e_Paper, Tuesday, December 13, 2016

26
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2016
DT
Rangpur,
Mymensingh in
football final
• Tribune Report
Rangpur and Mymensingh district
swept into the final of the JFA under-14
Women’s National Championship
2016 yesterday. The two
sides will face each other in the
grand finale at Bangabandhu National
Stadium tomorrow at 3pm.
Rangpur defeated Thakurgaon
in the penalty shootout 3-1 in the
second semi-final of the day at BNS
to secure their final berth while favourites
Mymensingh got a walkover
from their last-four opponents
Satkhira in the day’s first semi-final
After the game ended 1-1 following
the stipulated time of 70
minutes, Mayuri took the last four
by storm with her heroic display in
the tiebreaker. The young Rangpur
goalkeeper produced two lovely
saves to oust Thakurgaon from the
tournament.
It was Thakurgaon who went
ahead in the game with only eleven
minutes into the clock through
a goal from midfielder Baby before
Rangpur midfielder Rabeya cancelled
out the lead at the stroke of
the opening half with a long-range
strike.
Mayuri saved two shots from
Munni and Ashamoni in the tiebreaker.
Rumi, Rekha and Nargis
converted their chances for Rangpur
while Mini scored Thakurgaon’s
only goal in the shoot-out.
Mayuri was included in the national
U-14 women’s team camp
but was the fourth-choice keeper
there.
Meanwhile, the tournament
kicked off with the participation of
eight teams on December 5. •
Sport
Juventus’ Gonzalo Higuain in action with Torino’s goalkeeper Joe Hart during their Italian Serie A match at Olympic Stadium,
Turin, Italy on Sunday
REUTERS
Juventus win Turin derby with Higuain brace
• Reuters, Milan
Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain
again showed his killer instinct
with two expertly-taken goals in a
late 3-1 win at Torino after their less
illustrious neighbours had scored
first and dominated the Serie A
game on Sunday.
Substitute Miralem Pjanic
scored the third goal as the Italian
champions opened up a seven-point
lead over AS Roma and AC
Milan, who clash in the capital on
Monday.
Napoli’s Dries Mertens scored
a hat-trick to lead the revitalised
team to a 5-0 rout at leaky
Cagliari, while bottom club Palermo
slumped to their ninth league
defeat in a row, losing 2-0 at home
POINTS TABLE
Team P W D L GD Pts
Juventus 16 13 0 3 21 39
Roma 15 10 2 3 19 32
AC Milan 15 10 2 3 8 32
Napoli 16 9 4 3 17 31
Lazio 16 9 4 3 12 31
SERIE A
Cagliari 0-5 Napoli
Mertens 34, 69, 72,
Hamsik 45, Zielinski 51
Atalanta 1-3 Udinese
Kurtic 47 Zapata 45,
Fofana 72, Thereau 87
Bologna 0-0 Empoli
Palermo 0-2 Chievo
Birsa 14, Pellissier 49
Torino 1-3 Juventus
Belotti 16 Higuain 28, 82, Pjanic 90+2
Inter Milan 2-0 Genoa
Brozovic 38, 69
to Chievo.
Inter Milan’s Marcelo Brozovic
scored twice to earn a 2-0 win over
Genoa, leaving Stefano Pioli’s side
in eighth place.
The Croatian midfielder volleyed
the ball in from a corner seven
minutes before halftime and
tapped home the second after a
surging run by Joao Mario midway
through the second period.
Torino, a respectable seventh
under Sinisa Mihajlovic, made a
bright start at home to Juve and
went ahead after 16 minutes when
Andrea Belotti headed in Daniele
Baselli’s cross for his 11th goal of
the season.
Juve were on the ropes but
levelled 12 minutes later when
Higuain collected Mario Mandzukic’s
flicked pass in his stride and
burst through the defence to place
his shot past Joe Hart.
Torino had the better of the
second half and Adem Ljajic could
have put them back in front but his
shot clipped the far post.
Juventus, though, have made
a habit of grinding out results and
they did it again with two goals in
the final 10 minutes.
A long ball forward found
Higuain and, although the Argentine
was closely marked, he turned
past Antonio Barreca and fired an
unstoppable shot past Hart for his
ninth league goal of the season.
Paulo Dybala set up the third
with a run down the touchline
and Hart did well to save shots by
Higuain and Pjanic before the Bosnia
midfielder scored at the third
attempt.
“Even when Higuain doesn’t
score, he provides a big contribution,”
said Juve coach Massimiliano
Allegri. “I know he lives for goals
but that’s not the only reason he
was signed.”
Mihajlovic told reporters: “Juventus
didn’t have a shot on goal
during most of the second half but
when you don’t take your chances
against a team like that, you get
punished.
Napoli’s Mertens broke the deadlock
against Cagliari after 34 minutes
with a shot on the turn before
their inspirational captain Marek
Hamsik turned in a rebound on the
stroke of halftime after Lorenzo Insigne
headed against the bar. •
FIVE THINGS WE LEARNT IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE IN GAMEWEEK 15
Vardy’s party back on
“Jamie Vardy’s having a party!” became
a familiar chant at the King Power
Stadium last season as the rough-cut
striker inspired Leicester City to their
fairytale title triumph. His difficulties in
front of goal this season had come to
symbolise the club’s post-title hangover,
the England striker going 16 games
without a goal as Claudio Ranieri’s
side slithered towards the relegation
zone. But he blew off the cobwebs in
style in a rain-lashed evening game
against Manchester City on Saturday,
firing Leicester to victory with his first
hat-trick since his non-league days. All
three goals were taken in the clinical
fashion that was Vardy’s calling card
last season, with the second -– teed up
by Riyad Mahrez’s gossamer-soft pass
-– a particular treat.
Arsenal show title mettle
Trailing to Charlie Adam’s 29th minute
penalty, Arsenal faced a potentially defining
moment in their Premier League
campaign, and to Arsene Wenger’s
delight his players rose to the challenge.
It was the sort of scenario that has
caused Arsenal to collapse many times in
recent years, but this season looks a little
different. They equalised in the 42nd
minute when Theo Walcott bagged his
100th club goal and took the lead four
minutes after half-time through Mesut
Ozil’s header before youngster Alex Iwobi
sealed the points in the 75th minute
to extend Arsenal’s unbeaten league run
to 14 matches and keep the pressure on
title rivals Chelsea.
Conte willing to adapt
Faced with an obdurate opponent in
Tony Pulis’s well-drilled West Bromwich
Albion, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte
showed his flexibility by ditching his preferred
three-man defensive formation
and his gamble paid immediate dividends.
Conte’s side had been frustrated
for over an hour at Stamford Bridge on
Sunday when the Italian sent on Willian
and Cesc Fabregas in a switch to a 4-4-2
system. The move gave Chelsea more
attacking options and in the 76th minute
a Fabregas pass induced a mistake from
Albion defender Gareth McAuley that
was punished by Diego Costa’s clinical
finish. Chelsea’s ninth successive league
win reopened a three-point lead at the
top and underlined that Conte is more
than a one-trick pony.
Mkhitaryan United’s missing link?
Having spent the best part of three
months as a virtual spectator following
his transfer from Borussia Dortmund,
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has belatedly
emerged as Manchester United’s go-to
attacking player. After a pair of assists
in a 4-1 League Cup win over West Ham
United and a first United goal against
Zorya Luhansk, he settled Sunday’s
game against Tottenham Hotspur with
a burst from deep and an emphatic
shot. The Armenian playmaker was
stretchered off after injuring his ankle,
but to sighs of relief all round Old Trafford,
manager Jose Mourinho said it
was not serious. United have struggled
for goals in the league, scoring eight
in their last nine games, but in the jetheeled
Mkhitaryan they possess a player
capable of bridging the gap that had
existed between the team’s midfield
and lone striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Liverpool case for defence weak
For a second successive match Liverpool’s
dazzling attack wasn’t sufficient
as their defence was again exposed as
the Achilles’ heel with struggling West
Ham taking a point in a 2-2 draw. The
yield of just one point from the last six
could prove very costly come the end
of the season. German goalkeeper Loris
Karius will again be under the spotlight,
especially with Dimitri Payet’s freekick,
but the back four do not inspire confidence
and January could see action at
Anfield in the transfer market. •
EPL POINTS TABLE
Team P W D L GD Pts
Chelsea 15 12 1 2 22 37
Arsenal 15 10 4 1 21 34
Liverpool 15 9 4 2 17 31
Man City 15 9 3 3 13 30
Tottenham 15 7 6 2 13 27
Man Utd 15 6 6 3 4 24
Watford 15 6 3 6 -5 21
West Brom 15 5 5 5 2 20
Everton 15 5 5 5 0 20
Southampton 15 5 5 5 -1 20
Stoke 15 5 4 6 -5 19
Bournemouth 15 5 3 7 -4 18
Burnley 15 5 2 8 -10 17
Leicester 15 4 4 7 -5 16
Crystal Palace 15 4 3 8 -2 15
Middlesbrough 15 3 6 6 -3 15
West Ham 15 3 4 8 -16 13
Swansea 15 3 3 9 -12 12
Hull 15 3 3 9 -18 12
Sunderland 15 3 2 10 -13 11