Tag Futebol

FA general secretary Alex Horne has insisted that the governing body have a plan in place to find the next England manager, and although they have not yet contacted anyone, a replacement will be named in the near future.

Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp is the overwhelming favourite for the job, but West Brom boss Roy Hodgson has also emerged as a potential candidate.

Despite there being less than two months until the Three Lions will compete in Euro 2012, Horne has stated that a rushed decision will not be made.

“We haven’t approached anybody and have approached no club,” the executive told BBC Sport.

“We continue to work on it, very quietly. We’re waiting until the tail end of the season. We’re not far away.

“What we’ve done as an FA is clearly set up all our plans.

“We know exactly what we’re doing between now and our first game against France [at Euro 2012], and we just need to slot a manager in, giving that individual enough time to get used to the set-up,” he concluded.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Sepp Blatter has invited opera singer Placido Domingo to join former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on a ‘council of wisdom’ at FIFA.In a surreal turn to the recent turmoil at world’s football’s governing body, FIFA President Blatter announced the recruitment of 70-year-old Spanish tenor Domingo to his reform program.

He will join 88-year-old Kissinger and former FBI chief Louis Freeh as part of Blatter’s promised anti-corruption initiatives.

“These gentlemen are more or less advisers, they are not the experts but advisers,” Blatter told CNN, after initialling forgetting Domingo’s name in the interview.

“I have also contacted the Spanish singer … help me with the name.”

Promoted by the interviewer, Blatter said: “Placido Domingo will be part.”

“He is happy, he is proud that he is part – as Kissinger also. People say he is an old man, but he is a wise man.”

“What they should be also is the kind of council of wisdom – which my executive committee would not like because they think they are the council of wisdom.”

Blatter also revealed that he does not consider it necessary for FIFA to launch an investigation into Qatar’s bid for the 2022 World Cup.

An enquiry had been mooted after an email was released in which FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke suggested the gulf state had ‘bought’ the tournament.

But Valcke claims the comments were a casual reference to Qatar’s financial strength in the lobbying process and not an allegation of corruption.

After earlier hinting that the bid could come under scrutiny, Blatter has dismissed calls for action.

“I don’t know why we should go in (to an investigation) – then we shall (have to) go to all (bids),” Blatter said.

“I don’t know why we should open something because somebody has said something towards Qatar.”

The 75-year-old Swiss did leave the door open for the FIFA’s independent committees to investigate the bid if they see fit.

“If this committee of solutions or the ethics committee have the impression that they should do something then let them take the decisions.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists he is more than happy with his current crop of players and he believes they could end their five-year wait for a trophy this term.

The Londoners take on Premier League basement boys West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday and the Frenchman is delighted with the way his youthful squad are going about their business.

Arsenal sit five points behind leaders Chelsea in the league table, but following their emphatic 4-0 Carling Cup success over Newcastle United at St James' Park in midweek, Wenger is ecstatic with their recent run of results.

A fine 5-1 Champions League triumph over Shakhtar Donetsk on October 19 before last Sunday's exceptional 3-0 thumping of Manchester City at Eastlands has raised morale tenfold and their shrewd coach is hopeful that their hunt for silverware will end sooner rather than later.

"There is a lot more to come out of this team," he said.

"I feel the ingredients of teams which I had before who were successful are in there. It is just how much we can get them out and of course we need to keep all of our players fit.

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"As long as the attitude is right and at the end of the season when you look back you think 'this team has given absolutely everything they could', you will be proud of them."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Arsenal and QPR are the latest teams to be linked with Alessandro Del Piero, according to Talksport.

The  2006 world cup winner is expected to leave Juventus after 19 years and has since been linked with a move to the Premier League.

The player’s brother and agent Stefano would prefer his brother to play abroad rather than stay in Italy and as a result, a number of Premier League clubs have been linked with the Italian international.

“There is no direct contact with any English clubs, but our position is to listen to anyone who might be interested in him and then decide what is best.

“I think it would be very difficult to see him playing in Italy and wearing a shirt other than that of Juventus.”

It has been said that Arsenal are interested in the Italian veteran and will look to gain his services next season, however, they will face tough competition form the likes of Paris Saint Germain.

Del Piero admits he’s in no rush to move but is eager to start a new challenge. His brother said “There are no restrictions from our part. It all depends on what type of project a club has and what is exactly behind the proposal and the kind of football which would attract Alex, but the main interest is the project.”

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Del Piero has scored 287 goals in 694 games for Juventus in his illustrious career.

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Clubs from Norway, England and Sweden have each been allocated an extra position in next season’s Europa League.Norway topped UEFA’s Respect Fair Play rankings, while England and Sweden are second and third on that table and will each be rewarded for the conduct of their teams.

The rankings are based upon games played by a country’s club and national teams in UEFA competitions between May 1 2010 and April 30 2011.

Norway’s Aalesund and Sweden’s Hacken have already been awarded their place in the competition, while Fulham is in the box seat to grab England’s spot.

The Cottagers currently sit in second place on the Premier League fair play table behind Chelsea, but Carlo Ancelotti’s side has already qualified for the Champions League.

Tottenham and Blackpool hold down third and fourth place on the fair play table and are still in contention for a place.

However, Tottenham may land a Europa League position through finishing fifth on the Premier League table, which could leave Blackpool as the side in Europe, even if they were to be relegated.

Scotland coach Craig Levein hailed the heroic team performance which almost resulted in a sensational European Championship qualifying victory over Spain.

The reigning world and European champions won 3-2 at Hampden Park on Tuesday evening but were given an almighty scare when the home side fought back from two goals down to level the match.

Steven Naismith's first international goal and Gerard Pique's own goal had given Scotland hope of a major scalp until substitute Fernando Llorente netted a 79th minute winner.

"It's very frustrating," said Levein."I was immensely proud of the players tonight.

"They were heroes every one of them – from the first minute to the last.

"I didn't think it was over and the reason I say that is I believe I've got a group of players that will work, work and work till they drop.

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"I believe I've got players that have got good quality on the ball and have good team spirit and belief in themselves.

"To get one back, then I realised we had an opportunity to keep pressing forward, and I'm just sick that we didn't manage to take anything from the game."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Stephane Sessegnon scored Sunderland’s extra-time winner to secure a memorable FA Cup with Budweiser triumph in this Tees-Wear Fourth Round derby clash. Sunderland will now host Arsenal in a Fifth Round tie.

Championship side Middlesbrough gave as good as they got against the Premier League’s form team and pushed Martin O’Neill’s men all the way after coming back from a goal down.

Overall, Sunderland were probably good value for their win, however, and seemed set for victory after Jack Colback gave them the lead shortly before half-time with a great striker from the edge of the penalty area in the 42nd minute.

Middlesbrough bounced back, though, and equalised in impressive fashion in the 57th minute through Lukas Jutkiewicz. Curtis Main got the assist with a superb header to Jutkiewicz, who found the space to finish strongly past Mignolet with a headed effort of his own.

O’Neill said:

“Middlesbrough did very well, but I felt we were better and I am delighted we won the game.

It was a fantastic effort and how many times have I said that in the last two months or so? It was a fantastic Cup tie.”

O’Neill was right as the Riverside rocked to a cracking soundtrack of two sets of passionate fans as the match went into extra-time.

But it was as good as over once Sessegnon struck in the 113th minute. The Benin international drove strongly into the area and was fortunate when the ball came back to him, allowing him to finish with a first time low right foot shot.

Middlesbrough

Steele, Hines, Hoyte, Bates, Bennett, McMahon, Thomson (Smallwood 69), Rhys Williams, Arca (Reach 78), Main, Jutkiewicz (Emnes 78)

Substitutes not used Ripley, McManus, Ogbeche, Martin

Sunderland

Mignolet, Bardsley, Turner, O’Shea, Richardson, Larsson, Colback, Gardner, McClean, Campbell (Wickham 87), Sessegnon (Meyler 116)

Substitutes not used Westwood, Ji, Elmohamady, Lynch, Reed

Referee Anthony Taylor

Attendance 26,707

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It’s been almost an entire season now (just three more games to go now) since I suggested that we should bring Sami Hyypia back in a player-coach role, and in admitting that he had tried to, Roy Hodgson let us in on just about the only sensible thing he tried to do as Liverpool coach.

The news in the last 24 hours that Sami has now announced his retirement from football at the age of 37 has interested me a great deal. If it wasn’t for the fact that he simultaneously declared his intention to coach with Leverkusen and the Finish national side, we’d be stupid not to dive in there and snap him up. However, letting him have a good 12 months to get his coaching schooling and gain some experience might be a wise move for Liverpool; the club he surely feels most of an affinity with, given that he spent 10 very successful years with the club. Don’t get me wrong, I’d snap Sami up in any role to bring back this afternoon, if I thought it was possible but it doesn’t appear that it is at the moment.

This summer is going to be incredibly important for Liverpool, there’s going to be between 20-25 comings and goings if we’re to believe everything we read and given that there is going to be some pretty extensive restructuring at the club, it probably won’t be too far off that. The main focus this summer will undoubtedly be on players – getting the right ones in and moving the dead wood and surplus out.

So perhaps next summer, 12 months on when he’s got a full years experience under his belt and has decided on the role he wishes to play in football, we could look to bringing big Sami back over here and assisting in putting our club back where it belongs. Because if he can influence the side in the way he used to influence the defence when he was here, then we’d be stupid not to get him back at any cost.

Article courtesy of David Tryer from Live4Liverpool

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A familiar face from Arsenal’s past can currently be seen at the club’s London Colney training ground, and his name is Robert Pires. The French winger is a free agent after being released by Spanish outfit Villarreal in the summer, and Pires has been training at the club in order to keep up his fitness. It is a remarkably similar situation to one that occurred last season, when Sol Campbell trained with the club and was then given a contract by Arsene Wenger after he impressed the Arsenal boss. So will the same thing happen with Pires? And would it be a good move for the Gunners?

Many fans would be delighted to see a firm favourite in the form of Pires return to the club and pull on the red shirt of Arsenal once more. In a six year career in North London Pires delighted the Gunners faithful with some sensational performances on the wing, he had trickery, technique, was strong on the ball and also scored a good number of goals. During his time at Arsenal Pires won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups and won the FWA’s Footballer of the Year award in the 2001-02 season, and in 2008 he was voted as the club’s sixth greatest player of all time in an online poll on the official Arsenal website. Safe to say then that Robert Pires is something of an Arsenal legend.

Many fans believed that Pires was let go by Arsene Wenger too early in his career, he was 32 when he left England for Spain and joined Villarreal. Pires had a good spell at Villarreal as the club confirmed themselves as one of the best teams in La Liga. Pires provided great experience and was a mainstay before being released by the club this summer, and Wenger was more than happy to allow him to train at Arsenal to keep his fitness up.

So is a move back to the playing ranks of Arsenal likely? Going on Wenger’s words you couldn’t really say. The Gunners boss stated in French newspaper Le Parisien

“He is sparkling. He’s happy on the ball and physically he is fine. He can be of service in Ligue 1.”

Wenger obviously believes that Pires has still got it then, but whilst he believes Pires can still do it in the French Ligue One, he doesn’t actually state that he could definitely still perform in the Premiership, which as we know is a much more competitive league. But Wenger did not exactly rule it out, and he was speaking to a French audience when he made his statement. It could be imagined then, that there is an outside chance of Wenger signing up Pires on a short term contract.

One thing Robert Pires would certainly add in abundance is experience, and this could be very useful for a squad that is still young. I obviously haven’t seen Pires in action in London Colney, but you imagine he could still do a job for Arsenal, and he would not be having to play week in week out which would be questionable. Pires best work might in fact come on the training field though, imagine what players like Samir Nasri, Jack Wilshere and a host of others could learn from him, it would only improve them as players.

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Arsene Wenger showed last season that he is not averse to signing up veterans who have played under him in the past, and Sol Campbell was on the whole a success. If Wenger sees enough in Pires I am sure he will have no hesitation in giving him another opportunity to play for Arsenal, and it would certainly be an exciting prospect to see him walk out of the tunnel as a Gunner once more.

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Gareth Barry had a strong reputation at Everton for his hardworking efforts on the pitch, but since moving to West Bromwich Albion, the midfielder’s status has dropped.

The former England international, who earned 53 caps for his country, moved to The Hawthorns last year.

During the 2017-18 season, Barry made 29 appearances in all competitions, and he recorded one goal and one assist in that time.

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His most memorable moment of the campaign is a negative one, though, as he was one of four players who stole a taxi from outside a fast-food restaurant after breaking curfew during a warm-weather training trip to Barcelona.

The group had called the cab to take them to get food before deciding to get behind the wheel while the driver was picking up their order.

How far will England get in Russia? Tell us now and win any World Cup shirt of your choice.

The quartet apologised for their actions in February, but some fans have not forgiven them.

On Monday, the Express & Star reported that Barry had triggered a one-year extension on his contract, and plenty of supporters were not best pleased.