Sporting briefs

Vidic: Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic has been banned for two games following his sending-off during the 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool on Saturday. The Serb, shown a straight red card for hauling down Steven Gerrard outside the area, will sit out United's Premier League matches at Fulham and at home to Aston Villa.

Russia: Russia coach Guus Hiddink has recalled Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin and Tottenham Hotspur striker Roman Pavlyuchenko for upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko were absent from Russia's training camp in Turkey last month because Hiddink wanted them to have more time to get acquainted with Premier League football. Russia play Azerbaijan in Moscow on March 28 and then travel to Liechtenstein four days later.

Loss of temper: Francisco Esteche faces a ban of up to 40 games after his astonishing loss of temper in Wilstermann's 2-2 draw at home to Universitario de Sucre in the Bolivian league. Esteche was booked for dissent and reacted by pushing referee Joaquin Antequera, which earned him a red card. The furious Paraguayan then kicked the official while his team-mates also protested and had to be calmed by their coach.

World Cup: Australia has formally submitted its bid to host the 2018 or the 2022 World Cups. FFA chairman Frank Lowy and chief executive Ben Buckley personally delivered the bid to FIFA headquarters in Zurich ahead of this week's deadline, FFA said, with a decision on both tournaments expected in December 2010. Australia has never hosted the World Cup before.

Fined: Bundesliga club Hoffenheim were fined 75,000 euros ($97,000) after two of their players were 10 minutes late for a doping test last month, the German soccer federation (DFB) ruled yesterday. The players, Andreas Ibertsberger and Christoph Janker, were cleared earlier this month of any wrongdoing because the club's doping official responsible for drugs tests failed to tell them on time that they had been selected to be tested.

Klose: Injured striker Miroslav Klose will miss both legs of Bayern Munich's Champions League quarter-final and could be out for as long as eight weeks, manager Uli Hoeness said. Bayern had originally said Klose would need at least two weeks to recover from surgery on his right ankle. "He is going to have an operation this afternoon and what does that mean? Well, that he will be out for six to eight weeks," Hoeness said.

Arrests: Police have arrested five men believed to have played a part in the violence that erupted after last year's UEFA Cup final in Manchester. The men, aged 21, 24, 27, 34 and 36, were held on suspicion of violent disorder following dawn raids at their homes in the Glasgow area yesterday by Manchester and Strathclyde police. Rangers fans battled with riot police in Manchester after the Scottish club lost to Russia's Zenit St Petersburg in last May's final.

In Italy: Prima Divisione (B) - Arezzo vs Gallipoli 1-0.

In England: Premier League - West Ham vs West Brom 0-0.

Basket, NBA: Kobe Bryant scored 28 points as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied after squandering a third quarter lead to beat the Dallas Mavericks 107-100 on Sunday. Bryant added eight rebounds and five assists while Trevor Ariza contributed a career-high 26 points to help the Lakers improve their Western Conference leading record to 53-13.

Swimming: Swimsuits must not cover the neck nor extend past the shoulders and ankles, FINA has announced after meeting to try to end the controversy over a new generation of costumes. Michael Phelps wore Speedo's drag-reducing LZR bodysuit when he won eight golds at last year's Beijing Olympics while a flurry of world records have fallen since swimmers started using the new suits. Critics have said the costumes are skewing results so FINA has decided to tweak the regulations ahead of the world championships in Rome in July and August.

Golf: Phil Mickelson won the WGC-CA Championship by a shot from fellow American Nick Watney on Sunday, battling dehydration as well as nerves to triumph at Doral. In a head-to-head duel between the two overnight leaders, Watney paid the price for bogeys on 11 and 12 which followed his eagle on the par-five 10th. Mickelson's three-under round of 69 allowed him to finish the tournament on 19-under overall and claim his second tour win of the year.

Rugby Union: France coach Marc Lievremont has retained the same 23-man squad that suffered a crushing 34-10 defeat against England for Saturday's Six Nations match against Italy in Rome. France, unrecognisable from the team who beat Wales so impressively two weeks ago, had their outside championship hopes ended by England at Twickenham. The title will now be decided in Cardiff next Saturday when Wales need to beat Ireland by 13 points to retain it.

MFA Division III: Għargħur vs Luqa 4-0.