/ 1 August 2005

Arsenal victorious in Amsterdam

Arsenal won the preseason Amsterdam Tournament after substitute Fredrik Ljungberg scored two second-half goals to help beat FC Porto 2-1 on Sunday.

Boca Juniors beat Ajax 1-0, with the goal coming from Jose Calvo.

The win gave Arsenal nine points, followed by Porto with six.

Boca finished with four points, and Ajax, who have won the tournament the past four years, ended with zero points.

Arsenal were making their third appearance in the annual tournament since it was launched in 1999.

Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez’s 36th-minute goal gave Porto the lead, but Ljungberg leveled three minutes after half-time. The Sweden midfielder added the winning goal nine minutes later.

Porto’s Jorginho narrowly missed an equaliser when goalkeeper Jens Lehmann tipped his shot over the crossbar in the 75th.

Diego Maradona, who started his legendary career with Boca and was recently named its vice-president for management, won cheers as he entered the Amsterdam Arena with his son during the first half of the Arsenal-Porto match. — Sapa-AP