Monday 28 July 2014

CITY TRASH MILAN, COSTA SCORES

Stevan Jovetic celebrates his opening goal for Manchester City

A review of Sunday's major pre-season friendly action, as Man City thrash AC Milan and Diego Costa scored for Chelsea.


Manchester City claimed an impressive 5-1 victory over AC Milan in a weather-hit friendly at the Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Stevan Jovetic handed the Premier League champions the lead after 12 minutes with a low shot that creeped in at the near post and three minutes later Gael Clichy picked out Scott Sinclair in the box and he slotted home the second from close range.
The goalfest was not over yet and midway through the first half Jesus Navas' acrobatic effort from just outside the box took a huge deflection and left goalkeeper Michael Agazzi with no chance.
Rampant City added a fourth after 27 minutes as Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho, who has been training with the club for the past few weeks, picked the ball up on the edge of the box and turned 180 degrees before firing home.
Sulley Muntari pulled one back for Milan just before the break as he tapped in with a close-range finish at the home of NFL side the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Following a delay due to lightening and heavy rain, former City striker Mario Balotelli took to the field for the second half and had a goal ruled out for offside before Jovetic netted his second to make it 5-1.
Summer signing Diego Costa found the net on his Chelsea debut as they came from behind to secure a 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana.
Fellow new arrival Cesc Fabregas also featured in Jose Mourinho’s side for the first time in Sunday's clash at the Stozice Stadium, and it was his through ball which allowed Costa to cancel out Nik Kapun’s 40th-minute opener with an emphatic finish.
The 25-year-old, who penned a five-year deal from Atletico Madrid this summer, raced onto Fabregas’ pin-point pass and fired into the roof of the net in the 55th minute.
Kurt Zouma then added a second from close range on 63 minutes, after Fernando Torres’ strike was parried into his path for a simple tap-in.
Branislav Ivanovic thought he had made it three, only for his effort to eventually be ruled out, while Torres himself missed a glaring opportunity when he diverted Nathan Ake’s left-wing cross wide from inside the six-yard box.
Gylfi Sigurdsson shone in his first Swansea outing since returning to the club as Garry Monk's men won 4-0 at Plymouth.
The Iceland international midfielder, who had a loan spell with the Welsh club from Hoffenheim in 2012, was transferred to the Swans on Thursday as part of the deal which took Ben Davies and Michel Vorm to Tottenham.
In front of nearly 5,000 at Home Park on Sunday, the 24-year-old helped set up a goal for Jordi Amat and then netted twice himself having entered the friendly fray as a second-half substitute.
Northern Ireland Under-21 striker Rory Donnelly started up front in a Swans side that also included new signing Lukasz Fabianski in goal, while young midfielder Josh Sheehan was named in the line-up too.
Donnelly opened the scoring in the ninth minute when he pounced on a loose ball and saw his effort trickle over the line to the despair of Argyle goalkeeper Luke McCormick.
Gary Taylor-Fletcher scored the only goal as Leicester City edged past Everton with a 1-0 friendly win in Bangkok.
The pair will meet again on the opening day of the new season and there was little between the sides in the testing conditions of Thailand’s Suphachalasai Stadium on Sunday.
On the back of a 2-2 draw at Tranmere earlier in the week, Roberto Martinez’s men threatened in the opening 45 minutes with Kasper Schmeichel keeping both Luke Garbutt and Aiden McGeady at bay, while David Nugent had an effort ruled out for offside as Leicester ended the first half brightly.
Both managers made a number of changes at the break and Andy King was denied an opener for the Foxes as Joel Robles pushed away his low strike.
Leicester continued to press and eventually broke the deadlock just after the hour mark when striker Jamie Vardy did well to get beyond Robles and presented Taylor-Fletcher with a simple close-range finish.
Riyad Mahrez fired wide in the closing stages as Leicester looked to double their advantage over an Everton side which ended the game with a number of youngsters on the field, including Conor McAleny, Chris Long, John Lundstram and Hallam Hope.
The two teams will now return to England as their pre-season schedules intensify with Everton playing host to Portuguese giants FC Porto, while a visit to League One outfit Walsall awaits Nigel Pearson’s newly-promoted Foxes.
Hibernian fielded two trialists during a 1-0 friendly defeat to Dundee United at Easter Road.
Hull goalkeeper Mark Oxley started while midfielder Michael Richardson came off the bench in the second half.
Oxley, 24, has never started a game for Hull since joining six years ago but he made 43 appearances for Oldham on loan last season and could make a similar move to Edinburgh.
Chris Erskine scored the only goal of the game when he cut inside and fired home from the edge of the box in the 77th minute.
South Yorkshire neighbours Doncaster and Sheffield Wednesday shared four goals during their pre-season friendly at the Keepmoat Stadium which finished in a 2-2 draw.
Atdhe Nuhui and Michail Antonio put the Owls in control but Dean Furman and Kyle Bennett salvaged some local pride for Rovers.
Watford clocked another clean sheet in pre-season with a 5-0 hammering of St Albans at Clarence Park on Saturday.
The Hornets led by three at half-time as goals from Ikechi Anya, Mathias Ranegie and a double from Cristian Battocchio contributed to the win, along with an own goal from Lee Chappell.
Ben Reeves scored the only goal of the game for MK Dons as they defeated Nottingham Forest in Dean Lewington's testimonial match at stadium:mk.

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