BAYERN MUNICH 6-0 BEIJING GUO'AN
Bayern Munich Beats Beijing By 6-0. in a pre-season friendly match at Workers' Stadium in Beijng on Tuesday, July 24, 2012. Bayern Munich swept over Beijing Guo'an 6-0 in a pre-season friendly match at Workers' Stadium in Beijng on Tuesday.Guo'an sent on a second-string lineup and were under full control of the Bundesliga powerhouse throughout the game.With Philip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger staying home, Bayern stormed into a 2-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes. Claudio Pizarro forced Guo'an defender Zhang Junzhe to an own goal in the eighth minute, and Arjen Robben headed home another goal two minutes later. Pizarro also hammered home a header after receiving Ribery's left cross in the 43th minute.Thomas Muller and Mario Mandzukic, Mario Gomez each added a goal to raise Bayern to a 6-0 victory.The Bavarian club will take on Wolfsburg in Guangdong in South China two days later.Bayern, whose summer pre-season features 12 friendly matches, asked players to report back for training on July 3, but the date did not apply to those involved in Euro 2012.
WEST HAM UNITED 3-0 ROT-WEISS
West Ham kicked-off their pre-season tour of Germany with a 3-0 win against third-division side Wot-Reiss Erfurt.The Hammers named three trialists in a young starting line-up, with Bilel Mohsni, Dutch defender Michael Lamey and Colin Kazim-Richards all handed an opportunity to impress Sam Allardyce. After a sluggish opening 15 minutes, it was the home side who managed to craft the first real opportunity of the game when West Ham failed to deal with a corner. However, Rot-Weiss right winger Dominick Drexler found himself eight yards out with the goal at his mercy but blazed his shot over the bar. And it was the German side who continued to force the issue throughout the first half, with Hammers keeper Stephen Henderson making a series of impressive saves to ensure that the scoreline remained goalless at half-time.A slice of fortune early in the second half for the Premier League outfit changed the complexion of the game, however, when Kazim-Richards burst down the left flank and saw his testing cross knocked into the back of his own net by Rot-Weiss defender Phil Ofosu-Ayeh. The introduction of striker Ricardo Vaz Te on 61 minutes proved to be invaluable as the frontman netted a delightful double, both of which were the result of some slick West Ham passing, to secure a hard-fought victory for the Hammers.
IT'S difficult to know what Celtic would have learned from last night’s exercise against Norwich City.Neil Lennon’s European spying mission saw him miss the game but the manager would have been none the wiser had he been in his usual place in the dugout.Norwich’s Grant Holt snatched the winner with two minutes left after a goalmouth scramble but that strike had as much relevance as the team Celtic had chosen for the occasion.Too many players who will be relied upon in next week’s Champions League qualifier against HJK Helsinki were missing, or only used sparingly, for the game to be an accurate indicator of anything.Captain Scott Brown and Player of the Year Charlie Mulgrew were no shows as were Joe Ledley and Anthony Stokes.Beram Kayal was injured while James Forrest, Adam Matthews and Gary Hooper only played for half an hour or less.So that presented a distorted picture of what Celtic will look like when tension rises to a crescendo against the Finns.A more instantly recognisable side will surely play against Inter Milan on Saturday in the final dress rehearsal before the curtain goes up on a European production that can’t afford to be a flop.Those who got most of the action against the Canaries last night were fringe players charged with the responsibility of staging a midweek recovery from a weekend hangover.Celtic’s meeting with English opposition lost its friendly tag when Ajax scored their fourth goal against Lennon’s side in Amsterdam on Saturday.At that point the SPL title holders were sent on a mission to hit better form ahead of the Champions League qualifiers.The Parkhead manager went to Iceland last night to see their Euro opponents complete the formality of their aggregate win over KR Reykjavik after scoring seven without reply in the first leg.Celtic had only managed to score two goals in their four pre-season matches prior to last night’s encounter, having lost six in the process.Their twin objectives; to defend better and pose more of a scoring threat, had to be executed in what was literally a game of two halves for Norwich City.Chris Hughton listed one team for the first 45 minutes and another for the second half.It was Norwich’s James Vaughan who came closest to breaking the deadlock with a run behind the Celtic defence that required a last-gasp challenge from Mikael Lustig to concede a corner and spare a goal.The East Anglian side were behind Celtic in terms of their preparations but quicker in thought and deed to begin with.It was as well the Hoops fans had former Rangers defender Steven Whittaker to taunt. That took their minds off not having much to cheer from their side.But Whittaker, booed every time he touched the ball, only lasted until midway through the first half.He was injured dispossessing Emilio Izaguirre, a challenge which set up another squandered chance for Norwich. That was the signal for Celtic to come to life.Kris Commons rattled the bar from distance then dropped a cross on to the head of Lustig, who also struck the woodwork.But Lennon’s side still needed Lukasz Zaluska to make a save from Anthony Pilkington that prevented them from falling behind before the interval.Steve Morison’s pass once again took the Celtic defence out of the equation far too easily for Johan Mjallby’s liking but the Pole got down well to save the shot.The Parkhead assistant boss looked bemused by what he was watching at times and decided to replace Kelvin Wilson with Victor Wanyama in central defence before his mood turned to anger.Even more worrying for Mjallby was watching Zaluska go off with a head injury after clashing with Vaughan.Fraser Forster replaced his bandaged colleague for what was left of an undistinguished half from Celtic’s perspective.Hoops No.1 Forster spent a season on loan with Norwich earlier in his career but his old team-mates showed him no mercy as they piled towards his goal.One save the big man made, from a flick by Chris Martin, was exceptional and confirmed the keeper as his team’s most consistent performer throughout the pre-season work.Celtic’s respite came when Daryl Murphy was played in for a free header on goal only to send his effort over.Commons had more of an instinct for goal and took an astute pass from Filip Twardzik in his stride before unleashing a drive that shaved John Ruddy’s right-hand post.The game had livened up but it was also so evenly balanced by the hour mark that it was impossible to say who would have the upper hand. Mjallby then replaced Murphy and Dylan McGeouch with Forrest and Hooper to see if that could sway the balance in Celtic’s favour.But the match had gone from being balanced to a training game by the time Commons and Georgios Samaras came off for Mo Bangura and Matthews.It will be a different story the next time Celtic are under their own floodlights and the glare is on them.As it was, the night had a dark end for Celtic when Holt was quickest to react to a Forster parry and knocked the ball over the line to give make it a tally of one win in five games for the Hoops.
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