Germany coach Joachim Loew has admitted his side must convert more of their chances after laboring to a 3-0 win over minnows Faroe Islands in their opening World Cup qualifier.

Midfielder Mario Goetze's first-half strike and two goals after the break from Real Madrid's Mesut Ozil ensured the hosts at least started the road to Brazil 2014 with three points here on Friday.

Bradley Wiggins will begin a nationwide lap of honor on Sunday when the four-time Olympic champion and Tour de France winner is among the field in the Tour of Britain.

This July the 32-year-old became the first British winner of the Tour de France, road cycling's supreme test of endurance, and Wiggins followed that up in August with Olympic time-trial gold at the London Games.

England manager Roy Hodgson faces a nervous wait to discover if John Terry will be fit for Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine after the Chelsea defender played through the pain barrier in the 5-0 rout of Moldova.

Terry suffered an ankle injury in the first half at the Zimbru Stadium on Friday and then aggravated the problem when he landed awkwardly after the break, but he initially refused Hodgson's offer to come off as England had already used all three substitutes.

Chicago Marathon director Carey Pinkowski confirmed Friday that the ban meted out to Lance Armstrong by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency means the cyclist can't run in the race.

Pinkowski issued a statement after Armstrong spokesman Mark Fabiani told Runnersworld.com that the cyclist and cancer activist, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life for multiple doping infractions by USADA, had been told he couldn't enter the October 7 event.

Beaten Euro 2012 finalists Italy were held to a disappointing 2-2 draw by Bulgaria, but Didier Deschamps got his career as France coach off to a winning start as European qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil got under way on Friday.

Argentine-born striker Pablo Osvaldo scored a brace in only his third game for Italy, but the Azzurri were pinned back by goals from Stanislav Manolev and Georgi Milanov in their Group B match.

Mercedes team chief Ross Brawn on Friday said he had not ruled out the possibility of former seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher taking a management job with the team next year.

Brawn, besieged by questions about Schumacher's future amid speculation that the German may be poised to retire for a second time, said he had an open mind.

Her life in an overcrowded Palestinian refugee camp is beset by street fights, power cuts and grinding poverty, but for a few days this week 11-year-old Rayan is enjoying star treatment -- on the football pitch with a Manchester City academy coach.

"When I play football, I forget all about my problems," Rayan says with a smile before hitting the dusty pitch on the outskirts of Beirut where Alan Dixon of the Manchester City Football Academy is running training sessions.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic stormed into a sixth successive U.S. Open semifinal on Thursday with a breathtaking 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 demolition of 2009 winner Juan Martin Del Potro.

The second-seeded Serb is bidding to win a sixth Grand Slam title and is now the comfortable tournament favorite following the elimination of world number one Roger Federer.

Spain's David Ferrer rallied in the fifth set to outlast Serbian Janko Tipsarevic and advance to the U.S. Open semifinals on Thursday after a marathon battle that lasted four hours and 31 minutes.

Fourth seed Ferrer matched his best Grand Slam showing by reaching the final four on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts with a 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) victory over the eighth seed.

She was the first person he called after he got the call. And Cheryl Miller will be on stage to present her brother, Reggie, when he is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

It's an honor that can only go to a previous inductee.