| Premier League Approves Liverpool Takeover The Premier League approved the proposed sale of Liverpool to the American owners of the Boston Red Sox on Friday, and could end up docking the club nine points if the takeover falls through. feeds.nytimes.com |
Rio Ferdinand trains with England squad ahead of Euro 2012 qualifier • Defender's first involvement with team since World Cup• Hoping to win captaincy back from Steven GerrardRio Ferdinand trained with the rest of the England squad this morning as he tries to regain the captaincy ahead of Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro at Wembley.The Manchester United defender was put through his paces at Arsenal's London Colney training base after the squad joined up last night. It was Ferdinand's first involvement with England since he was forced to miss the World Cup and the first three internationals of the current campaign with a knee ligament injury.Ferdinand faces competition from Phil Jagielka for his place after the Everton defender impressed the manager, Fabio Capello, during the wins over Bulgaria and Switzerland last month.Capello has to decide whether to hand the captain's armband back to Ferdinand, with Steven Gerrard taking over the role in his absence.Ferdinand's defensive partner and the former England captain, John Terry, was also involved today after missing the Bulgaria and Switzerland matches through injury. Ferdinand and Terry have played together in only nine of the 31 internationals of Capello's reign.The Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry was the only absentee after not reporting to the team's Hertfordshire base because of a "personal problem".Rio FerdinandEnglandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Russia withdraws bid for 2022 World Cup to focus on 2018 Russia has formally withdrawn its bid to host the 2022 World Cup. cbc.ca |
Birmingham City 2-0 Blackpool | Premier League match report Naivety can be refreshing but there comes a point at which in a footballing context it becomes embarrassingly exploitable. Birmingham City, a team who had not scored at home in their three previous matches, were given more space in midfield by Blackpool than they knew what to do with, and only their lack of pace up front saved the visitors from a hiding.And yet, as Blackpool's 3,000 travelling supporters will doubtless point out, the Tangerines spurned several good chances, which goes some way towards explaining why going into this match no team in the Premier League had secured more points away from home than Blackpool's nine, and at the same time no team had conceded more goals on their travels.There was more incident in the first five minutes than Birmingham fans have been used to seeing in some entire games this season. Blackpool's Gary Taylor-Fletcher had the first chance after barely a minute, but his header – after Stephen Carr was caught out at the far post by Neal Eardley's cross – lacked power.Eardley was again a central figure moments later. Alexander Hleb's pass sent Keith Fahey clear, and Eardley's trip – accidental or not – appeared to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity. The referee, Anthony Taylor, disagreed, reaching only for the yellow card, and Sebastian Larsson's free-kick was touched over by Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks.Fortune may have evened itself out soon afterwards, when Liam Ridgewell, scuffling for the ball with Taylor-Fletcher, appeared to handle the ball in his own area. If so, the offence was missed by referee and assistant.Birmingham should have taken the lead in the 11th minute, when Hleb, revelling in the space afforded him by the Blackpool midfield trio, put Garry O'Connor through on goal. The Scot is not the fastest of movers at the best of times, however, and that and his need for an extra touch gave Craig Cathcart enough time to get back and make a clearing tackle.Still the chances kept coming, and Taylor-Fletcher's out-stretched foot was within a couple of inches of turning Stephen Crainey's low cross past City goalkeeper Ben Foster.Shortly after the half hour the long-threatened opener arrived. Under pressure from Ridgewell, David Vaughan headed Larsson's corner from the right back across goal, the giant Nikola Zigic nodded the ball against the bar and, with Gilks stranded, Ridgewell stooped to head the rebound into the empty goal from no more than a couple of yards.The second goal, while resulting from another Larsson corner, was even more bizarre. This time it was Roger Johnson who got to the ball first, but his header was going well wide when Ridgewell, having made his run and been bypassed by Larsson's delivery, stuck out a leg and deflected the ball back from near the byline into the six yard box.Even then Charlie Adam should have cleared it, but the midfielder unaccountably decided to take a touch and miscontrolled the ball into the path of Zigic, who bundled it in.Birmingham CityBlackpoolRichard Raeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Alexandre Gaydamak denies responsibility for Portsmouth facing liquidation Alexandre Gaydamak, the former Portsmouth owner, strongly denies he is responsible for placing club on brink of liquidation. telegraph.co.uk |