A dream start, a belated end and a long drought

An 18-year-old Brazilian making a dream start to his first start, the capital clubs’ hegemony being ended in Sierra Leone and a South Korean side’s recent prolificacy make FIFA.com’s latest stats review, along with the scoring troubles of an American team and 11th-hour relief for a Czech side. minutes without scoring on their travels was the all-time Major League Soccer record that Portland Timbers unwantedly set on Saturday. Gavin Wilkinson’s men travelled to FC Dallas for a battle between the Western Conference’s bottom two teams having failed to win away all season, but they were nevertheless encouraged by the fact their hosts hadn’t won in Frisco for seven matches. However, FCD snapped that streak in emphatic fashion, with versatile Brazilian Jackson netting one and setting up two others in a 5-0 triumph. In what was their 22nd outing of the campaign, it was the first time Dallas had scored more than twice, while Portland have now conceded five times in two of their last three contests. seconds is, astonishingly, all it took Sao Paulo’s Ademilson to score on the first start of his professional club career. The 18-year-old, who starred in last year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup, was only selected to begin the game at Figueirense due to injuries to first-choice forwards Osvaldo and Luis Fabiano, but he swiftly seized his opportunity by sliding home a mishit shot from midfielder Denilson. Willian Jose, the other beneficiary of those aforementioned absences, thumped home his first goal in almost three months, deep into stoppage time, to secure Sao Paulo a 2-0 victory. It was the first registered by Ney Franco – Willian Jose’s coach during Brazil’s triumphant FIFA U-20 World Cup campaign in 2011 – since assuming the Tricolor Paulista reins three matches ago, and it lifted them to sixth, nine points behind leaders Atletico Mineiro. consecutive Sierra Leonean Premier League titles had gone to the capital until Diamond Stars become the first non-Freetown side to win the competition on Sunday. Lamin Bangura’s charges went into the final round one point clear of Kallon FC at the summit, and an unprecedented crowd of over 5,000 supporters made the journey from Koidu Town in the east to Makeni in the north, to witness their team secure a title-clinching 2-1 win over Freetown City and reach the qualifying phase of next year’s CAF Champions League. seconds: that is all Slovan Liberec were away from a penalty shootout with Shakhter Karagandy when substitute Jan Blazek bundled the ball home to snatch a place in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The Czech champions led 1-0 from the first leg at home, but a Zhambyl Kukeyev spot-kick for the Kazakhs took the tie into extra time. Elsewhere, Dudelange survived a numerical disadvantage, and conceding two late goals against Salzburg inside 70 seconds, to go through on away goals and reach the final phase of Champions League qualifying for the first time. goals in their last three home matches – an average of five per game - have now been scored by Jeju United following their 6-0 thrashing of Chunnam Dragons on Saturday. Seo Dong-Hyeon was the stand-out performer for Park Kyung-Hoon’s team, registering a hat-trick and two assists. The 27-year-old has now struck five times in his last three appearances and, along with Jair and Santos Junior, who were both on target at the weekend, ensures that Jeju have three of the K-League 2012’s five leading marksmen from open play.