Beijing retain top spot after draw with Shandong

Lins lifts Tokyo past Kobe

HONG KONG, Aug 5, (Agencies): Renato Augusto earned Beijing Guoan a share of the points as Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash with Shandong Luneng ended in a 1-1 draw that allowed Roger Schmidt’s side to hold on to pole position in the Chinese Super League.

The Brazilian’s curling free kick five minutes from the end of the first half cancelled out Diego Tardelli’s fifth-minute effort to ensure Beijing retained their one-point lead over Shandong at the top of the standings.

Beijing’s draw with Shandong allowed defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande to move to within three points of the summit as Fabio Cannavaro’s side picked up their fourth win in a row since the post-World Cup resumption with a 4-2 win over cross-city rivals Guangzhou R&F.

R&F took the lead — the first time Evergrande have conceded since the Super League restarted last month — through Renatinho but Evergrande’s Brazilian trio secured the three points for the seventime champions.

Anderson Talisca levelled the scores in the 28th minute to claim his seventh goal in four games since moving to China from Benfica before a pair of goals from Paulinho either side of Ricardo Goulart’s strike ensured that Eran Zahavi’s injury time penalty was academic.

Evergrande are now on 30 points and level with big-spending rivals Shanghai SIPG, who were surprise 1-0 losers against struggling Dalian Yifang.

Yannick Carrasco scored the only goal of the game to ensure Dalian won for the first time since late May to ease the pressure on coach Bernd Schuster.

The results mean both SIPG and Evergrande are three points behind Beijing with a game in hand after their meeting with one another last month was postponed until Sept 18 due to bad weather.

Jiangsu Suning kept the leading group in sight with a 3-1 win over bottom club Guizhou Zhicheng with three goals in the final 18 minutes — including one for China international Wu Xi — sealing the points for Cosmin Olaroiu’s team.

Chris Coleman’s difficult start to life in Chinese football continued as his Hebei China Fortune side slipped to a 2-1 loss against Tianjin Teda.

The former Wales manager was appointed during the World Cup break and has yet to win a Super League game in five attempts, drawing three and losing twice.

Ayoub El Kaabi gave Coleman’s side the lead from the penalty spot 18 minutes into the game but Frank Acheampong equalised for Tianjin before Xie Weijun hit the winner two minutes from time.

Henan Jianye took the three points from their encounter with Tianjin Quanjian with a 2-1 win while Beijing Renhe were held to a 1-1 draw by Chongqing Lifan and Changchun Yatai drew 1-1 with Shanghai Shenhua.

Brazilian Lins scored in the 90th minute on Sunday as FC Tokyo beat Vissel Kobe 1-0 to move within five points of leaders Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the J-League.

Lins’ right-foot shot from eight meters gave the hosts their second straight win after the World Cup break.

Sanfrecce, which have 45 points, conceded a 92nd-minute own-goal in a 2-2 draw at home to Shonan Bellmare.

In other matches, Kashiwa Reysol snapped a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over Consadole Sapporo.

Reysol playmaker Ataru Esaka scored the winner in the 68th minute after Consadole striker Jay Bothroyd had canceled out Yusuke Segawa’s opener.

Substitute Marco Asensio made an immediate impact by scoring two early second-half goals as Real Madrid rallied to beat Juventus 3-1 in a pre-season exhibition contest on Saturday.

Asensio entered the game at the start of the second half and scored less than two minutes in before adding another in the 56th minute.

It was the first defeat of the pre-season and the final match of the International Champions Cup campaign for Italy’s Juventus. The Serie A champions now open up their title defense at Chievo on August 18.

They were without new signing Cristiano Ronaldo, who did not make his debut against his former team. The Portuguese superstar skipped the club’s US tour because he was recovering from his World Cup performance.

Real Madrid defender Alvaro Odriozola controls the ball during the International Champions Cup (ICC) friendly football match between Real Madrid and Juventus at Fedex Field in Landover, Maryland on Aug 4. (AFP)

Gareth Bale also scored for the European champions as the Welshman served notice that he is going to produce despite the loss of Ronaldo.

Bale hit a stunning shot from 20 yards out in the 39th minute to level the score at 1-1 in the front of the crowd of 60,000 at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.

Bale finished with 16 La Liga goals last season and is in his fifth campaign with Real Madrid.

Asensio subbed in after half-time and wasted no time getting on the board. He finished off a drive by side-footing a shot home in the 47th minute on a rush with Vinicius Jr, who also entered the game at halftime.

Asensio scored just nine minutes later to make it 3-1 for Real Madrid on another unselfish pass, this time from Lucas Vazquez. Asensio’s shot deflected off the right arm of Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and trickled into the net.

Juventus’ lone score came in the 12th minute on an own goal by Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal.

Brazil goalkeeper Alisson kept a clean sheet on his Liverpool debut in a 5-0 demolition of Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli in Dublin.

James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum both scored inside the opening 10 minutes at the Aviva Stadium in Liverpool’s penultimate pre-season friendly.

Liverpool lost Milner to a clash of heads with Napoli defender Mario Rui early in the second half in an incident that left the former England international needing 15 stitches.

Mohamed Salah, who hit 32 Premier League goals last term — a record for a 38-game season, added a third for Jurgen Klopp’s men just before the hour.

Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno rounded out the scoring as Alisson, who joined from Roma in a deal worth up to £67 million ($88 million, 75 million euros) last month, was relatively untested.

Liverpool conclude their preseason at home to Torino on Tuesday before launching their Premier League campaign on August 12 against West Ham.

Iraq’s national team played its first-ever football match in the Palestinian territories on Saturday and beat the home side 3-0 in a friendly.

Some 2,000 people attended the match in Al-Ram near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, next to Israel’s separation wall cutting off the Palestinian territory.

Most teams in Arab countries — many of which do not recognise Israel — refuse to visit the Palestinian territories because Israel controls the West Bank’s borders and blockades the Gaza Strip.

But Palestinian leaders have for years called on Arab countries to send sporting and cultural delegations to help ease their isolation, and some have obliged.