Barcleona, Real Madrid enjoy away wins

MADRID, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Both reigning Primera Liga Champions FC Barcelona and Real Madrid won their respective league matches on Saturday night.

Barcelona overcame a poor first half performance away to Getafe to win its second game in two matches.

Getafe hit the Barcelona post and crossbar in the first half, but everything changed with the introduction of Leo Messi as a second half substitute for Barca.

Messi helped set up the opening goal of the game with a pass that allowed Eric Abidal to cross for Zlatan Ibrahimovich to open the scoring for the Catalans.

The Argentinean then scored the second himself with a header to seal the win.

Real Madrid meanwhile won 3-0 away to Espanyol.

The game was the inaugural Primera Liga fixture in Espanyol's new Cornilla-El Prat Stadium, but it was an unhappy start for the home side.

Esteban Granero opened the scoring for Real Madrid after 38 minutes.

The big spenders were then able to find more space in the second period and Guti and Cristiano Ronaldo scored further goals in a result that confirmed Real Madrid as clear title candidates.

Meanwhile Real's city neighbors Atletico suffered a disappointing night at home to Racing Santander.

The run in to the match had seen a demonstration against the Atletico directors Miguel Angel Gil Marin and Enrique Cerezo and that feeling of discontent spilled into the game.

With a side lacking creativity in central midfield, Atletico struggled to create chances and it needed a moment of magic from Jose Jurado after 42 minutes.

However, Oscar Serrano levelled for the visitors after 46 minutes and although Racing had Jose Crespo sent off early in the second half, they held on with few problems, much to the frustration of the home fans.

Finally Sevilla ended Saturday's games with a comfortable 4-1 win at home to recently promoted Zaragoza.

Brazilian international Luis Fabiano, who just returned from World Cup duty, showed his form with two of his side's goals while Abdoulay Konko and Diego Perotti scored Sevilla's other two of the night.

Super Eagles lacks good leader: Bwalya

LAGOS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Former African football player of the year Kalusha Bwalya identified the lack of team leader as one of the problems of the current squad of Nigeria's Super Eagles, the Nigerian Tribune newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Zambian legend said the Super Eagles should have held on at2-1 if they had a team leader in the game against Tunisia in Abujaduring a 2010 World Cup qualifier last Sunday.

"With all the good players Nigeria has, I observed that the Eagles do not have a team leader," he said.

"Leading by 2-1, all the Eagles needed was someone who would kick the ball into touch, into the stands over the bar so that he would create a time to communicate with his mates and reorganize them before the arrival of the ball from wherever he had booted it," he added.

The Seoul '88 Olympics hero blamed the Eagles for allowing Tunisia possession and space which resulted in the equalizer.

The former PSV Eindhoven of Holland playmaker advised Nigeria to look ahead and re-organize.

"There are just five slots for Africa, so Nigerians will have themselves to blame at the end of the day," he added.

Sao Paulo cruises to victory over Avai

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- In the 24th round of the Brazilian Championship, affensive-minded Sao Paulo beat Avai 2-0 at home Saturday, increasing the team's pressure on the table leader Palmeiras.

After a dismal first half, Sao Paulo opening the scoring in the 46th minute when Dagoberto took full advantage of a cross and sent it into the back of the visiting team's net.

On 84 minutes, Hugo's header from Dagoberto's cross deflected off the Avai defense to enter into the net.

With their win, Sao Paulo is standing third with 43 points. Their position is subject to change after Sunday's matches. First placer Palmeiras, with 44 points, will travel to play Vitoria while second placer Internacional, with 43 points, will host Cruzeiro.

Avai's loss on Saturday keeps them at seventh place with 34 points. After enjoying an 11-game winning streak, Avai has suffered three straight losses.

Adriano leads Flamengo to 3-0 win over Sport

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Returning to Flamengo, Adriano scored twice in his team's 3-0 victory on Saturday over Sport.

The win gives Flamengo's hope of returning to the top four in the Brazilian Championship and the chance to participate in the 2010 Libertadores Cup.

Adriano missed two games with Flamengo due to a suspension and his World Cup duty with the Brazilian national team. However, his return proved that he did not lose a step.

The striker scored the team's first goal only two minutes into the game when he received the ball from Petkovic, set up his shot and fired the ball into the right corner of the Sport's net.

Adriano scored his second goal and Flamengo's third in the 88thminute. Leaping over the defense, he headed the ball into the net from a corner kick.

"It was a great win for Flamengo. I am happy to be back and to be playing well. Playing with the national team did good for me," described Adriano.

With their win, Flamengo gathered 34 points and is standing 8th. The top four teams to finish the Brazilian Championship automatically qualify for the 2010 Libertadores Cup.

Iran, U.S. soccer friendly to be held after FIFA World Cup South Africa: official

TEHRAN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Football Federation (IFF) chief, Ali Kaffashian said Sunday that Iran and the U.S. soccer friendly will be held after 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

"Upon the agreement between the two Federations' chieves of Iran and the United States, the match was postponed to after the South African World Cup," Kaffashian was quoted as saying by the local ISNA news agency.

"Due to the sensitivities concerning the game, both sides needed (the time) to provide the ground to meet the conditions posed by both countries .... Considering the issue and due to the proposal made by the American side, it was agreed that the match to be coordinated for after South African World Cup," said Kaffashian.

"All the written and oral negotiations (on the arrangements of the match) with the American side have been carried out directly without (any) mediator," he added.

In August, IFF deputy chief Mehdi Taj said Iran is likely to play the United States in a friendly soccer match in future.

In May, Kaffashian said that Iran has agreed to play a friendly match with the U.S. national soccer team.

"We are interested in holding friendly matches with the United States," he was quoted as saying by local satellite Press TV.

Earlier, IFF chief had told local ISNA news agency that the U.S. Soccer Federation had forwarded a request of a friendly football match to Iran's Football Federation.

In the 1998 World Cup in France, Iran beat U.S. 2-1 and they drew 1-1 in a friendly later in the United States.

Villa wins Birmingham derby

LONDON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Gabriel Agbonlahor headed home a late winner to give Aston Villa a 1-0 win in Birmingham derby on Sunday. Fulham came from behind to beat Everton 2-1 at Premier League.

Tim Cahill's header put Everton ahead after half hour, but Paul Konchesky and Damien Duff both scored after the restart, assisting the hosts to grab three points at last.

Fulham was ranked 10th while Everton only managed to be better than the struggling Portsmouth, which suffered a five-game losing streak.

The England striker Agbonlahor nodded in the only goal in the game after 85 minutes, helping Villa claiming their third victory out of four Premier League matches.

Both sides struggled to gain control in the midfield and the home side showed aspiration of revenging the 5-1 defeat when the two met last time. But it was the visitors that made the first threat as England international James Milner shot wide in the seventh minute.

The first real test for the Villa defense came when Garry O'Connor chest down a ball and had a shot blocked by Steven Warnock. The left back then held off Sebastian Larsson's strike in time.

Agbonlahor finally broke the deadlock with five minutes remaining when he headed home in the penalty box after substitute striker John Carew's nodding Ashley Young's free-kick towards him.

Villa equalized Liverpool at nine points as the Reds thrashed Burnley 4-0 at Anfield on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, French midfielder Florent Malouda scored an injury-time winner as Chelsea battled back from a goal down to beat the hosts Stoke 2-1, enabling the Blues leading the standings with full 15 points out of five games.

Schalke overcome Cologne to stay third

BERLIN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- German soccer powerhouse Schalke 04 overcame bottom team Cologne 2-1 on Sunday, lifting themselves into the third place of the Bundesliga table, while the game between Bremen and Hannover ended goalless.

Despite a long-awaited first goal of the season from new signing Lukas Podolsi, strikes from Jefferson Farfan and Levan Kobiashvili were enough to give Schalke 04 their third win of the season against Cologne, leaving the hosts still in search of their first Bundesliga victory of the season.

It took only two minutes before Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan opened the scoring by a diving header inside the goal area, but four minutes later German national striker Lukas Podolski equalized the score by a left footed shot into bottom left corner.

However, the first score of Podolski in Cologne colors didn't bring the victory for the team, which hasn't won match since beginning of Bundesliga season.

Immediately after interval midfielder Levan Kobiashvili netted in from 5m left-footed ball thanks to Farfan's assistance. Colognetried hard to get the equalizer but their effort went into wind.

The home defeat leaves Cologne remain at the bottom of Bundesliga table, while Schalke climbed on third.

Also on Sunday, the game between Bremen and Hannover turned out to be a boring goalless match, both teams were unable to offer good offensive actions.