■FRANCE
Toulouse through to semis
Toulouse needed a penalty shootout to overcome Lille at home in the French Cup quarter-finals after a 1-1 draw marred by three red cards on Tuesday. Michel Fernandes Bastos put Lille in front with a powerful long-range shot in the first half of extra-time, but fellow Brazilian Emerson scored an own goal in the second period to keep Toulouse in the tie. Toulouse keeper Cedric Carrasso then made the decisive save in the shootout from Emerson to send the southern side through to the semi-finals. Both teams were reduced to 10 men in the first half after Lille’s Ludovic Obraniak and Toulouse’s Alexandre Bonnet were sent off. Lille were reduced to nine men when Yohan Cabaye was sent off for dissent just before the start of extra-time. Brazilian Ribeiro Eduardo scored a double to help Guingamp go through to the semi-finals with a 3-1 win at Ligue 2 rivals Sedan.
■ENGLAND
Capello likened to Ramsey
George Cohen believes that in Fabio Capello, England have a manager with similar qualities to those of 1966 World Cup supremo Sir Alf Ramsey. Cohen, England’s right-back when they beat the then West Germany 4-2 after extra-time in the World Cup final at Wembley nearly 43 years ago, reckons that successive sides have too often been allowed to lose their way. “I think in Capello we have a real disciplinarian. He has players thinking only about the football, which is how it should be,” Cohen said. “In that sense he is the same as Ramsey. He would always make sure we concentrated on why we were there, with no asides, and he got results. Capello is the same.”
■AUSTRALIA
Kewell returns to squad
Talisman Harry Kewell was named in the Australian squad yesterday to face Uzbekistan next month in a qualifier that could seal the Socceroos’ passage to the 2010 World Cup. Victory against the Uzbeks in Sydney on April 1 could guarantee Australia’s qualification, prompting coach Pim Verbeek to call on Kewell’s attacking flair. The Turkey-based midfielder missed the Socceroos’ last qualifier, a dour 0-0 draw against Japan, through injury. The 22-man squad also includes goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who will become the longest serving Socceroo when he lines up against Uzbekistan. The fixture will mark 15 years and 244 days since the 36-year-old made his international debut, beating the previous record set by Tony Vidmar by a day.
■SWEDEN
Larsson gets the nod
Veteran striker Henrik Larsson was included in Sweden’s 23-man squad for next week’s World Cup qualifier against Portugal. Larsson will likely spearhead Sweden’s attack in the March 28 game in Porto, as Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is suspended. Ibrahimovic picked up his second yellow card of the qualifying campaign against Portugal in Stockholm last year. Galatasaray midfielder Tobias Linderoth and Malmo midfielder Daniel Andersson are also out with injuries.
■CANADA
Whitecaps expect MLS spot
The Vancouver Whitecaps are expected to be introduced soon as the second Canadian team in Major League Soccer (MLS). Bob Lenarduzzi, the Whitecaps president, said he expects some sort of announcement before the MLS season opening on Thursday in Seattle. Will Kuhns, MLS director of communications, said the league has indicated in the past it would like to have the new teams named before the season begins. Ottawa, Portland and St Louis have also applied for a franchise.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB