FC Porto Loses to Galatasaray
Hakan Sukur and Arif Erdam each had a goal, and Galatasaray defeated European champion FC Porto, 2-1, Sunday at East Rutherford, N.J.
The loss gave the Portuguese club, which beat Monaco in the Champions Cup final in May, a split of its two-game North American tour. It beat Liverpool of the English Premier League, 1-0, Friday at Toronto.
Sukur gave the Turkish club the lead in the fourth minute, leaping over Nuno Valente at the right post to get to Ergun Penbe’s chipped cross from the left side of the six-yard box and easily beat goalkeeper Vitor Baia.
Erdam sealed the victory in the 86th, outracing substitute goalkeeper Nuno to a 50-50 ball and rolling in a shot from near the left touch line.
Maniche scored for Porto, pouncing on a loose ball in injury time after an initial shot by Rossato was blocked and dribbled out to the top of the penalty area.
Porto is rebuilding under new Coach Luigi Del Niri after former coach Jose Mourinho left to take over at Chelsea of the English Premier League and took with him defenders Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho. Porto lost standout Deco to FC Barcelona.
“We have a new coach and he has to know the players and the new players have to get used to the environment,” assistant Aloisio said. “We were better in the second half, and Galatasaray has been training for a month, so they had better fitness.”
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Club America of the Mexican Premier League defeated Everton of the English Premier League, 3-1, in the final of the Texas Cup at Houston.
America took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Francisco Torres from 15 yards in the 19th minute. Pavel Pardo scored from just outside the penalty box for a 2-0 lead in the 57th minute.
Everton’s Marcus Bent scored on a header in the 89th minute before Rodrigo Valenzuela scored the last goal.
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Brazilian striker Ronaldo scored one goal and assisted on another in Real Madrid’s 4-0 victory over host Tokyo Verde in an exhibition game.
Two other Spanish clubs also played exhibition games in Japan, with Valencia losing at Abirex Niigata, 5-2, and FC Barcelona defeating Kashima Antlers, 5-0, at Tokyo.
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The chief executive of the England Football Assn., Mark Palios, resigned over the handling of a sex scandal that also involves national team Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Palios’ hold on his job became more tenuous Sunday with newspaper reports that association officials tried to protect him at the expense of Eriksson over their affairs with a 38-year-old secretary.
The association has scheduled a special board meeting for Thursday to discuss an inquiry into the how two office romances among unmarried people turned into a public relations nightmare.
Eriksson will be asked if he gave misleading information over his relationship with the woman.
The association denied July 19 that Eriksson had an affair with the secretary, only to admit five days later that Eriksson and Palios each had sexual relations with the woman.
Eriksson could be fired for gross misconduct if it’s proved he gave false information.
