Sports briefs

Ibrahimovic: Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss tomorrow's La Liga clash at Athletic Bilbao with a new thigh strain. The striker damaged a left thigh muscle against Real Mallorca two weeks ago that has kept him out of the Sweden squad but tests yesterday revealed a new injury in the same area.

Egypt: Egypt could be in trouble over incidents ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Algeria, FIFA said. Egypt won the game 2-0 in Cairo to set up a play-off with the same opponents which Algeria won 1-0 in Khartoum on Wednesday. "Disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the Egyptian FA," said FIFA. "According to the official reports received by FIFA, on Nov. 12 there were incidents affecting the Algerian team on their way from the airport to the hotel."

Escude: Sevilla defender Julien Escude has had an operation on a broken nose and will be out of action for at least two weeks. Escude underwent surgery with the French national team's doctors after colliding with a team- mate during their World Cup qualifying play-off second leg against Ireland in Paris on Wednesday.

Racing Santander: Racing Santander have appointed Miguel Angel Portugal as coach, the La Liga club said. Portugal, 53, returns to a club he coached in the 2006-2007 season leading them to a 10th-place finish. His first game in charge is at the Bernabeu tomorrow against Real Madrid. Portugal was previously Real's youth team coach and was technical secretary there from 2007 until last June.

Striker dies: Striker Salem Saad of United Arab Emirates club side Al Nasr has died after suffering a massive heart attack at training. The club said the 31-year-old collapsed on the pitch during a regular practice session and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital but died shortly after arrival.

Tunisia: Tunisia have appointed Faouzi Benzarti to take charge at next year's African Nations Cup finals after the dismissal of Portuguese coach Humberto Coelho, officials said yesterday. Benzarti, 59, agreed to the caretaker role for the tournament in Angola in January.

MFA Division Three: Gudja vs Sta Luċija 0-0; Sirens vs Żejtun1-4.

Rugby: Neemia Tialata and Cory Jane can expect a talking to from All Blacks coach Graham Henry after revealing on the social networking site Twitter they had been left out of the New Zealand to play England this weekend. The pair published the news they were being rested more than 24 hours before Henry formally announced his line-up on Wednesday. "I had to find out what... Twitter was. I thought it was a new guy playing five-eighth for England," Henry said. "I haven't lost any sleep over it... a quiet reminder tomorrow won't go astray but it's not a major."

2010 Olympics: Rusty Goepel, a long time member of the Vancouver Organising Committee's board of directors, was named to fill the vacant chairman's post for the 2010 Olympics. Goepel replaces Jack Poole who died last month of cancer just hours after the Olympic flame for next year's Winter Games was ignited in Greece. The opening ceremony for the event is scheduled for Feb. 12.

Tennis: French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will launch her 2010 Australian Open campaign at the Sydney International. The 24-year-old Russian joins Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka as the fifth player in the women's top 10 rankings to sign up for the January 10-16 event. "I really enjoy visiting Sydney. It is a beautiful city and a great place to begin the new season," she said yesterday.

Golf: The 2010 LPGA Tour will consist of 24 tournaments, four fewer than this year, in 10 countries. The season tees off in Thailand from Feb. 18-21 and stays in Asia a week later with an event in Singapore. The first women's major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship in California, will be held from April 1-4. The LPGA Championship at Pittsford, New York takes place from June 24-27 with the third major, the US Open at Oakmont, from July 8-11. The fourth and final major is the British Open at Royal Birkdale from July 29-August 1.