Ballack floored by infection just a day after comeback

BERLIN: Michael Ballack (pic) was grounded by an infection on Friday one day after the injury-plagued Bayer Leverkusen midfielder played his first match for four months.

“Michael Ballack has left today’s training session because of the effects of a virus,” Leverkusen’s communications head Meinolf Sprink told the sports news agency SID.

“After a conversation with the team doctor and the player, there is no cause for concern.”

Ballack, who missed last year’s World Cup through injury, came on at halftime on Thursday to help his team beat second division Rot-Weiss Oberhausen 2-1 in a friendly.

  

Premier League managers question winter World Cup plans

LONDON: Arsene Wenger has led a chorus of English Premier League managers who have questioned FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s proposal to stage a winter World Cup in 2022.

FIFA chief Blatter said this week he “expects” the tournament in Qatar will be held in the winter months to avoid the searing summer temperatures which pose risks to players and fans alike.

But Blatter’s comments have failed to impress club bosses in England, who have expressed doubts about the feasibility of restructuring the domestic football season to accommodate the global showpiece.

“It looks like an idea that has come out of nowhere because nobody was told that when the bid was voted for,” Wenger said.

“That is a bit of a surprise and certainly it would mean that the whole world of football has to be reorganised.

“As you know we have a Christmas period which is quite busy here and England would be very happy to play the World Cup in January just after that.

“It would demand a complete reorganisation of the whole world’s fixtures and I cannot see that happening.

“Certainly it would create many problems, yes, between clubs and countries and countries and FIFA.”

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce also wondered how the schedule in England and around the world could be successfully reorganised.

“What are we going to do with our league and what are they going to do with all the leagues around the world?” Bruce said.

Fulham boss Mark Hughes agreed a World Cup staged in January would likely mean that domestic campaigns would run until July of 2022.

“There must have been some thought gone into it or they would not have awarded the World Cup to Qatar in the first place,” Hughes said.

“It’s going to be a huge change that year and how it impacts on the Premier League we won’t know until it actually happens.”

Everton boss David Moyes meanwhile took aim at the fact that the dates for the tournament were now being shifted when bidding nations had campaigned on the basis of a tournament being held in the traditional June/July slot.

“Was everyone aware of that before they made their choice? Because I think if that had been put to the relevant countries, there may have been a lot of people not choosing Qatar,” Moyes said.

FIFA’s awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar – a small oil-rich Gulf state where summer temperatures can exceed 40°C in summer months – at a controversial vote in Zurich last month. 

  

Liverpool sack Hodgson, Kop legend Dalglish returns

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool yesterday announced that manager Roy Hodgson has left the club by mutual consent, with Kenny Dalglish put in charge for today’s FA Cup tie against Manchester United.

Hodgson leaves Anfield after an unhappy six month reign after taking over from Rafael Benitez with Liverpool having suffered a ninth Premier League defeat on his watch at Blackburn this week.

That left the embattled side languishing in 12th position, four points above the relegation zone.

The 63-year-old former Fulham boss had hoped that a bright performance against United at Old Trafford this weekend might save his position but Liverpool’s owners New England Sports Ventures (NESV) decided otherwise.

The writing looked on the wall for Hodgson when the club cancelled his weekly scheduled press conference on Friday.

In a statement on the club’s website, principal owner John Henry said: “We are grateful for Roy’s efforts over the past six months, but both parties thought it in the best interests of the club that he stand down from his position as team manager.

“We wish him all the best for the future.”

Hodgson added: “Being asked to manage Liverpool football club was a great privilege.

“Any manager would be honoured to manage a club with such an incredible history, such embedded tradition and such an amazing set of fans.

“Liverpool is one of the great clubs in world football. I have, however, found the last few months some of the most challenging of my career.

“I am very sad not to have been able to put my stamp on the squad, to be given the time to bring new players into the club in this transfer window and to have been able to be part of the rebuilding process at Liverpool.”

Dalglish steps in for his second stint in the Anfield hot seat – his first spell between 1985 and 1991 harvested three league titles and two FA Cup titles.

Hodgson becomes the third Premier League manager to be axed this season after Chris Hughton at Newcastle and Sam Allardyce at Blackburn.

  

City complete Dzeko signing, Vieira plans to hang up his boots

MANCHESTER: Manchester City signed Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko from VfL Wolfsburg on Friday as the world’s richest club once again flexed their financial muscles to boost an assault on the Premier League title.

The 24-year-old has agreed a four-and-a-half-year deal, City said without disclosing the transfer fee although British media reported it was in the region of £30mil (US$46.34mil).

Dzeko’s prolific scoring record in the Bundesliga has made him one of Europe’s most sought-after players.

He finished top of the German league’s scoring charts last season with 22 goals and has 10 to his name this season playing for a mid-table team.

“It has been a long time that I have been linked with the club going back to last summer but Wolfsburg did not want to sell me until today,” Dzeko told City’s website (
www.mcfc.co.uk) after completing a medical.

After months of media speculation over a move to City, the striker said he was relishing the chance to help the club try to win their first league title since 1968.

“Everybody speaks about City having lots of money but it is not about that. It is about ambition and I have spoken to coach (Roberto) Mancini and he told me, `this is the best club for you’,” said Dzeko.

“City are playing for first place in the Premier League and that is what I want.”

Dzeko, who will wear the number 10 shirt, could make his debut at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Jan. 15.

Meanwhile, midfielder Patrick Vieira is considering retiring at the end of the season, the former France captain said yesterday.

“There is a 50 per cent chance (that I quit at the end of the season),” the 34-year-old Vieira, whose contract with the Premier League club expires in June, told L’Equipe magazine.

“I think Manchester City will be my last challenge. Calling it quits in June would not bother me. It will be an easy decision.”

Vieira, a commanding presence in a holding midfield role, appeared 107 times for France and helped them win the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.

He started his professional career at Cannes in 1993.

“I accept the fact that it is almost the end (...) There is a past, wonderful memories, but it was before,” he said.

“If I had to do it again, I would not change anything.”

  

Harry: My reserves are good enough to win Cup

LONDON: Harry Redknapp will field a second-string line-up in Totten-ham’s FA Cup third round tie with Charlton Athletic today but insists his reserves are good enough to win the competition.

It is a measure of the progress Spurs have made under Redknapp – who expects to add David Beckham to his squad this month – that the FA Cup now figures third on a list of priorities behind the Premier League title race and the Champions League.

The manager is confident his side can maintain their challenge at the head of the league table and, having reached the last 16, is hoping to spring more surprises in European football’s elite competition.

Success at White Hart Lane has brought with it a crowded fixture list and Redknapp intends to nurse his first choice players through the final months of the season by utilising his squad players in the FA Cup.

Tottenham’s squad has been acknowledged as one of the strongest in the Premier League for the last two seasons and Redknapp has experienced internationals including Niko Kranjcar, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka ready to step in.

“They’re all fantastic players – if they can’t do the job then there’s something wrong,” said Redknapp.

“They need games and they’re still a good team. It gives me a chance to get a good game into them.

“I’m not fielding a bunch of kids. I’m fielding a team of international players so we’re full of quality. It’s not a problem.

“We’ve still got the Champions League but for some teams they just kick it in to touch and I don’t understand why.

“It’s one competition that they have a chance of winning. They can’t win the Premier League, they’re not going to get into the Champions League but they have a chance to win the Carling (League) Cup and FA Cup and I think they should go for it.”

Charlton dismissed manager Phil Parkinson following the recent home defeat to Swindon Town and have put Keith Peacock in temporary charge for the FA Cup tie.

“It is an unexpected situation for me,” said Peacock. “Unexpected things turn up in football. In this game, as in life, I just take each week as it comes.” 

  

City manager Mancini hails his ‘brother’ ahead of clash

MANCHESTER: Roberto Mancini has described Sven-Goran Eriksson as being like a “brother” ahead of their reunion in the FA Cup third round today.

Manchester City manager Mancini and Leicester counterpart Eriksson go head-to-head for the first time in their careers in what promises to be an emotional occasion for both men.

Mancini, who enjoyed a brief spell in the twilight of his career at Leicester, played a big role in Eriksson’s successful stint in Serie A.

As a player at Sampdoria, and then as an assistant manager at Lazio, the former England coach has been credited for setting Mancini on the road to management.

“Sven is older than me – and is a teacher for me,” said Mancini.

“I’m looking forward to meeting him again. He is a fantastic coach and for me a fantastic man. I have known him for around 15 years. He is like my brother.

“But it will be very interesting. It will be the first time for me against Sven.

“Sven likes to work, he couldn’t stay at home to watch the games on TV. He has great experience and it’s great to see him here again in management with Leicester.”

Manchester City are already fighting to lift the Premier League title and are in the mix to triumph in the Europa League.

But Mancini says the mega-rich club can fight on three fronts by pushing to end a 35-year-wait for silverware with victory in the FA Cup.

“For me the FA Cup is important,” he explained. “I won 10 cups in Italy when I was a player and a manager.

“I want to play always to win it, and here the FA Cup is really important.”

Despite Mancini’s claims, he is poised to rest a host of key players following a backlog of games over the Christmas period.

Leicester have been transformed since Eriksson’s arrival in the Midlands in October.

Yet the Swede is no stranger to life at Manchester City himself. He lasted only a year in charge at Eastlands, leaving his post in the summer of 2008.

Now how he would love to put one over his old side, inflicting an FA Cup upset to boot.

  

Carlo will not get chance to meet his nemesis

LONDON: Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was looking forward to crossing swords with his Ipswich Town counterpart in today’s FA Cup third-round tie at Stamford Bridge before Roy Keane was sacked on Friday.

The 39-year-old Keane, who had been at Ipswich since April 2009, left with the Division club 19th in the table after seven defeats in their last nine games.

Ancelotti has not forgotten the night in Turin in 1999 when Keane scored for Manchester United in the Champions League against his Juventus side at the Delle Alpi.

“I was excited about the chance to meet Roy Keane for a long time because I was the manager of Juventus when he gave me disappointment because he scored in the semi-final of the Champions League,” Ancelotti told reporters on Friday.

United trailed 2-0, and 3-1 on aggregate, before fighting back to win with goals from Keane, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole. They went on to win the trophy and complete the treble.

“Now I don’t have the chance to meet him and I am sorry for this because when a manager loses his job it is not a good moment, but this is the life of the manager,” said Ancelotti.

“The manager has to be able to cope with this moment. It is not good but hopefully he can move forward quickly.”

Ancelotti is himself under pressure after a dismal run in which his side have picked up just 10 points from 11 matches and slid from top spot to fifth place in the Premier League.

“In football, usually we say when everything is okay the players are fantastic and when everything is wrong it is the manager who is not so good,” he smiled.

Chelsea’s dramatic slump in form has left them nine points adrift of Manchester United and the champions have also played a game more than the league leaders but Ancelotti is hoping the distraction of the FA Cup can provide salvation.

“The good thing is in the FA Cup and the (last 16 of the) Champions League we don’t have a gap to close,” he said. “We have the same possibility as the other teams and maybe this could give to us plenty of motivation.”