■ENGLAND
Wenger focuses on youth
Arsene Wenger will carry on developing young talent rather than pay huge transfer fees for big-name signings, the Arsenal manager said on Friday. “What we need to focus on is continually developing and not live in dreamland where we are linked with players of £30 million (US$43.3 million) to £40 million, because that is not realistic,” Wenger told the club’s Web site. “I can cite you players in the last 10 or 15 years who have cost £30 million and have been a flop.” Arsenal are fifth in the Premier League, 10 points behind leaders Liverpool, and fans have urged Wenger to add new faces to his squad in this month’s transfer window. However the Frenchman, who built his reputation on developing youngsters like Nicolas Anelka, Cesc Fabregas and Patrick Vieira, has faced a tighter financial regime since the club’s expensive Emirates Stadium was built in 2006. “We have gone for a policy that is to develop our young players ... and not listen to everybody [in the media] who comes out every day with a new name,” Wenger said.
■UNITED STATES
Pachuca open with rout
Pachuca took advantage of a porous UAG Tecos defense to rout their rivals 4-0 in the opening round of the InterLiga tournament on Friday. In Friday’s other result, Toluca and Morelia played out a 1-1 draw. Played in the neutral US, the annual InterLiga is an eight-team event between Mexican clubs to determine the two qualifiers for the upcoming Copa Libertadores — the South American continental club championship. Pachuca, just back from the Club World Cup in Japan, went ahead when Paraguayan striker Edgar Benitez scored in the 16th minute after Tecos failed to clear the ball. The 1-0 halftime advantage was soon doubled when defender Marco Ivan Perez headed home in the 48th minute. It was 3-0 soon after when midfielder Edy German Brambila scored off a cross in the 57th minute. Forward Victor Manon capped the scoring on a counterattack in the 89th minute. In the other Group A round-robin match, Morelia went ahead in the 39th minute through defender Fernando Salazar, before striker Sergio Santana equalized for Toluca.
■ENGLAND
Routledge signs for QPR
Ambitious Championship side Queen’s Park Rangers on Friday signed Aston Villa winger Wayne Routledge for an undisclosed fee, the London club announced. The 23-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur player has penned a three-and-a-half year deal. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be here,” Routledge told the official QPR Web site. “I am delighted to have sealed the move. QPR are a club with huge ambitions and, as soon as they showed interest in me, I was determined to speak to them.” Routledge, who has also played for England under-21s, started his career at Crystal Palace before moving to Spurs in 2005.
■ITALY
Ireland to travel to Bari
The national side will host their World Cup qualifier against Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland on April 1 at Bari’s San Nicola Stadium, the Italian Football Federation said on its Web site on Friday. Italy, who visit Montenegro four days before the match, lead Group 8 with 10 points from four games. Ireland are three points behind in second spot after two wins and a draw under former Azzurri manager Trapattoni. The Irish have home matches against Georgia and Bulgaria on Feb. 11 and March 28 respectively, before visiting the world champions in the southern Italian city.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
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