Blinds first touch.

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SAO PAULO - Nico Rosberg finished ahead of his Mercedes teammate and title rival Lewis Hamilton in practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday.Rosberg was fastest in both sessions, finishing with the best time of the day with a lap of 1 minute, 12.123 seconds at Interlagos. Hamilton was .0213 slower. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari was third, about half a second behind Rosberg.The Mercedes drivers are the only two vying for the Formula One title. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 24 points with 75 available going into the last two races.The title will not be decided in Brazil as the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi will be worth double points. Hamilton can win his second world title with consecutive second-place finishes or a third in Brazil and a second in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 23.As they did for most of the season, the Mercedes drivers led throughout the practice sessions, which were run under dry conditions at Interlagos.It was a very normal day for us, Rosberg said. There was a lot of understeer early but after we solved the problem the car was very fast, as always. I liked the result.Hamilton doesnt think he needs to improve a lot to catch up with his teammate.I just need to put a lap together, he said.The newly-resurfaced track offered little grip compared to previous years and was especially slippery in the afternoon under warmer temperatures. Several drivers span and went off the track, including Hamilton a few times.The track is really difficult to drive in these temperatures, he said over the team radio.Both practices had to be briefly red flagged four times, including when Force Indias Spanish test driver Daniel Juncadella crashed into a tire barrier in the first session. He was not injured.There will be another practice on Saturday before qualifying.Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished seventh but had his day cut short in the second session after his engine appeared to blow up. The Spaniard had to quickly get out of the car as flames appeared to spread. The incident caused one of the red flags.Raikkonen also went off the track several times in both sessions before managing to finish with the third-fastest time.Home crowd favourite Felipe Massa, a two-time winner in Brazil, finished sixth, one spot behind Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas.Red Bull, which has won four of the last five races in Brazil, struggled in the first session but picked up the pace in the second with Daniel Ricciardo finishing fourth. Sebastian Vettel, who at one point said there were some serious problems with his car, ended ninth.McLarens Jenson Button, still uncertain about his future in F1 next season, had mechanical problems and was the only driver without a timed lap in the first session. He was only 16th in the second.There will be only 18 cars again on the grid this weekend as Marussia and Caterham continue to deal with financial problems. Marussia was shut down on Friday and Caterham launched a crowdfunding project to ease its financial difficulties and return to the grid for the final grand prix.Hamilton is going for his sixth win in a row and 11th in the season, both of which would be a first for a British driver. Rosberg has four victories. Neither driver has won in Brazil.Mercedes has placed 1-2 in 10 of the 17 races this year, and clinched the constructors championship with three races to spare. It has 14 victories between the two drivers, one short of the season record shared by Ferrari and McLaren.The 4.3-kilometre counterclockwise (2.6 mile) Interlagos track has new runoff areas and a new pit entrance and pit exit, all added to improve safety.___Follow Tales Azzoni at Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Saltalamacchia has agreed to a $21 million, three-year deal with the Miami Marlins, two people familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .S. Basketball Writers Association. McDermott, who finished his career at Creighton as college basketballs fifth-leading scorer, accepted the honour from Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson at AT&T Stadium, site of the Final Four. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку!. -- The Green Bay Packers have signed quarterback Graham Harrell to the active roster from the practice squad and placed tight end Andrew Quarless on injured reserve. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . New York (16-9-8) took over first place in the Eastern Conference and has the best record in the league with one game remaining. Houstons five-game unbeaten streak was snapped, and the Dynamo (13-11-9) are sixth in the East with one game remaining. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . I kind of got a taste of being able to pick a suit with the draft lottery, I went with the bow tie.Spains 5-1 humiliation at the hands of the Netherlands on Friday came as a shock to everyone who follows the beautiful game. It also served as a reminder that at the highest level of the game, the margin for error is incredibly small. Up 1-0 in the first half after Xabi Alonso had converted a dubious penalty kick, Spain had a glorious chance to double their lead in the 43rd minute. An exquisite reverse pass from Andres Iniesta (pictured below) sent David Silva in alone on the Dutch goal. Unfortunately, Silvas finish wasnt up to the same standard as Iniestas pass. (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE) Just one minute later, the Netherlands equalized through a spectacular Robin van Persie diving header. With no apparent danger coming from the Netherlands, Spain set up in a very narrow defensive shape. (Spains opponents will do well to take note – exploiting this is a key to success against the reigning World Cup champs.) Yet just two passes later, the ball was in the back of the Spanish goal. The first pass came from Bruno Martins Indi to Daley Blind, who took up a wide position on the left flank. It was a free pass, with no Spanish player in a position to put pressure on Blinds first touch. (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE) Once Blind received the ball, Spains back four was vulnerable to the diagonal ball over the top to van Persie – because Sergio Ramos, the left central defender, fell asleep and got caught ball-watching. (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE) With no pressure on the ball, Blind was able to spot that van Persie managed to get a step in front of his marker, Ramos. (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE) The ball from Blind was exquisite, and it was matched only by the finish from van Persie - a diving, looping header over Iker Casillas in Spains goal. (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE) So what could Spain have done differently? In this situation, when the ball went wide to Blind, Gerard Pique was tight with Arjen Robben, the first striker – as he should be.dddddddddddd His defensive partner, Ramos, needed to be in a deeper covering position, so that he could support Pique while also nullifying the threat of the ball in behind to van Persie. (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE) It is only a matter of Ramos being 3-4 yards deeper, but at the World Cup, that is sometimes all that is needed to create scoring opportunities. Had Spains back-four been properly aligned (highlighted in yellow, above), Blind would never had played the ball forward for van Persie to run onto because Ramos would have been in a position to head the pass away. This goal, scored right before the half-time break, was a real blow to Spains confidence. From nearly doubling their lead a minute earlier, to conceding a wonder goal to the Dutch, the momentum turned in favour of the Netherlands going into the second half. The Spanish collapse after the break – where they conceded four unanswered goals – should have been prevented, though. The second goal was down to a combination of wonderful skill from Robben and slack marking from Pique and Ramos; the third and fourth goals down to mistakes from Casillas, with the fifth goal a classic counter-attacking move from the Dutch. It would be naïve to presume that this result – as shocking as it was – is an indication that Spains style of play is now ineffective. La Roja still possess a squad full of some of the worlds most talented players, and they will continue to employ their tiki-taka possession game to great effect. Players like Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta and Silva are still a joy to watch, and they will go into their next game with Chile knowing they must win, as a loss will effectively end their tournament. What it does prove, though, is that even the best are fallible on an off day. ' ' '