positions will crank the title race up another gear
against that background ancelotti will be determined to oversee another
confidence boosting victory and reinforce the claim he made following the home
victory over fulham at the end of the december that chelsea have turned the
corner after dip in form
the italian will once again be without his african stars with the likes of
didier drogba still on africa cup of nations duty while ghana michael essien
is back at the club receiving treatment on knee injury
twelve goals in two games suggests drogba has not been missed with first daniel
sturridge and then nicolas anelka filling the gap impressively in chelsea two
games without the ivorian
ashley cole and john terry will be fit to start after being withdrawn as
precaution at half time against sunderland
terry in particular can expect testing physical encounter at deepdale when he
will encounter preston burly striker jon parkin
parkin will lead the north end attack as the home side attempt to mark new
manager darren ferguson second game in charge with shock victory to rival
leeds united defeat of manchester united in the third round
if ferguson the son of united boss sir alex ferguson has identified way of
springing surprise he is not owning up to it
don know how we can beat them you tell me said the manager we are
aware of how good chelsea are as team and their performance last week was
magnificent
it simple fact and an old cliche that if we are at our maximum and they are
not then we stand chance and that is what we have to hope happens on
saturday
and he added my first home game in charge couldn get any harder suppose
people will say we have nothing to lose but we will go into it and try and win
it
preston form suggests there is little chance of shock with north end having
won one of their last eleven league games
ferguson principal task is to revive the club campaign and halt slide
towards the bottom three and he knows an eye catching result against chelsea
will have wider impact on the preston fortunes
victory would bring confidence and belief back into the squad he said we
are bit short of that so it is massive in terms of that if we got the right
result with that them sure we could kick on
football wembley heartbreak spurs on everton
liverpool england jan afp
david moyes plans to use the disappointment of everton fa cup final defeat as
inspiration to go all the way in the competition this season
the merseyside club defeated liverpool aston villa and manchester united on the
way to last season showpiece final at wembley
but despite taking the lead through louis saha everton were left shattered
after losing to chelsea
moyes wants another big day out in may but once again his side will have to do
it the hard way if they are to reach wembley
having defeated lower league carlisle in the third round the five times former
winners entertain birmingham the premier league form team in the fourth
round at goodison park on saturday
but moyes is confident his side can progress as they look to go one stage better
than last term and banish those painful memories
it was always going to be tough ask to beat chelsea but we had beaten big
teams going into it and we were playing well so felt disappointed by it and
quite lonely when you don win said moyes
but overall to finish fifth and get to the cup final wasn bad year for
everton saw that as progress so after the initial disappointment felt that
there was something to shout about
you need the luck of the draw but we did not have it there
in other years we have pulled out shrewsbury and oldham and thought that was
good draw only to lose
some of the draws last year made you think gee whizz but we got through so it
is difficult thing at the moment and we have to hope we can do it again
think what happens is that the best teams want to do it again and again
every time manchester united win the league they want to win it again the next
year and that is what my attitude is
everton are still without joseph yobo and yakubu who are away with nigeria at
the africa cup of nations
but youngsters jack rodwell and dan gosling who have both been sidelined with
hamstring injuries are set to return
ironically both gosling and rodwell came to prominence at this stage of last
year competition
gosling scored dramatic last gasp winner against liverpool in the fourth round
tie while rodwell came off the bench replacing steven pienaar and impressed
with composed display
birmingham are unbeaten in their last league and cup games under manager alex
mcleish run which included hard earned league draw at everton last
month
although birmingham boast seven point advantage over everton in the league
mcleish expects moyes side to be pulling out all the stops to win the fa cup
after last season heartbreak
everton were fa cup finalists last time so expect them to be doubly
determined to go one further this year said the former scotland manager
so we know it will be another hard game but we ll prepare properly
in training we ve used the special umbro balls solely used in the fa cup and
that will give the goalkeepers feel for it as well as the outfield players
birmingham hope mini break in malta this week has helped recharge the
batteries ahead of the second half of the campaign
the weather has been shocking with the snow and then the rain over the last
month added mcleish
ve been on few of these trips before and my experience tells me it can be
very beneficial for the players
it not holiday we were there to work hard possibly even harder than we
would normally because of the weather
but it wee bit of sun on the players back and will hopefully recharge the
batteries ahead of the run in
football english premier league table
london jan afp
english premier league table ahead of this weekend match played won drawn
lost goals for goals against points
arsenal
chelsea
man utd
tottenham
man city
liverpool
aston villa
birmingham
fulham
everton
stoke
blackburn
sunderland
wigan
burnley
west ham
wolverhampton
hull
bolton
portsmouth
football united eye return to the top
manchester england jan afp
with chelsea and arsenal otherwise engaged on fa cup duty manchester united can
steal march on their rivals and return to the top of the premier league table
with victory over hull at old trafford
united third round defeat by league one leeds ensured united were able to
bring forward their meeting with the tigers originally scheduled for the middle
of next week and they can afford to pass up the opportunity of three points
arsenal moved to the top of the table with win over bolton in midweek but
united could return to the summit with win over phil brown side
united manager sir ferguson surprised some with the strength of the team that he
fielded in the league cup semi final first leg against manchester city on
tuesday
that match ended in defeat and now ferguson must decide how many of his
first choice players he can afford to rest on saturday ahead of the second leg
against city at old trafford on wednesday
ryan giggs is likely to sit out the hull match and gary neville may feature
while dimitar berbatov knee problem could mean rare premier league start for
michael owen
the game looks likely to come too soon for rio ferdinand who is working his way
back from several months on the sidelines with back injury and ferguson is
still digesting the news that john hea is likely to miss the rest of the
season with leg problem that he picked up in november
even though united were beaten at city assistant manager mike phelan saw some
promising signs and insists they can string some victories together if they
start taking their chances
phelan said we want to keep some consistency in our game at city there were
signs that manchester united are on the way forward
if we can stick the ball in the back of the net we are in business
people keep saying the league cup is not on anyone priority list but it is
cup game
when you get to the semi final of cup you want to get to the final both
clubs are desperate for that
hull boss phil brown is hoping that his side relegation battle can be boosted
by the return of captain ian ashbee before the end of the season
ashbee has been out since may with hamstring injury but has also been
diagnosed with recurrence of the degenerative bone condition that he struggled
with early in his career
brown said would never write ian ashbee off never even if he said he
wasn fit still wouldn write him off
the beauty of ash of late is that he got new focus in life and that is
that he can see light at the end of the tunnel
when anyone can see that can understand how they must feel and how hard it
is to motivate yourself
but all of sudden can see realignment of his focus and think he can
see an end to all of this we are seeing different ian ashbee now and long
may that continue
amr zaki the egyptian striker who is joining hull on loan will not be
considered for this weekend match because he is not fully match fit
football saadane have nothing to prove
luanda jan afp
algeria are into their first world cup finals in years and the africa cup of
nations quarter finals yet the architect behind those twin achievements feels
undervalued unappreciated and underfire
coach rabah saadane has nothing to prove yet his critics sections of the
algerian media have rounded on him here in angola leaving him embattled and
bitter
born months after the end of world war ii the father of four who graduated from
university with degree in science is on his fifth marriage with the national
team
he was assistant coach at the world cup and head coach at the world
cup when algeria failed to make it out of the first round after draw with
northern ireland and losses to brazil and spain
saadane who cuts doleful figure with his droopy eyes and walrus moustache
served his country again for an unhappy four month spell in and returned
for fourth time in leading the desert foxes to quarter final at the
africa cup of nations in tunisia
hired again in this latest tenure has proved his most successful with
qualification to south africa and now last eight date with ivory coast on
sunday
he has achieved mission impossible as none of his critics believed either of
those two feats were possible especially algeria progress through the africa
cup of nations first round after their opening loss to malawi
that led to calls for his sacking
after that defeat discovered who were my friends and who were my enemies
saadane who has clearly been hurt by the press onslaught told afp
was attacked before we came to angola for choosing toulon as our training
base and attacked again when we lost to malawi
the criticism became personal this was disrespectful after the sacrifice made
to help put algeria back on the continental and international stage
don need to prove anything to anyone my record speaks for itself
feel unappreciated added the man who is called cheikh by his players
no one dreamed we could qualify for the world cup all those who criticise me
know nothing we lost one game and nobody will forgive us
my critics forget who is rabah saadane if they want to know who he is they
must look back to the past or to just few months
have nothing to prove
training the national team is an honour for me but it is also huge
responsibility eevery time am asked to become coach answer the challenge
and make successful job of it
when he was summoned to become coach for the fifth time in his wife begged
him not to accept as when times get rough fans can get rough too
took on the job again even though know the risk it presents on my family
on my life do not give up easily
after their rocky start algeria went on to beat mali and draw with
angola to reach the quarter finals as group runners up leaving saadane
satisfied that his team are on the right path
we have reached our objective of making the quarter finals
we have good team who are making progress with each match we will continue
to work hard to concentrate to try to go far in this tournament
the north africans are drawn in the same world cup first round group as england
the united states and slovenia and saadane former defender with french side
rennes believes this angola dress rehearsal will prove an invaluable experience
for south africa
we have shown here in angola that we are on the right path for the world cup
but what we have done here shouldn be regarded as message to england usa
and slovenia the conditions at the world cup will be very different to here in
terms of weather tactics and our preparation
football spanish league table
madrid jan afp
spanish league table ahead of the weekend matches played won drawn lost
goals for goals against points
barcelona
real madrid
valencia
real mallorca
deportivo la coruna
sevilla
athletic bilbao
getafe
sporting gijon
villarreal
atletico madrid
osasuna
racing santander
espanyol
almeria
malaga
valladolid
tenerife
real zaragoza
xerez
football real target perfect ten to keep barca in their sights
madrid jan afp
real madrid have picked up one point from the last six on the road so will be
glad of some home comfort at their fortress santiago bernabeu when they host
malaga on sunday as they bid to close the five point gap on leaders barcelona
real lost at athletic bilbao last time out but are going for th straight
home victory in the league and need to maintain their percent record to keep
barca within their sights
top scorer gonzalo higuain is sidelined with hamstring injury so the goals
burden falls on the shoulders of kaka and cristiano ronaldo who has gone three
games without goal which is drought by his high standards
am not getting worked up about it said ronaldo these things will come
naturally because working the same as always do sure the goals are
going to come
since thrashing real zaragoza madrid have failed to score in two of the
subsequent three matches at osasuna and bilbao so coach manuel
pellegrini may choose to bring the club all time leading goalscorer raul back
in from the cold after lengthy spell on the substitutes bench
barcelona have not had much trouble in front of goal plundering nine goals in
the last two league matches with lionel messi scoring five of the nine
on saturday barcelona travel to fourth from bottom valladolid knowing win
would put them eight points clear of real at least for hours
it five points and that gives us confidence to keep on working said
midfielder xavi however we can relax and we ll try to stretch the lead over
madrid and valencia
barca have few personnel problems in midfield with sergi busquets injured
while yaya toure and seydou keita are at the african cup of nations but xavi is
confident that one of the centre halves could step into the breach and play
alongside him
rafa marquez has played very well over the years and dima chigrinsky is
also very skillful and gerard pique played that role at real zaragoza so
there are plenty of options xavi explained
valladolid one point above the relegation zone have won one of their last
league matches and come up against an unbeaten barcelona side that are boosted
by the news that coach pep guardiola has agreed new contract
guardiola agreed one year extension to his contract until the end of the
season although the agreement will not be signed until after this
summer elections
valencia have moved three points behind real in third although david silva
admits the club don hold out much hope of title challenge with barcelona
already eight points ahead
up to now we have done things well but we have to keep our feet on the ground
said silva the target for valencia is the champions league ands it is
important to finish third to avoid the qualifier
valencia travel to tenerife on sunday defending the best away record in the
league with seven wins from their nine outings
not so long ago sevilla were riding high in third but four straight league
defeats have seen them fall to sixth eight points behind valencia
sevilla routed by barcelona last time out host almeria on saturday aiming
to end the negative sequence and there should be some confidence from the
kings cup first leg quarter final win at deportivo la coruna in midweek
with sevilla falling real mallorca are the surprise package in fourth and hope
to improve on their solitary away win when they travel to espanyol on sunday
deportivo la coruna are two points behind mallorca and on saturday host an
athletic bilbao side point behind them and on high after their win over
real at san mames
in other matches atletico madrid face getafe on sunday in local derby at the
coliseum alfonso perez
atletico are targeting fourth successive win in the league as they bid to claw
their way into the european spots after horrid start to the season
saturday
sevilla almeria gmt valladolid barcelona gmt deportivo la
coruna athletic bilbao gmt
sunday all gmt unless stated
sporting gijon racing santander tenerife valencia villarreal real
zaragoza xerez osasuna espanyol real mallorca getafe atletico madrid
gmt real madrid malaga gmt
football cup provides answer to accrington stanley question
london jan afp
for most english football fans accrington stanley will forever be associated
with fondly remembered television commercial for milk from the
in it football loving urchin tells friend that if he does not drink his
milk he ll only ever be good enough to play for accrington stanley
his friend replies accrington stanley who are they and fans of the
perennially unsuccessful lancashire club have never been allowed to forget that
line or the response exactly
for those long suffering supporters this weekend fa cup fourth round tie with
premier league fulham offers an opportunity for their club which only few
months ago was on the verge of bankruptcy to make itself synonomous with
something other than the dismissive scorn of ten year old
accrington currently th in the four tier of english football are the lowest
ranked team left in the competition and their run has already assured the club
near term financial future as well as taking them stage further than either
liverpool or manchester united could manage
but manager john coleman sees no reason to settle for that
fulham will have had our rd round game against gillingham watched and they
will know it won be cakewalk he said this week
my lads are sky high at the minute fulham hold no fear for them and to be
honest my players would feel happy and confident if they went out to play real
madrid just at the moment
the demise of united and liverpool beaten respectively by leeds and reading in
the last round has left chelsea as the bookmakers favourites to lift the cup
but the holders have potentially tricky fourth round assignment in the form of
lunchtime trip to championship side preston now managed by united boss sir
alex ferguson son darren
arsenal are involved in one of three all premier league ties with arsene
wenger men looking to maintain their recent momentum at stoke on sunday
everton take on birmingham while winners portsmouth entertain sunderland in
the other clashes between top flight clubs
having seen their side beat manchester united at old trafford in the third
round leeds huge army of supporters will relish another afternoon back in the
big time when they travel to tottenham while reading reward for knocking
liverpool out was home tie against burnley
that match is rerun of last season championship play off semi final which
burnley won thanks to memorable goal from scottish striker steven thompson
before going on clinch promotion to the premier league
that game will live in the memory for long time and it was an amazing
occasion for everyone connected with the club thompson recalled
but it different now reading are good team especially down at the
madejski they ll be looking to take another premier league scalp so we need to
make sure we re still in the cup come saturday night
wolves plan to pitch belgium winger geoffrey mujangi bia their transfer window
loan signing straight into action in their meeting with crystal palace who are
having good season and challenging for place in the championship play offs
other ties with the potential for an upset include league two notts county
home tie with wigan and scunthorpe sunday date with manchester city
th round fixtures gmt unless stated
accrington stanley fulham aston villa brighton bolton sheffield utd
cardiff city leicester derby doncaster everton birmingham notts county
wigan portmsouth sunderland preston ne chelsea gmt reading
burnley gmt southampton ipswich tottenham leeds west brom
newcastle wolves crystal palace
sunday
scunthorpe manchester city gmt stoke city arsenal gmt
us transfers two guantanamo detainees to algeria
washington jan afp
the united states has transferred two algerian detainees from guantanamo bay to
their native country the us justice department announced thursday
the announcement named the two man as hasan zemiri and adil hadi al jazairi bin
hamlili and came on the eve of what was once president barack obama target
date to close the notorious facility
but political firestorm at home over the obama administration plans to house
some of the terror suspects on us soil and the reluctance of foreign allies in
released detainees have dealt blow to his landmark promise
some detainees remain at the us military prison in southern cuba including
dozens already cleared for release down from around when obama took office
most have been held without charge or trial
slovakian foreign minister miroslav lajcak said tuesday that his country would
accept three prisoners from the jail as gesture of alliance and solidarity
the obama administration has suspended the transfer of yemeni prisoners who
account for about half the prison population out of concern they might take
up arms against the united states
us lawmakers and the defense department have warned that growing number of
former guantanamo detainees are joining militant groups to fight against the
united states
pentagon report in april found that about percent of former guantanamo
inmates either had or were suspected of having ties to militants
obama suspended the transfers to yemen after it emerged that the nigerian man
accused of trying to blow himself up aboard us bound airliner carrying nearly
people was allegedly trained by an al qaeda affiliate in yemen
but in its statement about the latest transfers the justice department said
the united states coordinated with the government of algeria to ensure the
transfers took place under appropriate security measures
hours before the transfer was announced obama republican foes unveiled
legislation to restrict his ability to transfer guantanamo detainees overseas
in the latest possible setback to his plans to close the facility
the detainee transfer and release security act of aims to require obama to
certify that detainee destination country is not state sponsor of terror
has control over its territory and does not tolerate safe havens for extremists
like al qaeda
the measure also called for the president to certify that there has been no
confirmed case of guantanamo bay detainee engaging in extremist activities
after being released to the proposed destination
the legislation was unlikely to attract enough support from the president
democratic allies to become law
eu watchdog urges weight loss drug sale suspension
london jan afp
the european union medicines watchdog has recommended weight loss drug be
taken off the market over fears it could increase the risk of heart attacks and
strokes
the european medicines agency emea on thursday recommended sibutramine be
taken off the market after six year investigation involving nearly
patients
an agency committee concluded the risks of the drug outweighed the benefits and
recommended the suspension of marketing authorisations for these medicines
across the european union the emea said in statement
sibutramine is contained in medicines including reductil reduxade and zelium
which are aimed at helping weight loss in overweight patients with other
conditions such as diabetes
doctors should no longer prescribe and pharmacists should no longer dispense
the medicine said the agency
it added patients using the drug should make an appointment with their doctor to
discuss alternative weight loss treatments
tokyo stocks plunge on obama plans to rein in banks
tokyo jan afp
japanese share prices plunged by more than two percent in early trading friday
as investors worried over us plans to limit the size and scope of banks and
finance firms
the benchmark nikkei index lost points or percent to
in early trading
wall street dropped after us president barack obama unveiled plans to limit the
size and scope of us banks and finance firms
it inevitable that new york shares tumbled on tighter financial regulations
funds are flowing out of risk assets for now said hideaki higashi
strategist at smbc friend securities
as the financial sector accounts for large share of the us economy the
tighter regulation on it could adversely affect the overall economy which is
bound to impact japan economy he said
the plans are aimed at limiting excessive risk taking to protect taxpayers
they seek to prevent banks or finance institutions from owning investing in or
sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds
they will effectively force finance firms to choose between proprietary
activities trading in stocks and sometimes risky financial instruments and
commercial activities like making loans and collecting deposits
shares in bankrupt japan airlines fell to the rock bottom price of one yen one
us cent briefly before rebounding to two yen the same as thursday close
nhl future olympic participation up for debate bettman
calgary canada jan afp
with nhl players gearing up for the olympics commissioner gary bettman
said thursday the league participation in future games is up for debate
every time discuss the pluses and minuses and articulate what the minuses
are people say oh well they ve made up their mind they re not going
bettman said
it difficult for any business any league to shut down for two weeks with
the attendant loss of attention and everything that flows from it and there are
competitive issues
starting with the nagano olympics the nhl has taken an olympic break every
four years allowing players to compete for their native countries at the games
this year the league will break on february for days to allow nhl players
to compete in vancouver
while it insures the best players take part in the olympics bettman said
there big downside for the league
our teams send varying amounts of players to the olympics and so team that
sends eight or nine players may come back little more tired and banged up than
an nhl team that sends none or one or two he said
but the commissioner said there was plenty of time to make decision for the
sochi games
know the players are passionate about representing their countries we have
long history as sport in international competition and that something
that important to the players
but we have to decide on balance is it worth it he said
bettman also voiced concern over whether the nhl loses out on publicity during
the games allowing fan enthusiasm to dwindle
in some places the benefits are greater for the olympic participation than
others when you re in vancouver or salt lake city and you re in north american
time zones and you re getting that type of coverage then you are getting
coverage that may be commensurate with shutting down bettman said
when you re halfway around the world maybe the coverage isn as great the
time zone in sochi russia for example is hours ahead of the mountain time
zone he said noting that the time difference meant games would be played in
the middle of the night in north america
is it worth it don have an answer to it yet
leonardo dicaprio donates million dollars to haiti fund
los angeles jan afp
leonardo dicaprio has become the latest star to back the haiti earthquake relief
effort donating one million dollars to help the shattered country statement
said thursday
dicaprio donation was made to the clinton bush haiti fund former us
