Soccer
Costa Rica beats U.S., 3-1, in World Cup qualifier
Alvaro Saborio scored 79 seconds in, the second-fastest goal against the United States in a World Cup qualifier, and host Costa Rica coasted to a 3-1 victory Wednesday night in San Jose. Celso Borges added a goal in the 13th minute, and Pablo Herrera sealed the victory for 41st-ranked Costa Rica when he made it 3-0 in the 69th. Landon Donovan scored the U.S. goal when he converted a penalty kick in the second minute of second-half stoppage time. Costa Rica (3-1) leapfrogged into first place in the six-team regional finals of North and Central America and the Caribbean with nine points, two ahead of the United States (2-1-1). The United States remains in good position to qualify for its sixth straight World Cup as long as it wins its remaining home matches, which include games against El Salvador (Sept. 5 at Sandy, Utah) and Costa Rica (Oct. 14 at Washington).
Locally: : Crystal Palace Baltimore will play its US Open Cup first-round tie against the Ocean City Barons of the Premier Development League at Carey Stadium in Ocean City, N.J., on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The winner will play June 16 against the winner of the match between Aegean Hawks FC (of the US Amateur Soccer Association) and Palace's local USL2 rivals Real Maryland.
NHL
Avs promote Sherman to GM, fire coach Granato
The Colorado Avalanche promoted Greg Sherman to general manager and fired coach Tony Granato and five others in a sweeping shakeup Wednesday. Sherman has spent the past seven years as the team's assistant general manager and replaces Francois Giguere, who was fired in April after the team's worst finish since moving to Denver in 1995. The Avalanche also fired assistant coaches Jacques Cloutier and Dave Barr, goaltending coach Jeff Hackett, assistant to the general manager Michel Goulet and video coordinator P.J. DeLuca.
NBA
Report: NBA TV being added to more popular Comcast tier
Comcast Corp. has reached a new seven-year agreement that will add the NBA TV channel to the cable TV operator's most popular digital tier of service before the start of the next pro basketball season, the Associated Press reported, citing an anonymous source. Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider, struck the deal with NBA Digital that would give NBA TV exposure to 11 million "Digital Classic" viewers compared with the 2 million it had as part of the sports tier, according to a person with knowledge of the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details.
