Wayne Rooney marked the start of his England captaincy by scoring a penalty in an uninspiring 1-0 victory over Norway in front a record-low crowd for the team at the new Wembley Stadium on Wednesday.

In England's first game since its worst-ever World Cup showing, Roy Hodgson's side rarely looked like scoring against unambitious opposition and the breakthrough in the friendly only came when Raheem Sterling was tripped in the penalty area.

Angel di Maria set up three goals and scored the fourth himself as Argentina trounced Germany 4-2 in their friendly game Wednesday to get a small measure of payback after losing to the host in the World Cup final.

Argentina was up 4-0 after just 50 minutes to dampen the home side's World Cup title celebrations in its first game since winning the final 1-0 in extra time in Brazil in July.

Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray to set up a US Open semi-final clash against Kei Nishikori who became Japan's first semi-finalist in almost a century on Wednesday.

World number one Djokovic, the 2011 champion, reached his eighth consecutive US Open semi-final by downing Murray 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (1/7), 6-2, 6-4 for his 13th win in 21 meetings against his childhood rival who had taken the 2012 title.

One team faces two years without a competitive match, and the other needs to learn how to become competitive again.

For France coach Didier Deschamps, Thursday's match against Spain is the first in a long series of friendly matches in the build up to the 2016 European Championship, which France will host.

Louis van Gaal says he has no regrets about becoming Manchester United manager and claims that if he had wanted an easy life, he would have gone to Tottenham Hotspur.

Van Gaal rejected an offer from Spurs to succeed David Moyes at United, but he has had a difficult start at Old Trafford. United are without a win after three league games and were humiliated 4-0 by third-tier Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup.

Spain international Javi Martinez said he was feeling optimistic after beginning rehabilitation following a knee operation.

Two weeks ago the 26-year-old went under the knife in Colorado to repair his torn cruciate ligament.

Gael Monfils follows his own rules.

The guy does things on a tennis court no one else has — or can. Just search his name on YouTube and watch any of many video clips showcasing his speed and agility; start with the parallel-to-the-ground, a-few-feet-in-the-air dive at this year's French Open.

Caroline Wozniacki knew, as anyone paying attention does, that the woman she played in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, Sara Errani, does not hit booming serves.

And after noticing that Errani's previous opponent, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, tried unsuccessfully to pound those soft serves, Wozniacki decided the best course of action was simply to make sure she put those balls in play.

A year ago at this time, Roger Federer was dealing with a bad back. He was experimenting with new rackets. And his nine-year run of reaching at least the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open ended with a fourth-round loss.

Things are different these days for the 33-year-old Federer.

Brazilian legend Zico has signed up to coach a team in the Indian Super League, joining other former stars in the new franchise-based venture to be played later this year.

Zico, 61, who played in three World Cups and has coached around the world, will manage the Goa franchise for the 10-week tournament that begins in October.