■BRAZIL
Ronaldo a happy Corinthian
Ronaldo wants to end his career with his present club Corinthians. “There is no way to change history. I’ll stay with Corinthians forever,” he said on Tuesday in an interview with sports newspaper Globoesporte. “The fans have received me with open arms. I’ve responded by scoring goals. Ronaldo, 33, has played most of his career in Europe with PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter, Real Madrid and AC Milan. He returned to Brazil after being released by AC Milan last year following an injury to his left knee. He joined Corinthians 10 months ago. There has been talk of Ronaldo moving to his childhood favorites — Flamengo — but he said that’s no longer an option. “Playing with Flamengo was a dream I had, but it’s over,” he said. Ronaldo is the all-time scoring leader in World Cup finals, but he has not been called up to Brazil since Dunga took over as national coach following the 2006 World Cup. Ronaldo has talked about his desire to play for Brazil next year in South Africa, but has said recovering from his knee injury was his top priority.
■COPA SUDAMERICANA
Liga draw with Velez
Ecuador’s Liga de Quito earned a 1-1 draw against Argentina’s Velez Sarsfield in the Copa Sudamericana quarter-finals on Tuesday. Hernan Lopez’s early header for Velez was matched by Claudio Bieler’s strike just after the break. Velez took the lead in the sixth minute when Jonathan Cristaldo burst down the right. Maximiliano Moralez nodded the cross back across goal and Lopez scored from close range. Liga, last year’s Copa Libertadores champion, leveled when Bieler scooped the ball in despite being knocked down by Velez ’keeper German Montoya in the 53rd minute.
■UNITED STATES
Donovan breaks record
Landon Donovan was named the best player on the US team for a record-breaking sixth time on Tuesday. Donovan, 27, was instrumental in the US’ successful qualifying campaign for the World Cup and run to the Confederations Cup final. “I think this year was, aside from 2002 [when the US reached the World Cup quarter-finals], as long as I’ve been part of the national team, the best year the national team’s had,” said Donovan, who won the Honda Award for the third successive year after winning three in a row in 2002-04. “Maybe including 2002. So to be part of it, to be recognized for that, is very cool.” Donovan received 424 points in balloting by media members, finishing ahead of two teammates, goalkeeper Tim Howard (267 points), who plays for Everton, and 19-year-old forward Jozy Altidore (178), who is with Hull City on loan from Villarreal.
■ENGLAND
’Boro sack Southgate
Gareth Southgate was sacked as manager of Championship side Middlesbrough yesterday hours after they had beaten Derby 2-0. Victory had not only ended a run of three successive home defeats but left them fourth in the table just a point adrift of leaders West Brom. However, chairman Steve Gibson said he had decided with great regret to sack the 39-year-old, who had been in charge since June 2006 after playing more than 200 times for them after signing from Aston Villa in 2001. “This has been the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in all the time I’ve been in football,” Gibson said. “Gareth has given Middlesbrough football club magnificent service as a skipper and, in very difficult circumstances, as manager ... He is a good man and has all the qualities and integrity that we wanted in a manager. However, the time is right for change and that change has had to be made,” he said.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures