France Leads Trio Into the Cup

France, Serbia-Montenegro and Sweden clinched Europe’s three remaining automatic berths for next year’s World Cup in Germany.

France defeated Cyprus, 4-0, on Wednesday to win Group 4, and Serbia-Montenegro defeated neighbor Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1-0, for first place in Group 7.

Sweden won at home over Iceland, 3-1, to secure second place in Group 8 behind Croatia. Sweden advanced as one of the best two second-place teams. Poland is the other best second-place team after losing at England, 2-1.

The Czech Republic, Turkey, Slovakia, Switzerland and Spain clinched playoff spots by finishing second in their groups. Norway already had earned a playoff berth.

The Netherlands, Ukraine, Portugal and Italy are the other group winners. Germany advances automatically as the host nation.

In other play, Kyle Martino and Taylor Twellman scored their first international goals and the U.S. team beat Panama, 2-0, in its final Cup qualifier at Foxborough, Mass.

Stern John scored two goals to help Trinidad and Tobago beat Mexico, 2-1, at Port of Spain, Trinidad, and advance to a playoff against Bahrain for a berth in the Cup.

MLS

Rapids Get Late Score

to Beat Real Salt Lake

Fabrice Noel scored in the 87th minute, leading the Colorado Rapids (13-13-6) to a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake (5-22-5) at Salt Lake City.

TENNIS

Sharapova Wins When

Groenefeld Retires

Top-ranked Maria Sharapova avoided losing her homeland pro debut when Anna-Lena Groenefeld retired because of an ankle injury while controlling play in the Kremlin Cup at Moscow.

Groenefeld won the first set of the second-round match, 6-1, and was leading, 4-2, in the second set when she had to quit.

In men’s first-round play, Daniele Bracciali rallied to knock out top-seeded defending champion Nikolay Davydenko, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio lost to Jurgen Melzer, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (5), in the first round of the BA-CA Trophy at Vienna. David Nalbandian advanced against Sebastien Grosjean, 6-4, 6-7(9), 6-3.

Defending champion Thomas Johansson beat American Vincent Spadea, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open.

Nadia Petrova routed Nuria Llagostera, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the second round of the Thailand Open at Bangkok.

Top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland injured a ligament in his right foot during practice, forcing him to miss at least two weeks of tournaments, according to his website.

Federer, on crutches, will be out of next week’s Masters Series event in Madrid, Spain, and the Swiss Indoors in Basel later this month.

PRO BASKETBALL

James Is Suffering From

Strained Chest Muscle

LeBron James winced with pain at times during practice, a day after he woke up with a strained chest muscle.

James sat out the Cleveland Cavaliers’ exhibition game Tuesday night against Boston and is listed as questionable because of a strained left pectoral muscle for Friday night’s home exhibition game against Philadelphia.

He said he wouldn’t have been able to play Tuesday night if it had been a regular-season game.

The Houston Rockets waived veteran guard Charlie Ward.

Amare Stoudemire’s surgery was limited to repairing torn cartilage in his left knee, considered a best-case scenario for the Phoenix Suns’ star. Stoudemire will be sidelined at least four months.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

May-Treanor and Gibb

Are MVPs of the AVP

Misty May-Treanor and Jake Gibb were awarded the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals women’s and men’s most valuable player awards at the AVP annual season-ending banquet.

May-Treanor teamed with Kerri Walsh for an AVP-best 10 team titles and she also won an individual title in Las Vegas. Gibb and partner Stein Metzger led all men’s players with four victories and Gibb led the men’s money list with $110,950.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Penn State Coach Is

Facing Investigation

Penn State will look into claims by a gay rights advocacy group that Coach Rene Portland discriminated against players she believed to be lesbians.

BASEBALL

Garciaparra Reportedly

Saved Two Women

Nomar Garciaparra rescued two women who had fallen into Boston Harbor, his uncle and a witness told the Boston Herald.

Garciaparra, the former Red Sox shortstop who played for the Chicago Cubs last season, was in his Charlestown condominium with his uncle, Victor, when the incident occurred.

HOCKEY

Sabres Give Ruff

a One-Year Extension

The Buffalo Sabres gave Coach Lindy Ruff, the longest tenured coach in the NHL, a one-year contract extension through next season.

Gilbert Brule, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ first-round draft pick, will sit out six weeks because of a broken sternum.

OLYMPICS

Hall of Fame Announces

the Class of 2005

Track stars Bob Hayes and Evelyn Ashford, 1980 hockey coach Herb Brooks and the 1984 U.S. men’s gymnastics team highlight this year’s class for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

Gymnast Shannon Miller, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, swimmer Rowdy Gaines and Jack Shea also were selected for the Hall. Paralympian Diana Golden-Brosnihan and NBC sports chief Dick Ebersol also will be inducted Dec. 8 in Chicago.

Former major league manager Davey Johnson will manage a U.S. team of minor leaguers next month in Phoenix in a regional Olympic qualifying baseball tournament.

TRACK AND FIELD

Officials to Investigate

East German Records

German track and field authorities plan to check the validity of 22 national records held by athletes from the former East Germany because of suspicions many used banned drugs.

Ines Geipel prompted the investigation by asking that her name be erased from a record-holding East German 400-meter relay team from 1984.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Olympic Champion Sets

Three World Records

Olympic champion Chen Yanqing broke all three world records in the 127-pound weightlifting class at Shanghai.

Chen hoisted 248 pounds in the snatch, beating compatriot Wang Li’s 2-year-old world record by 5.5, according to the national games’ website.

She then lifted 314.2 pounds in the clean and jerk to beat the 2002 record of 293.2 set by China’s Sun Caiyan. Chen’s combined total weight of 562.2 pounds was 33 more than Wang Li’s record.

GOLF

Ballesteros Is Back

After Two-Year Layoff

Seve Ballesteros, a five-time major winner, will resume his pro career at the Madrid Open after a two-year hiatus because of an arthritic back.