■ARGENTINA
Maradona battles bulge
Argentina coach Diego Maradona is in Italy to receive medical treatment to combat his weight increase and rising stress levels following his team’s two straight losses in World Cup qualifying. ANSA reported on Tuesday that Maradona traveled to the Alpine town of Merano to a beauty farm after Argentina lost 3-1 to Brazil and 1-0 to Paraguay. ANSA quoted unidentified hotel personnel saying that Maradona intends to stay for a couple of weeks for strict dieting.
■BOLIVIA
Players quit national team
Bolivia’s players have resigned from the national team indefinitely and are demanding reforms in the game from their federation (FBF) and the government, their union (Fabol) said on Tuesday. The move could leave Bolivia without a squad to face Brazil at home and Peru away in their remaining World Cup qualifiers next month. “Bolivian soccer is in a deep crisis and as long as our suggestions are not taken into account and implemented ... the country’s professional soccer players resign indefinitely from representing the national team,” Fabol said in a statement. Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed last week that the state take charge of the game because of the national team’s poor results. Bolivia are second-bottom of the 10-team South American group with 10 points from 16 games. The union wants the game to be governed by a single executive body with an equal say for “the real actors in soccer, the players, coaches and referees” and more money injected into the game by the government. Bolivian soccer is run by three separate entities, the FBF, the League and the national associations.
■ENGLAND
FA charges City’s Adebayor
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been charged with violent and improper conduct during Saturday’s 4-2 Premier League win over visitors Arsenal, the English Football Association (FA) said on Tuesday. “Under the fast-track disciplinary process, Adebayor has been charged with violent conduct following an incident with Robin van Persie, which resulted in the Arsenal player receiving facial injuries,” an FA statement read. “Adebayor has also been charged with improper conduct following his actions when turning and running the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal supporters after scoring.” Greater Manchester Police have written to the FA with their views on the incident at the City of Manchester stadium and a separate date will be arranged for a commission to consider Adebayor’s goal celebration. The forward, who joined City from Arsenal in July, angered fans after what van Persie described as a “mindless and malicious stamp” by Adebayor went unpunished. “Referee Mark Clattenburg has advised the FA that he did not see this incident, but has confirmed that had he done so, he would have sent Adebayor off for violent conduct,” the FA statement said. Adebayor’s goal celebration also sparked crowd trouble among Arsenal fans leading to a steward being injured.
■CONCACAF
Cruz Azul stay unbeaten
Mexican club Cruz Azul remained undefeated in the CONCACAF Champions League, rallying from a two-goal deficit on Tuesday to draw 3-3 with the Puerto Rico Islanders in Group C. In other games on Tuesday, D.C. United defeated San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad 1-0 in Port-of-Spain on Christian Gomez’s penalty in Group B, and Arabe Unido of Panama defeated Metapan of El Salvador 1-0 in Group A.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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