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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2020
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Sports
MUNICH, GERMANY (AFP) - Bayern Munich
head coach Hansi Flick said he is willing to
grant Philippe Coutinho time to rediscover
his best form after inding himself relegated
to the bench behind Thomas Mueller in re-
cent weeks.
The Brazilian playmaker hasn’t scored
since bagging a hat-trick against Werder Bre-
men in mid-December, and was restricted to
substitute appearances in Bayern’s past two
Bundesliga matches.
Flick believes Coutinho, who has scored
seven goals in 26 appearances while on loan
at Bayern following a diicult spell at Barce-
lona, is feeling frustrated.
“I don’t think that he is happy with his cur-
rent performances,” Flick said of Coutinho.
“He’s one of our players and he needs
some help, which is what he will get.
“I am convinced he can still help us, but
we will have to be patient. There is a dip in
form in every career and it’s not easy to break
into an established team.”
Leaders Bayern take on RB Leipzig to-
night in a clash of the Bundesliga’s top two,
oering Flick another chance to press his
case for staying in the job beyond the end of
this season.
Flick replaced Niko Kovac in a caretaker
capacity last November. He was then put in
charge for the remainder of the campaign af-
ter a string of promising results.
Club President Herbert Hainer recently
said they were seeking “no other alternative”
for the time being.
“I am pleased that he sees me in a positive
light,” said Flick.
“I am happy with the way things are going
and am not giving any thought to what will
happen in the next year.
“It’s so much fun for me to work for this
club and with this great squad.”
MILAN (AFP) - Roma’s chances of qualifying
for next season’s Champions League suered
another blow on Friday night as a 32 home
defeat by Bologna extended the capital club’s
winless streak to three Serie A games.
Paulo Fonseca’s ifth-placed side remain
level on points with fourth-placed Atalanta.
“At this moment, we are too anxious, so
I must consider what I can do to change
this situation,” Roma boss Fonseca told
Sky
Sport Italia
.
“We must work to change this. It’s not
overly dramatic, it might all seem negative
right now, but we just need courage.”
Riccardo Orsolini took advantage of an
error by English defender Chris Smalling to
grab a 16
th
-minute advantage for Bologna at
the Stadio Olimpico, before Stefano Den-
swil’s dreadful own goal drew Roma level just
six minutes later.
But Gambian international Musa Barrow
scored excellent individual eorts either side
of half-time to send Bologna on their way
to victory.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s header gave the
home side hope with 18 minutes remaining,
but Bryan Cristante was sent o shortly after-
wards to end any thoughts of a comeback.
Bologna climbed to sixth in the table after
their third straight win, one point above Ca-
gliari and Parma in the race to qualify for the
Europa League.
Flick prepared to be patient with Coutinho
File photo shows Bayern Munich’s head coach Hans-Dieter Flick (R) watching Bayern Munich’s
midielder Philippe Coutinho preparing for a throw in during a match. PHOTO: AP
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Japanese midielder
Keisuke Honda was given a hero’s welcome
yesterday from several thousand fans of
Brazilian club Botafogo, where he recently
signed to play until the end of the year.
“Ole, Ole, Ole, Ola, Honda, Honda,”
chanted a huge crowd of frenzied fans,
brandishing Japanese lags as the 33-year-
old arrived at the Galeao International Air-
port in Rio de Janeiro.
Hidden by the pack of photographers
shooting his arrival, Honda pleased the crowd
by hopping onto a platform to greet them,
then donned a Botafogo cap and waved a
lag in the club’s black and white colours.
Honda, one of the best players in Japa-
nese football history, will be oicially pre-
sented today at Nilton Santos Stadium, the
athletics venue for the 2016 Olympics.
Botafogo are looking for a boost after in-
ishing 15
th
in the Brazilian league last season,
barely avoiding relegation.
Honda had been without a club since
leaving Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem
last December, less than two months
after joining.
Formerly of AC Milan and CSKA Moscow,
the midielder has stood out for the Japan
national team, scoring 37 goals in 98 appear-
ances, including four World Cup goals.
In 2018 he became the irst Japanese play-
er to score in three World Cups.
He is not the first foreign star to sign for
Roma top-four hopes hit
by Bologna loss
Bologna’s Riccardo Orsolini (L) scores his goal during the Serie A match against Roma at
Rome’s Olympic Stadium. PHOTO: AP
Japan’s Honda gets hero’s welcome in Brazil
Botafogo at the end of his career. Dutch
great Clarence Seedorf - the only man to
win the Champions League with three dif-
ferent clubs - joined in 2012 and enjoyed
a successful 18-month stint in Rio de Ja-
neiro, scoring 24 goals in 81 matches.
Botafogo’s most famous son, though, was
the wing wizard and two-time World Cup win-
ner Garrincha, who lit up Brazilian football in
the 1950s and 60s.
Botafogo football fans cheer as Japanese player Keisuke Honda arrives at Galeao International
Airport in Rio de Janeiro. PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The United States
(US) will try to follow their women’s
World Cup triumph with Olympic gold
after punching their ticket to the To-
kyo Games yesterday with a 40 victory
over Mexico.
Samantha Mewis scored twice and
Rose Lavelle and Christen Press added a
goal apiece as the US secured one of two
Olympic berths on oer in the semi-inals
of the CONCACAF regional qualiier at
Dignity Sports Park in Carson, California.
They’ll face Canada in today’s tour-
nament inal, but the main objective has
been achieved by both teams, with Can-
ada securing their Tokyo berth with a 10
win over Costa Rica in the irst semi-inal
on Friday night.
The US were heavy favourites
against Mexico - who were trying to get
back to the Olympics for the irst time
since 2004.
But in Tokyo, the Americans will at-
tempt to become the irst nation to fol-
low a World Cup triumph with an Olympic
title. Past US World Cup winning teams
faltered in 2000 and 2016.
In Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the US were
stunned by Sweden in a quarter-inal pen-
alty shootout.
US, Canada book
Olympic women’s
football berths