Briefly

Beckham apologizes for intentional yellow card

David Beckham apologized for the yellow card ploy that earned him a convenient World Cup suspension. He hopes that will be enough to avoid any punishment and allow him to remain England’s captain.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who had urged English soccer authorities to take action, welcomed the apology but said it wouldn’t necessarily keep Beckham out of trouble.

“It makes a difference,” Blatter told BBC Radio. “It will give to those who judge such an action some positive circumstances, but you cannot just forget what has happened.”

Beckham knew he would miss Wednesday’s match at Azerbaijan because he broke a rib during Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Wales. Carrying a yellow card from a previous game, he fouled Welsh defender Ben Thatcher so he could serve the automatic ban while injured.

England beat Azerbaijan 1-0 without Beckham, with stand-in captain Michael Owen scoring the goal. Beckham will start with a clean slate for the next World Cup qualifying games.

•Established star Landon Donovan and rising sensation Eddie Johnson carried the United States into the regional qualifying finals for the 2006 World Cup in emphatic fashion at Washington.

Donovan scored the first two goals, and Johnson, a second-half substitute, got three in a row in a 6-0 rout of Panama. It was the first U.S. hat trick in World Cup qualifying since 1968 and the third overall.

The Americans’ biggest victory since beating Barbados 7-0 in 2000 moved them one huge step closer to Germany ‘06. They clinched a spot in the CONCACAF regional finals, where the top three of six teams automatically make the World Cup field.

They did it with an unrelenting attack that extended their longest unbeaten streak to 12 games. Only a 1-0 loss to the Netherlands in February blemishes the record. They are 3-0-2 in qualifying.

Auto racing

Gibbs hires Leffler

Jason Leffler will drive a third Joe Gibbs Racing entry next year in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series.

Team president J.D. Gibbs said that Leffler’s Chevrolet will be sponsored by FedEx. Leffler will be a teammate to returning former series champions Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte.

The deal with FedEx came together through team owner Joe Gibbs, who returned to the NFL this season as coach of the Washington Redskins and whose team plays at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.

The 29-year-old Leffler has competed in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions as well as the 2000 Indianapolis 500. He won three consecutive U.S. Auto Club national midget titles from 1997-1999.

Dave Rogers, race engineer for Stewart, will be Leffler’s crew chief on the No. 11 car.

•An 18-year-old sprint-car driver was in critical condition after crashing in a dirt-track race at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway complex in Concord, N.C.

Emergency workers needed nearly a half-hour to remove Jimmy Weller III of Liberty, Ohio, from his car after it slammed into the wall and flipped violently, the Charlotte Observer reported. Workers covered the driver’s cockpit with a white cloth as they worked to free Weller from the wreck.

Weller was flown by helicopter to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where a hospital spokeswoman said he was in critical condition. She would not provide The Associated Press with details of Weller’s injuries.

Hockey

Heatley to play in Switzerland

Atlanta Thrashers forward Dany Heatley agreed to contract terms with Bern in Switzerland to play with the club during the NHL lockout.

Heatley’s representatives notified justice officials in Atlanta, where the right wing still faces charges of vehicular homicide and five other counts resulting from last year’s car accident that killed Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder.

“There’s nothing preventing him from going out and earning a living for himself,” Heatley’s agent Stacey McAlpine told The Canadian Press from Calgary, Alberta. “We’ve always made those people aware of what’s been going on or at least what the possibilities are — just out of common courtesy. So we’ve done that.”

Heatley faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and fines totaling $5,000 if he’s convicted on all six counts. He has a court date slated for Nov. 29 in Atlanta, but he might not have to appear in person.

“My understanding is that his rights can be waived as long as there is representation there,” McAlpine said.

Heatley, 23, had 13 goals and 12 assists in 31 games last season after recovering from a serious knee injury sustained in the Sept. 29, 2003, car crash that killed Snyder.

In Switzerland, he will renew his partnership with Daniel Briere, the Buffalo Sabres center who also agreed to join Bern. The players were on the same forward line at the 2003 and 2004 world championships, leading Canada to the gold medal in both tournaments.

Elsewhere, veteran defenseman Patrice Brisebois of the Montreal Canadiens joined Kloten, and center Derek Armstrong of the Los Angeles Kings signed with Geneva-Servette, both in Switzerland.