DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Harry Kane and Bayern Munich are scoring a torrent of goals under new coach Vincent Kompany, but the England striker still thinks they're vulnerable.
Despite netting four times in Bayern's record-breaking 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday, Kane seemed more concerned with the two soft goals the team conceded just after half-time.
“We need to learn. We spoke about, already this season, continuing the performance from the first half. Each first half we've played has been really good this season. The second half has kind of dropped off," Kane told broadcaster DAZN after the game.
"We got away with it today because we were able to step up another gear but against the top opposition we could get punished for that, so we need to try and iron that out.”
Bayern has scored a scarcely believable 24 goals in five games in all competitions under Kompany — nine of them by Kane — but hasn’t faced top-class opposition yet.
That means it's still an open question whether Kompany's Bayern is a better team than the one that finished an underwhelming third in the Bundesliga last season.
Against Zagreb, there were echoes of how Bayern played under Kompany’s predecessors Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel — lots of goals, but fragile under pressure.
Zagreb scored back-to-back goals in the 49th and 50th minutes to expose glaring gaps at the back and briefly cut the deficit to 3-2. The positioning of central defenders Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae, who have been Bayern's first-choice partnership for a year, was a particular issue.
Bayern's next game is on Saturday at Werder Bremen, which beat Tuchel's team 1-0 in January. Bremen, ninth last season, will be Kompany's first opponent that finished in the top half of the table.
Despite Kompany's experience as a player, taking over at Bayern has been a big step up for a coach who was in charge of Burnley when that club was relegated from the English Premier League last season.
The former Belgium defender was far from Bayern's top choice, either. The club was stung by a very public failure to sign preferred targets like Bayer Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso or Germany's Nagelsmann — or even to persuade Tuchel to stay — before eventually landing on Kompany, who signed in May.
With a high-profile Bundesliga test coming on Sept. 28 against champion Leverkusen, Bayern doesn’t have long to iron out defensive problems.
Elsewhere in the league, two Champions League teams meet on Sunday as Stuttgart plays Borussia Dortmund. Leverkusen takes on Wolfsburg the same day and Leipzig visits promoted St. Pauli, which is without a league win since its coach Fabian Hürzeler left for Brighton in the close season.
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Bayern's head coach Vincent Kompany gestures to his players from the sidelines during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and GNK Dinamo at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Bayern's Harry Kane prepares to take a penalty kick during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and GNK Dinamo at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Israel’s defense minister has declared the start of a “new phase” of the war as Israel turns its focus toward the northern front against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Two waves of explosive attacks hit Syria and Lebanon: an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah that killed at least 12 and wounded nearly 3,000 on Tuesday, and exploding walkie-talkies and other electronics Wednesday across Lebanon that killed at least 20 people and injured 450 others.
“We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops on Wednesday.
The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council promised the group would respond to Tuesday’s pager explosion attack with “special punishment.”
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Here's the latest:
JERUSALEM — Hezbollah has struck what it says are military positions in northern Israel as part of its ongoing attacks in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, wounding at least eight people.
The militant group has vowed to continue such operations after several of its members were killed and thousands wounded when their personal devices exploded, in what appeared to be a sophisticated attack by Israel.
Hezbollah claimed to have struck three military positions near the border on Thursday, two of them with armed drones. The Israeli military said the drones crashed near communities and did not report any casualties.
Sharon Koren, a spokesperson for Ziv Hospital, said two people were undergoing orthopedic surgery and four were lightly wounded in the attacks. Avi Weissman, the deputy director of Rambam Hospital, said one person was undergoing surgery and another was in moderate condition.
Hezbollah began striking northern Israel shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both close allies of Iran.
Israel has responded to the near-daily fire with escalating strikes of its own and in recent days has warned of a wider military operation.
The military said early Thursday that it had struck several militant sites in southern Lebanon overnight.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes have killed at least 10 people in the Gaza Strip, including three women and three children.
They were laid to rest Thursday after the overnight strikes in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis. Records at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis confirmed the toll and an Associated Press reporter counted the bodies.
Mohammed Abu Huweij said his wife and three children were killed while he was out getting food.
“The eldest, Mira, was 8 years old and the youngest was 9 months. What did they do?” he said. “I left, and when I came back my entire family had been martyred.”
Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians in its nearly yearlong campaign against Hamas, which operates in residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.
The war began after Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7 in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 hostage.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s civil aviation authorities have banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
The measure announced Thursday comes after such devices, mainly used by members of the militant Hezbollah group, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing dozens and wounding 3,000 people over the past two days.
The authorities called on all airline companies to inform passengers using the airport that carrying pagers and walkie-talkies onto jets is banned “until further notice.” It added that authorities will confiscate such devices found with passengers.
JERUSALEM — Israeli security officials say an Israeli citizen has been indicted for involvement in an Iranian assassination plot against top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A statement from the Shin Bet internal security agency on Thursday said that the citizen was recruited by Iranian intelligence to “carry out terrorist activities” on Israeli soil and “promote assassination attacks” on Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar.
It was unclear how far the alleged plot had advanced. The statement did not say whether the Israeli had obtained a weapon or developed a concrete plan.
The statement said the Israeli had traveled to Iran twice — once in August following the assassination of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in Iran’s capital that was widely blamed on Israel. Israel has not said whether it was involved.
The Shin Bet said the assassination plot was an attempt by Iran to follow through on its pledge to avenge his death.
The statement said the Israeli was paid 5,000 euros ($5,575.60) but had demanded a million dollars before doing anything. The Iranians refused the demand but said they would be in touch, according to the Shin Bet.
Earlier this week, the Shin Bet said an explosion in a Tel Aviv park last September was linked to an attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief of staff and defense minister.
The Lebanese militant group is closely allied with Iran.
On Tuesday, the police said they had found and dismantled a similar explosive device fitted with a camera and a mechanism that would allow it to be activated by Hezbollah.
It was unclear whether the indicted Israeli was linked to either of the alleged bomb plots.
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgarian authorities rejected claims that exploding devices have been shipped through the territory of the Balkan country.
“No customs operations with communication equipment (pagers) have been carried out through the territory of Bulgaria,” the state agency for national security said in a statement on Thursday.
It came in response to media reports alleging that a company registered in Bulgaria had supplied the Lebanese organization Hezbollah with the devices, which later exploded in Lebanon and Syria.
The statement added that the agency was carrying out joint checks with the National Revenue Agency and the Ministry of Interior over the alleged involvement of a Bulgarian-registered company in the supply of communications equipment to Hezbollah.
The Sofia-based company Norta Global Ltd., owned by a Norwegian citizen, has been linked by Hungarian media to the sale of the devices that exploded in Lebanon.
Norta Global Ltd. was registered in April 2022 as a project management company, but there is no data available that they produce anything, and there are no records available about their financial operations. It is registered at the same address in downtown Sofia as 196 other companies.
TOKYO — Japanese wireless communication equipment-maker Icom says it cannot confirm whether a walkie-talkie used in the explosive attacks against Hezbollah was related to the company, noting that the production and sales of that device and its battery were discontinued about a decade ago.
The Osaka-based Icom was responding Thursday to a report that said one of the walkie-talkies used in the attacks a day earlier had a sticker with the company’s logo. Icom also noted that the device in question did not have an anti-counterfeit hologram sticker, which all authentic Icom products should be carrying.
Company executive Yoshiki Enomoto told Japanese television NTV he was “surprised” by the news. He said the company could not confirm if the unit in question was Icom-made.
“This specific device had a lot of fake copies out in the market,” he said, adding that company officials could only determine its authenticity if they see its circuits.
Icom said the wireless radio unit IC-V82 was once manufactured for export including to the Middle East from 2004 to October 2014. But the production and shipment of its main unit ended about 10 years ago and batteries for the main units have also been discontinued.
The company said its export models are only distributed through official sales representatives under rigid export control rules set by the Japanese Trade Ministry.
All Icom radio equipment is manufactured by its subsidiary, Wakayama Icom Inc., under strict security controls that only allow use of authorized parts. The products are only manufactured at the Wakayama plant in Japan, Icom said.
This photo shows a sign featuring the names of several companies on the door of a house where a Hungarian company that allegedly manufactured pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria is headquartered in Budapest, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hezbollah fighters salute as they stand next to the coffins of four victims who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese army soldiers sit on their armoured vehicle as mourners carry the coffin of Mohammed Mahdi, son of Hezbollah legislator Ali Ammar, who was killed Tuesday after his handheld pager exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Female soldiers attend the funeral for Israeli Defense Forces paramedic Sgt. Agam Naim, the first woman Israeli Defense Forces soldier killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Mishmarot, Israel, Wednesday, Israel, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
A poster of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is placed next to bouquets of flowers and Lebanese flag in front of the Lebanese Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
This video grab shows a walkie-talkie that was exploded inside a house, in Baalbek, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo)
This video grab, shows a walkie-talkie that was exploded inside a house, in Baalbek, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo)
A poster of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is placed on flowers in front of the Lebanese Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
