|
|
 |
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
Bayern wins group Feyenoord beats Spartak Moscow to make UEFA Cup
Updated: Wednesday October 31, 2001 6:54 PM
ROTTERDAM (Reuters) -- Feyenoord ended their disappointing Champions League campaign with the consolation of a place in the UEFA Cup after beating Spartak Moscow 2-1 in their last group H match on Wednesday. All the goals came in the first 18 minutes with Jon Dahl Tomasson opening the scoring for the home side after just five minutes. Vladimir Beschastnykh equalised in the 14th minute and four minutes later Johan Elmander scored the winner. Spartak thought they had levelled again in the 37th minute when Yuri Kovtun found the net with a header. But Italian referee Graziano Cesari spotted Spartak's Brazilian striker Robson pushing a Feyenoord defender and disallowed the goal. It was the first time Spartak had lost to a Dutch team. Despite bowing out of this year's European competitions Spartak have already secured a place in next season's Champions League after winning the Russian championship last weekend. It was their ninth title and their sixth in succession. In an exciting fast-paced match Feyenoord had the best of the first half action and scored when Jon Dahl Tomasson pushed home a low Brett Emerton cross from the right at the far post. But from one of Spartak's first attacks, Beschastnykh picked up the ball on the edge of the box and found the far corner of the net by threading a shot through a tiny gap to level the score. Recovery Feyenoord, who could have held on to third place in group H behind Bayern Munich and Sparta Prague with a low-scoring draw, recovered fast and Elmander scored their second goal from a perfect Patrick Paauwe pass. Only seconds later Elmander should have grabbed another when he was set free on goal by Tomasz Rzasa, but the young Swedish striker missed from five metres. "I am relieved with the result," said Feyenoord coach Bert van Marwijk. "We played well during the first half, but we knew that losing the ball in your own half would be very dangerous." He said Feyenoord needed a third goal to give the team more confidence in the second half. The Dutch side mirrored their performances in the other group games by failing to maintain their strong first-half performance. Several times Spartak came close to an equaliser, with Eduard Tsykhmeistruk and Beschastnikh hitting the bar. Spartak coach Oleg Romantsev brought on teenage forwards Aleksandr Danishevski, 17, and Olexandr Pavlenko, 16, for Robson and defender Kakhaber Mjavanadze. But the youngsters could not score the goal needed to pip Feyenoord for third place on goal difference.
Sparta own goal hands Bayern Group HPRAGUE -- A first-half own goal by Jiri Novotny was enough to give European champions Bayern Munich a 1-0 win over Sparta Prague on Wednesday and first place in Group H in the opening phase of the Champions League. Separated only by goal difference and with both assured of a place in the next round, the German side traveled to Prague without 10 first-team regulars who were either resting or injured. The game was decided in the 40th minute as Sparta skipper Novotny battled for position with his Bayern counterpart Alexander Zickler. The two lunged for a cross in front of the Sparta goal and the ball glanced off Novotny's head and past a bewildered Petr Cech, who could only watch the ball drift into his net. "We came here to leave as the top team in the group and we succeeded," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. "Our task was to control the play and not pressure that much. We had to wait for opportunities to counter attack. When we had the chance to attack, we did." Bayern are on a fine run, having scored 20 goals in their last five games and they have not lost in 17 matches. Bayern won the group with 14 points and Sparta finished second with 11. Feyenoord were third on five points after beating Spartak Moscow 2-1 in the Netherlands to take third place and a UEFA Cup spot. Sparta limped into the match, too, with their top two offensive threats hobbled. Striker Lukas Hartig was out while attacking midfielder Jiri Jarosik looked less than 100 percent as he recovers from an ankle. Coach Jaroslav Hrebik said the team did all they could to finish top of the group and would have to put the loss behind then and get into shape for the next round. "It's too bad, we really battled them, but they are a strong team and it shows when you have that many players out and can still field so many good players," Hrebik said. "But in the end, you can't choose who you play in the next round, so for us it doesn't matter. We have to prepare in the same way for all the teams that are left at this point, there are no weak teams," he added. SummariesFeyenoord 2 Spartak Moscow 1 - result Scorers: Feyenoord - Jon Dahl Tomasson 5, Johan Elmander 18 Spartak - Vladimir Beschastnykh 14 Halftime: 2-1; Attendance: 45,000 Teams: Feyenoord: 1-Edwin Zoetebier; 26-Pieter Collen (5-Jean Paul van Gastel 64), 2-Christian Gyan, 20-Ferry de Haan, 3-Tomasz Rzasa; 23-Brett Emerton, 6-Paul Bosvelt, 17-Patrick Paauwe, 14-Shinji Ono; 10-Jon Dahl Tomasson, 15-Johan Elmander (16-Ebi Smolarek 88). Spartak Moscow: 1-Maxim Levitsky; 2-Yuri Kovtun, 19-Kakhaber Mjavanadze (25-Olexandr Pavlenko 83), 18-Dmitry Parfyonov, 29-Igor Mitrevski, 7-Vasily Baranov, 8-Viktor Bulatov, 9-Yegor Titov, 10-Eduard Tsykhmeistruk, 11-Vladimir Beschastnykh, 24-Luis Robson (20-Aleksandr Danishevski 75). Referee: Graziano Cesari (Italy) Sparta Prague 0 Bayern Munich 1 - result Scorer: Jiri Novotny 40og Halftime: 0-1: Attendance: 19,369 Teams: Sparta Prague: 17-Petr Cech; 2-Zdenek Grygera, 16-Tomas Huebschmann, 8-Jiri Novotny, 3-Vladimir Labant; 14-Libor Sionko, 4-Martin Hasek (26-Sloncik 70), 20-Jiri Jarosik, 10-Rastislav Michalik (18-Radim Holub 81); 25-Peter Babnic (7-Lukas Zelenka 53), 9-Marek Kincl. Bayern Munich: 33-Stefan Wessels; 4-Samuel Kuffour, 6-Pablo Thiam, 25-Thomas Linke, 12-Robert Kovac, 18-Michael Tarnat; 32-Markus Feulner, 23-Owen Hargreaves (13-Paulo Sergio 45), 10-Ciricao Sforza, 21-Alexander Zickler (17-Thorsten Fink 85); 14-Claudio Pizarro (24-Roque Santa Cruz 73). Referee: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
