LONDON (AP) ― The Netherlands had a disappointing start to qualifying for the European Championship, and fellow World Cup team Bosnia-Herzegovina lost to Cyprus in Tuesday’s biggest surprise.Wales narrowly avoided a similar stumble at tiny Andorra, while Italy had a comfortable victory in Antonio Conte’s first competitive game in charge.Defender Daryl Janmaat’s blunder handed substitute Vaclav Pilar an injury-time goal, lifting the Czech Republic to a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands. Janmaat at

Sept. 10, 2014

GOYANG (Yonhap) -- With its new head coach looking on from the stands, South Korea fell to Uruguay 1-0 in their football friendly on Monday.Uli Stielike, an ex-German international appointed as the South Korea boss last week, watched the 59th-ranked Asian side fall to the sixth-ranked visitors before the sellout 38,000 fans at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, just west of Seoul.Defender Jose Gimenez foiled the South Koreans' bid to make a strong first impression on their new coach, heading in the winne

Sept. 9, 2014

BARI, Italy (AP) ― Italy scored twice in the opening 10 minutes and Antonio Conte got the better of Guus Hiddink in their coaching debuts as a 10-man Netherlands was beaten 2-0 in a friendly on Thursday.Ciro Immobile scored his first international goal three minutes in, and Daniele De Rossi added a penalty in the 10th.The opening goal was set up by a long, vertical pass from defender Leonardo Bonucci, which Immobile controlled expertly then dribbled around goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen before slot

Sept. 5, 2014

Former German national team player Uli Stielike has been named the new head coach of the South Korean men's football team, officials said Friday.The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the 59-year-old is signed through the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.Stielike fills the vacancy at the football coaching position here left by Hong Myung-bo, who resigned in early July after South Korea crashed out of the World Cup in Brazil with one draw and two losses.The KFA said Stielike will arrive in South

Sept. 5, 2014

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) ― Angel di Maria set up three goals and scored the fourth himself as Argentina trounced Germany 4-2 in its friendly game Wednesday to get a small measure of payback after losing to the host in the World Cup final.Argentina was up 4-0 after just 50 minutes to dampen the home side’s World Cup title celebrations in its first game since winning the final 1-0 in extra time in Brazil in July.“It can’t be revenge,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said. “You can’t bring the final ba

Sept. 4, 2014

The K League, the national governing body of professional football, launched an English-language website Wednesday, hoping that the move will help it better communicate with its growing international fan base. The website at www.kleague.com/eng contains information on the first-division K League Classic and the second-tier K League Challenge. The site features fixtures and results, match reports, statistics, league tables, video highlights and overviews of each club in both circuits. The page al

Sept. 3, 2014

South Korea will host Venezuela on Friday in its first international football match since the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.The match will kick off at 8 p.m. at Bucheon Stadium in Bucheon, just west of Seoul. It will be the first-ever meeting between South Korea and Venezuela.South Korea is ranked 57th in the world, 28 spots below Venezuela.South Korea will then face Uruguay next Monday in Goyang, northwest of the capital city.The host will be without a head coach in these two matches.South Korea has

Sept. 3, 2014

Ahead of South Korea’s first international matches since the disappointing FIFA World Cup in Brazil, members of the country’s senior national squad gathered on Tuesday to open their training camp.South Korea is scheduled to host Venezuela on Friday in Bucheon, just west of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, and to meet Uruguay on Monday in Goyang, northwest of the capital city. Both matches will kick off at 8 p.m.The players first met at a hotel here in Goyang and are scheduled to begin training at the

Sept. 2, 2014

LONDON (AP) ― Chelsea showed off its newfound attacking sparkle in a 6-3 win over Everton on the day Manchester City slipped to a surprise first defeat in its Premier League title defense.City’s 1-0 home loss to Stoke on Saturday was exacerbated by its title rival’s wild victory at Goodison Park, in which Spain striker Diego Costa scored in the first and last minutes to continue the superb start to his Chelsea career.Another big-money arrival in English football, Angel Di Maria, made a promising

Aug. 31, 2014

A Belgian professional football club recently purchased by a South Korean marketing firm has signed its first player from the Asian country, officials said Friday.Sportizen, a Seoul-based sports marketing agency that recently acquired A.F.C. Tubize, said the second-division Belgian club has signed midfielder Hwang Jin-sung to a one-year contract.Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Sportizen said Hwang could make his Belgian debut at home on Wednesday.Earlier this month, Sportizen a

Aug. 29, 2014

South Korea has narrowed down the candidates for its men's national team head coach to four or five, the sport's technical director said Wednesday.Lee Yong-soo, head of the technical committee at the Korea Football Association, told reporters that the goal is to fill the coaching vacancy within September but did not name any of the candidates."We have contacted four to five candidates about the position," Lee told reporters at the National Football Center in Paju, north of Seoul. "We hope to hav

Aug. 27, 2014

Two South Korean soccer teams will battle this week for a berth in the semifinals of the top Asian club competition.FC Seoul will host Pohang Steelers on Wednesday at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the second leg of their quarterfinals in the AFC Champions League. The kickoff will be 7:30 p.m.The all-K League Classic showdown opened with a scoreless draw last Wednesday. The aggregate score determines the winner in the home-and-away series, but since neither team could find the back of the net in the

Aug. 25, 2014