Briefs | Soccer: Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas could be out four months with knee injury

Soccer

Arsenal captain Fabregas could miss four months: Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas faces a four-month injury layoff after rupturing a knee ligament in an English Premier League match against Liverpool three days ago.

Scans confirmed that Fabregas, 21, suffered a partial rupture of the medial ligament in a challenge with Liverpool's Xabi Alonso in the 1-1 draw, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

"I count four months," Wenger said Tuesday at a news conference. "We have to find a way to compensate for the fact he will not be on the pitch. When he comes back he can help us to get over the line in the final months."

Meanwhile, Arsenal's biggest shareholder, Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, doesn't plan to increase his stake in the Premier League soccer club for at least six months.

Usmanov, who owns 24.9 percent of Arsenal, doesn't intend to buy Nina Bracewell-Smith's 15.9 percent stake after she was ousted from the board of directors last week, his holding company Red & White Holdings Ltd. said in a Regulatory News Statement today.

Spain and Portugal make joint bid for 2018 World Cup: Spain and Portugal will jointly bid to stage the 2018 World Cup, providing competition for the likes of England and Australia.

Golf

At least one event scratched from PGA Fall Series: The PGA Tour has lost at least one tournament from its Fall Series because of the economy, and the final part of its 2009 schedule had another tournament still up in the air.

The tour announced five tournaments — down from seven this year — that will be played after the FedEx Cup ends and give players a chance to finish in the top 125 on the money list to retain their cards.

Gone from the Fall Series schedule is the Ginn sur Mer Classic, which was held the penultimate week of the season and was not expected to return because of the real estate crisis. Also missing from the fall is the Valero Texas Open, which moved to the spring to replace the defunct Atlanta tournament.

Tennis

Isner, McHale earn USTA's wild cards for Australian Open: John Isner and Christina McHale earned their way into next month's Australian Open by winning U.S. Tennis Association wild-card tournaments.

For the 16-year-old McHale of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., it will be her first main-draw appearance at a Grand Slam event. Ranked 377th, she beat Gail Brodsky 6-1, 6-0 in the final of the USTA playoff in Boca Raton, Fla., after going 3-0 in round-robin play.

The 6-foot-9 Isner of Tampa, Fla., who is ranked 144th, beat Donald Young and Jesse Levine in Boca Raton.

Hockey

Report: NHL takes role for financially strapped Coyotes: Citing league sources, ESPN reported that the NHL is taking an active role in trying to find new investors or ownership for the financially strapped Phoenix Coyotes and is being kept apprised of any "significant" financial decisions the team makes.

The report also said the league is trying to help broker changes to the existing lease with the city of Glendale in the hopes of making the situation more attractive new investors or owners.

According to the report, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes is in dire financial straits, with his outside business interests — most notably Swift Transportation, a large trucking firm — having been hammered by high gasoline costs, followed by the dramatic downturn in the economy.

And although team officials say the club has never relied on Swift revenues to run the team, the Coyotes aren't in much better shape and are expected to lose another $30 million or more this season, on top of the more than $60 million they are reported to have lost the past two years.

Cycling

Armstrong expecting baby with girlfriend: Lance Armstrong is going to be a father again. Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven consecutive years after overcoming testicular cancer, is expecting a baby with girlfriend Anna Hansen.

College athletics

South Carolina violations include two in women's basketball: South Carolina's athletic department is reporting 11 secondary NCAA violations in the past six months, including two from the program of new women's basketball coach Dawn Staley.

The school said that a women's basketball coach improperly text-messaged a prospect and a coach incorrectly publicized an informal practice scrimmage.

All violations are considered low-level infractions of NCAA rules.

Seattle Times news services