■BRAZIL
Adriano to take a break
Brazil and Inter striker Adriano said on Thursday he was taking a break from soccer and would rethink his career. “I’ve lost the happiness of playing,” he told reporters. “I wouldn’t like to go back to Italy, I want to live in peace here in Brazil. I wasn’t unhappy in Italy. I don’t know if I’m going to stay for one, two or thee months without playing. I’m going to rethink my career.” Adriano failed to return to Italy after last week’s World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Peru, in which he was an unused substitute. On Monday, his agent Gilmar Rinaldo said Adriano had stayed in Brazil because of a private matter and confirmed the player had spent time in the Vila Cruzeiro favela, where he was raised.
■SERBIA
Police arrest 95 in Belgrade
Police arrested 95 fans and pressed charges against 25 of them following violence at the Belgrade derby between bitter rivals Partizan and Red Star, the Serbian Interior Ministry said on Thursday. “The hooligans who face legal action have been charged with assault on police officers, violent behavior, causing general danger as well as the possession and sale of narcotics,” it said. Red Star Belgrade fans clashed with riot police before Wednesday’s match and set fire to seats in the north tier of Partizan’s stadium after the final whistle, forcing fire brigades to move in. The fixture has a history of crowd trouble dating back to times when Serbia was still a part of the former Yugoslavia.
■ENGLAND
Police drop Mourinho case
Inter boss Jose Mourinho will not face police action after allegations that he punched a supporter outside Old Trafford, police sources said on Thursday. A Manchester United fan claimed he was hit in the face by the Portuguese manager following last month’s Champions League tie between United and Inter. Mourinho, 46, was said to have clashed with a man close to the Inter team bus shortly before midnight on March 11 after his side’s 2-0 defeat. The supporter alleged common assault, although he was not thought to be seriously injured, and Greater Manchester Police approached the Old Trafford club to view CCTV footage of the area. But the case has been dropped.
■ROMANIA
Piturca gets the sack
Victor Piturca was on Thursday sacked as Romania coach after a disappointing run of results that looks to have derailed the country’s bid to appear at next year’s World Cup. “Piturca has been relieved of his post,” said Dumitru Dragomir, head of the Romanian professional soccer league. “We haven’t decided on his replacement, that will be made later on.” Romania’s most recent defeat, a 2-1 loss to Austria on April 1, dropped them to fifth place in Group 7, with only four points from five matches — effectively ending any hopes they had of qualifying for next year’s showpiece. Group 7 is being led by Serbia on 12 points, with France on 10 points, Lithuania on nine and Austria on seven.
■ENGLAND
Much interest in the Saints
The administrators running ailing English Championship side Southampton said on Thursday that 31 parties had expressed an interest in buying the club. The Saints’ parent company, Southampton Leisure Holdings, went into administration last week with reported debts of £27.5 million (US$40.5 million). The Football League is considering whether to penalize the club 10 points which would result in their almost certain relegation to the third tier of English soccer for the first time in 49 years.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
With a hat-trick on Wednesday, Victor Osimhen moved atop the UEFA Champions League scoring table, with the Nigeria striker netting all three goals in Galatasaray’s 3-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam. Osimhen moved to six goals this season in Europe’s elite club competition, one more than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. The Istanbul club signed Osimhen to a permanent deal from SSC Napoli in the summer for a record transfer fee in the Turkish League reportedly worth US$86 million. The 26-year-old striker needed less than 20 minutes to complete his first hat-trick in the competition. He headed in the opener in the
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