Serie A » News » Football: Montolivo injury ruins Italy’s World Cup warm-up

Football: Montolivo injury ruins Italy’s World Cup warm-up

Italy’s World Cup plans were thrown into turmoil as Riccardo Montolivo was stretchered off during a 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.

Montolivo made seven appearances for the Azzurri during their World Cup qualifying campaign and was set to be a key member of Cesare Prandelli’s side in Brazil.

But the AC Milan midfielder suffered a serious-looking left ankle injury early in the first half of the friendly at Fulham’s Craven Cottage and, with early reports suggesting it could be broken, it must be extremely unlikely he will recover in time for the World Cup.

To make matters worse for Prandelli, he also saw Fiorentina midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who had come on for Montolivo, forced off with an injury before half-time.

Prandelli, whose side kick off their World Cup campaign against England on June 14, has yet to prune his provisional 30-man squad down to a final group of 23 and he will be sweating on the medical bulletins on Montolivo and Aquilani before making the final cut.

The only positive for Prandelli, who fielded an experimental line-up, was the sight of Fiorentina striker Giuseppe Rossi playing 70 minutes to prove his fitness after a serious knee injury sidelined him for much of the second half of the season.

Much of the pre-match focus had centred on Roy Keane, the assistant to Ireland boss Martin O’Neill, and his talks with Celtic over succeeding Neil Lennon as manager of the Scottish champions.

Keane was in the dug-out alongside O’Neill, but he was quickly overshadowed by Italy’s injury woes.

Rossi was handed an opportunity to prove his fitness and the American-born 27-year-old partnered Torino’s Ciro Immobile, who was making his debut in attack after finishing as the top scorer in Serie A this season.

Claudio Marchisio was first to threaten for Italy with a long range effort which drew a fine save from David Forde.

Ireland hit back when John O’Shea collected Aiden McGeady’s cross and tested Salvatore Sirigu, deputising for rested first choice goalkeeper Gigi Buffon.

The major blow for Italy came in the 14th minute when Montolivo was carried off after being caught on by a strong challenge from Ireland defender Alex Bruce.

The Italians looked rattled by Montolivo’s cruel exit and Irish midfielder Anthony Pilkington brought Sirigu into action again with a low 20-yard shot.

Prandelli’s side took a long period to recover their composure before Torino left-back Matteo Darmian, making his debut, fired narrowly wide from Rossi’s pass.

Another fine Ireland move ended with David Meyler’s shot well saved by Sirigu.

Ireland were well on top as half-time approached and Shane Long’s header was kept out by an excellent Sirigu stop.

Incredibly there was another injury setback for Italy before the break when Aquilani, who earned a reputation for fitness problems during his spell at Liverpool, limped disconsolately off.

Long almost put Ireland ahead early in the second half, but his strike was repelled by Sirigu.

Prandelli’s men thought they had taken the lead in the 55th minute, but Immobile’s tap-in was ruled out for offside.

That was Immobile’s last contribution as his debut came to an end moments later when he was replaced by veteran Parma forward Antonio Cassano.

O’Neill’s side could have added insult to injury for the Italians in the closing stages when Stephen Quinn hit the underside of the crossbar and McGeady’s follow-up shot was well saved by the impressive Sirigu.

Football » News » Football: Probe exposes World Cup match-fix mess: report

Football: Probe exposes World Cup match-fix mess: report

An confidential FIFA report raises concerns about World Cup match-fixing vulnerabilities just 12 days before the global football showdown kicks off in Brazil, the New York Times reported Saturday.

The newspaper obtained a copy of the 44-page internal report over incidents from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa by football’s world governing body and other related documents raising issues of bettors influencing outcomes and referee honesty.

In a report on the newspaper’s website, the Times interviewed officials, referees, gamblers and others in South Africa, England, Malaysia, Singapore and Finland looking into issues that could compromisde the showcase event for FIFA, which is expected to receive about $4 million in revenue for sponsor deals, television rights and ticket sales from this year’s World Cup.

“Were the listed matches fixed? On the balance of probabilities, yes,” the previously unpublicized FIFA report said, according to the newspaper.

A match-rigging betting syndicate whose referees fixed exhibition matches and exploited them even made a death threat after one match against an official who tried to stop the fix, according to the Times.

In one cited example, Niger referee Ibrahim Chaibou brought a bag with thousands of dollars in $100 bills into a bank and made suspect hand ball calls later that night in an exhibition match between South Africa and Guatemala in May of 2010 at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, according to another referee.

Chaibou, who denied fixing a match to the newspaper and who has since retired, was chosen for the match by a Singapore company — Football 4U International — that is a front for a match-rigging group, according to the FIFA report, the Times said.

In all, fixers manipulated “at least five matches and possibly more” in South Africa ahead of the 2010 World Cup and targeted up to 15 matches, including a US-Australia fixture, according to the FIFA report obtained by the newspaper.

Such warm-up exhibitions for this year’s World Cup are being played this week, some of them in the United States.

A FIFA spokesman told the Times that a probe into activities around the 2010 World Cup was ongoing, but no punishments or bans have been imposed despite the probe, the Times said.

The plan involved Football 4U International offering to provide referees for pre-World Cup matches in South Africa and pay the referees’ travel, lodging, meals and match fees, a major financial savings to South Africa’s football federation.

The federation made deals with the Singapore firm for five matches, contracts FIFA’s report dubbed “so very rudimentary as to be commercially laughable” and added that South African officials were “easily duped or extremely foolish” to make the deals.

Betting rose on the number of goals to be scored in the South Africa-Guatemala match enough to raise FIFA gambling monitors as the match began. Two dubious penalty kicks were awarded for hand balls in a 5-0 South African romp.

“We can conclude that this match was indeed manipulated for betting fraud purposes,” the FIFA report said, according to the Times.

Steve Goddard, an Englishman who served as acting head of refereeing for the South African football association at the time, said he turned down a bribe offer from Football 4U International.

Goddard pulled Chaibou from a later exhibition between South Africa and Denmark at the last minute after the scheduled referee took ill, using a home-nation referee in a 1-0 South Africa win.

Goddard told the Times that as he left the stadium after the match his cell phone rang and his life was threatened by the Singapore match-fix group’s ringleader, identified as Wilson Raj Perumal by the Times.

Neither police nor FIFA received a report of such a threat but Goddard said he allowed the Singapore group to select the referee for an exhibition the next day between North Korea and Nigeria.

“That was basically to save my neck,” Goddard told the Times.

Nigeria won 3-1 after what the FIFA report called a “very harsh” red card and “very liberal” penalty kick award from the referee.

Goddard told the Times that the Singapore company pushed for its referees to handle a US-Australia exhibition but instead South African referees handled the match.

Goddard said a Bosnia and Herzegovina crew was suggested — a referee trio that would later receive life bans for match fixing, according to the FIFA report.

World Cup » News » Football: World Cup warm-up results – 4th update

Football: World Cup warm-up results – 4th update

Results of World Cup warm-ups on Saturday:

At Rotterdam

Netherlands 1 (Van Persie 5) Ghana 0

At Lisbon

Portugal 0 Greece 0

At Oslo

Norway 1 (Konradsen 77) Russia 1 (Shatov 3)

At Osijek, Croatia

Croatia 2 (Perisic 15, 64) Mali 1 (Traore 79)

At Sion, Switzerland

Algeria 3 (Belkalem 14, Ghilas 22, Slimani 41) Armenia 1 (Sarkisov 46)

At London

Italy 0 Republic of Ireland 0

World Cup » News » Football: Italy’s Montolivo to miss World Cup with broken leg

Football: Italy’s Montolivo to miss World Cup with broken leg

Italy midfielder Riccardo Montolivo will miss the World Cup after suffering a broken leg during his side’s 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.

Montolivo was injured in the early stages of the friendly at Fulham’s Craven Cottage following a crunching tackle from Ireland defender Alex Pearce.

The AC Milan captain, who was skippering Italy on the night, needed several minutes of treatment and was seen mouthing “it’s broken” before eventually being carried off.

“Montolivo has what we suspected, a broken tibia,” Italy physician Enrico Castellacci said.

“I haven’t seen the X-ray yet to evaluate the extent of it but for a broken bone you can expect surgery.”

Montolivo played seven times in Italy’s World Cup qualifying campaign and had been expected to be a key member of the team in Brazil.

“The game was marked by the misfortune that Riccardo suffered,” Italy manager Cesare Prandelli said.

“First all our thoughts are with Riccardo. It’s difficult to talk about the technical things when something like that happens. We are all stunned by what happened.

“We saw the players inside. Everyone is broken and really sad about what happen.

“Montolivo is a key player for this squad. He is a point of reference not only on the pitch but off it for his behaviour.

“He has such a good attitude. I think all the lads were really shocked by what happened.”

Italy face England in their World Cup opener on June 14 and also have group fixtures against Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Bruce Buck wants Andre Villas-Boas longevity

Andre Villas-Boas could build a dynasty at Chelsea

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck wants current manager Andre Villas-Boas to build a dynasty at the club and says that he could be in charge for 10 or 15 years.

Chelsea have gone through five managers since sacking Jose Mourinho in September 2007, as their failure to win the Champions League has caused owner Roman Abramovich to pull the trigger early. But Buck is envious of the two top managers in England, who have become almost unsackable at their clubs.

Buck told BBC Sport: “We do envy Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in terms of longevity, but it shouldn’t be longevity for longevity’s sake.

“It has to be the right guy in the job for 10 or 15 years and, in light of Andre’s age, he may well be that guy. Everyone thinks his age might have been a negative but it’s a positive.”

Wenger has spent 15 years at Arsenal, while Ferguson’s 25th anniversary will be celebrated in November, and many will be sceptical that Villas-Boas, 33, can get anywhere near those figures while under the command of Abramovich.

However, Buck is also hopeful that Chelsea will be able to save money in the long-run, not just from compensation payments to managers, but also from using their academy instead of paying large sums for players from other clubs.

“The problem has been transfer fees paid to other clubs for new players and that’s probably our biggest expense,” said Buck. “The way we’ve tried to attack that, not as successfully as we’d have liked to be honest, is by putting a lot of money into the academy.

“The maths is pretty simple. If you can bring a player or two through the academy, every couple of years, then you’re saving £10 million, £20 million, £30 million of transfer fees.”

Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gets hat-trick as England Under-21s beat Iceland U-21 3-0

<!– Put this anywhere in the of your page where you want the widget to show up. –>Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s hat-trick

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a hat-trick as England’s perfect start to their latest European Under-21 Championship campaign continued with an easy 3-0 win in Iceland.

Arsenal winger Oxlade-Chamberlain ran riot in Reykjavik, scoring a quickfire first-half double before completing his treble shortly after the break.

The win maintained England’s 100% start to their latest qualifying campaign, further banishing memories of the summer’s dismal finals in Denmark ahead of Monday’s trip to Norway.

The only negatives were hamstring injuries to Nathan Delfouneso and Martyn Waghorn, who both limped off and appear doubtful for the next game.

The match was expected to be the first real test for Stuart Pearce’s new-look side, who routed Group Eight whipping boys Azerbaijan 6-0 in their opening qualifier last month.

Iceland had beaten England in their last meeting and had also reached this summer’s finals, but it soon became clear their current crop of youngsters was not up to that standard.

The visitors quickly assumed control and could easily have gone ahead three times in the opening ten minutes.

The returning Martin Kelly was denied by a fine save from Arnar Darri Petursson from Henri Lansbury’s corner. Lansbury then released Marvin Sordell down the right but the Watford striker made a hash of his finish on what was his full debut. Kelly then narrowly failed to get his foot on another Lansbury corner but it was not long before England were in front as Oxlade-Chamberlain added to his burgeoning reputation.

The Arsenal winger pounced on a loose ball, raced goalward and coolly slotted home across the goalkeeper, who then gifted the 18-year-old his second three minutes later. Petursson spilt Delfouneso’s cross straight at the feet of Oxlade-Chamberlain, who passed the ball into the empty net.

The impressive Aron Johannsson did his best to get Iceland back into the game, while England were forced to replace Delfouneso with Waghorn in the 24th minute, but they comfortably saw out the half and killed the contest within five minutes of the restart after more brilliance from the precocious Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The teenager easily beat two men before unleashing a cross-cum-shot from the tightest of angles which Petursson helped into the net.

Waghorn appeared to pull his hamstring on the hour mark and was carried off to be replaced by Josh McEachran.

England goalkeeper Jack Butland was finally called into meaningful action but it was a simple pouch of Johann Laxdal’s header.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was withdrawn for the final eight minutes, with Everton midfielder Ross Barkley coming on.

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov vows to prove himself at Everton

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov has shone only in bursts

Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov says he has no plans to quit the club and wants to stay and fight for his place in the team.

Bilyaletdinov, 26, has only started two Premier League games this season and, despite arriving for around £9 million in 2009, has made little impression on Merseyside.

However, he told the Liverpool Echo: “I want to stay here and prove something. I’ve got my agent, and maybe he’s got something [in the summer] but I’d say not now please.

“I think every manager has to choose certain players for certain games based on his vision for how the team should play.

“I can only work and wait for the pre-match meeting. If you play or don’t play you still need to be focused even if it’s just for 10 minutes on the pitch because you can still change a game in that time.”

Rio Ferdinand remains in England frame

Rio Ferdinand is on the comeback trail after suffering a hamstring injury in August

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Fabio Capello has reassured former England captain Rio Ferdinand that he remains in the international reckoning.

Ferdinand, who turns 33 next month, has been excluded from the England squad for the crucial qualifier in Montenegro on Friday and doubts have been raised in the media as to whether he will return.

ESPNsoccernet sources in the England camp, though, insist that he was under consideration for the trip to Podgorica and it is simply a case of Ferdinand proving his form and, more significantly, fitness at Manchester United.

“At the moment it is difficult to judge Rio’s fitness because he has only been back for one game and naturally didn’t look sharp,” the source said. “We also have some good players in that position and we felt there was no reason to drop those players out of the squad.”

Although Ferdinand looks certain to remain in Capello’s thinking should England qualify for Euro 2012, he has been warned that the situation regarding his international future would be “very different” if he opted to go to America or the Middle East.

Any such move appears unlikely, though, as sources close to Ferdinand made clear to ESPNsoccernet earlier this week that the defender wants to see out the remaining two years of his contract at Old Trafford.

Steven Gerrard steps up recovery for Manchester United showdown

Steven Gerrard came off the bench to make an impact in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory at Everton

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Liverpool first-team coach Steve Clarke believes the time is now right for captain Steven Gerrard to step up his bid for regular football.

Gerrard was left out of Fabio Capello’s squad for Friday’s Euro 2012 qualifier in Montenegro as he has played just 56 minutes of football in three substitute appearances this season. His recovery from a groin operation in March took slightly longer than expected and Liverpool were not prepared to risk the 31-year-old until he was completely ready.

With more than a week until the club’s next match, at home to Manchester United, Clarke hopes to see the influential midfielder start pushing himself further.

”For Steven it’s just a progression. He’s coming back from a long-term injury and we’ll try to treat him as cautiously and carefully as we can,” the Reds coach told Liverpool TV. ”Obviously there will be a time when he is going to have to push on – and I think this is the time now.

”We’ve only got a very small group of players left behind because we’ve got a lot away on international duty but we managed to get a lot of good work into them yesterday. With Steven it has been well documented that we’re looking after him.

”He’s going to have to push himself in the coming weeks – and the more minutes we get into him, the better.”

Liverpool’s medical and coaching staff believe they have covered every minor detail in managing Gerrard’s comeback, tailoring his rehabilitation with specifically designed programmes.

”After you’ve been out for a long time, you struggle with the pace of the game and the size of the pitches,” Clarke added. ”So we worked with him in small areas and then gradually started to make the areas bigger. Every step is important.

”He’s handled the steps we’ve given him so far very well and we’ll just look to push him on.”

Aaron Ramsey happier with Wales than Arsenal

Robin van Persie, Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta stand dejected

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Wales captain Aaron Ramsey says he feels more comfortable playing for his country at the moment than Arsenal, describing the situation at his club as “not acceptable”.

Ramsey has explained that the opportunity to lead his country in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland on Friday is a welcome distraction to the testing time being encountered at the Emirates in the Premier League.

“It’s been a difficult time for my club,” Ramsey said. “It’s been quite frustrating so far with the performances we’ve shown in the last few games. But hopefully that can turn around pretty quickly.”

Asked if it is therefore easier to play for Wales at the moment, Ramsey said: “Absolutely. Arsenal, at the moment, are under a lot of pressure and we haven’t produced the results that we know we are capable of doing; everybody is surprised by that.

“For Wales, we are still learning and progressing and that is going along nicely. But obviously Arsenal are one of the top clubs in Europe and to be where we are at the moment is not acceptable.”

Meanwhile, the midfielder has challenged Wales to showcase their new-found self-belief when they take to the pitch at the Liberty Stadium.

After a miserable start to the Group G campaign, which saw them slump to four consecutive defeats, Gary Speed’s side showed improvement with victory over Montenegro and a good display in a 1-0 defeat to England last month, meaning they can still finish as high as third in the final standings.

“Belief is the main difference [following last month’s games]. There is a belief we can actually compete against this sort of opposition.

“Montenegro had done really well to be in their position in the group and against England we should have had a result. We have always had the ability but it is about being more consistent and hopefully we can start to pick up a few more points.

“Switzerland are a good team with a chance of qualifying so they will come out and give everything, but we will concentrate on ourselves and hopefully build on what we have done in the last few performances, keep the progression going and pick up a few wins.

“Our target now is to finish as high as possible and hopefully we can build in every game before the World Cup qualifiers next year,” said Ramsey.