A Belgrado le ragazze di Maugeri hanno battuto 15-10 la Spagna e ora troveranno la Russia. Nei quarti di finale uomini battuti 10-9 dalla Romania. 
| A-League: Victory for Melbourne over Adelaide |
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 (sportal) Melbourne Victory has begun its 2006-07 A-League season in style, defeating Pre-Season Cup winner Adelaide 2-0 at Olympic Park.A crowd of 15,781 watched as the Victory gained plenty of drive from their Brazilian stars, Alessandro setting up the first goal, a penalty converted on 29 minutes by Kevin Muscat, while Claudinho completed the win with a well-taken effort on 77 minutes. In seven previous matches against Adelaide in all competitions, Melbourne had not even scored. But that hoodoo came to a spectacular end in the opening match of the campaign. Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick admitted the poor record against the Reds had been used as motivation ahead of the match "We talked about that this week," he said. "We had nothing to lose in many ways. We knew that if we got that early goal, we'd get another goal and I thought we were unlucky not to get more."  The Victory began the game the stronger, but failed to convert two set-piece chances from imports Grant Brebner and Fred in the first 15 minutes.Brebner's shot was blocked by Shengqing Qu before Michael Valkanis found himself in Matthew Breeze's book, bringing Archie Thompson down just outside the box. After Fred rifled the shot into the wall, Greg Owens returned the favour with a wasted set-piece chance for United.  On 17 minutes, Thompson almost forced an extraordinary own goal from Valkanis, who attempted a clearance from a cross but instead skewed it into the crossbar. Owens then looked to have cut the Melbourne defence open, bustling past two players before laying off to Travis Dodd, but Michael Theoklitos was there to prevent the shot.It was Richie Alagich's crude tackle on Alessandro which opened the way for the first goal, with Muscat converting the penalty just before the half hour. The Brazilian left back had his opponent beaten down the left-hand side, and Alagich dragged him down inside the box. Breeze pointed to the spot and the skipper slotted Melbourne's first goal against Adelaide in 659 minutes. (Seven matches plus 29) Thompson continued to provide headaches for Adelaide, firstly charging through on goal, only to be flagged offside, then almost lobbing the ball into the net from a clever flick on from Danny Allsopp, with Robert Cornthwaite clearing off the line. Adelaide should have equalised in the 40th minute, when Aaron Goulding put through Ross Aloisi, forcing Theoklitos into a brilliant reflex save. The ball fell to Dodd, who had an open goal, but somehow put the ball into the side netting. An entertaining first-half was capped by an ambitious move from Alessandro, who flicked the ball over a bemused Alagich, on the edge of the box, only to concede a foul. It was to be his last involvement for the match as he was substituted at half-time for Adrian Caceres. But Dodd, who had caused plenty of problems for the Alessandro, broke away from his new opponent early in the second half and hit the bar with his cross. Up the other end, Brebner profited from a clever Muscat pass, but couldn't test Robert Bajic, neither could Caceres with a long shot soon after. After Muscat was booked on 52 minutes, Claudinho replaced Fred on the hour, while Adelaide also mixed things up, Aloisi coming off for Angelo Costanzo and Fernando Rech replacing Jason Spagnuolo. Just as Adelaide looked to have gained a foothold, Allsopp cut past Costanzo, before rifling a shot at Bajic. From the rebound, Claudinho slotted home his first goal for his new club on 77 minutes. Immediately, United poured forward and Goulding forced a block from Muscat before Qu's shot from long range almost pulled a goal back. Thompson departed from Steve Pantelidis, while Adelaide looked to Nathan Burns, with the hard-working Alagich making way. Burns' first touch was a close-range shot which was blocked by Theoklitos, while Claudinho went in search of a brace late on, taking on three players, before Bajic just got his left hand to the ball. Adelaide coach John Kosmina believed his side had been beaten by a side which had a greater desire to win. "They were probably a hungrier side, Melbourne were pumped up for this match. So were we, but they were a bit more pumped than us." Melbourne Victory 2 (Muscat 29p, Claudinho 78) Adelaide United 0 Crowd: 15,781 |
