Sneijder wary of Atletico challenge

Wesley Sneijder believes Atletico could mount a genuine title challenge to his side and Barcelona this season.

Atletico have not claimed any major silverware since winning the Primera Liga and Copa del Rey double in 1996, but they have shown gradual improvement in the last four years with league finishes of 11th, 10th, seventh and then fourth last season.

Despite that, the Rojiblancos have still provided little competition to Real Madrid in recent times, finishing a combined total of 37 points adrift over the last two campaigns as their rivals recorded back-to-back titles.

Sneijder believes it could be a different story this season though, with Atletico starting the campaign in impressive form after strengthening well over the summer.

When asked if he thought Barca would be their biggest rivals for the title, Sneijder told AS: "Yes, but we also need to be careful about Atletico Madrid. They have a very strong team.

"I saw them in the game against PSV Eindhoven, they won 3-0 (in Holland) and it's not easy to do that there. It seems as though it was easy, but it's not.

"Atletico have a very strong team to win the league."

As for their rivals from the Nou Camp, Sneijder added: "Barcelona have many quality players, but they are still not a team. I've seen two of their games.

"Although it's true that at the end Barcelona and Madrid will be fighting for the title."

Sneijder has missed the start of the season due to injury and when he returns to action, which is set to be the October 5 match against Espanyol, he will rejoin a Madrid team without the mercurial skills of Robinho.

The Brazilian left the Spanish giants in ignominious fashion earlier this month to join Premier League club Manchester City.

Sneijder believes it is right that an unsettled player should be able to move on, but feels Robinho was wrong to say he would rather be a travelling salesman than continue playing with Madrid.

"When a player has decided to leave it's best that he is allowed to leave. It's good for the club, for us and for him. Robinho is a very good player," said Sneijder.

"He wanted to go, although in my opinion he should never have talked about Madrid like that. I don't like it that he talks about the best club in the world this way."

by espnstar.com

Tags: Wesley Sneijder, Barcelona, Primera Liga, winning, Atletico Madrid, Madrid, Manchester City

Kahn defends Rensing

Former Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has jumped to the defence of his successor at Bayern Munich and ruled out a return from retirement.

Michael Rensing was on the losing side for the first time in his professional career on Saturday as Bayern lost 5-2 to Werder Bremen - the club's heaviest home defeat in the Bundesliga in almost 30 years.

And the new Bayern number one was singled out for particular criticism with at least two of the Bremen goals blamed on him.

Yet Kahn believes it is far too early to doubt the 24-year-old.

"I have always said that when you want to build young players, then you have got to expect the odd stumble along the way, and that is why it would be fatal to question Rensing now," said the 39-year-old in the Bild newspaper.

"The example of Iker Casillas comes to mind. He came into the Real Madrid team as a youngster and people doubted him, but Madrid stood by him and now he is European champion and one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

"A goalkeeper needs faith more than anybody else, given their relatively lonesome position."

A survey conducted by Bild saw over 60% of responses call for Kahn to return to the Bayern goal, but he dismissed the idea out of hand.

"That does not help at all - my career is over," he added.

"There is no turning back. Something new is beginning at FC Bayern and they need faith and time.

"You cannot make the mistake of thinking that Rensing will immediately reach the level I was at during the best spells of my career.

"He is young and will do things his way."

On Wednesday, Rensing will have the chance to prove the critics wrong in the second round of the DFB-Pokal against Nurnberg at the Allianz Arena.

"He should try not to think about it too much and it is good that there is the cup game on Wednesday for him," said Kahn.

by espnstar.com

Tags: Oliver Kahn, goalkeeper, Bayern Munich, Bundesliga, Iker Casillas

Chargers light up Jets

Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes as San Diego bounced back with a 48-29 victory over the New York Jets.

Antonio Cromartie had a 52-yard interception return for a TD for the Chargers (1-2), who took a 31-14 lead at halftime and increased their advantage to 24 points on Tomlinson's 2-yard score to cap the first drive of the second half.

Rivers tossed scoring passes to Mike Tolbert, Chris Chambers and Antonio Gates to pace San Diego, which lost on the final play of the game against the Carolina Panthers in its season opener.

The Chargers then were beaten by the rival Denver Broncos on a two-point conversion after a controversial call with 24 seconds left in Week Two.

Brett Favre threw a 4-yard TD to Chansi Stuckey and Jay Feely added a 32-yard field goal to cut the Jets' deficit to 38-23 with 8:25 left in the fourth - the closest they would get after halftime.

Favre was 30-of-42 for 271 yards with three TDs and two interceptions for New York (1-2).

by espnstar.com

Tags: New York Jets, Antonio Cromartie, Philip Rivers, Carolina Panthers, football

Hantuchova eases through

Daniela Hantuchova had little trouble advancing in the China Open after a straight-sets defeat of Gisela Dulko.

The seventh-seeded Slovakian cruised past the Argentinian 6-3 6-1.

Hantuchova next faces either Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn or fellow countrywoman Katarina Srebotnik in the second round.

The other seeded player in action on Monday was not as fortunate.

Ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki was ousted in her first round match, going down 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues.

The Spaniard will play either Kazakhstan qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova or Hungarian Agnes Szavay next.

Also winning on Monday was Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, who rebounded from dropping the first set to defeat former world number one Amelie Mauresmo 3-6 6-4 6-3.

Next up for Cibulkova is the winner of the first-round match between eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and Czech lucky loser Iveta Benesova.

Serbians Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic are seeded first and second, respectively. They received first-round byes along with fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and fifth seed Vera Zvonareva, both Russians.

The tournament's third seed, Dinara Safina, who won the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Sunday, withdrew due to injury.

In the men's event, Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei and Bjorn Phau of Germany were victorious on the opening day.

Spain's David Ferrer, fresh from helping Spain reach the Davis Cup final with a 4-1 win over the USA in Madrid, is the top seed.

by espnstar.com

Tags: China Open, Daniela Hantuchova, Davis Cup, David Ferrer, tennis