New multimillion-euro signings Hulk and Axel Witsel failed to shine on their debut as Russian soccer champions Zenit St Petersburg fell 2-0 at home for the first time to Terek Grozny. Brazilian Hulk arrived from Porto and Belgian midfielder Witsel from fellow Portuguese side Benfica this month for a reported total of €100 million (HK$1 billion), and expectations were high as both came on as second-half substitutes. But it was another Brazilian, Ailton Almeida, and Russian striker Igor Lebedenko who starred on the St Petersburg pitch as their late goals put Terek top of the league after their first ever win at Zenit. "We did a lot of homework for this match," Terek manager Stanislav Cherchesov said. "And after Zenit's star rookies appeared on the pitch, we managed to change our approach. We scored and kept our net clean." Terek are now top with 19 points from eight matches, three points ahead of Zenit. CSKA Moscow, who take on Alania Vladikavkaz today, sit third on 15 points. AFP
New York's Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez reached milestone moments in their baseball careers but it was not enough to prevent a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. The loss dropped the Yankees (81-63) out of a tie with Baltimore for the American League East lead but they rejoined them at the top shortly after when the Orioles lost 3-2 to Oakland. Tampa Bay improved to 78-66 and moved within three games of New York. Rodriguez smashed a homer in the eighth inning to give him 1,889 runs for his career, moving him past former Yankees Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig into ninth place on Major League Baseball's all-time list. Jeter broke his tie with Hall of Famer Willie Mays for 10th place on the all-time hits list with a single in the fifth and he lined another single ahead of A-Rod's home run to boost his career total to 3,285. However, it was the Rays who won. Reuters
The Football Association of Thailand could be forced to disband after allegations of corruption, a spokesman for a parliamentary committee looking into the issue said. The FAT could face an investigation over alleged tax evasion and for setting up the Thai Premier League as a profit-making arm of the group, said Supachai Chaisamut, a spokesman for the House of Representatives' corruption committee. Worawi Makudi, the FAT's president and a Fifa executive committee member since 1997, appeared before the committee on Thursday to explain the financial transactions. Supachai said: "If FAT is found to have deliberately set up the Thai Premier League for profit-making purposes the Thai Revenue Department will follow up the case. The FAT will have to withdraw the name of the football association, disband and set up again." Reuters
