Capello handed England job until 2012

By Mike Collett
LONDON (Reuters) - Italian Fabio Capello was given the England manager's job until 2012 by the Football Association (FA) on Friday.

The FA confirmed his appointment on a four-and-a-half year contract in a statement on its Web site (www.thefa.com). The 61-year-old succeeds Steve McClaren, who was sacked last month after the team failed to qualify for Euro 2008

Capello, the oldest man to take charge of England, will start his new job on January 7. His first match is a friendly against Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland at Wembley on February 6.

The appointment of England's second overseas coach following Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001-06) was ratified by the FA board on Thursday. Contract details were finalized by the FA and Capello's lawyers on Friday.

"I am delighted Fabio Capello has agreed to become England manager," said FA chief executive Brian Barwick.

"When we set out to recruit the new manager we said we were committed to appointing a world class candidate. In Fabio Capello we have that man."

BACKROOM STAFF

Capello's backroom staff will consist of assistants Franco Baldini and Italo Galbiati, goalkeeping coach Franco Tancredi and fitness assistant Massimo Neri.

An English presence will also be drafted into the set-up in due course, the FA said.
Tancredi, 52, was looking forward to the task.

"I am very happy but I realize it will not be an easy job seeing as there are four foreign keepers at the first four teams in the Premier League and often the reserve keepers are too," the former Italy keeper told the Italian news service ANSA.

Capello has had a glittering career in club management and was also a top player, winning 32 caps for his country.

He has won nine league titles in Italy and Spain, although the two he achieved with Juventus in 2005 and 2006 were wiped from the record books because of an Italian match-fixing scandal in which he was never implicated.

Capello took AC Milan to Champions League glory in 1994 and also won domestic titles with AS Roma and Real Madrid.

SOUTHGATE RESERVATIONS

Although his appointment looks set to galvanize a team that for too long has underachieved, not everyone in England was happy with the FA's choice.

Former England defender Gareth Southgate, now manager of Premier League Middlesbrough, said: "I feel it should be our (English) players, our manager, our coach, our kit-man and our faith-healer against the best of the rest of the world.

"I don't see the point of having a national team with a national anthem and patriotism and a foreign coach. It might as well be club football."

Former England winger Steve Coppell, manager of Premier League Reading, welcomed Capello's arrival but said he wished he was English.

"I am sad," he said. "I'm a proud English manager and I would have loved an Englishman to be in charge."

TOP MANAGERS

The FA canvassed the opinions of many of the game's top managers including Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) and Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) on McClaren's successor and spokesman Adrian Bevington said Capello was the only man they interviewed for the job.

The only other candidate appeared to be former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho but the Portuguese ruled himself out this week.

Among the issues to be resolved is whether Capello can continue working as a pundit for RAI TV in Italy.

RAI want him to stay on until Euro 2008 but it remains to be seen whether he can combine both roles. He is due to be on a RAI show on Sunday evening before holding his first news conference in London on Monday.

PREVIEW-Soccer-Liverpool need French form to stay close at home

By Mitch Phillips

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Arsenal and Liverpool, who lost their unbeaten league records last week, host Chelsea and Manchester United respectively on Sunday as England's four European pilgrims return to domestic duties with a bang.

The four, who have all reached the last 16 of the Champions League, will line up on a "super Sunday" that should be an early Christmas treat for fans and armchair viewers alike.

The all-star double-bill comes relatively early in the season but could have a major impact on the title, particularly if United maintain their recent dominance of their north west rivals.

Tuesday's impressive 4-0 victory at Olympique Marseille may have rekindled Liverpool's European dream but if they lose on Sunday they will find themselves nine points behind United and possibly 10 adrift of Arsenal with any chance of a first league title since 1990 looking shot.

Manager Rafael Benitez, ever keen to shuffle his troops, will find it difficult to make too many changes after a midweek performance he described as "almost perfect."

Alex Ferguson rested most of his first team for Wednesday's Champions League dead rubber at AS Roma as he seeks to extend United's remarkable run of four wins and a draw from their last five league visits to the former fortress.

Chelsea's record at Arsenal is not quite as impressive but Arsene Wenger's team still have to go back four years for their last home league win.

CECH RETURN

Chelsea warmed up with a stroll in their goalless draw against Valencia, where there were returns to action for goalkeeper Petr Cech and defender Paulo Ferreira, who had both been out since early November.

Cech said he felt the momentum was with his club and looked to history for inspiration.

"When I came to Chelsea I remember going into Christmas five points behind Arsenal," he told the Standard newspaper.

"Then we got a 2-2 draw against them and by the time that period was over we were five points ahead.

"It's a time of year when there are so many difficult games in such a short space of time, plus squads have injuries and suspensions, it can really change things."

Didier Drogba remains out though after knee surgery and with a further New Year absence due to the African Nations Cup it is time for Andriy Shevchenko to step up to the mark.

Arsenal have had surprisingly few problems in replacing their key striker as in the post-Thierry Henry era they have scored in every league game.

Their total of 33 is four better than anyone else in the division and nine better than Chelsea.

Cesc Fabregas has played an important part of the goalfest with 11 to his name, including six in the league, but the Spain midfielder is struggling to recover from a hamstring strain in time to feature on Sunday.

He was certainly missed in the draw against Newcastle United and in last week's defeat by Middlesbrough, when Arsenal looked short of fizz, but the visit of the team who have supplanted them as the best in London should be enough to guarantee a return to their most effervescent champagne football.

Seedorf shoots Milan into Club World Cup final

By Alastair Himmer

YOKOHAMA, Japan, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Clarence Seedorf was on target as a Kaka-inspired AC Milan beat Japan's Urawa Reds 1-0 on Thursday to reach the final of the Club World Cup.

The Dutchman drove home the game's only goal in the 68th minute after a piece of Kaka magic, setting up a showdown with Argentine giants Boca Juniors in Sunday's tournament final.

"We showed great patience and waited for our moment to strike," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters. "I think the team demonstrated its quality tonight.

"We know Boca will be a different class from Urawa and we will need to play even better but we came to Japan with one aim -- to take the trophy home to Italy. That's still our goal."

Milan produced little real menace in the first half after captain Massimo Ambrosini's early header shaved the bar, although Seedorf wasted a chance after a dazzling run by Kaka.

The European champions bared their teeth after the break, Seedorf squandering two more gilt-edged opportunities, courtesy of Kaka, before finally getting it right.

The Brazilian's burst down the left triggered panic in Urawa's defence and Seedorf applied the coup de grace with a cool left-foot finish to silence a 67,000 crowd in Yokohama.

"After three important chances I scored the fourth one," Seedorf told Reuters. "We expect another tough game against Boca. Hopefully, we can get the same result."

PAINFUL DEFEAT

Milan won the Club World Cup's forerunner, a one-off match between the champions of Europe and South America, in 1969, 1989 and 1990. The Italians lost to Boca on penalties in 2003.

"That defeat hurt," said Ballon d'Or winner Kaka. "I can still remember it and look forward to facing Boca again. We were fully focused on Urawa today and they made it hard for us."

Boca beat Tunisia's Etoile Sahel 1-0 in Wednesday first semi-final in Tokyo.

Urawa coach Holger Osieck paid tribute to Milan.

"I think my team represented Japan well," said the German. "The difference was the individual class of Kaka, and Seedorf, with all his experience, finished it off."

Brazilian clubs won the first two versions of the revamped competition which is organised by world governing body FIFA.

Sao Paulo beat Liverpool 1-0 in 2005 and Internacional stunned Barcelona by the same score last year.

Mosley: "McLaren lied"

Eurosport - Sun, 09 Dec 15:14:00 2007

FIA president Max Mosley has accused McLaren of lying throughout the course of this year's long-running spy saga.

It is a damning indictment from Mosley as the team faces the real threat of expulsion from next year's Formula One world championship.

The World Motor Sport Council met in Monaco on Friday to discuss the FIA Technical Department's report on the validity of McLaren's 2008 car.

It would appear there is sufficient doubt on that front, with McLaren, Ferrari and the other F1 teams facing an EGM of the WMSC in Paris on February 14 at which the report will be discussed.

When asked whether team principal Ron Dennis should resign, Mosley replied: "It's not up to me to say. The thing is I really don't have a problem with Ron, contrary to popular belief.

"All I want, in each team, is somebody who tells us exactly what is going on, is open and truthful.
"Life is too short to go through the procedures we have had to go through with this."

It was then suggested to Mosley the problem this year is that McLaren have not told the truth and he potentially does not trust them.

"I couldn't pretend they told us the truth on the 26th of July [at the first hearing]," he remarked in reply.

"There is reason to suppose they may not have told us the whole truth on the 13th September either - and that does make it difficult.

"In the end, we are trying to run a sport, and we don't have the resources of the police, the Secret Service and these elements.

"We have very limited time, and it is extremely annoying to go through hundreds and hundreds of pages produced by lawyers who are being paid by the amount of time they can spend on the case.

"It completely detracts from what we are supposed to be doing in the sport, but on the other hand we cannot allow people to - to put it crudely - cheat."

With the EGM not for another two months, it means McLaren and Lewis Hamilton will not know whether they are competing in next year's championship until just four weeks prior to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

There is every prospect the team and Hamilton will be kicked out if the other F1 teams and the WMSC decide there are sufficient grounds to do so.

McLaren were warned on September 13 - after the hearing in which they were found guilty of unauthorised possession of confidential Ferrari information and fined a sporting record £50million - that their 2008 season was in jeopardy.

Following that hearing in Paris, the FIA Technical Department carried out a thorough search of McLaren's Woking-based headquarters, and it appears they have grounds for suspicion.

Unlike this year when Hamilton and then team-mate Fernando Alonso were allowed to carry on racing - courtesy of immunity offered by Mosley in return for information received - no such lenience will be forthcoming in February.

"If there is any negative finding about 2008, and it is only an if, then it [the punishment] will apply to everybody," Mosley confirmed.

Rosberg signs new Williams deal

Eurosport - Sun, 09 Dec 15:11:00 2007

Nico Rosberg has agreed a new two-year contract with Williams, ending speculation that he could move to McLaren as a replacement for Fernando Alonso.

A Williams spokesman confirmed that Rosberg's new deal would run up to the end of 2009.

"I'm delighted about having two more years with Williams," the 22-year-old German driver told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"Williams made me a much improved offer and I decided to accept it."

Last month the Williams team confirmed that Japan's Kazuki Nakajima would race for them alongside Rosberg next season.

"I'm now the number one driver in a very good team," said Rosberg, son of Finland's 1982 champion Keke.

"Of course I could have imagined myself at McLaren (in 2008), just as I could have imagined being at Ferrari. Every young driver wants to be a in a winning car and to win races. I'm no different. I race for success.

"But I feel I have to be patient, like most people. There are only a few exceptions like Lewis (Hamilton) who can have immediate success. Mika Hakkinen had to wait six years for a first win."

McLaren have yet to announce a replacement for double champion Alonso, who left last month and is expected to re-join Renault, as team-mate to 22-year-old Briton Hamilton.

Former champions Williams finished fourth in the constructors' championship this year after McLaren were stripped of all their points for a spying controversy.

Rally Wales GB - Loeb's title, Hirvonen's rally

Eurosport - Mon, 03 Dec 09:10:00 2007

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb secured his fourth world rally championship in a row with a controlled drive to third place on Rally GB.

The 33-year-old Citroen driver's achievement equalled Tommi Makkinen's record, which has stood since 1999, and came after what he described as "difficult" event in which he was unable to push hard in case of making a silly mistake.

"To equal Tommi's record is incredible," said Loeb. "It's been a very good year."
Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen won the rally by 15.2 seconds from his Ford team-mate Marcus Gronholm, taking his third victory of the year.

It was the fourth victory of his career and came after he had set the fastest time on six of the 17 stages and, more significantly, survived a final stage drama when he spun and lost 15 seconds to veteran Gronholm.

"We went off, it was not planned at all," said Hirvonen. "The season has been absolutely fantastic and to finish it like this is the best way possible.

"And I get to stand on the podium with Marcus too. Next year pushing Seb is my job, and I'm ready for it."

For Gronholm, second place on the 150th and last rally of his WRC career, spelt defeat in his long-running championship battle with Loeb.

"Okay, I am disappointed, but okay, it was a hard rally," he said. "We lost the title in Ireland. It was a great fight though and congratulations to Sebastien."

Fourth and fifth went to Subaru's Petter Solberg and Citroen's Dani Sordo, while Britain's Matthew Wilson made it home in a superb sixth place and scored his third successive points finish in his Stobart Ford.

Seventh and eighth went to a disillusioned Chris Atkinson in the second Subaru and to Manfred Stohl in a Kronos Citroen.

The third Subaru driver Xevi Pons, who described the event as "a disaster" came home ninth with Stobart Ford man Jari-Matti Latvala, who won both of the afternoon stages, snatching tenth place from Mads Ostberg by just 1.5 seconds on the final stage.

Hamilton lauded at awards

Lewis HAMILTON - Great Britain

Born : 07/01/1985

Height : 1.74 m

Weight : 67.00 kg

First race : 2007 Australian GP (result: 3rd)

Eurosport - Mon, 03 Dec 14:33:00 2007

Lewis Hamilton collected an armful of trophies at the Autosport Awards ceremony in London and heard Ayrton Senna's sister compare him to the late Brazilian great.

"He reminds me of Ayrton as a pilot (driver) and also as a good man," Viviane Senna told the audience featuring many of the luminaries of motor sport.

"We can see this in his eyes and his face."
The McLaren driver finished runner-up in his rookie championship to Ferrari's Kimi Raikonen but the 22-year-old still beat the Finn to the magazine's 'International Racing Driver of the Year' award.

Senna also presented Hamilton with the 'British Competition Driver of the Year' award while Damon Hill, Britain's last F1 champion in 1996, handed him the 'Rookie of the Year' award for the second season in a row.

"I'm a bit speechless actually," Hamilton said after embracing Senna, whose brother was the Briton's own boyhood hero until the Brazilian died at Imola in 1994.
"Ayrton was such a big part of my life....I was always watching his videos and never imagined I'd get to meet someone so close to him.

"I was really disappointed when I missed him in 1995, just a year too late," added Hamilton, harking back to a similar night 12 years ago when he first walked up to McLaren boss Ron Dennis and told him he wanted to drive for his team one day.

On a night for runners-up, Finn Marcus Gronholm was named as 'International Rally Driver of the Year' only hours after being beaten to the title yet again by Frenchman Sebastien Loeb.
McLaren, stripped of their constructors' points this season and fined $100 million after a spying controversy over leaked Ferrari technical information, won the 'International Racing Car of the Year' award with their MP4-22.

In a further barb to champions Ferrari, presenter Steve Rider quipped that it was a car "unlike the Ferrari in every conceivable aspect".

Williams co-owner Patrick Head was honoured for 30 years of technical achievement with the former world champions, who finished fourth this season after McLaren were penalised.

"We've done nothing in serious terms this season so I feel a bit of a fraud coming up here," he said in typically blunt fashion.