Slovenia

Sixers' Andre Iguodala is keeping an exclusive diary for the Daily News at the World Championships. The latest entry comes after Team USA's 99-77 win over Slovenia in a Group B preliminary game played before a pro-Slovenia crowd. The U.S. team is now 2-0 and faces Brazil today (2:30 p.m., ESPN). Iguodala had 11 points against Slovenia on 5-for-7 shooting, with four rebounds and two assists.     I think their fans were great. It was good that we got that type of crowd.

Curtis Withers of Charlotte scored 15 points and Terrence Roberts of Syracuse added 14 as the United States rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat Slovenia, 82-79, yesterday in the preliminary round of the men's basketball Under 21 World Championships. The United States (5-0) advanced and will face Canada in tomorrow's quarterfinals, in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Villanova guard Randy Foye will be the flag-bearer for the U.S. delegation at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, in tonight's opening ceremonies.

Kevin Durant scored 22 points, reserve Kevin Love added 10 points and 11 rebounds, and the United States beat Slovenia, 99-77, on Sunday at the world basketball tournament in Istanbul, Turkey. Rudy Gay finished with 16 points for the Americans (2-0), while Russell Westbrook and Andre Iguodala each had 11. In other games: Leandro Barbosa scored 21 points and Brazil thumped Tunisia, 80-65. Tiago Splitter added 16 for the Brazilians (2-0), who will face the United States on Monday.

The United States routed Slovenia, 7-0, in Innsbruck, Austria, yesterday in its opener at the hockey world championships. The Flyers' Mike Knuble scored two goals for the Americans. Goalie Rick DiPietro faced only 15 shots. Adam Hall, Mark Parrish, Jeff Halpern, Yan Stastny and Brian Gionta also scored for the United States, which finished third in last year's tournament. In a game in Vienna, Vaclav Prospal and Jaromir Jagr scored on a pair of power plays in the first 7 minutes, 31 seconds as the Czech Republic defeated Switzerland, 3-1. Colleges Oklahoma baseball coach Larry Cochell has resigned, five days after using a racial slur during off-camera interviews with ESPN.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Tim Howard has been cleared to play. The U.S. team's top goalkeeper will need no further testing on bruised ribs suffered in the first half of Saturday's 1-1 tie with England. U.S. Soccer, which had the day off from training and media availability, issued this statement: "After a physical examination this morning, the medical staff has determined there is no need to conduct additional testing on Tim Howard. He continues to make substantial improvement and is expected to be available for the match against Slovenia.

BEING LUCKY is better than being good only if you take advantage of your fortune. So now that goalie Rob Green is being cited in England as committing the biggest blunder against the United States since Charles Cornwallis allowed the British army to get bottled up at Yorktown, what's next? The U.S. national team got a gift Saturday when Green fumbled what should have been an easily saved shot from midfielder Clint Dempsey. Green's gaffe allowed the United States to get a surprising 1-1 draw in its 2010 World Cup opener.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - As the sun set over Johannesburg's Ellis Park on Friday, the U.S. Soccer team was inside, trying furiously to keep its World Cup dreams from going dark. Chasing every loose ball, pushing forward, going for the second goal it so desperately needed. That second goal came in the 82d minute and tied the score, 2-2. But like a sprinter on the final straightaway, the United States went for the pass, attempting to steal the victory from Slovenia.

The paper trail in the case of Joseph O'Kicki has led investigators to O'Kicki's ancestral homeland of Slovenia, part of the former Yugoslavia, where they say the former judge may have fled to avoid serving time on corruption charges. "We feel confident he's in Slovenia," Cambria County Sheriff Jay Roberts said yesterday. Investigators had speculated earlier that when O'Kicki failed to appear March 8 in court in Easton in preparation for serving his two- to five-year sentence, he may have fled overseas.

Who: United States (0-0-1) vs. Slovenia (1-0) in Group C When: Today, 10 a.m. Where: Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa TV: ESPN, Univision Radio: ESPN (950) For kicks: The United States is out to secure its first trip to the second round since 2002 and a win here would certainly put it one step closer . . . Slovenia does have one thing on its side. The United States is 0-6 against Eastern European teams in the World Cup since 1990 . . . Tim Howard resumes his spot in goal after nursing bruised ribs from Saturday's game against England . . . It's been rumored that U.S. coach Bob Bradley might consider starting defensive midfielder Jose Torres in the back in replace of Ricardo Clark to aid in possession and to better thwart Slovenia's dangerous counterattacks . . . Last Saturday's match against England drew close to 13 million viewers (12.96 million)

IRENE, South Africa - Relax, U.S. fans. Tim Howard should be in goal Friday against Slovenia. Howard is expected to play after U.S. team medical staff examined him yesterday and decided no further tests were needed on his bruised ribs. Howard is making "substantial improvement" following a collision with Emile Heskey in Saturday night's 1-1 draw against England, U.S. Soccer said in a statement. It seemed unlikely Howard would miss the key game against Group C leader Slovenia, considering he earned man of the match honors after Heskey slammed into him feetfirst at full speed in the 29th minute.

Davis Love III made a hole-in-one on the 197-yard fifth hole and tied the course record at PGA National with a 6-under 64, giving him a 2-shot lead at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on Thursday. Tiger Woods was 7 shots out of the lead, right on the cut line going into Friday. Rory McIlroy was in the group at 66, needing a win this week to go to No. 1 in the world. West Chester's Sean O'Hair shot a 70, a stroke better than Woods.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking $2.5 million from former 76ers star Allen Iverson over a 2009 bar fight. Guy Walker , who claims he was assaulted by an Iverson security guard, plans to appeal, said his attorney, Gregory Lattimer . Iverson's attorney said the man accused of striking Walker was not working for Iverson that particular night. In a deposition, Iverson answered questions from Lattimer, who won a $260,000 judgment against him a few years ago. In the deposition, he denied playing any role in a fight at the South Beach Pizza Bar nightclub in Detroit.

This time around, the United States is saying no to the Olympics. Locked in a dispute over millions of dollars, the U.S. Olympic Committee pulled the plug Monday on a bid for the 2020 Summer Games before the International Olympic Committee could say no to the Americans, as it has the last two times. The two sides have been at odds over revenue sharing. By not submitting a bid, the USOC assures at least a 20-year gap between Olympics on American soil for only the fourth time. Tokyo, Madrid, Istanbul, and Rome are the perceived favorites to host the 2020 summer games.

With a special 9/11 memorial message on his sneakers, Kevin Durant carried the United States into the gold-medal game at the FIBA world championships, scoring a U.S. team record 38 points Saturday in an 89-74 victory over Lithuania in Istanbul, Turkey. "I just wanted to remember everybody back in the States, everybody that was affected by 9/11," Durant said. "And to play on this day was a great honor and we just tried to do our best to play hard for our country and our families.

The United States survived a test at the world basketball championships, edging Brazil, 70-68, on Monday in Istanbul, Turkey, when Leandro Barbosa's shot rattled out at the buzzer. Kevin Durant scored 27 points and Chauncey Billups added 15 for the Americans (3-0). Barbosa finished with 14 points after a strong start for Brazil (2-1). In other games: Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies had 23 points and 13 rebounds as Iran beat Tunisia, 71-58. The U.S. team faces Iran next, on Wednesday.

Sixers' Andre Iguodala is keeping an exclusive diary for the Daily News at the World Championships. The latest entry comes after Team USA's 99-77 win over Slovenia in a Group B preliminary game played before a pro-Slovenia crowd. The U.S. team is now 2-0 and faces Brazil today (2:30 p.m., ESPN). Iguodala had 11 points against Slovenia on 5-for-7 shooting, with four rebounds and two assists.     I think their fans were great. It was good that we got that type of crowd.

Kevin Durant scored 22 points, reserve Kevin Love added 10 points and 11 rebounds, and the United States beat Slovenia, 99-77, on Sunday at the world basketball tournament in Istanbul, Turkey. Rudy Gay finished with 16 points for the Americans (2-0), while Russell Westbrook and Andre Iguodala each had 11. In other games: Leandro Barbosa scored 21 points and Brazil thumped Tunisia, 80-65. Tiago Splitter added 16 for the Brazilians (2-0), who will face the United States on Monday.

NEW YORK - The world championships are a big deal to most of the countries that play basketball. It has never been a particularly big deal in the United States. The Olympics have always been the tournament to Americans. And you can tell the emphasis by the records. The USA has won just three of 15 world championships since they were first contested in 1950. The all-time record is 105-27. The USA has won 13 of 16 Olympic golds. The all-time record is 122-5. The 2010 U.S. team for the world championships leaves tomorrow for Madrid, where it will play two exhibition games and train before it goes to Athens for more training and another exhibition.

RUSTENBURG, South Africa - You could only wonder what thoughts accompanied thudding hearts as the final whistle sounded in Royal Bafokeng Stadium and the stars of U.S. soccer stopped sprinting for that elusive second goal and watched Ghana celebrate victory. Was Michael Bradley, the United States' rock-steady midfielder, sitting on the team's covered bench wondering about the run that almost was, but then wasn't? Did Maurice Edu, lying on his back on the grass, feel frustrated that just when the path to glory seemed paved, this turn couldn't be negotiated?

Japan joins South Korea in the round of 16 (go watch a movie, Kim Jong-Il). And Italy's national production of Pagliacci can begin, now that the Azzurri are out. Who would have bet that both 2006 finalists, Italy and France, would go out in the first round, and the United States would still be in it? England beat Slovenia to advance, though you'd never know that from my English buddy Jon: "Second half, we went backward and started to look panicky, Defoe went AWOL, Milner got tired, Rooney went off, and only Upson making a crucial tackle saved us. " England fans are the Philly fans of soccer.