Reyes’ Two Goals Lift Arsenal
Two goals by Spanish international Jose Antonio Reyes on Sunday lifted Arsenal to a 2-1 victory over London rival Chelsea and earned the Gunners a place in the quarterfinals of the English F.A. Cup.
Arsenal, which is seeking to become the first club since Blackburn Rovers in 1886 to win the Cup three times in a row, fell behind on a 40th-minute goal by Chelsea’s Romanian striker Adrian Mutu.
But Reyes, acquired from Sevilla for $32.5 million last month, tied the score with his first goal for Arsenal in the 56th minute, hammering home a 20-yard, left-foot shot. Five minutes later, he took a pass from French midfielder Patrick Vieira and scored the winner.
Also reaching the quarterfinals of the world’s oldest cup competition on Sunday was Sheffield United, which edged Colchester, 1-0.
On Saturday, Manchester United counted on the solid goalkeeping of American Tim Howard and two goals from Dutch star Ruud Van Nistelrooy to beat neighboring Manchester City, 4-2, and take its place in the last eight.
Also going through were Millwall, which shut out Burnley, 1-0, and Tranmere Rovers, which edged Swansea, 2-1.
Replays are in store for Liverpool, which was held to a 1-1 tie by Portsmouth, as well as for Fulham, which was tied by West Ham United, 0-0, and Birmingham City, which was held, 1-1, by Sunderland.
Carlos Alberto Chosen
Carlos Alberto Torres, the captain of Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning team and a former player for the New York Cosmos and California Surf of the long-defunct North American Soccer League, has been named coach of Azerbaijan’s national team.
The 59-year-old agreed to a one-year rolling contract through the end of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Azerbaijan is in the same qualifying group as Austria, England, Northern Ireland, Poland and Wales.
His first game in charge will be against Israel in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Galaxy Prevails
The Galaxy got goals from seven players as it routed the Premier Development League’s San Diego Gauchos, 7-1, at the Home Depot Center in Carson on Saturday in its second match of the exhibition season.
Coach Sigi Schmid used different lineups for each 45-minute half, with Jovan Kirovski, Joseph Ngwenya, Paul Broome, Carlos Ruiz and Sasha Victorine scoring in the first half.
Brian Dunseth and Ned Grabavoy scored in the second half, the latter on a 25-yard free kick.
South Korea Soars
South Korea completed preparation for its opening 2006 World Cup qualifying match, against Lebanon on Wednesday, by thumping Oman, 5-0, in Ulsan, South Korea, on Saturday.
Two goals by Ahn Jung-Hwan and two own goals gave South Korea the easy victory. Seol Ki-Hyeon also scored for South Korea, which avenged a 3-1 defeat by Oman during Asian Cup qualifying late last year.
