Barca's Puyol facing six weeks out with knee injury

 Barcelona captain Carles Puyol faces four to six weeks on the sidelines after falling awkwardly and twisting ligaments in his left knee in their 4-1 La Liga win at Getafe on Saturday, the club said in a statement on Saturday.

The 34-year-old tried to play on after having some treatment on the touchline following the incident, but lasted only a few more minutes before giving way to Javier Mascherano in the 57th.

"Puyol is very important for us and we hope he recovers soon," Barca coach Tito Vilanova told a post-match news conference. "We always seem to have problems with injuries to the central defenders."

Puyol had just returned to action after fracturing a cheekbone against Osasuna last month and had surgery on his right knee back in May which forced him to miss Spain's triumphant Euro 2012 campaign.

If tests on Sunday confirm the initial assessment, Puyol will miss Barcelona's opening Champions League game at home to Spartak Moscow on Wednesday and the visit of Spanish champions Real Madrid in the league on Oct. 7.

Injured Del Potro pulls out of Davis Cup decider

Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro has pulled out of Sunday's first singles in the Davis Cup semi-final against Czech Republic because of an injury to his right wrist.

Captain Martin Jaite said Del Potro, who almost withdrew earlier in the week, was feeling more pain in his wrist after his three-set win over Radek Stepanek in Friday's opening singles.

"Juan Martin will not be in tomorrow's first singles and he will be replaced by Carlos Berlocq," Jaite told a news conference.

The loss of world number eight Del Potro gives Czech Republic, who are 2-1 up after winning Saturday's doubles, an excellent chance of reaching the final.

World number six Berdych and Stepanek beat Eduardo Schwank and debutant Berlocq 6-3 6-4 6-3 in two hours 37 minutes.

Palermo start Italy's coaching merry-go-round

Palermo set Italy's coaching merry-go-round into motion for the season on Sunday when they fired Giuseppe Sannino after only three league games in charge.

The Sicilian club said in a statement that Sannino, the first Serie A coach to fall this term, would be replaced by Gian Piero Gasperini who has been out of coaching since he was fired after five games by Inter Milan at the start of last season.

Palermo took their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw at home to Cagliari on Saturday but the writing was on the wall for Sannino when the famously volatile Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini said he was worried.

"I prefer to get drunk than answer that," he told reporters when asked if Sannino was at risk. "I will watch the game again, but I am worried...I am worried we're going to get relegated."

Palermo employed three coaches last season included Devis Mangia who was hired on an interim basis, given a long-term contract after some good early results and fired six weeks later.

"I thank Zamparini for the chance he has given me," Sannino told local media. "I hoped to have more time to work, but that's football."

There were 19 coaching changes in Serie A last season.

Van der Vaart return not enough for sleepy Hamburg

Rafael van der Vaart's return to Hamburg SV was not enough to save them from a third straight Bundesliga defeat on Sunday as they lost 3-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Dutchman, starting a second stint at the club he played at from 2005 to 2008, set up one goal for Son Heung-min but it was too late as goals from Takashi Inui, Olivier Occean and Stefan Aigner gave Eintracht the points.

Hamburg, the only ever-present side in the Bundesliga since it was founded in 1963, played the entire second half with 10 men after Czech midfielder Petr Jiracek was sent off.

Promoted Eintracht joined Bayern Munich as the only team with maximum points from their opening three games.

Hamburg, who narrowly escaped relegation last season, are one of two teams who have yet to get off the mark alongside Hoffenheim, who earlier on Sunday lost 5-3 at previously winless Freiburg.

"We overslept for the first 20 minutes and that is not something which should happen," said Van der Vaart, who became a cult figure on his previous spell at the club.

"After that, we saw a different Hamburg," added the Dutchman, who joined the club from Tottenham Hotspur. "There is still a long way to go."

Inui pounced on a mistake by Jeffrey Bruma to open the scoring in the 13th minute and Occean added another five minutes later.

Heiko Westermann pulled one back scored following a corner but Hamburg were reduced to 10 men on the stroke of halftime when Jiracek was sent off for a late tackle on Anderson, a decision which angered Hamburg's under-fire coach Thorsten Fink.

Aigner restored Eintracht's two-goal lead early in the second half but Hamburg refused to lie down and Van der Vaart set up their second, dispossessing Carlos Zambrano to release Son who rounded goalkeeper Kevin Trapp to score into an empty goal.

Both teams had chances to score again in a thrilling final quarter.

Eight players shared the goals in the earlier game which saw Hoffenheim take an early lead, then twice come from behind to make it 3-3 before goals in the last 10 minutes from Cedrick Makiadi and Sebastian Freis won the game for Freiburg.

Soccer-Morgan inspires U.S. women to win over Australia

Striker Alex Morgan inspired the Olympic gold medal-winning United States women's team to a 2-1 win over Australia in an exhibition game on Sunday.

The U.S. team have taken to the road to celebrate their victory in the London Games with a series of fixtures they have billed as a 'Fan Tribute Tour'.

But the celebratory mood at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California, was somewhat dampened by the Australians taking the lead in the 34th minute through a brilliant individual goal from striker Lisa De Vanna.

The Denmark-based 27-year-old ran a full 55 yards with the ball, bursting past Christie Rampone and beating Hope Solo with a left-foot shot to put the Australians ahead.

The Americans drew level, though, 10 minutes after the interval through the familiar source of a quality finish from Morgan.

The striker lost her marker, collected a pass from Heather O'Reilly, cut inside and unleashed a fierce left foot shot to make it 1-1.

Shannon Boxx came on to reinforce the U.S. midfield and she grabbed the winner from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute after good work from Morgan.

Tobin Heath threaded a ball into the box to Morgan who looked to skip around Australia keeper Brianna Davey but was clipped on the ankle and went down with the referee quick to award the spot kick.

Boxx drove the penalty inside the post to give the Americans a lead that they never looked back from with Boxx herself making a major contribution to snuffing out Australia's attacking attempts.

After crushing Costa Rica 8-0 in a Sept. 1 game to open the series of games, the U.S. will host Australia again on Wednesday in Commerce City, Colorado before another double-header against Germany in October.

No pressure on Team GB to select Beckham, says Coe

David Beckham

David Beckham will have to earn his place in Britain's Olympic soccer squad on skill and merit like any other player and can expect no special favours, London 2012 organisers said on Thursday.

Speaking before the 37-year-old former England captain teamed up with a London delegation for the formal handing over of the Olympic flame, LOCOG chairman Seb Coe said there would be no attempt to twist the arm of Team GB manager Stuart Pearce.

"We have put absolutely no pressure on Stuart Pearce at all," he told reporters, a day after England manager Roy Hodgson named his provisional squad for the European championships in Poland and Ukraine next month.

"Stuart has to pick the team that he thinks will lift that (Olympic) trophy. I wouldn't expect any coach to be operating on any other basis, whether its wrestling or Olympic football," added Coe.

"You can never put pressure on coaches to choose people for any particular reason other than skill and merit."

No longer a part of England's international set-up and living in Los Angeles, Beckham has said repeatedly that he wants to play for the first United British soccer team to compete at the Olympics since 1960.

The London-born LA Galaxy player's presence in Athens and increasing involvement in the build-up to the Games has added to speculation he will be selected.

Pearce, also a former England international whose playing career overlapped with Beckham, can choose three 'over-age' players in what is otherwise an under-23 squad and now has a clear picture of who is available.

 

VALUE ADDED

"Of course having David around the Olympic programme is a fantastic thing but that is not for anyone other than Stuart to decide whether actually that brings 'value added' to the team," said Coe.

Hugh Robertson, the sports and Olympics minister who is also in Athens for the flame handover along with Britain's Princess Anne and London Mayor Boris Johnson, endorsed Coe's words.

"You can't have, in that highly competitive environment, a sentimental moment and pick somebody because it would be nice for the front page of the newspapers," he said.

"It is just not the way this process works any more. It would be lovely, yes, to see Beckham at the Olympics but he has to be there on the merits of his own performance and nothing else."

The announcement that Beckham, a global brand ambassador for Torch relay sponsor Samsung, would join the delegation in Athens and fly back with the flame on Friday was a main talking point on Wednesday.

There were some who questioned whether it was right to give such prominence to an athlete who has no Olympic pedigree and whose star quality and glamour as a sporting pin-up could overshadow others, but Coe dismissed that.

"David has been with us from the beginning," he said.

"He was there when the evaluation team came through London, he has hosted people on the Olympic Park for us, even before (the winning bid was announced in) Singapore he was travelling independently for us and helping us get some of the core messages across.

"It is absolutely right that he should be with us. As he so elegantly put it in Singapore, it (London) is his 'hood'.

"It would be ridiculous not to use someone who has been intimately involved with the whole process and actually rings up on a regular basis to ask if there's anything else he needs to know or can do to help us," said Coe. 

Late Senegal equaliser denies Britain victory

 Hosts Britain were denied victory on their return to the Olympic Games after a 52-year absence when they were held to a 1-1 draw by debutants Senegal in their opening Group A match at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Britain looked to be heading for victory after Welsh veteran Craig Bellamy, at 33 one of their over-age players, lashed home after 20 minutes.
 
But Senegal, who rallied strongly after the break, equalised in the 82nd minute when Moussa Konate timed his run perfectly to stay onside and clip the ball past goalkeeper Jack Butland.

Britain almost stole all three points in the 88th minute when Aaron Ramsey set up substitute Marvin Sordell but he shot against the bar.

The men's soccer competition is contested by Under-23 teams who are allowed to field three players over that age, but Britain has been absent since the Rome Games of 1960 because of political differences involving Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland regarding their own independence within FIFA.

But all that was forgotten as a near capacity crowd of 72,476 enjoyed a memorable night which began with Uruguay beating the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in the group opener.

They were also close to witnessing a British win, but were denied the chance despite an excellent performance from Britain's other Welsh veteran, skipper Ryan Giggs.

OLDEST PLAYER

At 38 years and eight months old, and playing on his home Manchester United ground, Giggs became the oldest outfield soccer player ever to appear in the Olympic finals.

Giggs also had a hand in Bellamy's goal as the Senegal defence failed to clear his free-kick. The ball fell to Bellamy who scored with a fierce volley into the ground that flew up past goalkeeper Ousmane Mane.

Britain, playing only their second match together since the Olympics squad was announced, seemed far more settled from the start than they were at any time during last week's warm-up against Brazil in Middlesbrough which they lost 2-0.

However, they lacked bite in the second half and that was always inviting danger against Senegal, who qualified for their first Olympics after beating Oman 2-0 in a playoff at Coventry in April and had certainly not come to make up the numbers.

Senegal's tall, physically strong and hard-running side -- typified by captain Mohamed Diame who has just moved from Wigan Athletic to West Ham United in the Premier League -- deserved a point from a well-contested game.

But they also wasted a golden chance to equalise soon after Bellamy's goal when Sadio Mane dinked the ball wide after Butland made a rare mistake and hit a weak clearance straight to him.

Britain next face the United Arab Emirates while Uruguay play Senegal in another double-header at Wembley on Sunday.