Everton easily beat Wolfsburg in first Europa League match of campaign

Everton’s traditional Z-Cars anthem was rudely interrupted by the Europa League theme tune before kick-off, but the teething troubles went no further for Roberto Martínez’s men against Wolfsburg. Goodison Park hosted a display of clinical efficiency on its first European night in five seasons. Everton have returned with clear intent.
The final scoreline suggests a comfortable night’s work for the victors but there was defensive resilience as well as superior finishing behind Everton’s triumph. Tim Howard was by far the busier goalkeeper and the home side were gifted a penalty for their third goal when Aiden McGeady was tripped outside the area. Wolfsburg had 24 attempts to Everton’s 11, 12 on target to Everton’s five, but not the cutting edge or solidity of their Premier League hosts.
“We weren’t smart enough, we were naive,” seethed the Wolfsburg coach, Dieter Hecking. “I wonder if my players listen to me with the performance they put in.” His Catalonian counterpart, by contrast, revelled in the maturity the players displayed on his European debut as Everton manager. “The scoreline doesn’t reflect the difference between the two sides, both were similar,” he said. “We had to defend well and every time we went forward we were very clinical. It was a very satisfying performance. It felt really natural. The environment was incredible, with European football back at Goodison. It was everything you could expect and more. The fans were special and the performance was full of dynamic play from both sides. But we wanted to be ourselves and our performance showed real maturity.”
Having declared his ambition to win the Europa League, the Everton manager backed his words by naming an unchanged team from the weekend win at West Bromwich Albion and was vindicated with an opening goal based on intuitive understanding between his players. Wolfsburg started well with their four-man midfield controlling the opening exchanges, pushing Everton deep and allowing Brazil’s anchor at the World Cup, Luiz Gustavo, time and space to dictate the play. But the difference between the teams was illustrated in Everton’s first attack, a move to savour.
Goodison was enraptured as Leighton Baines combined with Steven Naismith, Naismith found James McCarthy, McCarthy flicked a glorious return ball to Baines with his back to goal, and the left-back drew the German defence before squaring to the Scot. The former Switzerland international goalkeeper Diego Benaglio got a hand to Naismith’s low shot but the ball squirmed under his body and took a final touch off Ricardo Rodríguez en route to the net. Uefa credited Rodríguez with an own goal, yet there was no detracting from the quality of the build-up. It also provided a rare glimpse of McCarthy’s creativity in the final third and should prompt Martínez to demand more from the Republic of Ireland midfielder.
Everton extended their lead on the stroke of half-time when they again prospered against the right-hand side of the Wolfsburg defence. Benaglio could only parry a dipping Kevin Mirallas shot into the path of Baines, who turned the loose ball across goal for the incoming Seamus Coleman to head his second goal of the season into the Park End net.
If there was a touch of fortune about Rodríguez rolling the first Everton goal into his own net and Baines managing to find Coleman for the second, there was a gigantic dollop attached to their third. McGeady capitalised on a defensive error seconds after the restart and was clearly fouled as he attempted to beat Robin Knoche, albeit contact was outside the box. The Italian referee, Luca Banti, having looked to his assistant, immediately pointed to the spot and Baines ignored the understandable German protests to send the Wolfsburg keeper the wrong way from 12 yards.
“It was outside the area and a fault by the referee,” said Hecking. “At 3-0 the game was lost.” His team’s response suggested otherwise as they exerted pressure on Howard’s goal but either found the US international in commanding form or their precision deserting them in front of goal. Daniel Caligiuri, Gustavo, Maximillian Arnold and the substitute Aaron Hunt all sent presentable chances at the Everton keeper, who produced a fine save to thwart a Rodríguez free-kick towards his top corner.
The Swiss left-back finally broke Howard’s resistance with another superb free-kick in stoppage-time but by then, with the again impressive Samuel Eto’o sending Mirallas sprinting clear for the fourth, Everton were home and dry. “Tim was magnificent and didn’t deserve to have that feeling at the end,” said Martínez. “In my eyes Tim’s performance was worth a clean sheet and that’s the way I’m going to keep it.”

Kei Nishikori a slight favourite against Marin Cilic in US Open final

there is no obvious tennis reason for Michael Chang to be advising Kei Nishikori, apart from their sharing winged feet, but helping him to the US Open final makes a strong case for the former world No2 and famed baseline defender to be made coach of the year.
Certainly, if Nishikori beats Marin Cilic on Monday – after first doubting he would play at all, then getting rid of Milos Raonic, Stanislas Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic in 14 tough sets – there will be no argument that Chang has returned to the coaching scene like a New York storm.
Nishikori, with speed not dissimilar to that with which Chang terrorised the Tour in the 80s and 90s, has played some remarkable tennis over the past fortnight, none better than when seeing off the world No1 in four sets in the first semi-final on Saturday. So emphatically did the 24-year-old do the job that Cilic’s upset of Federer a few hours later seemed like an addendum to a wider narrative.
Whether the story continues thus we will learn over the course of the next year or so but for now this title is going to have a first-time major champion, whatever the result – and the feeling is that there will be more jubilation afterwards in Japan than Croatia. Chang – who coached José Higueras briefly in the 80s, then his own brother, Carl, for a year – has watched Nishikori mature at a rapid rate this year and puts it down to a rather prosaic reason: fitness.
He said: “I had told him coming into the Open: ‘Look, you are playing well and, when you have been healthy, you have had good results.’ That has been evident all season. Whenever he has struggled it has always been when he is coming back from injury or has been injured.”
The latest worry was a cyst on his right foot which required surgery in August – not long after his hip gave up on him when he was all over Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Masters and had to quit in the third set.
“The cyst wasn’t an injury,” Chang said. “There was nothing to rehab, it just had to heal. I told him to keep up with his physical stuff and, although he may not have had the amount of matches he wanted coming into the Open, we will go early, work on the timing and once you get through the first two matches anything can happen. I gave him examples of myself, Pete Sampras where we weren’t quite sure if we were going to play; Pete got to the finals in Australia one year, I almost got the final of the French in ’95 and was very close to pulling out of the tournament before it started.”
So that is the tennis pedigree Chang brings to the party – more successful in terms of results than Stefan Edberg’s association with Federer (although reaching the Wimbledon final this year was a considerable achievement), Amélie Mauresmo’s still-young partnership with Andy Murray and on a par with Boris Becker, who was there for Djokovic at Wimbledon – and, of course, on Arthur Ashe Court on Saturday.
But does it stand up that Chang, born in the Hoboken, New Jersey, of Chinese parents, and Nishikori, a proud, life-time citizen of Japan, latterly with a residence in Florida, should have chemistry that works?
“We get on great,” Chang said. “Obviously with myself being Chinese and Kei Japanese there are cultural differences but cultural similarities too, as we are both Asian. If we are going out to eat we don’t have to say: ‘Hey, do you want Asian food?’ There is no hesitation. So it has been easy for us to adapt to one another. It is important for him to rest and relax his mind right now.”
Empathy means a lot in life, not just sport. Chang and Nishikori seem to have it, whatever their roots – and, if it survives the pressures of high-grade elite tennis, this may indeed be the start of a new era.
Cilic will play his part in this intriguing piece of theatre. He seems to have banished the cloud that hung over him after his drugs ban and he won many new admirers with his free-hitting tennis against Federer. But he will start as a slight underdog – and without even a single journalist from his homeland to chronicle his efforts. Times are tough in Croatia.
Chang, meanwhile, has a player, a year younger than Cilic, who may be on the verge of much wider acclaim.
“Tennis is a much more mature sport in Japan [compared with China],” Chang said. “While I know Kei has already had a huge impact in Japan, with what Li Na has done, her influence in China is continuing to grow. Peng Shuai’s results here too have helped.”
A key member of his team is his conditioner, Dante Bottini, who said: “He believes in himself and in his tennis. He has had some great results this year. Last year also he was beating top 10 players. The fact that he is now in better condition helps too.
“I know it wasn’t the greatest preparation but I was working with him in Bradenton, he was sitting in a chair [he couldn’t run because of the cyst, and was sat on a collapsible chair on the practice court] and I was feeding him balls for an hour. We came here to see [what physical shape he was in] but by Sunday we knew he would be ready.
“He hits the ball very early and with a lot of acceleration. He has a lot of power from his hips down so his power comes from there.”
The strength derides, also, from Nishikori’s mind, to which Chang is obviously well attuned.
“He’s beaten everyone and I have constantly reminded him of that,” Chang said. “We have similar styles so I have been able to advise him well with certain things. He’s a great individual who works extremely hard. He is very focused. I keep telling him after every match: ‘We are not done yet.’
It is easy to be satisfied with what he has done so far but here is an opportunity to win a grand slam. I will keep reminding him that. Kei has matured a lot here. He learned a lot during Wimbledon this summer. He applied what he learned and managed to stay strong through some difficult circumstances.”