The prospect of a World Cup without Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry will move a step closer if Portugal and France come unstuck in the first leg of their World Cup play-offs on Saturday.
Having failed to secure automatic qualification for the South Africa showpiece, Portugal must overcome Bosnia-Herzegovina while France face a stern test against Giovanni Trapattoni’s rejuvenated Republic of Ireland.
Both France and Portugal, who lost to the French in the 2006 semi-finals, ha... Read Full Story
Threats of violence in Cairo have overshadowed the final round of 2010 World Cup qualifiers in Africa this weekend with three places in South Africa up for grabs.
Egypt host bitter rivals Algeria Saturday in the potentially explosive highlight of a nine-match schedule and already-qualified Ghana meet Mali in the sole Sunday fixture.
Cameroon or Gabon will go through from Group A, Tunisia or Nigeria from Group B and Algeria or Egypt from Group C while Group D table-toppers Ivory Coast,... Read Full Story
Former England captain Bryan Robson gets his first taste of Asian Cup football on Saturday when Thailand travel to Singapore for a must win qualifying clash against their Southeast Asian neighbour.
It is one of seven matches being played as the race to Qatar in 2011 heats up, with another round of games next Wednesday.
In Group B, Pim Verbeek’s Australia are in Oman with both sides on four points from three games, while Kuwait (three points from two games) host Indonesia (two po... Read Full Story
Giovanni Trapattoni may have cause to regret his decision to leave Sunderland playmaker Andy Reid out in the cold when Ireland face France on Saturday and next Wednesday in their two-legged World Cup play-off.
Reid has been in sparkling form for his club this season in the Premier League, notching some fantastic goals, notably from free-kicks — an area Ireland need to improve on with the exception of Glenn Whelan’s thunderbolts from long range.
He has a range of passing that can unlock... Read Full Story
Under-pressure France coach Raymond Domenech insisted Friday that if he took his growing army of critics seriously, he would have killed himself by now.
The controversial coach could find himself out of work by Wednesday night if France, the 1998 world champions, fail to beat Ireland in a two-legged play-off and miss out on the 2010 World Cup finals.
Runners-up just three years ago, France missed out on automatic qualification to Serbia, a failure which only added fuel to the fire.
&#... Read Full Story
Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane has urged his team to seize the chance to become national heroes by beating France in Saturday’s World Cup play-off first leg.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s side host France at Croke Park before travelling to Paris for the return on Wednesday and Keane believes qualifying for the finals at the expense of such a star-studded team would be remembered forever as Ireland’s greatest achievement.
Tottenham forward Keane knows the Irish cann... Read Full Story
FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed that he turned down a bid in the summer from FC Internazionale Milano for Lionel Messi.
Messi has recently extended his Barca contract to 2016, which has a buy-out clause of more than £200million.
But Laporta confirms that Inter chief Massimo Moratti did indeed try to sign Messi, a favourite to win the Ballon d’Or later this year.
When asked in Corriere dello Sport if Moratti had expressed an interest in buying Messi, Laporta sa... Read Full Story
Republic of Ireland assistant manager Liam Brady is confident the time has come for the Republic of Ireland to end their long wait for victory over one of European football’s top guns like France.
A 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Holland in 2001 represented their last major scalp but now France await in a two-leg World Cup play-off.
“I think it’s very possible, to go to Paris with a win under our belts,” said Republic assistant boss Brady.
“If we ca... Read Full Story
Kaka believes Fabio Capello has transformed England into a team capable of wrecking Brazil’s hopes of claiming a sixth World Cup in South Africa next year.
The Real Madrid playmaker is a keen student of the English game and he has been impressed by the way Capello has resurrected the national squad from the ashes of their failure to reach Euro 2008, guiding Wayne Rooney and co. to the finals with nine wins in ten qualifiers.
“I think the character of Capello is the key to ... Read Full Story
Manchester United fans will doubtless be pleased by Wayne Rooney’s latest comments pouring cold, or at least lukewarm water on the idea that he might move to Barcelona, or anywhere else for that matter.
Good news for United it may be, but I’m not so sure it’s in England’s interests for so few of the country’s leading players to try their luck abroad.
Whenever this subject comes up, I can’t help but look to the great strides made by Spain at international level, progress that must have been a... Read Full Story
