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■ SOCCER

Albania wants UEFA probe

Albania wants UEFA to investigate match-fixing allegations involving its last two European Championship qualifiers. State Minister Ylli Pango, responsible for sports, wrote to UEFA and implicated Albania's top soccer official in the alleged scandal, ministry spokeswoman Suela Musta said Wednesday. "We have received a letter relating to two games by the Albanian national football team, pointing out that there were some irregularities and encouraging us to investigate," UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said. "We have a number of means to find out about irregularities, so of course we will treat it like any other kind of information we receive. We will pay attention to it." Albania lost to visiting Belarus 4-2 and at Romania 6-1 last month in their final Group G qualifiers.



■ SOCCER

Dudek wants out of Madrid

Jerzy Dudek wants to leave Real Madrid for a starting place at another club to improve his chances of playing for Poland at next summer's European Championship. "I would like to leave," Dudek told Spanish newspaper Marca on Wednesday. "Poland have qualified for the first time and I have received a call from the coach Leo Beenhakker who told me that if I played regularly I would be his goalkeeper at Euro 2008." The 34-year-old Dudek joined Madrid on a free transfer from Liverpool during the European summer transfer window, signing a three-year deal. However, he has not played a single minute in the Spanish league or European Champions League while serving as a reserve behind Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas.



■ SOCCER

Coach deceived by players

As many as four Peruvian national team players, including Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro, were drinking in a hotel room with women last month, four days before the side was beaten by Ecuador 5-1 in a World Cup qualifying match, the Peruvian Football Federation said on Wednesday. "It's confirmed that there was a lack of discipline. The players were enjoying a night of pleasure, with women and alcohol" at their Lima hotel after Peru drew 1-1 with Brazil, said Lander Aleman, a member of the federation's World Cup commission. The players were supposed to abstain from such parties during the qualifying rounds, which Peru officials call "a period of concentration." Peru are currently ninth in the 10-team South America table with two points, trailed only by Bolivia with one point.



■ CRICKET

Imran hit by revolt: Miandad

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan survived a player revolt before leading his team to victory in the 1992 World Cup, former teammate Javed Miandad said. Miandad, a former captain and three-time coach of the national side, said leading players had grown disaffected with Imran's leadership style throughout the tournament. "The revolt took place before the semi-final against New Zealand. But to me the country was more important and I convinced the players to carry on playing under Imran," Miandad said on a local television chat show late on Wednesday. "Imran retired after winning the World Cup and before the England tour in 1992 because he had come to know about the revolt." Miandad, when contacted on Thursday, confirmed his statement but would not elaborate. "I have never spoken about this incident but now many people know about it so I disclosed the truth," he said.

■ BASEBALL

Cardinals release Taguchi

Japanese outfielder So Taguchi, who helped the St Louis Cardinals win last year's World Series title, was released by the Major League Baseball club on Wednesday. The 38-year-old veteran of six US seasons, all with the Cardinals after leaving his homeland, enjoyed his best season in 2005 when he batted .288 with eight home runs and drove in 53 runs. Last year he hit .290 with three homers and 30 runs batted in over 130 games. For his career, Taguchi batted .283 with 19 homers and knocked home 154 runs over 578 games.



■ Football

Vikings star receives ban

Minnesota Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards has been suspended for four games for violating the NFL's policy on steroid use. Coach Brad Childress said he was disappointed in Edwards and could not comment further because of the confidentiality surrounding the policy. The Vikings will turn to Erasmus James, rookie Brian Robison and Jayme Mitchell to fill in during Edwards' absence. Edwards is in his second year out of Purdue University and has been one of the Vikings' most consistent performers at defensive end. He is eligible to return to the team after the Dec. 30 season finale against Denver and could play if the Vikings make the playoffs.



■ Soccer

Player denies wrongdoing

Eintracht Frankfurt striker Ioannis Amanatidis has denied any wrong-doing after it was revealed he is being investigated by police over an alleged assault on a woman. The 26-year-old is alleged to have struck a 33-year-old Macedonian woman in Frankfurt on Tuesday after an argument with her father and is under investigation, a police spokesman confirmed on Wednesday. "I didn't hit anyone, neither the lady nor her companion," Amantidis said. But the alleged victim says the Greek international hit her after an argument broke out as she tried to park her car. "I wanted to protect my father and he [Amanatidis] hit me with his full palm on the left side of my face," the woman involved said.



■ Soccer

Expert says club wasn't Nazi

Hertha Berlin, the German capital's premier team, was not heavily linked to the Nazi party, according to a history expert's study. Professor Daniel Koerfer, who works at Berlin's Freie University, has conducted a study into Hertha, who play at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, to assess how much influence the Nazis had on the team during the Third Reich era. Koerfer's report shows the vast majority of players stayed away from the Nazi party and almost all the club's 400 members did not sympathize with the Third Reich regime. But the report does conclude several leading figures at the club became party members and co-operated with the Nazis, often to protect the club. Hertha president Bernd Schiphorst says the club is still often associated with the Nazi era because of their links to the stadium built by Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer. One of Hertha's most famous players, Hanne Sobek, who helped the Berlin side to become German champions in 1930 and 1931, joined the Nazi party in 1940, but later distanced himself. When the Nazis anti-semitic policy forced the closure of the stadium's Jewish stand, Sobek protested, according to Koerfer's study.
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