Romario’s 100th league goalSAO PAULO, Brazil: Veteran striker Romario scored his 100th goal in Brazilian championships as Fluminense defeated Figueirense 4-3 Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.Romario, 36, had been trying the milestone goal since the championship’s third round, when he scored goal No. 99 against Gremio.His first goal in the history of the competition dates back to 1986. The striker has scored more than 800 goals in his career.Roots of failureINDIANAPOLIS: On one of the darkest nights in the history of American basketball, coach George Karl shed some light on the root of the problem.“The money and greed of the NBA. Does that have an effect on our competitive nature? Yeah, you can write that,’’ Karl said.The Americans finished sixth at the World Championships — the worst showing ever by a U.S. men’s team at a major international competition.There will be much debate in the American basketball community in the upcoming months about how to correct the problem.FIBA to expand World ChampionshipsINDIANAPOLIS: At the next World Championships, in 2006, FIBA would like to expand the tournament from 16 teams to 24 teams. That would require approval from the Japanese organizers.If FIBA does not get Japanese approval, the plan still is to change the format by 2010, said Borislav Stankovic, FIBA’s secretary general.TennisFRANKFURT, Germany: Germany’s Davis Cup coach Michael Stich said yeserday he was stepping down because top players were opposed to his idea to bring back retired star Boris Becker.Stich said he would quit the team after the Sept. 20-22 World Group relegation playoff against Venezuela.Russian aces stumbleMOSCOW: Russia’s top chess players struggled Sunday in the first day of a FIDE-sponsored tournament pitting them against international players collectively called “The Rest of the World,” with Russia trailing 11.5-8.5 after two rounds of play.In the first round of play at the Kremlin, the Rest of the World won three of the ten games while Russia won one. The other games were drawn.The highlight of the round was Garry Kasparov’s loss to Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine. Viswanathan Anand of India outplayed Alexander Motylev with the black pieces. Ilia Smirin of Israel defeated former world champion Anatoly Karpov.Russia’s only victory came when Judit Polgar of Hungary blundered away a piece after being outmaneuvered by Alexander Grischuk in a long game.Taekwondo team SEOUL: North Korea wants South Korea to send a taekwondo demonstration team to the North this weekend as part of sports exchanges.