The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Juventus bid for 50-up against Inter Milan Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:08 AM PDT MILAN, Nov 1 – Juventus can stretch their unbeaten record in Serie A to 50 in Saturday's top-of-the-table match with Inter Milan who cannot afford to lose, even this early in the season, if they want to keep the champions in sight. Juventus have taken 28 points from a possible 30 but second-placed Inter, four points behind, have won their last nine games in all competitions. The match has the makings of a classic. "We'll go there as a team on the up and will look to play our own game," said Inter defender Javier Zanetti. "We know we're playing a great team – let's hope it's a good game of football." Inter's confidence was boosted by their recovery to beat Sampdoria yesterday. Trailing 1-0 at halftime, they scored three goals in the second half after Andrea Costa was sent off for the visitors and finished 3-2 winners. "Our comeback was a great sign. We conceded a goal, which can happen, but we had the strength to respond without getting impatient and we used our quality," Zanetti said. Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni added: "The best thing to emerge from this is that we're improving. Tonight I saw our best performance yet in terms of the football we produced." It is the first game against Juventus for Stramaccioni. His predecessor Claudio Ranieri was fired in March, two days after Inter lost their last meeting with Juventus 2-0. "When it comes to Juve on Saturday, I'm lucky because I'm relatively calm, perhaps I'm not aware of the significance of it," Stramaccioni said. "But I believe that whether you play a team at the top or bottom of the league, at Inter you always have to try and win. The only advantage Juventus have over us is their players are used to playing together. But I'd rather keep my players." Juventus also drew strength from their recovery skills yesterday after Paul Pogba grabbed an injury-time winner in a 2-1 home win over Bologna. "Saturday's Inter clash will be a great match," said Fabio Quagliarella, who scored the opening goal for Juventus. "But I don't know whether I will play as the coach likes to rotate his strikers. "We displayed our never-say-die attitude again (against Bologna). We believe we can do it right up until the 95th minute." Juventus won last season's title without losing a match and last suffered defeat in the league against Parma in the penultimate round of the 2010/11 season. The record unbeaten run was put together by AC Milan in the early 1990s – 58 games, started against Parma and finished by the same team. Napoli, who dropped to third place after losing at Atalanta yesterday, have a chance to make up ground at home to Torino on Sunday. AC Milan, with only three wins in 10 outings, will hope to repeat their second-half performance against Palermo, where they hauled back a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2, when they host Chievo on Saturday. – Reuters |
| Tiger blames fatigue for missing Shanghai event Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:56 AM PDT  US golfer Tiger Woods (L) signs autographs for students from the Singapore Sport School after a coaching session at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore November 1, 2012. – Reuters pic As Australian Adam Scott and South African Louis Oosthuizen grabbed the first-round lead at the US$7 million (RM21.36 million) event in China today, the 36-year-old Woods was holding a putting clinic for school children in Singapore. The main sponsor had been unhappy Woods and world number one McIlroy chose to miss the Shanghai event despite being in the country and playing in a lucrative exhibition event. Woods said he was looking forward to competing in the World Challenge in December, an invitational event he hosts in California, before putting his clubs away for a long rest. "I was tired and doing these things are easy. Competing and getting ready for another golf tournament, I just didn't want to do that," Woods told reporters at Marina Bay after offering his expertise to 12 selected teenagers. "I've got four more rounds at my tournament in LA and I'm done until Abu Dhabi next year so I'm looking forward to having this extended break. This is my off-season now and I'm really looking forward to getting away from it. "Competing and playing golf tournaments after a long schedule, the playoffs, the Ryder Cup and a lot of other tournaments, it's been a while," he added of his need for a break after his first full season on Tour since 2005. Woods, winner of 14 majors before his marriage imploded in late 2009, lost to McIlroy by a shot in the exhibition dubbed 'The duel on the lake'. The American said he was happy with his year after returning from numerous injury problems. "This year, I've had three wins and things are certainly progressing nicely," said Woods, who has been plagued by knee, back and Achilles injuries in recent years. "Last year I was 127th on the (PGA Tour) money list, or whatever I was, and this year I'm second so that's a pretty good improvement in a year and given that I'm healthy I'm really looking forward to next year. "Four more opportunities at major championships and with my game improving, I'm very excited about that for next year." His three tour titles meant he overtook Jack Nicklaus for second place on the all-time PGA Tour win list. But he remains four behind the 'Golden Bear' on major titles as swing changes introduced by coach Sean Foley have yet to yield a major reward. "I'm working on it," Woods said, when asked when he would add to his haul after last winning at the 2008 US Open. "Last year I was hurt most of the summer and didn't play anything, so implementing change like that ... has taken its time." – Reuters |
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