FIFA reforms agreed in recent rounds of modernizing ch

NEW YORK -- For the better part of a season-long 11-game homestand, the New York Mets played as if they would rather not take the All-Star Break. But a spate of bad news means the four-day vacation cant get here fast enough for the Mets, who are again in danger of losing considerable ground to the Washington Nationals in the National League East.The Mets and Nationals will play the third game of a four-game series Saturday night, when the two division rivals square off at Citi Field.The teams have split the first two games and Washington ensured it would enter the All-Star Break atop the NL East with a 3-1 win Friday night.Weve got two more games to go, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. I just asked the guys, Give me all youve got. Then you can take a break.The loss was just the second in nine games for the Mets, but it was a costly one as their two best players, -- All-Star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and All-Star right-handed pitcher Noah Syndergaard left with injuries. Cespedes suffered a right quad strain in the third inning while Syndergaard was pulled due to arm fatigue after 4 2/3 inningsSyndergaard, the Mets ace, exited hours after New York announced Opening Day starter Matt Harvey would undergo season-ending surgery to repair thoracic outlet syndrome.Its hard to walk into this room, because the conversation is about who got hurt tonight, Mets manager Terry Collins said. Im a little tired of talking about it, but that s my job to talk about it. But Im running out of things to say and were running out of bodies.Harveys usual turn in the rotation comes up Saturday, when right-hander Logan Verrett steps in and draws the task of going against Nationals ace right-hander Max Scherzer. It will be just the 10th career start for Verrett.We feel for (Harvey), hes a big part of our team, Verrett told reporters Friday. Im excited about the opportunity. I know Im not Matt Harvey. Im Logan Verrett.Scherzer, who was named to the All-Star team Friday as a replacement for teammate Stephen Strasburg, has allowed one run or fewer in five of his last six starts, a stretch in which he has gone 3-2 with a 1.83 ERA to lower his overall ERA from 3.87 to 3.21.On Saturday night, Scherzer will be pitching on the mound where he authored his second no-hitter of the 2015 season last Oct. 3, when he struck out 17, walked none and allowed just one baserunner in a 2-0 win over the Mets.Still, while the pitching matchup appears to favor the Nationals, Baker knows better than to assume anything will come easy in a series in which the first two games have lasted a combined six hours and 56 minutes and a handful of double switches between Baker and Collins.Coming in here, we knew it was a big series, Baker said. You could tell how Terry s managing over there and how we re managing over here that we all know this is a very big series for both teams. Mens Air VaporMax 2018 . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Yellow Air VaporMax 2018 Outlet . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. http://www.cheapairvapormaxfreeshipping.com/ .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Red Air VaporMax 2018 On Sale . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. Cheap Air VaporMax China . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. GENEVA -- China aims to build its growing influence at FIFA by fielding a candidate in Asian elections for new seats on the world soccer bodys ruling council that were created during anti-corruption reforms.The Chinese soccer federations general secretary, Zhang Jian, is competing against candidates from Iran, Qatar and Singapore for two vacant FIFA seats in a Sept. 27 vote.The Asian Football Confederation said Friday that all four men, plus three female candidates seeking a seat guaranteed for women, have passed integrity checks by FIFA to stand for election by its member federations meeting in Goa, India.Zhangs rivals are: Ali Kafashian Naeni of Iran; Saoud Al Mohannadi of Qatar; Zainudin Nordin of Singapore.The elections are the first to send Asian delegates to FIFAs ruling committee since Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group signed as a World Cup sponsor through 2030 in March.The firm said then that becoming a top-tier sponsor, paying FIFA hundreds of millions of dollars, left it better placed to help decide which countries host future World Cups.China would next be eligible to host at the 2030 tournament. Because Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup, Asian bidders are excluded from a 2026 race expected to include the United States and Canada.The 2030 decision should be in a vote of all FIFAs member federations from a shortlisst agreed by the ruling council -- a rebranded version of the much-criticized executive committee which used to pick World Cup hosts.dddddddddddd.Creating the council and giving World Cup hosting votes to all members are among FIFA reforms agreed in recent rounds of modernizing changes provoked by bribery scandals and World Cup voting allegations since 2018 host Russia and Qatar were picked in 2010.Another reform is a guaranteed council seat for a woman from each of the FIFAs six continental confederations.The AFC said Friday that its three candidates are: Moya Dodd of Australia; Mahfuza Ahkter of Bangladesh; Han Un Gyong of North Korea.Dodd, a lawyer and former international player, has helped raised the profile and influence of womens soccer as a co-opted FIFA executive committee member since 2013.FIFA gave its confederations a September deadline to hold elections for female delegates ahead of the next council meeting.President Gianni Infantino will chair a first session of the expanded 37-member panel on Oct. 13-14 in Zurich.Among the other Asian candidates, Nordin is president of the Singapore federation and Qatars Al Mohannadi is making a second bid after failing to win election in April 2015. ' ' '