| Coalition wants Mesa to pay $84M to keep Cubs in town The Chicago Cubs and a community coalition from Mesa have started an aggressive campaign aimed at keeping the club in its spring training home city. feeds.bizjournals.com |
FA considers extra England friendly • Fixture may be added to promotional trip to Asia-Pacific• FA believes clubs will agree to extend release of playersTentative discussions have taken place over the possibility of an additional England friendly being arranged for June.Fabio Capello's side have one Euro 2012 fixture arranged, against Switzerland on 4 June, before they head east to play Thailand in a match that has been arranged as part of England's campaign to try to secure the hosting rights to the 2018 World Cup.It has now been suggested that another match might be played in the Asia-Pacific region, with Japan, South Korea and Australia mentioned as potential opponents.The speculation might alarm England's leading clubs, who would hope to have their players on holiday at that point. However, the Football Association believe obstacles such as player-release can be overcome if the plan for an extra fixture is formalised.The FA is not making any public statement but it stresses privately that talks are at the earliest stage and there is no guarantee a third June fixture will be agreed.An extra game would probably be a useful exercise for Capello given that his team are already well placed to reach the next European Championship, by which time the Italian will have to find a way to get the best out of his players at the end of a hard season, something he failed to achieve at the World Cup.The FA is keen to stress that if another match is played it would not involve travel beyond south-east Asia, which would rule out Australia as a destination if not an opponent.The FA also believes Capello is generating goodwill by not demanding his players report for duty ahead of next month's qualifier with Montenegro until 7 October, giving them three days off when the season is at one of its most congested phases.As England have only one competitive game to play in March, clubs may not be too worried about their players being involved in three June fixtures if they have benefited at a time that suits them.EnglandFabio CapelloThe FAguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
WTC relocates Ironman World Championship 70.3 World Triathlon Corp. will relocate the Ironman World Championship 70.3 to Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nev., from Clearwater, beginning with next year’s event Sept. 11. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Tennis officials confident of calm Davis Cup final By 2010-10-14T14:51:42ZROME (AP) -- The International Tennis Federation will check on security arrangements but does not expect to change plans for the Davis Cup final in Serbia following the violence by Serbian soccer fans in Italy.... hosted.ap.org |
Webber takes blame for crash in Korea • Australian Red Bull driver lost control of car on 19th lap• Says: 'Nico hit me, which wrecked his race. It wasn't my day'Mark Webber might have blown his chance to win the Formula One world championship here he admitted that it was all his own fault. In treacherous conditions he lost control of his car on the 19th lap of the Korean grand prix and took Nico Rosberg out of the race as he slid across the track.The Australian Red Bull driver, who has not won a race for three months and has surrendered the lead in the drivers' championship to Fernando Alonso, said: "Conditions were OK by the time we were racing – but it was totally my fault. I got on the kerb on the exit of turn 12 and it was a very slow-motion moment off the back of that kerb."I thought I'd managed to catch it but I lost the car and made contact with the wall. Then Nico hit me, which wrecked his race as well. It was my mistake and it wasn't my day."Webber had been unhappy at being asked to race in such conditions, which he made clear through his body language before the restart and his comments over the radio to his team as the drivers struggled to see the safety car in pouring rain.The reason the race ran to three laps initially was because more than two have to be completed to produce a result, with only half-points awarded. The next attempt at a restart was to try to get the number of laps completed to 75%, which would have been 42, to trigger the award of full points.In fairness to Webber, he made no complaints about the conditions afterwards and the majority of drivers seemed happy to have had the chance to race at all, after the frustrations at the start.Webber's Red Bull team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, who failed to finish because of engine failure, said: "It's not a nice moment. But it was a tricky race for all of us. To be on top all the time and controlling the race, there was nothing we could have done better. We did more or less, a perfect job. The [title] race is still on."Fabrice Lom, Renault's principal engineer, apologised to Red Bull. "I must apologise to the whole team for the engine failure on Seb's car. What a bad result for us, we scored no points after starting on the front row – it's a big disappointment."Christian Horner, the Red Bull principal, said the team would not now favour Webber over Vettel. "Our strategy is unchanged, we'll be pushing flat out until the end," he said. "Mark hasn't made many errors this year but unfortunately he made one today that cost him dearly. It wasn't a great day for us. As we saw in this race, different drivers were leading the championship at different points. Fernando we gave a big gift today, and we need to look at that."But we have seen how quickly things can change. Sebastian is remarkably philosophical, because it was cruel to lose a guaranteed race victory in that way."The happiest man here was clearly Alonso. After lifting the winners' trophy and spraying champagne into the night air, the Ferrari driver said: "It was one of the best races of the year for us, one in which we have been competitive all weekend. We knew it was going to be a tricky race but it's the first time I've won in the wet, so I'm very happy."When asked to explain the about-turn in his results this season, the Spaniard said: "Luck." He added: "We've been competitive from Silverstone onwards. Of course, the car has improved a lot and the team is doing a fantastic job every race in bringing new parts."We struggled to be on the podium for one part of the season, as I said, maybe because of the luck factor. But now we are achieving more wins than expected because of the luck factor as well because today we were third and one Red Bull crashed, one blew up. At the end of the year luck evens itself out."Alonso now has the chance to clinch the title in Brazil, where he won his 2005 and 2006 titles and where the past five titles have been won.Mark WebberSebastian VettelRed BullFernando AlonsoFerrariFormula OneMotor sportPaul Weaverguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |