SOCCER
New Zealand beat Fiji 1-0
Stand-in captain Tommy Smith scored the lone goal as New Zealand struggled to a 1-0 win over Fiji in its opening match at the Oceania Nations Cup soccer tournament yesterday. The Ipswich defender tapped home a rebound after goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau failed to hold Leo Bertos’ free-kick in the ninth minute. Fiji had several chances to equalize, the best coming in the 49th minute when veteran Roy Krishna back-heeled the ball to striker Osea Vakatalesau on the edge of the box. However, keeper Mark Paston tipped Vakatalesau’s shot over the bar.
SOCCER
FIFA checks Guatemalans
The Guatemalan soccer federation said on Friday that investigators from FIFA were in the country looking into a match-fixing scandal involving four matches, with three players implicated and suspended from the national team. Bryan Jimenez, president of the National Football Federation of Guatemala, confirmed the three players involved are Gustavo Cabrera, Yoni Flores and Guillermo Ramirez. They were suspended from the Guatemala national team earlier this week for what coach Ever Hugo Alemeida called acts of “indiscipline.” “Their exit from the team is due to indiscipline, which probably has to do with these rumors,” Jimenez said. He said he could not comment further because of FIFA’s investigation. In World Cup qualifying, Guatemala play at Jamaica on Friday and then face the US on June 12 in Guatemala City. “This is not going to influence the Jamaica game or the match with the United States,” Jimenez said.
SOCCER
King wants to stay at Spurs
Ledley King wants to stay at Tottenham Hotspur even if he can no longer play for them, the veteran defender said on Friday. The 31-year-old, who has endured numerous injury problems, was not on the retained list provided by the club to the Premier League, but he has not ruled out signing a new contract. King, who has been at Spurs since he was a trainee, told the club’s official Web site: “I had a really good start to last season and was pleased to play as many games as I did. A knock in training set me back towards the end, but I opted to carry on playing rather than take the time out to have the knee seen to. Unfortunately that meant that I didn’t play the last few games at the standard I would have liked. ... The club has been fantastic in supporting me and given me several options to stay involved with Tottenham. ... Tottenham have been the only club for me and if I can’t play here then I shall look to be involved in another capacity.” Other notable players not on their club’s retained list include Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, Manchester United’s Michael Owen and Manchester City’s Owen Hargreaves.
RUGBY UNION
Ben Mowen joins Wallabies
Brumbies captain Ben Mowen joined the Wallabies camp yesterday as cover for Western Force No. 8 Ben McCalman, who is continuing to be affected by a shoulder injury ahead of Australia’s rugby Test against Scotland on Tuesday. Australia will name their team today for the Scotland match at Newcastle north of Sydney. Six Nations champions Wales will play Australia on the following three weekends. Mowen has previously represented Australia in under-21s and Sevens, but is uncapped in test play. He led the Australia Conference-leading Brumbies to a 27-19 win over the Melbourne Rebels in a Super 15 match on Friday.
FOOTBALL
Bounty ‘ledger’ exists: report
A key piece of evidence held by the NFL in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal is a “ledger” that shows there was a system for paying players to injure their opponents, Yahoo Sports reported on Friday. The ledger includes a laundry list of injuries and the money a player could earn for inflicting them, Yahoo said, citing two sources with knowledge of what evidence the NFL holds. Among the more lucrative items were the US$1,000 paid for a cart-off (a hit that resulted in a player being helped off the field) and US$400 paid for whacks (hard hits), Yahoo said. NFL Players Association spokesman George Atallah told Yahoo that the league informed the union of the ledger, but never showed it to the players group. Sources told Yahoo that the NFL showed portions of the ledger to some of the defensive players who have been investigated in the scandal.
ATHLETICS
Kiprop wins 10,000m trials
Wilson Kiprop used a late surge to win the 10,000m at the Kenyan Olympic trials held at the Prefontaine Classic on Friday in Eugene, Oregon. Kiprop finished in a world-leading time of 27 minutes, 1.98 seconds as he beat his personal best by nearly 25 seconds on a rain-soaked track. Moses Masai was second and Bitan Karoki took third to round out Kenya’s 10,000m for the London Games. Athletics Kenya elected to hold their trials in Eugene to take advantage of the low altitude. The 25-year-old Kiprop took the lead with around 50m to go and steadily pulled away from Masai down the homestretch. Asked if he could envision this victory, Kiprop simply said: “I could not imagine I could win the race today ... It’s something very incredible.”
BASEBALL
Vlad Guerrero into AAA
Vladimir Guerrero is going to Las Vegas, moving him one step closer to a return to the major leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto assigned the 37-year-old to their Triple-A affiliate on Friday. Guerrero signed a minor league deal with Toronto on May 10. A 16-year veteran, Guerrero reported to extended spring training in Florida after signing with the Blue Jays. He appeared in four games with Class A Dunedin, batting .450 (9-for-20) with a double, four homers and eight RBIs. Blue Jays manager John Farrell said Guerrero would be a designated hitter and play the outfield in Las Vegas, as he did in Dunedin. This is the first trip to Triple-A for the nine-time All-Star and 2004 AL MVP. He jumped from Double-A to the majors with Montreal in 1996.
BOXING
Williams rests after surgery
Former welterweight champion Paul Williams’ promoter says the boxer was resting on Friday following surgery to stabilize his spine. Promoter Dan Goossen said the surgery lasted 6 hours, 30 minutes on Friday night. Goossen said the surgery “went as planned” and doctors said they would talk with Williams about the procedure on Saturday. The 30-year-old Williams severed his spinal cord when he was thrown from his motorcycle on Sunday last week in Marietta, Georgia. Police said he was driving too fast for conditions. Williams’ manager, George Peterson, said the former welterweight champion has no movement from the waist down. Known as “The Punisher,” Williams had been scheduled to fight on Sept. 15 in Las Vegas against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Williams won his first major welterweight title in July 2007 by beating Antonio Margarito. Goossen said Williams has been talking and in good spirits as he predicted he would walk again.
Kawhi Leonard on Sunday scored 41 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals to lead the Los Angeles Clippers in a lopsided 115-96 victory at Minnesota. The 34-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion, matched the second-best road scoring effort of his career as the Clippers improved to 25-27. “Just being aggressive. My teammates trust me,” Leonard said. “Every moment when I touch the ball — assist, shooting the basketball or getting a rebound — I’m just trying to help the team win.” Leonard made three steals in a row at the start of the contest. “Just wanted to come out early in the
FLOP TO CONQUEROR: It was sweet vindication for Sam Darnold, who played for four NFL teams before his debut season in Seattle ended in the ultimate win The Seattle Seahawks on Sunday coasted to Super Bowl glory, routing the New England Patriots 29-13 as Sam Darnold sealed his journey from flop quarterback to conqueror of the NFL’s biggest prize. Brushing off a reputation for wilting in big games, journeyman quarterback Darnold threw for a touchdown and 200 yards on the grandest stage of all to give the Seahawks their second-ever Lombardi Trophy. “It’s unbelievable. Everything that has happened in my career, but to do it with this team, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Darnold said. The victory was buoyed by a dominant defensive display and kicker Jason Myers’
Donyell Malen on Monday scored in each half as AS Roma beat Cagliari 2-0 to stay in touch with the chasing pack at the top of Serie A. Leaders Inter are eight points clear of city rivals AC Milan and nine ahead of reigning champions SSC Napoli. Roma are three points further back along with Juventus. Dutch centerforward Malen had scored only once in four appearances since joining on loan from Aston Villa last month, but he proved his worth on Monday with two excellent finishes. He ran on to a clever through-ball from Gianluca Mancini and his deft chip over the goalkeeper
FIRST MEDALS: Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland secured the first gold medal of the Milan Games yesterday, winning the men’s downhill ski race The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opened on Friday with a glittering ceremony at the San Siro stadium echoed by festivities at Games venues across the snow-capped Italian Alps. The extravaganza reflected the most geographically widespread Olympics in history. It culminated in the lighting of two cauldrons, one at Milan’s Arch of Peace and one in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the chic resort 400km from Milan that is hosting the women’s alpine skiing. Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, two Italian skiing Olympic champions of the past, lit an intricate cauldron inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s knot patterns at Milan’s Arch of Peace. In the freezing mountain air of
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