■ENGLAND
Owen overlooked again
Michael Owen was overlooked once again by England manager Fabio Capello when the squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus was announced on Sunday. Capello admitted the Newcastle striker had given him a decision to make by scoring three goals in his last four matches. But the Italian boss overlooked him, opting to stick with Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey and Jermain Defoe and bring in the latter’s Portsmouth teammate Peter Crouch, who has scored four in his last three games. In other changes to the squad, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, back from a groin injury, returns to the England midfield ranks, while Joe Cole, injured in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa on Sunday, misses out. Fellow midfielders Jimmy Bullard of Fulham and Tottenham’s David Bentley are replaced by Crouch and Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. West Brom goalkeeper Scott Carson replaces calf-injury victim Paul Robinson of Blackburn.
■POLAND
FIFA drops sanction threat
World soccer’s governing body FIFA has dropped its threat of sanctions on Poland after reaching an agreement with the country’s government, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said yesterday. “We have received letters and documents that there has been an agreement between the FA and the Polish government,” Blatter told reporters in Brussels. “If this agreement comes into force tomorrow it is sufficient for us. We will not impose any sanctions once the agreement comes into force.” FIFA last week warned the Polish government that it was facing the possible suspension of its national team after it decided to remove the FA’s leadership and install a government-appointed administrator. European soccer’s governing body UEFA also said that Poland would likely lose its right to host the 2012 European Championship unless an agreement was reached before FIFA’s deadline.
■SAMOA
Oceania suspends Samoa
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) yesterday suspended the Samoan Football Soccer Federation (SFSF) for “seriously and repeatedly violating their obligations.” It followed concern over Samoa’s handling of funds from world body FIFA. In a statement, the OFC said the suspension took effect immediately and would be confirmed at their next Congress by a two-thirds majority of the votes taken. “If it is not confirmed, the suspension is automatically lifted,” it added. OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas said his organization imposed the suspension as “a last resort” after attempts to solve the SFSF’s financial problems.
■NETHERLANDS
Groningen regain top spot
FC Groningen regained the top spot in the Dutch league on Sunday with a 3-0 win over ADO The Hague. Petter Andersson, Evgeniy Levchenko and Marcus Berg scored for Groningen to give them 13 points after five rounds, one point ahead of PSV Eindhoven. PSV held the overnight lead after a 3-0 victory over De Graafschap on Saturday. Also on Sunday, NAC Breda scored twice in the first 19 minutes to beat FC Volendam 4-2 and stay third with 12 points, while Feyenoord dropped to 14th after losing 2-0 to NEC Nijmegen. SC Heerenveen pulled off a 5-2 victory over 10-man Ajax to move up to fourth place. FC Twente lost 3-0 at FC Utrecht to hand former England coach Steve McClaren his first Eredivisie defeat.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Taiwan suffered its first defeat of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12, losing to defending champion Japan 3-1 at the Taipei Dome last night. Japan’s victory put Taiwan’s score at two wins and one loss in WBSC Premier12 championship Group B play. In the top of the first inning, a sacrifice fly from Japanese batter Shota Morishita allowed Masayuki Kuwahara to score a run on Taiwan’s starter Chen Po-ching (陳柏清). Taiwan’s attempt to catch up in the bottom of the first ended to no avail and an uneventful second inning saw the score
RSS