Dhaka football’s is braced for another crisis as the 13 Senior Division football clubs and the Bangladesh Football Federation are seemingly headed for a tug-of-war throwing the Dhaka league into uncertainty. The BFF has offered a record amount of Taka 30 lakh as incentive but that has done little to change things.
   After the B league was introduced most of the top Dhaka clubs opted to play in the professional league and it made it difficult for a club to play in two leagues.
   Eight Dhaka clubs played in the B league while the other Dhaka clubs were scheduled to play in the Senior Division football league. But as time passed the problems began to mount.
   All the Dhaka football clubs don’t have any permanent source of income. Throughout the years it was customary that an influential person from a political party would manage the money from different quarters in his capacity as club head. A club’s other means of generating income would come from donations from well-wishers and closed-door gambling. But with such activities are banned and almost all the political figures are on the run, running a football team for about three or four months, recruiting players and paying them has become virtually impossible.
   ‘What we can do? The sponsors are not eager to make money available and though we are keen on playing in the league, we are afraid that we might have to quit mid-way through the competition,’ said a club official requesting anonymity.
   In a bid to bring the clubs into the league, the BFF offered each team Tk 1.5 lakh as part a grand Tk 30 lakh package. The BFF thrice fixed the date of the Senior Division players’ transfer in the first three months of the year but none of the clubs responded.
   Now the federation has proposed to give the money and hold the bourse from August 24-27 and kick off the league on September 15. But the clubs want to kick off the league in November.
   ‘We have sent a letter requesting the clubs to comply with our plans. Otherwise the fund would be relinquished. It is now up to the clubs whether they play or not,’ said Azfaruzzaman Sohrab, the secretary of the league committee and member of BFF.

Rahul Dravid didn’t score a hundred during India’s 1-0 series win against England, and nor did his fellow star batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.
   But far from being disappointed, India captain Dravid was elated after leading his country to only their third series win in 15 tours of England following a draw in the final Test here at The Oval.
   Dravid became the first India captain since Kapil Dev in 1986 and only the third overall following Ajit Wadekar in 1971, to lead his country to a Test series win in England.
   The 34-year-old, asked how he would have felt if someone had made the seemingly outlandish suggestion that India’ would have won without a century from the ‘Fab Four’ during the three Tests, replied: ‘I would have said great, that’s what Indian cricket needs. We need different heroes.’
   Left-arm quick Khan, whose India career appeared to have stalled, led the attack superbly with 18 wickets at just over 20 apiece.
   Both he and fellow left-armer Rudra Pratap Singh troubled England with their late swing and control even when bowling from around the wicket.
   Meanwhile Karthik, who made his name as a wicketkeeper, scored a fifty in each of the three Tests.
   His partnership of 147 with Jaffer, after India had bowled out England for 198, played a key role in India’s seven wicket second Test win at Trent Bridge which came after they’d clung on for a draw with one wicket standing at Lord’s.
   India’s success was also a triumph for something akin to an old-fashioned management structure.
   They may have been without a coach following Greg Chappell’s departure after a shock first round World Cup exit but 73-year-old team manager Chandu Borde provided the kind of sage advice that comes from a lifetime’s involvement in the game.
   For example, the former India batsman and chief selector’s tip to Jaffer to skip in the dressing room just before he went out to bat, so as to get his feet moving, was especially inspired.
   Venkatesh Prasad (bowling coach), Robin Singh (fielding coach) and Greg King (trainer) completed the support staff.
   ‘Even though we might not have had a head coach, we’ve had great guidance,’ said Dravid.
   India piled up 664 in the first innings at The Oval, their record total against England featuring leg-spinner Anil Kumble’s maiden Test hundred.

Rahul Dravid’s triumphant Indians were on Tuesday rewarded with a 250,000-dollar bonus by the country’s cricket chiefs for a rare Test series win in England.
   India won the three-match series 1-0 after the final Test ended in a draw at the Oval on Monday. The tourists had won the second Test at Trent Bridge after being saved by rain in the drawn first Test at Lord’s.
   It was only the third series win by India in England following the 1-0 win by Ajit Wadekar’s team in 1971 and the 2-0 victory by Kapil Dev’s men in 1986.
   Indian cricket board chief Sharad Pawar hailed the win and announced a bonus of 10 million rupees (250,000 dollars) for the 16 players, interim manager Chandu Borde and assistant coaches Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad.
   ‘I would like to congratulate the Indian contingent for their excellent teamwork and performance against England in the Test series,’ Pawar said in a cricket board statement.
   ‘I am sure every Indian will feel proud of our players, who have won a series in England after a gap of 21 years. I am sure a similar performance will be shown in the one-day series.’
   The seven-match one-day series starts at the Rose Bowl on August 21.
   The series success was marred by widespread criticism of Dravid’s decision not to enforce the follow-on on the fourth day despite being 319 runs ahead, allowing England an escape route from defeat.
   England, set an improbable victory target of 500, batted out the last 110 overs to make 369-6 in their second innings and force a draw, but still lost their first Test series at home since 2001.
   Kapil, hailing the series win, wished India had enforced the follow-on and pressed for a 2-0 margin.

Kevin Pietersen played down the spat he and India spinner Anil Kumble had on the final day of the third Test at The Oval on Monday and suggested it was because the bowler was just intent on a victory.
   England, set an unlikely victory target of 500, survived India’s charge and closed on 369 for six. Pietersen scored 101 for his 10th Test century to frustrate the Indians, who still won the series 1-0.
   Kumble reacted angrily when he attempted to field off his own bowling and collided with non-striker Pietersen, who he thought was trying to obstruct him. Kumble then had a heated verbal exchange with the England batsman.
   ‘He’s a fierce competitor,’ Pietersen told reporters. ‘India were trying as hard as they could to win and he was fighting for his country. I was ball watching and got in his way.’
   The exchange became so explosive at one stage that South African umpire Ian Howell intervened and
   India skipper Rahul Dravid jogged from slip to calm his bowler.
   ‘It was nothing serious, (but) Anil can get quite worked up on the field when he’s bowling and trying very hard,’ Dravid said.
   ‘He was in his 30th over and was trying to win a Test match for India. There’s no prouder man than Kumble when he steps on the field to represent India. He gives it his all and when he gives it his all it can get the better of him.
   ‘It shows the effort he has put in this series and over his career. Anil has been a top man and I’m really happy for the way he got a hundred - it was one of the
   most popular hundreds that I’ve seen,’ he said, referring to Kumble’s 110 not out on Friday that was India’s only century in the series.

South African cricket authorities on Tuesday said it hoped star all-rounder Jacques Kallis would withdraw his resignation as vice-captain of the national team.
   Kallis rocked South African cricket by announcing his resignation two days after he was left out of his country’s team for next month’s ICC World Twenty20 championship in South Africa.
   Kallis told the Cape Times newspaper: ‘I have resigned as vice-captain and I’m considering my options with regard to the rest of my career.’
   Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola said in a statement that Kallis had telephoned him Monday to say he was resigning as vice-captain.
   ‘I said we all understood his disappointment, and appealed to him not to resign while in an emotional state but to rather meet with CSA to discuss the matter fully so that we could deal with all the issues at hand.
   ‘It is most disappointing therefore that Jacques took a unilateral decision after speaking to me to publicly announce his resignation as vice-captain.’
   Majola said Kallis’s actions were regrettable in view of a recent agreement between CSA and the South African Cricketers’ Association which outlined the way issues involving players should be dealt with.
   ‘Jacques is employed by CSA, and we expected him at least to sit down at a meeting and go through the matter before he made his own decision to make a public announcement.
   ‘The reasons for his omission from the squad were fully explained to him as well as the prominent role he will play in a very full and varied season after the tournament.
   ‘CSA hopes that Jacques will reconsider his decision because we believe that he has much to offer as vice-captain and has been a stalwart on the field for South African cricket for more than a decade.

Bangla Vision will take on Ajker Kagoj in the final of the Meril Media Cup football tournament after winning their respective semi-finals at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Tuesday.
   In the day’s first semi, satellite channel Bangla Vision edged high-flying UNB 3-2 in shoot-out after both sides failed to find a goal even after extra-time. Bangla Vision keeper Kazi Sabbir was adjudged man-of-the-match.
   Ajker Kagoj booked their place in Thursday’s final defeating giant-killers New Nation 2-0. The final will kick-off at 10:00am following the third-place decider.
   Former national footballers Abdus Salam Murshedi, Badal Roy, Abdus Salam, Satyajit Das Rupu and Arif Khan Joy were the match adjudicators during the semi-finals.

Pabna defeated Nilphamari 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out to book a quarter-final place in the Panchagarh DC Gold Cup football tournament after the stipulated time ended 1-1 at the local stadium on Tuesday.
   Riyadh of Pabna broke the deadlock in the 29th minute but Ataur of Nilphamari leveled the scoreline in the 79th minute. Later, Pabna netted four of their penalties while Nilphamari netted thrice.
   Naogaon meet Kurigram in a group match today.

International Master Enamul Hossain Rajib and seven other players enjoy joint lead after the second round matches of the 17th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival.
   After the second round on Monday, Rajib secured two points beating the second highest rated player of the event Grand Master Jovaba Baadur (Rating-2644) of Georgia.
   Seventy players from 22 countries, including 23 Grand Masters, 11 International Masters and 5 Women Grandmasters, are participating in the meet.

Michael Vaughan may have lost his first home Test series as England captain but the performance of a makeshift attack against India left him in optimistic mood.
   India won a three-match series 1-0 after the final Test at The Oval ended in a draw. It might have been different for England had they taken the one wicket they needed for victory in the series opener at Lord’s and won the toss at Trent Bridge, where India’s seven wicket success ultimately proved decisive.
   Vaughan though was in no mood to seek solace in any such excuses.
   ‘There are series that you lose where you know you’ve played really bad cricket, and there are series like this one where you think you haven’t played that badly,’ he told reporters.
   ‘But in a three-match series, the team that plays better cricket wins, and the way India played the last two games, they picked the series.’
   England though were without the injured pace trio of Matthew Hoggard, Stephen Harmison and Andrew Flintoff for all three Tests.
   However, England will hope to have the three bowlers fit by the time they fly to Sri Lanka in November for their next Test series.

Indian national women football champions Orissa will arrive on August 20 to play a few friendly matches. They will play four matches against a Bangladesh selection, under the banner of BFF Eleven.
   The first match will be held at the Safipur Ansar & VDP Academy in Gazipur on August 22 and the second match on August 23 at the Fatullah Stadium. The tourists will then travel to Chittagong to play at the MA Aziz Stadium on August 25. The last match will be held on August 27 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
   Meanwhile, a 26-member Bangladesh women’s team are undergoing a residential camp at the Dhanmondi Women’s Sports Complex from August 4. The final 18-member squad is likely to be named on August 18, said Qamrunnahar Dana, the BFF women’s football committee secretary.

While Rafael Nadal hitched a ride on the private jet charter of Roger Federer for a two-hour flight from Canada on Monday, unseeded Nicolas Kiefer got down to work at the Cincinnati Masters.
   The German has come back strong after nearly a year nursing a wrist injury followed by a knee niggle last month which prevented him from playing a semi-final in Los Angeles.
   Kiefer showed solid form as he dealt more disappointment to struggling Marat Safin, defeating the former world number one 6-3, 7-6 in the first round of this 2.2 million-dollar tournament.
   The Russian was quick to shrug off any disappointment.
   ‘I’m not going to kill myself and feel bad for next month and a half,’ he said. ‘It happened, it happened. It’s not like it’s last day of my life.’
   Safin said that he is still trying to reconstruct his game after his knee injury which kept him below par for 18 months or more. His immediate priority is to lift his ranking from its current 24th.
   ‘It will take a couple months to get used to it and then you will see the difference. I don’t really care about the results right now.
   While lesser lights took the court on the opening day of the last big event prior to the start of the US Open on August 27, world number one Federer and his friend and rival Nadal were likely comparing notes during their flight from Montreal to Cincinnati.
   The top two players in the world were both shown the door by surging Serb Novak Djokovic, who beat Nadal in the semis and Federer in Sunday’s final in the Montreal Masters.
   The breakthrough - Djokovoc became the first man to beat both of the kingpins in the same event - thrust the 20-year-old into the spotlight as a contender at every tournament he plays.
   Djokovic, the world number three and seeded fourth with a bye in the first round, will open on Wednesday against former Roland Garros champion and 2002 Cincinnati winner Carlos Moya, who beat slumping Argentine David Nalbandian 7-6, 7-6.
   Luckless Briton Tim Henman, the 2000 finalist, finds his ranking in freefall after suffering his third straight first-round defeat, going out to Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
   Henman, ranked 92nd, admitted that he’s starting to break down as his fragile back feels the strain of hardcourt play.
   The veteran wants to soldier through next week and play in New Haven before taking a stab at the US Open.
   In other matches Monday, Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, seeded 11th, picked up his first victory since the Wimbledon second round, defeating American Amer Delic 1-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Chile’s new coach Marcelo Bielsa has admitted to mixed feelings over the prospect of facing his native Argentina in his first competitive match in charge.
   Chile are due to face Argentina in Buenos Aires on October 13 or October 14 when they kick off their campaign in the South American qualifying competition for the 2010 World Cup.
   ‘In this profession, one always tries to immunise oneself against emotions,’ Bielsa told reporters late on Monday. ‘But of course, when this moment arrives, there will be a very strong ambivalence.
   ‘On the one hand, there’s the commitment which the profession demands, on the other the sense of belonging which establishes conditions that are definitive for any human being.’
   Bielsa, who coached Argentina from 1998 to 2004, has replaced Nelson Acosta, who resigned after Chile’s 6-1 Copa America quarter-final defeat to Brazil.
   The famously introverted and enigmatic coach said he would invite AS Roma midfielder David Pizarro and Universidad de Chile striker Marcelo Salas to reconsider their decisions to quit the national side.
   Bielsa reaffirmed his commitment to attacking football, the same philosophy he followed when he was coach of Argentina.
   ‘I have ideas which I’m unlikely to abandon, because they are part of the way in which each coach interprets football,’ he said.
   ‘I always feel more comfortable when the team of which I am coach manages to spend more time attacking than defending.’
   Bielsa’s first game in charge will be a friendly against Switzerland in Vienna on Sept. 7. Chile also face Austria four days later.

Former players and the media hailed India’s Test team after they clinched a first series victory in England for 21 years on Monday.
   Rahul Dravid’s side drew the third and final Test at the Oval to win the series 1-0 after recording a comprehensive seven-wicket win in the second Test in Nottingham.
   Rain had saved India from defeat in the opening Test at Lord’s.
   The series victory was India’s third in England after triumphs in 1971 and 1986, and came a year after Dravid had led his country to their first series victory in the Caribbean for 35 years.
   ‘To beat England in England is not easy,’ Ajit Wadekar, who led India to their first series victory in England and the West Indies, told Reuters on Tuesday.
   ‘The conditions are Testing for visitors. They may have been without (Andrew) Flintoff and (Steve) Harmison but every England bowler knows how to exploit the conditions.
   ‘Our batsmen put up an extremely good show and Zaheer (Khan) and the other bowlers adjusted quickly to the conditions.’
   England’s defeat ended a six-year unbeaten streak of Michael Vaughan’s team at home.
   Kapil Dev, who led India to their last series win in England, hailed the series win but felt a victory in the final Test would have enhanced the side’s reputation.
   Dravid did not enforce the follow-on despite a first innings lead of 319 and his safety-first approach was subject of heated debate.
   ‘If you want to blame, you can blame the entire team, they would have taken a collective decision,’ he told Aaj Tak channel.
   ‘Once he has decided to bat, India should have attacked and tried to win the match, not draw,’ he said.
   ‘I just don’t understand why there was the need to rest the bowlers.’
   Chief Indian selector Dilip Vengsarkar, however, backed Dravid’s decision not to enforce the follow-on.
   ‘We were 1-0 up. We had the series in the pocket. There was no reason to take the risk,’ he was quoted by the Indian media on Tuesday.
   ‘Why would we want to bat on the fifth day?’
   ‘Draw at Oval, win in England,’ screamed the lead headline in the main sports page of national daily Times of India with a five column picture of the team rejoicing.
   ‘The wait is Oval...’ ran the headline in Hindustan Times, while Mumbai daily DNA’s said ‘India draw a win’.

The England and Wales Cricket Board were left without a successor to chairman David Morgan after the two candidates to replace him tied in an initial vote on Tuesday.
   A condition of Morgan becoming president of the International Cricket Council, the global governing body, next year is that he gives up his domestic post. But a ballot of the chairmen of England’s 18 first-class counties and Charles Fry, the chairman of Lord’s owners Marylebone Cricket Club saw Somerset chairman Giles Clarke and current ECB deputy chairman Michael Soper both receive nine votes each, with one abstention.

Stephen Hunt will ignore Petr Cech today when the pair meet for the first time since the Chelsea goalkeeper suffered a fractured skull in a life-threatening collision.
   Cech needed emergency brain surgery after Reading midfielder Hunt caught him in the head with his knee during Chelsea’s 1-0 victory at the Madejski Stadium last October.
   Outraged Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho accused Hunt of hurting the Czech star deliberately and made damaging slurs against the Berkshire ambulance service’s response to the 999 drama.
   And Chelsea’s sense of grievance only increased when Cech’s replacement, Carlo Cudicini, was knocked unconscious in an aerial challenge by Ibrahima Sonko in the same game.
   Frank Lampard led a chorus of Chelsea players who blasted Hunt for his alleged indifference to a fellow professional’s well-being by failing to visit Cech in hospital. But Hunt has vowed to blank Cech when Chelsea return to the Madejski and said: ‘I haven’t spoken to him - and I won’t, either.
   ‘That is not meant to be rude, but it is forgotten now and we move on. We will line up and shake hands, but that is it. I’m just looking forward to the game.
   ‘The incident made so many headlines and I guess a lot of people were asking, ‘Who is he?’ By the end of the season, I like to think I made a name for myself as a footballer.’
   Hunt, who was left on the bench for Reading’s 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge last Christmas, will not endear himself to Blues fans by refusing to acknowledge Cech, who was out for three months after the collision and still wears a protective helmet.
   Yet he remains unrepentant about his challenge, which referee Mike Riley deemed unworthy of even a yellow card, and last night he hit back at Chelsea’s ‘so-called superstars’ over their sanctimonious reaction.
   Hunt said: ‘There is more incentive to do well against teams like Chelsea - they have so-called superstars who earn so much money, but both times we have played them we deserved results out of the games. The incidents won’t take anything away from what we have achieved.
   ‘It was hard to deal with at the time and the manager left me out for a few games. But I came back and played well for the rest of the season and things have calmed down a bit now.’
   Today’s grudge match, which also marks Steve Sidwell’s return to the Madejski, comes as the Premier League announced new rapid-response measures to improve emergency care for players.
   In the aftermath of Cech and Cudicini’s injuries, an ambulance and qualified paramedics will be on standby for players and officials at every Premier League game this season.

Steven Gerrard hopes the goal which broke Liverpool’s opening-day curse will prove a vital one to the club’s season.
   The England midfielder grabbed a brilliant late winner at Aston Villa to give his side the perfect start for the first time since 2002.
   More importantly, it immediately eased the pressure on a team that has been under intense scrutiny following a £50million spending spree by Rafael Benitez.
   Liverpool can consolidate on their victory today in a Champions League qualifier in Toulouse.
   ‘I know it’s early but I hope it turns out to be one of the most important goals this season as all the lads have been saying through pre-season how much we needed a good start,’ Gerrard told the Daily Mirror.
   ‘With the Champions League game coming up, to not have won at Villa would have been devastating after the way we played.
   ‘But winning allows us to feel we can build some momentum, and that’s been shown to be so important in this league.’ Liverpool had not tasted victory on the first day of the season since Benitez took over as boss in June 2004.
   ‘The main thing is we won and deserved it,’ added Gerrard. ‘The performance was, at times, very good,’ he said.
   ‘You just can’t afford to fall behind the leaders like we have in the past. That’s why you could see how much it meant to us to win and we were buzzing in the dressing room afterwards.’
   Of his new signings, Benitez played only Fernando Torres at Villa, feeling he needed tried and tested players for the tricky away trip.
   He left the likes of Peter Crouch, Yossi Benayoun, Lucas Leiva, Sebastian Leto, Harry Kewell and Javier Mascherano back home on Merseyside, and new boys Ryan Babel and Andriy Voronin on the bench. If you bring in a lot of new players you don’t know if they will settle,’ said Benitez.
   ‘I wanted players with experience to approach this game with the character that was needed but I could bring on the new players if needed.’
   For Benitez though, ahead lies the massive problem of keeping players happy when they are not even getting into the match-day squad. With six regular first-teamers left out against Villa, his rotation policy will need to be very clever indeed if he is to avoid major unrest.
   Benitez believes he will have plenty of opportunities to give all his men chances, and the trip to Toulouse will allow some changes, with Crouch, Voronin and Babel likely to start the match.

Alex Ferguson insists the experience veteran managers like himself and Harry Redknapp bring to clubs is irreplaceable.
   The two go head to head today when Redknapp’s Portsmouth host Manchester United at Fratton Park in the second round of English Premier League games.
   Redknapp not only kept Pompey in the top flight last season; he also guided the south coast club to a ninth-placed finish—their best performance since they won a second consecutive league title 57 years ago.
   Ferguson, 65, feels Redknapp, 60, is striking a blow for experienced bosses.
   ‘There was a period where a lot of club chairmen got enamoured by top players and made them managers at Premier League level virtually the very next day,’ said Ferguson.
   ‘That was always a risk.
   ‘Now, there seems to be a reliance on older managers such as Harry, Steve Coppell and Sam Allardyce.
   ‘They all have teams who are respectable in terms of both performance and the positions they have got themselves into.
   ‘Certainly Harry has loads of experience and I think you can expect improvement from Portsmouth this season.’
   Two points behind their major championship rivals Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal already, United can not afford to slip up again if they are not to find themselves playing an unwanted game of catch-up.
   Their task is just made more difficult by the absence of England striker Wayne Rooney, sidelined for two months by the fractured left foot he sustained against Reading.
   Much as victory is desired, Ferguson recognises it will be no easy task, particularly as in Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari, Pompey boast a player he knows very well.
   ‘Fratton Park is not an easy place to go to,’ he said.
   ‘It means Portsmouth have a big advantage overall in terms of their likely home record.
   ‘Harry has made a few interesting additions too, especially Muntari, who we have watched quite a bit.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez insists he will continue to rotate his squad this season.
   The Anfield boss has received criticism from some quarters for his policy of shuffling his Liverpool squad, but Benitez is undeterred.
   FSC brings you the best of the Barclays Premier League. If you miss a game live catch the action here. We’ll bring you full matches on 12-hour delay, and the first round
   The Reds face Toulouse in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League today and Peter Crouch, Yossi Benayoun and Javier Mascherano are expected to play.
   The trio were left out of the squad which travelled to Aston Villa on Saturday for Liverpool’s Premier League opener, but they are likely to feature in France as Benitez continues to ring the changes.
   Crouch, especially, has been rumoured to be unhappy at his limited first-team opportunities, but Benitez has reiterated that no player is guaranteed a regular place in his starting XI.
   ‘In modern football you have to change players,’ Benitez told the London Daily Star. ‘It’s not easy to keep the same team.
   ‘I know a lot of people would like to see the same XI every week but it’s impossible.
   ‘If players are performing well and we are winning games in a row then we will try to keep them in the team.
   ‘But how many teams in the Premier League can keep the same XI every week? You look at it and it is usually the teams that are outside the top eight.
    ‘Why? Because they only play one game a week normally.
   ‘We hope to play 60 games a season and you can’t play the same people every week.
   ‘A tired team is often a losing team.’

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has stated that he believes the Bianconeri can compete for a Champions League spot this season.
   The Serie B champions make their return to the top flight after a year’s absence, but the World Cup winner is sure they can immediately fight for the top positions, although he is aware of the difficulties.
   ‘If we managed to qualify for the Champions League I believe that would be a clear indication of what Juve’s future might be,’ said Buffon in an interview with Rai Sport.
   ‘We mustn’t forget the difficulties we have had to face as players, along with the club,’ added the former Parma man.
   ‘Taking these factors into consideration, mainly the financial aspects, there would be nothing scandalous if we were to end the next campaign in third or fourth place.
   ‘As for the Scudetto, I believe Inter are favoured in the race,’ admitted the Azzurri star.
   ‘They were already close to perfection and now they have strengthened the side further, although perfection doesn’t exist in football and they can only play 11 men at a time.’
   Buffon then moved on to talk about the Nazionale, which will have to do without Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta in the race for a place in the 2008 European Championship.
   ‘I will miss them a lot, they are two great lads and I have many fond memories of the years I played with them. However, we have to respect their decision and wish them all the best.
   ‘Raymond Domenech? I don’t know him personally, but I think it is incredible that he wants to be an educator in the world of football…,’ concluded the Juventino.

After advertising for a new national coach on its Web site, the Cameroon Football Federation have posted the names of 78 candidates it says have applied for the job.
   The list names applicants from 22 countries and could prove embarrassing for coaches already in charge of national teams or prominent clubs.
   Hungarian-born Laszlo Csaba, current coach of Uganda, is named among the candidates less than a month before a vital African Nations Cup qualifier against Niger in Kampala.
   Eritrea’s Romanian coach Dorian Marian and the 69-year-old German Otto Pfister, who took Togo to the last World Cup finals in Germany, are also on the list.
   Pfister is currently coach of Al Merreikh in Sudan.
   Among 11 French candidates are Jean-Pierre Papin, who last season led Racing Strasbourg back to Ligue 1, and Philippe Troussier, who has coached six national teams.
   Former coach Artur Jorge, who quit after Cameroon’s quarter-final exit at the last Nations Cup finals in Egypt 18 months ago, is also back in the frame, along with current caretaker boss Jules Nyongha.
   Nyongha has already ensured Cameroon’s qualification for next year’s Nations Cup finals in Ghana.
   A shortlist of candidates is expected to be named in the coming weeks, following meetings between the Cameroon Football Federation and the sports ministry, who will pay the coach’s salary.
   Nyongha will remain in charge of the team for their friendly against Japan on August 22.

Carlo Ancelotti says AC Milan are waiting ‘with arms wide open’ for the arrival of Ronaldinho at the San Siro. The Rossoneri have long been linked with a blockbusting swoop for Barcelona’s Brazilian superstar. And the speculation increased on Monday with reports of a £43million bid.
   Roberto Assis, Ronaldinho’s agent and brother, told Gazzetta dello Sport: ‘Milan offered 60million euros, but Barcelona said no.’Assis also claimed that Barcelona are desperate to keep Ronaldinho at the Nou Camp, and want him to extend his current contract.
   But it appears Milan are hopeful they can prise the toothy genius away from Catalonia. Ancelotti confirmed this by telling a press conference: ‘Let’s wait. We’re here with arms wide open.’
   Milan have also been linked with two midfielders currently plying their trade in La Liga - Real Madrid’s Emerson and Barca’s Thiago Motta. But Ancelotti said a move for either is unlikely.

Alex Ferguson must wish he could get Ruud van Nistelrooy back from Real Madrid.
   There are still two weeks left of the transfer window. And let’s face it: United badly needs a big target up front, especially with Wayne Rooney sidelined with a hairline fracture of his left foot. John O’Shea isn’t the answer. Admit it, Fergie. He’s a leftback.
   Starting defense of its Premier League title against Reading on Sunday, United tried to thread passes through the Royals’ organised defense but rarely threatened goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann and had to settle for a scoreless draw.
   If Van Nistelrooy had been on the field to challenge the tall Reading defenders in the air, he might have scored or been able to hold the ball up and lay it off to the likes of Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.
   And when Rooney went off with his foot injury at halftime, who was left to attack the heart of the Reading defense? No one.
   Ferguson put the tall O’Shea on as a makeshift striker midway through the second half. The Irishman can play adequately in the back four or in defensive midfield but doesn’t have the guile or subtlety that Van Nistelrooy has.
   Even when Carlos Tevez
   and Nani join the starting
   lineup on a regular basis and Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are fit again, they just won’t be what the Reds badly need if they are to be a complete team.
   United has plenty of talented players—Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs, Nani, Tevez, Solskjaer, Anderson and Saha—who are great around the edge of
   the box or running onto
   passes.
   Saha apart, they are not big enough to deal with high crosses and lay them off to their teammates. But the French striker doesn’t have Van Nistelrooy’s nose for a goal opportunity. And the lanky Van Nistelrooy is scoring goals for Real Madrid these days instead of Manchester United.
   Ferguson acknowledged that Rooney’s injury hurt his team against Reading. But he says he has enough strikers and is not looking for any more.
   ‘We’ve four strikers there,’ he said. ‘I’m not in the situation where we’ve got to add to the strikers.’
   If Ferguson hadn’t fallen out with Van Nistelrooy, the Dutch star probably would still have been at Old Trafford.
   The Red Devils signed Van Nistelrooy in 2001 for a then-British record fee of $38 million.
   He scored more than 150 goals for United. But he was furious after being left on the bench for the 4-0 victory over Wigan in the 2006 League Cup final.
   Van Nistelrooy then become involved in a spat with teammate Ronaldo that reportedly left the Portugal winger in tears. When he was again left off the lineup for the final Premier League game against Charlton, he walked out of Old Trafford before kickoff.
   Ferguson then banned Van Nistelrooy from Roy Keane’s tribute game against Celtic at Old Trafford. The striker moved on to Real Madrid, where he helped the Spanish club capture the domestic league title last season.
   Having won his ninth Premier League title during his 20-year spell at Old Trafford, Ferguson knows what he’s doing.
   But maybe United needs just one more piece of the jigsaw.
   Imagine adding Van Nistelrooy to a strike force alongside Rooney and Tevez, with Ronaldo and Giggs supporting from the flanks and Scholes operating behind them.
   Ferguson still has two weeks to do it.
   He will face far tougher opponents than modest Reading. He needs a player who will shake up defenses with his power in the air and is also a natural goal scorer.
   And that’s not John O’Shea.

Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart pleaded with his German club Hamburg on Monday to let him leave
   for a ‘dream’ move to Valencia.
   Hamburg denied earlier in the day that they have received an offer for their captain but van der Vaart has now said that his mind is set on a move to the Spaniards.
   ‘I am determined to leave and Valencia would be a dream for me,’ the 24-year-old said in an interview due to be published in the Tuesday edition of Hamburger Abendblatt.
   ‘If I have to stay at Hamburg, that would be very painful for me,’ he added.
   Hamburg later admitted to have received an offer for the former Ajax star but said they are determined to keep hold of the player they signed in 2005.
   ‘In this particular case money is of no importance,’ said sporting director Dietmar Beiersdorfer.
   Van der Vaart, who has a Spanish mother, had previously claimed that he could not refuse an offer from Real Madrid, also reportedly
   chasing him, but no firm bid has been forthcoming from them and the Spanish champions recently splashed out 27 million euros on another Dutch central midfielder, Ajax’s Wesley Sneijder.
   According to Hamburger Morgenpost on Monday, Valencia are prepared to pay 14 million euros for van der Vaart.
   Van der Vaart is under contract with Hamburg until 2010, but has refused to start negotiations with club bosses about an extension.
   He has scored six goals in 40 appearances for the Netherlands despite frequent injuries, has scored 17 goals in 46 Bund-
   esliga appearances for Hamburg, who finished third in 2005-06 and were seventh last season.

Sevilla fuelled speculation of the departure of right back Daniel Alves by leaving the Brazilian international out of their team named for today’s Champions League tie at AEK Athens.
   Alves, 24, has been targetted by both English Premier League side Chelsea and Spanish outfit Real Madrid. And if he were to play on Wednesday he would not be eligable to play Champions League football with his future club this season.
   ‘He won’t be in shape to help the team, it’s not worth forcing him, you only work when your heart is in it,’ said Sevilla coach Juande Ramos.
   ‘But he hasn’t said goodbye to us yet, nothing is sealed. We have to be patient and wait to see what happens.’
   Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido said Friday they have turned down two offers of over 30 million euros (41m dollars) for the player. Real Madrid are reported to have made an offer of 20 million euros plus Brazilian right back Cicinho, and Brazilian striker Julio Baptista could also be part of the deal.
   But despite Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insisting they won’t break the bank to sign the Brazilian they have the edge with superior spending power and Ivorian striker Salomon Kalou, who particularly interests Sevilla.
   The London side could finance the purchase with the sale of Dutch midfielder Arjen Robben to Real Madrid.

Egyptian striker Mido on Tuesday appeared to be about to move again with Middlesbrough set to seal his transfer from Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
   The northeast side said they hoped to clinch the transfer ‘within the next 36 hours’ after confirming the forward is currently undergoing a medical.
   Club manager Gareth Southgate told the club’s website: ‘We’ve agreed a fee with Tottenham and that’s enabled us to have Mido up to see us and he’s currently in the process of having his medical.
   ‘Hopefully if everything goes well we’ll have some news in the next 36 hours.’
   Mido’s move to Birmingham collapsed earlier this summer with Blues boss Steve Bruce revealing the player’s insistence upon various contractual clauses prompted the breakdown.
   Sunderland and Middlesbrough then expressed their interest to take on board the 24-year-old and the Teessiders appear to have won the race.
   ‘All the talks have been very positive and I don’t see the medical being too much of a problem for him,’ Southgate said.
   While the transfer seems imminent, Mido will not immediately appear for his new side as he requires a work permit and is lacking match fitness.

Lyon coach Alain Perrin has hinted at an interest in signing Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze. Perrin is looking to add to his back-line after losing captain Cris for six months due to a serious knee injury. Heinze has emerged as an option for the French champions, with the Argentine facing an uncertain future at Old Trafford.
   The Premier League is currently looking into his situation, with Liverpool keen to sign the player, but United unwilling to sell to their arch-rivals. A move to Lyon could be seen as a compromise, with Perrin assessing whether Heinze would be a suitable replacement for Cris at centre-half.
   ‘The long unavailability of our captain is added to that of Gregory Coupet and Fred, which means three key players of the team,’ Perrin told L’Equipe.
   ‘Our job is to look for, and find, the best replacement for Cris. The problem is that there are not a lot of players who could join us.
   ‘The best thing would be to find a player able to play as a left central defender, and it is even more difficult to find. Gabriel Heinze? He has the right profile.
   ‘Above all, we have to know if, after playing a big part of his career as a left full-back, he now wants to play regularly as a central defender.’

Manchester United are looking to Carlos Tevez to kick-start their English Premier League title defence as Chelsea seek to keep their winning ways in today’s second round of matches.
   United were to throw Argentina striker Tevez into action at Portsmouth in place of injury victim Wayne Rooney as Chelsea travel to Reading looking for a second straight win - but without the shaky defending.
   Meanwhile Sven-Goran Eriksson takes charge of his first Premier League home match as Manchester City welcome newly-promoted Derby County.
   Tevez, not 100 per cent match fit, is being rushed into the match at Fratton Park to fill in for England striker Rooney, who fractured his left foot in the 0-0 draw at home to Reading in their opening Premier League game Sunday.
   The new signing from West Ham, after a protracted and complicated transfer, is disappointed he will not get to play alongside Rooney for two months.
   ‘Losing Wayne is a big blow because obviously he is a great player. But at a big club like Manchester United you have lots of individuals who can hopefully slot in and do that job.’
   Pompey boss Harry Redknapp has got the better of United in his past three seasons in charge at Fratton Park - but fears the fixture schedule has not been kind to them so far.
   ‘The best time to play United, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea is on a Saturday when they have a Champions League game mid-week,’ he grumbled.
   Chelsea, without talismanic captain John Terry, looked unsteady in defence as they beat newly-promoted Birmingham City 3-2 on Saturday.
   And Reading proved they are a tough side to break down in Sunday’s creditable draw at Manchester United, and could deploy the same man-marking tactics. Peru striker Claudio Pizzarro, who equalised for his new club Chelsea against Birmingham, said he hoped to keep his place at the Madejski Stadium and feels under pressure to keep scoring.
   ‘I am working hard for that and know there is a lot of competition. Jose (Mourinho the manager) just told me to play the way I have been playing.’
   Reading’s USA goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann is happy to settle for goalless draws against top teams.
   ‘We didn’t score or create much but that’s dictated by how good they are. Nil-nil is so much more special,’ he said.
   Eriksson will probably receive a hero’s welcome at Eastlands following Saturday’s stylish 2-0 win at West Ham, which featured several of his signings in a new-look team.
   But five home-grown players were in the starting line-up, including midfielder Stephen Ireland. ‘We can score goals from anywhere, and it’s really exciting for me to play in a team like this,’ the 20-year-old said.
   ‘We’re a passing team, and the more we play together the better.
   ‘We can be positive going into Wednesday’s game against Derby. I just hope we can be strong and take three points off them as well.’
   Sunderland are looking to keep up their perfect start at Birmingham, who pushed them close for the Championship title last season.
   Dickson Etuhu, one of five players who made their Sunderland debuts in Saturday’s 1-0 win over visitors Tottenham, insisted there was plenty more to come from the Black Cats.
   ‘I thought we worked well together, considering that we are still getting used to each other,’ the midfielder said.
   ‘Saturday’s win has given us more confidence and we’ll go to Birmingham with the belief that we can get something from the game.’
   El-Hadji Diouf could play for Bolton at Fulham as fellow strikers Kevin Davies (hamstring) and Ricardo Vaz Te (foot) are both ruled out.
   The volatile Senegal striker demanded talks with the Trotters’ boss Sammy Lee and chairman Phil Gartside after being left out for Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at home to Newcastle.
   ‘Diouf is always talking to me and I am pleased he is disappointed,’ Lee said.
   ‘I can understand his frustration. But I want competition for places. It is important people are always looking over their shoulders and being spurred on by other players.’
   Fulham, beaten 2-1 at Arsenal on Sunday, will want to get off to a better start at their Craven Cottage home.
   Middlesbrough, who lost 2-1 at home to Blackburn on Saturday, are looking to bounce back against Wigan, who lost by the same score at Everton. But England winger Stewart Downing, who scored Boro’s goal, is looking for a more ruthless attitude away at the JJB Stadium.
   ‘We’ve got to kill teams off and obviously we haven’t learnt to do that yet. We need to put teams under pressure,’ he said.
   ‘But we’ve got the Wigan game coming up very quickly now and we can put things right.’

Carlos Tevez will make his Manchester United debut at Portsmouth today in place of injury victim Wayne Rooney.
   Argentina striker Tevez, 23, was paraded Monday by manager Sir Alex Ferguson having finally concluded his long-running transfer on Friday.
   Ferguson had hoped to hold the forward in reserve until Sunday’s Manchester derby when United travel to face near neighbours City.
   But the manager admitted that with Rooney sidelined for up to two months after fracturing his left foot in the season opener against Reading, his new signing would be thrown straight into the action against Pompey.
   ‘I think Carlos will go straight into the team on Wednesday,’ Ferguson said. ‘I would have preferred to have left it until Manchester City next Sunday to give him another few days rest and training.
   ‘But he has trained very hard on Saturday and Sunday so he will just do light training now to get him ready for Wednesday’s game.’
   Ferguson is relieved to have completed the deal that was delayed due to complications over the third party ownership of the former West Ham United striker’s registration.
   United have agreed a two-year loan deal with the player and the company that owns Tevez’s economic rights with an option to make the signing permanent for a pre-arranged, undisclosed fee during or at the end of that period.
   The controversy surrounding the player’s registration has sparked a debate about the role of third party ownership with calls for the arrangement to be banned.
   Ferguson, though, insisted he was more concerned with having finally signed the player whose goal against United at Old Trafford secured victory and Premier League survival for West Ham on the final day of last season.
   ‘There was competition for him but I think Carlos wanted to come here and that settled it,’ the Scot said.
   ‘We declared our interest as soon as we became aware of his situation and yes, it’s been a long time but I think it’s worthwhile waiting for him.
   ‘The most important thing is he has proved himself in the English game. There’s no question in my mind that his contribution for West Ham saved them from relegation.
   ‘That single contribution impressed me greatly. I watched most of the run-in and to win seven games out of nine was championship form for West Ham and most of that was down to Carlos.
   ‘The platform was there for him to use and he used it fantastically well and he showed what a world class player he is.’
   Tevez admitted his relief at the conclusion of his move and admitted the long-running saga had been frustrating.
   He said: ‘It would have been impossible not to know what was going on over the summer but I only started to realise how difficult it was towards the end of the Copa America, as each game passed and the situation wasn’t resolved.

Wayne Rooney broke a bone in his left foot on Sunday because Michael Duberry, the 6ft 1in, 13st Reading defender, stepped on it during a challenge. That much is certain.
   Experts believe it was ‘probably’ an acute break – heavy man stands on small bone, equals fracture – as opposed to a stress fracture, the result of repetitive trauma over time owing to training methods, poor surfaces and inadequate footwear.
   But why did Rooney’s bone fracture, whereas another player’s might not have? ‘There is no firm evidence pointing to one single thing,’ said Dr Craig Panther, a specialist sports doctor at Pure Sports Medicine, a clinic with a client list that includes Olympic athletes, footballers and Test cricketers.
   ‘Common sense says harder pitches, increasing training schedules and more flexible boots play some part,’ said Panther of footballers’ foot injuries. ‘But it is probably lots of factors combined: position, ground, time of year, boot design, even playing style. Rooney doesn’t shrink from challenges.’
   Panther points to the timing of Rooney’s three bone breaks: August 2007, April 2006 and June 2004. ‘Warmer months, harder pitches. Is that relevant? Who knows? Freak events? Three bone injuries is a lot. Bone density? It could be, but for a Manchester United and England player, you’d think not. Diet shouldn’t be the problem, drinking enough milk, eating yoghurt, it would have been identified before,’ Panther said. ‘There has been a trend toward a lighter boot for better control. That potentially offers less stability, but there is no hard, empirical evidence. I think it more likely contributory, not causative.’
   No large study of this type of injuries has been done but Ges Steinbergs, West Ham’s doctor, is undertaking one, asking every English club to forward details of all metatarsal injuries in the past six years for detailed analysis.
   Steinbergs believes in ‘multifactorial’ reasons, but his study could pinpoint key factors. It is even possible that decreased bone density in younger people, who walk much less than previous generations, could be a factor, however small.
   Rooney was wearing Nike Total 90 Laser boots. Charlie Brooks, Nike’s spokesman, said: ‘It was an impact injury, terribly unlucky. We’re positive and Wayne’s positive the boot has nothing to do with it. Hundreds of pros and thousands of others been wearing that boot for months.’
   Among them is Patrice Evra, who sustained a tougher challenge on Sunday from Dave Kitson than Rooney did from Duberry, and Evra was fine.
   Meanwhile, one weekend gone in the Barclays Premier League and the bookmakers have taken the opportunity to tinker with several of their markets.
   The foot injury to Wayne Rooney, which could keep him of the Manchester United side for two months, and the Reds’ failure to beat Reading in their opening match are behind some of the layers’ tweaking.
   United have drifted out to 7-4 with Betdirect to win the Premier League, and it is interesting that the same firm also have Chelsea, 3-2 winners at home to Birmingham, at a top-priced 13-8.
   Liverpool, often slow starters, got away well with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa and are best at 5-1, predictably with red-hot United fan Fred Done’s Betfred.

Real Madrid continued their makeover of the championship-winning squad when they unveiled Dutch duo Wesley Sneijder and Royston Drenthe at the Bernabeu on Monday.
   Drenthe, 20, completed his move from Feyenoord for a reported fee of 14 million euros, while the 23-year-old Sneijder switched from Ajax after Real agreed to pay 27 million euros for the highly rated midfielder.
   With the addition of the two Dutchmen, Real have signed six new players at a cost of in excess of 70 million euros ($95.87 million) since coach Fabio Capello was sacked after steering the club to the league title last season.
   The signings of Sneijder and Drenthe will bring Real’s Dutch contingent to three players, striker Ruud van Nistelrooy having joined the club last season from Manchester United.
   Real are also trying to sign Chelsea’s Dutch winger Arjen Robben, a target ever since Ramon Calderon was elected president last year.
   Sneijder said that he hoped the club’s Dutch colony would help the club repeat the success enjoyed by arch-rivals Barcelona when they signed a series of players from the Netherlands.
   ‘Real Madrid have now got the Dutch players and I hope they will lead the team to victory as they did at Barcelona,’ the midfielder told a news conference.
   ‘You’ll have to ask the Real Madrid technical staff why they are signing so many Dutch players.’
   ‘I’m not the right person to tell Real Madrid to buy Robben as well, but he is a great player and maybe in the future I will play with him here at Real Madrid.’
   Sneijder’s compatriot Drenthe, who can play on the left side of midfield or at fullback, was one of the outstanding players on show at the European Under-21 Championship in June, as he helped the Dutch retain their title.
   Real are reported to have signed him as a successor to Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos who left the club at the end of last season.
   The 20-year-old said he had no preferences as to his position at his new club.
   ‘I will play wherever the coach wants me to, he’s the boss and I will do as he wants,’ he said.
   ‘As a footballer you have to be prepared for anything, as a Real Madrid player you have to put up with a great deal of pressure.
   Both players could make their debut for Real in the return leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla at the Bernabeu on Sunday.
   Real lost the first leg 1-0.

Former England head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson believes that the loss of Wayne Rooney could prove to be an insurmountable blow for England’s Euro 2008 qualifying hopes.
   The Manchester United striker is out for two months after fracturing a bone in his foot against Reading on Sunday and will miss most if not all of England’s remaining European Championship games.
   Eriksson, now manager of Manchester City, said although his successor Steve McClaren had other good options there was no one to compare with the 21-year-old. Eriksson said: ‘I don’t know how many games he will miss for England but I suppose Steve McClaren is not happy about that. It’s very, very bad luck - as before the World Cup.
   ‘Of course England have other quality players but it’s a simple fact that in this country you don’t have two Rooneys, you have only one. ‘There are other good players but Rooney is Rooney and that’s it.’
   Eriksson at least will not to have to plan how to combat Rooney in this weekend’s Manchester derby.
   But he added: ‘I feel very sorry for Rooney, he has had a similar injury to before the World Cup last year. It’s unlucky and of course it’s bad for Manchester United and it’s bad for England.’

Injury-plagued striker Michael Owen has targetted a return to Premier League action this weekend after coming through a tough training workout on Monday.
   The 27-year-old England stalwart missed Saturday’s season-opener win at Bolton with a thigh injury sustained during shooting practice.
   But after a friendly against Newcastle Blue Star at Kingston Park, in which he had two chances cleared off the line, the England star told the Newcastle United website: ‘I feel fine, it was only a small injury, a niggle.
   ‘It had me out for a couple of weeks but I’ve trained for the last four or five days and I was confident I’d be fine and it was good to get back out on the pitch.
   ‘It’s a little frustrating to have missed some of the pre-season games but I’ve been able to do all the running work.’
   Owen’s optimism means he is in line to Aston Villa at St James’ Park on Saturday.
   Apart from Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce, that will also be welcome news for England coach Steve McClaren following the injury to Manchester United frontman Wayne Rooney.
   Shola Ameobi scored both goals to help the Newcastle United second string to a 2-0 win in a match that also saw a first appearance in Newcastle colours for Brazilian defender Claudio Cacapa.
   Midfielder Kieron Dyer, who recently saw a transfer to West Ham collapse at the 11th hour, also played.

Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva has admitted he was
   ‘surprised’ to be overlooked for the Gunners captaincy this season.
   The 30-year-old led Arsene Wenger’s side for much of last season in the absence of the injured Thierry Henry, who has since left the club.
   And the Brazilian has revealed his shock when
   he found out Wenger had opted to give the armband to defender William Gallas - via the internet.
   ‘Of course I was surprised because I was captain all last season when Henry didn’t play, and after his move to Barcelona I naturally thought I would be this time,’ He told the London Daily Star.
   ‘Arsene is the manager and it is his decision and I have to accept that. Life goes on and I will get on with my job like I always have.
   ‘But I was surprised he didn’t speak to me about his decision. He had the time to do it because I was at the training ground before it was made public.
   ‘He didn’t say anything to me and I just found out about it that evening when I saw it on the Arsenal website.
   ‘I wasn’t upset about not being captain, but I was about the way I learnt about it.’
   He added: ‘I will give the same commitment to the club that I always have. This is an important season.’

English giants Arsenal and Liverpool face tricky away ties today as they bid to join Europe’s top 16 clubs in the group phase of the Champions League.
   Arsenal travel to Sparta Prague in the third qualifying round first leg in far from confident mood following their patchy 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday.
   And Liverpool face the tough task of traveling to a sweltering Toulouse to tackle a side that is on a high after beating French champions Lyon 1-0 on Saturday.
   Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was relieved to win his first match of the season having previously complained that his team was at a disadvantage in the title race because of their Champions League qualifying round commitments.
   While they and Liverpool are in European action, Chelsea, who travel to Reading, and Manchester United, hosted by Portsmouth, will both be looking to pick up three Premiership points.
   But even if both win, Arsenal cannot find themselves more than a single point behind the reignning champions come Thursday following United’s draw against Reading at Old Trafford on Sunday.
   Of more concern to Wenger is his goalkeeper’s concentration after German Jens Lehmann gifted Fulham the lead in the first minute on Sunday, before late goals from Robin van Perise and Alexander Hleb saved his blushes.