Chile’s spot in World Cup appears secure
Chilean club Rangers has dropped a court case that threatened the national team’s participation at next year’s World Cup.
FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, had said it could kick Chile out of the World Cup unless Rangers withdrew the court case, which contested the club’s demotion to the second division of the national league.
The move clears the way for Chile to play in the tournament, its first appearance since 1998.
UCLA and Portland, familiar foes, will play at 5 tonight in an NCAA women’s soccer quarterfinal at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. The winner advances to the College Cup next week at College Station, Texas.
The Bruins and Pilots will be meeting in the quarterfinal round for the third time in four years. UCLA won, 2-1, in 2006 and 3-2 in double overtime in 2007.
UCLA is 20-2-1 and has scored a playoff-high 15 goals in three postseason games. Portland (21-1) has 10 goals.
BASEBALL
Alomar on Hall ballot
Roberto Alomar is among 15 first-time candidates of the latest Hall of Fame ballot, joining holdovers Mark McGwire, Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven.
Edgar Martinez, Barry Larkin and Fred McGriff also are new to the ballot this year. There are 26 candidates, three more than last year when Rickey Henderson was elected in his initial appearance and Jim Rice made it on his 15th and final try. Dawson fell 44 votes shy of the 75% needed and Blyleven was 67 short.
Among the first-time players on the ballot are former Dodgers Eric Karros, Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile, and former Angels pitcher Kevin Appier.
TENNIS
Davydenko advances
Nikolay Davydenko grabbed the last semifinal spot at the ATP World Tour Finals by beating Robin Soderling, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, at London, knocking defending champion Novak Djokovic out of the tournament.
Davydenko, Djokovic and Soderling all finished with two wins in the round-robin phase, but the third-ranked Serb was eliminated on sets. Soderling had already secured advancement and finished at the top of Group B.
Davydenko will face top-ranked Roger Federer in today’s first semifinal match. Soderling will take on U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro.
ETC.
Montgomery opens up
Tim Montgomery says he started taking performance-enhancing drugs because he wanted to beat American sprint rival Maurice Greene and become the fastest man in the world.
The former 100-meter world-record holder, who also said he and former partner Marion Jones stored their steroids in the refrigerator “next to the vegetables,” spoke to the Times of London newspaper from a federal prison in Alabama where he is serving time for bank fraud and drug dealing.
“Maurice got in my head real bad,” Montgomery said in the interview, which was published Friday. “I wanted everything that he had.”
Montreal is back on the Formula One schedule for five years, starting in 2010. . . . Graham Gano kicked a 33-yard field goal in overtime to give the Las Vegas Locomotives a 20-17 victory over the Florida Tuskers in the inaugural UFL championship game at Las Vegas.
