BULGARIA
Club skips match for players
Third-division club Shumen have refused to play top-flight PSFC Chernomorets Burgas in the Bulgarian Cup round of 32 to protect their young players from mental anguish. Shumen were drawn against the Burgas-based side on Tuesday, but club president Georgi Georgiev decided there was no need for his team to play against such strong opposition. “In order not to burden mentally our young boys, the team refuse to participate in the Bulgarian Cup,” Georgiev told local media. The first leg of the tie was due to be played on Sept. 18. The Bulgarian Football Union is expected to give Chernomorets a walkover.
VENEZUELA
Stomach bug downs squad
The national team has been struck by a stomach bug before their visit to Chile for a potentially decisive 2014 World Cup qualifier. Manager Cesar Farias told a news conference that 20 of his players, nearly the entire squad, had been affected. “They didn’t have a good night and they weren’t able to train well,” he told reporters, without giving further details. Venezuela, the only South American team never to have played at the World Cup, are sixth in the nine-team South American group, with 16 points from 13 games, behind Uruguay on goal-difference. Chile are fourth with 21. The top four teams qualify directly and the fifth-placed team play two legs against the team who finishes fifth in Asian qualifying.
GERMANY
Ozil left to be appreciated
New Arsenal signing Mesut Ozil admits he had no intention of leaving Real Madrid until he realized he risked being left on the sidelines. Ozil saw Gareth Bale complete his transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday before agreeing to move to the Emirates Stadium. The Germany playmaker said in an interview with the German Football Association’s Web site that he agreed to the move after it became clear that he no longer figured in the plans of Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. “At that moment, I was certain that I would stay at Real Madrid, but afterward I realized that the coach and the board no longer had confidence in me,” he said. “I am a player who needs that confidence and the possibility came up to go to Arsenal, which is why I chose to go there.”
SPAIN
Osasuna dismiss coach
CA Osasuna fired coach Jose Luis Mendilibar on Tuesday after a disappointing start to the season left them bottom of La Liga, the club said. “We have analyzed the play and results of the first three matches of this season along with nine games of last season and we have come to this decision,” club president Miguel Archanco said in a statement. It was the first sacking of a manager in Spain’s top flight this season. The club’s board took the decision “unanimously,” the statement said. Archanco added that assistant coach Alfredo Sanchez will take charge for now. Mendilibar’s sacking followed a 3-0 home defeat to Villareal on Saturday and earlier losses to Athletic Bilbao (2-0) and Granada (2-1).
NETHERLANDS
Van der Vaart out of playoffs
Rafael van der Vaart has withdrawn from the Dutch squad for their two upcoming World Cup qualifiers in Estonia and Andorra because of a hamstring injury. He has been replaced by Adam Maher of PSV Eindhoven, the Dutch Football Federation said yesterday. The 20-year-old Maher has won four caps. The Dutch lead Group D and can qualify for the World Cup if they win in Tallinn today and Andorra four days later.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
RSS