England: England's penultimate World Cup friendly will be against Mexico at Wembley on Monday, May 24. The game has been arranged to provide England with some opposition from the CONCACAF region ahead of their opening World Cup Group C encounter with the United States in Rustenburg on June 12.
Tetradze: Former Roma defender Omari Tetradze has quit as coach of Russian Premier League newcomers Anzhi Makhachkala just one game into the season. "I'm just too tired mentally, I miss my wife and my daughter," the 40-year-old Tetradze told local media, referring to the constant travelling and the pre-season training camps Russian teams go through.
Mafia mourning: Sixteen players from Italian amateur side San Luca have been suspended for two matches for wearing black armbands at a match in November in mourning at the death of a Calabrian Mafia boss. The team, who play in Italy's eighth tier, have also been docked three points and fined €600 for the gesture after the death of 'Ndrangheta boss Antonio Pelle, the Italian Soccer Federation said.
McLeish: Alex McLeish is set to be rewarded for Birmingham's successful season with a new contract after the former Scotland boss revealed he was discussing a new deal with club owner Carson Yeung. "We have started negotiations regarding a new contract," McLeish confirmed. "I have met Carson and (vice chairman) Peter Pannu. They gave me some initial figures. I'll get my advisors now to meet with them and will let them thrash it out."
Van Gaal: Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal would consider coaching a national team again once his contract with the Bavarian club runs out. Van Gaal's only stint as a national coach was between 2000-2002 when he failed to guide the Netherlands to the 2002 World Cup. "I have won everything with my clubs. But I want to be part of a World Cup or a European championship," the 58-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam and Barcelona coach told SID sports agency yesterday.
Match-fixing: Cypriot authorities are to investigate claims of possible match-fixing in soccer after UEFA raised the alarm, the island's justice minister said yesterday. The probe into three first division matches comes after Cyprus's FA was handed information by UEFA body which has been passed to the justice ministry for police to launch an investigation. "Everything possible will be done to speedily conclude the investigation," said Loucas Louca, the Cypriot justice minister.
Mexico: Cuauhtemoc Blanco was on target as Mexico kept up their impressive run under Javier Aguirre by beating North Korea 2-1 in a friendly featuring two World Cup-bound teams. Blanco, who has regularly featured since Aguirre replaced Sven-Goran Eriksson last April and looks almost certain to play in his third World Cup at the age of 37, set Mexico on their way in the 51st minute in Torreon. Choe Kum-Chol levelled six minutes later with a long-range shot but Javier Hernandez scored the winner in his 69th minute.
Sailing: The Chinese resort city of Sanya has won the right to host the only Asian stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, organisers said yesterday. Sanya, on the southern island of Hainan, will stage the finish of leg three, which starts in Abu Dhabi. The race, the world's most gruelling offshore yachting event, starts in Alicante, in Spain, in autumn 2011 and includes stopovers in Cape Town, Lisbon and Lorient in France.
Tennis: Maria Sharapova faces up to six weeks out of action due to an elbow injury, organisers of next week's Sony Ericsson Open said. The three-times grand slam champion was due to compete in the event at Key Biscayne, Miami but an MRI scan revealed a bone bruise on her right elbow. Organisers said in a statement that the Russian, who won earlier this year in Memphis but had an early exit at Indian Wells on Sunday, was expected to miss three-to-six weeks of competition.
Basket, NBA: San Antonio's Tim Duncan had a night to forget as the Spurs slumped to a 110-84 loss to the Orlando Magic. Duncan, a 12-times All Star and three-times NBA Finals MVP, finished with five points and was 1-for-10 from the field, the worst shooting performance of his career. The Magic (48-21) led by 10 at half-time and outscored San Antonio 28-16 in the third to put the game out of reach.
Rugby Union: France coach Marc Lievremont is surprised at England's decision to drop flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson to the bench for tomorrow's Six Nations game in Paris. "I was expecting Wilkinson to start if he was fit, or not to take part at all if he hadn't recovered from his head injury," Lievremont said. "I haven't forgotten however that Wilkinson was not playing last year at Twickenham and Toby Flood was at flyhalf. It didn't save us from conceding 30 points."
MotoGP: The Hungarian round of the MotoGP championship scheduled for September has been cancelled and replaced by a fourth race in Spain. A statement from the governing FIM said the Sept. 19 race at the Balatonring had been axed because construction work could not be finished on time. It will be replaced by the Grand Prix of Aragon at Spain's Motorland Aragon circuit on the same date. Spain already has races scheduled for Jerez, Barcelona and Valencia in May, July and November.
Figure skating: Yevgeny Plushenko will bid for a fourth world title at the world figure skating championships in Turin next week, the Russian skating federation confirmed yesterday. Plushenko, who lost his Olympic crown to American Evan Lysacek in Vancouver last month, will try to recapture the title he last won six years ago. The 27-year-old Russian won the world title in 2001, 2003 and 2004.