David Beckham might stay in L.A., Paris soccer executive says

Paris Saint-Germain’s bid to sign David Beckham from the Galaxy could be thwarted by family matters, the French club’s sporting director Leonardo said Friday.

Leonardo has made no secret of his admiration for the 36-year-old former England captain. He said at a news conference there are other factors that may influence whether Beckham joins when the transfer window opens next week.

“He is in L.A., he has his family over there. We have talked a lot and we are still talking, but I’m not sure it will be done,” Leonardo said while Saint-Germain introduced Carlo Ancelotti as its new coach.

Beckham’s five-year contract with the Galaxy ended after winning his first MLS Cup last month. He could accept an offer to stay with the Galaxy, and several English clubs also have expressed interest in signing him.

French media reports in recent weeks have hyped Beckham’s possible arrival, with talk of an 18-month contract and an estimated monthly salary of $1.05 million.

“We have a very good rapport with David Beckham, but we never said it was a done deal. We have studied it and we are studying it,” Leonardo said. “It’s always been a question of personal matters” rather than contract issues.

===

Three weeks after being immortalized in a bronze statue outside Arsenal’s stadium in London, Thierry Henry is on the verge of sealing an emotional return to the Premier League club that made him a global superstar.

Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger said Friday that the former France captain will sign for the team in a two-month loan deal once an insurance agreement is reached with the New York Red Bulls, Henry’s club in Major League Soccer.

Wenger is turning to Henry, who scored a club-record 226 goals in eight years at Arsenal between 1999-2007, to fill the gap in his strike force left by the impending departure of Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh to the African Cup of Nations next month.

===

Petr Holik scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and Petr Mrazek made 52 saves to lead the Czech Republic to a 5-2 win over the United States on Friday at the world junior hockey championship

Holik tapped in a goal-mouth rebound with less than eight minutes to go in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.

The victory assured Canada (3-0) it would win Pool B and get a bye to the semifinal.

T.J. Tynan and Bill Arnold scored for the U.S., whose hopes of making the medal-round were damaged by the loss.

The U.S. (1-2) needs winless Denmark to defeat Finland later Friday to avoid going into the relegation pool.

The win put the Czechs (2-1) in second place in Pool B. The Czechs wrap up the preliminary round against Finland on Saturday.

The U.S. plays Canada on Saturday.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic swept aside Roger Federer, 6-2, 6-1, and will play David Ferrer in the final of the World Tennis Championship exhibition at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The fifth-ranked Ferrer upset second-ranked Rafael Nadal, 6-3, 6-2, in the other semifinal. Nadal, who won the tournament the past two years, was nursing a sore shoulder and never seriously challenged his fellow Spaniard.

Djokovic appeared to have shaken off the rust and showed plenty of the dominant play that helped him win three Grand Slam titles and amass a 70-6 record last season.

Charles Spann, an assistant coach at San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s who pleaded guilty to marijuana possession charges last September but was allowed to continue coaching, has been fired at St. Margaret’s after the school learned of another arrest on Dec. 2, the school said in a statement on its website.

Spann previously lived at a residence with Santa Margarita assistants Sean Coen and Robert Hendricks. All three pleaded guilty to marijuana possession charges.

The school statement said St. Margaret’s was informed Dec. 2 that Spann had been arrested on additional drug charges and he was fired on Dec. 5.

The Orange County Register reported that Spann was charged with possession of a controlled substance, vicodin, and having fake driver’s license in an Aug. 22 incident.

— Eric Sondheimer

Attorneys for boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. completed the second part of a plea deal Friday that let the championship fighter pay a $1,000 fine and avoid trial and jail time for a November 2010 scuffle with a homeowner association security guard in an argument about parking tickets.