Day: December 7, 2020

(Xinhua)09:54, December 04, 2020

The 2020 Guilin Marathon will be held on December 27 in the picturesque city in south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to the local sports bureau.

Due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, participants for this years marathon will be capped at 10,000, down 66 percent year-on-year from the 2019 edition.

This years event will feature a full marathon, a half marathon and a mini marathon, with 3,500, 4,000, 2,500 runners in each race respectively.

The route will pass through some of Guilins most famous scenic areas, such as Xiangshan, Shuangta Park and Qixing Park.

First run in 2016, the Guilin Marathon was promoted to a Bronze Label Race by World Athletics earlier this year, being the first Bronze Label event in Guangxi.

(Peoples Daily Online)09:03, December 05, 2020

Ghana FA president Kurt Okraku has urged the Black Satellites, the countrys male U20 soccer team, to clinch the 2020 West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone B Cup of Nations in Benin.

He said the team has the responsibility to take Ghana to the FIFA U-20 World Cup as being at the global youth tournament is the countrys ultimate vision.

Ghana wants to be at the U20 world cup and to be competitive but before that, we need to conquer WAFU and conquer Africa, he said when the players and technical team visited him at the FA headquarters in Accra late Thursday when leaving the country for the tournament.

Our FA has absolute belief in the technical team and the players who have been chosen and we have no doubt that when officially the battle lines are drawn in Benin, you will rise up to the occasion, Okraku said.

Ghana is paired alongside Nigeria and Cote dIvoire in the U20 WAFU tournament scheduled between Dec. 5 to 19. The competition will serve as a qualifier for the 2021 Africa U20 championship.

(Xinhua)13:30, December 06, 2020

Real Madrid claimed a vital and fortunate win away to Sevilla on Saturday afternoon that saves coach Zinedine Zidanes job until at least Wednesday.

The only goal of a game which saw Sevilla control most of the ball came after 55 minutes when Ferland Mendy crossed from the left. Vinicius Jr failed to get a decent contact on the ball, but Sevilla keeper Bono was completely fooled by his miss hit and directed the ball into the back of his own goal.

Sevilla struggled to create clear chances afterwards and any chances they did create were dealt with by Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois.

Atletico Madrid moved top of the table (for 24 hours at least) after a 2-0 home win over Valladolid.

Kieran Trippier was decisive for Atletico Madrid with two assists in the game, setting up Thomas Lemar to open the scoring in the 55th minute and then for Marcos Llorente to seal the win in the 71st minute after the full back put him clean through on goal.

Llorentes energy changed the game completely after he was brought into the game as a half time substitute by Diego Simeone.

FC Barcelona crashed to a shock 2-1 defeat away to Cadiz, who had not won in their Ramon de Caranza Stadium all season.

The home side took the lead from a corner when Alvaro Gonzalez scored from almost on the line after the ball had been flicked on at the near post. Barca then controlled nearly all of the play, but could find no way through a packed and well organized Cadiz defense until Jordi Albas deflected 57th-minute shot beat the impressive Ledesma in the Cadiz goal.

Most would have expected Barca to go on and win the game, but a horrific chain of mistakes from Clement Lenglet and Ter Stegen following an Alba throw in allowed Alvaro Negredo to score the winning goal seconds after coming on as a substitute.

Barca threw everything forward, but Cadiz defended heroically to claim a historic win.

Levante claimed a much-needed three points with a 2-0 win at home to Getafe, which was much easier than expected.

Roger Marti opened the scoring for the home side in the fourth minute and Getafe defender Chema was sent off for a high foot at the start of the move that led to the goal.

It was virtually over as a contest in the 16th minute when Dani Gomez keep his cool to make it 2-0 after being sent through and Jorge de Frutos added a third with a powerful show 10 minutes after the break.

Things turned even worse for Getafe after Djene was also sent off leaving the visitors to end the game with just 9 men.

Celta Vigo climbed out of the bottom three on Friday night with a deserved 2-0 win away to Athletic Club Bilbao thanks to second half goals from Hugo Mallo and Iago Aspas, who took advantage of a poor throw out from home keeper Unai Simon to assure the win.

(Xinhua)13:33, December 06, 2020

French striker Kylian Mbappe came off the bench to hit his 100th goal for Paris Saint-Germain as the defending champion overcame Montpellier 3-1 after an uphill battle on Saturday.

The milestone goal came in the stoppage time of the match when Layvin Kurzawas cross set up for Mbappes easy finish.

The 21-year-old achieved the feat in just 137 matches since arriving in Paris in 2017, and now sits tied in third place of the clubs all-time leading scorers with Dominique Rocheteau, who got his century in 255 appearances in the 1980s.

Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani leads the list with 200 goals while Swedish great Zlatan Ibrahimovic is second with 156.

Colin Dagba struck the opener for PSG on the pitch of La Mosson but the lead was cancelled by English forward Stephy Mavididi through a counter-attack only seven minutes later. Mavididi could have netted a second before the break but his close-range shot was denied by Keylor Navas.

Thomas Tuchels side has just claimed an important victory in the Champions League at Old Trafford three days before, and the German coach opted to rest some of its top players including Neymar and Marco Verratti in the domestic league ahead of its crucial Champions League game against Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday.

Moise Kean put PSG in front again in the 77th minute with a close-range rocketing finish before Mbappe flicked in a Kurzawas cross to lock it 3-1 in the 91st.

The win helped PSG extend its lead in the standings to four points over the second-placed Marseille, but with two more games played.

In the other match on Saturday, early league frontrunner Rennes hosted Lens but was beaten by the promoting side 2-0 to see its winless run extend to seven games in all competitions.

Rennes has got only one victory in its last 13 matches and suffered a four-game losing streak in the Champions League to rank the bottom in Group E.

(Xinhua)13:34, December 06, 2020

Chelsea continued their excellent run of form and results on Saturday as they fought back from a goal down at home to Leeds United to win 3-1.

Former Chelsea youngster Patrick Bamford put Leeds ahead after collecting a pass and rounding the keeper, but Olivier Giroud continued his run of form to bring Chelsea level in the 27th minute after guiding the ball home at the far post.

Kurt Zouma put Chelsea ahead with a header following Mason Mounts corner after the hour and Cristian Pulisic added a third on the break in injury time.

Manchester United recovered from a poor first half to chalk up their ninth consecutive away win in the Premier League with a 3-1 triumph away to West Ham United.

Manchester United were under the cosh in the first half as they conceded 12 shots against an impressive rival, but only Tomas Soucek was able to beat David de Gea in the visitors goal.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made two big changes at halftime, bringing on Bruno Fernandes and Marcos Rashford and Marcos Rashford for Edison Cavani and Donny Van de Beek.

Fernandes turned the game around in three second half minutes, helping set up Paul Pogbas 65th minute strike before also having a hand in Mason Greenwoods 68th minute goal, before Rashford added a third 10 minutes later to take Solskjaers side into the top-four.

Two goals in the first 26 minutes gave Manchester City an easy win at home to Fulham as Pep Guardiolas team did the hard work in the first half.

Raheem Sterling opened the scoring after being put through by Kevin de Bruyne and De Bruyne assured the win in the 26th minute after Sterling had been brought down in the Fulham area – the 20th penalty Sterling has won in his career.

Dominic Calvert-Lewins 11th Premier League goal of the season rescued a point for Everton in the away game against Burnley.

The home side, who last week lost 5-0 to Manchester City, started well in an entertaining game and opened the scoring after a low shot from Robbie Brady after just three minutes.

Calvert-Lewin grabbed the equalizer with a delicate finish from Richarlisons cross in the second minute of first half injury time.

Both Burleys Nick Pope and Evertons Jordan Pickford both impressed in the second half to keep the score to 1-1.