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Monday September 10, 2018

ENGLAND’S World Cup satis-faction has been punctured by Spain on its homecoming.

Back in action after a surpris-ing run to fourth place at the World Cup, England was sent to its fi rst competitive home loss in 11 years Saturday.

Saul Niguez and Rodrigo scored as Spain came from behind to win 2-1 at Wembley Stadium at the start of its UEFA Nations League campaign.

It was a bright start for Luis Enrique, who was hired after Spain’s last-16 exit at the World Cup. While Spain departed ear-lier than anticipated, England

unexpectedly made it to the fi nal weekend.

England reached the semifi -nals in Russia, but lost to Croatia and then fell to Belgium in the third-place game. It means for all the optimism surrounding Gareth Southgate’s side, Eng-land has lost three competitive matches in a row.

It led for only two minutes against Spain after Marcus Rashford’s strike, which was set up by Manchester United team-mate Luke Shaw in the 11th minute of the Group 4 game.

Shaw was taken off at the start of the second half after a seri-

ous-looking injury. Shaw and Spain defender Dani Carvajal were challenging for the ball. Shaw connected with a header but collided with Carvajal, fell backward and his head bounced off the ground.

Shaw was making his fi rst England start since facing Swit-zerland in September 2015, a week before his double leg break while playing for United.

In another League A game — in Group 2 — Switzerland routed Iceland 6-0.

In League B, Bosnia-Her-zegovina won 2-1 at Northern Ireland.

NAOMI OSAKA of Japan dominated in her fi rst career Grand Slam fi nal to take a 6-2, 6-4 win in a match that saw Serena Williams of the United States implode on court during the second set in perhaps the most controversial Grand Slam fi nish ever.

Osaka, the fi rst Japanese man or woman to score a Grand Slam singles trophy, could hardly enjoy this career milestone because of how the match unfolded.

It was fi lled with outbursts from Williams — who later found both she and Osaka in tears. During the award cer-emony, Osaka pulled her visor down and was in tears as the crowd booed.

Williams, still in tears, put her arms around Osaka in an attempt to right the situation for the 20-year-old, who admits to idolizing the 23-time Grand Slam champion.

“Well, I don’t wanna be rude, she played well and this is her fi rst Grand Slam,” Williams said after the match, as she fought back tears.

LIBYA forced a 0-0 draw with South Africa in Durban Satur-day to remain a surprise Group E leader in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying competition.

When the mini-league draw was made, former African champion Nigeria and South Africa were installed as favorites to fi ll the two places available for the fi nals in Cameroon.

But with two of the six quali-

fying rounds completed, Libya leads with four points, South Africa and Nigeria have three each and the Seychelles are pointless.

Algeria-born coach Adel Amrouche said he hoped the goalless stalemate at Moses Mabhida Stadium in the Indian Ocean port city would bring joy to the Libyan people.

“Only football can bring

the people together,” said the 50-year-old former coach of Equatorial Guinea, Burundi and Kenya.

He was talking after deadly clashes in Tripoli last week between rival militias battling for control of the Libyan capital.

Libyan national and club teams have had to host home matches outside the north Afri-can country because of safety

issues since the 2011 death of dictator Muamar Kadhafi .

“I am not coaching Libya for money — I want to help bring happiness to the people by taking the national team to the Cup of Nations fi nals,” said Amrouche.

Libya faces Nigeria twice between Oct. 8 and 16 while South Africa hosts and visits the Seychelles at the same time.

(SD-Agencies)

TYRON WOODLEY had the crowd buzzing instead of booing in his latest UFC welterweight title defense.

The champion who keeps on winning likely will avoid the wrath of UFC President Dana White this time as well, while Woodley waits for his next opponent.

Woodley sent Darren Till to the canvas with a right hand early in the second round, then repeatedly punched and elbowed his English opponent in the face and head before fi nally winning by submission at UFC 228 on Saturday night.

It was the fourth title defense for the 36-year-old Woodley, and fi rst in more than a year after he was roundly booed and even criticized by White in his previ-ous win in the 170-pound mixed martial arts division.

“Winning conquers everything if you really think about it,” Woodley said. “As long as you keep winning, you keep build-ing up your stats and people go back and look at your record, at the end of the day, they’re going to recognize you as the greatest of all time. That’s why I’ve been so quiet. I didn’t overly celebrate after the fi ght. I just went out there and got the job done.”

Till (17-1-1) lost for the fi rst time in his fi rst title fi ght.

“Backstage, I was just too calm,” said the 25-year-old from Liverpool, England. “I don’t have the same type of ritual for every fi ght. This time it cost me. In my eyes, it cost me everything.”

(SD-Agencies)

Woodley beats Till to defend UFC title

England’s Harry Kane (C) goes down during a challenge with Spain’s Saul Niguez (L) and Dani Carvajal during their match in London on Saturday. SD-Agencies

Tyron Woodley (red gloves) fi ghts Darren Till during their match in Dallas, the United States, on Saturday. SD-Agencies

Serena loses US Open fi nal to Osaka

Everyone in Osaka’s box was reduced to tears — including her mother and Williams’ former hit-ting coach Sascha Bajin, Osaka’s fi rst-year coach.

Osaka apologized to the crowd.

“I know that everyone was cheering for her and I’m sorry it had to end like this. I just wanted to say thank you for watching the match,” she said.

In the second game of the second set, Williams was issued a warning for coaching by umpire Carlos Ramos. Williams told Ramos that her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, gave her a thumbs-up, which is just a C’mon.

“I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose,” Williams was heard telling Ramos.

A TV replay of Mouratoglou showed him motioning with his two hands as if telling her to move forward. There was no thumbs-up sign.

After the match Mouratoglou admitted to Pam Shriver on ESPN TV that he was coaching. He also said everyone does it and usually is not called for it.

That incident was just a pre-cursor to a scene that would fi nd Williams losing a point, and then a game.

A frustrated Williams, who was ahead 3-1 in the second set

after breaking Osaka’s serve in the fourth game, gave up the lead by losing her own serve in the fi fth game.

Losing that momentary lead in a game where she double-faulted twice was too much for Williams to handle and she took it out on her racket, which she smashed into the ground.

She received a point penalty for that action, which allowed Osaka to start serving the sixth game at 15-0. It was the combi-nation of the code violation for coaching and the racket abuse charge that surmounted the loss of the point called by Ramos.

(SD-Agencies)

Serena Williams yells at chair umpire Carlos Ramos in the women’s fi nal against Naomi Osaka of Japan in New York on Saturday. SD-Agencies

Naomi Osaka of Japan kisses the trophy during the awarding ceremony after winning the women’s singles fi nal match against Serena Williams of the United States at the U.S. Open in New York on Saturday. Xinhua

Libya draws away to stay above South Africa and Nigeria

Spain beats England in Nations League

In League C games, Finland beat Hungary 1-0 and Greece won in Estonia by the same score.

In League D — the lowest tier — Belarus thrashed San Marino 5-0 and Luxembourg swept aside Moldova 4-0. (SD-Agencies)