World Cup referee Howard Webb defends his work in final | Soccer

Soccer

Webb was criticized by Dutch players: English referee Howard Webb says he is satisfied with his handling of the World Cup final, despite criticism from Netherlands players after their 1-0 loss to Spain in extra time.

Dutch players criticized Webb's performance in Sunday's match at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, complaining about a series of decisions during an ill-tempered match that was decided by Andres Iniesta's goal.

In a statement released by the English Premier League on Tuesday, Webb said he and his linesmen did a tough job as well as they could in what were demanding conditions, calling it "an extremely challenging match" and one of the hardest matches he will ever have to handle.

"We don't feel that we had much choice except to manage the game in the way we did," Webb said. "We came away feeling satisfied that we'd done a tough job in difficult circumstances to the best of our abilities."

Webb booked 13 different players and sent off John Heitinga after showing the Netherlands defender a second yellow card in extra time.

U.S. women, Sweden play to a draw: Amy Rodriguez scored in the 44th minute for the United States in a 1-1 draw with Sweden in an exhibition match in Omaha, Neb. Linda Forsberg scored for Sweden, which was outshot 18-8.

WNBA

Thompson leads Los Angeles to victory: Tina Thompson scored 24 points and DeLisha Milton-Jones added 17 to lead the visiting Los Angeles Sparks to an 87-71 victory over Tulsa, extending the Shock's losing streak to 12 games.

Ex-Oklahoma State standout Andrea Riley had 14 points for the Sparks (5-13) in a matchup of teams with the two worst records in the league.

Keisha Brown led Tulsa (3-15) with 14 points.

College basketball

Tennessee adds forward: Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has added a forward to his squad, senior John Fields from UNC-Wilmington.

Fields has one season of eligibility remaining after playing three seasons at the Division I level, one at UNC-Wilmington and two at East Carolina. He sat out a year after transferring from East Carolina to the Seahawks.

Tennessee officials expect the 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward from Fayetteville, N.C., to be able to play immediately, pending an NCAA waiver.

NHL

Sydor hangs up his skates: St. Louis defenseman Darryl Sydor, 38, has retired after playing for six league teams over 18 seasons. He had 507 points in 1,291 regular-season games.

College football

Marve is expected to start for Purdue: Robert Marve, who transferred to Purdue from Miami in May 2009 and sat out last season because of transfer rules, will enter fall practice as the Boilermakers' No. 1 quarterback.

Auto racing

Rahal returns to Newman/Haas: Graham Rahal, 21, is teaming with Newman/Haas Racing for six of the final eight IndyCar Series races, starting this weekend in Toronto.

Rahal will drive the No. 02 car in five of the six races for Quick Trim, his sponsor at this year's Indianapolis 500.

Graham, son of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, was considered one of the best up-and-coming IndyCar drivers while competing for Newman/Haas from 2007 to 2009.

But sponsorship issues left him without a ride earlier this season, forcing him to bounce around as a fill-in driver. His last race was a ninth-place finish June 20 in Iowa.

College athletics

Carr to step down as Michigan associate athletic director: Lloyd Carr, who coached Michigan to the national football championship in 1997 and five Big Ten titles, is stepping down as the Wolverines' associate athletic director Sept. 1.

Carr, 64, coached Michigan football from 1995 to 2008 and had a 122-40 record.

Olympics

IOC reportedly will announce deal with Dow: The International Olympic Committee is ready to announce a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical, according to international and U.S. Olympic officials familiar with the negotiations.

The announcement is set for Friday in New York, with IOC president Jacques Rogge and Scott Blackmun, chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee, among those expected to attend.

The deal with Dow would bring the IOC up to 10 companies in its top-tier sponsorship program for the 2012 Games.

IOC global sponsorships usually cover at least four years and sell for up to $100 million.

Poker

WSOP main event "money bubble" bursts: The "money bubble" has burst at the World Series of Poker main event in Las Vegas.

The top 747 finishers from the 7,319 entrants in the $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas Hold'em tournament will each make at least $19,263 from the $68.8 million prize pool.

First place is worth $8.944 million.

As of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, there were 687 players remaining in the main event.

Mill Creek's Matt Affleck, who led earlier in the evening, was in third place. Josh Brikis of Monroeville, Pa., and Theo Jorgensen of Denmark were tied for the chip-count lead.

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