Kaka returns as Brazil thrashes Zico's Iraq

MALMO, Sweden — Kaka scored on his return to international soccer after an absence of more than two years, leading Brazil to a 6-0 win over Iraq in an international friendly Thursday in Sweden.

The Real Madrid midfielder, who last played an international when Brazil was beaten in the quarterfinals at the 2010 World Cup by the Netherlands, added the third goal in the 47th minute at Swebank Stadium.

Chelsea playmaker Oscar scored twice and there were also goals from Hulk, Neymar and Lucas.

"We did well. We scored six goals, that says it all," Brazil coach Mano Menezes said, adding that Iraq goalkeeper Noor Sabri "was one of the best players tonight, he made some fabulous saves."

Oscar scored in the 21st minute after a lovely through ball from Neymar and then made it 2-0 five minutes later.

Goals in the 59th from Hulk, 75th from Neymar and 79th from Lucas completed the emphatic victory.

Iraq rarely threatened, with only Younis Mahmood twice going close in the second half and Humadi Ahmad causing concern for goalkeeper Diego Alves in added time.

Zico, the Brazilian great who is now Iraq's coach, substituted five players in the second half in an attempt to lift his team. But his decision to remove the experienced Mahmoud surprised the largely Iraq-supporting crowd.

"If we had lost 6-0 to Iceland I would have been worried, but losing to Brazil was not a problem," Zico said.

The sound of drums — not samba, but Arabic — dominated the stadium in Sweden's third largest city. More than 14,000 tickets were sold for a friendly that was mostly attended by Iraqis living in the Scandinavian country.

Malmo is one of its most ethnically diverse cities, with 40 percent of residents being first- or second-generation immigrants.

It was the first meeting between five-time world champion Brazil and Iraq, the 2007 Asian Cup winner.

Brazil, which isn't playing qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup because it will host the tournament, plays Japan in Poland on Tuesday.

DUBLIN — Ireland captain Robbie Keane has been ruled out of Friday's World Cup qualifier against Germany because of an Achilles tendon injury.

This is the latest blow to the Irish team that already has lost Sean St. Ledger, Richard Dunne, Glen Whelan, James McClean and Kevin Doyle over the last two weeks.

Keane, a forward for the Los Angeles Galaxy, missed training Thursday.

View the original article here

England thrashes Afghanistan in World Twenty20

COLOMBO — Luke Wright hammered an unbeaten 99 to steer defending champion England to a crushing 116-run win over Afghanistan in their World Twenty20 match on Friday.

England expects: England's Alex Hales plays a shot against Afghanistan at the World Twenty20 in Colombo on Friday. AFP-JIJI

England made a formidable 196 for five in its 20 overs after being sent in to bat, and then bowled out Afghanistan for 80 in the 18th over at R. Premadasa Stadium. Wright and Alex Hales joined in a 69-run stand, and Wright shared 72 runs with Eoin Morgan.

The game ended Afghanistan's short campaign in the tournament after losing to India by 23 runs in its first Group A match on Wednesday.

Wright said that England knew the Afghans were a dangerous team after watching their spirited effort against India on television. But he added: "The way we came back and bowled them out was a superb effort."

Wright played down any frustration at missing out on England's first Twenty20 century by a single run.

"I was just tired by the end, I was just happy to keep the ball going," he said. "The most important thing was that we got a big total. I think the scoreboard pressure really had big importance going into bowling."

Afghanistan seam bowler Shapoor Zadran, who gave his team an ideal start with a wicket maiden against England and also picked up two early wickets against India, asked fans not to get too downcast.

"My message would be not to get too disappointed," he said. "That was our tough day in the field, we have learned a lot and hopefully we can come up with good results."

The Afghans were eight down for 26 at one stage and facing the prospect of being bowled out for the lowest Twenty20 international score — worse than Kenya's tally against Ireland in 2008. However, they avoided that prospect thanks to late resistance from Gulbodin Naib, who made 44.

Seam bowler Steven Finn picked up the first wicket for England with Afghanistan's total on two and the rest followed on a regular basis, thwarting any chance of a recovery.

Left-arm spinner Samit Patel returned the best figures for England with 2-6 with three other bowlers, captain Stuart Broad, Jade Dernbach and Graeme Swann also picking up two wickets each.

Naib hit three sixes and five boundaries in his 35-ball innings as the other batsmen failed to reach double figures.

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka — Brendon McCullum's superb record-setting century led New Zealand to a thumping 59-run win over Bangladesh in the World Twenty20 on Friday.

McCullum pummelled 123 off 58 balls and hammered 11 fours and seven sixes in a strong Kiwi total of 191-3.

Nasir Hossain played a lone fight and scored 50 off 39 balls as Bangladesh settled for 132-8 with Tim Southee (3-16) and Kyle Mills (3-33) doing the damage.

McCullum was dropped by Mashrafe bin Mortaza on 92 but in the same over he hit left-arm spinner Elias Sunny for two successive boundaries and raised his century off 51 balls, the second-fastest ever.

McCullum became the first man to score two T20 centuries — and the highest ever — before he holed out in the deep off the last ball of the innings. His previous best T20 knock came against Australia at Christchurch in 2010 when he remained unbeaten on 116.

Bangladesh bowlers had no answer to McCullum's brilliance as he ruthlessly smashed seamers and spinners after New Zealand was asked to bat at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

"Some days it comes off, some days it doesn't, you've got to be prepared to take risks," McCullum said. "In this game you've got to keep trying, and when it comes off it helps the team."

View the original article here

Djokovic thrashes Mahut; Nishikori reaches round of 16

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic gave Nicolas Mahut one lousy birthday present.

The top-seeded Djokovic routed the Frenchman 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open. He needed only 1 hour, 14 minutes to dismiss the newly 30-years-old Mahut, who lost the longest match in Grand Slam history over 11 hours, 5 minutes against John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010.

"I wish him happy birthday and hopefully tonight he can enjoy it," Djokovic said.

The defending champion is aiming to become the fifth man in the Open era to win three consecutive major titles. He will play the winner of a later match between Milos Raonic and Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whom Djokovic beat at Melbourne Park for his first Grand Slam title in 2008, also hardly broke sweat in beating Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

Kei Nishikori, meanwhile, advanced to the round of 16 of the Australian Open for the first time in his career with a four-set victory over Frenchman Julien Benneteau.

Nishikori dropped the first set 6-4 but took the next three 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in a third-round match that lasted nearly 3 hours, 30 minutes.

The 22-year-old will next play sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whom he defeated in a warmup event in Melbourne last week.

"I'm so happy to win," said Nishikori. "I'm glad I was able to win a close match, especially after my opponent had taken control of the match early."

Nishikori became the first Japanese man to win three matches in the main draw of the Australian Open since Jiro Sato in 1932. He has reached the last 16 in a Grand Slam tournament for the second time and first since the 2008 U.S. Open.

"My opponent was very aggressive, but I tried to find a way to turn the tables," Nishikori said. "I just had to focus on one point at a time."

On the women's side, two Wimbledon winners — Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova — advanced, but two top 10 players went out.

Seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva was beaten 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 by fellow Russian Ekaterina Makerova. No. 9 Marion Bartoli lost 6-3, 6-3 to Zheng Jie of China, a former Australian Open semifinalist.

Sharapova was tested for the first time and still came out with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Germany's Angelique Kerber.

The 2008 champion won her first two matches 6-0, 6-1 and has lost five games in reaching the fourth round, but though the scoreline on Saturday made it look easy enough, Sharapova was given a full workout in a 56-minute second set, with many games going to deuce.

After clinching the victory with a forehand winner, Sharapova showed her relief by clenching her fist and screeching "come on!"

"She certainly stepped up in the second set," Sharapova said. "She reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open last year so she's been on the big stage before and I knew she could produce some really good tennis."

She next plays No. 14 Sabine Lisicki, who beat two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Sharapova and Kvitova both have a chance of claiming the No. 1 ranking at the end of the tournament. They could play each other in the semifinals, although Kvitova insisted she hasn't looked that far ahead.

"I don't know who lost and who win," the Wimbledon champion said. "No, really, for me doesn't care."

Kvitova reached the round of 16 when Maria Kirilenko retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 6-0, 1-0 after 38 minutes of their third-round match.

Kvitova next faces Ana Ivanovic, who beat unseeded American Vania King 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round for the first time since she reached the final here in 2008.

That was the same year the 24-year-old Serb won the French Open for her only Grand Slam title, and also claimed the top ranking.

Also Saturday, Serena Williams was so dominant in her 6-1, 6-1 third-round win over Greta Arn that there's probably only one shot she'll remember more than most.

At 5-0 and a point from the first set, Williams lined up in the ideal position for overhead but then completely shanked it, spraying the ball wide. She screamed and put a hand over her face.

Arn saved another set point before holding serve for the first time. Williams responded by winning the next five games before Arn held again. The match ended in 59 minutes, on consecutive double-faults by Arn.

In the women's doubles second round, Ayumi Morita and Rika Fujiwara outlasted Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, coming back from 5-2 down in the final set.

View the original article here