SOCCER

Christian Eriksen celebrated his 30th birthday on Monday with his first game action since suffering cardiac arrest at the European Championship.

The Denmark playmaker featured in a practice match for Brentford, the London-based Premier League club he signed for last month to resume his playing career.

Eriksen had an assist for a goal in the match against Southend that was played without any fans and Brentford said he came close to scoring himself during his hour on the field.

The last time Eriksen was involved in a game was the June 12 European Championship meeting with Finland when he said he was “gone from this world for five minutes” after collapsing.

After being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator days after the incident, Eriksen had to be released by Inter Milan in December due to rules in Italy preventing athletes from competing with an ICD.

The former Tottenham player has passed the required medical checks and cleared to play in the Premier League with the ICD.

MLS: Former U.S. national team forward Jozy Altidore signed with Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution.

Altidore left Toronto last week after seven seasons when that team exercised a contract buyout. The 32-year-old agreed to a one-year contract extension with the Revolution through 2024.

New England said Toronto remains responsible for a portion of Altidore’s salary through 2023.

WORLD CUP: FIFA handed out fines and suspensions while ordering Brazil and Argentina to replay the World Cup qualifier that was abandoned after health agents stormed the field in Sao Paulo to dispute the quarantine status of players.

Four of Argentina’s English Premier League players were accused of falsifying Brazilian coronavirus declarations in September by not stating they had been in red-listed Britain in the previous 14 days, leading to the game being stopped after seven minutes.

Emiliano Buendia, Emiliano Martinez, Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero will now serve two-match bans in FIFA fixtures after “not complying with the FIFA Return to Football International Match Protocol,” the world governing body said in a disciplinary ruling.

FIFA ordered the Brazilian Football Association to pay a fine of 550,000 Swiss francs (about $600,000) for “infringements related to order and security”, and over the abandonment.

The Argentinian Football Association was fined 250,000 Swiss francs ($270,000) for failing to “comply with its obligations in relation to order and security, the preparation of and its participation in the match”, and the abandonment. AFA President Chiqui Tapia tweeted that the Argentines planned to appeal against the ruling.

FIFA has not set a date or location for the game to be played again. Brazil and Argentina have already sealed a place at the World Cup in Qatar in November ahead of the scheduled conclusion of CONMEBOL qualifying in March, when both teams have another two games to play.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: In an unprecedented move, 10,000 fans will be able to attend the final for free.

The gesture by competition organizer UEFA for the biggest club final in world football stands in contrast to the cheapest tickets for the Super Bowl on Sunday costing thousands of dollars.

Each club will receive 5,000 tickets for the showpiece in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on May 28, which have to be given to loyal supporters rather than to sponsors or club officials.

HOCKEY

PREP SCHOOLS: Chad Beaufils scored the winner in overtime as North Yarmouth Academy defeated Kents Hill 4-3 in a prep school boys’ hockey game at Travis Roy Arena in Yarmouth.

Nick Pelletier, Louka Vamvakas and Michael Belleau also scored for NYA. Caleb Waterman made 17 saves.

GOLF

OBIT: Eduardo Romero, the Argentine golfer who won European Tour events over three decades, has died. He was 67.

The tour announced Romero’s death on Monday, without giving any more details. Argentina’s national news agency, Telam, cited cancer as the cause of death.

Nicknamed “El Gato” (The Cat), Romero was best known in golf for winning eight titles on the tour between 1989 and 2002.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Tamika Catchings is stepping down as vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Indiana Fever, the team announced.

The franchise’s most storied player, who helped Indiana win a WNBA championship in 2012 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, had held the front-office positions since 2017, and the team has struggled under her leadership.

Catchings will be replaced by Lin Dunn, who coached Indiana’s championship-winning squad.

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