Lebanon Edge Oman In WAFF Curtain Raiser

Lebanon made a winning start to their 2012 West Asian Football Federation Championship campaign with a 1-0 victory over fellow 2015 Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup qualification hopeful Oman on Saturday, with Adnan Haidar sealing the win with his first international goal.
The 23-year-old, Norway-born midfielder scored the only goal of the game 11 minutes into the match at the Al-Naser Stadium and despite Oman playing the last eight minutes with a man advantage after Mohammed Haidar picked up his second yellow card, ten-men Lebanon held on for the win, Afc.com reported.
Lebanon is in 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification Group B alongside three-time winner Iran, Thailand and WAFF Championship host Kuwait while Oman is in Group A with Jordan, Syria and Singapore for company.
Lebanon open their Australia 2015 qualifying campaign away to Iran on February 6 while Oman entertain Syria on the same day.

Kuwait Down Palestine
Two goals in the first six minutes of their 2012 WAFF Championship opener helped Kuwait to a 2-1 win over Palestine on Saturday.
Forward Yousef Nasser Al Sulaiman, who scored five times as Kazma reached the Round of 16 in the 2012 AFC Cup, put Kuwait 1-0 up with just 120 seconds played before Bader Al Motawaa doubled the WAFF Championship hosts’ advantage four minutes later.
Palestine tightened up and reduced the deficit on the stroke of half time through Ashraf Al Fawaghra but with neither side able to add to their tally after the interval Kuwait’s early goals proved telling and they held on for the three points.

Brilliant Ozil Leads Madrid to Victory

Two goals from Mesut Ozil helped Real Madrid to a 3-2 comeback win at Real Valladolid in La Liga.
Angola’s former Manchester United striker Manucho took his season tally to six Liga goals as Madrid twice came from behind through goals from Karim Benzema and Ozil in a topsy-turvy first half.
Madrid took off two defenders for attacking midfielders and their bravery paid off as a fantastic Ozil free-kick put them ahead for the first time on the night, ultimately proving decisive as both sides toiled through the latter stages, Eurosport reported.
Madrid have been as dominant as ever at the Bernabeu this season, but their travels have been a different matter entirely, picking up less than half the maximum points away from home.
Under-fire coach Jose Mourinho made a handful of changes from the Champions League victory over Ajax in midweek, restoring his usual first-choice players to the side, with youngster Nacho the only inexperienced pick at left-back.
Their soft away touch looked set to continue when Manucho put the hosts ahead from close range after Real failed to clear a seventh-minute corner.
A defensive mix-up down the other end saw Los Merengues level, Benzema tapping in after a comedy of errors let Jose Maria Callejon in down the right.
Real were playing the better football, Dani Hernandez punching a Ronaldo free-kick away, but Valladolid got a second midway through the half as Manucho again exploited the visitors’ inability to defend corners, rising well above Sergio Ramos to head in another.
Mourinho’s side continued to press, Callejon putting a lob wide with Dani stranded, the Valladolid keeper making a great stop from a Ronaldo drive and defender Marc Valiente making up for his part in Real’s equalizer with a fantastic last-ditch challenge on Benzema.
But Madrid got their deserved equalizer in the dying seconds of the half, and what an equalizer it was--Ozil going on a mazy run before exchanging a wonderful one-two with Benzema, whose back heel sent the German through for a cool finish.
With only a win sufficing for Mourinho, he took the brave attacking decision to bring Angel Di Maria on as Callejon dropped to left-back in place of Nacho.
Madrid continued to dominate possession but with little real impact – in the first quarter-hour of the half, a Ramos header wide from a set-piece was all they could muster.
The hosts, meanwhile, had a couple of good opportunities on the counter attack, Oscar half-volleying one effort wide and forcing an uncertain save with another shot from distance.

Red Bull Eying Austrian GP Return

Red Bull has offered its own track in Austria as a potential venue for a 20th grand prix in 2013.
Formula 1’s governing body the FIA has shuffled next year’s schedule to open a slot for an extra race on 21 July, BBC wrote.
It had been expected that this would be filled by a return of the Turkish race, but it is not clear it could be funded.
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko told an Austrian newspaper, “We have made the FIA aware that the Red Bull Ring has a fully updated Formula 1 license.”
Red Bull, whose F1 team has won the drivers’ and constructors’ titles for the past three years, owns and has redeveloped the track that hosted the Austrian Grand Prix in various guises from 1970-87 and 1997-2003.
There are, however, a number of potential problems with the Red Bull Ring hosting a grand prix.
These include the shortage of hotel accommodation in the mountainous Styrian region, an agreement between Red Bull and the regional government to host no event with a crowd of more than 40,000, and the lack of facilities and organization to run an event of such magnitude.
But Marko told Salzburger Nachrichten none of these was insurmountable.
On the race fee, he said, “There is the province of Styria, the Republic of Austria.” And in response to the suggestion that few European governments could justify funding a grand prix in the current times of austerity, he said, “Let’s wait and see.”
He said objections over the limited accommodation were “nonsense”, adding: “It managed in the 1970s and 1980s.” He pointed out that the city of Graz, 50 miles away from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, had more than enough hotel rooms.
And he said that the media centre, which struggled to cope with the capacity required by a German Touring Car race this year, could be extended, and an organization to run the event imported.
A final decision would rest between F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone and Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz, who is on holiday in Fiji until Christmas.

Clippers Beat Suns For 5th Straight Win

The bench bailed out the Clippers again. Jamal Crawford led a fourth-quarter rally with 13 of his 21 points, and Los Angeles beat Phoenix 117-99 on Saturday, winning its fifth in a row while sending the Suns to their season-worst sixth straight loss.
‘’Thank the bench because the starters were struggling,’’ Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. ‘’They got us off to a bad start again. Our starters get into this energy on the offense and not on the defense. This game easily could have gone the other way.’’
According to AP, Blake Griffin added 24 points and a career-best four steals, and Chris Paul had 16 points and 11 assists, but the Clippers’ reserves carried them. Crawford made all four of his free throws to extend his streak to 55 in a row since Nov. 3.
‘’We owed them a lot,’’ Griffin said about the reserves. ‘’We want to put it away early, but with the way that our team is put together, our second team is just as capable coming in and putting that lead on teams.’’
The Clippers broke out in the final quarter after not leading by more than seven points through the first three periods. And they did it with their reserves, who scored every point. They opened with a 17-4 run in which Crawford scored 11 points on a variety of shots, including a 3-pointer and two free throws.
‘’They’ve got a hell of a basketball team,’’ said Suns coach Alvin Gentry, who once guided the Clippers. ‘’When the starters get 61 and the bench gets 56, that’s a well-balanced team. They do a good job of passing the basketball.’’
Los Angeles fans were rewarded with a couple of big dunks by Eric Bledsoe and another by Matt Barnes that pushed the Clippers’ lead to 110-93 with 4:04 to play. Their reserves outscored Phoenix’s bench, 56-45.
‘’It started with defense,’’ Griffin said. ‘’We got five stops in a row and got into an 11-point lead.’’
Michael Beasley scored 21 points off the bench, and Shannon Brown added 19 for Phoenix, which hadn’t lost six in a row since March 3-12, 2009.

AFC Hails Iran’s Anti-Doping Efforts

General Secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Dato’ Alex Soosay appreciated the Islamic Republic of Iran for its anti-doping efforts.
According to IRNA, Soosay made the statement in a message to Secretary of Iran’s Football Federation Mehdi Mohammad Nabi.
In his message, the AFC chief thanked Iran for its great efforts to take dope tests from athletes during international competitions.
He further appreciated Iran’s full support for the AFC Medical Committee.

Cavendish: Driver Tried To Run Me Off Road

Mark Cavendish has accused a motorist of trying to run him off the road on a training ride.
The sprint star tweeted a photo of a man after an incident near Chelmsford in Essex, Eurosport reported.
Cavendish, 27, who was riding with Russell Hampton and Rob Hayles, told The Sun the man came up behind them on a country lane, beeped his horn then overtook dangerously.
The Tour de France rider banged on the car roof as a warning, then the driver stopped and “turned right deliberately” into their path.
Cavendish tweeted, “HE’S threatening to call the police! We want him to.”
He added, “He could have ended our careers or worse. He looks old and frail but he was angry, patronizing and rude.”
It has been a rough few weeks for Britain’s top cyclists on the public roads.
Last month Bradley Wiggins suffered broken ribs in a collision with a car close to his home in Lancashire, and GB head coach Shane Sutton sustained a fractured cheekbone and bleeding on the brain in a separate incident.
Cavendish himself was involved in an incident with a car while training in Italy.

Ref Apologizes to Beaten Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund’s German title defense suffered a big blow on Saturday with a controversial 3-2 home defeat by Wolfsburg.
It left Jurgen Klopp’s third-placed team, seeking a third successive Bundesliga crown, 14 points behind runaway leaders Bayern Munich, CNN wrote.
The match turned in the 35th minute when referee Wolfgang Stark ruled that Marcel Schmelzer handled the ball on the line, despite it appearing to hit him in the leg.
Stark sent off the Dortmund defender and awarded a penalty that Diego converted to level the score at 1-1.
“I’ve looked at it again later and unfortunately it was an error of perception on my part,” Stark told reporters.
“I’m sorry, that should not happen. The penalty and the red card were a mistake on my part. That’s annoying.”
Klopp was left to rue the consequences, as struggling Wolfsburg went on to win with goals from Naldo and Bas Dost--whose shot had earlier hit Schmelzer.
“We were 1-0 ahead and Wolfsburg had no chance and then comes the game-winning move. It was a brutal decision,” Klopp told reporters.

Marquez Stops Pacquiao In Las Vegas

Juan Manuel Marquez delivered a devastating right hand to knock out Manny Pacquiao in the sixth round of their welterweight bout in Las Vegas.
Mexican Marquez, 39, floored Pacquiao, who lay motionless on the canvas for some time, for a first win over the Filipino in their four-match rivalry.
Pacquiao, 33, had won the previous two encounters, with one draw.
It was a second successive defeat for Pacquiao after a controversial loss to Timothy Bradley in June.
Pacquiao had already been down in the third round--the first time in 39 rounds between the two that the seven-weight world champion was knocked from his feet--after Marquez threw a short right.
But Pacquiao recovered to ground Marquez in the fifth and the pair were exchanging heavy blows in the sixth.
However, with one second of the round remaining, a bloodied Marquez threw a huge overhand right that had Pacquiao out cold before he hit the canvas under the ropes.
Pacquiao, who now has 54 wins, five defeats and two draws, did not move for about two minutes before finally being dragged to his feet by his team.
Marquez’s victory will go some way to make up for his narrow points defeat to Pacquiao in November 2011, which many observers believed to be the wrong decision.
That fight--the third of their series--gave Marquez his sixth defeat of a career spanning nearly two decades.
It is a career that has seen him win the WBA featherweight title, the WBC super-featherweight title and the WBO and WBA lightweight titles.

Future of World Rally

Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has spoken out about the future of the World Rally Championship, saying the time has come to tap into the potential of the series.