ENGLAND
Bobby Zamora earns recall
Experienced striker Bobby Zamora’s good end-of-season form for Fulham saw him recalled to the England squad for the Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland at Wembley on June 4. The 30-year-old has scored four goals in his past 11 matches, including one in the season-ending 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday to earn his recall after 12 months blighted by injuries. The former West Ham United forward missed out on last year’s provisional World Cup squad because of an Achilles injury and he suffered another setback in September, sustaining a broken leg and ankle ligament damage against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Capello has also recalled former captain Rio Ferdinand and he looks set to partner the man who replaced him as skipper, John Terry, in the center of defense as Michael Dawson has been surprisingly left out. Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has also regained Capello’s favor as he finds himself in the squad for the first time since last year’s World Cup.
ENGLAND
Wilshere, Carroll left out
Premier League stars Jack Wilshere of Arsenal and Liverpool’s Andy Carroll were left out of the England under-21 squad for next month’s European Championships when coach Stuart Pearce announced it on Monday. Pearce’s decision will please Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who had complained last week that 19-year-old Wilshere had played too much soccer and needed a summer of rest. “I spoke to Jack last week,” Pearce said. “He explained that while he told me in March that he wanted to be part of the squad, he now feels he is not in the best condition to take part.” Carroll has been left out because of injury and the absence of both players will be a blow for Pearce. Wenger was concerned about the possibility of Wilshire burning out.
SPAIN
Aguero wants to move on
Atletico Madrid forward Sergio Aguero, a target for Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in January, has asked the La Liga club to release him from his contract, the Argentina international said on Monday. The 22-year-old, who has a child with Diego Maradona’s daughter, extended his contract to 2014 in January, but his buy-out clause was reduced from 60 million euros (US$84 million) to 45 million euros, prompting speculation about a possible exit. “I have thought about it a lot and I am convinced I must be true to myself,” Aguero said on his personal Web site. “I don’t think I should impose a limit on the chance of continuing to learn and grow. After five intense years, a stage in my personal development has ended and I have to move on to a new one.” Atletico’s majority-shareholder Miguel Angel Gil said in January that offers from Tottenham and Chelsea for Aguero had been rejected.
SINGAPORE
Game called off after brawl
A mass brawl involving up to 40 players forced a Singapore S-League game to be called off before it had even started, a report said yesterday. Fighting broke out during the warmup when a player from visiting team Etoile argued with Hougang United team members while they were stretching, the Straits Times said. “The entire Hougang team, around 20 of them, surrounded this guy and there was a lot of shouting and shoving,” an unnamed fan told the paper. “There were no punches thrown, but the Etoile player’s bib was torn.” Etoile players then ran from the other side of the field to join the melee, as officials tried to stop the fight, said an official who did not want to be identified.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS