Maccabi, Genk up by two

Feyenoord tops Fenerbahce in Champions League qualifier

LONDON (AP) -- Defending UEFA Cup champion Feyenoord took a step toward a Champions League berth Tuesday with a 1-0 victory over Turkey's Fenerbahce on Shinji Ono's goal in the first-leg, third-round qualifying match.

In other matches in Champions League qualifying, AEK Athens won 3-2 at Apoel of Cyprus, Belgian side Racing Genk defeated Sparta Prague 2-0, French side Auxerre topped Portugal's Boavista 1-0, and Israel's Maccabi Haifa beat Sturm Graz 2-0 in a match played in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Maccabi Haifa is trying to become the first Israeli side to play in the full-blown Champions League.

Eleven more Champions League qualifiers were set for Wednesday.

In the Intertoto Cup final, first-leg matches: Bologna 2, Fulham 2; Lille 1, Stuttgart 0; and Villarreal 0, Malaga 1.

In the day's lone UEFA Cup first-round, first-leg qualifier, Vaduz drew 1-1 with Scotland's Livingston.

In the Champions League qualifiers:

At Rotterdam, Netherlands, Ono -- a Japanese star in the World Cup -- struck in the 65th with a low left-foot shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Rustu Recber, following a sharp one-two with Pierre van Hooijdonk.

Despite Feyenoord's territorial dominance, dour midfield play produced 65 minutes devoid of serious goal threats. Fenerbahce came to defend with Brazilian Cerguiera Washington isolated up front.

At Nicosia, Cyprus, Vassilis Borbokis scored two goals and Demis Nikolaidis netted an extra-time game-winner as AEK Athens topped Apoel Nicosia 3-2.

Costas Malekos scored a 90th-minute penalty equalizer for Apoel Nicosia, but Nikolaidis scored from close range three minutes into extra time to give AEK the advantage heading into the second leg in Athens.

Marinos Ouzounidis gave the Cypriot side an early lead in the 23rd minute, but Borbokis equalized just before halftime. The Greek forward then made it 2-1 in the 47th with a short shot from in close.

At Porto, Portugal, Djibril Cisse scored with a powerful low drive in the 70th minute to hand Auxerre a 1-0 win at Boavista, placing the French outfit in a strong position for the return leg.

The striker's blistering solo break and ruthless finishing broke the deadlock in a mostly uneventful game at the Bessa Stadium in northern Portugal.

Auxerre's sharp defensive work stymied the disjointed Portuguese side.

Senegalese substitute Amdy Faye almost extended Auxerre's lead with 15 minutes to play but his break was halted by goalie Ricardo Pereira.

At Genk, Belgium, Racing Genk scored a couple of first-half goals -- Bernd Thys in the 32nd and Mirsad Beslija eight minutes later -- to beat Sparta Prague 2-0.

The Belgian champion went ahead when the Czechs left two men unmarked in the center off a corner kick from Australian Josip Skoko. Wesley Sonck and Thys almost got in each other's way, but Thys was credited with heading past goalie Michal Spit.

Eight minutes later Genk's Moumouni Dagano took a deep pass in the center, shoved defender Tomas Hubschman aside and passed to Beslija who scored.

At Sofia, Bulgaria, Egabene Ya'Akoubu scored twice to give Israel's Maccabi Haifa a 2-0 victory over Sturm Graz of Austria. In his first match for Maccabi, Ya'Akoubu made it 1-0 in the 18th minute as he dribbled past two defenders and scored into the right corner.

Just seconds before the final whistle, Dovanni Rosso slipped the ball to Ya'Akoubu, who made it 2-0 in match played on neutral ground in the Bulgarian capital.

Less than 100 fans from Israel, and some 50 from Austria were among the 1,000 who watched the game at the CSKA Sofia stadium. Nearly 100 police officers in riot gear were positioned inside and outside the stadium.

The game was switched to Sofia after European soccer's governing body, UEFA, ruled in March that international matches could not be played in Israel because of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

The Champions League return legs are in two weeks with the draw for the full Champions League Aug. 30.

Fulham, Malaga and Lille take step towards UEFA Cup

LONDON (Reuters) -- Goals from Junichi Inamoto and Sylvain Legwinski earned Fulham a 2-2 draw at Bologna in the first leg of their Intertoto final on Tuesday giving them the edge in their bid to reach the UEFA Cup for the first time.

Malaga, who won 1-0 at fellow Spaniards Villarreal, and Lille who beat VfB Stuttgart 1-0 at home, also gained slight advantages for the second leg of their finals in two weeks time.

Bologna twice led Fulham with Guiseppe Signori scoring from the penalty spot for the Italian side after 52 and 72 minutes.

But Inamoto cancelled out the first Bologna goal with a superb solo goal after 62 minutes just three minutes after coming on as a substitute. Legwinski equalised for the Londoners five minutes from time.

Nicolas Bonnal gave French club Lille the advantage in their tie against Stuttgart with a 20th minute goal while an early strike from Garcia Gerardo tipped the balance Malaga's way in the all-Spanish tie.

The three teams who win on aggregate all qualify for the UEFA Cup proper.

Champions League qualifying results

LONDON  (Reuters) - Collated results of Champions
League third qualifying round, first leg soccer matches played
on Tuesday:
    In Sofia: Maccabi Haifa (Israel) 2 Sturm Graz (Austria) 0
    Scorer: Yakubu Ayegbeni 17, 90
    Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 600
    Played in neutral stadium due to political situation in
    Israel
    - -
    In Nicosia: APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus) 2 AEK Athens (Greece) 3
    Scorers:
    APOEL Nicosia - Marinos Ouzounides 23, Costas Malekkos 89pen
    AEK Athens - Vassilis Borbokis 45, 47, Demis Nikolaidis 90
    Halftime: 1-1; Attendance: 15,000
    - -
    In Genk: Genk (Belgium) 2 Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) 0
    Scorers - Bernd Thijs 33, Mirsad Beslija 40
    Halftime: 2-0; Attendance: 10,000
    - -
    In Rotterdam: Feyenoord (Netherlands) 1 Fenerbahce (Turkey)
0
    Scorer: Shinji Ono 65
    Halftime: 0-0
    - -
    In Oporto: Boavista (Portugal) 0 AJ Auxerre (France) 1
    Scorer: Djibril Cisse 70
    Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 9,000
    - - - -
    Playing on Wednesday:

 Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)     v Inter Milan (Italy)
 AC Milan (Italy)               v Slovan Liberec (Czech
                                  Republic)
 Rosenborg Trondheim (Norway)   v Brondby (Denmark)
 Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)     v Club Bruges (Belgium)
 Barcelona (Spain)              v Legia Warsaw (Poland)
 Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)        v Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
 Zeljeznicar Sarajevo (Bosnia)  v Newcastle United (England)
 Partizan Belgrade (Yugoslavia) v Bayern Munich (Germany)
 Celtic (Scotland)              v Basel (Switzerland)
 Zalaegerszeg (Hungary)         v Manchester United (England)
 Graz AK (Austria)              v Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia)

Intertoto Cup results

    In Lille: Lille (France) 1 Stuttgart (Germany) 0
    Scorer: Nicolas Bonnal 20
    Halftime: 1-0
    - -
    In Bologna: Bologna (Italy) 2 Fulham (England) 2
    Scorers:
    Bologna - Giuseppe Signori 56pen, 75pen
    Fulham - Junichi Inamoto 62, Sylvain Legwinski 85
    Halftime: 0-0
    - -
    In Castellon: Villarreal (Spain) 0 Malaga (Spain) 1
    Scorer: Garcia Gerardo 9
    Halftime: 0-1

 

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