■ SPAIN
Real Union stun Real Madrid
Spanish league champions Real Madrid were beaten 3-2 away by Segunda B (third tier) Real Union in the first-leg of their King’s Cup tie on Thursday. The game was only two minutes old when Juan Dominguez burst past Michel Salgado to rock the visitors back with the opener. Real’s Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain leveled on a counterattack soon after, but the game had to be halted when his teammate Ruben de la Red collapsed and was taken to hospital. Dominguez was gifted a free header to put the home side back in front after 20 minutes. Argentine striker Javier Saviola struck a great equalizer after halftime, but the Basque club hit back when Goikoetxea hit the winner in the 63rd minute. Third tier Poli Ejido scored the upset result of the round, thumping Villarreal 5-0 on Wednesday, while Sevilla fell 1-0 at another third tier side, Ponferradina.
■ CHINA
Player banned for 10 years
A Chinese player has been banned for 10 years and another for five years after attacking a referee who showed one of their teammates a second yellow card. The incident occurred during a match between Huantai Classic FC and Zibo Industrial Institution (ZII) on Oct. 18, the Asian Football Confederation said. Reports said the referee was accosted by the two players after showing a second yellow card to teammate Zhou Peilin. During the argument, Jiang Wei, who was banned for five years, was alleged to have pushed and kicked the ref, while Zhang Don grabbed his red and yellow cards as well as the fourth official’s match report.
■ AUSTRALIA
Kewell’s secret revealed
Harry Kewell has had autoimmune hepatitis for years, but will still be able to play at the highest level for the rest of his career, his manager said on Thursday. News of his long-standing condition was revealed in the Turkish press this week following a routine drug test after he scored the winner for his Turkish side Galatasaray in last week’s UEFA Cup clash with Olympiakos. Media reports said Kewell, 30, needs a daily dose of the steroid prednisone to treat his condition. His agent, Bernie Mandic, said Kewell’s condition was not a threat to his teammates. “When people see the word hepatitis, they immediately draw conclusions,” Mandic said. “Harry does not have, and never has had, a contagious disease.”
■ ITALY
Beckham to join AC Milan
England international David Beckham will join AC Milan on loan in January, the Italian club said on Thursday. The former England captain will join the team from Jan. 7, when the Serie A season restarts following its winter break. Milan vice president Adriano Galliano had revealed earlier in the day that he was due for talks with Beckham’s lawyers, who were in Milan, and now a deal has been agreed.
■ BRAZIL
Pele wishes Maradona well
Pele has wished Diego Maradona well in his new job as Argentina coach, but the Brazil legend warned that great players rarely become great managers. “I hope that everything goes well for him and that he’ll be able to overcome what’s happened in the past and that he’ll know how to manage the Argentine players well,” Pele said. Pele said if Maradona is to succeed he must listen to his director of football Carlos Bilardo, who led the Maradona-inspired Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title. “He has at his side an experienced manager who knows football really well. If Maradona listens to Bilardo he can go far,” Pele said.
■ GOLF
Daly arrested at Hooters
Two-time major golf champion John Daly spent a night in jail at the weekend after police in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, found him drunk outside a restaurant, the Winston-Salem Journal reported on Wednesday. Police Lieutenant Tyrone Phelps told the newspaper that Daly was held at the Forsyth County Jail early on Sunday morning to sober up. According to the newspaper, paramedics went to a Hooters restaurant at 1am after receiving a report that Daly had passed out. When police arrived, they found Daly drunk and unwilling to go to hospital. He was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. The newspaper reported that Daly was traveling on a tour bus and told police that others on the bus didn’t want him back on it after the restaurant closed. Daly, the 1991 PGA Champion and 1995 British Open champion, was later released on an unsecured bond. Daly, 42, hasn’t held a US PGA Tour card for the past two years. In March, Butch Harmon quit as his swing coach. At the time, Harmon said of Daly that “the most important thing in his life is getting drunk.”
■ COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Cincinnati beat S Florida
Playing with a cast protecting a broken arm, University of Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike still threw two touchdown passes in a 24-10 victory over No. 24-ranked South Florida in Cincinnati on Thursday. Pike was sharp in his second game back since he broke his left forearm, his non-passing arm, which is held together by a plate and six screws. He connected on 20 of 28 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns, including a pass to Connor Barwin that put the Bearcats up 24-10 early in the fourth quarter. South Florida was the last team from the Big East conference to be ranked in the Top 25. The Bulls readily acknowledged that if they didn’t win this one, they would have no realistic chance for the title, so those hopes are dashed.
■ BASEBALL
Macha takes over at Brewers
Ken Macha was hired as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, taking over from Dale Sveum following the team’s first playoff appearance since 1982. The 58-year-old Macha, who managed the Oakland Athletics to a pair of American League West division titles, agreed to a two-year contract. He replaces Sveum, who became interim manager when Ned Yost was fired with 12 games left in the regular season. Sveum was dropped from consideration two weeks ago. Macha led Oakland to a 368-260 record. He was fired after the Athletics were swept by Detroit in the 2006 AL Championship Series. Willie Randolph and Bob Brenly were also on the list of finalists. Macha was considered the lead candidate to become Brewers manager six years ago when Melvin became GM, but Macha was promoted from bench coach to manager in Oakland.
■ BASKETBALL
Nets pick up option on Yi
The New Jersey Nets picked up their option for the 2009-2010 season on Yi Jianlian (易建聯) on Thursday, a day after the Chinese forward made a strong debut for his new National Basketball Association club. Yi, 21, scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbed six rebounds to help the Nets to a 95-85 victory over Washington in their NBA season-opener. The 2.13m tall player from Shenzhen was traded in June from Milwaukee, who had made him the sixth overall selection in the NBA draft a year earlier. The Nets also picked up the contract options for the 2009-2010 season on center Josh Boone and forward Sean Williams on Thursday.
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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