Following the most exciting end to a Major League season for years,
the play-offs have finally got underway. This year, the four teams
qualifying from the American League were the Boston Red Sox, the Los
Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Cleveland Indians and the New York
Yankees, and from the National League were the Chicago Cubs, the
Arizona Diamondbacks, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Colorado
Rockies. In the American League Division Series, the Boston Red Sox
won the best of five series against the LA Angels 3 games to nil to
set up an AL Championship Series match up with the Cleveland Indians,
who defeated the New York Yankees 3 games to 1. Meanwhile the National
League the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Chicago Cubs to set up an
NL Championship series against the Colorado Rockies, who defeated the
Philadelphia Phillies – both of these series ending 3 games to
nil.

On Saturday 13th October, the RL Super League Grand Final took place
between regular season table-toppers St Helens, and the Leeds Rhinos,
who claimed their place at Old Trafford by defeating the Wigan
Warriors 36-6 in the Final Eliminator.

First points in the game went to the Rhinos courtesy of Kevin
Sinfield's boot, when he converted the penalty awarded following a St
Helens offside to bring the scores to Leeds 2-0 St Helens. Leeds then
extended their lead 4 minutes later when their Kiwi full back Brent
Webb ended a fine team move by touching down in the corner. Sinfield
added the extras to make it 8-0 to the Rhinos. St Helens then hit back
with a try through 2007 Man of Steel award winner James Roby. Sean
Long added the extras to bring the scores to Leeds 8 St Helens 6,
which is how it stayed until half time.

Ten minutes into the second half Leeds extended their lead thanks to a
try from New Zealander Ali Lauititi, and two minutes later winger
Scott Donald also scored for the Rhinos as they began to pull away
from their opponents. Sinfield added the extras to both tries to make
the score Leeds 18 St Helens 6. St Helens heads then seemed to drop
and further tries from winger Lee Smith (69 mins) and Jamie
Jones-Buchanan (79 mins), both of which were converted by Sinfield,
added to a drop goal from man of the match Rob Burrow and another
penalty from Sinfield brought the final score to Leeds Rhinos 33 St
Helens 6, making Leeds the 2007 Super League Champions.

In Qualifying Group A, Armenia held Serbia to a 0-0 draw in Yerevan,
while Poland bounced back from conceding a 28th minute goal against
Kazakhstan, scored by Dmitriy Byakov, to win 3-1, thanks to a second
half hat trick from Euzebiusz Smolarek. Also in Group A, Belgium drew
0-0 with Finland in Brussels, while goals from Bruno Alves and Hugo
Almeida led Portugal to a 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan in Baku.

In Group B, Scotland maintained their position at the top of the group
whilst ending the qualification hopes of the Ukraine with a 3-1
victory in Glasgow, thanks to goals from Kenny Miller, Lee McCulloch
and James McFadden, with Andriy Shevchenko getting the Ukrainian
reply. In Torshavn the Faroe Islands were defeated 6-0 by France
thanks to goals from Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema (2),
Jerome Rothen and Hatem Ben Arfa, whilst in Genoa, goals from Andrea
Pirlo and Fabio Grosso secured Italy a 2-0 victory over Georgia.

In Group C, Hungary defeated Malta 2-0 in Budapest, thanks to goals
from Robert Feczesin and Daniel Tozser, while Moldova drew 1-1 with
Turkey, after Umit Karan's equaliser for Turkey cancelled out Viorel
Frunza's opener. Meanwhile in Athens goals from Angelos Charisteas,
Theofanis Gekas and Nikolaos Liberopoulos helped Greece to a 3-2
victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose goals were scored by Mirko
Hrgovic and Vedad Ibisevic.

In Group D, Slovakia defeated San Marino 7-0 in Dubnica, whilst in
Nicosia, Cyprus hit back after falling behind to James Collins goals
to beat Wales 3-1 with goals from Yiannis Okkas (2) and Konstantinos
Charalampidis. Meanwhile in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland drew 0-0
with Germany, with the point enough to secure the Germans place in the
finals.

In Group E, goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Rooney and an own
goal from Taavi Rahn led England to a 3-0 win over Estonia while in
Zagreb, a goal from Arsenal striker Eduardo secured Croatia a 1-0
victory over Israel.

In Group F, Iceland crashed to a 4-2 home defeat against Latvia (goals
for Iceland by Eidur Gudjohnsen (2),and for Latvia by Oskars Klava,
Jurijs Laizans and Maris Verpakovskis (2)). Meanwhile Liechtenstein
were beaten 3-0 by Sweden (goals from Fredrik Ljungberg, Christian
Wilhelmsson and Anders Svensson) while Denmark's hopes were ended
following their 3-1 defeat to Spain in Aarhus. Spain's goals scored by
Raul Tamudo, Sergio Ramos and Albert Riera, while Denmark's reply was
scored by Jon Dahl Tomasson.

In Group G, Luxembourg won the first competitive game in 12 years,
with Fons Leweck scoring in the fifth minute to second half injury
time to give them a 1-0 win over Belarus. Meanwhile in Constanta, a
second half goal from Dorin Gioan gave Romania a 1-0 victory over the
Netherlands while Slovenia and Albania drew 0-0 in Celje.

In the first semi-final, reigning champions England took on host
nation France at the Stade de France in Paris. England took an early
lead when winger Josh Lewsey capitalised on a misjudgement from French
full back Damien Traille to score in the corner, to give England a 5-0
lead. Two penalties from French fly half Lionel Beauxis brought the
half time score to France 6 England 5.

Early in the second half, Beauxis and England fly half Jonny Wilkinson
traded penalties to make the score 9-8 to France. Then with 5 minutes
to go Wilkinson kicked another penalty to put England 11-9 ahead and
then extended the lead to 14-9 with a drop goal. This was how it
stayed until the final whistle, and England make the second successive
World Cup final with the final score England 14 France 9.

In the second semi-final, 1995 champions South Africa took on
Argentina, again at the Stade de France. South Africa took the lead in
the 7th minute when their scrum half Fourie du Preez intercepted a
pass from Argentine centre Felipe Contepomi and raced 70 metres to
score. Full back Percy Montgomery (who in my opinion has a look of
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan about him) converted to bring the
score to South Africa 7 Argentina 0. Contepomi was successful with 2
penalties for the Pumas (the Argentina teams nickname) but the South
Africans extended their lead with a penalty from Montgomery and tries
from winger Bryan Habana and number 8 Dannie Roussouw (both converted
by Montgomery) bringing the half time score to South Africa 24
Argentina 7.

In the second half Argentina scored the first points when centre
Manuel Contepomi scored and his try was converted by his twin brother
Felipe. The game then continued with a lot of pressure from the
Argentines that they couldn't turn into points and in the 70th and
75th minutes, Montgomery added two more penalties to put the game
beyond the Pumas. Then in the 76th minute South Africa rubbed salt
into Argentine wounds when their lightning fast winger Habana
intercepted a pass from Argentina fly half Juan Martin Hernandez and
raced 80m to score under the posts. Montgomery added the routine
extras and that was the way it stayed until the end. England now know
they will face South Africa in Saturday's final after the second semi
finished South Africa 37 Argentina 13.

Congratulations to Paul Collingwood and the England one day cricket
team on their 3-2 series win over Sri Lanka, which was the first one
day series win for an England team in Sri Lanka, and also to South
African golfer Ernie Els who defeated the Argentine Angel Cabrera
6&4 to win his seventh World Matchplay golf Championship title at
Wentworth.

El Mundo Del Deporte
Archive

Alfredo Marquez

18.10.07 Front Page

Back Issue Page