URUGUAY
Executive board resigns
The executive board of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) resigned en masse on Monday, deepening the crisis the sport in the country is going through following the decision by Uruguayan President Jose Mujica to withdraw police from matches. “Recent events demonstrate the need to move aside and allow other political views to make football governable,” a statement issued by the AUF board said. Mujica ordered police to withdraw their presence from the Centenario and Parque Central stadiums in Montevideo after incidents marred Nacional’s meeting with Argentine side Newell’s Old Boys in the Copa Libertadores. On Sunday, the game between Penarol and Miramar Misiones was called off at the players’ request amid security concerns at the Centenario. Former AUF vice president Miguel Sejas told Uruguayan radio that there were differences of opinion between leading clubs and the AUF regarding the scheduling of matches, as well as issues with negotiations for television rights.
PERU
Champions’ stadium closed
Champions Universitario de Deportes had their Monumental Stadium closed for 30 days on Monday after a teenager was shot dead amid clashes between rival groups of fans. The youth died instantly after being shot in the chest on Sunday, a local district police spokesman said. “We are investigating... The accusations and accounts we have are that [the fighting] was over control of tickets,” the spokesman for the Lima district of Ate said. He was referring to free tickets clubs give their hardcore fans, who are in many cases divided into factions. The incident occurred before Universitario lost a first-division match 3-1 to Sport Huancayo. “While there are no guarantees to avoid violent acts, we won’t give [the club] a license to operate,” Ate District Mayor Oscar Benavides said.
ENGLAND
Guardiola jokes about ‘offer’
Pep Guardiola has joked that he could have been offered the chance to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager, but would not have understood due to the Scot’s accent. Ferguson stepped down as United manager last year and chose David Moyes to succeed him, while Guardiola joined European champions Bayern Munich after a year’s sabbatical. While Guardiola has already led Bayern to a successful title defense, Moyes has endured a wretched debut campaign at United. United and Bayern were due to meet in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals yesterday and Guardiola was asked ahead of the game if Ferguson had offered him the United job when they met in New York following the Catalan’s departure from Barcelona in 2012. “He invited me to a super restaurant,” Guardiola said at a press conference. “We spent a very good time. My English is not so good and when Sir Alex speaks quickly, I had sometimes problems to understand. That’s why maybe I didn’t understand if I received an offer or not.”
SPAIN
Two late goals sink Betis
Malaga scored twice in the final eight minutes for a 2-1 victory at last-placed Real Betis Balompie, whose hopes of avoiding relegation took a another blow. Betis had a chance to salvage a point in stoppage-time, but Ruben Castro sent his penalty-kick off the crossbar to leave Betis 11 points from salvation with seven matches remaining. Juanmi Jimenez canceled out Lolo Reyes’ first-half opener in the 82nd minute, before Sergi Darder notched the winner with two minutes left. In Monday’s other match, Levante UD beat Granada 2-0.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
WORLD SERIES: ‘The individuals that were involved in that last night was a very small segment of the east Los Angeles community,’ the Los Angeles county sheriff said Rowdy crowds took to the streets of Los Angeles after the LA Dodgers won the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, setting a city bus on fire, breaking into stores and lighting fireworks. A dozen arrests were reported by police on Thursday, but officials said that most fans celebrated peacefully. Video showed revelers throwing objects at police in downtown LA as sirens blared and officers told them to leave the area on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the MLB World Series at Giants Stadium in New York. Another video showed someone standing atop