Playmaker Karim Ziani says Algeria must defeat Malawi Monday in the opening Group A match for both teams if they hope to reach the 2010 African Nations Cup knockout phase.
Hosts Angola and Mali complete the mini-league and media expectations suggest a tight three-way fight for two quarter-finals places with Malawi considered outsiders.
Veteran Germany-based Ziani has been a key figure in an Algerian revival that culminated in qualification for the 2010 World Cup at the expense of fierce rivals Egypt after a play-off.
The Desert Foxes are also back at the Nations Cup after a two-tournament absence and the midfielder says he has never played in a stronger Algerian national team.
So much depends on our first Cup match against Malawi. Victory is all that co…
Wigan are close to signing striker Marco Ruben after agreeing a £5m transfer fee with La Liga outfit Villareal for the 23 year old s services. Ruben s transfer will officially be confirmed after the striker passes his medical and agrees personal terms with the Latics.
Ruben was born in the Argentine city of Capitan Bermudez and shot to fame with Rosario Central in the 2006 Apertura. Domestic giants River Plate signed him in 2007, but he left Los Millonarios in January 2008 for Villareal, who paid $7m for his services. He was immediately loaned out to Recreativo Huelva till the end of the 2007-08 season and that arrangement continued into the 2008-09 season. He returned to Villareal after Recreativo were relegated in 2009 but failed to break into their first team and en…
Thomas Tuchel has the potential to be one of the finest head coaches in modern football, according to former Borussia Dortmund boss Ottmar Hitzfeld.
The 43-year-old has won admirers across the continent since taking over from Jurgen Klopp at Signal Iduna Park, although they head into the mid-season break with a 12-point deficit to Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.
Dortmund s exciting brand of football under Tuchel has also seen the former Mainz boss linked as a possible successor to Zinedine Zidane as head coach of Real Madrid.
And Hitzfeld, who won two Bundesliga titles and the Champions League in a six-year spell in charge of the club, has tipped Tuchel for a dominant future.
It will still depend on success but Thomas Tuchel had already been a fantast…
Former Argentina striker Hernan Crespo has taken his first major coaching role with Serie B side Modena.
Crespo, who turns 40 on Sunday, retired in 2012 and was employed as youth team coach at beleaguered Parma last season.
After leaving his role with the cash-strapped club where he excelled in his playing days, Crespo has now been given the opportunity to coach at senior level in the second tier of Italian football.
Crespo has signed a one-year contract with the option of a further two years with a club which won a relegation play-off against Virtus Entella earlier this month.
Mauro Melotti and Simone Pavan had taken charge of the first team following the sacking of Walter Novellino in February.
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A bemused Ronald Koeman has described the constant speculation over his future as Barcelona head coach as a little bit strange .
It has been a tumultuous debut season for the former Netherlands boss, who arrived at Camp Nou on a two-year contract in August.
First up, he had to manage the fallout from Lionel Messi s ultimately unsuccessful transfer request ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.
A failure to get past the last-16 stage in the Champions League was a major disappointment, but a superb recent run in LaLiga has put them into title contention.
They did suffer a first defeat since early December against Real Madrid in El Clasico last weekend, but they are just two points adrift of leaders Atletico Madrid with eight games remaining.
Up …
Ronald Koeman did not answer questions at Barcelona s news conference on Wednesday, instead reading out a pre-prepared statement.
Barca were held to a 1-1 draw by Granada at Camp Nou on Monday, with Koeman s team resorting to desperate measures to rescue a point courtesy of centre-back Ronald Araujo.
With Lionel Messi having left due to Barca s dire financial circumstances, the Blaugrana also allowed Antoine Griezmann to rejoin Atletico Madrid late in August and look far off mounting a title challenge in LaLiga this season.
They also lost their opening Champions League match, going down 3-0 to Bayern Munich.
Koeman seems to be under mounting pressure, with president Joan Laporta reportedly keen to replace the Dutchman. Roberto Martinez has been touted as …
(GSM) Rafael Benitez s agent on Wednesday night refused to discuss reports suggesting that the Spaniard is set to leave Liverpool.
Benitez has experienced a dismal 2009/10 season with his team finished only seventh in the Premier League, and suffering early exits from the Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup.
And it seems according to several reports, Liverpool have made Benitez an offer to walk away from the club, however there has been no official confirmation.
Agent Manuel Garcia Quilon said: We don t know anything more than what s being said.
We re not saying anything.
The 50-year-old, who signed a five-year contract in March 2009, joined Liverpool in 2004 after a successful spell with Valencia and led the club to Champions League victo…
Portuguese giants Benfica have announced that they have loaned the Brazilian duo of Eder Luis and Fellipe Bastos to Vasco da Gama.
Fellipe Bastos, 20, joined Benfica two years ago from Botafogo. He spent part of 2009 on loan at Belenenses and also had a stint with Swiss side Servette FC in the first half of 2010. Bastos captained Brazil at the 2007 U-17 FIFA World Cup.
Eder Luis, 25, joined the Eagles last winter from Atletico Mineiro. He has made six appearances for the Lisbon based outfit so far. Luis is a striker who can also play as a winger.
[Source:- SL Benfica official website]
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that West Ham United are considering a shock move for Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.
The England international has been unable to string together a significant number of appearances over the past eighteen months due to injury, and has made three Premier League starts so far this season.
The Hammers have form in signing injury-prone players from the Merseyside outfit after securing a deal for Andy Carroll in 2013 and he, like Sturridge is currently out with a hamstring problem.
Sturridge moved to Liverpool from Chelsea in January 2013 and has so far played for the Reds seventy-two times, scoring forty-four goals.
Internationally, the twenty-six-year old has sixteen senior caps for England, scoring five times and was part of their squad for the 20…
Billy Sharp rescued a point for Sheffield United as they came from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw with Bradford City in their League One encounter at Valley Parade.
Errors from David Edgar resulted in James Meredith scoring his first goal since October 2012 and Devante Cole s third of the season putting the hosts into a commanding lead.
But Meredith undid his good work by heading into his own net before Sharp completed United s comeback with 20 minutes left on the clock.
Bradford took the lead shortly after the half-hour mark as Edgar s header fell straight to Meredith, who dinked the ball over the Mark Howard and into the net.
United s centre-back was again at fault for the second goal as his attempted clearance cannoned off Cole and into the far cor…