A buoyant India will look to wrap up the five-match one-day cricket series against Pakistan when the arch rivals clash in the fourth tie which promises to be another high-scoring tussle in Gwalior today.
   India displayed excellent temperament to win the previous match at Kanpur and take 2-1 lead after failing to defend their mammoth total of 321 at Mohali and would be confident to carry forward the winning momentum at the capt Roop Singh stadium which has been a happy hunting ground for them.
   With India boasting a deep batting line-up and the wicket at the predicted to be ‘perfect for batsmen’, the task could be easier for the hosts irrespective of whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni calls the coin correctly or not in the day-night clash.
   Indian batting has specially clicked well with Sachin Tendulkar’s continued good form while Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh also shining with the bat on various occasions in the three matches played in the series so far.
   Yuvraj, who scored 58, 34 and 77 in the three ODIs, has emerged as a major threat for Pakistan due to his superb timing and knack to switch on and off his attacking instinct to suit the team’s needs while Tendulkar, after repeatedly falling in nervous 90s, would be desperately looking to break the jinx about his 42nd century.
   Dhoni said Yuvraj’s all-round abilities were important for the side.
   ‘Yuvi has always been a trump card for us. I want him to bat for at least 20 overs in all the matches. His knock is important in every match. He also bowled and fielded very well,’ Dhoni said.
   Meanwhile, Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal will undergo a fitness test to assess his finger injury before the match, skipper Shoaib Malik said.
   Akmal aggravated the injury during Monday’s third game, which India won to lead the five-match series 2-1. Uncapped stumper Sarfraz Ahmed has been called up as standby.
   ‘We will have a fitness test and then we will decide,’ Malik told a news conference on Wednesday.
   Akmal, who has struggled with the bat, dropped a catch off the very first delivery in the third one-dayer in Kanpur and India piled up 294 runs before going on to win by 46 runs.
   ‘This match will be crucial,’ Malik said. ‘We will get no further chance (to stay in the series). We will go all out.’
   Pakistan’s biggest concern has been over the absence of a good opening partner for in-form Salman Butt with both Akmal, and Shahid Afridi flopping. The problem also plagued them in the preceding home one-day series loss to South Africa.
   Butt scored a career-best 129 in Kanpur but ran out of partners before he was ninth out.
   Malik did not rule out promoting himself to open the innings despite being under extra pressure after scoring 2, 25 and 12 so far in the series.
   ‘We have flexibility in our batting line-up and we can decide depending on the situation,’ he said. Elsewhere, Pakistan all rounder Shahid Afridi and Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir were heavily fined on Wednesday following their on-pitch clash during the third one-day international in Kanpur.
   Afridi was fined 95 per cent of his match fee and Gambhir 65 per cent following a hearing on Wednesday by the International Cricket Council match referee Roshan Mahanama.
   The players were charged under two counts of the ICC code of conduct relating to conduct unbecoming of their status which could bring them or the game into disrepute and the rule relating to ‘inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play.’
   Gambhir and Afridi were involved in a heated altercation after they collided, forcing umpire Ian Gould to intervene and separate them.

Adam Gilchrist has been given a special 36th birthday present, being voted by his peers as Australia’s greatest one-day international player of all time. Every player who has represented Australia in ODIs was eligible to take part in the poll and Gilchrist earned 38 per cent of the votes, ahead of Ricky Ponting on 19 per cent and Steve Waugh on 14 per cent.
   The results were announced in Hobart ahead as Gilchrist celebrated his birthday while preparing for the second Test between Australia and Sri Lanka. The survey was a follow-up to the announcement of Australia’s greatest ODI team in February.
   Gilchrist has played in Australia’s three consecutive World Cup final victories since 1999 - Ponting and Glenn McGrath are the only other men to do so. In the most recent of those triumphs Gilchrist was man-of-the-match in the final, belting Sri Lanka all around the Kensington Oval in Barbados and making 149 from 104 balls. He had a part to play in both the other World Cup deciders, scoring half-centuries in 1999 and 2003.
   He sits second to Ponting on Australia’s list of all-time ODI run scorers with 9,222 at 36.02, his strike-rate of 96.61 is the best among Australia batsmen, and his 451 dismissals places him comfortably at the top of Australia’s list of ODI wicketkeepers. Gilchrist is also Australia’s third most-capped player behind Steve Waugh and Ponting, and has captained Australia in 17 ODIs.
   ‘To be given this enormous honour by my peers is unbelievably humbling and ranks highly amongst the accolades l have received over my career,’ Gilchrist said. ‘I have been very fortunate to have played in such a successful era and with such a great group of players. I feel very fortunate to be acknowledged in this way.’
   Gilchrist looks set to add to those totals in the next few months, although he has hinted that he might consider giving up one-day cricket to prolong his Test career. After Gilchrist, Ponting and Waugh in the individual poll came Shane Warne with 9 per cent of the votes, Michael Bevan (7 per cent), Dean Jones (5 per cent) and Allan Border, who rated 4per cent despite not being included in the greatest ODI side.

India on Wednesday recalled Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik for the first two Tests against Pakistan starting later this month in a bid to catch the tourists in a spin-trap.
   Off-spinner Harbhajan and left-arm spinner Kartik join captain and veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble in the 14-man squad for matches in New Delhi (November 22-26) and Kolkata (November 30-December 4).
   The squad for the third and final Test in Bangalore from December 8-12 will be named later.
   Kumble will open his new innings as captain at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground, where he became only the second bowler after Englishman Jim Laker to grab 10 wickets in a Test innings against Pakistan in 1999.
   He will now have variety in spin to put the tourists under pressure on wickets expected to favour slow bowlers. Harbhajan and Kartik both have been in good form in recent one-day internationals.
   Kumble, with 566 wickets in 118 matches, is the world’s third-highest wicket-taker in Tests behind only retired Australian Shane Warne and Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan.
   Harbhajan returns to the squad after playing the last of his 57 Tests against the West Indies in Kingston in July 2006. He has so far bagged 238 wickets.
   Kartik has figured in only eight Tests, his last being against South Africa at home in 2004. He was recalled for the home one-dayers against Australia last month, bagging eight wickets in four matches.
   Rahul Dravid, who lost his place in the ongoing one-dayers against Pakistan, retained his Test place. He quit captaincy in September to focus on his batting after leading India to a rare Test series victory in England.
   Hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag, who scored a triple-century in Pakistan in 2004 and averages 91.14 against the arch-rivals, failed to find a spot.
   There was no place either for left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan despite impressive performances in the recent Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa and 50-over matches against Australia.
   Squad: Anil Kumble (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Murali Kartik.

Former Australian cricket captain Greg Chappell believes he was subjected to a racist attack while coaching India and that the authorities there tried to cover it up, reports said Wednesday.
   He makes the charge in a documentary about his troubled two-year stint as India coach which is to be shown on national television next week, The Australian newspaper reported.
   Chappell said he was punched and pushed by a disgruntled fan as the Indian team arrived in Bhubaneswar in Orissa state for a one-day clash against the West Indies in January this year.
   ‘I got hit on the side of the head and my immediate reaction was ‘he’s broken my jaw’,’ Chappell said.
   ‘Indians are very quick to complain about racism. There are plenty of Indian cricketers the guy could have attacked but he chose to attack me,’ he said.
   ‘I don’t really buy the fact that he was talking about the lack of Orissa players in the Indian team.
   ‘If that was the case why didn’t he accost the chairman of selectors or someone else who might have been involved in the selection process?
   ‘Why would he attack one of the foreigners in the group—me as coach? There’s a bit more to it than that.’
   Chappell, who left the post after India’s poor showing at the World Cup, said he was
   still upset about the attack and the lack of action taken by officials.
   ‘As I said to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) in a letter, had it been one of the players who was attacked there would have been an outcry, but because it was me, no one seemed to care,’ Chappell told The Australian.
   ‘The reply came back talking about my racist comments. It was quite obvious it was a serious assault. It wasn’t just a push in the back as the media was led to believe. There was a cover-up. Everyone went into cover-up mode. The whole thing was played down.’
   In Mumbai, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah refuted Chappell’s racism allegation. ‘There was no racism issue at all,’ Shah told reporters.

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif said Wednesday he hoped for an early return to international cricket after missing the one-day series against India due to an elbow injury.
   The 24-year-old paceman was withdrawn from Pakistan’s one-day squad hours before the team’s departure on November 1 when his injury became aggravated.
   ‘I hope to play a part in the Test series against India because I am feeling better. Once I start bowling, a timeframe can be set for my return,’ Asif told AFP.
   Pakistan face India in the fourth one-day international at Gwalior on Thursday. India lead the five-match series 2-1.
   The three-Test series starts in New Delhi from November 22. The other two Tests will be played at Calcutta (November 30-December 4) and at Bangalore (December 8-12).
   Pakistan selectors are due to name the Test squad on Thursday but Asif’s name will not be considered.
   ‘We will only consider Asif’s name once we get a clean sheet on him from the medical board,’ chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said.
   Asif initially suffered the injury to his bowling arm ahead of Pakistan’s first Test against England at Lord’s last year.
   It recurred during Pakistan’s home series against South Africa earlier this month. Asif missed the first three one-day internationals before selectors risked him in the fourth one-dayer at Multan where he felt pain while bowling.
   The Pakistan Cricket Board last week said the paceman would be sent to Australia for further assessment of his injury.
   ‘This is a different sort of injury. I can lift weight and have started throwing the ball but will have to wait to bowl,’ said Asif, who first played for Pakistan in 2004.
   He failed to take a wicket in his first match against Australia at Sydney but returned to the Pakistan team after taking ten wickets in a side match against touring England the following year.
   Asif has taken 51 wickets in 11 Tests and also has 31 wickets in 29 one-day internationals.
   Regarded as one of the fast rising pacemen at international level, Asif’s career has been dogged by injury problems and a doping scandal.
   He and fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in October last year. Asif was banned for one year and Akhtar for two years.
   The bans were later lifted on appeal.

Former Test captains Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq were on Wednesday confirmed to play in India’s rebel Twenty20 league following a goof-up over players’ lists.
   The names of Lara and Inzamam, touted as star attractions of the Indian Cricket League, were missing when the six teams for the inaugural event were announced earlier in the day.
   But ICL officials later clarified that both players will take part in the league to be played in Panchkula, an industrial town on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Chandigarh, from November 30.
   ‘There was some mistake with the original list but I can confirm that both Lara and Inzamam will play for us,’ ICL spokesman Abhishek Agrawal told AFP.
   Four other names added to the original list were Stuart Law of Australia, Craig McMillan and Chris Cairns of New Zealand and Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka, Agrawal said.
   The ICL, bankrolled by the country’s largest media group, Zee Telefilms, has unveiled 30 international players divided equally among six teams.
   South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand head the list with six players each, followed by England (four), Sri Lanka (three), Ireland and Australia (two each) the West Indies (one).
   Nicky Boje, Lance Klusener, Dale Birkenstein, Johan van der Wath, Nantie Hayward and Andrew Hall are the six South Africans in the fray.
   The Pakistanis are Inzamam, Shabbir Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Taufeeq Umar and Imran Farhat.
   Wicketkeepers Chris Read and Paul Nixon join fellow Englishmen Darren Maddy and Vikram Solanki, while Chris Harris, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Daryl Tuffey, Cairns and McMillan will fly in from New Zealand.
   The three Sri Lankans in the list are Russel Arnold, Upul Chandana and Atapattu. Niall O’Brien and Boyd Rankin provide the Irish representation.
   Ian Harvey and Law are the two Australians in the fray, while Lara is the sole West Indian.

A Test-match trial of Muttiah Muralitharan’s action, as suggested by Shane Warne, seems unlikely with the news the ICC will not have the technology for such tests for at least two years. Warne said it would give Muralitharan and the cricketing world ‘peace of mind’ to have Muralitharan’s bowling style assessed in match conditions.
   However, Muralitharan was unconvinced that further analysis was necessary. ‘I don’t know about that,’ Muralitharan said in the Daily Telegraph. ‘I have done a lot of testing.’
   The paper reported that the ICC was working with biomechanics experts to develop a system where trials could occur during matches, but the technology was still some way from completion. Daryl Foster, the former Western Australia coach who helped analyse Muralitharan’s action at the University of Western Australia in 2004, said laboratory trials were the best measure for the time being.
   ‘With the technology we have available at the moment, and the margin of error that exists, it’s far better for the time being that this is done in a controlled laboratory environment,’ Foster said. Muralitharan’s action has been repeatedly cleared by the ICC since he was first no-balled for throwing during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne in 1995-96.

Two new records were set on the opening day of the 22nd National Swimming Champion-ship at the National Swimming Complex in Mirpur on Wednesday.
   BJMC swimmer Sabura Khatun clocked 35:56 seconds to set a new record in the 50m backstroke. She eclipsed Dolly Akter’s previous record of 35:97 in 2005.
   BKSP’s Afsana improved the 50m freestyle record clocking 30:21 seconds. The previous record of 30:79 belonged to Dolly Akter.
   SAFF gold medallist Rubel Rana of Bangladesh Navy bagged gold in the 50m backstroke finishing the distance in 29:13 seconds while M Sujan Ali became first in the 200m butterfly clocking 2:17:09 minutes.
   Sonia Akter of BKSP (3:04:40 minutes) bagged the 200m butterfly gold. Lovely Khatun of Bangladesh Ansar clinched the 400m individual medley in 6:22:73 minutes.
   Nazmul Haq of BKSP grabbed the 400m individual medley in a time of 5:02:62 minutes
   while M Nazrul Islam of Bangladesh Army finished first in the 50m freestyle (25:12 seconds).
   BKSP led the medals table securing three gold and two silver. Bangladesh Navy followed with two gold, two silver and two bronze while Bangladesh Ansar remain at third winning one gold, three silver and one bronze medal.
   BKSP led the medals table securing three gold and two silver. Bangladesh Navy followed with two gold, two silver and two bronze medals while Bangladesh Ansar have one gold, three silver and one bronze medal. Earlier, LGRD adviser Anwarul Iqbal declared the meet open.
   Bangladesh Swimming Federation president and Navy chief Vice-Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam, sponsors Keya Cosmetic Limited senior executive Dewan Akkas Ali Pathan and Mercantile Bank Limited managing director M Mojibur Rahman were present.

Fiery Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar admitted Wednesday he was not in shape for the ongoing series against India, despite impressive recent performances.
   The 32-year-old returned to international cricket last month after serving a 13-match ban, primarily for striking team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat ahead of the inaugural Twenty20 world championships in South Africa in September.
   Akhtar grabbed four wickets in his comeback one-dayer against South Africa at home in October and six in three matches against India on the current tour.
   Pakistan trail 2-1 in the five-match series with the fourth game to be played here today.
   ‘I was not ready for the one-dayers,’ Akhtar told reporters. ‘I wanted to play three-four games before playing in the series. I also needed to train more in the gym and get into shape before the series.
   ‘Bowling quick is thrilling and it’s very enjoyable. I am still bowling quick but I’m a bit more sensible now and also bowl more dot balls in an over.’
   When asked who was the most ‘dazzling’ Indian batsman, Akhtar said it was record-breaking Sachin Tendulkar.
   ‘It’s not surprise to guess the name, he is Tendulkar. He is the greatest Indian batsman. He can be very destructive on his day. I am honoured to play with the likes of Tendulkar, Wasim Akram and other greats of the era,’ he said.
   ‘But my personal favourite is (Australian wicketkeeper-batsman) Adam Gilchrist. I am also a fan of former West Indies captain Brian Lara.’
   Akhtar has so far bagged 218 wickets in 137 one-day internationals.

Manilal Fernando, the vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation, arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday night for a one-day visit to Bangladesh.
   During his short visit to the country the AFC vice-president see the progress of work of the FIFA-funded two football training centres in Cox’s Bazar and Barisal. FIFA president Sepp Blatter while visiting Bangladesh in April, 2006 had allocated $2.5 lakh equivalent to Tk 1.75 crore for the development of two football training centres, which will also serve as cyclone shelters, in the coastal areas of the country.
   But the BFF and the Bangladesh government failed to act in time to implement the projects. Being dissatisfied over the situation the FIFA had threatened to withdraw the money.
   After General Moeen U Ahmed took over as the chief of the National Sports Council, the land for the Barisal project was allotted by the government. But the other proposed project in Cox’s Bazar and the training academy in Gazipur is yet to take off.
   Manilal, the FIFA development officer for Asia, will meet the BFF officials this morning. He will also call on General Moeen at the Army Headquarters in the afternoon. He is scheduled to depart for Sri Lanka later tonight.

World number one Roger Federer got his Masters Cup campaign back on track by eliminating Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets on Wednesday.
   The triple Masters Cup champion, shocked in his opening match by Fernando Gonzalez, overwhelmed the Russian 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 27 minutes to stay in the running for his sixth straight semi-final.
   Later, Andy Roddick became the first man to book his place in the last four as he hammered Gonzalez 6-1, 6-4.
   ‘It’s a different situation coming back after losing,’ Federer said. ‘I tried to get off to a good start. I felt pretty good from the start.
   ‘I don’t have the best record on making break points but I create many opportunities so eventually I will break through and break their will.’
   Federer was expected to come out firing after losing to Gonzalez, but he made a pedestrian start before pouncing in the eighth game, converting his first break point as Davydenko put a backhand volley long.
   The Swiss, who sprayed an eyebrow-raising 39 unforced errors, suffered an unaccustomed wobble when serving for the set and swiped a baseline backhand into the net to be broken back.
   However, Davydenko’s revival proved short-lived as Federer, recovering his aggression, broke again for the set as the Russian miscued badly with a forehand volley.
   Federer converted the last of five break points at 2-1 in the second to put a stranglehold on the match, roaring with delight as he finally found form.
   Davydenko’s volley failed him yet again as Federer broke for 5-1. But the Swiss was again broken when serving for the set, and the match, before finally finishing it 6-3 on Davydenko’s misfired backhand.
   The result means Davydenko, appearing at his third straight Masters Cup, cannot reach the semi-finals following his straight-sets loss to Roddick.
   ‘It’s not impossible to beat Federer but it’s tough, mentally and physically,’ said the Russian, who has not won in 11 matches against the Swiss.
   ‘Today was really tough physically. I played some good points, I played very fast and sometimes very well, but I couldn’t always keep my concentration.’
   For Federer, also beaten in Paris by David Nalbandian, it ended a run of two straight defeats, his first since 2003. He had never lost in 15 round robin matches at the season finale until Monday.
   The 26-year-old triumphed in 2003, 2004 and 2006, with his only previous defeats coming in the 2002 semis to Lleyton Hewitt and in the 2005 final to David Nalbandian.
   In the later match Gonzalez, Federer’s latest conqueror, looked exhausted by his heroics as he failed to hold serve until 5-0 down in the opening set against a whirlwind Roddick.
   The Chilean, in turns frustrated and befuddled as he hit a ball into the stands and collided with a line judge, put a backhand long to gift the American the crucial break for 2-1 in the second set before Roddick served it out on one hour and six minutes.
   Roddick is warming up for this month’s Davis Cup final, where he will face Davydenko’s Russia in Portland, Oregon, from November 30.
   Davydenko is coming off a troubled year with the ATP investigating suspicious betting patterns relating to a match he played in Poland in August.
   However he won an appeal against a 2,000-dollar fine for not trying hard enough during the St Petersburg Open, when he made a series of errors against Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic.

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan vice-captain, is optimistic that he will be fit enough to make it for the second Test against Australia, which starts in Hobart on Friday.
   ‘I feel quite good, my rehab has gone well and I have started running almost at full pace and hopefully I’ll be able to sustain it for five days,’ Sangakkara said after
    undergoing a fitness test with physio Tommy Simsek, the report of which is due on Thursday.
   Sangakkara, who was ruled out of the first Test following a tear in his left hamstring, emphasised the importance of the first-innings score after Sri Lanka’s innings-and-40-run defeat in the first Test.
   ‘To win a Test match, you need to get runs in the first innings, that’s why we lost the game in Brisbane.
   We showed a lot of character in the second innings, but we need to make sure that we are in our game all the time. The bowlers stuck to their task. There are few areas we can brush up.
   ‘We have always been honest with ourselves. If we didn’t do well, we put up our hands and say we didn’t do well.
   ‘We know we can do a lot better than that.
   ‘There are a lot of things we could have done better, especially with our catching.
   ‘We are always used to putting up good efforts with the bat.
   ‘Whatever the pitch we need to go out there and get the runs.
   ‘They never come easy when you are playing a side like Australia.’
   If Sangakkara gets the all clear, Sri Lanka’s struggling batting line-up will receive a boost. It could also give
   the tour selectors a headache or two to decide on the
   batting combinations for the match.
   If Sangakkara makes it, he is expected to occupy the No 3 spot, which was filled in by Michael Vandort for the Brisbane Test. Vandort, who has failed to command a
   regular place in the side,
   seized his chance with both hands to make 82, the top score by a Sri Lankan batsman in the Test.
   The Hobart match could also be a significant one for Muttiah Muralitharan, who needs seven wickets to surpass Shane Warne’s world record of 708 Test wickets.
   Sangakkara said ‘it would make it very special’ if he achieved the milestone in Hobart.
   ‘Murali has been fantastic in the sense that everything he does, he does for the team. His records have never stood in the way of team victories,’ Sangakkara said.
   ‘He’s getting stronger and hopefully will go on for more years. In this game, we need to make sure that we support him as much as possible from the other end to make sure that he gets to that milestone.’

The world’s top three global news agencies are set to continue their boycott of Australian cricket coverage through the Hobart Test, which begins on Friday. Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press did not cover the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Brisbane due to a dispute with Cricket Australia.
   Reuters reported that there had been a breakdown in negotiations, which would mean a likely continuation of the standoff during the second Test. Although progress has been made on some issues, the agencies’ right to distribute photographs freely is still a sticking point.
   ‘Reuters remains adamant on its right to distribute sports news pictures freely,’ Monique Villa, the managing director of Reuters Media, told Reuters. ‘I met with Cricket Australia last Sunday in London and nothing has really changed.
   They want to control our news and who can receive it, which is totally unacceptable.’
   Cricket Australia’s spokesman Peter Young said the negotiations were complex but he was hopeful of a quick resolution. ‘The good news is that the agencies are talking to us again,’ he said. ‘We were very disappointed when they wouldn’t come back to the table.’
   Young also denied that the Australian board was being greedy, an allegation that has been levelled against it by some Australian politicians and trade union leaders.
   ‘That is definitely not the case. There are a number of issues here that don’t just relate to cricket but to all sports,’ Young said. ‘The world is changing and if people want to sit down and look at the issues instead of the lurid newspaper headlines then I think they’ll see that this really is a complex issue.’
   The Australian stand has already found some support, with the Indian board saying they might impose similar restrictions on the media for their home games.

One of Jamaica’s top cops Mark Shields testified that he found no evidence of match fixing in the connection with the death of cricket coach Bob Woolmer.
   Shields, Jamaica’s deputy commissioner of police, was called to testify on Tuesday, the 20th day of the inquest into the death of the former Pakistan national cricket team coach.
   Shields said investigations by police and International Cricket Council found no evidence of match fixing.
   ‘I found nothing that Mr. Woolmer was writing about, or had written about match fixing or dirty side of cricket,’ Shields said while pointing out that investigators took into consideration the book Woolmer was in the process of publishing.

Wayne Rooney is going all intellectual – by studying for his GCSE exams in English and Maths. The football star takes regular lessons at home with a private tutor – and is also learning to play the guitar.
   The Sun told on Monday how the Merseyside lad has become a collector of posh fine wines.
   Wayne never saw the need to take any GCSEs while a teenage prodigy at Everton. But now he is determined to catch up on his education – and has plenty of time to study at his Cheshire home after training sessions.
   A source said: ‘Wayne has had a lot of advice from his United manager Sir Alex Ferguson about how to fill his time away from football.
   ‘Fergie said he should do something constructive. Wayne’s girlfriend Coleen has also been encouraging him to get his head in the books. She did well at school and left with ten GCSEs.
   ‘If all goes to plan he will sit his GCSEs next summer in Maths and English.’
   The music lessons follow Wayne getting a £2,500 Gibson guitar from Coleen, 21, for his birthday.
   She sent it to Oasis star Noel Gallagher to sign – but he cheekily returned it decked out in Manchester City colours.
   Early in his United career, Ferguson encouraged Wayne to learn an instrument to control his famous fiery temper. He also took anger management classes.
   Ferguson tamed his own ferocious temper on the field by taking piano lessons as a young player. He also sparked Wayne’s interest in vintage plonk and has been suggesting different styles to try.
   Now he would apparently rather sip a vintage Sauvignon Blanc than down a pint of lager.

Jose Mourinho’s chances of walking back into Barcelona as the club’s new coach became a little less far-fetched on Tuesday as the club’s supporters gave Frank Rijkaard a massive vote of no confidence and named Mourinho as someone who could sort out a demotivated and under-achieving dressing room.
   Mourinho assumed the role of public enemy No 1 with Barcelona fans in his time as Chelsea manager – labelling Leo Messi an actor and famously sliding along the Nou Camp touchline in celebration. But at a club where presidents are elected and so fan opinion carries major weight, 66 per cent of supporters said they did not believe Rijkaard was capable of changing Barça’s fortunes, in a poll organised by Catalonia’s No 1 football paper, Sport.
   In Sport’s rival paper, El Mundo Deportivo, fans went further by calling for Mourinho to come in and arrest the slump in away form that has seen them pick up just six points from a possible 18 losing ground on Real Madrid in the process.
   Among the selection of messages that El Mundo Deportivo published on its front page were several calling for Mourinho. ‘Sign Mourinho and let’s make the rest of the league fear us again,’ was one example, while another supporter said: ‘Let’s sign Mourinho to sort out the mess’.
   Rijkaard has an embarrassment of riches in attack but they have not delivered on the road so far this season. In three games the combined forces of Messi, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho have failed to score and at humble Getafe at the weekend they managed just one shot between them with both the Brazilian and the Argentine taken off in the second half.
   Mourinho’s aggressive approach is seen by a growing number of fans as the perfect antidote to Rijkaard’s laid-back style of management although his reputation for occasionally winning with brawn as opposed to beautiful football would leave plenty of opposition to his appointment should Rijkaard leave.

Michael Vaughan insisted Wednesday that team-mate Paul Collingwood has what it takes to be England’s next Test match captain.
   Current Test skipper Vaughan believes England’s one-day captain has the right credentials to slip into the same role in five-day cricket when required.
   ‘I said at the time when I handed the one-day captaincy on, if ‘Colly’ comes in and does a great job there might be a stage when he does both,’ 33-year-old Vaughan told The Independent.
   Vaughan, due to fly out to Colombo this week with a 15-man squad for a three-Test tour of Sri Lanka, is in no doubt his great friend is the right man for the job whenever the situation becomes vacant.
   ‘I’m sure that stage will come eventually. Whether it’s in a month, whether it’s in a year, in two years, who knows?’.

France striker Thierry Henry helped Barcelona to a rare away win this term as they claimed a far from impressive 3-0 victory over third division Alcoyano in their Spanish Cup round of 32 first leg clash.
   Henry - who French national coach Raymond Domenech had asked be released to join the squad along with two other French players from Barca prior to the tie - opened the scoring in the 25th minute.
   However, Barcelona - who had been the subject of plenty of press criticism since losing last Saturday to unheralded Getafe leaving them with just six points away from home this term - couldn’t finish off the first leg till very late.
   Former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen - hardly a stunning success since leaving the London side over a season ago - added a second from the penalty spot in the 89th minute and then rising teenage star Bojan Krkic a third in the fifth minute of added on time.
   Barcelona fared better than two fellow First Division sides as both two-time UEFA Cup defending champions and Spanish Cup holders Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao (who are second in the all-time list of Spanish Cup winners with 23 to Barcelona’s 24) were held to away draws - Sevilla drawing 1-1 away at third division Denia and Athletic Bilbao coming from 2-0 down to tie 2-2 with Second Division Hercules.

AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti doubts Arsenal have the necessary experience to win this season’s Champions League.
    ‘Arsenal play well and they are getting excellent results, but the Champions League is decided in spring,’ Ancelotti, who led Milan to victory in the competition last season and in 2003, told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday.
   Arsenal had lots of young, enthusiastic players but experience was crucial when the competition headed into its latter stages, he added.
   ‘It’s necessary to know how to handle the pressure and tension in the best way. I don’t know if they are trained for this.’
   Ancelotti said his team were the second strongest in the Champions League behind Barcelona.
   He added he had no problems with Ronaldo, who has recovered from a leg injury
   that has kept him out so far this season, despite some recent late shows at training that earned the Brazilian forward a fine.
   ‘Otherwise, I’m happy with how Ronaldo has regained fitness,’ he said.
   ‘He has suffered and worked a lot. It’s a sign that he wants to return to be important for Milan quickly’.
   Ancelotti has also increased the pressure on Milan new boy Alexandre Pato by insisting that he can outshine long-term target Ronaldinho.
    ‘I’d say that Alexandre is better than Ronaldinho,’ said Ancelotti.
    ‘He is a phenomenon and with him available we can return to playing with two strikers,’ Carletto revealed.
   The struggling European champions are eagerly awaiting his contribution to their Serie A campaign and sources inside the club suggest that he has shown devastating talent in training.
   Despite Milan’s poor form, Ancelotti concluded by maintaining that his side are still in the title hunt.
   ‘I still think we can win the Scudetto because it is a very strange and even championship this year,’ he stressed.

England stars Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen handed Steve McClaren a boost on Wednesday when they backed the beleaguered manager to carry on even if England fail to reach Euro 2008.
   But Gerrard insisted that the players believe former Middlesbrough boss McClaren deserved to be given more time in the role.
   ‘I’m certainly backing the manager,’ Gerrard said as England began their build-up to a friendly with Austria in Vienna on Friday. ‘I’ve got a lot of faith in him, I’ve enjoyed working with him and speaking to the other players I’m sure they feel the same.
   ‘There is no point changing managers every five months or every year. You need continuity and I feel we are moving in the right direction.’
   Owen echoed Gerrard’s comments although the Newcastle striker also dismissed reports that the players would be sending a delegation to FA chiefs to try and persuade them to keep McClaren on.
   ‘I think every player you would ask would back the manager, that is a natural thing to do,’ Owen said.
   ‘We think he is the right man for the job. All this talk of going to (FA Chief Executive) Brian Barwick is paper talk but I think every player will come out and say they hope the manager stays.’
   If Russia fail to beat Israel, England will be able to qualify by beating Croatia at Wembley on November 21 and they could also be thrown a lifeline by Macedonia, who host the Croats on Saturday.
   If Macedonia, who can be difficult opponents, pulled off a surprise win over the group leaders England could find themselves needing a three-goal win over Slaven Bilic’s side at Wembley next Wednesday.
   That would be a tall order and the more likely outcome must be that the cream of England’s ‘golden generation’ will have to face the wrath of their own supporters in a match with nothing at stake.
   ‘It could be a difficult week,’ Owen acknowledged. ‘We have got to try to block out quite a lot of things and be in the right mental and physical state so if anything was to go for us on Saturday then we will be in the right frame of mind to go on and do our best on the Wednesday,’ said the Newcastle star.
   ‘It is all about preparing right and being in the right frame of mind to pounce.’
   England find themselves in their current predicament as a result of having squandered a lead in their last match, which ended in a 2-1 defeat by Russia in Moscow.
   But they are also paying the price of poor results earlier in the campaign, most notably a goalless draw at home to Macedonia and their failure to beat Israel in Tel Aviv.
   ‘We had some sticky results at the start of the qualification campaign, but certainly in the last half dozen games there has been a massive improvement,’ Owen emphasised.
   ‘We won five of them 3-0 and played some very good football in the process. We had that one hiccup in Russia where we had a mad five minutes but apart from that results have been on a steady upward curve over the last few months.’
   With Wayne Rooney ruled out by injury, Owen is expected to partner Peter Crouch in attack for both upcoming matches.
   Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has been ruled out of the trip to Vienna but could still feature in the Croatia game if England need a result.

Germany’s head coach Joachim Low is insisting on a top-class performance against minnows Cyprus in Hanover on Saturday to wipe out memories of Germany’s Euro 2008 Czech humbling last month.
   The Cypriots have been Group D’s over-achievers and drew 1-1 with Germany a year ago in a Euro 2008 qualifier, but the Germans are still smarting from their 3-0 humbling by the Czech Republic on home turf in Munich last month.
   Germany qualified with a 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin last month, but Low inists they finish with a flourish against Cyprus, and then Wales in Frankfurt next Wednesday, to restore some pride.
   ‘We made errors which we have not seen for a long time against the Czech Republic, that is something we still need to talk about, because a performance like that will not be tolerated again,’ Low told German sports agency SID.
   ‘We want to finish the two games with wins and then we can take the necessary confidence into our preparations for next summer’s European Championships.
   ‘The players have to show good form, not only in the two games, but also in the seven or eight training camps we will have.’
   Germany unveiled their new strip, which they will wear on Saturday, and has been designed for next summer’s European Championships to be held in Austria and Switzerland.
   Low’s first-choice goalkeeper Jens Lehmann will win his 50th cap, despite having missed the last 16 games for Arsenal after losing his place at the Premier League side.
   Lehmann, 37, hinted this week he is prepared to quit the north London club in a bid to secure regular football and keep his place in the team before Euro 2008.
   ‘I will have a conversation with Jens in the coming days to see what the situation is like at Arsenal,’ said Low.
   ‘We had agreed that we would talk about it in more detail at Christmas.
   ‘If he doesn’t play at Arsenal, we will talk about the best possibilities for Jens Lehmann.
   ‘Of course, I would prefer if he did play, especially with next year’s European Championships.’
   Striker Oliver Neuville and midfielder Tim Borowski were back in training on Wednesday after being the only ones to sit out training on Tuesday.

Michael Carrick has urged Dimitar Berbatov to tread on the same path as he did; in quitting White Hart Lane for Old Trafford.
   Berbatov’s future at Tottenham has been the subject of fevered speculation of late, with reports emanating from the player’s camp suggesting he was ready to quit the capital.
   The Bulgarian has since come out to pledge his allegiance to his present employers and their supporters, on the contrary to what several members of his family have intimated.
   Manchester United have long since been mooted as suitors, with Sir Alex Ferguson known to be an admirer of the precociously gifted striker.
   Carrick made the move from Spurs to United 16 months ago in an £18.5million transfer and he believes that should a similar big-money deal be agreed for Berbatov, it would be a match made in heaven.
   ‘Any world-class player who is going to bring something different to the club, you always welcome that whether that’s Berbatov or whoever,’ he told the Metro.
   ‘He’s a very good player. I’ve watched him quite a bit because he’s playing for my old club and I try and watch them whenever I can.
   ‘He had a very good season last year and people are always going to link him with big clubs like United.
   ‘As players here what you look for is a player coming in who can bring you something different, like Berbatov certainly would.
   ‘I’m not saying he’s better than what we’ve got, because we’ve got the best around up front.
   ‘But we would welcome any world-class players who can strengthen the squad and Berbatov certainly would do that.’

Ukraine boss Oleg Blokhin said Wednesday that his players would fight for pride in their remaining Euro 2008 qualifying matches—and the pleasure of keeping France from the finals.
   ‘I will be happy if we manage to beat France and keep them out of the Euro 2008 finals,’ he told a news conference here.
   ‘We will do our best to win both of our remaining qualifiers.’
   France will qualify for the Euro 2008 if Italy beat Scotland at Hampden on Saturday. If Scotland and Italy draw, France need at least a draw against Ukraine here next Wednesday to book their ticket.
   Ukraine, who have no hope of qualifying, play Lithuania at Kaunas Saturday.
   ‘The French manager Raymond Domenech has done everything to secure every possible advantage for his side at the expense of the other teams,’ complained Blokhin.
   ‘He insisted, for example, that we should play away to the Faroe Islands early in the spring, when we failed to reach our top form, but not in August.’
   Blokhin added that he had been angered after his team’s qualifier in Paris in June when the French President
   Nicolas Sarkozy’s security
   men prevented him from attending the post-match news conference.
   ‘Now we have a chance for a payback. And we all will do our best to spoil France’s mood.’
   Blokhin, however, said that his hopes for revenge could be weakened by the absence of several first-team players including Andrei Nesmachny, Alexander Kuzher, Vladimir Yezersky and Maxim Kalinichenko.

England midfielder David Beckham has been offered the chance to train with Premier League side Arsenal during the Major League Soccer close season, The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
   Beckham will line out with England in Friday’s international friendly against Austria in Vienna, and next Wednesday’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia.
   The 32-year-old Beckham’s fate, like that of England coach Steve McClaren depends heavily on the result between Russia and Israel in the Euro 2008 qualifying tie in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
   If Russia fail to win and England beat Croatia at Wembley next week, Beckham would expect to be involved at Euro 2008 and he has received offers from Watford, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal - all based near his Hertfordshire home - to train during the Major League Soccer close season, which lasts until February.

Real Madrid stopper Fabio Cannavaro has admitted that he is glad to be playing abroad as Italian football is in turmoil.
   With no decision yet to be made regarding the future of the Serie A campaign, the former Juventus captain is happy at the Bernabeu.
   ‘I feel lucky to be playing abroad,’ he told journalists. ‘I play for Real Madrid and they are a club with a perfect stadium where children can watch games without fear of violence.
   ‘From abroad I can see the bad image that Italian football is projecting. We haven’t managed to control the sport that we love. It is absurd that someone should die trying to get to a football game.’
   While the events of the weekend came as a shock to Cannavaro, he admits that he saw evidence of problems building when he was in Italy.
   ‘We need to change the relationship with certain sets of fans,’ he stressed.
   ‘Too often we give too much importance to people who have little to do with the real fans. The clubs put up with too many of these incidents and I even remember interference on the training ground when I played in Italy.
   ‘The people in charge must change things as quickly as possible as we can’t go on like this,’ he concluded.
   Cannavaro also said he did not expect Scotland to be in the running for a Euro 2008 slot.
   Azzurri skipper and Real Madrid defender Cannavaro said, ‘I am surprised Scotland have shown a lot of strength in this group.
   ‘But I am even more surprised that they beat France, one of the strongest sides in the world. Prior to qualifying, everyone thought France and Italy would secure the top spots in Group B.’

Milan veteran Paolo Maldini believes that December’s World Club Cup is a crucial test for the struggling Rossoneri.
   The Diavolo will come up against winners of FIFA’s other continental championships in the competition that takes place between December 7 and 16.
   ‘It’s the tournament that can make you champions of the world and it is fundamental for the club,’ Maldini told FIFA’s official website.
   ‘I have played in Japan before in my career and we have been unlucky there because we haven’t managed to win on our other trips.’
   Milan are most likely to face Argentine giants and South America’s Copa Libertadores winners Boca Juniors in the Final.
   ‘They are a tight unit,’ the famous stopper continued. ‘Argentine football is based on team unity and great mental strength.’
   While Maldini is hoping he can fully recover from a long-term ankle injury, the competition may also be a chance for Ronaldo to return to action.
   ‘I’m not at 100 per cent yet, but I’m counting on being at full strength by December,’ Maldini said. ‘Ronaldo will be there and he is a world-class player. His talent and personality can give us a great push when he’s at his best. He can turn any pass into a goal scoring opportunity.’

Emmanuel Adebayor believes Arsenal have proved that they will push Manchester United all the way to the wire in the Premier League title race this season.
   The Togo striker Adebayor underlined the psychological importance of another impressive display ahead of the break for international matches.
   ‘The most important thing was to do a good job and win the game - but to be back at the top is great as well,’ Adebayor said. ‘It is very important going into the international break. It gives us a lot of confidence.
   ‘We wanted to stay ahead of Manchester and show them we are strong - and we have done that.
   ‘Of course, it is a long title race - and it’s where you are at the end of the season that matters. But we are very happy with how things are going.’
   Adebayor added: ‘We are playing really good football, and there is a great feeling in the team. We are like a family, and the spirit is excellent.’

England don’t deserve to qualify for Euro 2008, Russia boss Guus Hiddink has insisted.
   Steve McClaren’s men will be all but eliminated from reaching next summer’s finals if Hiddink masterminds a victory in his side’s qualifier in Israel on Saturday.
   The Dutch coach – who outwitted McClaren when England lost 2-1 in Russia last month to see qualification taken out of their own hands – believes it is ‘impossible’ that his players will not take the three points in Tel Aviv.
   He said in the Daily Express, ‘I am calm and relaxed. We know that if we win then we will qualify for Euro 2008. It is as simple as that. It’s in our own hands.
   ‘I am not worried. I am fully focused. For me, this is the equivalent of a World Cup final. We have been through so much in this group as a country that it would be impossible for us to fail in Israel.
   ‘If we analyse this group and the teams, then England do not deserve to qualify. Russia have been consistent.
   ‘You judge success as to who qualifies. If we finish above England then no-one can say we don’t deserve it. It was not a freak or a one-off.’
   Hiddink revealed last month’s win over England restored his players’ belief, shattered after September’s 3-0 defeat at Wembley.
   He said, ‘They are ready to make every last sacrifice because they believe anything is now possible after beating England.
   ‘They realise now that there is not a big difference between the squads of England and Russia and that money, name and fame do not come into it.’
   He revealed his game-plan for Israel, saying: ‘We will go there with nothing else on our minds than victory and we will fight until the end. I have told my players to dominate from the first minute. That is the kind of football we need to play.’
   England’s hopes of Russia coming unstuck in Tel Aviv have suffered another blow after Israel’s goalkeeping coach hinted the home side may field an under-strength team.
   Russian-born Alexander Ubarov also admitted he ‘would love Russia to qualify’.
   However, Ubarov believes Israel’s youngsters could be counted upon to put up a fight.
   ‘We may have some youngsters on the pitch – the kind of players who would give it (their) all since they are eager to prove themselves,’ he told Israeli sports website, www.one.co.il.
   He added, ‘In the 18 years I have been involved with the Israel squad, we have never done anything but try our best in every single match.
   ‘I would love Russia to qualify – but only if it means that they deserve to. Everything will be decided on the pitch, nowhere else.’
   Israel are already without captain and star player Yossi Benayoun. ‘I got so many calls from Russia asking about Benayoun,’ Ubarov said.
   ‘They are really scared of him so I guess it was good for them to see he will not be playing. It’s a real shame he won’t be playing.’

Two Hungarian entrepreneurs have proposed a novel solution in Hungary’s struggle to wake national soccer from two decades of slumber: slot machines.
   Hungary, once unbeatable under Ferenc Puskas’s ‘Golden Team’, have not qualified for a major international tournament since the 1986 World Cup.
   There was even a sigh of relief last month when they managed to beat Malta, 137th in the FIFA rankings, and take revenge for a humiliating defeat last year.
   Lajos Marton and Gabor Csendes, two businessmen in the eastern Hajdu-Bihar county, thought rebuilding should start with young players, many of whom do not have adequate training grounds or kit, especially in poorer eastern Hungary.
   They have started installing hundreds of soccer-themed slot machines in pubs around the country and donate part of the proceeds to youth teams.
   ‘More and more teams have got in touch saying they want to take part in this,’ Marton said.
   The machines, which can be played with 100-forint ($0.574) coins, feature photographs of players from the local team in each town, arranged in two concentric circles on the front of the machine.
   Punters can win small prizes such as ashtrays or tickets to games if they get lights to flash next to the same player on both circles. They can win an additional prize of one to four beers depending on which number lights up on the display.
   ‘Since a normal tradition of sponsorship has not developed in this country yet we must be thankful for every penny,’ said Balint Nagy, spokesman of Hajduszoboszloi SE, a county league team which has received 20 soccer balls from the scheme.
   The Hungarian Football Association (MLSZ) said it welcomed the project though it was not officially taking part in it.
   ‘Obviously, we are delighted to hear anything that is connected to helping in any fields of the game,’ spokesman Peter Serenyi said.
   The national team has started to recover slowly since coach Peter Varhidi took charge last year, partly because the trainer bravely uses young players, mainly based abroad, a tactic which has brought back the interest of supporters.
   Hungary have already abandoned hope of qualifying for Euro 2008 but many believe that the new, young team that beat world champions Italy 3-1 in August could end the drought and get to the 2010 World Cup.
   One fan who has played on the soccer-themed slot machine said sponsoring young players was a good idea, though he was worried the money might not end up in the right hands.
   ‘I hope more people will play (on the machine), the junior teams could use the money,’ said postman Ervin Pavlanszky, 37, in a pub outside the Diosgyor stadium in Miskolc, eastern Hungary.
   Another fan said he could not see Hungary building a strong team again because the country, now part of the European Union and massively richer than at the height of communism when Puskas played, pampered its players.
   ‘They are overpaid,’ said Istvan Soltesz, 51. ‘If someone can kick the ball hard that’s already enough to be selected.’
   Many mourned Hungarian football last year after the death of Puskas, one of the greatest players of all time, whose ‘Magical Magyars’ beat England 6-3 in 1953 at Wembley.
   August’s victory over Italy, however, revived hopes for a turnaround for the nation which was 2-0 up in the 1954 World Cup final before losing 3-2 to West Germany. It was the only match Hungary lost between 1950 and 1955.
   ‘We have become unaccustomed to such glee,’ wrote veteran soccer commentator Ivan Hegyi in the daily Nepszabadsag after the game against Italy.
   ‘I have been reporting on Hungarian national team matches for almost quarter of a century but I cannot think of a similar achievement from a period of several decades.’

UEFA president Michel Platini remains determined to see domestic cup winners qualify for the Champions League, despite failing to garner enough support for the proposal this week.
   Platini was unable to convince Europe’s five big football associations of the merits of his plan, which would have seen the FA Cup winners take one of the four spots currently given to the top four in the Barclays Premier League.
   ‘We can do that in three years. We can come back on that,’ he told BBC News 24 programme Hard Talk. Platini denied being forced into an embarrassing climbdown over the issue, claiming it proved he was willing to listen to the concerns of others.
   He explained their fears, saying, ‘The leagues are not in favour because they have to sell their own leagues and if they lost one of the four Champions League teams, they think they would have more problems selling their TV rights.’
   Platini scrapped the proposal in return for securing a deal where, from 2009, six spots in the competition’s group stage are reserved for league champions from the bottom 40 countries in Europe.
   ‘My best message is to have six more champions in the Champions League,’ he said.
   Platini also insisted the English authorities will have to work hard to ‘convince’ him to back their bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.
   ‘I hope for you it will be England but at the moment I have nothing to say,’ he said.
   ‘You will have to convince me. If there are two or three European countries going to bid, they all have to convince me.’
   Platini expressed his concern about the ‘dangerous’ influx of foreign investors into the Barclays Premier League, dubbing them ‘speculators’, whose primary interest was in making money.
   ‘Money is important in football, I can understand that,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want this money to be the boss of football.’
   Yet, Platini – a legend as a player for France and Juventus – has no problem with the amount of money players make as long as clubs are not spending beyond their means.
   He is also not worried that the Premier League is increasingly becoming saturated with overseas talent, although he believes England’s recent international failures are ‘a consequence’ of this.
   Platini’s real concern over foreign players surrounds clubs’ academy systems.
   He wants to stop Arsenal and Manchester United snapping up Europe’s best young players while they are still teenagers.
   He said: ‘I am totally against this philosophy.
   ‘I like (Sir Alex) Ferguson, I like Arsene Wenger - they’re good friends of mine - but don’t like the system to pick the best players from all the youth categories in all the countries.
   ‘It’s difficult for those countries.’
   Platini believes players need to be nurtured in their country of origin until they turn 20 or 21 and pointed out that in England there are regulations preventing clubs poaching young players from each other.
   He said: ‘I want to protect the people of 14 years old, 15 years old.’
   On the subject of racism, Platini acknowledged UEFA’s disciplinary commission were ‘sometimes’ too soft.
   He revealed he was unhappy with the decision to fine Montenegrin side FK Zeta only £9,000 in September after their fans racially abused two Rangers players.

France coach Raymond Domenech has said he would rather his side spent Saturday in a nightclub than watch the Scotland v Italy clash which could decide ‘Les Bleus’ Euro 2008 fate.
   Scotland could give France a headache by qualifying for Euro 2008 by beating the World Cup champions at Hampden.
   That would qualify Scotland for their first major international competition in ten years, but defeat for Alex McLeish’s side would qualify France even before their final encounter against Ukraine.
   If Scotland upset the Group B odds, France will need at least a draw in Ukraine on November 21 to have any chance of qualifying for the European Championships.
   Domenech says the best way ‘Les Bleus’ can handle the pressure of that scenario is to pretend it doesn’t concern them in the first place.
   But he has plans to hide as many televisions as possible here at the France team’s headquarters outside of Paris.
   ‘I’ve been saying it to the players on a daily basis, Saturday’s match (Scotland v Italy) does not concern us,’ said the Frenchman.
   ‘We don’t want to have to wake up on Sunday morning telling ourselves that we still have a match at stake on Wednesday. That’s a trap we don’t want to fall into.
   ‘So I hope that the (French) players don’t want to watch the match on television. I’m going to make sure there are no televisions at Clairefontaine to be watched!
   ‘I would prefer it if they went out to a nightclub, or if they played cards and that they only find out the result on Sunday morning.’
   Most of Les Bleus, however, will be looking to find a television somewhere.
   ‘We’ll be watching this match closely,’ said Marseille forward Samir Nasri.
   ‘We haven’t planned anything but if we don’t watch it all together I’ll find a way to watch it myself.’
   ‘Our qualification could depend on it, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on it,’ added Alou Diarra.
   Lyon striker Karim Benzema agreed, ‘We’ll be watching, if they’re showing it on television. It’s interesting for us to see what kind of match we will have to play in Ukraine.’
   Domenech, however, said he will do all he can to make sure his players stay focused uniquely on what they have to do on November 21.
   ‘It’s a coach’s role to ask the impossible of his players, and here at Clairefontaine I know how to disconnect all the electrical plugs for the televisions.’

England midfielder Steven Gerrard prays that Israel will beat Russia on Saturday because that would put England on course to qualify for Euro 2008, he was quoted in the daily Maariv as saying Wednesday.
   ‘I’ll be Israel’s biggest supporter on Saturday,’ he said.
   ‘I’m keeping my fingers crossed for your team, praying they will beat Russia—that would be great for England,’ Gerrard told the daily.
   ‘Israel’s home record is excellent, especially against top rank sides,’ the Liverpool star added.
   ‘It’s not good to have to depend on Israel, but that’s the way it is. If we are eliminated from the European championship it would be very disappointing, especially for our fantastic supporters. They don’t deserve that.’
    ‘It’s going to be a difficult week because we’re all waiting for the Israel game,’ added Gerrard. ‘It’s been difficult being an England player since the Russia result.
   ‘We could all be going into one of the most meaningless internationals of our career, or one of the most important.
   ‘But if we join up this week thinking it’s all over and we’ve got no chance, it will make it impossible to prepare right for Wednesday if it suddenly becomes a massive game
   for us.’
   Gerrard also insists the players want to represent England and the stand-in skipper remains determined to be successful with the national team.
   He added, ‘It’s not aggravation to go out and play for your country. I still believe and have a dream of winning something with England, and that’s worth any aggravation.
   ‘If you look around the squad and see the players we’ve got, they should be capable of winning something. If we have to suffer this summer to have a successful World Cup in 2010, then that really would be worth the aggravation, if you want to call it that.
   ‘Can you imagine this country if we have a successful tournament? And that’s what I want to be part of.
   ‘I have the same dream I had when I was a kid. Any young English player who doesn’t have that dream shouldn’t be playing for England.
   ‘I can assure everyone on the outside that the players are frustrated and disappointed at the position we’re in and are desperate to put it right.’

AC Milan and Brazil midfielder Kaka said on Tuesday he would consider leaving Italian soccer if fan violence and other scandals continued to dog the game there.
   Kaka said he was saddened and shocked by the hooliganism that forced his side’s game at Atalanta in Bergamo on Sunday to be abandoned after seven minutes.
   ‘It’s sad and I was a direct victim because the fans stopped the game and we didn’t play,’ he told reporters after training with Brazil, who are away to Peru in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday.
   ‘It was a sad experience.’
   The violence followed the shooting of a Lazio fan by a police officer following scuffles with Juventus supporters at a motorway service station. Police said the shooting was accidental.
   Italy was also hit by a match-fixing scandal two years ago, dubbed Calciopoli, and the killing of a policeman during riots outside a Catania match in February.
   ‘Something must be done, it’s a social problem and it goes beyond football,’ said Kaka.
   ‘In the end, it’s the players who are punished. They cancel the game, the championship is suspended, we never know when we are going to play, but we have to keep training and make ourselves available.’
   Asked if the problems could prompt him to leave, Kaka, a top target for Real Madrid, replied: ‘Of course it could. It’s not the first time. It’s not that I want to change clubs because I’m happy at Milan, but if these situations keep happening, I have to wonder whether it’s worth it and if I’m still enjoying what I’m doing.’
   Kaka added that he found Brazil’s urban violence more frightening.
   ‘It’s different,’ he said. ‘The threat of kidnapping frightens me more but this is still worrying. A lot of families and children are in the stadiums and our own families are there as well.’

Jose Mourinho has put the boot into Arsene Wenger and accused the Arsenal manager of damaging English football.
   Mourinho reckons he did more for English game in three years than Wenger has in 11.
   And the former Chelsea chief poured scorn on the Gunners’ claims that they have not bought success – even though he spent £225 million on new signings during his reign at Stamford Bridge.
   Mourinho told The Sun, ‘Unlike Arsenal, we tried to build success through a concept of using English players. We wanted to project a positive image of Chelsea without running the risk of filling the club with lots of foreign players.
   ‘That would bring us problems in handling the dressing room and in the Press which is sensitive to the use of English players. The people in England don’t easily forgive clubs which misrepresent their championship with a complete intake of foreign footballers.’
   The Special One asked, ‘Do people really think only Chelsea have spent a lot of money?
   Arsenal also spent a lot and when they needed to build a new team brought in players like Thierry Henry, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and many others.
   ‘Did they all come for nothing? Of course not. With those players Wenger won championships, he won time and, because he is a manager with admirable ability, he won people’s respect.
   ‘But in building success he started in the same place as Chelsea. It was only later Wenger cemented his policy of relying on developing young players.’
   But Wenger said, ‘In 30 years without foreign players before I came here, England didn’t win any competitions.
   ‘I came to England in 1996 and the national team have done much better since then in the major tournaments.’
   Mourinho reckons he saved Red Rom from a suspicious public. He claimed, ‘The animosity towards Abramovich was due to the idea he was going to turn Chelsea into a depot of players who came and went just for the sake of spending money.
   ‘My hands were not exactly free to choose my first list of signings. We had to find the right balance to correspond with my idea of success while maintaining a balance between English and foreign players.’

Chelsea coach Avram Grant has had to reassure two of his players since he took over from Jose Mourinho - neither of them Didier Drogba.
   The Ivory Coast striker appeared to be unsettled in the early days of Grant’s tenure, but the Israeli boss reports he has no qualms with Drogba.
   Although he hints there have been growing pains with some members of the squad he inherited, he told The Sun: ‘Didier behaves very well and gives 100 per cent every game. I am happy with him.
   ‘Sometimes players come to me and say they are unhappy. Two have done this - but it doesn’t matter who.’