Defending champion Spain lost a qualifying game for the first time in eight years Thursday, while England left nothing to doubt in the European Championship.Spain fell 2-1 at Slovakia in Group C for its first loss in a qualifier for the European Championship or World Cup since 2006.Paco Alcacer appeared to have sparked Spain’s comeback in the 82nd, only for Miroslav Stoch to catch its defense off balance with a counterattack with three minutes left.England had no such trouble against minnow San

KUALA LUMPUR (AP) ― No. 1-ranked Stacy Lewis of the United States shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, the second event of the tour’s six-tournament Asian swing.Lewis birdied the par-5 16th hole to break away from a tight leaderboard at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Tied for second with 66s were the South Korean quartet of Choi Na-yeon, Park Hee-young, Ji Eun-hee and Ryu So-yeon.Amy Yang of South Korea and China’s Shanshan Feng were a

ST. LOUIS (AP) ― Changing cast, same old hit show for the St. Louis Cardinals.In the NL Championship Series for the fourth straight year, the Cardinals used just five players from their 2011 World Series champions in the just-completed four-game Division Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.Sixteen players carried over from the roster in last year’s World Series loss to Boston.“We wanted to make sure we could do this internally and have the depth to be successful and build from within,” g

NYON, Switzerland (AP) ― UEFA banned Italian football federation president Carlo Tavecchio for six months on Tuesday following a racist comment during his election campaign.Tavecchio, a long-standing executive in Italian football, was elected president in August despite causing a stir over a reference to bananas when discussing the presence of foreign players in Italy.“Mr. Tavecchio will be ineligible for any position as a UEFA official for a period of six months starting from the communication

LANDOVER, Maryland (AP) ― For nearly a half, Seattle’s penalty yards outnumbered Washington’s total yards. Those self-inflicted wounds, more than anything, kept the Monday night game as close as it was.Russell Wilson rushed for a career-high 122 yards on 11 carries, and the Seahawks survived their “neutral zone infractions,” holds, false starts and other miscues in a 27-17 win over the Redskins, extending Seattle’s tradition of dominance in prime time while handing Washington another deflating m

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers got a no-decision despite a solid outing in his first playoff start of the year on Monday in St. Louis.The South Korean lefty pitched six solid innings against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, giving up one earned run on five hits and striking out four.Ryu threw 94 pitches, 59 of them for strikes.Justin Turner pinch hit for Ryu in the top of the seventh with the score tied at 1-1, and Scott Elbert, also a left-hande