The New Nation - Internet Edition

Arsenal upset by Hull as Chelsea, Liverpool win

AP, London

Arsenal was stunned by Premier League newcomer Hull 2-1 Saturday in the season's biggest upset. The Gunners were knocked out of first place while title rivals Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all won 2-0.

Daniel Cousin headed in the winning goal in the 66th minute for Hull, a 104-year-old club playing in the top tier of English soccer for the first time.

Arsenal ended 51 minutes of frustration when Hull defender Paul McShane nudged the ball into his own net amid pressure from Cesc Fabregas. But Geovanni evened the score in the 62nd minute from 30 yards.

This was Arsenal's second defeat in 60 league matches at Emirates Stadium. The Gunners are two points behind leaders Chelsea and Liverpool and one point ahead of Hull.

"I'm more disappointed than worried," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "With this kind of game, when you lose them you try to analyze first why, and then you respond in your next game."

Jose Bosingwa put Chelsea ahead in the 36th, scoring on an angled shot as Andy Griffin failed to clear on the line. Bosingwa set up Nicolas Anelka's 76th-minute goal when Leon Cort failed to clear his cross.

Fernando Torres ended his six-game Liverpool goal drought in the victory over crosstown rival Everton. In the 208th Liverpool derby, Robbie Keane crossed the ball into the box for Torres to volley home in the 59th.

Keane also was the architect of the second goal three minutes later, setting up Dirk Kuyt. He was tackled by Phil Jagielka before he could shoot, but the loose ball fell for Torres to fire past Tim Howard.

Man United won its first home match of the season, with Cristiano Ronaldo making a penalty kick. Referee Rob Styles penalized Jlloyd Samuel for sliding into the Portugal winger despite appearing to get the ball.

Wayne Rooney came off the bench and scored for the first time since April in the 77th.

Aston Villa beat Sunderland 2-1. Newcastle slumped to its fifth loss in a row, with Blackburn winning 2-1. Gianfranco Zola won his second league match as West Ham manager, 2-0 at Fulham. West Bromwich Albion downed Middlesbrough 1-0.

FC Barcelona won 2-1 at crosstown rival Espanyol in a Spanish league match that was halted for 10 minutes during the second half due to crowd trouble.

Referee Luis Medina Cantalejo took the decision after Barcelona supporters in the upper tier of Espanyol's Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium threw flares at rival fans below.

Some Espanyol fans broke a fence and spilled onto the field in an attempt to escape from the flares.

Espanyol opened the scoring with Ferran Corominas in the 20th minute, with Thierry Henry equalizing in the 77th soon after the match restarted. Lionel Messi scored Barcelona's winning goal with an injury-time penalty.

Espanyol was reduced to 10 men just before halftime when midfielder Nene received a second yellow card for elbowing Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets.

Earlier, Villarreal moved to the top of the league after winning 1-0 at Sporting Gijon with a goal from Giuseppe Rossi.

The striker struck in the 65th minute at Gijon's El Molinon stadium as Villarreal maintained its unbeaten record this season and took a one-point lead in the standings.

Villarreal's stay at the top will only last 24 hours if Valencia wins its home game against Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday to reclaim first place on goal difference.

Villarreal stayed a point ahead of Real Madrid, which beat Real Betis 2-1 with goals by Gabriel Heinze and Ruud van Nistelrooy to climb into second place.

The defending champions gained their fourth straight win despite playing with 10 men for the final 35 minutes following the dismissal of left back Marcelo.

Villarreal has 13 points in five games. Madrid has 12, with Barcelona and Valencia on 10.

Juventus was held to a 0-0 tie at Sampdoria, its second draw in four days.

Inter Milan, which faces AC Milan in the first big derby of the season Sunday, leads the Serie A with 10 points. Juventus moved into a tie for second with Lazio and Atalanta with nine points each, while Sampdoria has four.

Fiorentina beat Genoa 1-0 behind Alberto Gilardino's goal.

Hamburger SV returned to the top of the Bundesliga while Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich lost its second straight game and 10-man Werder Bremen battled to a 5-4 win over Hoffenheim.

Hamburg edged Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0 on an early goal by Mladen Petric to open a one-point lead over Bayer Leverkusen, a 3-2 winner in Bochum. Petric scored after 12 minutes with a diving header after a deflected free kick.

Bayern, the defending champion, lost 1-0 at Hannover. Bremen squandered a 4-1 lead before Mesut Oezil scored his second goal of the game to secure the victory.

Bremen, which lost defender Per Mertesacker to a red card, has scored 10 goals in two games after winning 5-2 at Bayern last week.

Hamburg has 13 points, Leverkusen 12 and Bremen 11, while Bayern has dropped to ninth, five points behind Hamburg. Schalke lost 1-0 at Cologne on Friday to get knocked off the lead and fall to fourth on goal difference behind Bremen. Borussia Dortmund, which blanked Stuttgart 3-0, also has 11 points.

Karim Benzema and Fred scored to lead unbeaten Lyon 2-1 over Nancy and six points ahead of Marseille at the top of the French league.

Promising 20-year-old striker Anthony Mounier set up both goals. In the 30th minute, Mounier tricked his way past a defender and then threaded a pass for Benzema to convert with a low shot for his sixth league goal of the season. Five minutes later, Mounier's cross from the left allowed Fred to slide in Lyon's second goal.

With seven-time defending champion Lyon still celebrating, Pascal Berenguer pulled a goal back for Nancy a minute later. But Lyon controlled the second half to remain unbeaten with 19 points after seven rounds.

Marseille was held to a 1-1 draw at Le Mans and has 13 points.

Paris Saint-Germain slipped to its second straight 1-0 defeat when Grenoble's Nassim Akrour struck a swerving shot from outside the penalty area in the 76th that dipped over goalkeeper Mickael Landreau.

Shearer denies Newcastle return

BBC Online

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Shearer says he will not be next Magpies boss

Alan Shearer has denied claims he will return to Newcastle in a management capacity alongside Kevin Keegan.

Temporary boss Joe Kinnear suggested Shearer was set for a future role at the club, but the Mapgies legend put the record straight on the BBC.

"There is no truth in that whatsoever. I don't know where that's come from at all," Shearer told Match of the Day.

He also expressed shock at Kinnear's appointment, adding the ex-Forest boss looked "embarrassed" to be in the job.

"I was as surprised as anyone was that Joe was appointed," said the 38-year-old former England captain.

"He looks embarrassed a little bit himself, but it's a great opportunity for him. They can't get any worse, it's a no-lose situation."

Juve held by Sampdoria as Gilardino sparks Fiorentina

AFP, Rome

-Juventus missed the chance to go top of Serie A, for one day at least, as they were held to a bore 0-0 draw at Sampdoria on Saturday.

Alberto Gilardino was the hero as Fiorentina won for the second time this season, 1- 0 at home to Genoa.

Juve remain unbeaten and moved up to third in the table with the point but sorry Sampdoria are still searching for their first win of the season after four draws and a defeat in their first five matches.

The Turin giants' Italy centre-half Giorgio Chiellini admitted the team needs to improve but refused to blame his strikers.

"Unfortunately we didn't manage to score. We hoped to but it was a difficult match," he said.

"But even though the forwards failed to score t the defence concedes few goals and part of that is thanks to the help we get from the forwards."

But Chiellini said it would be wrong to read too much into their record of just two wins from their first five matches.

"There's only been five matches and its too early to run away. Of course it would be better to be in front but the championship is long and we'll bounce back in the next matches."

Sampdoria coach Walter Mazzarri complained that his team had been hard done by.

"Today we deserved to win. The clearest chances were ours, we were only in danger on the break twice," he said.

In a dreadful game devoid of much action the visitors came closest to breaking the deadlock before the break.

After just four minutes veteran striker Alessandro Del Piero forced Samp goalkeeper Antonio Mirante into a sprawling save from a free-kick before Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen fired the rebound over the bar.

Del Piero came close again on 20 minutes after a surging run forward from Mali midfielder Momo Sissoko, showing no ill effects from fasting during the Muslim month of Ramadan.

Sissoko fed Del Piero who beat Mirante with a shot from the right but saw it clip the outside of the post and go wide.

Del Piero was proving the most likely source of a goal and on 41 minutes he fired a volley from seven yards over the bar after a flick-on from Brazilian strike partner Amauri, although it was a difficult chance as he hooked a high bouncing ball back over his shoulder.

The second half was if anything worse than the first although Juve's Austrian goalkeeper Alex Manninger tipped over a header from Stefano Lucchini while Pavel Nedved fired a volley straight at Mirante up the other end.

Samp substitute Daniele Dessena could have won it for the hosts deep into injury time but Manninger saved his volley from 15 yards.

In Florence chances were few and far between in the first half although Riccardo Montolivo had a shot saved by Genoa goalkeeper Rubinho and Gilardino was wildly off target having created space for himself.

Genoa started brightly after the break and French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey had to be alert to save with his legs from Argetina forward Diego Milito.

Rubinho then tipped a Marco Donadel shot onto the outside of the post but the hosts were in front on 61 minutes.

Gilardino did brillaintly to control a bouncing ball in the box and turned to fire a left foot shot across Rubinho into the far corner.

It was his third goal in five league matches this season and sixth in eight in all competitions as the former AC Milan hitman has hit the ground running since his transfer south.

Roddick wins China Open beating Sela

AP,Beijing

Andy Roddick claimed his third ATP title of the season, beating unseeded Dudi Sela of Israel 6-4, 6-7 (6) 6-3 on Sunday in the final of the China Open.

No. 2 Roddick struggled all the way against Sela, who reached the final by beating top-seeded David Ferrer, fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo and Rainer Schuettler of Germany. It was the first ATP final of Sela's career. Sela is only No. 92 in the ATP rankings and is the first Israeli to reach an ATP final since Harel Levy in 2000. He failed to become the first Israeli winner since Amos Mansdorf in 1993. In the late women's final, No. 1 Jelena Jankovic faced No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Roddick did not have everything his way. "At the end of the day, a win is a win and I'm happy with that," Roddick said.

After Roddick broke serve early in the second set, Sela broke back in the sixth game. After a double fault and then a missed shot at the net - which cost the American the game - Roddick teed off and smashed a tennis ball high over the crowd and out of the two-tiered Beijing Tennis Center. In the second-set tiebreaker, Roddick failed to close out Sela. With Roddick serving and leading the breaker 6-4, Sela won four straight points to take the set. Sela raced to his chair, sat down quickly and clenched his right fist.

In the final set, Sela kept returning Roddick's big serve and frustrated the American repeatedly with clever lobs and passing shots from the backhand and forehand. Roddick finally broke Sela in the sixth game and then closed out the match with an ace.

"In the back of my mind, I knew I'd played in 38-40 finals and I knew this was his first one," Roddick said. "I knew that had to count for something. I wanted to stay in there and compete, even though he was the hot player for the majority of the day." Roddick won twice earlier this year, taking a tournament in February in San Jose, California, and in March in Dubai. It was his 40th final, and his 26th career ATP title. Sela managed to relax after a nervous first set, returning more serves and making Roddick work. "I think that was a key point, returning a lot of balls back from the serve so he didn't have a lot of free points," Sela said. Sela said he lost concentration slightly in the sixth game of the final set, allowing Roddick to break and take control. Still, he saw victory in the defeat.

"This helps a lot," he said. "It's a lot of confidence that showed I can play with these big players."

Thorp secures Durham's maiden title

Cricinfo

Durham 500 for 8 (Breese 121, Di Venuto 90, Mustard 81, Smith 81) beat Kent 225 (Key 58, Harmison 4-89) and 204 (McLaren 65*, Kemp 54, Thorp 7-88, Harmison 3-58) by an innings and 71 runs

Callum Thorp produced the bowling performance of his career, and Steve Harmison overcame a fractured left wrist to scythe through the tail, as Durham marched towards their first County Championship title with a thumping innings-and-71-run victory against Kent at Canterbury. The celebrations had to be put on hold for a while, as their only remaining rivals, Nottinghamshire, were set a massive and improbable 442 for victory against Hampshire, but at 3.57pm, Nottinghamshire's challenge officially petered out, and an historic achievement could be formally recognised.

Durham's victory had put them eight points clear of Nottinghamshire, on 190 to 182, and meant that anything less than a Notts win over Hampshire would suffice for a side that only became a first-class county in 1992. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Kent's capitation confirmed their relegation for the first time since the two-division Championship was introduced in 2001.

The day began with Kent's backs firmly against the wall after the loss of five wickets on the third evening, but so long as Ryan McLaren and Justin Kemp remained, so too did hope. Kemp moved to his fifty within minutes of the start, and the pair had taken their sixth-wicket stand to 107 when Thorp made the breakthrough - his sixth of the innings - as Kemp drove loosely outside off for Dale Benkenstein to take a fine low catch at gully.

Thorp, who comes from Perth but has British-born parents, then claimed his career-best figures with his - and Durham's - seventh wicket of the innings when Yasir Arafat edged to Michael Di Venuto at second slip for 18, but the prospect of him claiming all ten was ended when Harmison found his range to spectacular effect in his 21st over of the innings.

Steve Harmison bowls Martin Saggers to complete Durham's win © Getty Images

Having suffered a fractured left wrist after dropping a Geraint Jones cut shot on the third day, Harmison was bowling in a cast, but that didn't seem to affect his rhythm too dramatically.

James Tredwell shouldered arms to a fine delivery that nipped back to detonate his off stump, and within three Harmison deliveries, it was all over. Robbie Joseph pushed tentatively outside off for Di Venuto to claim his second catch of the morning, and Martin Saggers was comprehensively bowled for a first-ball duck.

As Saggers and the not-out McLaren trudged disconsolately off the field and into the second division, Harmison roared down the pitch in triumph, to be buried beneath a sea of his team-mates.

Their triumph would not be ratified for another four-and-a-quarter hours - by which time the team bus was partying its way towards the M1 - but deep down, Durham already know that the title was theirs.

Tsonga clinches Thailand Open

AP, Bangkok

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Novak Djokovic 7-6 (4), 6-4 to win the Thailand Open on Sunday, clinching his first

career title and avenging his loss to the top-seeded Serbian in the Australian Open final.

The second-seeded Frenchman saved three break points in the last game before sealing his victory.

Tsonga fired big forehands to outplay Djokovic at the baseline and at the net. He insisted that his loss to Djokovic in Melbourne was not a motivating factor.

"I didn't even think about the revenge," Tsonga said. "It's very special to win my first tournament. I wanted this since I was young. It's a dream come true."

Djokovic, ranked No. 3 in the world, looked sluggish at times. He ended the match by lobbing Tsonga's serve long. "I'd like to congratulate Tsonga for his first title," Djokovic said during the trophy ceremony. "I hope to see more great things from him in the future."

Khaled Mashud retires from International Cricket

TigerCricket

Former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mashud has decided to retire from international cricket. Mashud informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board of his decision in a letter on Thursday, 25 September 2008.

'I intend to retire from all forms (Tests, ODIs & T20 Internationals) of international cricket with immediate effect. I have made this decision after a lot of soul searching and this is a very emotional moment for me.'

'For the last 13 years I have tried to serve the country to the best of my ability and I thank the Board for putting faith in my capabilities as a player and captain.

I would also like to thank all the cricketers I have been privileged enough to have as teammates, coaches and officials for their support during my career as a Bangladesh player.

It has been an honour to play for Bangladesh,' Mashud said in his letter.

BCB officials met Mashud today (Sunday, 28 September 2008) and a cordial discussion was held regarding his retirement plans. The Board later accepted the country's most successful wicketkeeper's decision to retire with considerable regret.

The BCB gratefully acknowledges Mashud's immense contribution to the National Team for over a decade and is heartened by the fact that he has offered his unconditional commitment to Bangladesh cricket and the cause of the game's development in this country.

Despite retiring from internationals, Mashud will continue to play first class for Rajshahi Division.

Australian players told to be extra cautious

AP, Jaipur

The Australian cricket squad's security officer has told the touring players to be extra careful following a bomb blast in New Delhi that killed two people and injured 22 others.

"We are a bit more cautious and the players have been advised accordingly," Frank Dimasi told The Associated Press on Sunday as the Australian team finished its weeklong training stint in Jaipur. "The security here in Jaipur has not been a problem." Australian squad spokesman Matthew Slade said Cricket Australia had been briefed about Saturday's bombing. "There's a process that we have to undergo during such incidents to take a view of the situation," Slade said. "It seems there is no immediate urgency to take any drastic step. "We don't think there is going to be a problem, but something definite can be said only after collecting data and information related to team security."

Australia is scheduled to play the third test against India from Oct. 29 in New Delhi, which was also hit by a series of bombs two weeks ago that killed 21 people and wounded about 100 others. After those bombings, Cricket Australia sought a review of the security situation before asking its players to proceed on the tour.

Meanwhile, the Press Trust of India said India's federal interior ministry issued a directive to states and cities hosting the Australian team's matches, asking for a strengthening of security measures.

Australia plays a four-day warmup match against the Indian Cricket Board President's XI in the southern city of Hyderabad next week before the first test starts from Oct. 9 in Bangalore. Mohali and Nagpur are the other test venues on the tour. Australia rookies Doug Bollinger (3-9) and Jason Krejza (3-35) enjoyed success as the tourists quickly ran through the Rajasthan Cricket Academy XI on Sunday to wrap up the two-day match. Fast bowler Brett Lee claimed 2-17 as the academy team was bowled out for 122, in reply to Australia's total of 218.

Strachan knows his side for Villarreal showdown

AFP, Glasgow

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan says he already knows his team for Tuesday's crucial Champions League match away to Villarreal.

Strachan's side had a last-minute Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink goal to thank for a 3- 2 win against Aberdeen on Saturday in the Scottish Premier League.

But he said he would not be influenced by individual players' performances in the match and would stick to the side he and his coaching staff had decided in advance of the Aberdeen game for the match against Villarreal.

And the Hoops gaffer said the tough test his players had faced against the Dons had been good preparation for Tuesday's match in Spain.

"I would have liked it to easier in the last 20 minutes that's for sure and the players would have liked it to be easier. But Aberdeen didn't make it easy for them," Strachan said.

"No-one has played their way into the side as I already know my team for Tuesday.

"Whatever the players did against Aberdeen I appreciate it and thank them for the game and for the three points. But if I've got a plan then I've got a plan."

Villarreal, who finished second behind Real Madrid in La Liga last season, will be tough opposition for Celtic after they picked up a point in their opening match at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

But Strachan added he had no new injury worries for the match and knows picking up at least a point at the Madrigal Stadium is vital following his side's 0-0 draw at home to Aalborg in their first match.

Strachan said: "Barry Robson had a wee injection in his groin on Friday which I don't think he liked and I don't think Andreas Hinkel will be fit either as he has a thigh strain.

"We sat down a couple of days ago and tried to get two teams for the games against Aberdeen and Villareal and I think because there are no new injuries we will be able to carry on with what I think is right for Tuesday."