FC Barcelona's Brazilian player Ronaldinho (r) duels for the ball against Celta Vigo's Spanish player Angel David Lopez during a Spanish league soccer match in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday. (AP Photo)

MADRID, Spain,
Dec. 21--Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o and newly-crowned World Player of the Year Ronaldinho inspired Barcelona to their 13th consecutive victory in all competitions on Tuesday after a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo in the Primera Liga.
Eto’o scored both goals, in the 38th and 57th minutes, to take his tally for the season to 17, with Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho involved in the build up to both.
Celta made Barca work hard for the victory in a first half where they could easily have taken the lead, but it was Barca who finished the stronger with visiting keeper Esteban preventing the score from creeping higher, Reuters said.
Barca moved up to 40 points after 17 games, extending their lead at the top of the table to five points over second-placed Osasuna, who play Atletico Madrid at home on Thursday.
The rest of this round’s matches are played on Wednesday including third-placed Real Madrid’s home tie with Racing Santander.
The Primera Liga enters its winter break after this round of games.
Barcelona laid siege to Celta’s goal early on with Ronaldinho showing few signs of suffering from being delayed in Switzerland overnight, after Monday’s Player of the Year award ceremony.
As the home side piled forward in search of goals they left themselves open to counter-attacks, and in the 32nd-minute Celta’s Brazilian striker Fernando Baiano pulled wide in the area and crashed a shot against Victor Valdes’s far post.
Two minutes later another Barca attack floundered and Uruguayan midfielder Fabian Canobbio sent Baiano racing through to be denied in a one-on-one by Valdes.
Barca took the lead soon after with a craftily worked opener when Ronaldinho took a quick free kick on the edge of the area, which he had won, while Celta’s players disputed the decision.
His pass put Eto’o clear in the area and from a tight angle he lifted the ball over the advancing Esteban into the far corner.
Andres Iniesta, who has been drafted into midfield to cover for the injured Xavi, proved he is more than just a stand in in the build up for the second goal.
Ronaldinho fed Iniesta on the edge of the area, surrounded by four blue shirts. The 21-year-old spun round and threaded a pass to the lurking Eto’o, who snapped a shot high into the corner.

ZURICH, Switzerland, Dec. 21--Soccer clubs that fail to control racist fans were threatened by FIFA president Sepp Blatter with relegation, suspension and expulsion.
Blatter said legal experts at world soccer’s governing body would decide in January what measures are needed to strengthen FIFA’s anti-racism laws. National soccer federations will then vote on the proposed regulations at FIFA’s annual congress next year, AP reported.
“We need to start to deduct points from the team,“ Blatter said Tuesday. “It could also mean suspension. It could also mean exclusion.“
Racial taunting and other incidents have occurred at venues across Europe, and Blatter has spoken repeatedly of toughening FIFA’s anti-racism code, AP reported.
Last week, he spoke out against Lazio forward Paolo Di Canio for making a fascist salute in a match. He said Di Canio could be expelled from soccer for the gesture.
Blatter said the current anti-racism regulations, which advise federations to take measures ranging from fines against players to stadium bans for racist fans, are insufficient.
Teams that fail to control their players or fans also might be forced to play matches in empty stadiums. But Blatter said new, more severe punishments are needed.
“A financial sanction is not an adequate measure,“ he said. “You can always find someone with enough money to pay the fine.“
He said each infraction of FIFA’s anti-racism rules should be judged on the merits of the individual case. He refused to outline any minimum or automatic punishments.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia,
Dec. 21--Saudi Arabia fired its national soccer coach six months before the World Cup, replacing Argentina’s Gabriel Calderon with Brazil’s Marcos Paqueta.
The Saudi Football Federation said Tuesday it was “dissatisfied“ with Calderon’s preparations leading to the soccer showcase in Germany, AP said.
Saudi Arabia finished fourth in the West Asian Games this month in Qatar, losing to Iraq in the semifinals and Iran in the third-place game. The Saudis will be making their fourth consecutive appearance in the World Cup, having reached the second round in 1994.
Paqueta, coach of the Saudi Arabian club champion Al-Hilal, signed a two-year contract with the national team. He led Brazil’s under-17 team to a world title in 2001 and its under-20 team to the world crown in 2003.
“We need a coach who knows the standard of the Saudi players at this time, and the Brazilian was chosen because of the distinguished results he received with Al-Hilal last season and past performances with Brazil,“ the federation said.
At the 32-team World Cup, the Saudis are grouped with Spain, Ukraine and Tunisia.

NEW YORK, Dec. 21--Kobe Bryant poured in a career high 62 points to power the Los Angeles Lakers to a 112-90 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday at the Staples Center.
Bryant’s spectacular performance included 18-of-31 shooting from the floor and 22-of-25 from the free throw line in just 33 minutes of work guiding the surging Lakers to their eighth win in 10 games, Reuters reported.
The night began modestly for the 27-year-old all-star, scoring 15 points in the opening quarter and adding 17 in the second before exploding for a franchise record 30 in the third quarter behind a dazzling display of shot-making.
Bryant’s performance, however, fell just shy of the NBA single quarter points record of 33 set by George Gervin in 1978.
The 62 points eclipsed Bryant’s previous career single game high of 56 set in 2002 against Memphis and are the most by a member of the Lakes since Shaquille O’Neal hit for 61 against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2000.
No other Los Angeles player managed to reach double figures, Chris Mihm contributing nine points and eight rebounds to the victory while Laron Profit had eight.
Dirk Nowitzki and Devin Harris both had 18 points for the Mavericks.
In Milwaukee, Andrew Bogut drained a fadeaway jump shot as time ran off the clock to earn the Bucks a 109-107 overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs.
In Miami, Shaquille O’Neal scored 28 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the Heat to a 111-92 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, giving Pat Riley his first home win since taking over as coach.
In Cleveland, LeBron James had a game-high 25 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 18 and Damon Jones 12 to key a third quarter uprising as the Cavaliers dumped the Utah Jazz 110-85 to register their third straight win.
In East Rutherford, Vince Carter scored 35 points, dished out nine assists and grabbed seven rebounds sparking the New Jersey Nets to a 99-85 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
In Auburn Hills, Richard Hamilton hit for 23 points, Tayshaun Prince added 21 and Chauncey Billups chipped in with 19 points and 10 assists as the Detroit Pistons stopped the Portland Trail Blazers 93-89 to become the first team this season to win 20 games.
In Chicago, Raymond Felton scored 21 points and Brevin Knight had 20 sparking Charlotte Bobcats to 105-92 win over the Bulls.
In Phoenix, Shawn Marion scored 29 points and Eddie House helped out 20 as the Suns silenced the SuperSonics 111-83.

Car owner Michael Andretti (r) poses with his father Mario (l) and son Marco with Marco's car at the team's shop in Indianapolis Tuesday. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK, Dec. 21--Michael Andretti will return to the Indianapolis 500 next year in a bid to claim the one racing prize that has perpetually eluded him.
Andretti, 43, who retired from the sport in 2003 and has gone to become a successful team owner, announced on Tuesday he will return to the famed Speedway in 2006 and race the 90th Indianapolis 500 as a team mate of his son Marco.
“I’m really looking forward to returning to Indy in the Jim Beam/Vonage car as one of the drivers on this team, and I’m excited about the chance I’ll have to run with Marco,“ said Michael Andretti.
“I think I’ll have as good a shot as I’ve ever had to win the Indianapolis 500, and I think I can also be a big help to Marco as he gets ready to make his first 500 start.“ One of the most successful drivers in North American motor sport history, Andretti has never won in 14 visits to the Brickyard despite leading the famed 500-mile race 426 laps, the most of any driver without an Indy 500 win, Reuters said.
Last season, however, Andretti finally made it to Victory Lane as a team, fielding the winning car driven by Dan Wheldon.

FRANKFURT, Germany,
Dec. 21--Mainz beat fellow Bundesliga strugglers Kaiserslautern 4-3 on penalties on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals of the German Cup.
Germany midfielder Marco Engelhardt put Kaiserslautern ahead in the 29th minute with a powerful header from a Mihail Mikic cross, before the Brazilian Antonio da Silva equalized with a wonderful swerving free kick to force extra-time, reported Reuters.
Kaiserslautern, who had Ervin Skela sent off in the 97th minute, looked well set in the penalty shoot-out when Mainz missed from their first two attempts but nerves then got the better of the home side.
Ferydoon Zandi, Halil Altintop and the 17-year-old Daniel Halfar all failed from the spot before Petr Ruman chipped into the center of the goal with his side’s sixth effort to give Mainz victory.
Arminia Bielefeld made it safely through against second division Unterhaching, winning 2-0 with early goals from Marcio Borges and Radomir Dalovic.
TSV 1860 Munich won an all-second division clash 3-1 in extra-time away to Freiburg.
Freiburg were heading for victory with a Wilfried Sanou goal but China international Shao Jiayi grabbed an equalizer at the end of normal time and extra-time goals from Paul Agostino and Remo Meyer clinched victory for the visitors.
Cup holders and Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich are at home to second-placed Hamburg SV in the pick of the remaining five ties to be played on Wednesday.

HANOI, Vietnam, Dec. 21--Police arrested two members of Vietnam’s national soccer team for match-fixing during the Southeast Asian Games, state media reported Wednesday.
According to AP, Vietnam striker Pham Van Quyen, one of the team’s most popular players, and midfielder Le Quoc Vuong were taken into police custody Tuesday and formally charged with gambling and organizing gambling, Thanh Nien newspaper reported. They were being held in a detention center outside Hanoi.
At least five members of the Vietnam team are under suspicion of fixing games against Myanmar and Malaysia during this month’s SEA Games at the Philippines in return for tens of thousands of US dollars.
Vietnam defeated Burma 1-0, and advanced to the semifinal round to beat Malaysia 2-1. However, it lost 3-0 in the championship match to regional powerhouse Thailand.
The players’ arrest is the latest embarrassment for the country’s scandal-plagued soccer community, which has seen a string of high-profile arrests in connection with bribery and gambling.
Nearly two dozen referees, coaches and sports officials are facing criminal charges for various match-fixing incidents in the past year.
SEA Games organizers in the Philippines said they were disappointed by the revelations but pleased that Vietnam had brought the matter under investigation.
“I’m saddened by the fact that there are these kind of athletes that competed in the SEA Games, but at the same time I’m glad the Vietnamese officials were able to discover and bring this matter to the attention of the police,“ Philippine Olympic Committee chairman Robert Aventajado told The Associated Press in Manila.

AHMEDABAD, India, Dec. 21--Sri Lanka, chasing 509 for victory, were 39 for one at lunch on the fourth day of the third and final test against India on Wednesday.
Marvan Atapattu fell to off spinner Harbhajan Singh for 16 in the last over before lunch, caught at forward short leg by Mohammad Kaif.
He had received a reprieve on 13 when slashing hard at Irfan Pathan but Anil Kumble at gully failed to hold on to the ball, Reuters reported.
Opener Upul Tharanga was on 22 not out having survived 59 minutes of the first session on a Motera pitch that aided both turn and bounce.
Tharanga struck four boundaries, including a punch through covers off Pathan.
Harbhajan took 7-62 in the first innings.
Earlier, India had resumed their second innings on 287 for nine after heavy dew had delayed the start. They declared after 20 minutes at 316 for nine.
The last wicket pair of Anil Kumble (29) and Harbhajan (40) put on another 29 runs to extend their stand to an unbeaten 69.
India lead the series 1-0.

Nicole Hosp

SPINDLERUV MLYN, Czech Republic, Dec. 21--Austria’s Nicole Hosp found the 13th starting bib a lucky omen when she set the fastest time in the first leg of a women’s Alpine ski World Cup giant slalom on Wednesday.
The first World Cup race in the Czech Republic got off to an inauspicious start, with the competition delayed for 15 minutes as high winds swirled and clouds and fog hampered visibility, Reuters reported.
The 22-year-old Hosp, who ranks 31st in the giant slalom standings after the first two events, put in a strong performance on the lower half on the Cerna course to post a time of one minute 11.32 seconds.
Slovenia’s Tina Maze, who won the season-opening race in Soelden, Austria, was lying second, 0.26 seconds behind.
Janica Kostelic of Croatia, who will defend her Olympic title in the discipline in February, placed third in the leg,o.43 seconds off the pace.
“I skied really well. In the pitch I think I was technically
really good,“ Hosp said, comparing the slope to Maribor, Slovenia, where she captured her first World Cup points in 2003. “It wasn’t so easy today because the conditions were not the best. For the girls at the top of the starting order, there was very bad light and the snow wasn’t holding.“
World Cup champion Tanja Poutiainen of Finland crashed out but was apparently unhurt.
The second leg of the race was starting at 1130 GMT.