Kevin Kuranyi scored four goals and Schalke beat Energie Cottbus 5-0 in the Bundesliga on Tuesday, two days after firing coach Mirko Slomka. But Schalke remained third in the standings as Werder Bremen protected its second place with a 2-1 win at Hansa Rostock. Bochum upset Wolfsburg 1-0 and Hamburger SV and Hertha Berlin played to a dull 0-0 in other matches. Bremen has 53 points and Schalke 51. Bayern Munich leads the standings with 60, and plays at Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday. Slomka was fired on Sunday, a day after Schalke lost 5-1 against Werder Bremen. He was replaced by former players and top-level coaching novices Youri Mulder and Mike Bueskens. Kuranyi gave them a winning start by scoring four goals in a Bundesliga game for the first time in his career and bringing his season total to 14. Cottbus, coming off three straight wins, fell behind when Vragel da Silva knocked the ball into his own net after 31 minutes while trying to clear a header by Marcelo Bordon. Kuranyi doubled the lead six minutes later when he beat a Schalke defender to prod in a cross from Fabian Ernst. Kuranyi then ended a solo effort with a shot inside the post to make it 3-0 and nearly got another with a header that bounced off the crossbar. Early in the second half, Kuranyi got his third from collecting an offside-beating pass from Ernst, then notched his fourth with a header off a cross form Rafinha in the 80th.Lyon in semis In Paris, France striker Karim Benzema sent Ligue 1 leader Olympique Lyon into the French Cup semifinals on Tuesday with a 1
