IN BRIEF (Page 23)
SOCCER
Beckham set to open 2008 MLS season at Colorado
LOS ANGELES: David Beckham will open the Major League Soccer season at Colorado next March and have a reunion with former Los Angeles Galaxy coach Frank Yallop five days later, the Galaxy announced on Wednesday.
English superstar midfielder Beckham did not play at Colorado last season, but could make the scene when the Galaxy visit Denver on March 29 ahead of their home opener on April 3 against expansion San Jose and ex-Galaxy coach Yallop.
Dutchman Ruud Gullit, a former coach at Chelsea and Newcastle as well as the Dutch side Feyenoord, will make his debut as the Galaxy's coach at Colorado then face the man he replaced, who left last month to guide the Earthquakes.
Yallop has guided the former Earthquakes, now the two-time defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo, the league crowns in 2001 and 2003.
McCarthy turns down South Korea coaching offer
LONDON: Former Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has turned down the job of coaching South Korea, his club Wolverhampton Wanderers said on Wednesday.
McCarthy and Gerard Houllier were named earlier on Wednesday in Seoul by the Korea Football Association (KFA) as their two candidates and they would make their appointment by the end of the week.
However, Sky Sports News reported in London that Houllier had also ruled himself out of the running, although there was no official confirmation from the Frenchman.
The Wolves, who play in the English Championship, announced that McCarthy was staying on as manager in a statement on their website (www.wolves.premiumtv.co.uk).
They said McCarthy was flattered by the approach from the KFA, "but has this afternoon re-affirmed his commitment to the Molineux club".
McCarthy, 48, was quoted as saying: "I was very flattered to be contacted and to be considered a candidate alongside someone of the calibre of Gerard Houllier.
Two-horse race building as Inter and Roma win again
MILAN: Inter Milan and AS Roma are threatening to disappear over the hill as Serie A's top two sides both won their games in hand on Wednesday.
Champion Inter trounced sorry Lazio 3-0 at the San Siro here, while Roma coasted to a 2-0 win over lowly Cagliari at Rome's Stadio Olympico.
Inter leads Roma by three points with the capital club a further five points clear of everyone else after 14 matches.
The Italian league is looking more and more like a two-horse race, particularly with European champion AC Milan 16 points off the pace.
Inter coach Roberto Mancini was keen to play down the significance of the increasing gap.
Argentina's Arsenal wins Sudamericana to claim first title
BUENOS AIRES: Modest Argentine club Arsenal won the first title in its 50-year history on Wednesday when it scored a late goal to win the Copa Sudamericana final against Mexican club America.
Although it lost Wednesday's second leg 2-1 at home, Arsenal won on away goals after the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate.
America was leading 2-0 and set to win the trophy until substitute Martin Andrizzi forced his way through the defense to score in the 83rd minute.
The Mexican team's frustration boiled over when Duilio Davino and Lucas Castroman were sent off following an ugly scuffle in the 89th minute.
Baseball
Former Globe scribe Whiteside voted into Hall of Fame
NEW YORK: Larry Whiteside, the late pioneering baseball writer for the Boston Globe, has been voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Baseball Writers' Association of America announced on Wednesday.
Whiteside, who died after a long illness on June 15 at age 69, was the first African-American beat writer in the Globe sports department where he worked from 1973 to 2004.
Before joining the Globe, Chicago-native Whiteside worked at the Des Moines (Iowa) Register, the Kansas City Kansan and the Milwaukee Journal.
Whiteside garnered 203 votes from 415 ballots cast in winning this year's J.G. Spink Award that brings enshrinement in the Hall, and will be honored at induction ceremonies on July 27 in Cooperstown, New York.
(China Daily 12/07/2007 page23)
