Sion, Young boys both held

Sion moved to within six points off the Super League summit despite being held to a 1-1 draw at FC Zurich today.

The hosts led through Admir Mehmedi's 32nd-minute goal but Vilmos Vanczak equalised in the 64th to keep Sion level with second-placed Lucerne and two wins behind leaders Basel, who play Neuchatel Xamax tomorrow.

Young Boys, four points further back in fourth, drew 1-1 at Thun. They trailed to Christian Schneuwly's early goal for the sixth-placed hosts but Massim Ben Khalifa equalised in the 27th minute.

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Kashiwa young guns ready to fire

J.League Player of the Year Leandro Domingues and fellow Kashiwa Reysol ace Jorge Wagner may have been toying with opposition defences all season, but the platform for their attacking prowess was often laid on by defender Hiroki Sakai and midfielder Akimi Barada, both products of the freshly crowned Japanese champions' youth system.

Sakai capped an impressive campaign by being named the J.League’s Best Young Player, as well as in the divisional Team of the Year. And the 21-year-old right-back, who has been dubbed ‘a Japanese Daniel Alves’ in some quarters, is hungry for more glory at the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2011.

“In our first game, our only objective was to win,” Sakai told FIFA.com after Kashiwa comfortably defeated Auckland City 2-0 in Thursday’s play-off for the quarter-finals. “The atmosphere inside the stadium was incredible. It was thrilling playing against a team from another country, especially in such wonderful surroundings.”

Despite the victory, Sakai is desperate for an improvement in his side’s next match against Mexico’s Monterrey. “We managed to break down Auckland, but we really struggled to finish them off," said the Japan U-22 international, who has reportedly been scouted by Santos. "We must attack more right from the start. We defended well until the end, and we snuffed out Auckland’s attacking threat. Still, we’ll have to step it up a notch for the next game.”

While Sakai has marshalled the defence, Barada has held sway in the centre of the park to allow Leandro Domingues - Kashiwa’s top scorer with 15 goals this season - and Jorge Wagner to operate more freely. Barada’s rise to prominence at Reysol is testament to the years he spent coming through the ranks at the club.

“Ever since my days in the junior and youth teams, I’ve practiced passing and controlling the ball every day," said the hard-working 20-year-old. "They are my strengths, and I think I need to keep playing to my strengths.”

The strong bonds forged between Kashiwa’s up-and-coming players were a crucial factor in the club’s remarkable run to the top-flight title just one season after winning the second-tier crown. According to Barada, this team spirit filters down through the entire club: “When I was in the youth squad, we trained against the first team quite often, and the older players always treated me kindly, so it was easy to fit in with them. It also helped me slot quickly into the first team after I turned professional.”

What is more, Sakai and Barada were both born in Kashiwa’s home prefecture of Chiba, near Tokyo, so share the supporters’ passion for the team. With the FIFA Club World Cup being Reysol's first appearance in an international tournament  - they had never qualified for the AFC Champions League before 2011 - Barada is hoping to give the fans something more to cheer about in what has already been a momentous year.

“I’m really grateful to all the supporters who travelled so far to watch us play against Auckland,” he said as the conversation drew to a close. “We’ve had a taste of the FIFA Club World Cup now and, although we took a while to get going against Auckland, in our next game we want to play just like we did during the J.League season.”

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Ferguson: Young players will bounce back

Sir Alex Ferguson has thrown a cloak of protection around his young players, insisting they will not be "hounded out" of Manchester United despite their UEFA Champions League exit on Wednesday.

A major review is already underway at Old Trafford as they adapt to a post-Christmas expedition into the UEFA Europa League in the wake of Wednesday's 2-1 defeat in Basel that could cost the club £20m.

Given that United bounced back from a similarly disastrous situation that was compounded by significant off-field turbulence, including the loss of a major sponsor, in 2005 by registering three straight Premier League title triumphs and enjoying one of their most prolific spells in Europe, few are willing to write Ferguson off just yet.

However, former skipper Roy Keane has discussed the over-inflated reputations of young players.

Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Nani, Ashley Young and David de Gea were all in Ferguson's midweek starting line-up, with Jonny Evans, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda introduced later on, all to no avail.

Yet, rather than allow such a negative experience to crush them, Ferguson insists he retains total trust in their talent and expects them to be the bedrock of a new team, just as Cristiano Ronaldo led the last one out of the mire.

"We've experienced this many times over the years, going back to when (Ryan) Giggs and the other young lads came in to the side," he said.

"They came in for criticism, particularly against Aston Villa [in 1995]. It has happened more recently with Wes Brown, John O'Shea and Darren Fletcher. They have all become the foundation of the club and that's what will happen with these young players.

"They have achieved many great things so far. Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck have played for their country. They had a nasty experience on Wednesday but they have the trust of myself and my coaches.

"They will not be hounded because of one bad performance. Time will prove us right."

All three are being asked to play far more significant roles than they might have imagined due to the large number of injuries throughout the United squad. The same demands would have been placed on Tom Cleverley had he not been one of the players affected.

As expected, Ferguson confirmed the unhappy postscript to Wednesday was the loss of skipper Nemanja Vidic for the remainder of the season after scans revealed the Serbian ruptured cruciate knee ligaments during a first-half tangle with Marco Streller.

"Nemanja is out for the season," confirmed Ferguson. "It is bad news. He sees the specialist on Monday to map out the progress of when he has the operation. It won't be immediate because we have to let the swelling come down. It is a bit of a blow."

If there is a silver lining to such a dark cloud it is that Jones may now get a chance to occupy his favourite position in central defence. Smalling and Evans may also be selected for the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow, particularly as Rio Ferdinand, who has played in the last two games, tends to be spared the huge fixture demands that United's presence in the Europa League has only increased.

Ferguson, in spite of the long injury list, seemed optimistic about the rest of the season.

"We had a fantastic start to the season then we started getting quite a few injuries. That can destabilise you," he said. "The balance goes a little bit but the quality is there. Our club can have bad results just like everyone else.

"We all get them. The important part is how you recover."

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Young reaches 100 RBI mark; Rangers sweep Indians

ARLINGTON, Texas - With Michael Young standing on deck for the Texas Rangers already with 98 RBIs, the Cleveland Indians opted to walk Josh Hamilton.

Giving that free pass to Hamilton and loading the bases in the fifth inning only briefly delayed a big blast by the AL West-leading Rangers.

Young delivered a three-run double to go over 100 RBIs for the second time in his career, and Adrian Beltre immediately followed with a two-run homer as Texas went on to a 7-4 victory Thursday night, completing a three-game sweep and extending its division lead to 3 1/2 games over the idle Los Angeles Angels.

"I don't take those things personally. I just try to focus on my job," Young said. "At that point we're really making sure we're trying to push one across. I was just trying to get something to the outfield. Worst-case scenario, sacrifice fly scores a run."

Texas (86-64) moved to 22 games over .500 for the first time since 1999, and will now play nine of its final 12 games on the road, starting Friday night at Seattle.

Cleveland's loss cut Detroit's magic number for clinching the AL Central to one. The Tigers lost 6-1 at Oakland later Thursday.

"All you can think is you failed to achieve your goal, which is to win the division," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "You play to win the division. So you get your head up, play for second place or above .500. You have to shift gears and have another goal."

Young's bases-clearing double off Fausto Carmona (6-15) gave him 101 RBIs. Beltre followed with his 25th home run for a 6-0 lead.

Hamilton hit his 22nd homer in the seventh.

The 40th double of the season for Young, now primarily the Rangers' designated hitter, pushed him within two RBIs of his career high set five years ago. Young is only three hits shy of his seventh 200-hit season.

"What a year," manager Ron Washington said. "It doesn't matter where I put him in that lineup, he delivers."

Endy Chavez opened the Texas fifth with an infield single before his second stolen base of the game. Ian Kinsler then walked before Elvis Andrus' sacrifice bunt brought up Hamilton, the reigning AL MVP who hit a grand slam Wednesday night after also going deep in the series opener.

"Like any team that has depth, pick your poison," Washington said. "I think any manager would have did what he did, not pitch to Josh. But he had to deal with Michael, had to deal with Beltre."

Alexi Ogando (13-8) allowed only two singles while throwing six scoreless innings. The All-Star right-hander struck out four and walked two while winning for the first time in a month. He had been 0-3 in five starts since his last win Aug. 15 at the Angels.

Ogando was nearly flawless, except for a 39-pitch second inning when he got out of bases-loaded jam with consecutive strikeouts after both of his walks. He faced the minimum three batters the other five innings he pitched, getting Ezequiel Carrera to ground into an inning-ending double play after Jason Kipnis singled in the sixth.

Washington said Ogando's "competitive juices" kicked in after he probably came within one batter of making an early exit.

"Sometimes during the game you have times like that during an inning. I was going too much to my left side on my fastball," Ogando said through an interpreter. "That's why I couldn't control those pitches. You can't do anything else. You have to think about what you were doing wrong. When they came and talked to me, that's what happened. I was able to fix it and worked my way to do it."

Ogando had already thrown 52 pitches after he struck out Lonnie Chisenhall and Lou Marson to get out of the second. He needed only 40 more pitches to get through the next four innings, and had his longest outing in his last five starts.

Carmona, an AL All-Star last season, is 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA over his last six starts. Against the Rangers, the right-hander struck out three, walked five, and gave up seven hits and five earned runs over six innings. He also threw a wild pitch.

Texas got its first run after Chavez had a leadoff single in the third to snap his 0-for-13 slide. He then got to third on a stolen base and a throwing error by catcher Marson before scoring on a single by Andrus.

Shelley Duncan had a bloop RBI single with two outs in the seventh off Darren Oliver for the Indians' first run.

NOTES: The Rangers went 9-1 against Cleveland this season, outscoring the Indians 68-32. Texas has won 21 of 25 in the series over the past three seasons. ... Andrus has hit in all 23 of his games against Cleveland. ... Texas had only nine hits, ending its club record streak of consecutive 12-hit games at seven. ... Cleveland scored twice in the ninth off closer Neftali Feliz, who was pitching for the first time since Saturday. ... Actor Jonah Hill, a co-star in the upcoming movie "Moneyball," threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ... Texas is 49-29 at home.

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