ROME -- Roma beat Napoli 3-2 in the first leg of their Italian Cup semifinal on Wednesday thanks to a double from Ivory Coast forward Gervinho. The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. But Gervinho scored the winner two minutes from time. "In our league, ninety per cent of the matches are played defensively but its good to play like this against strong players," Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi said. "Its good to see games like this, theyre an advert for football. "It wasnt good for us mentally to concede a minute after the restart. But after they made it 2-2, we responded brilliantly. Another good game like tonights awaits us in Naples." Napoli started the brighter but it was Roma which broke the deadlock in the 13th minute when Gervinho ran onto a delightful through-ball from Francesco Totti and rounded goalkeeper Pepe Reina before firing home from three meters. Strootman doubled Romas lead in the 32nd with a stunning rocket into the top right corner from more than 30 metres. Gonzalo Higuain pulled one back for Napoli a minute into the second half as the ball deflected off Mehdi Benatia and goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis got his hands to it but could not prevent it from going in. It was the former Real Madrid strikers 16th of the season. Substitute Dries Mertens levelled in the 70th, four minutes after coming off the bench, when he burst between two defenders and blasted an effort past De Sanctis. Gervinho secured the match for Roma when he collected Alessandro Florenzis pass and coolly slotted into the near side of goal. Udinese, which has eliminated both Milan teams, beat Fiorentina on Tuesday in a match which saw three wonderful goals. Antonio Di Natale broke the deadlock in the 36th minute with his first goal from open play since September but Juan Manuel Vargas smashed an effort in off the underside of the crossbar a minute from halftime. Substitute Luis Muriel scored a long-range winner for Udinese, which is hoping to reach the final for the first time since 1922. Both sides eliminated illustrious teams in the previous round. Napoli knocked out holder Lazio, while Roma defeated Juventus, which is on course for a third successive league title. .ca Fantasy Editor Scott Cullen, NFL Editor Ben Fisher, and Isaac Owusu discuss three hot fantasy football topics. . -- Aaron Rodgers looked fine on the practice field Thursday.
http://www.cheapsenatorsjerseysauthenti ... oie-jersey. Others describe it as taking the parrot for a walk. . Howard hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night. . -- Scottie Wilbekin sat on the bench for the final minute, holding a bag of ice against his left knee.HAMILTON, Ont. -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Olkinuora made 16 saves in the first period, and 30 overall, for his first professional shutout, as the IceCaps defeated Hamilton Bulldogs 3-0 Saturday in American Hockey League action. The goaltender deflected attention from his own accomplishment, and instead complimented his teammates on their recent form. "It feels good," said Olkinuora of his shutout. "But more importantly, it feels good to win again. Its a lot of fun. "The guys have found a way to play effectively and be tough to play. Weve been making smart decisions with the puck, and its fun to play behind these guys." Kael Mouillerat, Carl Klingberg and Eric ODell scored for the IceCaps (15-10-3). Dustin Tokarski stopped 36 shots for the Bulldogs (12-12-3) . The Bulldogs got the better of an entertaining first period in which both teams enjoyed quality scoring chances. A giveaway at the defensive blue line by Hamilton winger Nick Tarnasky gave Jerome Samson room to operate along the right wing. The St. Johns forward moved in to the hashmarks and released a rising wrist shot that beat Tokarski but rang off his near post. Just over ten minutes into the first period, another Tarnasky giveaway sent the IceCaps into the Bulldogs zone on a 2-on-1 break, but Tokarski was alert in sliding to his left and snaring the one-time shot with his glove. Tarnasky found himself in the spotlight once again with 4:17 to play in the first period, when he enjoyed Hamiltons best opportunity to score the games first goal. A cross-ice pass found him posted just outside Olkinuoras crease at the right post, but Tarnasky couldnt corral the puck, and the goaltender recovered and sprawled to deny the chance. Olkinuora enjoyed the heavy workload in the opening period, and argued that it helped him to find his rhythm on Saturday. "You could say that it gets you into the game," he said. "Every game is different, but I do enjoy games where you can get into the action pretty early and often. Obviously, I dont tell the guys that." The IceCaps enjjoyed a lengthy two-man advantage early in the second period, as Maxime Macenauer was whistled for slashing at 2:43 and Mike Blunden followed with a delay of game infraction 22 seconds later.dddddddddddd Tokarski was sharp in denying St. Johns on multiple occasions, as Hamilton held the visitors off the scoreboard over the course of the 5-on-3. There was little for the goaltender to do, however, when the IceCaps opened the scoring at 7:48 of the second period. Samsons initial slap shot was kicked aside by Tokarski, but fell to Mouillerat in the low slot, and he circled the fallen goaltender and slid a shot inside the near post as Tokarski dove unsuccessfully to meet it. The IceCaps made it 2-0 at 14:35 of the second, when Carl Klingberg converted his second breakaway opportunity of the game. Latching onto a loose puck in the neutral zone, the St. Johns forward shifted from his backhand to his forehand side and slid the puck past Tokarski. Hamilton coach Sylvain Lefebvre bemoaned his teams inability to gain momentum in the second period, even after successfully killing the two-man advantage. "We played well in the first, but in the second, penalties killed us," he said. "Usually when you kill a 5-on-3, you have good chances to win the game. We just couldnt get the momentum, and when you take too many penalties, it taxes some of the players and others sit on the bench and wait." St. Johns struck early in the third period to extend its lead to 3-0 and put the game out of reach. The initial point shot by Brenden Kichton was saved by Tokarski, but the rebound bounced to ODell, who easily slotted the puck into the open net at 3:54. Olkinuora made an exceptional save to preserve his shutout bid with 3:21 to play, picking Martin St. Pierres close-range wrist shot out of the air with his glove. The goaltender pointed to improved breakouts and decision-making as the factors that improved his teams play in the final two periods. "I think our guys made an adjustment and a push," said Olkinuora. "We had over 20 shots in the second period and its all because we found a way to go out of our zone cleaner, and we made smarter decisions." ' ' '
