Argentina scraped into the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Uruguay as Diego Maradona finally celebrated mission accomplished after a stumbling, lacklustre qualifying campaign.
The two-time champions needed a goal by substitute Mario Bolatti on Wednesday six minutes from time to earn the three points and secure the fourth and final qualifying spot from South America. [+]
Robinho will have to fight for his first-team place at Manchester City when he eventually does return to action, according to coach Mark Bowen.
The £32.5million striker has been sidelined by an ankle injury since the beginning of September.
In his absence, Craig Bellamy has struck a rich vein of form, which makes him virtually undroppable at present. [+]
Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs believes the majority of players in the Premier League deserve their astronomical wages.
Such has been the explosion of cash into the Premier League over the past few years, that salaries in excess of £100,000 a week, if not exactly commonplace, are hardly unknown. [+]
Brazilian striker Adriano claims he would only play for Inter Milan if he ever returned to the Serie A after being linked with rivals AC Milan.
Reports in the Italian media suggest Milan are monitoring the progress of Adriano with a view to bringing the 27-year-old over from Flamengo in the winter transfer market.
But the striker told Italian television programme Studio Sport: “If I were to ever leave Brazil, my only choice would be to play at Inter in Italy.” [+]
Midfielder Guti is desperate to be fit for Real Madrid’s Champions League clash with AC Milan after suffering an ankle injury in training.
The 32-year-old is a major doubt for Saturday’s Primera Division match at home to Real Valladolid after spraining his left ankle but is keen to be back for the Rossoneri’s visit to the Bernabeu next Wednesday.
He told Marca: “I hope I’m okay for the match against Valladolid and, if not, what I do not want to miss is the clash against Milan.” [+]
Forward Shinji Okazaki scored a hat-trick to lead Japan to a 5-0 victory over second-string Togo on Wednesday in a tune-up game for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
‘Our team created high-quality crosses. I just needed to flick it in. Whenever I found a space, I was expecting a cross to come. I was always free there,’ said a jubilant Okazaki. ‘It was nice to add a headed goal later.’ [+]
Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah said on Wednesday that talks over his F6 company buying a major stake in Liverpool are nearing conclusion, as club co-owner George Gillett visited Riyadh.
‘Our negotiations to buy shares in Liverpool are ongoing, meetings are taking place and we might be in the final stages in the coming days,’ Prince Faisal told AFP.
Gillett, one of the two US owners of the legendary but heavily-indebted English team, was in Riyadh mainly to discuss a project regarding the creation of Liverpool soccer academies around the region, Prince Faisal said. [+]
Ukraine are still in the hunt for a World Cup place after securing a play-off berth with a 6-0 drubbing of Andorra on Wednesday.
The 2006 World Cup quarter-finalists go through to the November play-offs as runners-up in European zone Group 6 behind automatically qualified England.
Ukraine’s win in Andorra pushed them up to 21 points to deny Croatia who, despite beating Kazakhstan 2-1 in Astana in their last qualifier, missed out by taking third in the group on 20 points. [+]
South Africa-bound Germany needed a 90th-minute goal from Lukas Podolski to spare their blushes and salvage a 1-1 draw as Finland came close to a shock win in their final World Cup qualifier.
Germany had booked their berth at South Africa 2010 with a 1-0 victory over Russia on Saturday, but Joachim Loew’s side suffered a Moscow hangover and struggled badly against a determined Finland. [+]
Coach Oscar Washington Tabarez has called on “all of Uruguay” to play the World Cup qualifier against Argentina, with both teams fighting for the last South American automatic qualification berth.
The Charruas and the Albicelestes go head to head tomorrow to join Brazil, Paraguay and Chile in South Africa. [+]
