Kaka: Brazil playmaker Kaka has rubbished reports he wants to leave Real Madrid. The 28-year-old has not featured for Real this season after undergoing a knee operation in the summer. He said: “My declarations are coming out in some media that are not true. My concern at this time is solely and exclusively with my physical recovery.”
Costacurta: Alessandro Costacurta, the former Milan defender, is among the favourites to replace Pierluigi Casiraghi as coach of the Italy U-21 team. Casiraghi saw his side eliminated by Belarus earlier this week 3-2 on aggregate. Costacurta and Gianfranco Zola are among those mentioned to take over the U-21 team.
Zewlakow: Defender Michal Zewlakow set a Poland record with his 101st cap on Tuesday as the Europeans played Ecuador to a 2-2 draw in a friendly staged in Canada. The 34-year-old surpassed the former national mark for appearances set by Grzegorz Lato.
Benayoun: Chelsea will be without Israeli Yossi Benayoun for virtually the rest of the season after he underwent an operation to repair a torn Achilles tendon. The 30-year-old faces six months rehabilitation following the operation on the injury which he discovered when he went away for international duty for the recent Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Friendlies: United States vs Colombia 0-0; Mexico vs Venezuela 2-2.
Athletics: Four-time Boston Marathon winner Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot and three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel will not run in next month’s New York Marathon due to injuries. Both Kenyans were expected to be among title contenders in the November 7 race. Lel, who won the New York crown in 2003 and 2007, will miss the race because of a right leg injury while Cheruiyot, last year’s New York runner-up to Eritrean-born American Meb Keflezighi, was sidelined by a groin injury.
Cycling: Spanish rider Jose Luis Rubiera will retire after the season-ending Tour of Lombardy on Sunday, his RadioShack team announced. Rubiera, 37, spent five years of his career helping Lance Armstrong as the American achieved the feat of seven consecutive Tour de France crowns. He also achieved individual success with two stage victories in the Giro d’Italia, two top ten finishes in the Giro, as well as the Tour of Spain.
Golf: Open champion Louis Oosthuizen has pulled out of next week’s money-spinning Grand Slam in Bermuda because of his ankle injury. The 36-hole event is intended to bring together the season’s four major winners but South African Oosthuizen is the second player to withdraw. Masters winner Phil Mickelson, who has been suffering from psoriatic arthritis, decided not to make the trip and was replaced Ernie Els.
Cricket: The International Cricket Council ruled yesterday there was no evidence of corruption in the third one-day international between Pakistan and England last month. A statement from the ICC concluded there was “no compelling evidence to suspect individual players or support staff” following an investigation into scoring patterns of the match at the Oval on September 17. The investigation was separate from allegations of corruption levelled against Pakistan during the scandal-tainted Test series with England.