A round-up of today's other news in brief
Argentina to play Portugal in friendly
ARGENTINA WILL meet Portugal in a friendly in London early next year.
The match will take place at the Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal, on February 9th, the Argentina football federation (AFA) have announced.
The last time the two countries played each other was back in 1972 when Portugal beat Argentina 3-1 in Rio de Janeiro.
Since this summer’s World Cup, both nations have recorded big friendly wins over world champions Spain, with Argentina beating Vicente del Bosque‘s men 4-1 in Buenos Aires in September while Portugal were 4-0 victors in Lisbon last month.
Argentina have also confirmed two away friendlies next March against the United States and Costa Rica.
WIGAN FEAR forward Victor Moses could be out for up to three months after dislocating his shoulder in Tuesday’s defeat at Arsenal. The club initially anticipated a four- to six-week lay-off for the 19-year-old after he injured himself landing awkwardly in a tackle during the 2-0 League Cup loss. Scans have now shown the injury to be worse than thought and the former Crystal Palace player is likely to be out until spring.
China 'should bid for World Cup'
CHINA SHOULD bid for the 2026 World Cup finals, China’s soccer chief Wei Di was quoted as saying in the state media yesterday. “I have always believed that it is only a question of time for China to host the World Cup, as an important nation in the world,” Chinese Football Association head Wei told the state-run Xinhua news agency.
“I am in the camp of supporting a bid,” he said. “If there is the need, I will call upon public opinion (for their support), as a bid for the World Cup would be great for Chinese football,” Wei said. China’s prospects will not have been helped by Qatar’s selection yesterday to host the 2022 tournament.
Chinese soccer has been riddled with match-fixing allegations in recent years. The government has been trying to root out the problems, arresting 20 officials this year including the previous head of the national football association.
Brown hoping to make Old Firm derby
CELTIC captain Scott Brown will see a specialist on Monday but insists he will not rush his comeback from injury.
The 25-year-old midfielder has been out of action since the start of October with a metatarsal problem. He is hoping to return soon but refused to put a definite date on any potential return. However, he did admit he was hoping to be involved in the Old Firm derby on January 2nd. “Hopefully I’m not too far away,” said Brown. “I’ll go down to see a specialist on Monday and we will take it from there. I’m still not too sure yet when I’ll be back, I will need to wait and see what the specialist says. The main thing is that I need to take my time and make sure everything is perfect so that I can hopefully come back 100 per cent.”
Mancini 'lost his cool' in dressingroom at half-time
MANCHESTER CITY manager Roberto Mancini is determined his team match his own high standards – or else.
Goalkeeper Shay Given revealed that the Italian boss lost his cool in the dressingroom at half-time during Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Salzburg.
City started the match with a flourish but were only one goal ahead at the break thanks to a stunning volley from Mario Balotelli.
While Mancini’s voice barely rises above a whisper when he address the media it is a different story with his players.
Given said: “The manager was really upset at half-time, he felt we could have done better.
“We improved in the second half, we got a couple of goals and could have scored more. We are delighted with the three goals and myself and the guys at the back are happy with a clean sheet as well.”
Aberdeen look for manager Moses faces long lay-off
ABERDEEN HAVE begun the process of finding Mark McGhee’s successor and accept the new manager will face a tough task at Pittodrie.
Neil Cooper and Neil Simpson were yesterday today placed in temporary charge of the first team after McGhee, along with assistants Colin Meldrum and Scott Leitch, left the club yesterday after a sixth straight league defeat at Kilmarnock on Saturday left the Dons joint bottom of the Premier League.
Cooper and Simpson will be supported in their role by club captain Paul Hartley, while a sub-committee including chairman Stewart Milne, chief executive Duncan Fraser and director of football Willie Miller draw up a shortlist of managerial candidates to present to the board. Aberdeen are confident a suitable candidate will emerge and soon after McGhee’s departure was confirmed, the recruitment process began.
