(AP) LONDON, England:

Traffic Jam
The Uruguayan soccer team is looking for a new mode of transport.

It took them about 7 1/2 hours to go by coach from Manchester to London this week — about three hours more than normal.

"There was a lot of traffic and the bus barely moved on the highway. I don't know what happened, I imagine it was a result of the games," says coach Oscar Tabarez.

Uruguay's players then spent three hours on their feet in Friday's opening ceremony, leaving Tabarez to order them to take a nap on Saturday.

Ticket scalpers charged
British police say they have charged a German man and a Slovakian woman over alleged attempts to illegally resell tickets to London's Olympic opening ceremony.

Wolfgang Menzel, 57 years old, and 30-year-old Maria Bukranova were charged Saturday after plain clothes officers carried out an operation against ticket scalpers on Friday night.

Spanish recovery
Spain forward Iker Muniain has recovered from a right leg injury and will be ready for Sunday's match against Honduras in men's Olympic football.

The return of the 19-year-old Athletic Bilbao player will give the team a boost after Spain had an upset 1-0 loss to Japan.
Muniain provides "a lot of energy and competitiveness to the team, which is what it needs now," coach Luis Milla said.

Winner smiles
Gold-medal favorite United States, host Britain and Brazil qualified for the quarterfinal stage of women's Olympic football Saturday.

The U.S. beat Colombia 3-0, Britain cruised past Cameroon 3-0 while Brazil needed a late goal to win 1-0 against New Zealand.

Armchair Olympics
An opening ceremony from the mother country with a Beatle, a queen and Mr. Bean proved irresistible for viewers in the United States, with a record-setting 40.7 million people watching NBC's first night of summer Olympics coverage.

The Nielsen company said Saturday that London's opener was the most-watched opening ceremony of any summer or winter Olympics.

It topped the previous mark of 39.8 million people who watched the 1996 games in Atlanta begin, and the 34.9 million who watched the colourful first night from Beijing four years ago.

sports@gleanerjm.com