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Guyana secured first place in Group A of League B as the Road to W Gold Cup tournament began its final matchday on Sunday. Guyana won 3-0 against Antigua and Barbuda at the Dr. Ir. Franklin Essed Stadium in Paramaribo, Suriname.
Annalisa Vincent struck with a back-heel in the 39th minute to put Guyana in front. The play developed quickly from a Otesha Charles cross to the left side to a pass in the box by Shanice Alferd before Vincent got the final hit.
Charles put her name on the scoresheet with a header in the 63rd after connecting with a cross from Brianne Desa and Neema Liverpool put the finishing touch on a Guyana corner kick in the 85' on a second assist from Desa.
Meanwhile, Grenada topped United States Virgin Islands 2-0 to finish Group C of League C of the Road to W Gold Cup with a perfect record at the Bethlehem Soccer Stadium in St. Croix, USVI.
Grenada finished the group with four wins in four matches, while USVI are second with four points, followed by Bahamas with one point.
The first half did not see a goal, but there were ample chances for both sides, including five shots on target for the home side. USVI was getting most of their activity from Ariel Stoltz and Josie Couch, while Grenada’s top scorer, Nia Thompson, accounted for the two best looks at goal for the visitors.
Grenada came out much more aggressive to start the second half and a driving run into the area from Melania Fullerton resulted in a foul from the USVI defense and a penalty kick. Fullerton was tasked with taking the spot kick and she coolly converted, firing in a powerful right-footed attempt for a 1-0 Grenada lead.
Grenada were flying and came within a whisker of doubling the lead in the 71st minute when Roneisha Frank hammered a shot toward goal that USVI keeper Kinda Lambert managed to tip to the crossbar and out of play.
Frank would get her goal in the 78th when miscommunication between Lambert and her defense led to spill in front of goal and Frank was there to clean it up to double the lead, 2-0, which held until the final whistle.
Venezia win a boost for Liverpool and Inter clashes, says Fonseca
Paulo Fonseca believes Milan gained a much-needed confidence boost from their 4-0 win over Venezia with big clashes against Liverpool and Inter coming up.
The 51-year-old had already come under pressure after a lacklustre start to life at Milan, with two draws and a defeat in their opening three games.
However, a comfortable home victory over Venezia eased some of that, as Milan scored four goals in the opening 30 minutes of a match for the first time since October 1958.
"Our season already started four rounds ago, we dropped points and need to recover lost ground, but it was important to win and to win like this. It gives the players confidence to keep growing," Fonseca told Sky Sports Italia.
While Saturday's victory offered some relief for the Portuguese coach, the real test awaits when Milan host Liverpool in their Champions League opener on Tuesday, followed by a derby against Inter next weekend.
"I have to be honest, I've already started thinking about both games against Liverpool and Inter. I realise the importance of the derby. Liverpool will be very difficult, but I cannot deny I have already started studying Inter, too," Fonseca said.
"I know what it means to the fans, we are working to have good performances in both matches."
Fonseca denied that recent protests from fans, including banners placed in the stands just before kick-off warning that things needed to turn around quickly, threw him off balance.
"I think as a coach that I have to deal with these situations with balance, stay focused on my work and ignore everything around us," he said.
"Milan is a club that always has the pressure to win. If we coaches don't want this pressure, then we shouldn’t be coaches."
LA Galaxy 4-2 Los Angeles FC: Hosts claim playoff spot with stunning second-half comeback
LA Galaxy stunned derby rivals Los Angeles FC on Saturday with a superb second-half comeback to seal a 4-2 victory.
They overturned a 2-0 half-time lead with four unanswered goals around Lewis O'Brien's sending-off, becoming the first team in the Western Conference to clinch a playoff spot.
Mateusz Bogusz gambled by peeling away to the back post and was in the right place to head Denis Bouanga's deflected cross into the back of the net after just four minutes.
Just 11 minutes later, Bouanga made another driving run down the left and went for goal himself, drilling a low shot past John McCarthy from a tight angle. They could have had a third before the break, but Olivier Giroud's half-volley struck the inside of the post.
Dejan Joveljic got his first, rifling into the roof of the net after a wonderful turn, and just two minutes later, Edwin Cerrillo scored a stunning goal of his own, beating Hugo Lloris from distance by curling it in off the outside of his boot.
Joveljic's second was opportunistic – he stuck out a leg to help Riqui Puig's strike past a wrong-footed Lloris from just in front of the goal line.
O'Brien was then shown a straight red card for a lunging challenge on Miki Yamane before Puig rounded off the scoring with a whipped effort into the near post.
Data Debrief: Home advantage
To use an old cliche, it was a game of two halves, with LA Galaxy proving just why they are top of the table, and eight points clear of LAFC, in a brilliant second 45 minutes.
However, this is the first time they have won after trailing at half-time in MLS since March 24 against Sporting Kansas City, which they won 3-2, ending a seven-game run.
The Galaxy have now won 11 of their last 12 regular-season matches at Dignity Health Sports Park (D1), including the last nine in a row.
Kompany: Too early for top spot to mean anything to Bayern
Bayern Munich went top of the Bundesliga with a 6-1 demolition of Holstein Kiel on Saturday, but it means little to Vincent Kompany as they look to reclaim their dominance in the domestic league.
Bayern's stranglehold of the German top-flight was broken last season with Bayer Leverkusen winning the title in a record-breaking undefeated run, and the Bavarians are eager to restore order this season.
Bayern are on a maximum nine points with three wins, two ahead of Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, after Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in their win at Kiel.
They enjoyed an explosive opening to the match, netting three times in the first 13 minutes as Kiel made a nightmare start peppered with defensive errors, en route to a fourth straight win in all competitions this season under Kompany.
"I have said that this is just three games. I know, I know, for Bayern it is always important [to be in top spot] but it is three games at the moment," Kompany told a press conference.
"Today it was good and then Tuesday must be good again and then again, and that's the way it goes again.
"If we continue as we do now, maybe at the end of the season... I don't even want to say it. We just have to keep going."
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