Gerrard: Steven Gerrard is likely to miss England’s friendly against Denmark on Wednesday after suffering a groin injury in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Chelsea yesterday. Gerrard will join up with Fabio Capello’s squad at their Watford training base ahead of the trip to Copenhagen.
Wales: Wales boss Gary Speed has named Dutchman Raymond Verheijen as his assistant manager. Verheijen, 39, has had spells working with the Australia, South Korea, Russia and Holland national teams, and was also a conditioning specialist at Manchester City under former Wales manager Mark Hughes and his successor Roberto Mancini.
N. Ireland: Four players have withdrawn from the Northern Ireland squad to play Scotland in Wednesday’s Nations Cup game at the Aviva Stadium. The Irish FA confirmed that Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor, Blackpool defender Craig Cathcart, Coventry midfielder Sammy Clingan and Wolves winger Jonny Gorman will all miss the Dublin encounter due to injury.
Best: Newcastle striker Leon Best has withdrawn from the Ireland squad for tomorrow’s Nations Cup clash with Wales. The 24-year-old suffered a hamstring injury in Saturday’s remarkable 4-4 draw with Arsenal, in which he scored his side’s second goal. ħ
Cardiff: Craig Bellamy’s superb goal five minutes from time saw Cardiff to a 1-0 win away to Swansea yesterday that lifted them above their Welsh rivals and into third place in the Championship table. Victory left David Jones’s men just a point behind N. Forest in the battle for the second automatic promotion place to the Premier League behind runaway leaders QPR.
Apology: Bari player Marco Rossi said Cristian Chivu called him to apologise for punching him in the face. The Inter defender escaped unpunished during the 3-0 win at Bari when lashing out in an off-the-ball incident but was later slapped with a four-match ban. “Cristian called me again to apologise... as far as I am concerned, the matter is closed,” Rossi said.
Cricket: Australia wrapped up an emphatic 6-1 series win over a weary England with a comprehensive 57-run win in the seventh and final one-day international at the WACA Ground in Perth yesterday. The home side made 279-7 after winning the toss, and in reply England managed just 222 in their final match of a marathon Ashes tour, despite a lusty unbeaten 60 by Michael Yardy.
Basket, NBA: When it comes to losing, the Cleveland Cavaliers are now in a class by themselves. The Cavaliers lost their 24th straight NBA contest yesterday, falling 111-105 to Portland Trail Blazers to break the league record for a single-season losing streak. The 1995-96 Vancouver Grizzlies and the 1997-98 Denver Nuggets both posted 23-game losing streaks in a single season – a dubious record the Cavs had matched last week when they lost at Memphis.
Marathon: Cross-country specialist Ahmed Baday, of Morocco, left his last remaining rival Daniel Njenga, of Ethiopia, behind with one kilometre to go to win the Beppu-Oita marathon in Japan yesterday. The 37-year-old Baday moved into top gear after passing the 41km mark to break Njenga and held on to victory, crossing the finishing line in 2:10:14. Njenga was 10 seconds behind. He was followed by Japan’s Kazuhiro Maeda in third in 2:10:29.
Athletics: Russia’s pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva returned to competition in style at the Russian indoor meeting winning the event, landing a season’s best result of 4.81m, yesterday. Isinbayeva needed to execute only one attempt at 4.61m to win the competition and gain sweet revenge over Anna Rogovska, who defeated her at the world championships.
Heptathlon: America’s Ashton Eaton smashed his own world indoor heptathlon record yesterday when he piled up 6,568 points at the Tallinn indoor event. The 23-year-old had set his first world record of 6,499 points at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Arkansas in March 2010, shattering the previous best of 6,476 set by compatriot Dan O’Brien at Toronto in 1993, when Eaton was only five-years-old.