Man U Axes Manager

Manchester, England — Louis van Gaal was fired by Manchester United on Monday after months of uncertainty around his position as the team struggled despite more than $350 million spent on new players during his two years in charge.

United is now set to make Jose Mourinho its third manager in the three years since Alex Ferguson’s trophy-laden 26-year dynasty ended.

Delivering United’s first trophy — an FA Cup victory Saturday — since Ferguson retired in 2013 was not enough to save van Gaal. The 64-year-old paid the price for failing to qualify England’s biggest club for next season’s Champions League, with United finishing fifth in the Premier League.

“I am very disappointed to be unable to complete our intended three-year plan,” van Gaal said. “I believe that the foundations are firmly in place to enable the club to move forward and achieve even greater success.”

Van Gaal had a year left on his contract and he could now be heading into retirement. Van Gaal has also coached Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and the Netherlands in a stellar coaching career.

United executive vice chairman Ed Woodward praised van Gaal for behaving with “great professionalism and dignity” in the two years since he replaced David Moyes, Ferguson’s immediate successor.

FIFA Fires Official

Zurich — FIFA has fired deputy secretary general Markus Kattner after allegedly uncovering financial wrongdoing during an internal investigation.

Kattner, who joined FIFA as director of finance in 2003, has been temporarily filling the top administrative job of world soccer’s governing body since Jerome Valcke was suspended last year before being fired himself.

Kattner handled the 2011 request to pay Michel Platini $2 million, which led to the UEFA president being banned from soccer for four years.

Injured Suarez WillTravel to U.S. for Copa

Madrid — Luis Suarez is expected to travel to the United States to join Uruguay’s national team for the Copa America, though he is likely to miss the start of the tournament because of a hamstring injury.

The club said the striker will begin his rehabilitation in Barcelona before joining the Uruguayan squad on June 1 in the United States, where “he’ll continue with the second phase of his recovery.”

The Uruguay team doctor said Suarez’s recovery will take “about three weeks.”

“We think that in 10 days he will have recovered partially and will be able to start working on the field when he joins us in the United States,” national team doctor Alberto Pan said.

Under this scenario, Suarez could be available to play in the team’s third group-stage game.

Uruguay opens in the Copa America Centenario against Mexico on June 5. It then plays Venezuela on June 9 and Jamaica on June 13.

Suarez was in tears after being substituted in the 56th minute of Barcelona’s 2-0 extra time win over Sevilla at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid. He later said on Twitter that he hoped the injury was “nothing so I can be with my national team next week.”

The striker got hurt while trying to reach for a ball crossed into the area early in the second half. He tried to continue after putting his hand on the back of his leg, but eventually dropped to the ground requesting medical assistance.

Suarez slowly walked off the field and was shown crying on the bench while being comforted by his teammates.

Suarez had been crucial for Barcelona in the final stages of the season. He scored 14 goals in the last five matches entering Sunday’s Copa del Rey final. He finished the season with 59 goals in all competitions and was the top scorer in the Spanish league with 40, five more than Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

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Associated Press writer Leonardo Haberkorn in Montevideo, Uruguay, contributed to this report.

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Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni