Soccer

Portland rallies for 3-3 tie

The Portland Timbers overcame two early goals by Fabian Espindola to forge a 3-3 tie with the New York Red Bulls in both teams' Major League Soccer season opener Sunday night.

Espindola, a veteran acquired in the offseason from Real Salt Lake, scored in the ninth and 24th minutes, while Jamison Olave, also obtained in the trade with RSL, added a goal in the 28th minute.

Argentine midfielder Diego Valeri scored his first goal for the Timbers, who played before a sellout crowd of 20,674 at Portland's Jeld-Wen Field. Darlington Nagbe's goal in the second half pulled Portland closer before an own goal that bounced off Olave in the 83rd minute tied it.

Galaxy drills Chicago

Mike Magee scored three times as the Los Angeles Galaxy began the post-David Beckham era with a season-opening 4-0 victory over the visiting Chicago Fire before 20,124 at the Home Depot Center.

Real Salt Lake earns shutout

Alvaro Saborio scored two goals 14 minutes apart in the second half as Real Salt Lake opened the season with a 2-0 victory over the host San Jose Earthquakes before 10,525 at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Arsenal not up for sale

Arsenal said majority owner Stan Kroenke is committed to the 13-time English soccer champion for the long term and wouldn't consider a sale following newspaper reports that a Gulf-based group may make an offer for the club.

The group is planning a record 1.5 billion-pound ($2.3 billion) bid for the London team, the Sunday Telegraph and the Sun reported.

Meanwhile, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon scored in a three-minute span late in the first half, giving Tottenham a 2-1 win over visiting Arsenal on Sunday in a North London derby that could prove to be pivotal in the race for Champions League qualification.

Altidore breaks Dempsey's record

Jozy Altidore broke Clint Dempsey's record for most goals by an American in a European club season, scoring his 24th in AZ Alkmaar's 2-1 loss at RKC Waalwijk in the Dutch Eridivisie.

Tennis

Williams set for exhibition with Azarenka

Serena Williams says her back is feeling better with rest.

The 15-time Grand Slam champion turned her right ankle in her first-round match at the Australian Open, then hurt her lower back in her quarterfinal loss to fellow American Sloane Stephens because she says she was compensating for the ankle.

Williams pulled out of the Dubai Championships on Feb. 20, citing the back injury. Her next tournament is in Miami in two weeks, but first she's got an exhibition match against Victoria Azarenka on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. Rafael Nadal also faces Juan Martin del Potro in the event.

Gulbis wins Delray Beach title

Qualifier Ernests Gulbis beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 (6-3), 6-3 on Sunday for his second title at the Delray Beach International Championships.

The 109th-ranked Gulbis, who also won this tournament in 2010, is the first qualifier to reach a final this season.

Skiing

Maze gets emailed death threat

World Cup-winning skier Tina Maze was placed under police protection for a super-G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, after an emailed death threat against her.

The Slovenian finished fourth and had two bodyguards close by after the race, which was won by Anna Fenninger of Austria.

The threat came in an email received Saturday afternoon after Maze won the downhill on the same slope and become the first skier to collect more than 2,000 points in a season.

"That's sad. If somebody is strong and showing good performances and perfect in the thing you are doing, there are people who want to disturb you," Maze said. "I guess it's part of the game but it didn't disturb me that much."

Sled-dog racing

Iditarod off and running

Dogs aching to run bolted out of the chute Sunday to launch the 41st running of Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Now 65 teams will be making their way through punishing wilderness toward the finish line in Nome, 1,000 miles away.

Elsewhere

• American Brittany Bowe won a 1,000 meter speedskating world cup race in Erfurt, Germany, edging Ireen Wust of the Netherlands by 0.04 seconds.

• Will Leer ran the fastest indoor time run "at altitude" in winning the men's mile at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque in 3 minutes, 58.79 seconds. In track and field, altitude is defined as 3,281 feet and this race site is 5,085 feet.

Seattle Times news services