SOCCER

Major League Soccer commissioner gives Beckham credit for advancing the league

David Beckham, the 37-year-old former England captain plays his final competitive match for the Galaxy on Saturday in the MLS Cup against Houston.

And MSL Commissioner Don Garber on Monday cited Beckham’s role in advancing the league.

“He was an unbelievable ambassador for the league, for the Galaxy,” Garber said.

The league’s regular-season attendance average increased from 15,504 in 2006 to 17,872 in 2011 and a record 18,807 this year.

Garber also said Monday the league is at “the finish line” in negotiations with New York City to acquire land to build a stadium in Queens that would become home for the league’s 20th team.

PREMIER LEAGUE: English soccer faced another racism investigation after a match between Tottenham and West Ham was marred by anti-Semitic abuse by fans.

West Ham pledged to impose lifetime bans after some supporters were heard making chants about Adolf Hitler.

BASEBALL

FCBL: The Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide hired Chris Torres as manager of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League team for the 2013 season.

It will be the first managerial experience for Torres, who was a 32nd round pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 2005 major league draft. He played professionally for seven seasons, mostly in the Tigers’ organization.

He helped the Nashua (N.H.) Pride win the 2007 Can Am League title. Last summer he played for the Worcester (Mass.) Tornadoes in the Can Am League, hitting .317 with 12 home runs and 35 RBI.

His father, Victor, is a hitting coach in the San Francisco Giants’ organization.

SKIING

WORLD CUP: U.S. skier Marco Sullivan, 32, is making a comeback. This past weekend in Lake Louise, Alberta, racing on new Atomic skis after Rossignol dropped him, Sullivan earned a third-place finish despite starting from the 42nd starting position. It was his first podium finish in nearly four years.

COLLEGES

FOOTBALL: Maine’s fifth-year senior linebacker Donte Dennis, sidelined for the season-ending 55-6 victory at Rhode Island because of a knee injury, saw a specialist while home in New Jersey for Thanksgiving break and learned he won’t need surgery. “Turns out it was sprained,” Dennis said. “… I didn’t even need an MRI. I’ll have to do a little rehab, but that’s really it.”

Despite missing the last game and a half, Dennis led the team in tackles for a third season, joining Stephen Cooper as the only Black Bear to do so.

—From staff and news services