AC Milan Falls to Boca Juniors
European champion AC Milan’s inability to finish its scoring chances Sunday cost it the opportunity to become the world club champion for a record fourth time.
Instead, Boca Juniors of Argentina won the Intercontinental Cup in front of 66,000 at Yokohama, Japan, when it prevailed, 3-1, on penalties, after the teams had played to a 1-1 tie through 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of extra time.
“Towards the end of extra time, I felt the Milan players were hanging on for penalties,” said Coach Carlos Bianchi, who became the first coach to win the Intercontinental Cup three times.
“I’m very proud of the way we kept attacking. We were even more aggressive with our penalties.”
The victory gave Bianchi, 54, three titles this year. Boca won the Copa Libertadores in July to become South American champion and the Argentine league championship last month.
“You have to give credit to Boca,” Coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “Their defenders closed us down very quickly, and the goalkeeper [Roberto Abbondanzieri] made some terrific saves. We are usually so reliable at penalties, but today, for some reason, we just couldn’t complete the job.”
AC Milan took the lead in the 24th minute on a goal by Danish striker Jon Dahl Tomasson, but Boca replied five minutes later when Matias Donnet scored.
The Italian club twice came close to retaking the lead, first when Brazil’s Kaka hit the post with a shot and later when Paolo Maldini was denied by a brilliant save by Abbondanzieri.
Boca also missed when Carlos Tevez fired a dipping shot just over the crossbar in injury time.
In the penalty shootout, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Alessandro Costacurta missed for Milan before Raul Cascini scored the game-winner.
It was the third world title for the Argentine club, which won in 1977 and 2000.
South America leads the annual series, 22-20.
Hungary’s Choice
Hungary, once a world power but long on the sidelines of international soccer, moved to correct that situation when it hired former World Cup winner Lothar Matthaeus of Germany as its national team coach.
“I took the job because I’m sure this Hungarian team is better than its recent results and is capable of bigger things,” said Matthaeus, 42, who resigned Saturday as coach of Partizan Belgrade.
“We chose Matthaeus because of his past as a player and because of his quality as a trainer,” said Imre Bozoky, president of the Hungarian soccer federation.
Matthaeus’ two-year contract runs through the end of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Hungary’s qualifying opponents are Sweden, Bulgaria, Croatia, Malta and Iceland.
Quick Passes
Aguila beat Firpo, 2-0, on first-half goals by Juan Campos and Dario da Silva in the semifinals of the El Salvador league playoffs to win the series, 3-1, on aggregate and advance to the final against FAS, which tied Alianza, 0-0, Saturday night and advanced, 3-0, on aggregate.
With goals by Brazilian Claudinho and Argentine-Mexican Gabriel Caballero, Pachuca defeated Atlante, 2-1, and will play Tigres of UNL in the final of the Mexican league Apertura championship.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
