Chelsea advances to uefa League final

Chelsea advances to uefa League final-Chelsea advances to uefa League finalChelsea advances to uefa League final-Chelsea advances to uefa League final

espite being a man and two goals down in the first half, Chelsea of London pulled off one of the unlikeliest comebacks in UEFA Champions League history Tuesday, earning a 2-2 draw against Barcelona of Spain.

Chelsea won the home-and-home, total-goals semifinal 3-2 on aggregate and eliminated the defending champion from Europe's top team competition. Chelsea won 1-0 at home in the first leg.

Chelsea will face either Bayern Munich of Germany or Real Madrid of Spain in the May 19 final in Munich.

Chelsea will visit Sounders FC for a July 18 exhibition match at CenturyLink Field.

Ramires and Fernando Torres scored the goals as Chelsea overcame the loss of captain John Terry to a 37th-minute red card for kneeing Barcelona's Alexis Sanchez from behind.

Terry, referring to teammates, said, "I feel as I let them down. I've apologized to them. Looking at the replay, it does look like a red card."

Terry will be suspended from the final with three other Chelsea players — Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles.

Olympics

Women's soccer groups set

With tension escalating between their governments, the United States and North Korea were drawn into the same first-round group for the women's soccer tournament at this summer's London Games.

The U.S. team will play in Group G, joining France, Colombia and North Korea.

The Americans open group play against France on July 25 in Glasgow, Scotland, where they will face Colombia three days later. The U.S. team will play North Korea on July 31 in Manchester, England.

The Americans earned the gold medal in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

College football

Arkansas introduces Smith

John L. Smith stood at the podium at his introductory news conference, pouncing with a smile on questions he was asked about being hired as the coach at Arkansas.

The 63-year-old asked to pick up the pieces after the scandal-tainted ouster of Bobby Petrino handled everything thrown his way and was adamant about keeping the Razorbacks in the thick of the Southeastern Conference and national-title races.

"I want to say that our expectations are the same," said Smith, who has a 10-month contract worth $850,000. "Nothing is going to slow down. In fact, we're going to speed up.

"Our expectations are that we're going to battle and fight for a national title."

Arkansas was 11-2 last season, when Smith was an assistant coach on Petrino's staff. Smith left the program in December to accept a job as coach at Weber State, his alma mater.

He said leaving Weber State to coach Arkansas was "one of the toughest decisions of my life."

Smith was Washington State's defensive coordinator in 1987 and 1988.

College basketball

Miller, Ferguson decide

to declare for NBA draft

Baylor freshman forward Quincy Miller and Florida International sophomore forward Dominique Ferguson have declared for early entry in the NBA draft.

Miller, who averaged 10.6 points and 4.9 rebounds, had said two weeks ago he was staying at Baylor for his sophomore season.

Ferguson said he was unhappy about FIU's firing of coach Isiah Thomas this month and added he was unable to get permission to talk to other schools about transferring.

"It's been very confusing," said Ferguson, who averaged 8.0 points and 5.6 rebounds in two seasons. "I'm getting through all this mess. It's a big mess going on right now."

Several FIU players say they are considering transferring because of Thomas' firing. The school hired ex- Louisville assistant coach Richard Pitino — son of coach Rick Pitino — to replace Thomas last week.

When he was introduced at FIU Pitino acknowledged staying at the school might not be "a good fit" for everyone on the roster he inherited.

Elsewhere

The All England Lawn Tennis Club has increased the prize money at this year's Wimbledon championship by 10 percent, with a majority of the cash directed to help lower-ranked players.

Although the men's and women's singles champions will each receive a record $1.85 million, most of the $2.4 million increase to the overall pot will go to players who lose in qualifying or the early rounds. There will be a total $26 million in prize money.

• UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem has been denied a license to fight in Nevada after failing a drug test and pulling out of a championship bout next month.

Overeem, 31, said a doctor-prescribed anti-inflammatory caused him to fail the drug test.