Diego Maradona to continue as Argentina coach

Diego Maradona reportedly will remain as coach of Argentina’s national soccer team, a decision he is expected to announce next week after meeting with Argentine Football Assn. President Julio Grondona.

The state-run Argentine news agency Telam quoted Grondona as saying the meeting would be held Monday.

The newspaper La Nacion said Maradona talked with Grondona on Tuesday and had agreed to a four-year deal that will keep him in charge until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Maradona has not talked publicly about his plans since Argentina was knocked out in the World Cup quarterfinals by Germany 21/2 weeks ago.

ETC.

Stoudemire won’t play for U.S.

Amare Stoudemire will not play for the United States in next month’s world basketball championships because of problems insuring his contract.

The New York Knicks’ new forward was expected to be one of the Americans’ top players in Istanbul, but the Knicks asked Stoudemire to pull out Monday night.

The Portland Trail Blazers have reached an agreement with restricted free agent Wesley Matthews, a deal that was solidified when the Utah Jazz did not match Portland’s offer for the shooting guard.

Juwan Howard signed with the Miami Heat as a reserve forward. Howard, a veteran of 16 NBA seasons, averaged six points last season with the Trail Blazers.

Greg LeMond, the first American cyclist to win the Tour de France, said he will appear in front of a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on July 30 and cooperate with an investigation into Lance Armstrong, the American who won a record seven Tour titles.

LeMond had told a French newspaper last week that he would cooperate with investigators.

“I’m hoping it gets as far as it can,” LeMond told the Denver Post.

The federal probe began when disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis alleged in a series of e-mails that Armstrong and several other American cyclists participated in illegal performance-enhancing doping during the time that he and Armstrong were on the U.S. Postal Service team.

Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after he failed a drug test.

Armstrong has denied Landis’ accusations and said last week that he would cooperate in the investigation as long as it wasn’t “a witch hunt.”

At least two other cyclists on that U.S. Postal Service team, George Hincapie and Tyler Hamilton, have said they also had received subpoenas.

— Diane Pucin

Former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell pleaded not guilty to a charge of illegal drug possession in Mobile, Ala.

Russell, 24, is a former Louisiana State star who was released by Oakland after being the No. 1 draft choice in 2007. He is charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, codeine syrup.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed second-round draft pick Brian Price, a defensive tackle from UCLA, to a four-year contract.

Danielle Kang of Thousand Oaks shot a 74 and earned medalist honors for the U.S. Girls Junior Championship at Pinehurst, N.C.

Maria Sharapova lost her singles match, 5-0, to Kansas City’s Jarmila Groth in the Newport Beach Breakers’ 19-18 World TeamTennis victory over the Explorers.