■ Soccer
Rijkaard respects Liverpool
Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard yesterday refused to be distracted from the Club World Cup final by thoughts of his Champions League clash with Liverpool. Rijkaard acknowledged Liverpool as a "great team" but preferred not to discuss the draw ahead of today's final against South American champions Internacional. "Liverpool is a great opponent, a great team with a great history," he said. "We have all respect for every opponent but we are preparing for tomorrow's match." The European champions' president Joan Laporta earlier described the last-16 match-up as an "extraordinary tie." "They will be very tough rivals." Laporta said.
■ Cycling
Payments spark probe
German TV station ARD is under investigation for using public money to pay 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich and others for exclusive interviews and guest appearances on its programs. Hamburg district attorney Ruediger Bagger told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung a private citizen filed fraud charges against two top officials of Germany's biggest television station, Jobst Plog and Thomas Gruber. The citizen's complaint was misuse of public money, since ARD is financed by taxpayers. Bagger said his office had enough evidence to look into whether a "punishable" offense was committed.
■ Soccer
Malaysia reassures AFC
Malaysia has assured Asia's soccer chiefs that a planned visit by Manchester United next year will not affect its ability to jointly host the 2007 Asian Cup. Manchester United said in September that it would play a preseason soccer game in Malaysia next year after signing a deal to support tourism in the Southeast Asian country. Specific dates for the visit have not been determined. However, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) voiced concerns last month that the visit might distract Malaysia from promoting the July 7-29 Asian Cup. Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, director general of the government-run Tourism Malaysia, told Asian soccer's governing body on Friday that such fears are unfounded, the AFC Web site reported.
■ Rugby Union
Irish protest racism
English Premiership club London Irish are set to make an official protest of racial abuse in their 29-13 European Cup defeat at Ulster on Friday night, BBC radio reported. An official of the Premiership club Brian Smith revealed to BBC Radio Berkshire that full-back Delon Armitage had been the target of racial offences from an Ulster player. "One or two things have happened at the end of each of the games that we will be formally taking forward," he said. Smith said London Irish would make their protest official on Monday.
■ Soccer
Vatican to take the field
The Vatican is getting ready to battle it out with priests in Rome. On a soccer pitch. The inaugural Clericus Cup will kick off in February with the Vatican one of 16 teams taking part. "The Clericus Cup [is] an occasion for all those -- who are in seminaries today, attending university, studying to be a priest -- to put themselves back in the game," the Italian Sports Center (CSI), which is organizing the event, said in a statement on its Web site. "The purpose is really to reinvigorate the tradition [of sport] inside the Christian community," CSI president Edio Costantini told Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday, crediting Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state and a Juventus fan, with the idea.
■ Hockey
Japanese goalie called up
Yutaka Fukufuji, who is seeking to be the first player born and raised in Japan to play in the National Hockey League, has been called up by the Los Angeles Kings. The 24-year-old from Hokkaido, Japan, was promoted to the Kings from the Manchester Monarchs, Los Angeles general manager Dean Lombardi announced on Friday. Fukufuji was likely to get his first opportunity to suit up in an NHL uniform yesterday when Los Angeles hosted Dallas at the Staples Center. Fukufuji has not appeared in any games for the Monarchs this season as he had been backing up Jason LaBarbera.
■ NFL
Banned sprinter tries out
Olympic and world sprint champion Justin Gatlin worked out for the Arizona Cardinals this week, his second tryout for an NFL team. Gatlin, who faces an eight-year ban from athletics following a positive doping test, worked out for Cardinals officials on Tuesday, team spokesman Mark Dalton said on Friday. Gatlin, who has not played football since high school, worked out for the Houston Texans on Nov. 28. The 24-year-old sprinter still shares the world 100-m record of 9.77 seconds, but that will be wiped off the books once his penalty becomes official.
■ Baseball
Wells agrees to extension
All-Star center fielder Vernon Wells and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed on Friday to a US$126 million, seven-year contract extension through 2014, the sixth-largest deal in Major League Baseball history. "How can you not be happy?" Wells said during a telephone interview several hours before terms of the deal were finalized. "Like I said, my family comes first. Obviously this gives me an opportunity to set my family up for a couple of generations. That's the biggest part of this thing," he said.
■ Baseball
Bagwell retires
Houston's all-time home run leader Jeff Bagwell announced his retirement on Friday after 15 years in the US major leagues, all with the Astros. Bagwell's announcement comes less than two months after the Astros declined to exercise next year's option on his contract. "Physically, I can't do it anymore," Bagwell said at a news conference on Friday. "I wish I could play and try to win a World Series in Houston, but I'm just not able physically to do it."
■ Hockey
Penguins offer withdrawn
Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie has withdrawn his offer to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins, the NHL team confirmed on Friday. Balsillie had reached an agreement in October to buy the club from the current owners, including former Penguins great Mario Lemieux, for about US$175 million. But Balsillie, whose company makes the popular BlackBerry wireless messaging device, issued a notice of termination to the club on Friday. "We were hopeful that this was going to come to a conclusion any day," Pittsburgh CEO Ken Sawyer said.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS