Real Madrid’s Fabio Coentrao scored the winning goal as Portugal beat Serbia 2-1 in Lisbon on Sunday to move top of Euro 2016 qualifying Group I.
Coentrao arrived at the back post to convert a low ball across the box from Joao Moutinho to decide the encounter at the Estadio da Luz after Nemanja Matic had cancelled out Ricardo Carvalho’s early opener with a spectacular strike.
Cristiano Ronaldo captained the home side but in the absence of another Real Madrid star, central defender Pepe, the veteran Carvalho played alongside Bruno Alves in the heart of the back four.
And the 36-year-old Monaco man got the breakthrough 10 minutes in, heading past Vladimir Stojkovic from a Coentrao cross to score his first international goal in eight years after Dusan Basta had needlessly given away a corner.
Serbia, playing their first competitive game under Radovan Curcic and struggling in the section, drew level from a corner of their own in the 61st minute.
Aleksandar Kolarov’s ball in from the left was helped on by Radosav Petrovic and Chelsea midfielder Matic — back on the ground where he used to star for Benfica — connected with a stunning acrobatic overhead kick that left Rui Patricio helpless in goal.
But Serbia were only level for two minutes before Coentrao got Portugal’s winner, to the delight of the home fans in the crowd of more than 58,000.
Ireland salvage draw
Elsewhere, Shane Long was the hometown hero as his 90th minute goal in a 1-1 draw with Poland at Lansdowne Road on Sunday night kept Ireland’s Euro 2016 dreams alive.
It looked for so long as if Slawomir Peszko’s first-half goal would give Poland all three points and all but end Ireland’s ambitions of going to France next year.
But the hosts fought back from a poor first half performance to dominate the second, hitting the post twice before substitute Long’s late, late show gave them a deserved point.
It could be a key goal in Ireland’s Euro campaign, as Martin O’Neill’s side would have been six points off the pace had Poland matched Germany and Scotland, who also enjoyed Group D victories on Sunday.
Poland will be happy with a point, despite the late concession, given they remain unbeaten in the Group, and top of the table.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
