis and backup striker Lukas Podolski in Saturday’s Bundesliga match at Bayer Leverkusen.
If Bayern wins, it will move past Leverkusen into second place and closer to its goal of being on top ahead of the winter break. First-placed Hoffenheim - which visits Bayern Dec. 5 - is three points ahead and has a better goal difference with three games to go before the break.

Van Bommel has the flu, Demichelis a calf injury and Podolski a back problem. Podolski, unhappy with his role as reserve, wants to leave the club during the January transfer period.

“His back hurts, it’s also affecting his knee,” coach Juergen Klinsmann said Friday.

Bayern is undefeated in the last two months and is coming off a 3-0 win over Steaua Bucharest that guaranteed Klinsmann’s team a place in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari described Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger on Friday as one of the top five managers in football and said he was relishing the prospect of their first Premier League clash in a London derby match on Sunday.

Speaking before training, the Brazilian said the coaches had been friends for more than a decade and, although Arsenal trailed Chelsea by 10 points, the north London club could not be discounted in the championship.

“I play this game against one of the men I like very much. I have known Arsene 10 or 12 years now. I met him in Japan and we are big friends.

“I like him as a coach and I think if I chose five coaches in the world he is one among the five. His team play good football. It’s very difficult to win because they play beautiful football.”

Asked if Chelsea beat Arsenal his friend’s title chances would be over, Scolari replied that after arriving at Chelsea last July he had studied the results of the previous season when Manchester United came from behind to win.

“Here in England you never say I am champion before the last game,” he said.

“Even if you’re 15 points clear with five games to go, you’re not champions. You’re only champions at the end of the last game.”

Besides long-term injury absentee Michael Essien, Scolari will be missing Didier Drogba, suspended for throwing a coin back into a crowd of visiting Burnley supporters earlier this month, fellow-striker Franco Di Santo, Brazilian utility player Juliano Belletti and centre back Ricardo Carvalho.

Scolari said England winger Joe Cole who suffered a knock during Chelsea’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Bordeaux last Wednesday was in the squad.

“He feels something but in his mind he wants to play so he will stand some pain,” the Brazilian said.

Scolari, irritable after Chelsea’s woeful performance against Bordeaux, was more upbeat on Friday, saying it had been one chance in 100 that an opponent scored from a corner against his side.

“One mistake one time, I need to accept this,” he said.

Chelsea dropped to second in the group after the game a point behind Roma with one game to go against Romania’s Cluj.

“The result is bad for us but we are in London against Cluj. Win and we are first or second,” he said.

The Brazilian also said he had been joking when he suggested he should pack his bags and return home if his side lost the Cluj game.

“It was a joke that’s my style. Don’t think I am not happy. I’m very happy here,” he said.

Newcastle is retaining manager Joe Kinnear until the end of the season, ending the lame duck status brought about by his rolling monthly contract.

The deal is a reward for Kinnear reviving the team’s fortunes since being brought in by owner Mike Ashley as a stopgap manager following Kevin Keegan’s resignation in September while he searched for a buyer.

“Ever since I came to Newcastle United I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” Kinnear said Friday. “The players have been great to work with and the fans have made me feel at home since day one. We have a big challenge ahead of us for the rest of the season but together I’m confident we will make good progress.”

The extended deal comes as talk of a sale of the club has stalled amid the global financial crisis, with Kinnear saying last weekend that American businessmen are interested but have not matched Ashley’s asking price.

“It has come out in my favor,” Kinnear said. “I was very unsure of things week in, week out.”

Ashley put the club up for sale after furious fans called for his departure in the wake of Keegan quitting due to his lack of power over player signings.

The 61-year-old Kinnear had already drawn up a target list for the January transfer window, and has been told by Ashley that funds will be forthcoming.

“It was one of the first things I asked about,” Kinnear said. “I have identified the players I want. We need to strengthen certain areas and I would like to bring three new faces in.

“I will go about my business quietly and hopefully we’ll be able to unveil new players in January.”

Despite losing just two of his eight games in charge and getting a 0-0 draw at leader Chelsea on Saturday, Newcastle is still in the relegation zone going into Saturday’s match at northeast rival Middlesbrough.

“Joe has done an excellent job since coming to the club, and everyone is delighted he has agreed to remain in charge for the rest of the season,” managing director Derek Llambias said.

Returning to management after a four-year absence, the former Wimbledon manager had a tempestuous start to the job in September.

Kinnear was warned about his conduct by the Football Association after launching into a torrent of expletive-laden abuse at reporters ahead of his first game in charge, accusing them of undermining his position.

His criticism of a “Mickey Mouse referee” after a 2-1 loss at Fulham earlier this month, prompted the FA to charge him Thursday with improper conduct.

He was angry that referee Martin Atkinson did not award the Magpies a free kick immediately before Fulham’s Andy Johnson scored the first goal from the penalty spot.

Kinnear has until Dec. 12 to respond to the charge.

Benzema out for with thigh injury. Lyon striker Karim Benzema was ruled out for at least two weeks due to a thigh injury on Thursday.

Lyon coach Claude Puel told the club’s Web site that the 20-year-old France striker will be out for “at least 15 days”, after scans showed a small tear on his left thigh.

That rules Benzema out of Saturday’s home game against Valenciennes, Nantes away on Dec. 7, and the club’s remaining Champions League match at home to Bayern Munich on Dec. 10.

Benzema is the French league’s top scorer with eight goals and has another four in the Champions League. Lyon has already qualified for the next round of the Champions League and can take first place in its group by beating Bayern.

Benzema could return in time to face title rival Marseille on Dec. 14, although Puel may not want to risk him one week away from the annual winter break.

Platini set to propose plans to sports ministers. UEFA president Michel Platini was to meet with European sports ministers Thursday to urge them to accept his plan to control spending at clubs and to curtail their buying of Europe’s best young players.

Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter were to address the gathering of ministers from the 27 European Union members who are considering giving sports federations freedom to run their own affairs through exemptions from some Europe-wide laws. Formal discussions over the main points will continue on Friday and any proposed changes would have to then be put to the European Union.

Platini has long been at odds with English clubs since proposing to take away one automatic qualification place for the Champions League, and has previously criticized the levels of money flowing through the English game.

He wants a tougher set of rules to curb spending power and to ban the transfer of players under 18. Platini has worked with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to promote his agenda during France’s six-month EU presidency.

Platini’s plans have drawn support from French football league president Frederic Thiriez and Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who also leads the European Club Association which last year replaced the G-14.

Rummenigge called on the EU to ensure that football clubs were included at the center of all decision-making in establishing guidelines and frameworks designed to improve governance and fair play in professional football.

“Consultation alone is not enough,” Rummenigge said in an ECA statement Thursday. “Decisions with a direct influence on clubs, their management, employees and fans need to be discussed and sanctioned by those stakeholders.”

Thiriez said “sport is not an economic activity like any other” and thinks football urgently needs regulating.

“In no way can (football) be left to the forces of the market,” Thiriez said in a statement on the LFP Web site. “First of all, for sporting, social and cultural reasons. But also, and perhaps above all, because non-regulated free competition in sport brings about its own death.”

Thiriez added that “the gap is getting bigger between the rich and the others” and that goes against the spirit of competition “because it’s always the same ones” who win.

“That’s why it’s a necessity to have regulation,” Thiriez said. “To guarantee equality in sport and its glorious unpredictability”.

If Platini’s plan is accepted, it could effectively outlaw the transfer of talented youngsters and impose stricter financial rules, forcing the game’s biggest clubs to better develop homegrown talent.

However, European laws forbid restrictions on labor movement, and no country in the bloc of 27 inside the EU can yet stop workers from moving around the member states.

Blatter, the head of football’s world governing body, will also lobby in Biarritz for his “6+5″ plan, which would force clubs in every country to begin matches with at least six players eligible for the national team and no more than five foreigners. The proposal is currently illegal under EU law.

French sports minister Bernard Laporte, the former national rugby team coach, will also attend the meeting.

Football officials in England, meanwhile, and the British sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe have opposed Platini’s plans.

Sutcliffe said this week he would resist any attempt to promote Europe-wide regulation of football finances.

They see a conspiracy to stop English dominance of the Champions League, the world’s most lucrative club competition which spread ?585 million ($758 million) in prize money among 32 elite clubs last season.

Manchester United and Liverpool have both won it in the past four seasons, while English clubs have been runners-up for three straight years.

With foreign investors eager to buy up English clubs, huge sums of money have been invested, and UEFA fears that will diminish healthy competition.

English clubs, which have flourished with wealthy foreign owners able to shoulder large debts, object to the idea of UEFA restraints on their spending ability.

The purchases of United by the Glazer family and Chelsea by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich would not have been possible in countries like France and Germany, which have stricter ownership rules.

If ministers in Biarritz declare their support for the right of sports to self-regulate, the agenda will be advanced further when Sarkozy chairs a European Council meeting on Dec. 11-12 in Brussels.

The EU presidency passes to the Czech Republic in January, and Platini traveled to Prague earlier this month to meet deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra, who will take responsibility for protecting sport’s autonomy in any new legislation.

Ministers in Biarritz are also set to discuss issues relating to sport and health, notably anti-doping initiatives.