■AUSTRALIA
Under-17 coach Crook dies
Officials expressed shock yesterday after under-17 coach and former national goalkeeper Martyn Crook died suddenly during a tour to the US. Football Federation Australia (FFA) said Crook, 52, passed away on Friday in Los Angeles, where the team was preparing for three matches against Brazil and the US. Media reports said he died of a heart attack. “We are deeply saddened and shocked by this news,” FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said in a statement, adding that Crook was “highly respected by the players and his professional colleagues alike.” “Martyn will be remembered by many people in the [Australian] football community, because he was a long-time contributor to the game in many capacities,” Buckley said. England-born Crook migrated to Australia as a child with his family, settling in Adelaide. Crook played 192 games as a goalkeeper with West Adelaide from 1977 to 1986 and made 14 appearances for the national team from 1979 to 1983. He was appointed assistant coach with the national under-17 team from 2001, before becoming head coach last year.
■ITALY
Vieira maybe out until 2009
Inter coach Jose Mourinho, announcing that Patrick Vieira’s Achilles tendon injury would rule him out for the next two games, added it was unlikely the French midfielder would be back playing before next year. “In two weeks, 2008 is over,” Mourinho said. “There’s a risk that you won’t see Vieira make his return until next year.” Vieira suffered the injury in training two days after Inter’s 1-0 win over Juventus on Nov. 22.
■CARIBBEAN
Trinidad, Jamaica both win
Errol McFarlane converted two second-half penalties for Trinidad and Tobago as they beat Barbados 2-1 in Caribbean Cup action at Trelawny Stadium on Friday. Gregory Goodridge gave Barbados a 13th-minute lead and McFarlane leveled two minutes after half-time. When Barbados goalkeeper John Michael Williams was penalized and sent off in the 70th minute, McFarlane slotted home the penalty for the win. In the late match, hosts Jamaica thrashed Grenada 4-0 to virtually assure them of a semi-final berth. Forward Eric Vernon opened the scoring after just six minutes and Luton Shelton of Norwegan club Valerenga found the net in the 17th minute. Real Salt Lake midfielder Andy Williams extended the lead in the 53rd minute, before Demar Phillips of English club Stoke City rounded out the scoring in the 77th minute.
■ENGLAND
Five Palace fans jailed
Five Crystal Palace fans were jailed for up to four years on Friday for attacking Charlton Athletic supporters on a train. Prosecutors told a London court that more than 30 Palace fans trapped the Charlton followers on the train in a pre-planned attack before the game between the two neighbors in September last year, chanting “kill them” and “get off our manor”. Clive Taylor, 35, and Ashley White, 21, were jailed for four years, while 40-year-old Carl Thomas received a 38-month sentence and Darren Bush, 39, was sentenced to three years. Andrew Spicer, 38, admitted the charge and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
■ENGLAND
Dutch friendly announced
England and Holland will begin their respective countdowns to the 2010 World Cup with a friendly in Amsterdam at the start of the 2009-2010 season. The Aug. 12 match was announced on Friday by the Football Association.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father
RSS