■ARGENTINA
Maradona battles bulge
Argentina coach Diego Maradona is in Italy to receive medical treatment to combat his weight increase and rising stress levels following his team’s two straight losses in World Cup qualifying. ANSA reported on Tuesday that Maradona traveled to the Alpine town of Merano to a beauty farm after Argentina lost 3-1 to Brazil and 1-0 to Paraguay. ANSA quoted unidentified hotel personnel saying that Maradona intends to stay for a couple of weeks for strict dieting.
■BOLIVIA
Players quit national team
Bolivia’s players have resigned from the national team indefinitely and are demanding reforms in the game from their federation (FBF) and the government, their union (Fabol) said on Tuesday. The move could leave Bolivia without a squad to face Brazil at home and Peru away in their remaining World Cup qualifiers next month. “Bolivian soccer is in a deep crisis and as long as our suggestions are not taken into account and implemented ... the country’s professional soccer players resign indefinitely from representing the national team,” Fabol said in a statement. Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed last week that the state take charge of the game because of the national team’s poor results. Bolivia are second-bottom of the 10-team South American group with 10 points from 16 games. The union wants the game to be governed by a single executive body with an equal say for “the real actors in soccer, the players, coaches and referees” and more money injected into the game by the government. Bolivian soccer is run by three separate entities, the FBF, the League and the national associations.
■ENGLAND
FA charges City’s Adebayor
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been charged with violent and improper conduct during Saturday’s 4-2 Premier League win over visitors Arsenal, the English Football Association (FA) said on Tuesday. “Under the fast-track disciplinary process, Adebayor has been charged with violent conduct following an incident with Robin van Persie, which resulted in the Arsenal player receiving facial injuries,” an FA statement read. “Adebayor has also been charged with improper conduct following his actions when turning and running the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal supporters after scoring.” Greater Manchester Police have written to the FA with their views on the incident at the City of Manchester stadium and a separate date will be arranged for a commission to consider Adebayor’s goal celebration. The forward, who joined City from Arsenal in July, angered fans after what van Persie described as a “mindless and malicious stamp” by Adebayor went unpunished. “Referee Mark Clattenburg has advised the FA that he did not see this incident, but has confirmed that had he done so, he would have sent Adebayor off for violent conduct,” the FA statement said. Adebayor’s goal celebration also sparked crowd trouble among Arsenal fans leading to a steward being injured.
■CONCACAF
Cruz Azul stay unbeaten
Mexican club Cruz Azul remained undefeated in the CONCACAF Champions League, rallying from a two-goal deficit on Tuesday to draw 3-3 with the Puerto Rico Islanders in Group C. In other games on Tuesday, D.C. United defeated San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad 1-0 in Port-of-Spain on Christian Gomez’s penalty in Group B, and Arabe Unido of Panama defeated Metapan of El Salvador 1-0 in Group A.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors
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