Celtic edged Rangers to win the Scottish Premier League on Thursday, securing the championship with a 1-0 win at Dundee United. Celtic and Rangers were tied on 86 points heading into the final day of the season. But in the end, Celtic's win didn't matter as Rangers lost 2-0 at Aberdeen. Celtic secured its third straight league title and 42nd overall when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed in a corner from Paul Hartley in the 72nd minute. Gordon Strachan is only the third Celtic manager to win three league titles in a row, joining Willie Maley and Jock Stein. “I'm with a bunch of guys who believed in me and I believed in them,” Strachan said. Celtic endured an emotional week, with the death of popular coach Tommy Burns from skin cancer on May 15 at the age of 51 and his funeral on Tuesday. The club said it would dedicate the league win to Burns, who was also part of the Scotland coaching setup. “We loved him,” Celtic striker Scott McDonald said. McDonald denied Celtic the league title in 2005 when his two late goals for former club Motherwell against Celtic handed the trophy to Rangers, which has 51 Scottish titles. Rangers lost to Aberdeen goals in the 63rd minute from Lee Miller and from Darren Mackie in the 77th. The Gers finished with 10 men when striker Nacho Novo was sent off for a foul on Stuart Duff. It was its third match in six days, and Rangers manager Walter Smith blamed the Scottish Premier League for not helping the club by not extending the season further than four days. Last week, Rangers was in contention for an unprecedented four trophies, including the league title. But after losing to Zenit St. Petersburg 2-0 in the final of the UEFA Cup last Wednesday and conceding the league title to Celtic, Rangers can clinch only the cup double. Rangers plays Queen of the South on Saturday in the Scottish Cup final, bidding to add to the Scottish League Cup won last month. One-all draw Paraguay fought African powerhouse Ivory Coast to a 1-1 draw in the three-nation Kirin Cup Football Tournament on Thursday. Forward Kain Kandia Emile Traore put Ivory Coast one up when he hit home a pass from Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue in the 73rd minute. But substitute forward Cristian Bogado struck home an equalizer just four minutes later to deny victory to the African side. Favorites embarrassed in Hong Kong Manchester City was embarrassed 3-1 by a makeshift South China invitation team on Thursday in what could be Sven Goran-Eriksson's last match in charge. Italian soccer giant Juventus was beaten 2-1 by Hong Kong champion South China in the second match of Thursday's double-header. City, who was missing a host of regulars, took the lead through Dietmar Hamann but paid for a pedestrian performance as the host hit back through Giovane Da Silva, Festus Baise and Liang Zicheng. City's fourth defeat in a row - including a 3-1 loss to Thai league all-stars in Bangkok - will not help the turmoil at the club, where Eriksson is strongly rumored to be facing the axe. “No comment,” said the Swede, when asked about his future. “Of course we're disappointed that we lost but anyhow the most important thing is that we tried to play good football. But we shouldn't have lost. “It's been a very, very long season so I think everybody's looking forward to a break now.”
