Sports

LIVERPOOL — Wayne Rooney kept up his hot streak by scoring a 78th-minute winner as Manchester United beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Premier League in a poor-quality game between English football's two most successful clubs on Sunday.

 The England striker grabbed his fifth goal in four games in 2016 with United's first shot on target at Anfield, rifling home a volley from close range after Marouane Fellaini's header rebounded off the bar.

Playing without a recognised striker, Liverpool largely dominated the game but only created half-chances. The best fell to midfielder Emre Can, who had two shots saved by David de Gea in the second half.

United stayed two points behind fourth-place Tottenham in the race for Champions League qualification, and moved up a place to fifth. Liverpool is eight points off Spurs, with their top-four ambitions taking a huge step back against the team's biggest rival.

Rooney looks back to something close to his best form after a disappointing first half of the season. He was even dropped for the December 26 match against Stoke, but was recalled for the next match — against Chelsea at home two days later — and has scored in every game since then.

Rooney was isolated for much of this game, feeding off scraps, but took his chance well with a true strike after Fellaini rattled the crossbar with a header.

Many global football fans mark this fixture as one of the games of the Premier League season — the rivals have 38 league titles between them — but the two powers have struggled this campaign.

They kicked off lying in ninth and sixth place in the standings, respectively, and the first half showed just why. There was plenty of energy and snappy tackles but little quality, especially from United.

The teams were involved in thrilling 3-3 draws in midweek. They went from feast to famine a few days later.

Liverpool carved out some openings, for Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson and James Milner, but De Gea wasn't tested once and the shots were from long range. At the other end, opposite goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was little more than a bystander.

De Gea stepped up for United in the second half, though. He saved with his feet a low shot from Can, who then brought a superb diving save out of the Spain international with a fierce drive.

In between those chances, Anthony Martial finally got in behind Liverpool's defence and flashed a left-foot shot just past the far post — United's first genuine effort.

It meant Rooney's goal came against the run of play for United, which maybe made it even sweeter for the celebrating visiting fans, including injured United players Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Michael Carrick.

AMMAN – Jordan remained on top of Group D of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship  after a 0-0 draw with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday at Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha. The goalless match left both with four points, with Jordan leading the table on goal difference.

The UAE will next play Vietnam in its final match, while the national team must avoid defeat to Australia in order to advance to the second round. Earlier in the day, Australia beat Vietnam 2-0. Last week, Jordan defeated Vietnam 3-0, while the UAE secured a 1-0 win over Australia. 

LONDON – FIFA presidential candidate HRH Prince Ali has asked football’s world governing body to investigate Friday’s agreement signed between the African and Asian confederations in case it breaches the electoral code.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Confederation of African Football (CAF) counterpart Issa Hayatou signed the co-operation memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Rwanda, just over a month before the FIFA presidential election in Zurich on February 26.

Sheikh Salman, South African politician and businessman Tokyo Sexwale and Prince Ali are among five candidates standing in the election. 

The MOU is seen as a vote deal struck between the two confederations who will have a combined 100 votes in the 209 member poll.

“I have always promoted cross-regional understanding, however the timing of this MoU between the AFC and the CAF looks like a blatant attempt to engineer a bloc vote,” Prince Ali said in a statement.

“Africa’s proud football associations are not for sale and development resources belonging to national football associations should not be used by presidential candidates and confederation presidents for political expediency.

“Questions must be asked: was this deal approved by the members of the executive committees of both the AFC and CAF and is the timing of the announcement, prior to a presidential election, acceptable?

“Now more than ever, this apparent exploitation of confederation resources shows the world that the actions of individuals must stop bringing FIFA into disrepute.”

There was no immediate response from Sheikh Salman’s campaign.

The prince, who is president of the Jordanian federation, served on FIFA’s executive committee from 2011 to 2015.

AMMAN  —  The U-23 national football team plays the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday in their second match at the 2nd Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship currently under way in Doha, Qatar.

The team leads Group D after a vital 3-1 win over Vietnam as Asian powerhouse Australia went down 1-0 to the UAE on the opening day 0f the Championship serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

 Jordan’s head coach  Jamal Abu Abed will aim to come out with a positive result against  the UAE and secure qualification ahead of their last Round 1 match against Australia in the 16-team competition. 

Jordan aims to advance to the quarterfinals of the event in which they took third place in 2014. 

Observers were elated with the opening win as the team had an uphill task preparing for the championship, with the main challenge being to re-group the team with the busy agenda of the national squad in World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers as well as the local competition agenda. 

Abu Abed commended the team’s “discipline and commitment”, which has enabled the squad to overcome many obstacles.

DENVER — Stephen Curry was just about unstoppable in the fourth quarter, except near the very end.

Curry scored 20 of his 38 points in the final period but lost the ball under defensive pressure from Danilo Gallinari in the last moments, allowing the Denver Nuggets to hang on to hand the Golden State Warriors their third loss of the season, 112-110 on Wednesday night.

“It was a great opportunity to try to tie the game or take the lead,” Curry said about the last of his eight turnovers. “Got stuck between looking for the open man and handling the ball, and one little mishandle and Gallinari got it.”

The defending NBA champion Warriors (36-3) had won seven straight since their previous defeat, 114-91 at Dallas on December 30.

Gallinari led the Nuggets with 28 points but it was his defence at the game’s critical moment that made the difference, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.

“Gallo has proven this year he can guard most players on the floor,” Malone said. “And he did a great job. He got into a stance, forced a deflection, was first to the floor and comes out with the loose ball. Those are winning plays. Those are what separate teams and we had enough winning plays tonight where we were able to withstand the furious comeback that they made.”

Will Barton added 21 points for the Nuggets, who snapped a four-game losing streak to the Warriors despite being outscored 37-29 in the final period.

The Clippers improved to 10 straight wins with a 104-90 victory over the Heat with backup centre Cole Aldrich scoring 19 points and making seven rebounds in place of ailing DeAndre Jordan, who was sidelined because of pneumonia, ending the NBA’s longest active consecutive games played streak at 360.

At Oklahoma, Kevin Durant had 29 points and 10 rebounds as the Thunder romped to a 108-89 win against a Dallas line-up missing their usual starters.

Thunder star Russell Westbrook was ejected in the second quarter after getting his second technical foul following skirmishes with J.J. Barea. Westbrook went scoreless.

The Mavericks played the second night of a back-to-back after an overtime loss to Cleveland and coach Rick Carlisle chose not to use his five regular starters — Dirk Nowitzki, Wesley Matthews, Chandler Parsons, Deron Williams and Zaza Pachulia.

The Celtics ended a four-game losing streak with a 103-94 win over the Pacers, with Isaiah Thomas scoring 28 points and Jae Crowder matching his career high with 25.

In New York, Brook Lopez scored 20 points, Thaddeus Young had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Brooklyn ended their 10-game home losing streak with a 110-104 victory over the Knicks.

Elsewhere, the Wizards beat the Bucks 106-101, the Rockets had a 107-104 win over the Timberwolves, the Hornets beat the Hawks 107-84, the Trail Blazers won 99-85 against the Jazz and the Pelicans tied a team record with 16 three-pointers in a 109-97 victory against the Kings.

AMMAN — The Premier Basketball League enters Week 4 on the weekend with matches that will determine the league leader halfway through Round 1. 

Unbeaten Riyadi and Hurrieh come to head on Saturday after scoring three wins each. Riyadi last beat Jalil 57-51 while Hurrieh beat Ghazzet Hashem 70-61.

Titleholders Orthodoxi, who went down to Hurrieh in the opening week, are still third after they beat Awdeh 79-66 and next play Nashama. Kufr Youba scored their first win over Nashama 59-49 and moved from last spot ahead of their match against Jalil, while Ghazzet Hashem play Awdeh. 

Orthodoxi won their record 23rd league title last year and started off the season by winning the Jordan Cup, beating closest rivals Riyadi in the final minutes of the match.

Apart from Orthodoxi and Riyadi, the basketball league has undergone many changes with the leading clubs abandoning the game. Former champs Applied Science University (ASU) and Ittihad have pulled out of competitions over differences with the Jordan Basketball Federation and players have been dispersed over the rest of clubs. New clubs with no fan base are competing, in what is seen as a sharp decline in the game locally as well as Jordan’s regional competitive chances.

“It’s a league where players have been dispersed over many clubs. That has somewhat served the game, but in order to raise the bar of competition all sides need to implement drastic changes,” Riyadi coach Marwan Matouk told The Jordan Times.

The former national team star underlined that a strategy needed to be implemented as soon as possible to serve the game in the long run, with regulations governing the game geared to serve clubs and the national teams as well.

“We will play hard for the title this year,” Matouk added of his team despite the fact of injuries plaguing the line-up, which has also undergone major changes. “We hope the new clubs competing will remain in the game and work on raising the level of competition.” That is the first step at this stage, Matouk noted.

AMMAN — Jordan Motorsport, the sporting authority for all motorsport events in Jordan, has revealed its calendar of activities for 2016 with a total of 19 events including speed tests, rallying, karting and drifting.

According to Othman Naseef, CEO of Jordan Motorsport, the board of directors headed by HRH Prince Feisal approved the agenda.

“The board approved the budget and agenda for the 2016 season and discussed the annual report of the 2015 season and we are all looking forward for the 2016 season with more development and better organisation for the events,” he told The Jordan Times.

“We have an ambitious plan for this year with 19 events: five speed tests, five karting races, five drifting and four rallies. The first speed test will be held on February 12,” he added.

Drifting was introduced for the first time as part of the agenda in 2014 and quickly gained a lot of fans in a short time.

Meanwhile, the Jordan Rally, the third round of the Middle East Rally Championship will be held May 5-7.

“The fan bases are growing positively as more people are reading about a certain sport and getting acquainted with its regulations and heroes. People are following auto events more closely. For example drifting, today they know more about it then back in 2014 when we first introduced it,” Naseef said.

“Last year we had more focused participation from women drivers, which encouraged more females to look into these sports and try to be a part of it. This season we expect women newcomers to the sports,” he added.

Women drivers such as veteran driver Nancy Majali and newcomers Lina Hadidi and Marina Habaybeh made a positive impact on auto sports in the Kingdom with their enthusiasm and dedication.

“We hope to see more women drivers who will comprise a new generation of drivers to take on the male-dominated sports and I believe we will have more drivers in 2016,” he said.

Kyrie Irving drilled a deep three-pointer with 13 seconds to go in overtime that sealed the Cavaliers’ eighth consecutive victory, a 110-107 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Centre on Tuesday.

Deron Williams mistakenly thought he had drawn an offensive charge on Cavaliers forward LeBron James, who passed up on an open jumper from 4.6m and dished out to Irving in the deep wing for the game-winning bomb.

The Cavs did not crack 40 per cent from the floor until overtime, heaved 44 three-point attempts and for much of the night Irving and forward Kevin Love could not buy a basket.

James finished with a game-high 27 points after taking just three shots in the fourth quarter.

Rockets 107, Grizzlies 91

James Harden scored 25 points and Terrence Jones added 20 off the bench to lead Houston to their fourth straight win.

The Rockets connected on 18 three-pointers, including four by Harden, and enjoyed a decisive edge on the board to snap their losing streak against Memphis.

Knicks 120, Celtics 114

Kristaps Porzingis poured in 26 points to lead New York to victory.

The Knicks won for the fifth time in their last seven games despite the loss of Carmelo Anthony, their leading scorer, who left the game with a sprained right ankle after a collision late in the first half with a referee.

The veteran small forward was having a good offensive night, finishing with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists in almost 18 minutes.

Thunder 101, Timberwolves 96

Russell Westbrook fell just short of another triple-double with 22 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, and Oklahoma City held on late to beat Minnesota.

Kevin Durant scored 28 points for Oklahoma City, including 12 in the fourth quarter as Minnesota tried to rally.

Andrew Wiggins scored 22 points for Minnesota, who have lost 11 of their past 12 games.

Spurs 109, Pistons 99

Tony Parker poured in a season-high 31 points and San Antonio stretched their winning streak to nine games by downing Detroit.

The veteran point guard, who made 13-of-19 field-goal attempts, scored all his points in the final three quarters.

LaMarcus Aldridge contributed 22 points and 13 rebounds and Manu Ginobili supplied 15 points and five rebounds off the bench.

Bucks 106, Bulls 101

Jimmy Butler scored 30 points but it was not enough for the Chicago Bulls.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 29 points, and Khris Middleton added 16, including five over the final 2:30 of the fourth quarter as the Bucks mounted a late rally.

Butler scored 10 of his points in the third quarter and gave Chicago the lead twice down the stretch, but each time Milwaukee had an answer.

Pacers 116, Suns 97

Indiana had five players in double figures, led by 21 points from Paul George, and a momentum shifting power outage in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The power outage, which took place with 4:32 remaining in the second quarter, delayed the game for 21 minutes, but Indiana rallied from a two-point deficit when the lights came back on to lead by 10 at halftime, seizing the momentum when play resumed.

George Hill had 20 for Indiana, C.J, Miles added 19, Monta Ellis scored 14 and Ian Mahinmi had 10. The Pacers (22-16) made 10 three-pointers.

Lakers 95, Pelicans 91

Guard Lou Williams scored 19 points, handed out eight assists and hit a crucial basket with the game on the line as the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a four-game skid with a 95-91 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Staples Centre.

Guard Jordan Clarkson added 18 points for the Lakers (9-31), while backup point guard D’Angelo Russell chipped in 13 points.

Guard Tyreke Evans had 21 points to lead the Pelicans (11-26), who dropped their fourth in a row. Forward Ryan Anderson contributed 15 points and seven rebounds, while guards Eric Gordon and Jrue Holiday scored 14 points apiece.

Forward LaMarcus Aldridge collected 25 points and the San Antonio Spurs matched their best start to an NBA season with a 106-79 rout of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.

Riding an eight-game winning streak, the Spurs improved to 33-6, equalling the team’s best 39-game start, a mark set in 2010-2011.

Forward Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and rookie centre Boban Marjanovic scored 13, as San Antonio won despite quiet nights from guard Tony Parker and centre Tim Duncan.

A day after firing coach Lionel Hollins and reassigning General Manager Billy King, the Nets were not much better in interim coach Tony Brown’s debut while owner Mikhail Prokhorov watched from a suite.

Brooklyn missed 10 of 12 three-point attempts and committed 19 turnovers that resulted in 30 points to their opponents.

Centre Brook Lopez led Brooklyn with 18 points and forward Joe Johnson added 16 as the Nets (10-28) dropped their 10th consecutive home game, their longest such skid since losing 14 in a row at the Meadowlands.

The Nets scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to peg the deficit back to 77-62 with over 10 minutes remaining but San Antonio streaked away as Leonard sandwiched two three-pointers around a turnaround jumper by Aldridge.

Warriors 111, Heat 103

Stephen Curry scored nine of his game-high 31 points after the Miami Heat closed within seven midway through the fourth quarter, helping the Golden State Warriors hold on for a 111-103 victory on Monday.

Golden State power forward Draymond Green recorded a 22-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Shooting guard Klay Thompson dropped in 17 points as the Warriors (36-2) ran their home record to 18-0 this season, with their 36th consecutive home-court victory overall.

The win did not come easy against a Heat team that prevailed in eight of its previous 11 trips to Oakland.

The Warriors hit only seven of their 23 three-point attempts. Even Curry struggled from beyond the arc, going 4-for-11 on a night when he was just 11-for-27 overall.

However, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player preserved his club’s seventh consecutive win with two three-pointers, a midrange jumper and one free throw over the final 4:52 to complete his 16th 30-point game of the season.

Wizards 114, Bulls 100

Washington is dealing with numerous injuries but had no trouble beating Chicago 114-100 at the United Centre on Monday.

The Wizards won their second straight game by getting points from 10 players, including seven who finished in double-figure scoring.

John Wall led the way with 17 points, 10 assists and three steals, while Garrett Temple, Otto Porter and Nene all scored 14 points in the win.

Ramon Sessions had 16 points, Gary Neal added 11 points and Drew Gooden finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds, all off the bench.

Forward LeBron James scored 12 of his 37 points in a decisive 14-0 fourth-quarter run, as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Philadelphia 76ers 95-85 on Sunday.

James also finished with nine assists and seven rebounds for Cleveland, which improved their Eastern Conference-leading record to 26-9 with their seventh straight victory.

The Cavaliers also won their fifth straight on the road and their sixth straight over Philadelphia, and completed their first four-game season sweep of the 76ers since 1995-96.

Jahlil Okafor had 21 points to lead Philadelphia, which dropped their third straight and saw their NBA-worst record fall to 4-36.

Rockets 107, Pacers 103 (OT)

After a hail of three-pointers, Houston turned a late defensive stand into an overtime victory over Indiana at Toyota Centre.

The Rockets surrendered the first six points of overtime, all on layups, but rallied with long-range efforts from Patrick Beverley (16 points, six assists), Trevor Ariza (24 points) and Corey Brewer (12 points).

Dwight Howard finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds, and James Harden had 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Five Pacers scored in double figures, including Paul George, who had 20 points but just two after the third quarter.

Grizzlies 101, Celtics 98

Zach Randolph had 25 points and 13 rebounds off the bench to lead Memphis back from a 21-point deficit against Boston at FedExForum.

The Celtics had a chance to tie when Jeff Green made a bad inbounds pass with 3.9 seconds left.

Avery Bradley (14 points) missed a three-point attempt and then Isaiah Thomas, who led the Celtics with 35 points and eight assists, made a three-pointer, but it was after the buzzer.

Memphis won their sixth straight home game. Boston lost their third straight game.

Knicks 100, Bucks 88

Carmelo Anthony posted his 11th double-double of the season, scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to pace New York over Milwaukee at Madison Square Garden.

Anthony also had eight assists and rookie Kristaps Porzingis registered another balanced game with 15 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.

Robin Lopez finished with 13 points and nine rebounds before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

Milwaukee received 28 points and 10 rebounds from Greg Monroe and 20 points from Khris Middleton.

Clippers 114, Pelicans 111 (OT)

Chris Paul had 25 points, 11 assists and five rebounds as Clippers captured their ninth win in a row.

Jamal Crawford contributed 21 points for the Clippers, who had seven players score in double digits. Wesley Johnson and Luc Mbah a Moute added 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Jrue Holiday had a game-high 29 points to lead the Pelicans, who dropped their third in a row and did not have Anthony Davis (back contusion). Tyreke Evans finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Mavericks 93, Timberwolves 87

Dirk Nowitzki scored a game-high 29 points as Dallas edged Minnesota at Target Centre.

Chandler Parsons added 14 points and Zaza Pachulia scored 13 as the Mavericks handed the Timberwolves their sixth straight loss.

Andrew Wiggins led Minnesota with 21 points.

Nuggets 95, Hornets 92

Danilo Gallinari scored 27 points, Emmanuel Muiday had 11 in his return to the line-up and Denver beat Charlotte.

Gary Harris added 12 points for the Nuggets, who snapped a four-game losing streak at home. Denver is just 6-11 at Pepsi Centre this season.

Jeremy Lamb and Cody Zeller had 15 points each for the Hornets, who have lost seven straight on the road and overall. They finished 0-4 on their Western Conference road trip.

Trail Blazers 115, Thunder 110

Damian Lillard made five three-point shots in the final 3:20 to rally Portland over Oklahoma City at the Moda Centre.

Lillard scored 17 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter as the Trail Blazers snapped a three-game losing streak. CJ McCollum added 22 points.

Kevin Durant scored 28 points and Russell Westbrook had 25 points, nine rebounds and 15 assists for Oklahoma City, which led 85-80 heading into the fourth quarter.

Jazz 86, Lakers 74

Forward Gordon Hayward scored 25 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 86-74 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Centre.

Guard Rodney Hood had 14 points and six rebounds for Utah (17-20), which won for the second night in a row. The Jazz defeated the Miami Heat 98-83 on Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Guard Lou Williams, coming off a career-high 44 points in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, had 18 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field for the Lakers (8-31), who lost their fourth straight.