Santa Cruz: Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz returned to action in a training match at Bayern Munich yesterday, boosting hopes he will be fit in time for the World Cup in Germany. The 24-year-old has been rated doubtful for the World Cup since suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury at the end of October last year. He took an important step to recovery yesterday when he took part in a practice match between Bayern's Under-17 and Under-19 teams. Santa Cruz must prove his fitness in time for the May 15 deadline for nations to nominate their World Cup squads.
Russian threats: A man was handed an 18-month suspended sentence yesterday for threatening to kill a referee in a Russian premier league match last season. A Moscow court handed the sentence to 51-year-old Vadim Grebenkin after he was found to have made threatening calls to FIFA referee Valentin Ivanov and his family on the eve of the decisive derby between Spartak and Lokomotiv in November. "This guy (Grebenkin) is only a small fish," Russian soccer chief Vitaly Mutko said. "The police are looking for his accomplice who actually masterminded the whole thing. We have information that the person has left the country and is hiding overseas."
Free-kicks ACE: Brazil and Olympique Lyon midfielder Juninho is better at free-kicks than compatriot Ronaldinho, says Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko. Juninho will be suspended tomorrow as Ligue 1 leaders Lyon entertain Milan in a Champions League quarter-final at the Stade Gerland. "Yes (this will be advantage for us). Because Lyon will probably get more free-kicks at home than at San Siro," Shevchenko said. "He is just incredible. To me, he is better than Ronaldinho. He can take them in many different ways. Ronaldinho is good when close to the goal."
Messina sack coach: Serie A strugglers Messina have sacked their coach Bortolo Mutti following Sunday's 1-1 draw at home to relegation rivals Udinese. Mutti took over at Messina in 2003 and led the club to promotion to Serie A. Last season they finished in an impressive seventh place but the Sicilians are currently 18th in the 20-team league and occupy the final relegation slot. Former Udinese and Cagliari coach Giampiero Ventura is the favourite for the job.
Giannakopoulos: Bolton Wanderers midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos says he is still keen to move to "a bigger club", with Liverpool his dream location. In an interview in the Greek daily newspaper Eleftheros Typos, Giannakopoulos is quoted as saying: "I would give everything to go to Liverpool." The 31-year, who was a member of the Greece team who won the 2004 European championship, was close to a move to Liverpool last year but talks between the two clubs failed to produce a deal and instead he signed a new three-year contract with Bolton.
MFA DIV. III: Luqa S.A. 1 Ghaxaq 1; Zurrieq 0 Rabat A. 1
In England: Premier League - Tottenham 2 (R. Keane 68, 88 pen.) West Brom 1 (C. Davies 21).
In Italy: Serie B - Piacenza vs Cremonese 2-1. Serie C1 - Juve Stabia vs Grosseto 2-2.
¤ IndyCar driver Paul Dana died on Sunday after his race car, travelling at almost full speed, ploughed into the back of another car during a practice run at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Dana, 30, slammed into a car driven by Ed Carpenter at about 200mph after Carpenter had spun, hit the wall and nearly come to a stop on the 1.5-mile oval track. Both drivers were ferried by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital in downtown Miami. Dana was in his second year in the open-wheel racing series and this year he had joined the Rahal-Letterman team.