| England U21s 2-1 Romania U21s England U21 2-1 Romania U21Fabio Capello made a rare trip to East Anglia to watch Jack Wilshere tonight, with an eye to including the Arsenal teenager in his line-up for the Euro 2012 qualifying match against Montenegro at Wembley on Tuesday night, but only occasional flashes of the midfielder's composed prompting were in evidence as England's Under‑21s strained to a narrow victory over Romania in the first leg of their play-off for a place in the next summer's finals of the European championship.The successors to the team who lost heavily to Germany in the final of the 2009tournament, Stuart Pearce's latest squad finished runners-up to Greece in their qualifying group, securing a second chance at the finals in Denmark next summer with wins over Portugal and Lithuania last month. They go on to the second leg in Botosani on Tuesday with an advantage, but the nature of the win gave no cause for complacency.Romania were breaking at speed from the start, playing the ball to feet and looking to prise open the seams of England's defence on either side of the centre‑backs. Their first incision was made in the second minute, when Eric Bicfalvi put Marius Alexe away down the left and Chris Smalling stretched to put the striker's low cross behind for a corner.Two minutes later Ryan Bertrand's cross from the left was punched away by Silviu Lung, who had to produce an immediate follow-up to deflect Jordan Henderson's first-time volley from the edge of the area. But Stefan Barboianu, Romania's left‑back, twice created panic in the England defence as he used his pace to carry the ball into the area.England enjoyed the bulk of possession throughout the match, but Romania's defenders, with Florian Gardos sweeping in the narrow space between the back four and a flat midfield quartet, were sharp in the tackle and alert to the interception, offering little scope for Wilshere to work the ball through the middle to Danny Welbeck. The willingness of Pearce's players to give the ball away meant that the pressure they created was intermittent rather than sustained.It was a long ball, delivered with precision from inside his own area by Phil Jones, that produced England's best chance of the first half, Tom Cleverley bringing it under instant control wide on the right and measuring a low cross to the near post that Lung reached just ahead of Welbeck. Soon Danny Rose was racing into the Romanian area, where Valerica Gaman's body-check could have been punished by the Italian referee.In the seconds before the interval there was a glimpse of the gifts of Romania's captain, Gabriel Torje. If Georghe Hagi was the Maradona of the Carpathians, the little No10 from Dinamo Bucharest is being spoken of as the local Lionel Messi. Little had been seen of him, however, before he materialised on the left‑hand side of the England area to deliver a snap shot that thumped off Frank Fielding's near post. The loose ball was immediately swept up to the other end, where Welbeck lacked the adroitness to capitalise on Cleverley's shrewd pass as the half-time whistle went.England took the lead after 62 minutes when Michael Mancienne's speculative low shot produced a left-wing corner, taken by Cleverley. Lung again punched the ball out to Henderson, whose repeat of his earlier instant volley this time flew on a lower trajectory through a crowd of bodies and dipped under the partially unsighted goalkeeper's dive.There was disappointment for the capacity crowd of more than 25,000 eight minutes later, however, when Ioan Hora took a return pass from Gardos on the right and played in a low cross. The ball hit Bertrand, the first defender, and went in at the near post, with Fielding stranded a yard off his line.England's lead was restored from another left-wing corner, this one taken by the substitute Marc Albrighton, whose kick was nodded back by Daniel Sturridge, another replacement, to Wilshere, who touched it forward for Smalling to prod home.Pearce said afterwards that Capello had confirmed his intention to divert Wilshere into the senior squad for the Montenegro match. "Jack would have been quite happy to get on the plane to Romania with the rest of us," Pearce said. "Part of him probably feels that he's been taken away from us. I feel that the sort of experience he's had tonight can only improve him. There wasn't a lot of room for him to work in."If he plays at Wembley, Wilshere will be hoping that the spaces open up a little more readily than they did tonight.England Under-21sRichard Williamsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Liverpool takeover: Red Sox owners consult former chief executive Rick Parry Prospective Liverpool owners New England Sports Ventures have consulted Rick Parry, the club's former chief executive. telegraph.co.uk |
'Fake' match-fixing turns up heat on Fifa • Head of Zimbabwe's FA implicated in match-fixing scandal• Fifa accused of making corrupt officials untouchableFifa have defended their controversial approach to dealing with allegations of corruption after one of the worst weeks for football's governing body since Sepp Blatter became president in 1998. Fifa faced fresh problems after the chief executive of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) was implicated in a bizarre match-fixing scandal in which a club side posed as the national team. She was found guilty of a series of financial irregularities.Henrietta Rushwaya, the chief executive of Zifa until her suspension in July, will learn her fate on Tuesday. She is expected to face dismissal and a ban from all football-related activities. A judge heard at a tribunal in Harare that:â– Rushwaya and another Zifa employee sent a club side on a tour of Asia posing as Zimbabwe's national team. The tour was under the direction of a Malaysian gambling syndicate whose leader was allowed to sit on the bench during games. The team were paid to lose 6-0 against Syria and did so. The match is listed by Fifa as a full international.â– Rushwaya secured a $103,000 loan without authorisation. The money cannot be traced.â– Gate receipts of $640,000 from a pre-World Cup match against Brazil have not yet reached Zifa.The findings against Rushwaya follow the release of an independent report accusing Fifa of failing to prevent systemic corruption in African football. The report, by the Forum for African Investigative Reporters, features allegations of bribes, match-fixing, and officials trading influence and votes, and focuses on Fifa's policy of threatening to expel nations whose governments try to investigate corruption in football. That policy, intended to prevent political interference, has made officials inside Fifa's "football family" largely untouchable, according to the report.Among the examples cited was an attempt by Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, to investigate corruption in Zifa in 2006. Mugabe cancelled the investigation when Fifa threatened to expel Zimbabwe from world football. Rushwaya was appointed a few months later.Bob Munro, vice-chairman of Kenya's Premier League, said the Fifa policy had allowed corruption to fester. "It is a patronage-riddled system from local to global levels with a series of unholy alliances to perpetuate each other in power. Unsurprisingly, the 'elected' officials largely act in the best interests of themselves and their patrons rather than clubs, coaches, players and referees."In Nigeria, where sport has for years been controlled by Amos Adamu – suspended from Fifa's executive committee last week over the vote-selling allegations – state governor Rotimi Amaechi said attempts to investigate corruption were routinely thwarted. "When we went to the World Cup in the summer we saw all sorts of problems," Amaechi said – among them the size of the "official" Nigeria non-playing entourage, of whom 173 were found to be friends and hangers-on. But when the government intervened, Fifa gave them three days to desist from "interference" under threat of a ban. The politicians backed down.Richard Nwabufor Obienu, a former vice-president of Nigeria's Football Federation, said: "We have been made a laughing stock in the eyes of the world through the actions and inactions of those representing us. If our president talks about football, Fifa threaten us with sanctions."Fifa have defended their policy, insisting that governments must be kept away from the sport. "Fifa shares the goal of ridding football of corruption, and is willing to act, as demonstrated earlier this week," a spokesman said. "However, allegations of false corruption are also often used by governments as an excuse to try to remove officials. If governments have proof of corruption with government money, then they can pursue the case according to national law. However they cannot decide to remove football officials and put their friends at the top."Joe Kadenge, who as player, manager and coach has been involved in Kenyan football for more than 50 years, said he believes countries should defy Fifa and "take control of the federations until clean people are elected to take over. Fifa can suspend us if they so wish."FifaFootball politicsDavid Hillsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Celtic v Rangers: Old Firm rivals prepare for a derby of contrasts Celtic and Rangers both go into Sunday's derby at Celtic Park with perfect league records eight games into the campaign. telegraph.co.uk |
Real's Mourinho Invokes Tony Soprano MADRID (Reuters) - Jose Mourinho has invoked an expression common to fictional New Jersey Mafia boss Tony Soprano to remind his players of the importance of Tuesday's King's Cup last 32 first leg against lowly Real Murcia. feeds.nytimes.com |