Write Dortmund off at your peril, says Watzke
BERLIN, Aug 19, (RTRS): Borussia Dortmund’s explosive start to the Bundesliga last week may have even surprised club bosses but the team is determined to reclaim its position among Germany’s football elite, club CEO Hans Joachim Watzke said on Wednesday.
Dortmund’s demolished Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 in their league opener under new coach Thomas Tuchel, with the team playing a scintillating brand of attacking football that will go a long way towards speeding up the transition period following long-time boss Juergen Klopp’s departure last season.
“Bayern are and remain the big favourites for the title,” Watzke told Bild newspaper. “In regard to the spots behind them, then whoever has written off Dortmund has made a mistake. We were never gone.”
Dortmund, German champions in 2011 and double winners in 2012, imploded midway through last season to sit mired in last place at the halfway mark.
A strong second half saw them finish seventh, four spots below Gladbach, as they salvaged a Europa League spot at the end of what was an otherwise disappointing campaign.
Leicester City summer recruit Shinji Okazaki says he is reaping the benefit of changing his game to adapt to the demands of Premier League football.
Okazaki scored the his first goal for the club in Saturday’s 2-1 win over West Ham United and is keen to continue putting the ball in the back of the net.
“I wanted to score an important goal. This goal meant a lot to me, because it was the first goal for the match,” the 29year-old striker told the club website (www.lcfc.com).
“Interestingly, prior to coming to the Premier League, I would have trapped the ball, but my instinct told me that I needed to react quickly at this level and I took the chance and volleyed the ball instead,” he added.
Adidas has agreed a partnership with the Chinese education ministry to promote soccer in schools as part of a campaign to support the sport at the grassroots as it goes head to head with Nike in the basketballobsessed nation.
The German sportswear maker said it had signed a three-year deal to develop a soccer programme for 20,000 primary and middle schools, train 50,000 teachers and also support a national summer camp for more than 400 students.
While Adidas’s sports-inspired fashion is popular in China, it is at a disadvantage to its larger rival in the country as soccer — the sport in which it has its roots — is far less popular there than basketball, which Nike dominates. MEXICO CITY, Aug 19, (AP): Two Mexican league soccer players jailed in connection with a weekend fight that seriously injured a young man were suspended by their club Tuesday.
Second-division club Necaxa said via Twitter that Luis Gorocito and Alejandro Molina will be on suspension indefinitely “until their legal situation related to these regrettable incidents reaches a conclusion.”
Gorocito, a 22-year-old Uruguayan, and Molina, a 27-yearold Mexican, were jailed the previous day and are accused of assault and battery.
Prosecutors in the central state of Aguascalientes said the incident began when the suspects made catcalls at a young woman outside a bar in the state capital of the same name.
The 22-year-old victim defended her, and the players allegedly got out of their car and punched and kicked him in front of witnesses.
The suspects were later detained, and the victim was hospitalized for severe brain trauma and other injuries.
In a separate statement, Necaxa said it repudiated violence both on and off the field.