Injury headachesMANCHESTER: A Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty fired Manchester United to a drab 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough Tuesday while there was a blow for England when captain David Beckham was ruled out of Saturday’s game against Portugal with a calf muscle injury. As Paul Scholes and Kieron Dyer are also out, and Steven Gerrard is doubtful, England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is suffering the same injury headaches that dogged him at the World Cup.Ronaldo’s muscle strainMADRID: Brazilian star Ronaldo has a slight muscle strain in his left thigh and won’t be able to train this week with his new club, Real Madrid.Ronaldo, whose exercise at present is limited to physiotherapy, is now expected to begin training on his own next week.The leading sports daily Marca said that he would join up with his new teammates in around two weeks.Quoting club doctors, the newspaper said Ronaldo would take seven or eight weeks before he is ready to play twice a week.Vieira chargedLONDON: Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira was charged with misconduct Tuesday after his ejection against Chelsea last weekend.He was charged by the Football Association with making abusive or insulting comments to the match officials.The charge means Vieira could be suspended for three or more games due to his poor disciplinary record.Brazil leagueRIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil will make radical changes in its national soccer championship next year to reduce the number of games and eliminate a host of smaller tournaments.Scrapping the old system of qualifying rounds and playoffs, the new system will be based purely on points, and the top three finishers qualify for the Copa Libertadores the following year.Bebeto in SaudiRIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Veteran Brazilian striker Bebeto has joined Saudi Arabia’s al-Ittihad in a six-month loan agreement worth US$1.5 million.Bebeto, 38, was loaned to al-Ittihad from Brazil’s Vasco da Gama, where he was expected to play his final season.Inamoto namedTOKYO: Japanese World Cup star Junichi Inamoto has been named Asian player of the month by the Asian Football Confederation after scoring a hat-trick for Fulham to beat Italian club Bologna in the Intertoto Cup final last week.Record setMELBOURNE, Australia: Australia’s 400-meter medley relay swim team broke the world short-course (25-meter pool) record yesterday at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center.Competing in an officially sanctioned time trial at the Australian short-course championships, Matt Welsh, Jim Piper, Geoff Huegill and Ashley Callus finished in a time of 3 minutes, 28.12 seconds, 0.88 of a second inside the 5-month-old mark formerly held by the United States.