U.S. captain Michael Bradley has been voted the 2015 U.S. Soccer Federation Male Player of the Year, the organization announced Tuesday.

The 28-year-old midfielder won the award for the first time in his career and enjoyed success at the club and global level, captaining Toronto FC to the Major League Soccer playoffs for the first time in team history.

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a sprained left shoulder, missing at least six games, the NBA team announced Tuesday.

Noah suffered the injury when he was tangled up with Brooklyn center Andrea Bargnani during Chicago's 105-102 home loss to the Nets on Monday.

Wilfried Bony has slammed Manuel Pellegrini for failing to start him in Manchester City's defeat at Premier League title rivals Arsenal.

Ivory Coast striker Bony had scored three in four games while City's star forward Sergio Aguero was out with a heel injury.

Austria's Marcel Hirscher narrowly avoided serious injury when a drone fell to the ground during Tuesday's alpine skiing World Cup slalom won by Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen at the Italian resort of Madonna di Campiglio.

The drone, being used to film television pictures of the course from above, crashed to the ground just centimeters away from the 26-year-old Austrian during his second run.

Louis van Gaal was left hoping for a stay of execution over Christmas after speculation mounted that the Manchester United manager was set to be sacked before his side's Boxing Day trip to Stoke City.

Van Gaal finds himself in severe danger of being axed halfway through his three-year contract after United's miserable six-match winless run saw them suffer an embarrassing Champions League exit and slip out of the Premier League's top four.

Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel has revealed he expects to be sidelined for six weeks after suffering a hamstring injury.

Skrtel limped off in the first half of Liverpool's 3-0 defeat at Watford on Sunday and scans have revealed the Slovakia center-back has a torn hamstring that will keep him out until February.

Chicago Bulls forward Pau Gasol called out his teammates for a lack of urgency Monday after a 105-102 loss to the Brooklyn Nets in which Joakim Noah was injured.

The Nets, a woeful 8-20 on the season, snapped an eight-game road losing streak while the Bulls lost their third in a row and fell to 15-11.

Brazil may not know who its president will be in eight months' time, and Olympic athletes won't have TVs in their rooms because of the country's recession, but Rio de Janeiro is still promising a "spectacular" 2016 Games.

With its budget in tatters because of the economic crisis and the nation shamed by not cleaning pathogenic sewage from Guanabara Bay -- the Rio venue for Olympic regattas -- criticism has been rife.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger heralded Mesut Ozil after the German playmaker rose from his sickbed to inspire his team to victory over Premier League title rivals Manchester City.

Ozil teed up first-half goals for Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud at the Emirates Stadium on Monday as Arsenal secured a 2-1 win that left them four points above City and two points below leaders Leicester City.

Just days after Jose Mourinho's abrupt departure from Chelsea, Louis van Gaal is teetering on the brink of becoming the next high-profile victim of the Premier League sack race.

The pressure is mounting on the embattled Manchester United manager, who was hunkered down at United's Carrington training base on Monday amid speculation he will be axed if his side lose either of their next two matches at Stoke City on Saturday or at home against Chelsea next Monday.