Matuzalem: Lazio midfielder Matuzalem received a three match suspension yesterday for punching Cesena’s Luis Jimenez during their 1-0 win in Serie A at the weekend. The 31-year-old much-travelled Brazilian was handed the punishment after television images showed him punching Jimenez.
Naismith: Rangers midfielder Steven Naismith has withdrawn from the Scotland squad for Sunday’s friendly with Brazil with hamstring and groin injuries. Naismith was injured in Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final win over Celtic at Hampden.
Vokes: Wales boss Gary Speed tonight called striker Sam Vokes into his squad for the Euro 2012 qualifying match against England. Vokes, who is currently on loan to Sheffield United from Wolves, came in after Speed lost Nottingham Forest frontman Rob Earnshaw to a hamstring injury.
Taarabt: QPR midfielder Adel Taarabt has been named the Football League player of the year after firing Neil Warnock’s side to the top of the Championship. The 21-year-old Moroccan has hit 15 goals this season as QPR have pushed for promotion to the Premier League.
Vigo: Primera Liga strugglers Hercules have sacked coach Esteban Vigo following Sunday’s 4-0 home defeat to Osasuna. That was Hercules’s ninth loss in their past 11 games and left the Alicante-based side bottom of the standings following Malaga’s win over Espanyol.
Novak: Ladislav Novak, captain of the Czechoslovak side that lost to Brazil in the 1962 World Cup final in Chile, died yesterday aged 79. The defender, who also played in the side that placed third at the 1960 European Championships, played 75 games for Czechoslovakia between 1952-1966, 71 of them as team captain. With the army club Dukla Prague, Novak won eight league titles.
Janssen: FC Twente midfielder Theo Janssen has pulled out of the Holland squad for their Euro 2012 double-header against Hungary because of a knee injury. The 29-year-old scored both goals in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Excelsior before being substituted 10 minutes from time. Janssen is the second player to pull out of the squad following the withdrawal of Bayern Munich forward Arjen Robben.
Serie B: Empoli vs Reggina 1-0.
League One: MK Dons vs Peterborough 1-0.
MFA Div. Three: Sirens vs Marsa 2-1; Pembroke vs Fgura 0-4 (Għargħur promoted).
Olympics: US President Barack Obama, whose hometown of Chicago lost to Rio de Janeiro in bidding to host the 2016 Games, said he intends to attend the first South American Olympics. Obama campaigned for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid, even attending the IOC meeting in Copenhagen where the vote was taken and Rio won while Chicago was the first city eliminated from contention. If Obama were to be re-elected in 2012, he would be the US President when Rio plays host to the Olympics.
Snooker: Shaun Murphy won the inaugural Players Tour Championship title late Sunday when he whitewashed surprise finalist Martin Gould in Dublin. The all-English final went the way of the 2005 world champion as he beat Gould 4-0 to cap his superb season on the PTC. Murphy headed the order of merit after playing in all 12 small-scale tournaments. Murphy carried off a cheque for £60,000, with runner-up Gould taking home £25,000 after winning through to his first major title match.
Basket, NBA: Milwaukee’s Carlos Delfino scored a career-high 30 points and Andrew Bogut added 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to lead the Bucks past New York 100-95 on Sunday. Brandon Jennings added 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists as the Bucks improved to 28-41, level with Charlotte at 1 1/2 games behind Indiana for the eighth and final play-off spot in the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee led 32-9 after the first quarter and clung to a 47-41 half-time edge, but never let New York pull even.
Figure Skating: South Korea’s Olympics figure skating champion Kim Yu-Na is suing her former agent for failing to pay the athlete part of her endorsement earnings. IB Sports, the agency Kim left in April last year, failed to pay her $793,960 earned from advertisement deals for Hyundai Motor and other companies, Kim’s lawyer said. The figure skating champion dubbed “Queen Yu-Na” was listed by Forbes magazine last year as one of the world’s highest-paid female athletes with annual earnings of $9.7m.