First postwar international soccer match for Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Where gallows once stood, there now are goalposts. Where the Taliban once conducted public executions and amputations, a stadium is prepared for a sporting event.

It is a sign of normalcy returning to Afghanistan, which will stage its first international soccer game in seven years on Friday.

The 30,000-seat stadium is already sold out. Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai is expected to open the game, which pits Kabul’s top players against a team of peacekeepers.

“The fact that there is now a football game in a place where there were once executions is proof that the Taliban reign of terror is finally over,” said Lt. Col. Dietmar Jeserich of the German peacekeeping force. “It’s a good idea to have this game now and show people that these times are over.”

Afghanistan was suspended from the International Olympic Committee in 1999, in part because the Taliban prohibited women from competing in sports. The Taliban, which discouraged sports, also severed ties with FIFA, international soccer’s governing body.

During the Taliban's rule, athletes were forced to wear beards and pants that reached down below their knees. They were also forbidden to train after 4 p.m., which was prayer time.

“Now we are free players,” said Sharif, an Afghan defender.

Buccaneers’ search for coach turns up no leads

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will hire a coach, eventually.

The sons of owner Malcolm Glazer have promised as much, and presumably, the NFL will not allow them to start the 2002 season without a coach.

But the search for a replacement to Tony Dungy has turned into a disaster.

The Glazers denied any interest in Bill Parcells, curiously pulled the plug on Marvin Lewis’ candidacy, and have nearly driven general manager Rich McKay out of the organization.

“I have teammates calling me and asking if we can trust these owners,” Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Brooks said after the Glazers refused to sign off on McKay’s plan to fill the month-old vacancy with Lewis.

“Our credibility is being hurt,” Brooks added. “I don’t know if they know that.”

McKay is one of the NFL’s most respected executives. With Dungy, he helped turn a team that had 12 straight seasons of double-digit losses into a regular participant in the playoffs. McKay also is co-chairman of the league’s competition committee.

Kentucky appeals NCAA’s ban on postseason play

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky will appeal the NCAA’s decision to include a one-year ban from postseason play among its penalties for the violations committed by the football program.

The school notified the governing body on Feb. 13 of its intention.

The NCAA levied its penalties against Kentucky on Jan. 31. They also included three years of probation, a reduction in scholarships and a show-cause order against former recruiting coordinator Claude Bassett, which effectively bans him from coaching at another NCAA institution for eight years.

Bassett was at the center of most of the more than three dozen violations the school admitted occurred between 1998 to 2000.

University president Lee Todd reiterated Thursday that he would not contest the findings of the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, which conducted its own investigation into the program.

“However, we are exercising our right to ask the Infractions Appeals Committee to set aside a postseason ban imposed by the Committee on Infractions,” Todd said.

The bowl ban was the first the infractions committee has levied against a Division I program since Miami was kept from the postseason seven years ago.

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