LONDON — Major League Soccer is exploring how to align itself closer to the sport’s international calendar to show it is listening to FIFA president Sepp Blatter as the United States bids to host the World Cup.
Blatter has expressed concern about the inability of the MLS to rival the top European league since its inception in 1996, two years after the Americans last hosted the World Cup.
The U.S. is bidding to win the right to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup at the vote in December 2010.
While accepting that standards are rising in the MLS, Blatter has stated regularly that it needs to switch to Europe’s August-May schedule, rather than its current March-October to entice top players.
Key to achieving that will be building more stadiums with roofs to protect against the worst of the American winter, MLS commissioner Don Garber said.
• D.C. United midfielder Santino Quaranta will be sidelined four to six months with a foot injury.
Heat signs Arroyo
MIAMI — The Miami Heat signed Carlos Arroyo to a one-year contract Monday, which would be worth about $1.1 million if the 30-year-old point guard remains with the club all season.
Arroyo last played in the NBA for the Orlando Magic during the 2007-08 season, spending last season in Israel. He still makes his home in Miami.
• Mo Williams (groin), Jamario Moon (wisdom teeth) and Danny Green (right glute contusion) did not play in the Cavaliers’ exhibition game against Olympiacos on Monday night.
Players say tennis season too long
SHANGHAI — Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick say the ATP season is too long and that tennis players need a proper offseason.
Both players, who are in China for the Shanghai Masters, reiterated criticism of the sport’s punishing schedule.
“It’s impossible to play first of January and finish fifth of December,” Nadal said. “It’s impossible to be here playing like what I did the last five years, playing a lot of matches and being all the time 100 percent without problems.”
Footnotes.
Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird will remain at Santa Anita and point to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 7, and Calvin Borel will remain as Mine That Bird’s rider.
• Buffalo Sabres defenseman Andrej Sekera will miss at least two weeks because of a rib injury, while Toni Lydman is ready to return after missing Buffalo’s first three games with a hand injury.
• Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen, a favorite to win the men’s gymnastics all-around title, will miss this week’s world championships in London after rupturing a ligament in his left foot during training Sunday. The men start competition today and the women on Wednesday.
• Ferrari driver Felipe Massa took his first test drive in a Formula One car since a life-threatening accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.
