Villareal Pulls Off Big Upset
Spanish teams Valencia and Villareal, along with Olympique Marseille of France and Newcastle United of England, advanced to the semifinals of the UEFA Cup on Wednesday with victories in the second leg of the quarterfinals.
Villareal, which has never won a major trophy, provided the upset of the round, defeating last season’s losing finalist, Celtic of Scotland, 2-0, in Spain on goals by Brazilian Sonny Anderson and Roger Garcia to advance, 3-1, on aggregate.
In earlier rounds, Villareal, coached by Paquito Garcia and playing in European competition for the first time, had ousted two other powerful clubs, AS Roma and Galatasaray.
In the April 22 and May 6 semifinal series, Villareal will play neighboring Valencia, which beat Bordeaux, 2-1, to advance, 4-2 on aggregate. Mauricio Pellegrino and Francisco Rufete scored second-half goals for the Spanish league leader.
Italy was left without a team in the final four of either the UEFA Cup or the European Champions League when Inter Milan was surprised, 1-0, at home by Olympique Marseille, which got a goal from midfielder Camel Meriem to advance, 2-0 on aggregate.
Marseille will play Newcastle United in the semifinals. Coach Bobby Robson’s Newcastle team managed a 2-1 victory over PSV Eindhoven in England on goals by Alan Shearer and Gary Speed after tying the Dutch, 1-1, in the Netherlands in the first game.
The UEFA Cup final will be played in Goteborg, Sweden, on May 19.
Athens 2004
South Korea used two goals by forward Kim Dong-Hyun and another by Chun Jae-Woon to defeat Malaysia, 3-0, in an Olympic qualifying match at the Suwon World Cup Stadium near Seoul.
The Koreans are unbeaten and untied in their four qualifying matches so far and, with two matches left, are favored to win a group that also includes China and Iran and qualify for Athens.
Japan already has qualified for the Olympics from the Asian region.
South America
Bolivia, languishing in last place in South America’s 10-nation World Cup 2006 qualifying tournament, appointed Ramiro Blacutt as national team coach.
Blacutt, Bolivia’s coach in 1991, replaces Nelson Acosta, who was fired last week in the wake of the team earning only three points in five matches.
Venezuela received a boost when FIFA cleared Massimo Margiotta to play for Venezuela even though the Venezuela-born Margiotta has lived most of his life in Italy and plays there for Vicenza of Serie B.
Quick Passes
The attorney general’s office in Lisbon said that Miklos Feher, the 24-year-old Hungarian national team forward who collapsed and died in January while playing for Benfica, died as the result of an irregular heartbeat.
Alex Best, the second wife of former Manchester United and Los Angeles Aztec star George Best, was granted a divorce by a court in London on grounds of adultery. The 57-year-old former Northern Ireland international did not contest the allegation.
Lauren Elms, a 14-year-old Manchester girl, suffered head injuries Sunday when she was struck by a car driven by Manchester United and Cameroon midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba. Police said Elms might have stepped into the road without looking.
One of nine players from Afghanistan’s national team who disappeared Monday while in Verona, Italy, for a charity match was found Wednesday aboard a train heading for Germany and was taken into custody by Italian border police in Pontechiasso. He was not identified. The other eight players are still missing.
--Compiled by Grahame L. Jones
