Spanish World Cup-winning striker David Villa needed only 15 minutes to register a classy first goal for Melbourne City as the rebranded side opened their A-League season with a 1-1 draw at Sydney FC, yesterday.
Villa, on a 10-game loan spell from New York City, came off the bench in the 48th minute and pulled Melbourne level after collecting the ball and firing a low shot from the edge of the area past goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic.
It was Villa’s first match since scoring for Spain in a 3-0 rout of Australia as both sides exited the World Cup at the group stage.
Borini positive about Balotelli
Liverpool forward Fabio Borini believes he could forge a good partnership with fellow Italian Mario Balotelli.
Balotelli has yet to find his form with just one goal in eight matches. Borini has had even less pitch time with just three appearances, with only one start.
The 23-year-old has shared the field with Balotelli for just 98 minutes but is confident they could bring out the best in each other.
“I have played with him before and found it really well,” he said.
“Not just because of the language but we were born with the same idea of football, as Italians, so it’s easy to understand each other even without talking.”
Kompany: I’m fine
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has calmed worries about his fitness.
The defender limped out of Belgium’s win over Andorra on Friday in the 56th minute and had strapping on his leg.
The fitness of Kompany is seen as imperative to City’s success at home and abroad, but he insists all is fine ahead of important clashes in the Premier and Champions League.
“All is well. Before the game I informed the coach of a few glitches. He decided to spare me and bring me off,” he said.
If there was a night to take a player off with nothing to worry about, this was it. Andorra offered no resistance as Marc Wilmots’s side ran out 6-0 winners.
‘Heroic’ Wales
A superb display by goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey allowed Wales to hold Bosnia to a goalless stalemate in a lively Euro 2016 Group B qualifier in Cardiff on Friday.
The result left Wales with four points from two games while Bosnia have one and plenty of work to do after losing their opening game 2-1 to Cyprus at home.
Wales coach Chris Coleman praised his men for what he called a “heroic” performance.
“I think the performance pleased me more than the point. Our supporters were fantastic, the atmosphere was fantastic and the lads stepped up.
“We knew we would have to ride our luck a little bit, but my lads were magnificent, it’s the proudest I have been. To a man – they were heroic almost.”
Old FA Cup draw tradition revived
A long-lost English soccer tradition is being revived this month with the FA Cup draw taking place on Mondays again after a 15-year break.
The English Football Association announced that the new format would start with this season’s draw for the first round and would be broadcast live on BBC TV and radio from the National Football Centre at St George’s Park in front of a live audience on October 27.
The old Monday draws, broadcast on the radio at lunchtime, were a hugely popular feature of the FA Cup for decades.
They began to be held at different times during the weekend of FA Cup matches 15 years ago.
The draws will now be broadcast from different locations across the country.
No changes to 2015 Africa Cup dates
Organisers have no intention of changing the dates of next year’s African Nations Cup even though hosts Morocco called for a postponement of the finals because of fears over the Ebola virus.
But the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said yesterday it would meet the Moroccan government, sending a high-powered delegation to discuss the issue in Rabat led by its president Issa Hayatou.
The host nation’s government made a shock announcement on Friday, saying it wanted the 16-team tournament from January 17-February 8 postponed following a report by its health ministry into the possible spread of the virus.
Toothless Socceroos
Australia’s troubling inability to get the ball into the back of the net without Tim Cahill on the pitch was again exposed when they were held to a 0-0 draw by the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi on Friday night.
Just three months before their hosting of the Asian Cup begins with a group match against Kuwait in Melbourne on January 9, the Socceroos kept their all-time leading goalscorer on the bench until 13 minutes from time.
Australia’s attack did improve after Cahill came on as a substitute but the 34-year-old forward was unable to add to his tally of 35 international goals in his brief cameo.