Langerak signs 3-yr deal with Stuttgart
STUTTGART, Germany, June 29, (Agencies): Australian goalkeeper Mitch Langerak joined Stuttgart from Bundesliga rival Borussia Dortmund on Monday.
Stuttgart, which narrowly escaped relegation last season, said the 26-year-old Langerak signed a three-year deal with the club.
Langerak made 22 league appearances for Dortmund after arriving from Melbourne Victory in 2010 but was unable to dislodge reserve Germany goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller as the club’s No. 1.
His position was further complicated when Roman Buerki’s arrival from relegated Freiburg left Dortmund with three goalkeepers fighting for one spot.
Langerak is the second goalkeeper to join Stuttgart since Sven Ulreich left for Bayern Munich earlier this month. He will have to compete with Polish goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton, who arrived from from PSV Eindhoven.
Langerak has made six appearances for Australia.
Stuttgart also signed Czech forward Jan Kliment, who scored a hat trick at the current under-21 European Championship.
Kliment’s Czech club Jihlava said the 21-year-old striker signed a four-year contract.
Kliment made the under-21 team only after Matej Vydra was not allowed to play by his club Watford. He made his mark during a 4-0 victory over Serbia, in the group stage, scoring three goals.
He netted two goals in 15 league matches for Jihlava last season.
Southampton defender Nathaniel Clyne is set to join Liverpool as Brendan Rodgers continues to revamp his squad ahead of the new season, British media reported Monday.
The 24-year-old England right-back has returned from holiday and reportedly underwent a medical before the £12.5 million ($19.6 million, 17.7 million euros) move is completed.
Assuming he passed his medical, Clyne will become Liverpool’s sixth pre-season signing.
Arrangements are also reportedly being made to bring Brazil international Roberto Firmino to Anfield as his participation in the Copa America has come to an end with the defeat by Paraguay on Saturday.
On Wednesday, when the transfer window opens, Liverpool are set to confirm the arrivals of Manchester City midfielder James Milner, Burnley striker Danny Ings, Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan as well as that of Clyne.
Yet despite the influx of players, including Charlton defender Joe Gomez, into Anfield, Rodgers is expected to spend less than a year ago when he shelled out on £110 million on eight players following the £75 million move of star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona.
However, Liverpool, who had been runners-up in the previous campaign, could only finish sixth last season and so missed out on Champions League qualification.
Ghana international Jeffrey Schlupp has signed a new deal with Leicester City which will keep him at the club until 2019, the English Premier League side announced Monday.
The 22-year-old full-back cum left winger has been linked recently with Arsenal, Manchester United and Aston Villa after impressing for Leicester as they avoided relegation from the Premier League last season.
Just five races after returning from a broken right leg and shattered left foot, Busch made his way to victory lane to continue what already has been an impressive comeback. He chased down Jimmie Johnson to win Sunday at Sonoma Raceway for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in 35 races.
The next goal for Busch? Cracking the top 30 in points to earn a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
“Now I don’t have to bust my butt and overdrive the car every week in order to get wins,” Busch said. “Now I can just concentrate on running top-three, topfive, top-eight ‚Äî just getting those finishes and points.
“If we can do that, the points have got to come and fall on the line.”
Busch was injured when he crashed into a concrete wall during the Feb 21 Xfinity Series race the day before the Daytona 500. He missed 11 races but recovered far faster than anyone expected and returned to racing late last month.
NASCAR granted him a waiver upon his return that made him Chase eligible should he qualify, and Sunday’s victory is the first step.
But he still must rank inside the top30 in points to make the Chase. He started Sunday’s race ranked 39th in the standings, and the win moved him to 37th. He has 10 races left to crack the top 30 — he’s 136 points out of 30th — and heads next week back to Daytona, where his season nearly ended before it began.
To crack the top 30, Busch has to aver- age roughly a 14th-place finish in each of the next 10 races.
“Certainly it’s feasible, this team is good enough,” Busch said.
Kurt Busch finished second as the brothers notched their first 1-2 finish in Sprint Cup.
“I was trying to think if we’ve ever finished one two, and we did it today. That’s a pretty special moment,” Kurt Busch said. “I’ve got over 500 starts. I know he’s over 300. Can you imagine, 800 starts between the two of us, we almost have 30 wins each, and that’s the first time we’ve ever finished one-two?
“I now I wish I would have gotten up there and moved him.”
Busch also praised his little brother’s comeback from both his injuries and in winning on a course in which he needed to rely heavily on both legs.
“To have your leg broken, your foot shattered, to never be injured and out of the car ... rehab is very difficult, and it is a mental challenge, and I’m very proud of Kyle for what he’s done to get back in the car as soon as he did,” Kurt said.
“Then to be competitive at a track with hard, hard braking and to use his left foot to drive to victory lane, I’m very proud of him.”
Busch’s win at Sonoma was aided by a terrific restart with seven laps remaining. On fresh tires, he picked his way past five cars and set his sights on leader Jimmie Johnson.