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Imperious Inter stroll in Sardinia

TURIN, Italy — Italian champions Inter Milan extended their Serie A lead to seven points with a comfortable 2-0 win away to struggling Cagliari on Sunday night.

Unbeaten Inter were handed the chance to move clear after second-placed Roma escaped with a 0-0 draw away to 10-man Torino earlier in the day.

Inter were without suspended top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but second-half goals from Julio Cruz and David Suazo meant that Roberto Mancini’s side coped adequately in the Sweden striker’s absence.

Romanian defender Christian Chivu hit the Sardinians’ crossbar from long range in the 35th minute, then Argentine Cruz opened the scoring 12 minutes after half-time with a low shot from outside the penalty area.

Suazo sealed the visitors’ victory 11 minutes from time, with the Honduran forward netting from close range.

The defeat saw Cagliari drop to the bottom of the table on goal difference behind Reggina.

Roma, missing injured captain Francesco Totti, moved a point above third-placed Juventus, who won 3-2 at Lazio on Saturday.

Torino were left in 14th place after the draw, in which the Turin side had a goal disallowed and defender Gianluca Comotto was sent off in the 90th minute.

Italy international striker Simone Barone missed a great chance in the 28th minute for the home side, and David Di Michele’s close-range header was surprisingly ruled out for offside just after half-time.

Roma keeper Doni tipped a header by Croatian forward Sasa Bjelanovic onto the bar after an hour and the Brazilian also denied Di Michele from a tight angle.

Torino lost Comotto at the death after a foul on last man Alessandro Mancini, but it was too late for the visitors to take advantage.

Fiorentina stayed in fifth place after failing to win for the fifth match in a row, drawing 2-2 at Sampdoria.

Daniele Gastaldello put Sampdoria ahead in the 18th minute after goalkeeper Cristiano Lupatelli failed to hold Antonio Cassano’s shot, but Adrian Mutu equalized six minutes before half-time.

Substitute Marco Donadel gave the visitors the lead 12 minutes after the interval but Cassano earned his side a point on 69.

Palermo moved up to sixth with a 3-1 win at Atalanta, with Edison Cavani opening the scoring and Antonio Langella putting through his own net 10 minutes before half-time.

Amauri made it 3-0 in the 54th minute but the Brazilian gave the home side some hope with an own-goal eight minutes later.

In Sunday’s other games, Genoa salvaged a 1-1 draw at struggling Empoli thanks to Andrea Masiello’s 86th-minute leveler and Napoli also came from behind to draw 1-1 at Siena.
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Windies whip Proteas in Twenty20

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa — The West Indies beat South Africa by five wickets in the one-off Twenty20 international at St George’s Park on Sunday.

The Proteas made only 58-8 in a match reduced to 13 overs each due to rain, and the tourists reached their target with 3.1 overs to spare.

Windies fast bowler Jerome Taylor (3-6) took three wickets in his first over — two from his first two balls — while No. 9 Johan Botha made 28 not out to be the only home batsman to reach double figures.

The West Indies had to survive a ferocious onslaught by in-form fast bowler Dale Steyn, who claimed four wickets in his three overs to send out a warning before the three-Test series starting at the same venue on December 26.

Coming after the Caribbean side were cruising to victory at 29-1 from three overs, all of Steyn’s victims were clean bowled by yorker deliveries.

South Africa captain Shaun Pollock said: But we got something of a total and then we made a real game of it. It should be a good battle of the fast bowlers in the Test series.

West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo added: It was a fantastic team effort. What made it so special was the way we fielded.

Meanwhile, Australia enjoyed the best of six eventful overs before their second one-day international against New Zealand was abandoned because of heavy rain in Sydney.

New Zealand chose to bat but lost three wickets for 30 before the weather ended the entertainment.

The wickets all tumbled in the first three overs, for 12 runs, Brett Lee taking two and Nathan Bracken the other.

Lou Vincent fell to the second delivery of the game, edging Lee to Ricky Ponting at second slip. Jamie How also provided a slip catch off Bracken, Matthew Hayden accepting the chance.

Brendon McCullum, who scored 96 in Friday’s series opener, lobbed a slower delivery from Lee straight to Brad Hogg at mid-off.

Australia lead the Chappell-Hadlee Series 1-0 going into the final match on Thursday. New Zealand can still retain the trophy with a victory over the world champions in Hobart. E-mail to a friend

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Kingston claims South Africa crown

PAARL, South Africa — Home hero James Kingston won the South African Open by one shot from England’s Oliver Wilson after the final round at Pearl Valley on Sunday was suspended for almost four hours due to torrential rain.

The 42-year-old South African carded a one-under-par 71 in the waterlogged conditions to head off overnight leader Wilson with a 72-hole total of four-under 284.

Wilson, seeking to become the first European winner of the co-sanctioned event in seven years, made the worst possible start with a bogey at the first hole.

Kingston, who was one shot off the lead going into the final round, moved to the summit with a birdie at the third hole but then suffered a double-bogey at the par-three fourth.

However, Wilson dropped strokes at the sixth and the ninth holes and — despite pulling back with two birdies on the 10th and 11th — it was too late and he eventually finished with a 73.

Kingston had picked up shots at the fifth and sixth holes before also bogeying at the ninth, but also closed with seven successive pars after a birdie at 11.

This means so much to me, said Kingston, after his maiden European Tour victory. You dream about winning your national Open and now it’s come to fruition and I can’t put it into words how I feel.

I know I’ve had my chances over the years to win at this level, but it’s never happened until now. You can’t put a price on what this means to me.

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke closed with a superb 68 to finish tied for third with South Africa’s Garth Mulroy (73) and Louis Oosthuizen (71) and Welshman Kyron Sullivan (71) on 287.

Veteran former world No. 1 Greg Norman capped an impressive week in which he announced his engagement to tennis legend Chris Evert by closing with a 71.

The Australian tied for seventh on 288 along with England’s Robert Rock (72) and South Africans Craig Lile (70) and Nic Henning (73).

England’s Simon Dyson was a shot further back after carding the round of the day, a six-birdie 67, to be equal with South Africa’s Alan Michell (71) and Andrew McLardy (73).

Defending champion Ernie Els also finished strongly with a final-round 69, enough for joint 16th place on 293 alongside fellow South Africans Charl Schwartzel (75), Richard Sterne (72) and Retief Goosen (75), plus Sweden’s Joachim Backstrom (72).
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Gallas goal keeps Gunners in front

LONDON, England — Arsenal returned to the top of the English Premier League after captain William Gallas scored the winning goal against his former club Chelsea on Sunday.

The Gunners bounced back from last weekend’s shock 2-1 defeat away to Middlesbrough with a 1-0 home victory against their third-placed London rivals, and moved one point ahead of Manchester United.

United had claimed top spot earlier on Sunday as Carlos Tevez scored his ninth goal this season to inflict a 1-0 defeat on fellow title hopefuls Liverpool at Anfield.

The result left Liverpool in fifth place, nine points adrift of United, but with a game in hand on the teams above them.

Gallas, who spent five seasons at Chelsea before moving to Arsenal at the start of last season, headed home a corner by the fit-again Cesc Fabregas in first-half injury-time as visiting keeper Petr Cech completely missed the ball.

The match was marred by an injury to Chelsea’s England captain John Terry, with the defender going off with a suspected broken foot seven minutes before half-time following a challenge by Emmanuel Eboue.

Eboue was himself stretchered off with 20 minutes to play after a foul by Joe Cole in what was a bruising derby match which also saw Terry, Frank Lampard and Emmanuel Adebayor yellow-carded for poor tackles.

Chelsea should have been level after 75 minutes when the ball flicked off Gallas’ head from Claudio Pizarro’s cross and straight into the path of Wright-Phillips — but the England winger missed the target from close range.

Robin van Persie, in his second match back for Arsenal following an injury lay-off, was unlucky to have a goal ruled out for offside with five minutes left after converting a cross by Tomas Rosicky.

Cech redeemed himself with a fine double save to deny first van Persie and then playmaker Fabregas — making his comeback after three weeks out with injury — from close range.

Arsenal striker Adebayor also had the ball in the net soon after, but it was ruled out for a push on Tal Ben Haim, who replaced Terry.

With five minutes added on at the end of the second spell, there was time for Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia to tip over a fierce free-kick from Andrei Shevchenko and for Fabregas to be booked after a clash with former Gunners full-back Ashley Cole — who appeared to catch the Spaniard with an outstretched arm.

It was Arsenal’s first win in 11 games against Chelsea in all competitions, including the 2004 Champions League quarterfinals, with the visitors left six points adrift.

At Anfield, Tevez struck two minutes before the half-time break, with the Argentina forward diverting the ball into the net from close range after a powerful shot by Wayne Rooney following Ryan Giggs’ corner.

It was a bitter blow for the home side, who had dominated the match up until that point.

Manager Rafael Benitez, who will soon meet the club’s American owners to discuss his plans for the January transfer window, put out an unchanged side following the 4-0 win in Marseille in midweek which clinched qualification from the group stage of the Champions League.

Dirk Kuyt fired over the crossbar and then Liverpool again went close to scoring when Harry Kewell’s shot was cleared off the line by Patrice Evra and top scorer Fernando Torres headed wide from the rebound.

And United almost suffered a calamitous own-goal when keeper Edwin Van der Sar, whose weak punch had earlier let in Kewell, collided with Rio Ferdinand and the ball headed towards the net — but Evra came to the rescue again.

Torres went close again, but United stung the home fans when Giggs drilled a low set-piece to Rooney on the edge of the box, and Tevez sent the England striker’s shot past helpless keeper Jose Reina.

In the second half, Steven Gerrard twice went close for Liverpool — smashing a drive straight at Van der Sar, then volleying wide from a cross by Kewell.

Australian Kewell made way for Ryan Babel with 25 minutes left, and the Dutch winger fired an effort just wide of the posts.

United had a chance to double the lead with 13 minutes remaining, but Rooney sidefooted wide from Cristiano Ronaldo’s low cross with the goal at his mercy.

Alex Ferguson’s team have now not lost a league match at the home of their biggest rivals since 2001.

It was a typical United v Liverpool game. The crowd creates such a noise it is difficult for the referee, Ferguson said.

It’s not about playing flowing football, it’s about winning the game. I said before the game that the games between the top sides will be important, so it’s great for us.

It’s going to be a long struggle and fight throughout the season, but if we get to New Year’s Day top or around there we have an outstanding chance of staying there.
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Celtic crash in Highlands surprise

INVERNESS, Scotland — Scottish Premier League leaders Celtic suffered a shock 3-2 defeat away to 10-man Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday.

Gordon Strachan’s team now lead Rangers by just two points, having played two more matches than their Glasgow rivals.

Rangers beat Hearts 2-1 on Saturday to bounce back from their midweek Champions League exit.

Celtic had seemed set to romp away to a comfortable victory after two first-half goals from striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

The Dutchman nodded in Paul Hartley’s free-kick in the 24th minute and then doubled the lead two minutes later as he glanced a header past home keeper Michael Fraser from Aiden McGeady’s shot.

But the Highlanders pulled a goal back three minutes before half-time with a John Rankin penalty after defender Steven Pressley brought down Marius Niculae.

Caley drew level when David Proctor headed in a cross by Don Cowie’s cross, who made it 3-2 in the 61st minute after gathering Richard Hastings’s long ball.

Proctor was then sent-off for bringing down striker Scott McDonald when the Australian was clean through on goal seven minutes later, but McGeady fired the resulting free-kick just wide and Celtic could not capitalize.

Strachan could not believe his side, who have qualified from the group stage of the Champions League, had fallen to a third SPL defeat this season.

We were going forward at will, we were creating chances and scoring goals, he said. It was never a problem. Then a goal comes from nothing from a penalty kick, which I’m not sure if it was a penalty.

I felt we deserved to win, there’s no doubt about that. Inverness Caley worked very hard but I’m sure they are in there just now and can’t believe they won the game.

Somebody asked me how I feel, and I’ve got absolutely no feeling for this in terms of describing it. It was such an easy game, to be 2-0 up and cruising, and then get things put against us the way they did. It’s incredible. It’s a surreal feeling.

Inverness hero Cowie added: To come back from 2-0 down against any team is an achievement, to do it against Celtic was just unbelievable.

That’s four wins on the trot for us and we have gone from second bottom to seventh. And, with the confidence that we will take from today, you never know what can happen.
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