Newsmakers

Drawn The 2014 World Cup has officially begun, with the United States being drawn with Jamaica in qualifying for the North, Central America and Caribbean region for the tournament in Brazil. The other two teams in Group A will come from preliminary qualifying matches that include Haiti, Guatemala, the U.S. Virgin Islands and five other nations.

Imposed A man involved in kidnapping an Argentine soccer coach faces 26 years in a Mexican prison. The Mexican attorney general says a judge has imposed the sentence on Omar Sandoval Orihuela. He was convicted in the July 2005 abduction of Ruben Omar Romano. Romano was seized outside the practice facility of the team he then coached, Cruz Azul of Mexico City. Sandoval was arrested 65 days later when police freed Romano.

Investigated The Ugandan government will punish those responsible and apologize to the United States if it finds players on a youth baseball team were denied American visas for lying about their ages. The Rev. John Foundation team from Kampala was trying to become the first team from Africa to play in the Little League World Series. U.S. consular services in Uganda denied visas because of discrepancies with ages and birth dates.

Injured Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will miss the start of the Premier League season after picking up an infection related to a groin injury that has sidelined him since March. Liverpool says the England midfielder has been admitted to a hospital.

Banned Italy’s national Olympic Committee (CONI) says it banned cyclist Pasquale Muto for 21/2 years after he tested positive for the endurance-boosting hormone EPO. CONI said on its website that the test was carried out on April 10 in Genoa after the Giro dell’Appennino race.

Agreed Tour de France champion Cadel Evans is coming to Colorado to compete in the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge next month, the race’s chairman told The Associated Press. Organizers are also hoping that the second- and third-place finishers, Luxembourg brothers Frank and Andy Schleck of Leopard-Trek, will join Evans.