Pellegrini’s time at the club is over

REAL Madrid have announced the sacking of manager Manuel Pellegrini, paving the way for Jose Mourinho to take up the vacant Bernabeu hotseat. Chilean boss Pellegrini led Real to their best ever La Liga points total but failed to win a trophy, prompting the board to dismiss him less than a year after arriving. Pellegrini was charged with [...]

Brazil takes top ranking into World Cup

BRAZIL will head to the World Cup as the number one team, according to the latest FIFA rankings. The five-time world champion retained top spot ahead of European champion Spain in Wednesday’s release of the final monthly rankings before the June 11 World Cup kickoff. Portugal is third followed by the Netherlands and world champion Italy. [...]

France 2-1 Costa Rica: Valbuena makes his mark

DEBUTANT Mathieu Valbuena lent weight to his World Cup claims with a late winner as France continued their World Cup build-up by battling to victory against Costa Rica. The South American side took a shock lead through Carlos Hernandez and, though Franck Ribery quickly levelled, an inspired goalkeeping display from Keylor Navas looked set to [...]

Netherlands 2-1 Mexico: Van Persie at the double

A DOUBLE salvo from Robin van Persie was enough to see Netherlands step up their World Cup preparations with victory over Mexico at Badenova-Stadion in Freiburg. The Arsenal striker opened the scoring after 17 minutes and then doubled the hosts' lead just before the half-time interval before Javier Hernandez, who will play for Manchester United [...]

Pahang 2-3 Selangor: Red Giants extend lead

DEFENDING champions Selangor have opened up a massive eight-point lead at the top of the Super League standings after edging Pahang 3-2 at the Darulmakmur Stadium in Kuantan last night. The Red Giants extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches to consolidate their position at the top of the 14-team standings with 47 points. Skipper Mohd Amri [...]

Japan 0-2 South Korea World Cup Warm-up

AN early goal from Park Ji-sung and a late penalty from Park Chu-young gave South Korea a 2-0 win over Japan in Saitama Stadium on Monday evening. (SEE VIDEO) In a game of few chances, the captain’s fifth minute strike was enough to win the game for the visitors but Park’s injury time spot kick added an extra sheen as Korea picked up their [...]

Australia 2-1 New Zealand World Cup Warm-up

SUBSTITUTE Brett Holman struck with the last kick of the game to give Australia an undeserved victory in their World Cup farewell friendly against New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (SEE VIDEO) Holman has been criticised for his lack of goals in national team colours in the past, but did his chances of booking his place on the plane [...]

Capello ready to experiment against Mexico

ENGLAND coach Fabio Capello has decided against using players who were involved in the FA Cup final in Monday's World Cup warm-up game against Mexico at Wembley Stadium. It seems an odd decision from the manager, considering Chelsea's 1-0 victory over Portsmouth came nine days ago at the same stadium. However, if he is intending to use all of [...]

Moratti wants Mourinho to stay

INTER Milan president Massimo Moratti has offered his sincere thanks to Jose Mourinho for guiding the Nerazurri to an unprecedented treble, and revealed that he still hopes to convince his "unforgettable" coach to stay at the San Siro. Mourinho appears set for a move to Real Madrid after leading Inter to Champions League glory on Saturday, with [...]

Mourinho set to quit Inter Milan

"..the percentage of me leaving is higher than that of staying.." - Mourinho -------------------------------- JOSE Mourinho looks set to leave Inter Milan for Real Madrid after admitting that the Champions League final "will almost certainly" be his last game with the club. Mourinho denied already meeting with Real officials in the [...]