SECOND FRIENDLY WIN FOR PARIS

Paris Saint-Germain recorded their second successive friendly victory as goals to Chantôme (49') and Ongenda (55') secured a 2-0 win over Hammarby at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm on Tuesday.

After a first training camp in Austria ended with a win over Rapid Vienna, the Parisians began their second preseason camp in Sweden with a match against local side Hammarby. In the homeland of PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the undisputed star for the 23,047 spectators in the brand new Tele2 Arena, Paris coach Laurent Blanc was counting on his side continuing to progress with the competition just around the corner...

It was Gregory van der Wiel that got the ball rolling as he picked up possession on the edge of the area, cut outside onto the right and fired at goal where Hopf made the save (3'). Very lively early, the Dutch right-back was again shooting on sight minutes later, but he failed to hit the target (22'). The nit was the youngster Coman who found himself through on Hopf's goal, but he dragged his effort wide (25').

Seconds later, Thiago Motta picked out Javier Pastore in the middle, 20m out. With his back to goal, the Argentine turned and shot, only to see the ball hit the post (25')! Van der Wiel was involved in all the best moves and he was the next to test to solidity of the woodwork at the new stadium as the shots rained down on goal (31')! There was another effort from the Dutch No.23 (41'), as well as Pastore (44') and Thiago Motta (45') before the break and it remained somehow scoreless at half time.

However, the breakthrough wasn't long in coming. Verratti, who was making his first appearance of the season, like Ibrahimovic and Matuidi, Sakho and Lavezzi, made the difference as soon as he came on. The Italian released Chantôme in behind the defence and he acrobatically controlled the ball before dribbling Hopf and knocking the ball home (0-1, 49'). Paris didn't rest on their laurels.

Just minutes later, Pastore picked out Ongenda with a throughball and the young Parisian, clean through on goal, made no mistake, firing past Hopf in the Hammarby goal (0-2, 55'). It was a second goal for the Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate after his strike against Sturm Graz.

The substitutions were coming thick and fast (18 in all!) which saw some of the rhythm and intensity drop out of the game. But the main thing was the performance and it was another solid outing from Laurent Blanc's men. It was the perfect way to prepare for the prestigious friendly match against Real Madrid and... a certain Carlo Ancelotti. That match is this Saturday!

http://www.psg.fr

D.C. United friendly against Paris Saint-Germain has short-term ramifications

D.C. United’s friendly against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday doesn’t carry any long-term consequences, which is probably a good thing because the French club is rebooted for a Champions League charge and could inflict severe damage on a sputtering MLS opponent.

The RFK Stadium meeting does, however, come with short-term ramifications. United is stuck in its worst rut of the season — three losses in four outings — and yearns to regain long-lost rhythm and form before the uptick in regular season matches in August.


“We don’t have that luxury right now,”Coach Ben Olsen said Friday. “We have to go after this as a real game and an exercise to get us better. . . . Hopefully we can use this as an opportunity to move forward.”

Instead of the common approach to a friendly — mixing the lineup with regulars and reserves, offering playing time to young players and experimenting with combinations — Olsen plans to summon most of his usual starters for much of the evening.

“We should be approaching it as a league match,” midfielder-forward Chris Pontiussaid. “Earlier in the year, even when we weren’t playing our best, we were still finding a way and winning games. If we can do it against PSG, we can do it against anyone in the league.”

United attributes the slump to a lack of competitive matches. Thanks to MLS’s peculiar scheduling, D.C. will have played just five regular season games between late May and the end of July.

“We need games,” Olsen said. “You can train and play 11 [against] 11, but it’s not the same. We need to get in that mode of playing each week.”

The PSG friendly bridges a pair of matches against the Columbus Crew — a 1-0 loss in Ohio last weekend and a meeting in Washington next Saturday, which is the first of six regular season games in August.

United (10-7-3) has fallen into fourth place in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the front-running New York Red Bulls. And although it remains in good standing to earn one of the conference’s five postseason berths, D.C. hasn’t performed like a playoff team recently.

“You can look at the last couple of games, but we believe a big part of that is not being in a rhythm,” General Manager Dave Kasper said. “There is a fine line there with match fitness and match sharpness. You have that when you are playing on a regular basis. We’re obviously concerned — we want to get out of that funk.”

PSG presents a considerable challenge. After finishing second in Ligue 1, France’s top division, the Qatari-owned club embarked on a summer spending spree that enhanced its global brand and thrust it into contention for Europe’s most prestigious club trophy, the UEFA Champions League.

PSG purchased Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Brazilian defender Thiago Silva from AC Milan, Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi from Napoli and emerging Italian midfielder Marco Verratti, 19, from Pescara. All told, the French team spent more than $130 million on acquisitions.

Ibrahimovic, who will earn $17 million annually, led Italy’s Serie A with 28 goals last season. He missed PSG’s friendly against Chelsea last weekend at Yankee Stadium and will make his highly anticipated debut in Washington, Coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed.

Silva won’t join the club until after completing Olympic duty in London.

PSG also features Argentine midfielder Javier Pastore, 23, who scored 13 league goals last season.

“This is a great chance to go against, from what I look at from even a preseason game, one of the best teams in the world right now,” Olsen said. “They have a lot of ideas out there, a lot of guys that are special on the ball. It’s a fun team to watch.”

United notes: D.C. midfielder Branko Boskovic is likely to play against his former team (2003-05) after missing one game with a calf injury.

washingtonpost