TOKYO: Yokohama Marinos beat J-League champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-0 to win the prestigious Emperor’s Cup yesterday, avenging their defeat by one point in the league title race last month.
Manabu Saito opened the scoring in the 17th minute and former Japan centre back Yuji Nakazawa nodded in a header four minutes later in a sequence which followed a corner from former Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura.
It was the first piece of silverware for Yokohama since they won the league title in 2004.
They beat Hiroshima twice this past season but missed out on the league championship on December 7, the final round of the March-December J-League season. Hiroshima retained their title by whipping Kashima Antlers 2-0, while Yokohama surrendered their championship lead in tears as they went down 1-0 to Kawasaki Frontale.
“I’m happy with the victory but it would have been better if we had won the league title,” Nakamura, 35, told reporters at Tokyo’s National Stadium after the game. The 92-year-old Emperor’s Cup, one of Japan’s three major football tournaments, is open to both professional and amateur clubs. Nakamura, a left-footed midfielder and deadball specialist who ended his international career after the 2010 World Cup, recalled Yokohama’s defeat in the Emperor’s Cup two years ago.
Huysegems scores two in Phoenix upset
SYDNEY: Belgian striker Stein Huysegems scored twice and made an assist as Wellington Phoenix came from a goal down to beat high-flying Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1 in the A-League yesterday.
Huysegems, who played 14 internationals for Belgium, was outstanding, scoring twice in five minutes after laying on the equaliser for youngster Tyler Boyd.
It was the New Zealanders’ third straight win under coach Ernie Merrick after a winless start to the season, while it was the Wanderers’ first loss at home since January 6 last year.
The Wanderers looked set to push on to victory when a deft pass from Japanese star Shinji Ono put Mark Bridge in to score the opener in the 62nd minute.
But substitute Boyd struck back six minutes later before Huysegems’ brace in the 78th and 83rd, the second a cheeky backheel into the net.
Chelsea report £49.4m losses
LONDON: Chelsea made a £49.4m ($81.8m, ¤59.9m) loss in the last financial year, the English Premier League club announced yesterday.
Turnover for the year ending June 30, 2013 was a record £255.8m ($424m, ¤308m), but the club’s early Champions League exit contributed to the loss in income. Jose Mourinho’s side will still however satisfy UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations as the two-year monitoring period includes the £1.4m ($2.3m, ¤1.6m) profit made in the 2011/12 season. The club also saw a 19 per cent rise in commercial income from £67m ($111m, ¤80m) to £79.6m ($132m, ¤95.8m) as they won the Europa League.
Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay said: “For Chelsea FC to achieve a record level of turnover despite our first group-stage elimination from the Champions League shows we have structured our business and are growing in the correct way for long-term stability. “Our philosophy is we build upon success on the pitch and although in these financial results we haven’t repeated the sizeable profits made the previous year from player transfers, we believe the age profile of the existing squad means we will benefit from that investment for many years to come.AFP
