■ United Kingdom
Pennant heads to Anfield
Jermaine Pennant signed a four-year contract with Liverpool after passing a medical on Wednesday. The 23-year-old former Birmingham City midfielder will fly to Switzerland to meet up with the club for its weeklong training camp, a statement on Liverpool's Web site said. Pennant, a former England Under-21 player, joined Birmingham City in January last year. He has also played for Arsenal, Leeds United, Watford and Notts Country. Pennant became the first Premier League player to play a game wearing an electronic police tag last year. He wore the tag on his ankle because he was found guilty of drinking and driving while having a banned license and no insurance.
■ Brazil
Mario Zagallo dismissed
Former coach and player Mario Zagallo was dismissed as the national team's technical coordinator on Wednesday, the Brazilian Soccer Confederation said. Zagallo, who was an assistant coach to Carlos Alberto Parreira at the World Cup, lost his job because of a "reformulation in the structure of Brazil's technical staff," CBF said on its Web site. The confederation said the 74-year-old Zagallo likely would be called up again in the future to help Brazil in its bid to host the 2014 World Cup. "It's impossible to disassociate Zagallo from the Brazilian national team," CBF President Ricardo Teixeira said.
■ United States
McBride hangs up boots
Brian McBride, the only US player to score in two different World Cups, is retiring from international soccer. The 34-year-old McBride, who plays for Fulham in the English Premier League, is the second-leading scorer in US national team history with 30 goals in 95 games. The three-time World Cup veteran has the second-most appearances for the US in World Cup matches with 10, starting all five games in 2002 and scoring one goal each against Portugal and Mexico. He also had the team's only goal in 1998.
■ Italy
Nedved sticking with Juve
Czech international Pavel Nedved has pledged his future to scandal-plagued Italian giants Juventus, vowing to stay with the club next season despite their relegation to Serie B. The 34-year-old midfield star has decided against following his team-mates out of the Stadio delle Alpi and is preparing for life in the second division. "Pavel will be a Juventus player next season," Nedved's agent David Nehoda was quoted as saying by the Czech news agency CTK. Several top European clubs had expressed an interest in signing Nedved, the 2003 European Footballer of the Year and recognized as one of the most skillful midfielders in the world.
■ United Kingdom
Sven's agent in for Villa
Former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's agent is leading a third consortium in the race to buy Aston Villa. Athole Still was filmed leaving Villa Park yesterday, Sky Sports television reported. Eriksson, who stepped down as England coach last month after the World Cup, had previously said he would be interested in becoming manager at Villa. He made the comments in January to an undercover British tabloid reporter posing as an Arab sheik. Local businessman Michael Neville and Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner are also interested in buying the Birmingham club.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but