■ 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.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
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