Soccer Capsules: Donovan can join foreign club on loan
Comments 0LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan, Major League Soccer's most valuable player, signed a four-year contract with a provision for an offseason loan overseas, the club announced on Wednesday.
The loan period would last from Jan. 1 to March 15 and would ensure Donovan's return for the Galaxy's opening MLS game on March 27.
Financial terms were not disclosed for the contract, which runs through 2013.
"I'm fortunate," Donovan said. "This opportunity ... is incredible."
In being named MLS most valuable player, Donovan scored 12 goals and led the Galaxy to the final.
David Moyes, manager of Everton in England, expressed public interest in acquiring Donovan, who also is the all-time leading scorer for the United States.
"A loan deal has not been finalized but it'll likely be done with Everton," said Bruce Arena, the Galaxy coach and general manager. "I think it's pretty much narrowed down to Everton."
Everton is tied for 15th place in England's Premier League.
"For Landon, Everton's a great situation," Arena said. "They're a club with a small roster. They have a number of injuries. They have a congested fixture schedule over the next couple of months. It's a great fit for Landon."
A loan overseas would be the second for Donovan in 12 months. Donovan went to Bayern Munich from January to March.
Donovan also said the Galaxy's improvement this year played a pivotal role in signing the contract. In 2008, the Galaxy tied for the league's worst record amid internal turmoil.
"Candidly, a year ago, I wouldn't have made this decision," Donovan said. "But Bruce has completely turned this team around and made it some place where players want to be. I want to be a part of it.
"I love L.A. I grew up my whole life here. At the end of the day — after a lot of thinking, after a lot of soul searching — this is the place I want to be."
Donovan previously had stints with Bayer Leverkusen in 1999 and 2004.
Beckham hoping to draw former club Man United
MILAN — David Beckham hopes AC Milan will be drawn with his former club Manchester United in the second round of the Champions League.
Beckham said in Wednesday’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport that he would be delighted to get the chance to play at Old Trafford for the first time since leaving Man United for Real Madrid in 2003.
The draw is Friday.
The England midfielder is set to link up for his second loan with Milan in January. If he does play in the Champions League this season, it will be the first time since 2007.
Beckham scored twice in 18 games for Milan from January to May this year while on loan from Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS.
Spain No. 1, U.S. 14th in final soccer rankings
ZURICH — Spain is ranked No. 1 in the year-end FIFA standings for the second straight year, while the United States is ranked 14th.
In rankings published Wednesday, the European champion maintained the lead it took last month from South American champion Brazil.
The Netherlands and world champion Italy stayed third and fourth as the top 10 remained unchanged.
Cameroon leads the African nations at No. 11, and the U.S. tops the CONCACAF region. Australia heads the Asian confederation at No. 21.
Algeria, which will play in the World Cup next year, improved to No. 26 — its best spot since the rankings were launched in 1993.
U.S. to play at Netherlands in WCup warm-up March 3
CHICAGO — The United States will play the third-ranked Netherlands in a World Cup warm-up at Amsterdam on March 3, and both teams figure to be at relatively full strength.
The game will be played on the only day before May that FIFA requires clubs to release players to national teams.
The U.S. is 0-3 against the Dutch, including a 1-0 loss at Amsterdam in 2004. It will be the eighth game in one year for the Americans against a World Cup team, and the U.S. already has faced No. 1 Spain, No. 2 Brazil and No. 4 Italy.
The U.S. opens next year’s schedule against Honduras on Jan. 23 at Carson, Calif., and is trying to arrange a home game against Mexico in late February. The Americans start the World Cup in South Africa on June 12 against England, play Slovenia on June 18 and Algeria on June 23.
The Dutch are in a group with Denmark, Japan and Cameroon.
Club World Cup
Messi returns to lead Barcelona over Atlante
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Lionel Messi scored on his return from injury Wednesday, coming off the bench to inspire Barcelona to a sublime performance as it beat Mexican club Atlante 3-1 and earned a spot in the Club World Cup final.
Messi showed no adverse effects from an ankle injury as he received a pass from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 54th minute and then rounded goalkeeper Federico Vilar to give Barcelona the lead with his first touch after replacing Yaya Toure in the 53rd minute.
"We know that Barcelona without Messi is still the best in the world," Atlante coach Jose Cruz said. "But with Messi on the field, they're from another galaxy."
Pedro Rodriguez sealed the victory in the 67th, becoming the first player to score in six different competitions in one year.
Atlante took advantage of the European champions sluggish start to take the lead in the fifth through Guillermo Rojas. But Sergio Busquets equalized in the 35th.
Barcelona will now face South American champion Estudiantes of Argentina in Saturday's final as it goes for an unprecedented sixth trophy in a calendar year.
"We are Barcelona and some people take for granted that we are going to win and it's very hard," said coach Pep Guardiola, who is hoping to guide Barcelona to its first win in its third appearance in the final. "It wasn't a marvelous game but it wasn't too bad."
Barcelona has already won the Champions League, Spanish league, Copa del Rey, Spanish Supercup and European Supercup trophies in 2009. Pedro, who has been a regular in Pep Guardiola's squad since August, has scored in each of those competitions.
Guardiola said the team was assessing the fitness of Andres Iniesta, who left the game clutching his left leg. Iniesta spent most of the offseason recovering from a muscle tear in his other leg.
"We want to see if it's a bruise, tiredness or an injury," Guardiola said. "We need to do a test and then we'll know."
Atlante took the lead after just five minutes when Rojas took advantage of a defensive lapse to flick the ball over goalkeeper Victor Valdes and then score from an acute angle.
Ibrahimovic went close several times from distance before Busquets equalized in the 35th, the midfielder volleying Yaya Toure's flicked header under Vilar.
Fans chanted Messi's name when the Argentina forward appeared on the touchline to replace Toure and he immediately delivered for the 40,952 fans at Zayed Sports City stadium after a week out.
"He wants to decide games," Guardiola said. "He goes for blood."
Pedro wrapped up the win after Iniesta drew two defenders and then passed to the unmarked winger, who then fired a shot past Vilar from inside the area.
Atlante missed several chances to get back into the game, including in the 73rd when Gabriel Pereyra miss-hit a clear chance in front of goal.
"It was a very tough game," Vilar said.
Atlante will play Asian champion Pohang Steelers in the third-place playoff on Saturday.
Earlier, Auckland City finished fifth after beating Mazembe 3-2.
-- Paul Logothetis
Barcelona's Pedro scores in 6th competition
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Pedro Rodriguez became the first player to score in six different competitions in one year on Wednesday as the Barcelona forward netted in a 3-1 Club World Cup semifinal win against Atlante.
Pedro was darted clear into the area to receive a pass from Andres Iniesta in the 67th minute and then beat goalkeeper Federico Vila to give Barcelona its final goal.
"I feel great to have achieved that," Pedro said. "It's something I never thought I would manage."
The 22-year-old winger has scored goals the Spanish league, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Supercup and European Supercup since becoming a regular in August under coach Pep Guardiola.
Pedro had made a few previous appearances with the first team and was well known to Guardiola, who has often used players from Barcelona's youth academy.
"I'm very happy for him," Guardiola said. "What he's done is really important. His goal was so good."
Barcelona will play Copa Libertadores champion Argentina in Saturday's final as it vies for a sixth major trophy of 2009.
"We want to win everything," Pedro said. "Hopefully, we'll do it in the final."
League Roundups
Lampard gives Chelsea 2-1 win over Portsmouth
LONDON — Frank Lampard scored a late penalty Wednesday to give Chelsea a 2-1 win over last-place Portsmouth that restored its three-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Chelsea looked to be heading for a fifth game without a win until defender Mark Wilson was penalized for a foul on Branislav Ivanovic and Lampard hit the resulting penalty past goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Chelsea has 40 points to defending champion Manchester United's 37, and eight more than third-place Arsenal, which drew 1-1 at Burnley.
Niko Kranjcar scored twice to help fifth-place Tottenham beat Manchester City 3-0 and hand its rival just a second league defeat, while Liverpool rose to sixth with a 2-1 win over Wigan.
Chelsea lost its perfect home record at the weekend when it drew 3-3 with Everton and its fans were agitated again after on-loan striker Frederic Piquionne equalized for Portsmouth following a free kick that rebounded off the defensive wall.
But Lampard stepped up to score his sixth penalty of the season and prevent a repeat of the jeers that followed the team off the Stamford Bridge pitch at the weekend.
"It was very hard," Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "After their goal, we had some difficulties and we lost our composure. We didn't have confidence to win the game because we did not win the last four games.
"It was very important to return to wins. We did a good job; not a beautiful job."
Chelsea had led through a 23rd-minute goal by Nicolas Anelka but Piquionne volleyed his fifth goal of the season when Chelsea failed to clear early in the second half.
Arsenal looked on course for a third straight Premier League win when Cesc Fabregas scored in the seventh minute at Burnley, but Graham Alexander equalized with a 28th-minute penalty awarded for Thomas Vermaelen's foul on Andre Bikey.
Fabregas limped out of the match just before halftime.
Tottenham rallied from its shock loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend to become just the second team after Manchester United to beat City this season.
Kranjcar and winger Aaron Lennon starred for Tottenham at White Hart Lane, but England striker Peter Crouch was instrumental in Spurs' first two goals.
His header was blocked and rebounded for Kranjcar to score the 37th-minute opener and he flicked on a long punt by goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes in the 54th for Jermain Defoe to tap in from close range for his 17th goal of the season.
Kranjcar then beat two defenders and slipped the ball under goalkeeper Shay Given to complete the scoring in injury time.
Spurs rose to 30 points, two fewer than Arsenal and fourth-place Aston Villa.
Liverpool is three points behind Tottenham after David Ngog and Fernando Torres scored against Wigan.
-- Stuart Condie
Bordeaux edges Montpellier 1-0 in French league
PARIS — Bordeaux edged Montpellier 1-0 on Wednesday thanks to a goal from Brazilian forward Jussie to consolidate first place in the French league.
The defending champion claimed its sixth straight win in all competitions to top the standings with 37 points from 17 matches, six clear of second-place Marseille.
"We bring back three points that allow us to assert our first place," Jussie said.
Jussie outpaced Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and then fired the ball past Montpellier goalkeeper Geoffrey Jourdren in the 58th minute for the only goal of the game.
Earlier, Montpellier forward Victor Hugo Montano powered a header into the net in the third minute but his effort was disallowed for an offside.
France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff had his penalty saved by Jourdren in the 30th after a player in the Montpellier wall had raised his arm to protect his face and handled a free kick from Gourcuff.
"In the first half, we didn't show our true face," Jussie said. "Fortunately, we succeeded in playing our game in the second half.
"(Coach Laurent Blanc) gave us some instructions and we managed to react. He told me to run at and skip past opponents. That's what I tried to do."
For Montpellier, it was its first home defeat and it slipped to third place with 30 points.
Also Wednesday, it was: Lorient 1, Marseille 2; Lyon 2, Boulogne 0; Monaco 1, Rennes 0; Paris Saint-Germain 1, Lens 1; Nancy 2, Nice 0; and Le Mans 1, Grenoble 0.
In Lorient, Marama Vahirua notched his seventh goal this season by converting a penalty kick in the 53rd after Argentina defender Gabriel Heinze had tripped Morgan Amalfitano.
But Jordan Ayew, the 18-year-old son of former Ghana star Abedi Pele, leveled for Marseille in the 68th off a low cross from Bakari Kone. Ayew was making his debut in the French league.
"It's a very special day for me," Ayew said. "I'll celebrate it with my family and players from the (soccer) academy."
Senegal defender Souleymane Diawara gave Marseille the victory, heading home a cross from Argentina midfielder Lucho Gonzalez in the second minute of stoppage time.
"They scored on a penalty so we were a bit gutted," Diawara told the club's Web site. "But we felt that we could come back in that match. We kept believing and (15) minutes later we equalized. Then, we absolutely wanted to take three points and keep pace with Bordeaux."
In Lyon, the seven-time champion overcame a hostile crowd to snap a five-game winless streak in the league and stay in the title race.
"It's tough to play in such conditions," Lyon centerback Maxime Gonalons told the club's Web site. "We tried to stay united on the pitch when the crowd expressed its discontent."
Brazilian winger Michel Bastos had his shot blocked by a defender in the 72nd but Bosnia playmaker Miralem Pjanic followed up and placed the ball out of goalkeeper Jean-Francois Bedenik's reach.
Argentine forward Cesar Delgado scored into an empty net after a pass from substitute Yannis Tafer in the 91st to seal the win.
Lyon was jeered by its own fans at the Gerland stadium from kickoff to the final whistle despite the victory.
"We feel sad because we need the fans to be with us," Bastos said. "We understand the fans. But in such moments, everybody, both players and fans, must get together to lift heads up. We need everybody."
The home team climbed to fourth place with 29 points while Boulogne remained in the relegation zone with 12 points.
In Monaco, Sebastien Puygrenier redirected a free kick from Nene toward the far post where South Korea forward Park Chu-Young slammed the ball home in the 20th.
Mid-table Monaco has 25 points, one less than Rennes.
In Paris, Claude Makelele played a one-two with Turkey forward Mevlut Erding to open the scoring for the hosts in the 70th.
But Toifilou Maoulida chested down a cross from Sebastien Roudet to equalize from close range for Lens in the 74th.
PSG rose to eighth place with 26 points while Lens stayed in 14th place with 22 points.
In Nancy, Julien Feret chested down a cross from Youssouf Hadji to volley into the top corner in the 50th.
Three minutes later, Hadji hit the post but Congo midfielder Chris Malonga converted the rebound.
Nancy moved into 13th place with 23 points while Nice suffered its fourth straight loss to stay in 16th place with 20 points.
In Le Mans, Norway forward Thorstein Helstad skipped past a Grenoble defender to fire home a low diagonal shot in the 7th.
Le Mans moved out of the relegation zone in 17th place with 15 points.
Auxerre was held at Valenciennes in a goalless draw on Tuesday.
Those matches were initially scheduled for Oct. 28 but the French league rescheduled them to this week to help France prepare better for its World Cup playoff against Ireland.
-- Trung Latieule
Inter Milan beats Livorno in Italian Cup
MILAN — Wesley Sneijder fired home a freekick to give Inter Milan a 1-0 win over Livorno in the Italian Cup Wednesday that seals Inter's place in the quarterfinals.
The Dutchman curled a freekick past Livorno goalkeeper Francesco Benussi in the 61st minute after Mario Balotelli had been fouled.
In the quarterfinals Inter will play the winner of the match between Juventus and Napoli that takes place on Jan.13.
"We deserved to win," Inter coach Jose Mourinho said. "We took the match seriously, we had no problems, kept our shape and were controlled in defense.
"We had a couple of early chances come back off the post and any team that has five or six goalscoring chances deserves to win."
Inter dominated the game in the first half.
Midfielder Dejan Stankovic had two good chances early on. He shot straight at Benussi with the first, whilst the second came back off the post.
Midfielder Sneijder became the second player to hit the post, when his freekick in the 32nd rebounded to safety.
Stankovic had another chance in the 36th, but shot over and Balotelli shot wide from a good position two minutes before the break.
After halftime Livorno again did the utmost to frustrate Inter, but the hosts made a breakthrough in the 61st when Sneijder found the net.
A minute later David Suazo wasted a chance to double the lead. Sneijder put him clear behind Livorno's defense, but Benussi came off his line to smother the shot.
Livorno failed to test Inter and Federico Dionisi's weak shot in the 76th that Inter keeper Francesco Toldo comfortably saved was the closest Serse Cosmi's team came to scoring.
Substitute Diego Milito wasted a great chance late on to make the result safe. The Argentine rounded Benussi but shot wide.
"I'm happy," Mourinho said. "We didn't have many problems and we are in the next round."
Brisbane beats North Queensland 2-0
SYDNEY — Striker Serginho van Dijk scored twice before halftime to give Brisbane a 2-0 win over North Queensland and to keep the struggling club's playoff hopes alive in Australia's A-League on Wednesday.
Van Dijk, who was off contract and yet to clarify his future, scored in the 20th and 42nd minutes to move Brisbane to sixth place on the league table at the start of a drawn-out 19th round.
Former Liverpool star and North Queensland captain Robbie Fowler was the expected star of Wednesday's match but Van Dijk stole the limelight with two brilliantly taken goals.
He scored first with a diving, one-foot shot from a pass by Henrique, and again when Matt McKay provided a pinpoint cross.
Fowler's best chance came in the 16th minute when he was left free in the box, but his chip was palmed away by Brisbane 'keeper Griffin McMaster.
Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou said he was pleased with the way his side had bounced back from last weekend's 1-0 loss to Adelaide United.
"We are starting to get the team I want to play," he said.
"I am reading plenty of things about people leaving the club but people aren't talking about the ones that are here.
"I thought people saw the future of the Brisbane Roar tonight."
World Cup
Olympic Stadium makes cut for England’s WCup bid
LONDON — London’s 2012 Olympic Stadium and Liverpool’s Anfield grounds have been included in England’s bid for the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
England’s selection panel decided Wednesday to give FIFA the option of selecting either the Olympic Stadium, which might not stay at 80,000 capacity after the games, or Tottenham’s proposed new field as one of the three London venues.
The Wembley national stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates were also selected in the capital.
England gives FIFA the option of using either Anfield or its Liverpool replacement.
A total of 15 stadiums in England were proposed.
After FIFA votes on the World Cup hosts for 2018 and 2022 in December 2010, the world soccer governing body will decide on the venues.
Elsewhere
Bank owning West Ham has debt repayments frozen
LONDON — The chances of David Gold and David Sullivan succeeding with their bid for West Ham have receded after the Icelandic bank controlling the Premier League club had its debt repayments frozen until September.
The former Birmingham owners reportedly offered 50 million pounds ($81.5 million) for the troubled east London club but Straumur can now afford to hold out for a better offer.
Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank said in a statement Wednesday that the District Court of Reykjavik had granted it an extension of the moratorium on repayments until Sept. 10, 2010.
Straumur, which is owned by the Icelandic government, has owned 70 percent of West Ham's holding company since June. It prevented West Ham going bankrupt by taking over debts of previous owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson.
Straumur director Andrew Bernhardt is West Ham's current chairman.
West Ham is 19th in the 20-team Premier League, in the three-team relegation zone after being hit by Gudmundsson's bankruptcy and collapse of the company that sponsored its shirts.
Iceland's economy collapsed so dramatically last year that its three major banks went bust and foreign currency transactions were frozen for weeks.
West Ham has been largely unable to invest in high-profile signings over the past two years and has concentrated on offloading high-earning players.
Lucas Neill, Freddie Ljungberg and Craig Bellamy are among the players to have left.
Gold has spoken publicly of wanting to own a club in southern England after selling centrally based Birmingham to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung in October.
The pair appear to have settled on West Ham and British newspapers have reported that they would give the Hammers club funds to buy new players in the January transfer window.
-- Stuart Condie
Official: Players say death awaits them in Eritrea
NAIROBI, Kenya — The 12 Eritrean national team players who defected during a tournament in Kenya last week say they cannot return home because they will be killed.
The players say they swore an oath to the Eritrean government before leaving the country that they would not defect, a senior Kenyan government official said on Wednesday. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the information wasn’t authorized for release.
The official said the 12 have applied for an asylum seeker’s pass, the first stage in determining whether they deserve refugee status. The process could take up to three months.
The 12 failed to board a plane from Nairobi with the rest of Eritrea’s squad on Saturday after having competed in the Senior Challenge Cup.
Some of the 12 players entered a government office Wednesday to apply for refugee status. They were dressed in the official Eritrean football team tracksuits, with the country’s name emblazoned on the back.
Nicholas Musonye, the secretary general of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations, said this is the third time Eritrean players have gone missing in events organized by the council, with up to a dozen disappearing during a tournaments that were held in Tanzania in 2006-07.
President Isaias Afwerki, a former rebel leader, led Eritrea to independence from Ethiopia in 1993 but has since turned dictator. Strict government controls on the economy, media and religion in the nation of more than 5 million people have forced thousands to flee.
-- Tom Odula
League asks Wolves to explain 10 team changes
LONDON — The Premier League asked Wolverhampton manager Mick McCarthy on Wednesday to explain why he selected a heavily weakened team that lost to Manchester United.
McCarthy made 10 changes to the side that beat Tottenham last week for Tuesday's 3-0 loss at United. Only U.S. goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was retained.
"The Premier League Board have written to Wolverhampton Wanderers to request their observations in relation to the team fielded in their League fixture against Manchester United," the league said in a statement. "Once the observations are received the Board will decide whether any further action is warranted."
Disgruntled Wolves fans chanted "We want our money back", "Where is our first team?" and "42 pounds ($68) to watch the reserves" as they expressed their frustration.
McCarthy said he was giving his first-choice players a rest ahead of a more winnable Premier League match against Burnley on Sunday.
"I understand the reaction of the fans and I knew these questions would be asked," McCarthy said. "But my decisions will be judged on whether we are still in the Premier League."
It would be hard for the Premier League to dock Wolves points by proving that they brought the integrity of their competition into doubt.
"We have a squad system at the club and Mick picked what he thought was the best side for that match," Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey said. "In fact if George Friend had taken the chance he had early in the game then maybe we could have held on just like we did at Tottenham."
Germany's Loew to stay until 2012
BERLIN — Joachim Loew is set to remain as Germany's coach until the 2012 European Championship, the national football federation said Wednesday.
"There was never any question for us over the fact that we wanted to continue working with the national coach," German Football Federation president Theo Zwanziger said as he confirmed that the 49-year-old is to stay on after next year's World Cup.
"I am glad that we were able to shake hands on a contract extension and now can go calmly into the World Cup year," he added.
Loew succeeded Juergen Klinsmann after the 2006 World Cup. He took the team to the final of last year's European Championship, which it lost 1-0 to Spain.
Germany topped its qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup. It will face Australia, Serbia and Ghana in the group phase.
The German federation said that Loew's new contract will be signed next month.
Loew's assistant, Hans-Dieter Flick, team manager Oliver Bierhoff, goalkeeping trainer Andreas Koepke and chief scout Urs Siegenthaler also will stay on, it added.
Fleitas to have surgery for skull fractures
LIMA, Peru — Doctors are preparing to operate on Alianza Lima footballer Leandro Fleitas, who suffered a triple skull fracture in a 1-0 loss to Universitario last weekend.
Fleitas was injured when he and fellow Argentine, Carlos Galvan, leaped to head a ball. Fleitas has two fractures on the right side of his skull and another around his right eye socket. The defender also broke his collarbone.
Officials are optimistic about the Thursday surgery and said Fleitas did not suffer damage to the brain or spinal cord.
"Happily, all the dangers we were worried about have passed," team doctor Luis Parra said on Wednesday in a radio interview.
Alianza officials on Wednesday said they expected to renew his contract for two more years. Officials also said Fleitas would stay in Lima for two more weeks before traveling to Argentina.
Fleitas played in Argentina for Argentinos Juniors and Olimpo de Bahia Blanca.
Jim Magilton leaves post as QPR manager
LONDON — Jim Magilton has left Queens Park Rangers after an investigation by the second-tier English club into allegations that the manager headbutted a player.
QPR says Magilton and assistant John Gorman have left "by mutual consent."
Magilton denied reports that he headbutted Hungary midfielder Akos Buzsaky after a match but left a week after the League Championship team suspended him and announced an inquiry.
The west London club says "it is in the best interests of the club and Jim Magilton if the parties move on in their separate ways."
QPR is now set for its eighth managerial change since former Renault F1 team principal Flavio Briatore took over as chairman two years ago.
Jens Lehmann given 3-match ban
BERLIN — Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been banned for three matches following his sending-off last weekend for stepping on an opponent's foot, the Germany Football Federation said Wednesday.
The 40-year-old former Germany and Arsenal keeper was shown the red card close to the end of Sunday's Bundesliga match at Mainz for stepping on the foot of striker Aristide Bance.
The resulting 90th-minute penalty gave Mainz a 1-1 draw and spoiled new Stuttgart coach Christian Gross' league debut.
Stuttgart says Lehmann, who strained a knee ligament during the incident, had since apologized to his teammates.
Kaka targets early January for return from injury
MADRID — Real Madrid playmaker Kaka is aiming to return from a groin injury by the beginning of January.
The Brazil international hasn't played since Madrid's 1-0 loss to Barcelona in the Spanish league on Nov. 29.
The Spanish league's winter break begins next week and Kaka hopes to return by the time it ends on Jan. 2-3.
Kaka said Wednesday that he is "in a very advanced phase in the treatment" but doesn't know "the exact date when I will play."
Madrid will allow Diarra to play at African Cup
MADRID — Real Madrid says it will allow Mahamadou Diarra to play for Mali at the African Cup of Nations.
Mali coach Stephen Keshi called up the midfielder for the tournament, which will be played in Angola from Jan. 10-31. Madrid says Diarra will remain with the Mali team as long as it remains in the competition.
Before that, Mali will compete in the Qatar Tournament against Iran, North Korea and Qatar.
Diarra joined Madrid in 2006. However, he has rarely played this season because of the arrivals of Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Esteban Granero.
Totti extends deal at AS Roma through till 2014
ROME — AS Roma captain Francesco Totti has extended his contract at the Serie A club through till 2014.
Roma said Wednesday on its Web site that the 33-year-old Totti through will retire at the completion of the new deal and then join the club's coaching staff.
Totti is the team's leading scorer in the league this season with nine goals despite chronic knee problems.
Perrone steps away from Emelec
QUITO, Ecuador — Gabriel Perrone announced his resignation as the coach of Ecuador club Emelec on Wednesday.
The Argentine told Emelec officials he "lacked motivation" to continue in the job.
Emelec was a favorite to win the 2009 league title, but finished third. Despite the disappointment, Emelec will face Newell's Old Boy of Argentina next month in the Copa Libertadores.
Emelec officials said they expected to name a replacement for Perrone in the next few days.
Gascoigne arrested for being drunk and disorderly
NEWCASTLE, England — Former England midfielder Paul Gascoigne has been arrested for being drunk and disorderly.
Police say they took the 42-year-old Gascoigne into custody from a suburb in Newcastle at about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday.
Gascoigne now faces a fine of up to 80 pounds ($131).
Gascoigne scored 10 goals in 56 matches for England. He played for Newcastle, Tottenham, Lazio, Rangers and Middlesbrough before retiring in 2005.
He was sectioned three times under the mental health act last year.
CAS hears Macedonian appeal of match-fixing bans
NYON, Switzerland — Officials from a Macedonian soccer club have started to appeal claims that they fixed a Champions League match in a betting scam to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
FK Pobeda president Aleksandar Zabrcanec and former team captain Nikolce Zdraveski are challenging UEFA’s decision to ban them from soccer for life and kick the club out of European competitions for eight years for helping fix a qualifying match.
CAS opened a two-day hearing Wednesday. A verdict is expected early next year.
UEFA ruled last April that Zabrcanec and Zdraveski ensured Pobeda lost at home to Armenian champion Pyunik in July 2004 to profit from a betting coup.
They deny match-fixing.
Police investigate killing of soccer player
BOGOTA — Police in Colombia are investigating the killing of football player Juan Gomez Rua, who was shot by an assailant on a motorcycle as the Independiente Medellin player drove in the city.
Gomez and his unidentified cousin were both killed on Tuesday in the attack while a third passenger in the car — Gomez's 19-year-old girlfriend — survived the shooting. Gomez, 20, made his debut with the Colombian first-division team nine months ago.
Authorities said the motive was unclear, but suggested Gomez's girlfriend might have been in another relationship. They said other motives were also being investigated.
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