Briefs | England fails to qualify for European Championship
Soccer
England falls to Croatia, will miss European Championship: England will miss next year’s European Championship in a huge embarrassment to the nation that invented modern soccer.
Needing only a tie at home in its final qualifier, England allowed two quick goals, rallied with an equalizer off David Beckham’s cross and then lost to Croatia 3-2 Wednesday night.
“We just didn’t perform tonight, and that’s the end of it,” said Beckham, who made his 99th international appearance.
It’s the first major tournament England will miss since the 1994 World Cup, and is likely to lead to the departure of coach Steve McClaren, who benched Beckham for the first half and started relatively untested goalkeeper Scott Carson, whose blunder on his first touch led to the game’s first goal.
“You should see the dressing room - so disappointed to have let so many people down,” McClaren said. “Explanations are for later. It’s very difficult to reflect after a huge disappointment, losing a game like that in front of our fans and in front of the nation.”
McClaren, much criticized since replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson in August 2006, is unlikely to stay on - Graham Taylor quit six days after England failed to qualify for the ‘94 World Cup.
“No, I’m not stepping down,” McClaren said. “Ultimately I take responsibility and I accept that. It is my job to get us qualified, and I failed to do that.”
Beckham, too, hopes to be around for the 2010 World Cup. McClaren dropped him last year, then brought back the 32-year-old midfielder.
“I’m not retiring,” he said. “I have always said that from the moment I was taken out of the team and the moment I came back into the team. I’m not stepping down.”
Cochrane first pick in MLS expansion draft: Defender Ryan Cochrane was selected first in the MLS expansion draft, three days after helping the Houston Dynamo win a second consecutive MLS Cup title.
Cochrane will return to San Jose for the inaugural season of the reborn Earthquakes. He played for the Earthquakes in 2004 and 2005 before the team disbanded and then essentially became the Dynamo.
Baseball
Kendall reaches deal with Milwaukee: Catcher Jason Kendall and the Milwaukee Brewers reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year contract.
The deal, which includes a 2009 option that could become guaranteed, is subject to Kendall passing a physical. Milwaukee made the move one day after trading catcher Johnny Estrada to the New York Mets for reliever Guillermo Mota.
Vazquez signs with Rangers: Infielder Ramon Vazquez and Texas agreed to an $810,000, one-year contact.
Vazquez, a former Mariner, was called up in May when Hank Blalock was diagnosed with a nerve problem in his shoulder that required the surgical removal of a rib and sidelined him for 3 ½ months.
Tennis
Sampras meets Federer in second exhibition: His body not quite so limber anymore, Pete Sampras says retirement has taken a toll on his game.
If he were looking for evidence, all he had to do was consider his exhibition match Tuesday against Roger Federer, a 6-4, 6-3 loss in South Korea. They’ll play again today in Malaysia, with the last of their three Asian exhibitions in Macau on Saturday.
“I have been retired for five years now, and to play the world No. 1 and someone who is at the peak of his game is not easy,” Sampras said.
“The hard part is to raise my game to a level to match Roger, and it’s not easy unless you are playing constantly,” Sampras said. “But I did OK [in Seoul], although I must admit I am older and certainly not any sharper.”
Nadal says tennis “100 percent clean”: World No. 2 Rafael Nadal joined Roger Federer in playing down the threat posed by match-fixing, saying tennis was 100 percent clean.
The men’s game has been hit by a series of allegations about match-fixing in recent months, with a number of players saying they had been offered money to throw matches.
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