Francisco Varallo, the longest surviving player from the first World Cup final, died Monday at the age of 100, Argentinian media reported.

Varallo was the youngest player to compete in the first World Cup in 1930 when he played for Argentina in the tournament in Uruguay at the age of 20.

A knee injury kept him out of the semi-final against Chile but he was chosen to play in the final against Uruguay in Montevideo , which Argentina lost, 4-2.

Born on February 5, 1910 in La Plata, Varallo, a forward, was nicknamed "El Ca?oncito" (Little Cannon) for his shooting ability.

In 1994, he was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour handed out by football's ruling body for contributions to football.

Former Juventus boss Alberto Zaccheroni has been named as Japan's new coach, replacing the departed Takeshi Okada.

Zaccheroni, 57, will become the Blue Samurai's sixth foreign manager and is the first Italian to take the job. He will be officially unveiled in a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.The hugely experienced boss is expected to attend Japan's training sessions from Thursday onwards but will not be in charge for the upcoming friendly matches against Paraguay on September 4 in Yokohama and Guatemala on September 7 in Osaka due to visa issues.

JFA technical director Hiromi Hara has already been confirmed in a caretaker capacity for both games, part of preparations for January's Asian Cup.

Zaccheroni has considerable experience in Italy having managed Udinese, AC Milan, Lazio, Inter Milan, Torino and Juventus, whom he guided to seventh after taking over midway through last season.

He also led AC Milan to the Serie A title in the 1998-99 season and replaces Okada, who stood down after taking Japan to the second round of this summer's World Cup in South Africa.

The city of Sao Paulo is to get a new stadium to host the opening game and other matches of the 2014 World Cup, the Brazilian football federation (CBF) said late Friday.

The CBF said after a meeting of its president Ricardo Teixeira with local authorities that FC Sao Paulo's Morumbi stadium will not be renovated for the World Cup, but that there are rather plans to build a new arena.

The new arena is to seat 65,000 and is to be used by the Corinthians club apart from staging the World Cup games. The World Cup final is set to take place in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium which is to undergo renovation over two years.

Michael Ballack has been left out of Germany's squad for the start of it nation's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

Coach Joachim Loew said Friday the 33-year-old midfielder, who missed the World Cup through injury, would again be considered when he had returned to full form.

Ballack played his first full game for Bayer Leverkusen last weekend since rejoining the Bundesliga club from Chelsea. He had been sidelined since tearing ankle ligaments in the FA Cup final in May. Loew said he had spoken to Ballack by telephone this week when it was agreed the midfielder would not be named in the squad for the matches against Belgium and Azerbaijan.

"Michael is progressing well three months after his serious injury and everyone is happy with his recovery," Loew said.

"The important thing is that he returns to his best form in Leverkusen in the next few weeks."

The decision to leave out Ballack was welcomed by Leverkusen sports director Rudi Voeller.

"It makes sense if a player is not 100 per cent fit," he said.

Ballack's absence still leaves open the question of whether he will retain the captaincy if and when he returns.

Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm, who captained Germany in their successful World Cup campaign, will likely continue to lead the team for the start of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Loew has named 17 players who were in the summer's World Cup squad in his party of 21 for the match against Belgium in Brussels next Friday and against Azerbaijan in Cologne four days later.

Leverkusen goalkeeper Rene Adler and Hamburg defender Heiko Westermann, who both missed the World Cup through injury, are recalled, with Bayern veteran keeper Joerg Butt making way.

Loew has included midfielder Christian Traesch of Stuttgart and defender Sascha Riether of VfL Wolfsburg, who both played in the 2-2 draw with Denmark in a friendly this month.

Injuries have ruled out midfielders Piotr Trochowski (SV Hamburg) and Thomas Hitzlsperger (West Ham United), and defenders Arne Friedrich (Wolfsburg), Jerome Boateng (Manchester City) and Dennis Aogo (Hamburg).

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (Schalke 04), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

Defenders: Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Marcell Jansen (SV Hamburg), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Sascha Riether (VfL Wolfsburg), Heiko Westermann (SV Hamburg)

Midfielders: Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Oezil (Real Madrid), Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Christian Traesch (VfB Stuttgart)

Forwards: Cacau (VfB Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich)

Referee Howard Webb admitted in an interview published Thursday that he should have shown Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong a straight red card for his foul on Xabi Alonso in July's World Cup final defeat to Spain.

De Jong only received a yellow card for his flying high tackle on Alonso but Englishman Webb now says he would have brandished red had he had a better view of the incident.

"Having seen it again from my armchair, I would red-card him," Webb told the Guardian newspaper.

"The trouble in the actual game was that I had a poor view of that particular incident. I was looking through the back of Alonso and though I could see the foot was high, I could not be certain of the extent of the contact.

"It wasn't that I didn't want to send anyone off because it was a World Cup final, though I was mindful of the fact that the game was the pinnacle of the players' careers as well as of mine. I just wasn't prepared to take a guess 25 minutes into the game."

The 39-year-old official dished out a record 14 yellow cards in the final in Soccer City, Johannesburg, including two to Holland's John Heitinga, who was sent off in Spain's 1-0 extra-time win.

England' s hopes of staging the 2018 World Cup have been boosted at the start of a four-day inspection of their bid, with the Fifa president Sepp Blatter admitting it would be "easy" to stage the tournament in the country.

Blatter did, however, warn that Russia would be very powerful opponents in the bidding contest.

England 2018's bid team will be buoyed by the comments at the start of the visit by a six-man Fifa inspection team.

Blatter said: "The easiest way to organise the World Cup is to go to England. Everything is there – fans, stadiums, infrastructure – it's easy."

He also insisted England's disappointing performances at the World Cup in South Africa this summer would have no bearing on the bid – the World Cup winners Spain are bidding jointly for 2018 with Portugal. Holland and Belgium are in the contest too, also as joint bidders.

Blatter said: "The performances of bidding countries' national teams does not matter, definitely not. It is the quality of their bid that matters."

Russia are viewed as England's biggest rivals to win the vote by Fifa's executive committee on 2 December and Blatter appeared to support that.

"You cannot deny Russia if they bid for something. They are more than a country. They are a big continent, a big power," he said.

The Fifa inspection team, led by the Chilean federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls and including South Africa's World Cup chief executive Danny Jordaan, are due to meet the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, at a reception at Downing Street later today.

Clegg will emphasise the Government's commitment to England's bid and will be joined by the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, and an England 2018 delegation led by the bid's chairman, Geoff Thompson.

The inspection team will then meet the England manager, Fabio Capello, at Wembley, where they will tour the stadium and watch a community coaching session.

They will also travel to the north-east and north-west of England during their visit, which aims mainly to assess the technical aspects of the bid.

The world's most famous octopus has joined several other prominent English stars in supporting the English 2018 World Cup bid, a press release said Friday.

Paul the Octopus became famous world-wide during the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year when he correctly predicted the outcome of all eight World Cup games that he was asked to predict.

The octopus, who lives in the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, but was born in Weymouth, England in 2008, has since retired from predicting games, but remains very active.

His spokesman Chris Davis said that even though Paul was no longer making any predictions, he was very busy. "He is busy writing a book, he is the face of several products and is involved in quite a few other activities.

"But because he was born in England, he is supporting the English bid," Davis said.

Paul joins other English stars such as David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Lewis Hamilton, Noel Gallagher and Sting as supporter of the English bid.

Réunie à Paris ce mardi 17 août 2010, suite à la transmission par le Conseil Fédéral en date du 6 août 2010 du dossier relatif aux faits s'étant produits au sein de l'Equipe de France lors de la Coupe du Monde FIFA 2010, la Commission Fédérale de Discipline de la FFF a pris les décisions suivantes :

• Nicolas Anelka est sanctionné de 18 matchs de suspension ferme de sélection en Equipe de France
• 5 matchs de suspension ferme de sélection en Equipe de France sont prononcés à l'encontre de Patrice Evra
• Franck Ribéry devra purger 3 matchs de suspension ferme de sélection en Equipe de France
• Jérémy Toulalan est sanctionné d'un match de suspension ferme de sélection en Equipe de France
• La Commission prend note des explications d'Eric Abidal, qui n'a pas été sanctionné.

Meeting in Paris this Tuesday, August 17, 2010, following the submission by the Federal Council dated August 6, 2010 file relating to events occurring within the Team of France at the FIFA World Cup 2010, Federal Commission for Discipline of the FFF has taken the following decisions:

• Nicolas Anelka is sanctioned 18-game suspension firm selection Team France
• 5 game suspension farm selection Team France voted against Patrice Evra
• Franck Ribery will have to serve three-game suspension Farm Team selection in France
• Jeremy Toulalan is sanctioned with a match suspension Farm Selection Team France
• The Commission takes note of explanation of Eric Abidal, who has not been sanctioned.

FIFA mulls World Cup changes

(AFP) – 1 day ago

BERLIN — Football's governing body FIFA is considering scrapping drawn games from the group stages of the World Cup finals, the organisation's chief Sepp Blatter has said.

The Swiss supremo told German weekly Focus in its edition of next Monday that he wanted to put an end to defense-minded teams playing to get a draw in the early games of the sport's showcase tournament.

"We are considering doing away with draws in the first round ... and also ending extra-time play," he said.

"If there is no winner at the end of 90 minutes of play, we would proceed directly to penalty kicks."

Another possibility, according to Blatter, would be to revive the "Golden Goal" scenario whereby if a match is drawn, the first team to score a goal would be the winner.

That was used in the 1998 competition in France but was abandoned four years later when the finals were held in Japan and South Korea.

The next World Cup will be held in Brazil in 2014.

Fabio Capello has called time on David Beckham's England career, admitting the 35-year-old is too old to be in his squad.Beckham,http: //static.lingospot.com/spot/image/spacer.gif who missed the World Cuphttp://static.lingospot.com/ spot/image/spacer.gifthrough injury, has indicated he would like to continue playing for England and be available for the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

However, Capello has revealed the LA Galaxy midfielder is probably surplus to requirements for his country as the Italian looks to blood new young players for the future.

"I say thank you very much for helping me at the World Cup but probably he is a little bit old," Capello told ITV ahead of Wednesday's friendly with Hungary at Wembley.

Beckham has won 115 caps for England since making his debut in 1996 against Moldova.

Beckham is the country's most capped outfield player, but Capello's decision means he will miss out on breaking Peter Shilton'shttp://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gifappearance record.

His final international appearance was against Belarus at Wembley last October. He scored 17 goals for England.

The former Manchester Unitedhttp://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gif star has also played at three World Cup finals for England, but it seems from Capello's admission that the ex-Three Lionshttp://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gif skipper has played his last game for his country.

German Holger Osieck has been named the new coach of Australia. A former assistant to German legend Franz Beckenbauer, Osieck was officially announced as the new Socceroos boss by Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy today.

The 61-year-old is a surprise choice, with the FFA initially setting their sights on South Africa coach Carlos Parreira and Cameroon boss Paul Le Guen as Pim Verbeek's successor.

Osieck enjoyed a modest playing career in Germany before coaching stints in Turkey with Fenerbahce in Turkey and Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan's J-League. He was assistant to Beckenbauer when Germany won the 1990 FIFA World Cup™ and spent four years as Canada's national coach, guiding them to success in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2000.

"I am excited about working with the Socceroos and building on the team's impressive results in Asia and around the world," Osieck said. "Taking over at a stage of natural transition as we start our preparations for 2014 is an ideal opportunity to influence the future direction of the young players and coaches from Australia.

"I think it's a big challenge and I am looking forward to it. I hope we will get where we want to be. Australia has done really well in recent years.

"I need to get a better knowledge of Australian football. I have a basic knowledge but I don't have the in-depth knowledge. The players will make a system. I want to have a look at the quality of the players, the capacity of each of them and from there I go."

Lowy, who sought advice from Beckenbauer before making the appointment, believes Osieck's experience Asian football bodes well for the future of the Socceroos. "Holger has extensive knowledge of Asian Football having won the AFC Champions League with Urawa Red Diamonds," he said.

"He has experienced what it takes to traverse Asia and win tournaments and this will be invaluable experience as he leads our team into the AFC Asian Cup in January 2011 and as we prepare for another challenging campaign to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

"Holger has also worked in a nation where football is not the number one sport and proved that he can win a major Championship against nations who have football in their veins when he won the CONCACAF Gold Cup with Canada.

“One of the major criteria was his background in educating and teaching and being with youth. He will do the educating job, in the main for coaches. We hope in the medium term, as a result of Holger's appointment, to be able to have an Australian head coach in the near future."

Source

Second-half goals from Danny Rose and Martin Kelly saw England Under-21s overcome Uzbekistan 2-0 on Tuesday.

In a one-sided friendly at Ashton Gate, Rose broke the deadlock on 64 minutes before Kelly doubled the advantage with 12 minutes remaining.

England boss Fabio Capello was among the crowd to witness a man of the match performance from Everton midfielder Jack Rodwell.

The Italian has called up Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs from the Under-21s for Wednesday's meeting with Hungary at Wembley.

But he must have been impressed by the showing of stand-in skipper Rodwell who left the pitch to a standing ovation when replaced by Henri Lansbury after 61 minutes.

Capello came in for criticism for failing to attend the England Under-19s games during the European Championships in France last month.

But he watched proceedings alongside goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence and Football Association director of development Trevor Brooking before leaving his seat after 83 minutes.

It will be one of the few chances Capello will have to watch the Under-21s in action as their matches will be on the same night as the senior squad from September for the Euro qualifiers.


First hand
Capello was also able to take a first hand look at Blackburn keeper Frankie Fielding who has been called up for the Hungary game as a replacement for the injured Ben Foster.

Fielding had a quiet evening and did not have a worthwhile save to make before being replaced by Alex McCarthy in the latter stages.

England knocked the ball around in confident fashion and Phil Jones glanced a header wide from Victor Moses' centre.

Uzbekistan defender Murod Khalmukhamedov was relieved when he sliced an attempted clearance inches over his own bar following a cross by Tom Cleverley.

Khalmukhamedov then cleared a Jones shot off the line and it was 32 minutes before Fielding was called into action in easily dealing with a cross from Otabek Valijonov.

Rodwell was impressing in the centre of the park and one run took him past three challenges before Uzbekistan goalkeeper Sanjar Kuvvatov blocked his shot.

Rodwell's fine pass then left Daniel Sturridge with a clear run at goal but Kuvvatov again did well to keep out his powerful effort.




New faces
England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce brought on Jack Cork, Kelly and Danny Welbeck in place of Jordan Henderson, Jones and Moses at half-time.

Rodwell continued to impress and one perfectly timed run ended with Kuvvatov bravely blocking his shot at close range.

Then Sturridge looked to have the goal at his mercy but he mis-kicked and Kuvvatov was able to gather the loose ball.

England's dominance paid off as Tottenham's Rose broke the deadlock soon after the hour-mark with his second Under-21 goal.

Sturridge's initial shot was blocked but Rose was quick to react and his low left-footed drive from 20 yards out flew into the corner of the net.

Uzbekistan squandered their best opportunity of the game when Islom Tuhtahujaev headed over from close range.

England made sure of victory 12 minutes from time when another of their substitutes, Liverpool's Kelly, headed in a centre from Kyle Walker.