US to face Japan in women's WC final

Moenchengladbach, July 14 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - The United States struck twice late in the second half to beat France 3-1 on Wednesday and will face Japan in the women's World Cup final.

The Japanese, playing in their first semi-final, beat Sweden by the same score with a double from Nahomi Kawasumi, including a spectacular 35-metre lob, to book a spot in Sunday's final.

On a rainy afternoon, the Americans, who won the title in 1991 and 1999 and have never finished below third place in a women's World Cup, took an early lead when Lauren Cheney flicked in a Carli Lloyd cross in the ninth minute.

France levelled after the break with a Sonia Bompastor cross that bounced past US keeper Hope Solo but two goals in three minutes from Abby Wambach (79th) and Alex Morgan (82nd) secured a third World Cup final appearance for the Americans.

"This is our journey, this is our dream," a beaming Wambach said. "France are a great team. There were moments they were outplaying us but I am so proud of this team."

"I know we are going to pull through. I have belief in this team. Everybody is working for each other."

In Frankfurt, captain Homare Sawa turned from villain to hero by putting Japan 2-1 up on the hour after her defensive error had given Sweden a 10th minute lead.

Josefine Oqvist pounced on Sawa's disastrous back pass, cut into the box and fired home from a tight angle but Japan recovered quickly as Kawasumi equalised nine minutes later after scrambling the ball over the line.

Sawa added the second with a close-range header after the Japanese had rattled the bar minutes into the second half and Kawasumi completed their comeback in style, catching Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl out with a spectacular lob.

FRENCH DOMINANCE

In Moenchengladbach, the Americans, who were under pressure from the start, scored against the run of play through Cheney but immediately dropped deep and some sloppy passing allowed France to come forward repeatedly.

"We lost our legs a bit but we picked up the fight," said US coach Pia Sundhage, whose team needed a penalty shootout to overcome Brazil in the last eight. "I think it was obvious we had heavy legs so we had to adjust."

With Sundhage sensing danger and bellowing from her coaching area, the French dominance almost paid off on the half hour when Gaetane Thiney tested Solo with a close-range effort.

Bompastor then rattled the bar with a fierce drive seconds later as France took complete control.

Wambach, who had scored an equaliser deep into extra time against Brazil, should have put the Americans further in front before the break but headed along the goal line from a metre.

The French got their just reward after 55 minutes when Bompastor levelled after whipping in a cross from the left that deceived Solo.

With France coach Bruno Bini bringing on another striker in the speedy Elodie Thomis as they went in search of the winner, the Americans struck at just the right time with Wambach making amends and heading in at the far post.

A smooth chip over keeper Berangere Sapowicz from Morgan three minutes later put the game beyond the French.

"We had our chances and we had a lot," Bini said. "We were as good as we could have been. But they have a lot of experience."

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Japan slay Sweden to book World Cup final berth

Japan booked their place in the women's World Cup final against the United States with a emphatic 3-1 victory over Sweden in Wednesday's semi-final after claiming another European scalp with an historic win.

Despite their nickname Nadeshiko -- a pink flower symbolising grace and beauty -- the Japanese are proving no pushovers at Germany 2011 and having beaten the hosts 1-0 in the quarter-final, they dominated Sweden in the semi.

Japan are in a World Cup final for the first time in their history as striker Nahomi Kawasumi netted goals either side of half-time while captain Homare Sawa capped another impressive display with her fourth goal in five games.

There was no hint of the Japanese domination to come when Sweden striker Josefine Oqvist opened the scoring when she drilled home her shot after 10 minutes past Japan goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori.

Her strike took a deflection off the boot of Japan defender Saki Kumagai, which lifted the ball out of Kaihori's reach, but the Asians were level soon after having noticeably raised their game in front of the 45,434 crowd.

Midfielder Aya Miyama drilled in a cross and Kawasumi wove her way through several Swedish defenders to scramble the ball home on 19 minutes.

Japan finished the first half with 62 percent of ball possession and never relinquished their stranglehold over the Swedes.

They dominated the first-half -- managing six shots on goal, with three on target, compared to Sweden's one of each -- and nearly scored in the opening minute of the second-half.

Right wing Shinobu Ohno unleashed a long-range shot from well outside the penalty area, which beat Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl, but clipped the crossbar as it went out.

With Sweden failing to put any consistent pressure on the Japan goal, the Nadeshiko put the game beyond their reach with two goals in four minutes.

Sawa, one of the stars of this tournament, headed home after a goal-mouth scramble on the hour mark, her fourth in five games here.

With the Swedish defence all at sea, the Japanese capitalised when midfielder Kozue Ando forced Hedvig into a hasty clearance kick and Kawasumi scored her second of the game when she lobbed her shot into an empty goal from 40 yards on 64 minutes.

It was no more than Japan deserved having dominated the game, nullifying Sweden's attack into just four shots on goal all game compared to the Japanese's 14.

In Sunday's final in Frankfurt, Japan will face the Stars and Stripes following their 3-1 win over France earlier in Moenchengladbach.

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Kool-BSJA Media Cup Football final today

The final match of the Kool-BSJA Media Cup Football Tournament will be held today (Friday) at 10:30 am at the Handball Stadium in the capital, reports UNB.

Two private satellite television networks - RTV and ETV - will meet in the title-deciding match of the tournament, organized by Bangladesh Sports Journalists Association (BSJA).

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England win final ODI

Manchester, July 10 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) ? A patient 72 from Jonathan Trott helped England to a 16-run win over Sri Lanka in the final one-dayer at Old Trafford on Saturday, giving the hosts a 3-2 series win which allowed them to gain some revenge for their 10-wicket World Cup quarter-final humiliation.

A century sixth-wicket partnership between Angelo Mathews (62) and Jeevan Mendis (48), which rescued Sri Lanka from 131-5, threatened to upset England but some assured catches at the end and fine bowling put paid to the tourists' chances.

Young paceman Jade Dernbach finished with two wickets off the final two balls, while James Anderson also picked up two victims and Tim Bresnan was the pick of the attack with 3-49.

Earlier the rocksteady Trott notched up 72 off 87 deliveries to guide England to 268-9 off their 50 overs, the hosts having started strongly with captain Alastair Cook (31) and Craig Kieswetter (43).

Eoin Morgan (57) combined with Trott while Anderson struck a crucial late 12 runs, Suraj Randiv leading the Sri Lankan attack taking 5-42.

England dropped Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad before the match, while Cook, who replaced Andrew Strauss as one-day skipper following the World Cup, led from the front to steer his team to a series victory.

He smashed an unbeaten 95 in the fourth match to hand England a 10-wicket win, and finished with 298 runs at an average of 74.50.

Cook was not in the World Cup squad, where England were demolished by eventual runners-up Sri Lanka.

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Vettel fastest in final British GP practice

Silverstone, July 9 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) ? World champion Sebastian Vettel lapped fastest in final British Grand Prix practice Saturday while Red Bull team bosses spent most of the session arguing with officials over yet another rule revision.

After rain washed out much of Friday's running, the German made the most of drier conditions to set a best time of one minute 31.401 seconds.

Ferrari's double world champion Fernando Alonso was second on the timesheets, 0.063 slower, with Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber -- last year's race winner -- in third place.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was 13th and team mate Jenson Button, who has never stood on his home podium as an F1 driver, sixth.

At the slow end, Australian debutant Daniel Ricciardo lapped faster than Italian team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Hispania.

Vettel will be chasing his third successive British Grand Prix pole in qualifying later Saturday and his eighth in nine races this year.

The Red Bull's continuing speed was some consolation for team boss Christian Horner, who spent the best part of an hour with technical head Adrian Newey locked in talks with race director Charlie Whiting.

The meeting followed yet another directive from the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) about the engine regulations and sent to all the teams Saturday morning.

In it, according to a copy pinned on the notice board next to race control, the FIA effectively backtracked on one sent out the previous day which had drawn complaints from Mercedes-powered McLaren.

Horner and Newey refused to comment after the meeting, leaving stony-faced and stalking back down the paddock to the Red Bull garages.

The FIA is clamping down on the use of exhaust gases for performance gain through engine maps that keep the throttle open even when a driver is braking to ensure a steady flow through the rear of the car.

Friday's directive had allowed Renault to keep the engine throttle 50 percent open, on grounds of reliability, while Mercedes were allowed to retain other characteristics of their engine.

However, sources said the FIA had decided Saturday to revert to a previous position and reduce Renault's allowance to 10 percent at 12,000 revs and 20 percent at the maximum 18,000 revs.

The French manufacturer also supplies Renault and Team Lotus as well as Red Bull.

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Wembley to stage Champions League final in 2013

Nyon, June 17 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) ? Wembley stadium will stage the 2013 Champions League final two years after hosting the showpiece match between Barcelona and Manchester United because of "exceptional circumstances", UEFA said on Thursday.

The decision, taken unanimously by the European governing body's executive committee, was made to mark the English FA's 150th anniversary, UEFA president Michel Platini told reporters.

"This may seem exceptional but I think it was important for us to respect this anniversary of our game," said Platini. "If we don't know our past, we don't know our future," he added.

"The Football Association is the oldest of all the national football associations," he added, describing 2013 as "an exceptional moment in our beautiful game.

"We will also celebrate 150 years of the Laws of the Game, we felt it was our duty at UEFA to help the FA celebrate in some special way.

Wembley staged this year's final, which Barcelona won 3-1, although there was widespread criticism about ticket prices.

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