US goalie Brad Friedel sets record
Saturday, November 29, 2008
LONDON U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel set a record with his 167th consecutive Premier League appearance Saturday in Aston Villa's 0-0 tie with Fulham.
Friedel twice denied former American teammate Clint Dempsey and earned a third straight shutout.
"It's always nice to get personal achievements in the game, but that's not why I play," the 37-year-old goalie said. "It's a team sport, and if the truth be told I would have preferred to have got the three points here today instead of the point."
Bolton rallied past Sunderland 4-1 behind Johan Elmander's two goals. Matthew Taylor and Gary Cahill also scored for the winners. Djibril Cisse had a goal for Sunderland.
"I ask myself every single day if I am the right man for Sunderland," manager Roy Keane said. "I asked myself this morning and I said that I was. Tomorrow morning if the answer's no we will have to look at it.
Villa failed to build on its recent victory over Arsenal and draw against Manchester United.. Gareth Barry, Ashley Young and Stiliyan Petrov came close to scoring several times, but were frustrated by Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
Wigan came from behind to beat last-place West Bromwich Albion 2-1 and win back-to-back league games for the first time under manager Steve Bruce. Newcomers Stoke and Hull played to a 1-1 draw, while Middlesbrough and Newcastle played to a scoreless tie.
On Sunday, Chelsea hosts an Arsenal team in disarray as it bids to break away from Liverpool at the top the standings. The Reds are not in action until Monday against West Ham.
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PARIS (AP) _ Playing without its injured top scorer Karim Benzema, defending French champion Lyon was held to a 0-0 draw at home by struggling Valenciennes.
Benzema is out for at least two weeks because of a thigh injury. And with midfielder Juninho also missing through suspension, the team lacked sharpness as goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau kept Lyon at bay.
Lyon has 34 points after 16 rounds, six more than second-place Nice, and seven ahead of third-place Marseille. Nice's home game against Grenoble was pushed back to Sunday because of torrential rain. Marseille plays at Toulouse on Sunday.
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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ Vedad Ibisevic scored his 17th goal of the season Saturday to help Bundesliga leader Hoffenheim defeat Arminia Bielefeld 3-0 for its eighth win in nine games.
Ibisevic gave his team the lead in the fifth minute, with Carlos Eduardo and Francisco Copado adding a goal each as Hoffenheim improved to 34 points from 15 games. The Bundesliga newcomers remained three points ahead of defending champion Bayern Munich, which beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 on goals by Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose.
Bayern, which hosts Hoffenheim on Friday, pulled ahead in the 59th minute as Ze Roberto sent a high cross into the box, where Toni headed it into the net. Klose took a fine pass from Franck Ribery in the 82nd for the second goal.
Claudio Pizarro scored a hat trick as Werder Bremen beat Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0, Energie Cottbus took advantage of the worst defense in the league in winning 3-1 at Borussia Moenchengladbach to jump out of last place.
Moenchengladbach midfielder Michael Bradley missed a chance in the second minute and then scored an own-goal to give Cottbus the lead. Cottbus, which had only scored eight goals in the first 14 games, made it 2-0 through Dennis Sorensen. Steve Gohouri pulled a goal back but Emil Jula decided the game for Cottbus in the 85th minute.
Karlsruher, which trailed by three goals before losing 3-2 at Hannover, is last with 10 points. Mike Hanke scored two goals for Hannover.
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ATHENS, Greece (AP) _ Three days after its 1-0 win at Inter Milan in the Champions League, Panathinaikos was held to a 1-1 home draw against lowly Asteras in the Greek league.
Antonis Petropoulos had given Panathinaikos the lead in the 44th minute but Adrian Bastia evened for Asteras in the 70th.
The Athenians have 20 points from 12 games, six behind league leader Olympiakos which hosts Panionios Sunday. Asteras has 13 points in 11th place.
PAOK beat last-place Thrasivoulos 2-1, with Stefanos Athanassiadis scoring the winner in second-half injury time. PAOK stayed in second place with 25 points. Larissa beat Iraklis 2-1.
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CATANIA, Sicily (AP) _ Jose Castillo scored a minute after coming on as a second-half substitute to give Lecce a 1-1 draw at Catania in Serie A.
Castillo knocked in a rebound in the 69th minute for his third goal of the season. Michele Paolucci had put Catania ahead in the 61st after hitting the post 10 minutes earlier.
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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) _ Celtic extended its lead over Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League with a 1-0 win over Inverness. Rangers lost to 10-man Hearts 2-1.
Celtic went ahead in the 29th minute when Shaun Maloney turned in Shunsuke Nakamura's assist for the only goal. Celtic has 43 points, seven ahead of Rangers.
Third-place Hearts scored twice in three minutes in the first half, with Marius Zaliukas giving the hosts the lead in the 20th from close range when Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor was unable to hold Christophe Berra's shot.
Laryea Kingston then doubled the lead by heading in Bruno Aguiar's cross in the 22nd. The visitors struck back two minutes later when Kris Boyd prodded the ball in.
Hearts' Lee Wallace was sent off after a foul on Chris Burke in the 75th, just five minutes after collecting his first yellow card for fouling the same player.
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