■ Soccer
Draw set for Jan. 15
The draw for the 2004 Asian Cup finals will be made on Jan. 15 in Chongqing city in southwest China, the Asian Football Confederation said on its Web site. A total of 16 teams will enter the draw for the finals which will be played in China for the first time from July 17 to Aug. 7. Hosts China and defending champions Japan will be joined in the hat by 14 qualifiers -- Uzbekistan, Thailand, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Jordan, Iran, Oman, South Korea, Iraq, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Turkmenistan. The 16 teams will be divided into four groups of four teams with the seedings announced at a later date, the AFC said. Chongqing is one of the four host cities for the Asian Cup finals, along with Chengdu, Jinan and Beijing.
■ Football
Hawaii edges Houston
Michael Brewster's eight-yard touchdown run in the third overtime sent Hawaii to a 54-48 victory over Houston in a Hawaii Bowl game that ended with an ugly fight at midfield. Shortly after Hawaii stopped the Cougars on fourth down in the third OT Thursday, several scuffles broke out with some players swinging helmets at each other and throwing punches. Coaches and police broke up the brawl after several minutes, and both teams finally headed to their locker rooms. It was a wild ending to a thrilling game. Houston (7-6) took advantage of a major clock management mistake by Hawaii (9-5) to tie it at 34 with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter. After the Warriors blew a chance to run out the clock and missed a short field-goal attempt, Houston's Vincent Marshall caught an 81-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Kolb to tie it.
■ Basketball
Bryant `a little' scared
Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant said in a televised interview that he sometimes becomes distracted or scared as he fights a felony sexual assault charge. "You're just ... living in a nightmare and just can't really wake up out of it," Bryant said in the interview, broadcast Thursday on television network ABC at halftime of the Houston Rockets-Lakers game. Houston won, 99-87. Bryant, 25, is charged with attacking a 19-year-old employee at a Colorado resort in June. He has said the two had consensual sex. Asked if he has trouble keeping his mind on basketball during games, Bryant said: "Sometimes it wanders and I have to try to bring myself back to center. It's human nature, I guess." He said he is sometimes "a little bit" scared. "If you can't control, you just kind of have to let it go. And at times that can be extremely difficult but, you know, you do it," he said.
■ Soccer
Ferdinand speaks up
Former England striker Les Ferdinand revealed Thursday how the prospect of ending his distinguished career on a low after West Ham's relegation from the Premiership last season prompted him to delay his retirement. Ferdinand, who has since joined Leicester, said: "It was a bitter pill for me to swallow personally and we are doing everything at Leicester to make sure that doesn't happen. That was what made me decide to carry on for another season. That was the turning point for me because I was undecided to be honest whether to play again this season. But I didn't really want to end my career with relegation. I would have been sitting at home all this season thinking `what if' and I decided to give it another go."
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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