■AUSTRALIA
Iwelumo breaks metatarsal
Chris Iwelumo will miss next month’s start of the English Premier League season because of a foot injury picked up in Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 1-0 pre-season win over Perth Glory. The 30-year-old Scottish international forward was helped from the field in Friday’s match after a 50-50 challenge and was later found to have broken a metatarsal in his right foot, club officials said. Wolves manager Mick McCarthy said there was no malice in the strong tackle from Glory’s new Socceroo signing Jacob Burns that forced Iwelumo from the field. “The game was fine, no badness in it at all,” McCarthy told reporters after the match. “It was just an accident. Nothing we could have avoided. It wasn’t too physical, it was purely an accident.” Wolves controlled possession for large periods, but failed to put the Glory away, with goalkeeper Tando Velaphi pulling off two crucial saves. “We were hopeless,” McCarthy said. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s strike in the second minute won it.
■ENGLAND
City give up on Eto’o
English Premier League club Manchester City have given up on a potential move for Barcelona’s Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o. Barcelona had last week appeared to accept Eto’o was on his way to Eastlands, but a contractual hitch emerged between the forward, who scored in the Champions League final win over Manchester United, and City. The club said they have now called off any move for the 28-year-old, who is set to see out the final year of his Barcelona contract. “Samuel Eto’o is undoubtedly a fine footballer, but the circumstances surrounding him were such that the deal could not be completed,” City chief executive Garry Cook told the club’s Web site. “We now feel the time is right to pursue other avenues.”
■FRANCE
Monaco in swine flu scare
Five players with French top flight side AS Monaco have the flu and are undergoing tests to determine if they might have swine flu, officials said on Friday, saying the cases were “suspect.” Municipal officials at Allier, in eastern France where the squad are in pre-season training, said the exact nature of the players’ illness was unclear. “They are taking Tamiflu and paracetamol as a precaution,” a source said, saying the swine flu virus A(H1N1) could not necessarily be ruled out, but that the players did not appear to show any symptoms of serious illness.
■ENGLAND
Jo loaned to Toffees
Brazilian striker Jo agreed to join Everton on a season-long loan deal from Premier League rivals Manchester City on Friday. The 22-year-old, who signed for City for £18 million (US$29 million) from CSKA Moscow last summer, spent five months on loan at Goodison Park last term and scored five times in 12 appearances. He was expected to return to City, but the arrival of Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers has put his future at Eastlands in doubt. Everton have also been given permission to hold talks with Sheffield United fullback Kyle Naughton after a £4.5 million fee was agreed between the clubs.
■SPAIN
Cabrera joins Atletico
Atletico Madrid have signed teenage Uruguayan defender Leandro Cabrera from Defensor Sporting, the Spanish Primera Liga club said on their Web site on Friday. Atletico did not specify the length of the 18-year-old’s contract, but said he had signed for “the coming seasons.”
BOUNCE BACK: Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs, after ‘everybody stepped up’ following Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City Nikola Jokic scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win — until now. Jokic on Wednesday night tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point outbursts. “It’s a good feeling,” the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said. He equaled Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 55 in a double-overtime game at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23. Jokic has been on a roll during Denver’s winning streak. He is the
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
The tri-nation Twenty20 international series featuring hosts Pakistan, as well as Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, is to be played entirely in Rawalpindi from Tuesday next week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday, after this week’s suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad. The change came after at least eight Sri Lankan players asked to leave over security fears following Tuesday’s bombing that killed 12 people and wounded 27. Their country’s cricket board issued a stern directive to the team to stay put or face consequences. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the decision to stay was taken after “close consultations” with hosts Pakistan who
Italian champions SSC Napoli on Sunday came unstuck at Bologna, losing 2-0 to cede the Italian Serie A summit to Inter, who downed SS Lazio by the same scoreline. AS Roma, who beat Udinese 2-0 earlier, briefly held the summit, only for Inter to dislodge them on goal difference. With the game just three minutes old, Lautaro Martinez put Inter in control with Ange-Yoan Bonny doubling the lead on the hour with a shot from close range. Goals in the capital either side of the break by Lorenzo Pellegrini and Zeki Celik sent Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma temporarily to the
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