Germany Ahead: With today's World Cup semi-final against Spain, Germany will move ahead of Brazil in terms of matches played at the finals. The match in Durban will be Germany's 98th and they are guaranteed to play a 99th either in the final or the third-place play-off. Italy have played the third-most matches (80). Argentina have played 70 and England 59.
Forlan: Uruguay striker Diego Forlan has ruled out a return to the English Premier League, quashing the hopes of Spurs boss Harry Redknapp who publicly declared an interest in him. "Tottenham are a club who are going in the right direction but I have no interest in joining the Premier League with any club," he told English newspapers.
Honda: Japan's World Cup hero and CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda has confirmed he wants to move to one of Europe's top sides with a preference for Real Madrid. Honda scored two goals and set up another in leading Japan to their first-ever World Cup second-round on foreign soil, amid media reports linking him with a move to Milan.
Govou: French international winger Sidney Govou expressed his delight at joining Panathinaikos Athens as he met his new team-mates for the first time. "I had a remarkable welcome from the fans at the airport when I came and I want to thank them. I promise to give my best for the team and to bring only joy to the fans," said Govou.
Collina: Former Italian referee Pierluigi Collina was appointed head of the Ukrainian professional football referees body. Federation chief Grigory Surkis said that the current head of Ukraine's referees committee, Vadim Shevchenko, would continue in his job, but now under Collina's supervision.
Chygrynskiy: Ukrainian defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy has called time on a difficult year at Barcelona and returned to his old club Shakhtar Donetsk. The Ukrainian side have agreed to pay €15 million for the 23-year-old - 10 million less than they received for him when he moved the other way for 25 million in August last year.
Golf: England's Lee Westwood faces a race against time to regain fitness for next week's Open at St Andrews after being diagnosed with a slight tear in his right calf muscle. The world no.3 aggravated the problem during last week's French Open and so withdrew from the JP McManus Pro-am currently underway in Ireland. The 37-year-old went to hospital last Wednesday for a check-up after an initial scare that he might be suffering from a blood clot or deep vein thrombosis, but further tests ruled that out.
Rugby: Australia's Kurtley Beale was fined $4,200 for urinating outside a nightclub after last month's victory over Ireland. The utility back expressed embarrassment over the incident, when he was caught relieving himself in public hours after the 22-15 victory. "I have to take personal ownership for how I behave in public and I want to apologise to all those people I have let down," he said. Team officials said Beale remained in contention for Australia's Tri-Nations squad, which will be announced tomorrow.
Athletics: Controversial athlete Caster Semenya expressed her delight yesterday at being cleared to compete as a woman following nearly a year of speculation over her gender. The 19-year-old South African 800m world champion was given the green light to run again after a review by the IAAF of gender-verification tests. That clears the path for her to compete as early as in the World Junior Championships in Canada from July 19. The furore over Semenya's sexuality first erupted after she lowered her personal best in the 800 metres by more than four seconds at the African Junior Championships.
Basket, NBA: Amare Stoudemire is headed to the New York Knicks, and will sign later this week when the free agent signing moratorium ends. Stoudemire, wearing a blue Knicks hat, said he looked forward to helping rebuild the flailing franchise - perhaps alongside another marquee free agent such as LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. "I feel great about being a pioneer and showing my leadership," he said at Madison Square Garden.