Chiefs’ Berry back after cancer fight
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry returned to the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice field Wednesday, just eight months after a cancer diagnosis threatened to derail his career.
Berry walked down the long hill from the locker room to the practice fields at Missouri Western State University, wearing his familiar No. 29 and with his helmet in hand. He stretched with rookies and select veterans, then joined them for parts of the workout.
“He looked pretty good out here with the work that he had,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
Berry passed a battery of tests before he was cleared to practice late Tuesday, but it remains unclear when he will be a full participant in practice. Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder said Berry will be monitored constantly, especially during the early portion of camp.
MLS All Stars top Tottenham, 2-1
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Kaka and David Villa, a pair of 33-year-old international icons in their first season in Major League Soccer, showed they still have some panache to their games.
Kaka scored on a penalty kick and set up Villa’s goal minutes later in the first half to help the best players in MLS beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on a blustery Wednesday night.
Run-in with reporter triggered Mexico coach Herrera’s ouster
MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the end it wasn’t the middling on-field performance by Mexico’s national soccer team that cost Miguel Herrera his job as head coach of “El Tri.”
It was the aggressive nature of “El Piojo,” a Spanish nickname meaning “the louse,” that led to his ouster.
The Mexican Soccer Federation fired Herrera on Tuesday, just two days after he led the team to a CONCACAF Gold Cup title. The ouster came after a television reporter said the coach punched him at the Philadelphia airport.
“Nobody can be above a situation like the one that happened Monday in Philadelphia,” said Decio de Maria, who on Saturday becomes president of the federation.
“Our values, our principles, are above any result,” he added. “In our profession, our industry, the matches are never over, and as public figures who represent an institution we must be absolutely clear on that.”
In a statement, Herrera apologized to his players, staff, fans, the federation and the media for his conduct in “the painful incident I had with a commentator.”
“It is clear to me that this is not the attitude that a coach for the Mexican national team should take, despite having received all manner of criticisms, offenses and mockery of my family and my person,” it read.
“El Piojo” is the latest to depart from what has become a revolving-door job since Ricardo La Volpe of Argentina was the last to complete a four-year World Cup cycle as Mexico’s head coach.
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