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Sports Briefs

■ Emirates Cup
Arsenal see off PSG
Arsenal beat Paris St Germain (PSG) 2-0 on Saturday to win their opening game of the four-team Emirates Cup at the London club's home ground. Mathieu Flamini put the Gunners ahead with a right-foot finish on the stroke of half-time with Nicklas Bendtner adding the second in the 68th minute. Peguy Luyindula pulled a goal back with 10 minutes left before PSG goalkeeper Mickael Landreau kept out a late Bendtner penalty. In the tournament's other match, Valencia beat Inter Milan 2-0. Jamie Gavilan put the Spaniards ahead after 15 minutes, collecting a deep cross from Ruben Baraja before shooting under Francesco Toldo. David Villa's 20-yard free-kick gave Valencia their second goal seven minutes from the break.

■ Russia
Spartak Moscow stay top
Nine-time champions Spartak Moscow remained top of the Russian league although they were held to a 1-1 draw at Vladivostok on Saturday. Spartak top the table with 33 points after 18 matches, two points ahead of second-placed St Petersburg. FC Moscow sit third on 30 points. Vladivostok got off to a lively start against Spartak eight minutes into the match when midfielder Dmitry Smirnov swept the ball in following a corner. Spartak pulled the scores level eight minutes after the interval through forward Alexander Prudnikov, who fired the ball home under Czech goalkeeper Marek Cech. Saint Petersburg, who were third ahead of this weekend's round of matches, missed their chance to share the lead with Spartak as they failed to beat Perm, recording a goalless draw.

■ Castle Cup
Botswana edge Namibia
Botswana booked a place in the Castle Cup Group C final after edging neighbors Namibia 1-0 on Saturday. Midfielder Michael Mogaladi headed the winner 19 minutes into a tense southern Africa championship semi-final and the hosts were to face 2006 World Cup qualifiers Angola yesterday for group honors. The winners will advance to the last four of the annual competition with defending champions Zambia, surprise Group A winners Mozambique and Group B winners South Africa. Like Botswana, Angola found the going tougher than expected in the first semi-final and needed a late goal from substitute Santana to douse the resistance of Lesotho and finish 2-0 victors. The Zebras of Botswana began impressively with Pontsho Moloi and Onalethata Tshekiso squandering good chances before Mogaladi rose unopposed from a corner to score.

■ Friendlies
Barcelona break Hearts
Ronaldinho scored twice as Barcelona beat Hearts 3-1 in a pre-season friendly watched by 57,857 people at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Saturday. The Spanish giants had squeezed past Dundee United 1-0 at Tannadice on Thursday thanks to a last-gasp goal by Thierry Henry, but they were far more impressive on Saturday. Two first-half goals by Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, sandwiched either side of a Juho Makela equalizer, gave Barcelona an interval lead. Half-time substitute Giovanni Dos Santos scored the third five minutes into the second half. Samuel Eto'o should have opened the scoring in the 16th minute but, from only eight yards out, the Cameroonian striker headed Andres Iniesta's mis-hit shot over the bar. Hearts had FBK Kaunas' Audrius Ksanavicius playing as a trialist.

■ Basketball
Shock defeat Mystics
Katie Smith scored 21 points and the Detroit Shock used their trademark defense to defeat the Washington Mystics 76-64 on Saturday. Plenette Pierson added 18 points and Kara Braxton had 15 points for the Shock, who rebounded from a loss on Thursday to Chicago that snapped a seven-game winning streak. Swin Cash had 10 rebounds for the Shock, who outrebounded the Mystics 49-20. DeLisha Milton-Jones had 17 points to lead the Mystics, who had won 8-of-11 before the loss and have dropped three of four to the Shock this season.

■ Soccer
Boca Juniors beat Haiti 2-0
Martin Palermo and Jesus Datolo scored to lead Argentina's Boca Juniors to a 2-0 victory over Haiti in an exhibition on Saturday night. Boca Juniors, which won the Copa Libertadores title last month, ended a three-city, 15-day US tour with three victories, one loss and one tie. Datolo's goal in the 47th minute gave Boca Juniors a 2-0 lead. Datolo dribbled five yards into the penalty area and sent a shot inside the right post. Seconds earlier, Boca Juniors goalkeeper Pablo Migliore nearly misplayed Alexandre Boucicaut's 20m free kick into a game-tying goal. Migliore deflected the shot but failed to clear the ball and lunged to deflect it before it landed inside the goal line.

■ Soccer
Beckham listed as reserve
David Beckham was listed among the reserves for the Los Angeles Galaxy's game against Chivas in the SuperLiga tournament on Saturday night. He has been limited because of a left ankle injury that caused him to miss two consecutive games, including the Galaxy's 2-1 victory over Pachuca in its SuperLiga opener on Tuesday. Galaxy coach Frank Yallop had said on Friday that Beckham wouldn't play against Chivas. But the English star walked on the field, with the left leg of his warmup pants hitched to his knee and took a seat on the bench before the game at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Beckham has played just 16 minutes, including four minutes of stoppage time, in one game since joining the Galaxy.

■ Soccer
Revolution wins on late goal
Jeff Larentowicz scored on a free kick from just outside the penalty box in the 82nd minute on Saturday night, giving the New England Revolution a 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake. Real (1-9-6) played the final 23 minutes a man down after midfielder Andy Williams was ejected with a red card for a hard tackle on New England's Andy Dorman and tied the score on Carey Talley's penalty kick in the 72nd minute. However, Larentowicz's goal was the 10th that Real Salt Lake has allowed after the 75th minute this season. It was his second of the season. The Revolution (8-3-6) took the lead in the 39th minute, when Pat Noonan drilled a shot over goalkeeper Nick Rimando's left shoulder.

■ Football
Company pulls Vick cards
Upper Deck has removed all Michael Vick-autographed memorabilia from its online store and will remove the indicted quarterback's trading card from NFL sets that are scheduled to be released in October. The announcement came a day after Nike suspended its lucrative contract with Vick and Reebok took the unprecedented step of stopping sales of his No. 7 jersey. Another trading card company, Donruss, announced it was pulling Vick's likeness from any new packs.


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