TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| Wenger waiting on Van Persie Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has all but given up on the idea of Dutch striker Robin van Persie playing for the Barclays Premier League club again this season. foxsports.com.au |
Snow disrupts sporting schedules Premier League and Carling Cup football, racing and Premiership rugby all hit by hazardous conditionsFreezing weather claimed a Premier League football match among many sporting fixtures abandoned across the country.Arsenal's game against Bolton tonight was called off, joining two Carling Cup semi-final matches between Blackburn and Aston Villa and Manchesters City and United as victims of the snow.Racing suffered too, with planned National Hunt meetings on Friday at Bangor, near Wrexham, and Fontwell, West Sussex, cancelled. Ed Gretton, clerk of the course at Bangor, said: "Five inches of snow on top of frozen ground left us with as much chance of racing as England have of winning the third Test in South Africa."A race meeting at Kempton was abandoned for safety reasons due to inaccessibility for paramedics, with one planned for tomorrow looking doubtful. Meetings planned at Ludlow and Huntingdon were called off, as were Saturday fixtures at Wincanton, Hereford and Sedgefield.Two Premiership rugby matches this weekend – Sale Sharks' meeting with Saracens at Edgeley Park on Saturday and Newcastle against Gloucester at Kingston Park on Sunday – are off.WeatherHorse racingRugby unionCaroline Daviesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Arsène Wenger questions motivation for African recalls • Arsenal manager says he will not recall his African players• 'It wouldn't be fair,' he saysArsène Wenger has questioned his fellow Premier League managers's motivation for calling for their players to return from the Africa Cup of Nations over security concerns. The Arsenal manager will not be asking for his players Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboué to return following Friday's attack on the Togo team bus which left three people dead.Togo, captained by the former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, were attacked just after the team had crossed the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.A host of Premier League clubs have players at the African continental championship and Hull's manager Phil Brown confirmed he wants his two players in Angola – Gabon's striker Daniel Cousin and Nigeria's midfielder Seyi Olofinjana – to come back to England.Chelsea have four players – Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, Ghana's Michael Essien and Nigeria's John Mikel Obi – in Angola, while relegation battlers Portsmouth have several members of their squad at the competition.It is not yet clear what stance world governing body Fifa would take on the issue should individual federations allow their players to leave Angola and return to domestic competition.Wenger, though, feels any such decisions must be taken for the right reasons. "It wouldn't be fair, let's say that," said the Arsenal manager. "What is behind things like that? Is it a selfish motivation or is it a real issue over security? We, here, are not in the best position to judge the security of this competition."If you organise the European Championships and you have an incident like that – it can happen, and has happened already – you do not want all your players suddenly to move home. International competition is international competition."When you hear sometimes there's unrest in the suburbs of London, you still live well in London. When I speak to my friends in France, they ask me: 'Is a revolution happening in London?' It's the same in Paris. You immediately think it's a revolution everywhere. It's not always the case."You have to judge the place, whether the competition can go on or not, and I don't know [the intricacies]. I don't like this culture of fear, either. I hate that."Adebayor left Arsenal in the summer, and City have said they will give the Togo striker as long as he needs. Wenger added: "I think they will be touched, the boys who were on the bus. Of course, that will stay with them for a while."Arsène WengerArsenalAfrica Cup of Nationsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Sven and Notts book Wigan clash Notts County have ended the FA Cup hopes of the last non-league side in the famous competition and booked themselves a fourth-round home tie against Wigan Athletic in the process. foxsports.com.au |
Nigel Reed: Is fair play a thing of the past? When David Beckham gets booked in the first five minutes, you just know there's going to be trouble. cbc.ca |