Cisse Returns Home After Relatives Die
Aliou Cisse, the midfielder who captained Senegal into the second round of the World Cup, has left his English club, Birmingham City, and returned home after losing nine members of his family in a ferry disaster in which nearly 1,000 people drowned.
The ferry Joola capsized during a storm and sank Sept. 26 off the African coast while en route from the river port of Ziguinchor, Senegal, to Dakar, the capital. Cisse did not learn the extent of his loss until later.
“It’s a terrible tragedy for Aliou,” Birmingham City Coach Steve Bruce said after Cisse had played in the team’s 2-1 victory over West Ham United on Saturday.
“Just to turn up and play today shows a massive commitment and great mental strength.
“He did not even tell us about it until [Friday] when he was arranging his flights.... The whole thing certainly puts football into perspective.”
The national teams of Nigeria and Senegal will play a charity match in Dakar on Saturday to aid the victims’ families.
Ronaldo’s Real Debut
Brazil World Cup winner Ronaldo made his long-awaited debut for Real Madrid on Sunday and scored twice as the European champions defeated Alaves, 5-2, in a Spanish league game in front of a sellout crowd of 75,000 at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.
Celtic-Rangers Tie
Celtic and Rangers, Scotland’s two biggest clubs, played to an absorbing 3-3 tie in Glasgow on Sunday in the first “Old Firm” meeting this year between the rivals, but none of the goals was scored by a Scot.
The match drew 59,027 to Parkhead and was televised live throughout Britain for the first time. The lead changed hands three times.
U.S. Women Win Cup
Goals in a 13-minute span in the second half by Kristine Lilly, Heather O’Reilly, Joy Fawcett and Brandi Chastain earned the United States women’s national team a 4-0 victory Sunday over Italy at Cary, N.C.
The victory gave the Americans their eighth consecutive U.S. Women’s Cup title.
Galaxy Thanks Fans
There was good reason the Galaxy players stayed on the Rose Bowl field long after Saturday night’s 4-0 Major League Soccer playoff semifinal victory over the Colorado Rapids: It might have been the team’s last game at Pasadena.
The Galaxy moves to Carson next season and the players wanted to thank the 24,742 who turned out.
“When you get 24,000 people out here creating atmosphere, you want to thank them,” captain Cobi Jones said.
Times staff writer Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.
