■ BRAZIL
Ref changed for big match
The referee for yesterday’s decisive Brazilian championship match between Goias and Sao Paulo was changed after the country’s soccer federation (CBF) said it had been told of a plot to try and fix the result. The CBF said it trusted Wagner Tardelli, the official originally selected to take charge of the match on the last day of the season, but had decided to appoint a new official as a precaution. It did not give any details as to who might have been behind the attempted bribery or how the situation came to light. “On Saturday morning, the CBF received an alert that an attempt was being made to manipulate the result of the Sao Paulo-Goias game,” the CBF said on its Web site. “A new draw was made for the match in question, despite recognizing the honesty and good character of referee Wagner Tardelli, who in 20 years of refereeing has always demonstrated the most correct behavior and conduct.”
■JAMAICA
Cuba through to semis
Cuba beat Antigua and Barbuda 3-0 to become the first team to reach the Caribbean championship semi-finals at Trelawny Stadium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Guadeloupe beat Haiti 3-2 to put the champions’ title defense at risk. Yenier Marquez (7th minute), Roberto Linares (20th minute) and Jaine Colome with a 35th minute penalty led Cuba’s first-half dominance. Antigua, handed six yellow cards, finished with 10 men when Ranja Christian was sent off 10 minutes from time. Cuba, who had beaten Guadeloupe in their opening game, had a maximum six points in Group B, followed by Guadeloupe on three, and Antigua and Barbuda and Haiti with one each.
■NETHERLANDS
Victorious Alkmaar stay top
Ari and Mounir El Hamdaoui scored for AZ Alkmaar to beat Heracles Almelo 2-0 and remain top of the Dutch league on Saturday. Australia midfielder Brett Holman set up Ari for the opening goal in the 19th minute and El Hamdaoui increased the lead in the 85th minute with his 14th league goal. Substitute Otman Bakkal scored twice to help defending champions PSV Eindhoven to a 4-2 comeback win over FC Groningen. Marcus Berg and Goran Lovre scored to give Groningen a 2-0 lead, before Bakkal pulled one back. Captain Timmy Simons fed Bakkal for the equalizer in the 57th minute and Danko Lazovic added goals in the 60th and 69th minutes. Steven McClaren’s Twente followed their midweek UEFA Cup win over Schalke with a 6-2 routing of Sparta Rotterdam. Twente’s Blaise N’Kufo scored in the 30th and 38th minutes after teammate Kenneth Perez found the net in the 22nd minute. Sparta’s Donovan Slijngard scored an own-goal in the 43rd minute. Marko Arnautovic and Youssouf Hersi also scored for Twente, while Rydell Poepon and Arne Slot replied for Sparta.
■PORTUGAL
Porto win to keep in touch
FC Porto beat Setubal 3-0 to get back in touch with the Portuguese league leaders on Saturday. Three second-half goals allowed the three-time defending champions to collect their third straight win and improve to 20 points with a game in hand. Leixoes lead with 23 points. Bruno Alves opened the scoring two minutes before Freddy Guarin scored in the 68th minute, while Lucho Gonzalez capped the scoring in the 80th minute. Nene scored twice as Nacional joined Porto on 20 points following a 4-2 victory over Belenenses. Nene has seven goals and only trails Pacos Ferreira striker William, who scored in a 2-1 loss to Academica, who snapped a seven-match winless run.
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
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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