GERMANY
Chaos investigated
The German soccer federation opened an investigation on Wednesday into the chaotic scenes during a relegation match between Fortuna Duesseldorf 1895 and Hertha BSC Berlin that forced the referee to stop the game three times. Duesseldorf secured promotion to the Bundesliga top tier on Tuesday with a 2-2 draw against Hertha. The game was held up twice when fireworks and flares landed on the field, and once more with less than two minutes of stoppage-time to be played when Duesseldorf fans prematurely stormed the pitch. The German federation said its supervisory committee has launched a probe into the incident to work out an “appropriate” punishment for those responsible. Hertha said on Wednesday they would submit a legal complaint to annul the result.
PORTUGAL
Lopes happy, wedding off
Portugal fullback Miguel Lopes, a surprise pick for Euro 2012, said it was the happiest day of his life when coach Paulo Bento called him up, even though it forced him to scrap his wedding plans. “I had to talk to a lot of people, but they understood why I had to cancel the wedding and gave me a lot of support, another day will come,” Lopes, 25, said on Wednesday. He did not specify if his wife-to-be was one of the people who understood his decision, but admitted the first thing he did after hearing about the call-up was to kiss his fiancee, Monica Pina. “This is the happiest day of my life,” the Braga player said. Lopes’ wedding had been scheduled for the same day as Portugal’s pre-tournament friendly against Macedonia on Saturday next week.
ARGENTINA
No apologies, Tevez says
Striker Carlos Tevez insisted on Wednesday he would not apologize to Sir Alex Ferguson after waving a mocked-up tombstone of the Manchester United boss during Manchester City’s Premier League title celebrations. “It seems that Ferguson is the president of England. Because each time that he speaks badly of a player or talks nonsense about me, no one comes out to say that he has to apologize. When you make a joke, you have to apologize. But I’m not apologizing,” Tevez said on returning to Buenos Aires after helping City to their first title in 44 years. The 28-year-old Argentina striker held up a banner designed to look like a gravestone and bearing the words “RIP Fergie” as City celebrated their title triumph over Manchester United during an open-top bus parade. Manchester City later released a statement apologizing to Ferguson and criticizing Tevez, while the player — who it is believed took the banner from a fan — also said he “didn’t mean any disrespect.”
JAPAN
Star eyes Premier League
Japanese star Shinji Kagawa said he wants to play in the Premier League after meeting with Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson. The 23-year-old Kagawa has one year left on his contract with two-time Bundesliga champion Borussia Dortmund, but has declined the club’s extension offer. Kagawa returned to Japan on Wednesday after meeting with Ferguson earlier this week. “I want to go to a team where it’ll be challenging for me,” Kagawa said. “It’d be nice if I end up playing in the Premier League.” Ferguson attended the German Cup final in Berlin on Saturday, when Kagawa scored one goal and set up another to help Dortmund rout Bayern Munich 5-2 in what might have been his last game for the club.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
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