MILAN (AP) — A turbulent week for Roma ended with the team’s first win of the season and a superb start for new coach Ivan Jurić.
Artem Dovbyk's first-half goal and Paulo Dybala's penalty at the start of the second period set Roma on its way before Tommaso Baldanzi secured the 3-0 win in the team’s first match since the surprise dismissal of Daniele De Rossi on Wednesday.
There was another eagerly anticipated match later Sunday, with Inter Milan bidding for what would be a record seventh straight derby victory over AC Milan, whose new coach Paulo Fonseca is already under pressure.
Many Roma fans were unhappy with the decision to fire De Rossi and a lot of their anger had been directed at CEO and general manager Lina Souloukou, who resigned earlier Sunday.
The Curva Sud — where Roma’s staunchest fans sit — was empty for the first half hour amid a fan protest, with a large banner displayed that read: “You do not respect our values and our icons, from today we go back to the old ways.”
There were also many banners around the stadium in support of De Rossi.
On the field, Roma dominated from the start against an Udinese team that had started the weekend top of Serie A.
The first goal of the Jurić era came in the 19th minute as Dovbyk raced onto Stephan El Shaarawy’s through ball and fired into the far bottom corner.
Roma had further chances before, straight after the interval, Dybala went sprawling over Jaka Bijol’s outstretched leg and converted the resulting penalty powerfully into the top right corner.
Substitute Baldanzi capped a dream debut for Jurić with his first goal for the club since joining from Empoli in February. The Italy Under-21 international, who had only come on seconds earlier, cut inside from the left and played a one-two with Dovbyk before firing the ball past Maduka Okoye.
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Udinese's Christian Kabasele, top, and AS Roma's Lorenzo Pellegrini vie for the ball during the Serie A soccer match between AS Roma and Udinese at the Olympic stadium in Rome, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Fabrizio Corradetti/LaPresse via AP)
FILE - Roma's head coach Daniele De Rossi waits for the start of the Europa League second leg semi-final soccer match between Leverkusen and Roma at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
AS Roma's Tommaso Baldanzi celebrates after scoring goal 3-0 during the Serie A soccer match between AS Roma and Udinese at the Olympic stadium in Rome, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Fabrizio Corradetti/LaPresse via AP)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar rejected accusations by Mexico's president that the U.S. was partly responsible for a surge in cartel warfare in northern Sinaloa over the weekend.
Sinaloa has been eclipsed by violence as two warring factions of the Sinaloa cartel have clashed in the state capital of Culiacan in what appears to be a fight for power since two of its leaders were arrested in the U.S. in late July.
“It is incomprehensible how the United States can be responsible for the massacres we see in different places,” Salazar said in a news conference in Chihuahua on Saturday. “What is being seen in Sinaloa is not the fault of the United States."
The arrests startled many because it appeared that the son of notorious drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán abducted an elder cartel figure, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, and flew them both to the U.S. to be detained. Such a violent outburst was expected in the wake of the arrests.
As the warring cartel factions and authorities have clashed in firefights, helicopters regularly circle overhead and military rove the streets of the capital. Families have said they are scared to send their children to school.
Meanwhile, bodies have appeared across the city, often left slung out on the streets or in cars with either sombreros on their heads or pizza slices or boxes pegged onto them with knives. The pizzas and sombreros have become informal symbols for the warring cartel factions, underscoring the brutality of their warfare.
Local authorities said that as of Friday at least 53 people had been killed and 51 others have gone missing in Sinaloa state since the fighting started.
On Thursday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed American authorities in part for the bloodshed.
Asked at his morning briefing if the U.S. government was “jointly responsible” for this violence in Sinaloa, the president said, “Yes, of course ... for having carried out this operation.”
“If we are now facing instability and clashes in Sinaloa, it is because (the American government) made that decision,” López Obrador said.
López Obrador claimed American authorities “carried out that operation” to capture Zambada and that “it was totally illegal, and agents from the Department of Justice were waiting for Mr. Mayo.”
Salazar had previously denied that American officials were involved in the alleged kidnapping.
It was the latest blow to bilateral relations between the two regional allies.
Last month, López Obrador — a populist prone to lashing out at critics — said he was putting relations with the U.S. and Canadian embassies “on pause” after ambassadors criticized his controversial plan to overhaul Mexico’s judiciary by requiring all judges to stand for election.
Still, the Zambada capture has fueled criticisms of López Obrador, who has throughout his administration refused to confront the cartels and has falsely stated that cartels respect Mexican citizens and largely fight amongst themselves.
Under López Obrador, who leaves office at the end of this month, cartels have employed an increasing array of weapons and tactics, including roadside bombs, trenches, home-made armored vehicles and bomb-dropping drones. The criminal organizations have also seeped into new industries such as migrant smuggling and the lucrative avocado business.
While Mexican authorities said Saturday they had sent an additional 600 soldiers to Sinaloa as reinforcements, Salazar cast blame for the surge of violence in the state on Mexico's wider security crisis.
“The reality is that there is a problem of insecurity and violence” in Mexico, Salazar said.
Soldiers and police arrive at the area where bodies lie on the ground in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo)
Soldiers traveling in armored vehicles patrol an area where a body was found lying on the side of a road, in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Crime scene markers surround a body found lying on the side of a road which was covered in a blue sheet by National Guardsmen, in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Crime scene investigators work at the site where a body was found lying on the side of a road in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Law enforcement officials rope off an area where a body was found lying on the side of a road in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
National Guards and Army forces patrol the streets during an operation in a neighborhood of Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Mexican National Guardsmen cover a body found lying on the side of a road in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A blue sheet covers a body found lying on the side of a road in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
