College Football
Clemson earns its best 25 ranking in 25 years
NEW YORK — Clemson surged to its highest ranking in The Associated Press poll in 25 years after the Tigers won the biggest game of the opening weekend of the college football season.
Clemson is No. 4 in the first regular season AP Top 25 after its 38-35 victory against Georgia, which slipped to 11th after the loss. The Tigers received one-first place vote and have their best showing in the poll since Sept. 12, 1988, when they were No. 3.
Alabama remained No. 1 and received 58 of 60 first-place votes from the media panel after beating Virginia Tech 35-10 to start the season.
No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Ohio State flip-flopped spots from the preseason rankings. The Buckeyes received one first-place vote. Stanford is No. 5.
No. 20 Washington and No. 23 Baylor moved into the rankings.
Soccer
Leroux, Wambach bombard Mexico in a 7-nil victory
WASHINGTON – Abby Wambach extended her world record with her 161st international goal, Sydney Leroux scored four times in the first half, and the next generation for United States women’s soccer blended nicely with the old guard Tuesday night as the Americans thumped Mexico 7-0 in a friendly at RFK Stadium.
Rachel Buehler and Morgan Brian also scored as the U.S. squad reconvened after a 2½-month break while the National Women’s Soccer League wrapped up its inaugural season. With the next World Cup two years away, the match also gave coach Tom Sermanni a chance to mix in some young faces to the storied team, with two players making their national team debuts.
USA, ranked No. 1 in the world, ran their overall unbeaten streak to 35 games and their home unbeaten streak to 73. They are 27-1-1 all-time against 24th-ranked Mexico.
Still dominant at age 33, Wambach played a part in all four goals scored in the first 30 minutes.
Goalkeepers Hope Solo (first half) and Nicole Barnhart (second half) combined for the shutout.
U.S. forward Alex Morgan, who strained a ligament in her left knee during the NWSL season, was on the bench but did not play.
Altidore gets clearance to practice for World Cup
CHICAGO – Jozy Altidore was cleared to resume practice, and U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said he’s optimistic his striker will be ready for Friday’s World Cup qualifier in Costa Rica.
Altidore missed Saturday’s game for club team Sunderland because of a right hamstring injury. He still joined the Americans in Miami, and U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday doctors cleared him after a full evaluation.
After Friday’s game in Costa Rica, the U.S. will return home to face Mexico on Sept. 10 in Columbus, Ohio.
The rich gets richer: $2.3B on European player transfers
LONDON – The world’s richest soccer league is getting even richer even as the wealth of English clubs also benefits teams overseas.
In less than three months during the European transfer window, more than $2.3 billion was spent by clubs in the continent’s top five leagues – with a third of that shipped by Premier League sides overseas, according to an analysis by accounting firm Deloitte.
Such spending might seem at odds with the economic hardships being experienced by many fans, but the transfer window splurges are not slowing down.
Even though there are relatively new Financial Fair Play regulations in European soccer, the days of the big-money moves are not over.
In less than three months, $760 million of the $980 million paid out by English sides landed in bank accounts abroad – up 60 percent from the previous year. The record spending spree, though, was in part the result of Tottenham generating $132 million by selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in a world-record deal.
Net spending by Premier League clubs was $622 million, while the figure was $198 million in France and $79 million in Germany.
Associated Press
