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Thursday November 23, 2017

DEFENDING champion Real Madrid advanced again to the Champions League knockout stages after beating APOEL and Tottenham piled the misery on Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Tues-day.

Besiktas also progressed, drawing with Porto 1-1 to reach the last 16 for the fi rst time.

Also in Group G, last season’s semifi nalist, Monaco, crashed out after losing to Leipzig 4-1.

Liverpool looked set to join the list of last 16 teams as it led Sevilla 3-0 at halftime but the Spanish side pulled off a remark-able comeback to draw 3-3.

Napoli beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 and both sides will have to wait until the fi nal matchday to see which one joins Group F winner Manchester City in the next round.

Karim Benzema scored twice in the fi rst half and Cristiano Ronaldo netted twice in the second as Madrid thrashed Cypriot team APOEL 6-0 to guarantee a spot in the last 16.

Luka Modric and Nacho Fernandez also scored for the defending champions, who have made it past the group stage for 22 straight seasons.

The result eliminated Borussia Dortmund, which lost to Totten-ham 2-1 in Germany in the other Group H match.

Tottenham heads into the fi nal round leading Madrid by three points and has already secured fi rst place. Dortmund and APOEL have no chance of advancing.

Madrid also fi nished second in its group last season, to Dort-mund, marking the fi rst time the Spanish club has failed to

Real advances in Champions League

A SPORTS doctor accused of molesting several girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University will plead guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and face at least 25 years in prison, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Tuesday.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the agreement ahead of a court hearing for Dr. Larry Nassar in Michigan’s Ingham County and spoke to U.S. media on condition of anonymity.

Nassar, 54, is charged with molesting seven girls, all but one of whom were gymnasts, mostly under the guise of treat-ment at his Lansing-area home and a campus clinic. He’s facing similar charges in a neighboring county and lawsuits fi led by more than 125 women and girls.

Olympic gymnasts Aly Rais-man, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas are among the women who have publicly said they were among Nassar’s vic-tims.

The plea deal in Ingham County calls for a minimum prison sentence of 25 years, but

FOOTBALL Association of Thai-land (FAT) president Somyot Poompanmuang said fi ve play-ers and two match offi cials from the top-fl ight national league were among 12 people arrested for alleged match-fi xing.

Somyot held a news confer-ence Tuesday with national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda to announce an investigation was underway into the results of a match in July and three matches in September.

Police reported that four players from the Navy club and one from Nakhon Ratcha-sima were allegedly paid up to 200,000 Thai baht (US$6,100) to manipulate results.

The FAT and Royal Thai Police used information from data ser-vices company Sportradar as part of the investigation after reports of an unusual number of goals being scored in the late stages of the games.

Chakthip said 12 people had been released on bail. Court details were not immediately available. (SD-Agencies)

ANGE POSTECOGLOU framed his departure as Socceroos head coach with a stereotypically Aussie scenario.

He’d decided to quit last week immediately after Australia qualifi ed for a fourth consecu-tive World Cup.

He made the announcement yesterday that he wouldn’t be taking the Australian team to next year’s World Cup in Russia despite guiding them through a grueling, 22-game qualifying campaign that concluded with back-to-back, winner-takes-all playoff series.

“It’s been the toughest deci-sion. It’s not the ending I envis-aged,” said Postecoglou, who replaced German coach Holger Osieck in 2013 and guided Australia at the 2014 World Cup. “I’ll always have a sense of unfi nished business, but that would probably have been the case whenever I left.

“It’s just an instinct — I think it’s the right time for me, for the team and for the organization.”

Australia narrowly missed out on direct entry for Russia, fi nishing out of the automatic spots only on goal difference in Asian qualifying.

Speculation about Posteco-glou’s future increased after a newspaper report in the wake of Australia’s Asian playoff win over Syria suggested he would not take the team to Russia regardless of what happened in the intercontinental playoff against Honduras.

Postecoglou refused to com-ment on the reports at the time, and appeared to be increasingly aggravated by the continued focus on his position while the team was preparing for crucial matches in Honduras and in Sydney.

He called a morning news con-ference with Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop to announce his decision to stand down yesterday.

“It has been a privilege for me to coach my country’s national team, to lead them at the 2014 World Cup, to win the Asian Cup in 2015 and now to have qualifi ed for the World Cup next year,” he said. (SD-Agencies)

Gymnastics doctor charged with sexual assault

a judge could set the minimum sentence as high as 40 years. In Michigan, inmates are eligible for parole after serving a mini-mum sentence.

The girls have testifi ed that Nassar molested them with his hands, sometimes when a parent was present in the room, while they sought help for gymnastics injuries.

“He convinced these girls that this was some type of legitimate

treatment,” Assistant Attorney General Angela Poviliatis told a judge last summer. “Why would they question him? Why would they question this gymnastics god?”

Separately, Nassar is charged with similar crimes in Eaton County, the location of an elite gymnastics club. He is also awaiting sentencing in federal court on child pornography charges. (SD-Agencies)

12 arrested in match-fixing investigation

advance in fi rst place since the 2012-13 season.

Tottenham hosts APOEL on Dec. 6, while Madrid hosts Dortmund.

“We came here to qualify and we did it,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “It was a good night. We are satisfi ed.”

Madrid won only one of its last four matches in all com-petitions, but it found easy pickings in Nicosia to earn its biggest ever away win in the Champions League.

Modric opened the scoring with a long-range shot midway through the fi rst half and Ben-zema and Fernandez added their goals seven minutes apart just before halftime.

Benzema hadn’t scored in six matches in all competitions.

“Forwards aren’t always about scoring,” Benzema said. “If I can help my teammates with passes and movement, I will do it. Today I was lucky enough to score two goals and do something good for my side.”

Ronaldo has been struggling in the Spanish league with only one goal in 12 rounds, but he already has eight in the Champions League and is the competition’s leading scorer.

In Group E, Guido Pizarro’s stoppage-time equalizer for Sevilla means Liverpool will have to wait two more weeks to see if it can return to the knockout stages after an eight-year absence.

Roberto Firmino scored twice for Liverpool and set up Sadio Mane’s goal in the fi rst half-hour. But the hosts rallied with a pair by Wissam Ben Yedder in the second half, and Pizarro’s late equalizer off a corner kick.

Liverpool can’t afford to lose to Spartak Moscow at Anfi eld next month. Spartak, held by last-place Maribor to 1-1, leads Spartak by only three points.

Sevilla plays its fi nal game at already eliminated Maribor.

In Group F, Lorenzo Insigne showed again what Italy missed in its World Cup playoff as he scored a stunning goal to help Napoli keep alive its chances of qualifying for the knockout stages. (SD-Agencies)

Coach resigns despite guiding Socceroos to World Cup

Ange Postecoglou

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (2nd L) celebrates scoring their fi fth goal against APOEL with teammates during their match in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday. SD-Agencies

This Nov. 22, 2016 fi le photo shows Dr. Larry Nassar appearing during a video arraign-ment in Mason, Michigan, the United States. SD-Agencies