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GENEVA -- FIFA has rejected calls to move the 2018 World Cup from Russia, saying the tournament "can achieve positive change." Russias alleged involvement in shooting down a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine last week prompted calls from some lawmakers in Germany to review the countrys hosting rights. On Friday, political pressure on Russia increased when the European Union moved to freeze assets and restrict travel for more individuals and businesses. FIFA issued a statement saying it "deplores any form of violence" and would support only peaceful, democratic debate about the World Cup. "History has shown so far that boycotting sport events or a policy of isolation or confrontation are not the most effective ways to solve problems," FIFA said, adding that global attention on the World Cup "can be a powerful catalyst for constructive dialogue between people and governments." The conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatist rebels escalated days after the World Cup ended in Brazil. On July 13 in Rio de Janeiro, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a World Cup hosting handover ceremony with Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff. Both then sat next to FIFA President Sepp Blatter to watch the final at the Maracana Stadium, won by Germany. FIFA, which has Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko on its executive committee, said a World Cup in the country "can be a force for good." "FIFA believes this will be the case for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia," the governing body said. Blatter already rejected calls to strip Russia of the tournament after it annexed the Crimea this year. "The World Cup has been given and voted to Russia and we are going forward with our work," Blatter said in March. In a separate statement Friday, Mutko said a United States-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics had been a mistake. "So theres no sense in reacting to politicians trying to make names for themselves," Mutko was quoted saying by Russian news agency R-Sport. "Were preparing in a calm way, building facilities, getting ready for the World Cup." Russia has announced a $20 billion budget for building and renovating 12 stadiums, and other construction projects, for the first World Cup to be held in eastern Europe. Restricting Russian financial institutions access to European capital markets was suggested to a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on Friday. The 28-nation bloc is scheduled to further discuss the subject on Tuesday. "FIFA has stated many times that sport should be outside politics," Mutko said. "Hosting an event like this, were doing it for athletes from all over the world, for footballers, for the fans." Eliaquim Mangala Jersey . -- Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Colby Rasmus drove in two runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 9-4 on Saturday. 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Luke Bolton Manchester City Jersey . -- Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu will be the Dodgers starting pitchers in their two-game season-opening series in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks.KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was feeling ill even before Friday nights game against Kansas City, so he told bench coach Gene Lamont in the second inning that he was heading upstairs. He missed having a front-row seat to watch his pitching staffs magic act. Just like Houdini making his greatest escapes, Anibal Sanchez and the Tigers bullpen wiggled out of jams in every inning. Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera drove in a run apiece, and that was just enough to give the AL Central-leading Tigers a 2-1 victory over the second-place Royals. "We really had to fight for this one," Tigers catch Bryan Holaday said. Sanchez (6-3) scattered eight hits without a walk over seven innings, Joba Chamberlain got out of a tense eighth, and Joe Nathan worked around a single and a walk in the ninth for his 19th save -- and give Detroit its fifth straight win over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium this season. Nathan got Nori Aoki to ground out on a full-count pitch to end the game. "Obviously we have to play them a lot more," Chamberlain said. "We just have to keep grinding." Salvador Perez drove in the only run for the Royals, who squandered a solid start by Danny Duffy (5-9). He gave up both runs, only one earned, while losing for the fourth time in five starts. "Up against a guy like Sanchez," he said, "you cant make any mistakes." The Royals appeared to be 90 feet from tying it with no outs in the eighth, when Aoki swiped second base and went to third when the throw from Holaday squirted into centre field. While that was going on, though, plate umpire Chad Fairchild was calling batter interference on Lorenzo Cain for stepping into the way of the throw to second. Cain was out and Aoki was forced to make the long, slow trot back to first base. He wound up getting stranded by Chamberlain. "That was a big play," said Lamont, himself a former catcher. "Chad made the right call. Im sure the Royals fans dont think so, but he did make the right call." After the Tigers opened the series with a 16-4 blowout Thursday night, Sanchez and Duffy waged an entertaining pitchers duel. And justt like when they met in June, Sanchez was one run better.dddddddddddd Duffy surrendered a leadoff double to Austin Jackson and an RBI single to Kinsler in the first inning, and then gave up another run in the third when Cabrera hit a lazy sacrifice fly. Duffy wound up allowing five hits while striking out six without a walk. He departed after hitting the Tigers Nick Castellanos leading off the seventh inning, but Kelvin Herrera -- who hit the first batter he faced -- managed to wiggle out of the jam without any more damage. Meanwhile, Sanchez was churning through the Royals lineup. They scored their only run in the first inning when Eric Hosmer stretched a single into a double and Perez followed with a base hit. Sanchez struck out Billy Butler to end the inning, and then kept Kansas City at bay over the next six -- though none of them was clean. Sanchez worked around a single in the second, a double in the third, a leadoff single in the fourth, and singles in the fifth and sixth innings without another run. His tensest moment came in the seventh, when Mike Moustakas doubled off the wall in centre field, missing a tying homer by a couple of feet. The Royals advanced Moustakas to third with a groundout, but Sanchez induced two more groundouts -- one a magnificent spinning stab by shortstop Eugenio Suarez -- to quietly end the threat. "Same thing we see every time. He was unreal," Moustakas said. "Hes so good at commanding his pitches and mixing speeds with different pitches and different counts. Hes a tough at-bat any time. He commands both sides of the plate with all of his pitches, and he adds and subtracts his fastball. He does whatever he wants." NOTES: Sanchez is 5-2 with a 1.08 ERA in his career against the Royals. ... Tigers DH Victor Martinez (strained left side) missed his fifth straight game. Kinsler replaced him on the AL All-Star roster Friday. ... The Royals were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position. ... The Royals activated Aoki (strained left groin) from the DL and optioned INF Christian Colon to Triple-A Omaha before the game. ... Tigers RHP Rick Porcello faces Royals RHP James Shields on Saturday. ' ' '