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Monday May 7, 2018

JUVENTUS is on the verge of a record-extending seventh suc-cessive Serie A title after coming from behind to beat Bologna 3-1 Saturday, thanks to an inspira-tional performance from substi-tute Douglas Costa.

Simone Verdi’s penalty gave Bologna a surprise halftime lead and Juventus turned the match around with Douglas Costa shredding the defense amid an own goal from Sebas-tian De Maio and strikes from Sami Khedira and Paulo Dybala.

Juventus moved seven points clear of second-placed Napoli and, with two rounds remain-ing, can secure the title the next day if Maurizio Sarri’s side loses at home to Torino.

“The title is not yet wrapped up, but we’ve taken a huge step towards it,” Juventus coach Mas-similiano Allegri said.

It could win two trophies in the space of a few days as it faces AC Milan in the Italian Cup fi nal Wednesday.

Juventus started brightly but Bologna took the lead in the 30th minute after Lorenzo Crisetig pounced on a poor pass from Gianluigi Buffon and was pushed over by Daniele Rugani for a penalty.

Despite a long wait following technical problems in commu-

FORMER Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was in intensive care after emergency surgery for a brain hemorrhage Saturday amid an outpouring of affection and get-well messages from across the soccer world.

Since retiring from United after almost 27 years in charge in 2013, the 76-year-old Ferguson has continued to attend matches at Old Trafford, participate in coaching initiatives, and has been a regular at horse racing as a prominent owner.

“Sir Alex Ferguson has undergone emergency surgery today for a brain hemorrhage,” United said in a statement. “The procedure has gone very well but he needs a period of intensive care to optimize his recovery. His family request privacy in this matter.”

The most successful man-ager in British soccer history, Ferguson has appeared in good health since ending his intense direct involvement in coaching. The Scot had surgery to fi t a pacemaker in 2004 after a heart irregularity was discovered and had a hip operation fi ve years ago shortly after retiring from United.

Since leaving the dugout, Ferguson has traveled the world passing on his vast knowledge to a new generation of coaches and fans through books and talks, including at Harvard Uni-versity, on how he won 49 honors in his career including 38 titles at United. Starting work as a teenager in a Glasgow shipyard instilled a socialist ethos that the former Glasgow Rangers player carried throughout a career that included a spell coaching Scot-land at the 1986 World Cup and eventually saw him knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

He also helped to make house-holds names of two of the game’s biggest stars: David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ferguson’s only signifi cant career regret was he managed to win the Champions League only twice, but the fi rst triumph was part of the 1999 treble that also included the Premier League and FA Cup. The scale of Ferguson’s achievements during his dynastic reign is underscored by United’s failure under three managers to win the Premier League in the fi ve years since his retirement.

(SD-Agencies)

A “TECHNICAL failure” in the video review system, the same technology that will be used at next month’s World Cup in Russia, resulted in the incorrect awarding of a goal that ultimately decided the A-League champion-ship, Football Federation Austra-lia (FFA) said yesterday.

The FFA conducted a review into the decision to allow a hotly-disputed goal from Kosta Barba-rouses in his team’s 1-0 win over the Newcastle Jets in Saturday’s A-League grand fi nal.

Television replays showed that James Donachie, who assisted in the championship-deciding goal, was in an offside position, so the goal should have been disallowed. But the FFA said the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), who adjudicated on the goal, did not have access to the same foot-age because of a technical glitch, so allowed the goal to stand.

The FFA’s head of the A-League, Greg O’Rourke, said that the Hawkeye software that uploads the broadcast feed into the VAR system was partially lost just seconds before Victo-ry’s goal, and by the time it was restored, it was too late to change the decision because the match had restarted. (SD-Agencies)

LEBRON JAMES banked in a running one-hander at the buzzer, giving the Cleveland Cavaliers a 105-103 win over Toronto on Saturday night in Game 3 and shoving the Rap-tors to the edge of their most devastating playoff exit.

After the Raptors tied it on rookie OG Anunoby’s 3-pointer with eight seconds left, James took the inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the fl oor and rose off the fl oor on the left side of the basket just feet from Toronto’s bench.

“Tie game, down one,” James said. “I live for those moments.”

As the noise level in Quicken Loans Arena rose to jet-engine levels, the Cavs sprinted from the other end of the court and mobbed James. After some tight hugs, he was back atop the scorer’s table — just like he did after a last-second 3-pointer to win Game 5 against Indiana — and celebrated a win that was up for grabs.

“Just get the ball to Bron at the end of the game,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.

James fi nished with 38 points, Kevin Love added 21 and 16 rebounds and Kyle Korver scored 18 for the Cavs, who have won nine straight postseason games over the Raptors and may sweep them for the second straight year.

The difference in the two teams is simple: One has James, the other doesn’t.

“I ran out of words a while

James hits buzzer-beater to beat Raptors

ago,” said Korver, struggling to describe James’ latest heroics. “I’ve seen him shoot that shot, that game-winner, countless times when he’s messing around in shootaround and practice. It’s always like, why would he shoot a shot like that — to win a playoff game?

“Unbelievable play. He did it again. He’s been so huge in those moments for us all year.”

It was the fi fth career post-season buzzer-beater for James,

the second of these playoffs and this one had maybe the highest degree of diffi culty of them all.

“It is very diffi cult,” James said, smiling.

Kyle Lowry scored 27 for Toronto, which played much more physically and clawed back in the fourth quarter while All-Star DeMar DeRozan was on the bench. DeRozan, despondent at not being able to do more or help when it mattered most, went just 3 of 12 from the

fi eld and scored eight points.“It was extremely hard,

extremely hard,” DeRozan said of being benched by coach Dwane Casey in the fourth.

“We wanted to make some-body else get the shot and we just didn’t get it done,” Casey said. “We are all hurt.”

After winning the series’ fi rst two games in Canada, the Cavs came home and won a brawl with the Raptors, who just can’t beat James. (SD-Agencies)

Juve beats Bologna to be on verge of Serie A crown

nicating with the video assistant referee, Verdi kept his calm to roll in the spot kick down the middle.

Allegri sent on Douglas Costa for the start of the second half and he had an immediate impact with a cross from the left, which Juan Cuadrado just failed to con-nect with at the far post.

Juventus leveled fi ve minutes into the second half when De Maio turned Cuadrado’s cross into his own net.

The hosts should have been in front moments later but Mirante fi nger-tipped Douglas Costa’s effort away, and Cuadrado was again millimeters away from

connecting with the ball, with the goal gaping.

Bologna almost restored its lead moments later but Buffon managed to push Emil Krafth’s shot onto his left post.

Juventus took the lead shortly after the hour as Mirante mis-judged Douglas Costa’s cross, allowing Khedira to tap in at the back post.

Douglas Costa was tearing Bologna apart and he set up Juve’s third in the 69th, set-ting up Dybala to end his goal drought. It was the Argentine’s fi rst goal since his hat trick against Benevento a month ago.

(SD-Agencies)

Alex Ferguson

Ferguson in intensive care after surgery

Juventus’ Douglas Costa (R) in action with Bologna’s Ibrahima Mbaye during their match in Turin on Saturday. SD-Agencies

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) stands on the scorer’s table after hitting the fi nal shot to win the game against the Toronto Raptors at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Saturday. SD-Agencies

Tech failure leads to mistake in title match