Diana's death halts English soccer matches
By Vic Mills
LONDON (JP): Professional football reacted quickly to the death of the Princess of Wales in the early hours of Sunday morning by postponing all matches scheduled for that day.
This is the first time since King George VI died in 1952 that the authorities had called off fixtures because of the death of anyone outside the national game.
The decision to postpone the game between Liverpool and Newcastle was made late Sunday morning following discussions between the Football Association, Premier League and the Prime Minister's office.
In the Premiership program played Saturday, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United opened up a three-point gap at the top following victories over Crystal Palace and Coventry City respectively.
Goals from Chris Sutton and Kevin Gallacher in another assured performance gave Blackburn the points at Crystal Palace. A second-half strike from Bruce Dyer and the loss of Colin Hendry on the hour with concussion unsettled Rovers, but not enough for Palace to snatch a draw.
Manchester United flattered to deceive at Old Trafford with a goal from Andy Cole after just 75 seconds. The mood thereafter was one of the complacency as United old boy Dion Dublin missed three chances. Further goals from Roy Keane and Karel Poborsky put a gloss on an otherwise indifferent performance.
Unbeaten, if not altogether impressive, United created a club record Saturday with a fifth consecutive clean sheet. Added to two at the end of last season, goalkeeper and defense have now gone 11 hours and 20 minutes without conceding a goal.
In one of four games in the capital, West Ham United moved third in the Premiership with a convincing 3-1 home win against Wimbledon. The game was over in the space of seven minutes soon after the interval as John Hartson drilled in a 25-yarder, Mark Rieper glanced in a header from an Eyal Berkovic free kick and then Berkovic galloped away to convert Tim Breaker's incisive pass.
There was another inspired performance from West Ham's 18-year-old defender, Rio Ferdinand. September will be a testing month for club and player as West Ham meets Manchester United, Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Over in West London, injury hit Southampton was no match for a Chelsea side that took its goals tally in four matches with an easy 4-2 victory. Ruud Gullit again rotated his players with Steve Clarke, Gianluca Vialli and Tor Andre Flo replaced by Frank Lebouef, Mark Hughes and Gianfranco Zola.
Three goals in six minutes at the half-hour settled the issue as Leboeuf, Hughes and Dennis Wise rounded off a first-half full of expression and purpose. Dan Patrescu had earlier opened the scoring with his third goal in three games.
No goals
There were no goals in the 121st derby match at Highbury between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, but it hardly seemed to matter. In a riveting first half, Arsenal hit the woodwork four times, and there were five bookings and a dismissal.
A man short and under siege, Tottenham pulled all its players behind the ball in the second half. The introduction of Gary Mabbutt after the interval was decisive in that the veteran marshaled the Spurs defense superbly.
Goals were hard to come by in Saturday's other Premiership fixtures with a solitary strike enough to take the points.
Dwight Yorke brought Aston Villa's dismal start to an end with a 67th minute winner against Leeds United; a 43rd minute penalty by Stefano Eranio decided the issue at Pride Park where Derby County edged out Barnsley; and in a dull game at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday beat Leicester City with a Benito Carborne penalty in the 56th minute.
In the one match played Monday evening, Bolton Wanderers and Everton shared the points in a nil-all draw at the new Reebok Stadium.
There was an explosive start to the Serie A season in Italy where Internazionale came from behind to beat newly promoted Brescia 2-1. Two goals from substitute Recoba in the last twenty minutes changed the course of the game. The Uruguayan international equalized with an unstoppable 30-yarder and then fired home a powerful free kick for the winner.
Juventus
Elsewhere on the continent, champion Juventus beat Lecce 2-0 with "Pippo" Inzaghi opening the scoring, Parma won 2-0 at Bari, and AC Milan drew 1-1 at Piacenza in a modest start for newly returned coach Fabio Capello.
In Spain, the Madrid derby ended 1-1 before a capacity crowd at the Bernabeu. New signing Juninho scored for Athletico after 15 minutes, but a loss of concentration by his defenders enabled Clarence Seedorf to launch a remarkable equalizer for Real Madrid from 40 yards in the 75th minute.
Newly promoted Kaiserslautern stands three points clear in the Bundesliga after five games following its 3-1 win at VfB Bochum on Friday. Czech striker Pavel Kuka was the hero with two goals. Bayern Munich remains second, winning by the same margin at Hansa Rostock, while UEFA Cup winner Schalke 04 is a further point behind after a 2-0 victory in the Ruhr derby against Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Ajax continued its impressive start to the new Dutch season by thrashing FC Utrecht 7-1 Sunday. The Amsterdam club takes top spot on goal difference from Feyenoord which won 2-0 at home to Doetinchem, and Heerenveen who beat Maastricht 3-1.
Metz made it five out of five at the weekend and leads the French first division by three points following its 2-1 win at title holder AC Monaco. Paris St Germain kept up the pressure in second place with a 4-1 victory at home to Rennes with two goals from Italian Marco Simone and others from Bruno N'Gotty and Paul le Guen.