■ FRANCE
Lens bounce back to win
Relegation-threatened Lens showed their weekend win over champions Lyon was no flash in the pan on Wednesday as they came from behind to triumph 2-1 at Valenciennes. Jean-Pierre Papin's side claimed the victory thanks to goals from Brazilian Vitorino Hilton da Silva and teenager Kevin Monnet-Paquet either side of half time after Steve Savidan had put Valenciennes into a 34th-minute lead. Valenciennes had Guillaume Rippert sent off on the hour for fouling Monnet-Paquet and with 10 men the hosts failed to threaten an equalizer.
■ England
US star heading to London
Fulham's fight for Premier League survival will be bolstered by the arrival of US international forward Eddie Johnson. The 23-year-old is to leave the Kansas City Wizards for a three-and-a-half-year deal with the London club after receiving confirmation on Wednesday that he had succeeded with an application for a UK work permit. He is the third signing made by Fulham manager Roy Hodgson in the current transfer window, along with Danish midfielder Leon Andreasen and Norwegian defender Brede Hangeland.
■ England
Black Cats bolster attack
Sunderland have signed Sweden striker Rade Prica from Danish club Aalborg for £2 million (US$4 million), the struggling English Premiership club announced on Wednesday. Prica, 27, has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract after leaving Aalborg, where he was top scorer in Denmark's Super League last season. He is Black Cats boss Roy Keane's fourth signing of this month's transfer window, following loan signing Jonny Evans and defenders Jean-Yves Mvoto and Phil Bardsley to the Stadium of Light. "Rade is an experienced striker with a good goalscoring record," Keane said. "He is hungry to play in the Premier League and will give us attacking options."
■ Scotland
Burley named Scotland boss
George Burley was confirmed on Wednesday as the new manager of Scotland's national team, subject to the successful conclusion of negotiations on personal terms. The appointment of Burley, currently in charge of Southampton, was approved by the board of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and SFA officials were able to quickly agree a compensation deal with the English Championship club. Burley's first match in charge will be a friendly against Croatia on March 26 with his first competitive fixture a trip to Macedonia in September. Burley began his coaching career as a player-manager with Ayr in 1991, moving on to Colchester in 1994 before managing Ipswich, Derby, Hearts and Southampton.
■ England
Pandev talk of Toon?
Lazio's Macedonia forward Goran Pandev claimed in an interview published on Wednesday that Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan is trying to bring him to St James' Park. Pandev has scored 13 goals in 24 matches for Lazio this season. And despite recently committing his future to the Roman club, Pandev admitted he could be tempted away from the Stadio Olimpico. "Some managers from my current team have let me know that Newcastle are interested in signing me," Italian news agency Ansa quoted Pandev as saying in an interview with newspaper Makedonski Sport. "From what I know, Keegan wants to sign me as soon as possible, but it's not up to me to decide. Lazio recently decided to hold onto me until the end of June. But in football, nothing is impossible.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Porto and AS Roma on Thursday drew 1-1 in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League playoff, while Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce took a big step toward the last 16 with a 3-0 win over RSC Anderlecht. Zeki Celic gave 2023 runners-up Roma the lead in first-half stoppage-time in Portugal, but Porto defender Francisco Moura’s deflected strike ensured the teams head to Italy next week with the tie finely poised. Roma played the final 18 minutes a man down after Bryan Cristante was sent off for two yellow cards, with coach Claudio Ranieri fuming at the final whistle. In Turkey, former English Premier