SOCCER NEWS/Hong Kong 1 Brazil 7: Brazil began their year in sublime form as they crushed Hong Kong 7-1 yesterday.
The world champions put on a breathtaking display to thrill a festive crowd celebrating the first day of the Chinese New Year at the Hong Kong Stadium.
Brazil hardly missed Ronaldo - not released by Real Madrid for this warm-up game for next month's World Cup qualifier against Peru - against a side ranked 134th in the world.
Ricardo Oliveira scored twice while Lucio, Robinho, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos, with a stunnning 25-metre shot, were also on target. Substitute Alex converted a late penalty to complete the rout.
Brazil led 3-0 at half-time and despite the early substitutions of skipper Cafu, Ronaldinho, the 2004 World Footballer of the Year, and Roberto Carlos, they kept up the pressure until the end.
ITALY 0 RUSSIA 0: Italy produced a lively second-half performance to cruise past Russia 2-0 in a friendly match in Cagliari yesterday.
Goals by substitute Alberto Gilardino and midfielder Simone Barone shortly after the restart settled the match after a quiet first 45 minutes.
Russia, wearing black and white as part of the Europe-wide anti-racism campaign, were limited to catching the hosts on the break.
At the interval Italy coach Marcello Lippi replaced his initial strike trio of Vincenzo Montella, Christian Vieri and Francesco Totti with Parma's Gilardino and the Cagliari pairing of Mauro Esposito and Antonio Langella.
JAPAN 2 NORTH KOREA 1: When the home crowd booed their opponents before kick-off it looked like the match was going to live up to its billing as an ugly showdown between long-time foes. But it proved a short-lived display of bravado.
Japanese soccer fans reverted to type last night, behaving impeccably as they watched their team secure a last-gasp 2-1 victory over North Korea in the countries' first match in their qualifying group for next summer's World Cup finals.
About 3,500 police officers and security guards had been drafted in to keep the two sets of supporters apart amid fears that political tensions between the two countries over North Korea's cold-war abductions of Japanese citizens would spill over into the stands.
There were no reports of violence, and the presence of Japan's fanatical right wing was limited to a couple of elderly, bearded men chanting tired old slogans outside the stadium.
The impressive North Koreans outplayed Japan for much of the game,
but were unable to
reward their colourful and noisy fans with a repeat of the glorious day in England in 1966 when they beat Italy to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.
The return leg is in Pyongyang on June 8th.
