IN BRIEF (Page 24)
Soccer
Brazil in goalless draw against Turkey
DORTMUND, Germany: Brazil drew 0-0 with Turkey in a friendly international on Tuesday.
Brazil's first-half line-up included only two of the players who started against England in their friendly 1-1 draw at Wembley on Friday.
Turkey fielded five new players compared with the starting formation in their 3-2 defeat by Bosnia in a Euro 2008 qualifier on Saturday.
Ronaldinho and Kaka came on for Brazil in the second half, stepping up the pace and bringing more imagination and flair to their game.
The match was the fifth between the two countries since they first met in 1956 with Brazil having won three of the previous four and the other ending in a 2-2 draw when they last met in the Confederations Cup in France four years ago.
Messi inspires Argentina to 4-3 win over Algeria
BARCELONA: Lionel Messi scored twice to inspire Argentina to put a dismal first half behind them and beat Algeria 4-3 in a friendly international on Tuesday.
Playing on his club Barcelona's Nou Camp turf, Messi converted a penalty and Argentina's decisive fourth goal to help Alfio Basile's side come back from 2-1 down at halftime.
Mistakes at three Algerian set pieces, particularly from World Cup goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri, allowed the African side three goals to keep the result in the balance throughout.
The match was Argentina's final warmup for the Copa America in Venezuela from June 26 to July 15 where they will be in Group C with Colombia, Paraguay and the US.
More woe for River with home loss and death of fan
BUENOS AIRES: A goal three minutes into stoppage time gave modest Godoy Cruz a shock 1-0 win over River Plate in the Argentine Clausura championship, adding to the big Buenos Aires club's woes this season.
To add tragedy to loss, a 24-year-old River fan fell about 18 metres to his death in a car park behind one of the stands at the Velez Sarsfield stadium during Monday night's match.
Godoy Cruz midfielder Nicolas Olmedo scored the winner at Velez, where River were the home side due to a ban on their own Monumental stadium following hooligan violence.
River, who last won the title in 2004, have played poorly all season under coach Daniel Passarella to a backdrop of infighting at the club where factions of rival "barrabrava" hooligan fans have been locked in a power struggle.
Yachting
Kiwis win Louis Vuitton to set up Alinghi rematch
VALENCIA, Spain: Emirates Team New Zealand won the Louis Vuitton Cup here yesterday, taking the fifth race in the best of nine series for a 5-0 whitewash of Luna Rossa.
The Kiwis will now go on to challenge Alinghi for the 32nd America's Cup which starts here on June 23.
With skipper Dean Barker at the helm NZL 92 secured the right to tackle the Swiss defender for sport's oldest prize with a 22 second win over the Italians.
Never in the history of the Louis Vuitton Cup has the final proved so one-sided and the margin of the southern hemisphere team's superiority augurs well for their upcoming clash with Alinghi.
And they will need all the boost this result brings as they go about trying to redress the balance after Alinghi brushed them aside 5-0 off Auckland in 2003.
(China Daily 06/07/2007 page24)
