■SOCCER
Team sacrifices lamb
Bulgarian club Pirin Blagoevgrad have sacrificed a lamb on their home pitch in the hope it will turn results their way, local media reported yesterday. Pirin have just returned to their ground, which was being repaired for several months, at the end of last month only to suffer a 3-1 loss to Chernomorets Burgas — their first defeat in nine league matches. Pirin then lost 2-0 at Lokomotiv Plovdiv last week to slip to 10th in the standings. The lamb was killed at the center of the field with goals then painted with the animal’s blood on Friday — a day before Pirin’s home match against Beroe Stara Zagora. “We just can’t afford losing again at our stadium,” coach Stefan Grozdanov was quoted as saying in the 7 Dni Sport daily. “But I think our footballers are feeling uneasy when playing at our pitch after the repair. They seem like stepping on pins,” he said.
■SOCCER
Winning streak ended
Borussia Moenchengladbach ended Eintracht Frankfurt’s three-game winning streak with a 2-0 Bundesliga victory in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday. Marco Reus scored with a header in the sixth minute. Michael Bradley played a through ball to Raul Bobadilla, who chipped it over goalkeeper Oka Nikolov and Reus finished the move from close range. Defender Dante rose above Frankfurt’s defense to also score with a header in in the 56th. The win ended Moenchengladbach’s already fading relegation worries.
■CRICKET
Essex players investigated
Two Essex players are being investigated by police over allegations of “match irregularities,” the English club said on Friday, the opening day of the new county championship season. A statement from Essex Police read: “Following allegations received about two Essex County Cricket players involved in match irregularities, we have initiated an investigation and are working closely with Essex County Cricket Club and the English Cricket Board.” The Press Association understood the allegations to be related to betting, but there was no official comment from the county or the England and Wales Cricket Board. Essex Police refused to name the players under investigation.
■SOCCER
Threat made for World Cup
FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke said there had been a terrorist threat to the World Cup, but it would not stop organizers from holding the month-long soccer tournament. Valcke commented on Friday on writings in an online magazine that talked about “how beautiful” it would be if a bomb exploded at the match between the US and England in the city of Rustenburg. Valcke said FIFA had received information about the threat and World Cup organizers were working at “the highest level of security.” The comments appeared to come from a contributor to a militant e-magazine called Yearners for Paradise, not usual sites used by al-Qaeda and other groups to make threats. In the article, the author said he was not a spokesman for al-Qaeda.
■BOXING
Zaveck retains title
Slovenia’s Jan Zaveck on Friday retained his International Boxing Federation welterweight crown with a 12th-round technical knockout of challenger Rudolpho Martinez of Argentina in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Zaveck, 34, making his first defense since winning the title in December, now has 29 wins under his belt, including 16 knockouts, for just one defeat.
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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