Henry axed by Barcelona

Barcelona's French international Thierry Henry was dropped from the Spanish giants' squad for their league match at home against Racing Santander later Saturday.

Coach Josep Guardiola dropped the 31-year-old French forward and Brazilian defender Sylvinho “for technical reasons” after Saturday's training session, the club said on its Internet site.

Henry was widely criticized by the Catalan press for his poor form during Barcelona's 1-0 defeat at promoted Numancia two weeks ago during the club's opening league game of the season.

He was replaced about half an hour from the end of the match by 18-year-old Spanish international Bojan Krkic.

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No Scots for team GB

The president of the Scottish Football Association, George Peat has said that there is no chance of Scottish players being considered for a GB Olympic football team in 2012.

He told the BBC, “Some people are encouraging it, including the prime minister. But I can tell you there is no intention whatsoever of us becoming part of team Great Britain. We made up our mind from day one that we didn’t want any part of it and we will resist for as long as I’m here.”

Let’s hope Mr Peat leaves soon then!

(Source - BBC)

Schalke give away three-goal lead at Borussia Dortmund

An incredible comeback earned Borussia Dortmund a draw against regional rivals Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Peruvian new signing Farfán put Schalke in the lead after twenty minutes had been played in this prestigious derby, and Rafinha added a second goal in the 39th minute.

Westermann’s goal for 0-3 in the 53rd minute should have ended all hopes for the home side, but didn’t.

The comeback began with Subotic scoring for 1-3 in the 67th minute, and Alexander Frei made it 2-3 just three minutes later.

And Borussia would get their reward, as Frei converted a penalty kick with a minute left to play in regular time.

Schalke players could not control their frustration. Pander received yellow cards in the 69th and 73rd minutes, and was joined by Fabian Ernst with a direct red card in the 76th minute.

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Toni´s goals bring Bayern to second, Hamburg go top

Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni's second-half double in Cologne fired defending champions Bayern Munich up to second in the Bundesliga on Saturday as Hamburg took over the lead.

Bayern's Toni headed home from Bastian Schweinsteiger's free-kick in the 53rd minute and showed his finishing touch with a superb strike on the hour mark before Lukas Podolski came off the bench to hit an injury-time goal and seal a 3-0 win at Cologne.

The win shot Bayern up from seventh to second in the table as they warmed-up for their opening Champions League clash on Wednesday night against Steaua Bucharest in Romania with their second consecutive league win.

Having started the day in second position, Hamburg came from 2-0 down against ten-man Bayer Leverkusen to seal a dramatic 3-2 win which put them top.

Hamburg trailed 2-0 early on thanks to goals by Bayer's Tranquillo Barnetta and Patrick Helmes.

But a goal from Hamburg's Peru striker Jose Paolo Guerrero on 36 minutes put the home team back in the game before former Germany defender Manuel Friedrich was sent off for a second yellow card three minutes later.

Hamburg were level on 51 minutes when Croatia striker Ivica Olic equalised before Swiss striker Mladen Petric hit the all-important winner on 72 minutes to put his side top.

Nine-man Schalke 04 lost their heads and their place at the top of the table as they slid down to third after drawing 3-3 with neighbours Borussia Dortmund.

The Royal Blues had two players sent off as Dortmund fought back from 2-0 down at half-time.

Schalke got off to a flying start when Peru striker Jefferson Farfan - making his debut for the Royal Blues - converted a penalty on 20 minutes.

And Brazilian midfielder Rafinha doubled the advantage on 39 minutes when he slotted home a pass from Germany defender Heiko Westermann.

But Dortmund rallied when defender Neven Subotic headed home Alexander Frei's corner kick on 67 minutes and Swiss striker Frei rifled home a shot from his deadly left foot three minutes later to make it 3-2 with 20 minutes left.

Schalke lost their composure as Germany defender Christian Pander was shown a second yellow card on 73 minutes for a bad tackle.

And he was joined four minutes later by fellow defender Fabian Ernst for a reckless tackle and with just a minute left Frei converted a penalty which sealed the dramatic result and put Dortmund fourth in the table.

Werder Bremen picked up their first win of the season with three late goals to seal a 3-0 win at home to Energie Cottbus.

And VfL Wolfsburg scored goals in the first and last minutes to seal a 2-2 draw in the German capital at Hertha Berlin. Also on Saturday, VfB Stuttgart were held to a 0-0 draw at Hoffenheim.

On Sunday, Hanover entertain Borussia Moenchengladbach while Arminia Bielefeld are at VfL Bochum.

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Hodoud climb to top in African Confederation Cup

Harras al-Hodoud of Egypt replaced CS Sfaxien of Tunisia as African Confederation Cup Group A leaders after a 3-1 win in the top-of-the-table clash this weekend.

Unfashionable Harras have six points and Sfaxien four after three matches while Club Africain of Tunisia (one) host InterClube of Angola (three) in the other mini-league fixture on Sunday.

The pool winners qualify for the final in the African equivalent of the European UEFA Cup with Sfaxien attempting to become the first club to successfully defend the title.

Ahmed Eid gave African debutants Hodoud a 14th-minute lead which was quickly extended by Ahmed Abdulghani before Ivorian Blaise Kouassi pulled one goal back midway through the opening half.

Veteran Abdulhamid Bassiouni restored the two-goal advantage six minutes before half-time in the Mediterranean city and Harras survived a second half onslaught with goalkeeper William Mensah outstanding.

The other group comprises Al-Merreikh of Sudan, runners-up to Sfaxien last year, Asante Kotoko of Ghana, 2006 title holders Etoile Sahel of Tunisia and Jeunesse Sportive Kabylie of Algeria.

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Late Wigan goal denies Sunderland away win

sunderland continued their strong away form on Saturday, holding a battling Wigan to a 1-1 draw in a scrappy match that saw home boy Lee Cattermole sent off.

Roy Keane's men, dismal at home so far this season, nearly made it two away wins out of two after last month's defeat of Tottenham, but were thwarted by a late strike from Wigan's top goalscorer Amr Zaki.

Sunderland shaded the earlier possession as former Spurs team-mates Pascal Chimbonda and Steed Malbranque pushed and probed to find weaknesses in Wigan's armour.

They found the chink in the 12th minute, when a speculative Malbranque cross from the left was turned into Wigan's net by hapless defender Titus Bramble.

Former Chelsea stalwart Mario Melchiot and former Sunderland player Kevin Kilbane tried to get Wigan going again, engineering moves which failed to trouble 'keeper Craig Gordon.

Steve Bruce's charges came out strong in the second half as they looked to recover the pizzazz that saw them hammer Hull 5-0 in their last Premier League outing.

On the 47th minute Wigan wideman Kilbane fired an inswinger into the danger zone but Gordon scrambled to punch clear, and veteran Emile Heskey - making his 100th career Premier League appearance - laboured to find an opening.

Sunderland's Frenchman Djibril Cisse had a great chance to double the lead in the 60th minute when he got on the end of a Chimbonda throw-in, but his right-footed shot from 12 yards was dealt with by Chris Kirkland.

A 30-yard piledriver by Wigan's Olivier Kapo in the 68th minute was tipped over by Gordon, and from the resulting corner by Jason Koumas brought out a desperate clearance from Sunderland's El-Hadji Diouf.

Wigan got the breakthrough in the 77th minute when Zaki connected with a Maynor Figueroa cross to steer the ball into Gordon's bottom left-hand corner, for his fifth goal of the season.

But the home side saw red with five minutes to go when Cattermole clattered into Teemu Tainio for his second bookable offense.

Heskey wasted a great chance of winning the match in the third minute of extra time when he fired a 20-yard shot woefully over the crossbar.

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West Brom hand Zola bleak outlook

A late goal by Chris Brunt gave West Brom a 3-2 victory over West Ham on Saturday as Gianfranco Zola was given an idea of the size of the task awaiting him as new Hammers boss.

Zola, who has replaced Alan Curbishley in the West Ham hotseat but watched from the stands as caretaker-boss Kevin Keen took charge at The Hawthorns, saw the Hammers lead 2-1.

But promoted West Brom, who started the day at the foot of the table, stormed back to take the three points and give manager Tony Mowbray his first win of the campaign.

West Brom's James Morrison ghosted in past Matthew Upson in the opening minute to give the hosts the lead.

West Ham pressed hard for the equaliser but were repulsed till Mark Noble - making his 50th Premiership appearance for West Ham - was on hand to tap in following Scott Carson's good save from a header by David di Michele.

The London side carried on playing in their fluid style and were rewarded when Australian defender Lucas Neill gave them the lead as he volleyed home from close range after Upson had headed across goal.

However, their joy was cut short as West Brom equalised from the penalty spot through Roman Bednar after goalkeeper Robert Green had hauled down Leon Barnett.

It was even worse for the Londoners shortly before the end as Brunt was on hand to score with a good strike, turning smartly to fire past Green.

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