Mexican soccer teams on Friday pulled out of all tournaments organized by the South American Football Confederation (CSF) in a move sparked by rival teams’ refusal to play Mexico because of the swine flu outbreak.
“Mexican soccer teams withdraw completely from all of the competitions organized by the CSF until we reach an agreement,” the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) said at a news conference.
The announcement came after players from Uruguay and Brazil refused to travel to Mexico for two scheduled games against Mexican teams San Luis and Guadalajara in the Copa Libertadores, a series of matches played by top clubs in the region.
In addition to the Copa Libertadores, the CSF organizes the America’s Cup and the South American Cup.
Mexico is the epicenter of the A(H1N1) flu outbreak that has sickened more than 3,000 people in 27 countries, killing 48. The bulk of the deaths have been in Mexico.
CSF president Nicolas Leoz said the confederation had not been notified of Mexico’s decision to withdraw its teams.
During a tournament game last week in Chile, a Mexican player spit and blew nasal secretions at an opponent and then said he had swine flu. He was suspended from the event a few days later.
Mexican players from the city of Guadalajara complained their opponents taunted them with remarks about flu during the game.
They also said Chileans covered their mouths, ran away, laughed or made remarks about being contaminated when the team went to a local shopping center.
The Mexican government has shut down businesses and banned crowds from sporting events to prevent the flu from spreading in large public gatherings.
Several soccer matches between Mexican teams were played in front of empty stadiums after the outbreak was reported on April 23. Authorities are permitting stadiums to be half-full during matches this weekend, as the country relaxes its flu controls.
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
RSS