■ Israel
Keeper banned for headbutt
Israeli international goalkeeper Nir Davidovich was banned for four matches on Wednesday for headbutting an opponent. The Israeli Football Association said the Maccabi Haifa keeper was guilty of an aggravated attack on Hapoel Petah Tikva defender Shimon Abuhatzeira in a match last week. The absence of Davidovich will be a blow to Haifa's bid to win the league for the fourth season in a row. Haifa are sixth after 17 matches, five points behind leaders Beitar Jerusalem.
■ England
UEFA backs venue switch
England will play its 2008 European Championship qualifying away match against Andorra in Barcelona. UEFA's executive committee on Wednesday approved Andorra's request to move the March 28 game to Espanyol's Olympic stadium because Andorra's stadium seats only 1,800 fans. "It is obvious that it is difficult for the Andorran federation to host a game where there could be up to 20,000 supporters coming from England in their own small stadium," UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said.
■ England
Hasselbaink in hot water
Charlton Athletic striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has been fined £5,000 (US$9,866) and warned about his future conduct after saying his former club Chelsea had paid illegal bonuses, the English Football Association said on Wednesday. The Dutch striker was charged with improper conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute after writing in his autobiography that Chelsea had paid an extra bonus to players after beating Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in April 2004. The Premier League investigated but found no evidence for the allegations.
■ Chile
Hacker stokes rivalry
A hacker attacked the official site of the Chilean Football Association on Wednesday and posted anti-Chilean slogans, stoking rivalries with neighbor Peru. "Chileans, sons of bitches, you've been hacked by a Peruvian," the hacker said on the site www.anfp.cl. An ANFP spokesman confirmed the hacking and said the site had briefly shut down after the cyber graffiti was discovered. The hacker also used the site to fuel an age-old rivalry between Chile and Peru about who invented ceviche, a dish of raw fish marinated in lime or lemon juice, and Pisco, a liquor produced from grapes.
■ United States
Reyna heading home
Former US captain Claudio Reyna has followed David Beckham into Major League Soccer by signing on Wednesday under the designated player rule with the New York Red Bulls. Reyna, a 33-year-old midfielder, comes to MLS from Premier League side Manchester City and will be reunited at his hometown team with former US national coach Bruce Arena, who also coached him at the University of Virginia. The designated player rule allows a club to pay a player above the MLS ceiling of US$300,000. Terms for Reyna were not announced. A New Jersey native, Reyna played 77 matches for Manchester City between 2003 and this year. "I'm very excited to be coming back to play at home minutes from where I grew up," Reyna said.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father
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