■PERU
Players quit national team
Peruvian players quit their national team on Saturday, bringing further misery for fans who have already seen their side slump in World Cup qualifying. “We have presented the Peru Football Federation [FPF] a document announcing the players’ resignations because none of the reforms demanded have been carried out,” players’ union president Fernando Revilla said. The petition was signed by more than 600 players based both in Peru and abroad. Manuel Burga, the president of the FPF, said that in the long term “the biggest losers will be the players.” Peru are bottom of the qualifying table for next year’s World Cup.
■ENGLAND
Bolton sign Knight, Ricketts
Premier League side Bolton Wanderers on Saturday completed the signings of Aston Villa defender Zat Knight and Hull City fullback Sam Ricketts on three-year deals. Centerback Knight, who has won two England caps, has struggled for regular first-team soccer since joining Villa in 2007 from Fulham, starting just 13 Premier League games last season. Wales international Ricketts, who can play on the left or the right, started 27 Premier League games in Hull’s first season in the top flight. They are Gary Megson’s third and fourth signings of the summer, with the club having brought in Sean Davis from Portsmouth and defender Paul Robinson from West Bromwich Albion.
■BOLIVIA
Youngest player’s dad fired
The father of a 12-year-old boy who last week became the world’s youngest professional player has been fired as coach of the Bolivian first division side. Former World Cup star Julio Cesar Baldivieso has been forced out by bosses of his club Aurora for refusing to obey orders from club directors to leave the boy out of the squad. Baldivieso also withdrew his son Mauricio, who turned 13 on Wednesday, from the club. “For internal club reasons, we’ve decided to part company with coach [Julio Cesar] Baldivieso,” Aurora president Jose Luis Montano said. It followed the controversy that surrounded Mauricio’s appearance as a substitute for the final 10 minutes of a 1-0 defeat against La Paz.
■NETHERLANDS
Alkmaar win Super Cup
Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar scored three goals in the first half an hour, before settling their first Dutch Super Cup win with a 5-1 thrashing of Heerenveen on Saturday. Australian international Brett Holman opened the scoring for Alkmaar after 15 minutes when he netted a fine cross from Maarten Martens who broke through on the left flank. Last season’s top scorer Mounir El Hamdaoui doubled the lead nine minutes later after a combination by Stijn Schaars and Jeremain Lens, then Martens got the third four minutes later with a 25m shot. Michal Papadopolous pulled one back on the hour, but a Lens brace completed the rout.
■BRAZIL
Ze Carlos dies aged 47
Former international goalkeeper Ze Carlos, who was understudy to Claudio Taffarell at the 1990 World Cup finals, has died at the age of 47 after a long battle with cancer, it was reported on Saturday. Ze Carlos, who played for Flamengo, died on Friday at a hospital in northwest Rio De Janeiro where he had been admitted in May. The goalkeeper won the Brazilian league title with Flamengo in 1987 and the Brazilian Cup in 1990. He also played for Cruzeiro, Vitoria and America, as well as in Portugal with Vitoria Guimaraes.
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
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
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