Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/396532
maltatoday, Sunday, 12 OctOber 2014 50 Sport football brazil beat argentina in the superclasico Atletico Mineiro striker Di- ego tardelli was the surprise hero in Beijing after his two goals fired Brazil to a 2-0 Superclasico victory over Argentina, who were made to pay for lionel Messi's first half pen- alty miss. Arguably the two most iconic footballing nations renewed what probably is the fiercest rivalry in the international game in a friendly played yesterday in the chinese capital, 100 years after they first clashed on the pitch. Between them they have reached 11 World cup finals, winning seven, with Brazil being crowned champi- ons on five occasions and Argentina lifting the cup twice. the 29-year-old tardelli was Bra- zil coach Dunga's chosen replace- ment for Fred, following Brazil's woeful World cup elimination and the striker opened his international account at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. the selecao took the lead against the run of play after 28 minutes when tardelli scored his first Brazil goal – volleying home from inside the area after questionable Argen- tina defending. in front of a packed stadium, a feisty encounter played out in the 96th game, with Brazil's win now tying the nations on 36 wins each. Neither Manchester city full back Pablo Zabaleta nor Federico Fern- andez could clear oscar's cross, with tardelli taking full advantage, scoring more than five years after making his international bow to send Argentina on their way to a first defeat under new coach Ger- ardo Martino. Barcelona superstar lionel Messi spurned the chance to draw Marti- no's men level before the break, see- ing his penalty saved by Jefferson. Following the break, tardelli put the game beyond doubt with a sec- ond after 64 minutes. the Atletico Mineiro man headed in from close range as he bolstered his claim to lead Brazil's line ahead of the copa America in chile next year, wrapping up a third consecu- tive Superclasico in the process. Argentina started the brighter, with Sergio Aguero seeing an early penalty shout turned down when he went down under a challenge from Miranda. With Martino's men continuing to dominate in the early stages, An- gel di Maria fired over the crossbar following clever link-up play with erik lamela. However, Brazil began to grow into the game shortly before the half-hour mark and took the lead through tardelli's smart volley. When Zabaleta and Fernandez failed to clear oscar's delivery, tar- delli peeled away and fired home the loose ball unmarked, with Ser- gio Romero not doing enough to keep it out. Neymar spurned an opportu- nity to level when one-on-one with Romero before his Barcelona team- mate Messi missed the chance to send Argentina in level at the inter- val. Danilo was rather harshly ad- judged to have brought down Di Maria but Messi saw his penalty saved by Jefferson with Marcos Rojo failing to divert the follow-up home. Filipe luis blazed Neymar's clever pass over the crossbar before Di Maria was uncharacteristically pe- destrian when through on goal after Miranda lost possession - allowing the Atletico Madrid centre-back time to recover. As in the first half, Argentina soon began to dominate possession but conceded against the run of play when tardelli added his second shortly after the hour mark. When David luiz f licked on os- car's corner, tardelli was again un- marked as he stooped to head his second of the game and wrap up a third win from as many games un- der Dunga. tardelli was replaced by the re- turning Kaka, who made his first appearance since March 2013, hav- ing helped continue Brazil's positive start to Dunga's second tenure in charge while also leaving Martino with plenty to ponder. AFRicAN football's governing body, cAF, has ruled that the Afri- can cup of Nations would go ahead as scheduled despite Moroccan de- mands for a postponement because of the deadly ebola epidemic. the organiser of the 2015 Af- rica cup of Nations, which will be held in January-Febuary 2015, said there are no changes to the dates or schedule despite the request from hosts Morocco. Morocco's government had writ- ten to the confederation of African Football to delay the 17 January to 8 February event because of the ebola outbreak, which has so far claimed over 4,000 lives in West- ern Africa. cAF said it will discuss the re- quest at the next meeting of its ex- ecutive committee on 2 November, while its president, issa Hayatou, will meet Moroccan officials the next day. the Morocco health ministry made its plea on Friday in the wake of its decision "to avoid events which involve those countries af- fected by the ebola virus". on Saturday, cAF responded in a statement that read: "cAF has registered the request and wishes to state that there are no changes of the schedules of its competitions and events. "it must be noted that since the first edition in 1957, the Africa cup of Nations has never witnessed a deferral or a change in schedule. "cAF has also been cautious since the commencement of the final round qualifiers of the 2015 Africa cup of Nations on the health risks posed by the ebola virus and has consistently applied precaution- ary principles, taking into account the recommendations of the World Health organization and various medical experts." in July, Seychelles cancelled and forfeited their Nations cup quali- fier home match against Sierra leone because of fears about the virus. ebola has so far claimed more than 4,000 lives this year, accord- ing to the World Health organisa- tion, with virtually all the victims coming from west African coun- tries Guinea, liberia and Sierra leone. Guinea and Sierra leone are in- volved in the qualifying competi- tion for the 2015 tournament, but have been barred from playing at home. the Guineans, ironically, play home matches in the Moroccan city of casablanca while the Sierra leoneans play home matches at the ground of their opponents. Both will be in action Saturday with Guinea hosting Ghana and Sierra leone meeting cameroon in Yaounde. Were South Africa chosen, they would become the first country to host back-to-back cup of Nations tournaments. South African officials were not immediately available for com- ment as they are attending an an- nual meeting of the national foot- ball association. egypt have staged the champion- ship a record-equalling four times, tunisia three times and Algeria once. No changes to 2015 Nations Cup despite Ebola fears A supporter of Ivory Coast's national football team holds a placard reading "Stop Ebola" at the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifying football match cHAMPioNSHiP leader lewis Hamilton continued his domina- tion of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix to claim the 38th pole position of his Formula one career. Hamilton stormed to pole position at the Sochi Autodrom, getting the better of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and Williams driver Valt- teri Bottas in qualifying. After finishing comfortably quick- est in the second and third practice runs around F1's newest venue, Hamilton's Mercedes topped the timesheet in all three qualifying sessions and will lead away the field on Sunday. there was a scare for Hamilton, though, with Williams' Bottas fast- est in the first two sectors of the track on a final flying lap, only to make errors over the final third to finish behind the englishman and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Ros- berg. Following his seventh pole of the season and the 15th in 16 races for Mercedes, Hamilton said: "Pole is always a great place to start. that's thanks again to the amazing job done by the team, who have been constantly improving and moving forward, so thanks to them we have been able to be on the front row quite often. "it wasn't the easiest of qualifyings, but i've been able to hook the car up this weekend and i'm really grateful i've the first pole at this track." it was a case of the one that got away for Bottas, who said: "Maybe i got too much out of the tyres at the start of the lap, so the end was a bit more tricky. i risked it a bit too much in the last two corners, went a bit wide in the last one, and that was it. "i'm upset. it's not nice to make a mistake which i think cost me one place maximum." the Finn was forgiven, however, by Williams' deputy team principal, claire Williams. "He was amazing today," said Wil- liams. "He's had a glint in his eye all weekend, and he has clearly got to grips with this track quite quickly. "He just lost it going into the final corner, but we don't mind. We like a trier at Williams." After winning the last three rac- es to open up a 10-point lead over Rosberg, Hamilton now starts as favourite to make it four in a row for the second time this season, fol- lowing his successive victories in Malaysia, Bahrain, china and Spain earlier this year. Showing a return to form, Jen- son Button will start fourth in his Mclaren, the veteran Briton's sec- ond best grid slot of the campaign. Daniil Kvyat, the young Russian, secured the best position of his fledgling career with fifth in his toro Rosso. in the second Mclaren, Kevin Magnussen qualified sixth, but a five-place penalty for a gearbox change means he will drop to 11th. that promotes Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, toro Rosso's Jean-eric Vergne, and Sebas- tian Vettel in the second Red Bull. Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel who will leave Red Bull for Ferrari at the season's end failed to progress from Q2 in 11th, his best attempt 0.028s adrift of Vergne's cut-off time. Force india's Nico Hülkenberg was 12th, but also received a five-place penalty for a gearbox change and will drop to 17th. that elevates his team-mate Ser- gio Pérez, and the Mexican will be followed by the Saubers of esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil, along with lotus's Romain Grosjean and Marcus ericsson in his caterham. ericsson initially dropped out at the end of Q1, finishing ahead of a disgruntled Felipe Massa, whose Williams encountered a fuel-pres- sure issue that robbed him of speed. With Bottas starting third, it un- derlined to Massa just what his car was capable of, but the Brazilian will now have to fight his way through from 18th. Kamui Kobayashi in his caterham will start 19th, while Pastor Mal- donado, who qualified in 20th, will drop to the back behind Marussia's Max chilton. Maldonado collected a 10-place penalty in Japan for a sixth change of his lotus's internal combustion engine, but served only five of those positions, resulting in a carry-over for this race. the Venezuelan will now line up 21st, with Marussia running only one car this weekend out of respect for Jules Bianchi, who is fighting for his life following a crash into a re- covery vehicle during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Following Hamilton's successful drive, the Mercedes executive direc- tor toto Wolff said: "We were lucky [Bottas] made a mistake, maybe he just overdrove the car." the flowing nature of the track, which winds its way through the ol- ympic park that was at the heart of the Winter Games earlier this year, means Hamilton is expecting an en- tertaining race. foRMUla 1 Lewis Hamilton on pole for inaugural Russian Grand Prix Diego Tardelli