Germany Beats France 2-1 in a Friendly to End Its Winless Run Days After Removing Coach Hansi Flick 

Football - International Friendly - Germany v France - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 12, 2023 Germany interim coach Rudi Völler talks to Thomas Müller. (Reuters)
Football - International Friendly - Germany v France - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 12, 2023 Germany interim coach Rudi Völler talks to Thomas Müller. (Reuters)
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Germany Beats France 2-1 in a Friendly to End Its Winless Run Days After Removing Coach Hansi Flick 

Football - International Friendly - Germany v France - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 12, 2023 Germany interim coach Rudi Völler talks to Thomas Müller. (Reuters)
Football - International Friendly - Germany v France - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 12, 2023 Germany interim coach Rudi Völler talks to Thomas Müller. (Reuters)

From jeers to cheers inside three days.

Germany beat World Cup runner-up France 2-1 in a friendly on Tuesday in a dramatic turnaround from being whistled by the crowd in a 4-1 loss to Japan on Saturday. That defeat cost Hansi Flick his job as coach the following day.

The win lifts some of the gloom around the team hosting the European Championship next year.

“We really threw ourselves into it and I think people saw that,” goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen told broadcaster ARD. “These have been strange, difficult days and it was all the better that we could turn things around with the win. I think it gives us confidence and that was what we definitely need right now.”

Thomas Müller scored early on and Leroy Sané added a second on a late counterattack, ending the run of five winless games which led to Flick being ousted Sunday. The search is on for a new permanent coach ahead of games against the United States and Mexico next month.

Against France, Germany was coached by a three-person caretaker team including sporting director Rudi Völler. He was Germany’s coach when it reached the 2002 World Cup final but hadn’t taken charge of any game for 18 years.

France had not conceded a goal in five games since losing the World Cup final to Argentina last year, but Germany scored in just the fourth minute. Thomas Müller, brought back to the squad by Flick last week for the first time this year, controlled Benjamin Henrichs’ cross and hammered the ball past goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

France could have had a penalty when Antonio Rüdiger appeared to shove Randal Kolo Muani to the ground in the penalty area in the 20th, but the referee opted not to give it. Aurelien Tchouameni had chances to score with two first-half headers at corners and a low shot in the 57th which was saved.

Sané made it 2-0 on a swift counter in the 87th but almost immediately gave away a penalty for a foul on Eduardo Camavinga. Antoine Griezmann converted the spot-kick.

On a night when Germany far surpassed expectations, there was concern over its captain, Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gündogan, who went off injured in the 25th after landing heavily on his back following an aerial challenge.



Al Rajhi Takes over Dakar Rally Lead after Miserable Stage for Lategan

 Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Al Rajhi Takes over Dakar Rally Lead after Miserable Stage for Lategan

 Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)

Local driver Yazeed Al Rajhi took advantage of a miserable stage by South Africa's Henk Lategan to grab the Dakar Rally lead in the Saudi Arabia desert on Tuesday.

Lategan led the Dakar for the past week, but errors and bad luck on the 357-kilometer ninth stage from Riyadh south-east to Haradh turned his overall lead of more than five minutes over Al Rajhi into a potentially decisive seven-minute deficit.

The rally has effectively two days and 400 kilometers remaining in the dunes of the Empty Quarter. The last day, Friday, is a ceremonial drive to the finish line in Shubaytah.

Al Rajhi, like Lategan, has never won the Dakar. This is the Saudi's 11th attempt with a best finish of third in 2022. He'd been lying second since last Wednesday. The title race appears to be between only them.

Third-placed Mattias Ekström of Sweden and five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar were about 25 minutes behind.

“It's a bit of disaster to be honest,” Lategan said. “About 13 kilometers in we got lost. We thought we missed the waypoint but we actually had it. When we got lost we got one puncture and then towards the end we got another one and the wheel is actually flat. So, it was a messy, messy, messy day for us but it's not the end of the world, we're still in it.”

Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings were 11th on the stage and Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk third.

“We did a great job like we planned to,” Al Rajhi said. “We pushed well. We enjoyed it, that's the most important. I hope everything goes well the next two or three days to win the Dakar ... I will fight to win. It won't be easy.”

Al-Attiyah won the stage ahead of Belgium’s Guillaume de Mévius in under three hours to rise to one minute off third place overall.

His 49th car stage win, and first in the Dakar for Romanian manufacturer Dacia, lifted him to only one behind the record jointly held by Finland's Ari Vatanen and France's Stephane Peterhansel.

Sanders cushions motorbike lead Australian rider Daniel Sanders bolstered his motorbike lead to nearly 15 minutes when closest challenger, Spain's Tosha Schareina, crashed early.

The back wheel of Schareina's Honda hit a rock and sent him flying only 20 kilometers in. He resumed racing but the nearly four minutes he finished behind Sanders dropped him in the general standings.

Schareina's teammate Adrien van Beveren of France remained third, more than 20 minutes behind, while Sanders' KTM teammate Luciano Benavides of Argentina strengthened his position in fourth place by winning his second successive stage.

Benavides, thanks to collecting time bonuses of nearly five minutes by opening the way, beat Van Beveren by nearly two minutes, and repeated his win into Haradh two years ago. Sanders was third after leading until about 70 kilometers from the end.

“I only got lost a couple of times ... and lost a little bit of time,” Sanders said. “I could have pushed and made some more (time) but it's not too bad.”