Aragones tips Spain, Brazil as W.Cup favourites

European champions Spain are convinced they can win the World Cup this time around and are the favourites along with Brazil, says former Spain coach Luis Aragones.

The World Cup is not the fairest competition but the big favourites are those two teams, he told Spanish public radio RNE.

Aragones claimed the Spanish were psychologically more confident since he led them to their Euro 2008 victory, the squad s first major title in over four decades, and are convinced they can win the 2010 World Cup.

Spain climbed back to the top of the FIFA world rankings last month displacing Brazil who had led since July following exhibition wins over fellow World Cup qualifier Argentina and Austria.

They booked their place in South Africa with two matches to spare and we…

Race hots up for Schalke star

A number of England s top sides are showing interest in Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos, .

The talented defender is currently sidelined through a knee injury, and it could easily happen that he has played his final game for the club.

Bild reports that the 21-year-old is on the radar of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City.

Schalke are not too keen on selling the highly rated centre-back, but they won t be able to do anything if a club meet his €22.5 million release clause.

Despite his fragile age, Papadopoulos has already proved his worth at the biggest stage and he looks ready to leave the Miners for greener pastures in the summer transfer window.

The Greece international, who joined Schalke from Olympiakos in the s…

United States advance to Gold Cup final

The United States are through to the final of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup following a rather clinical 2-0 win over Honduras.

The opening goal came just before the break as a corner kick from Stuart Holden was headed past keeper Escober by the tall defender Clarence Goodson.

Apart from a chance for striker Carlos Costly late on, Honduras rarely managed to get anywhere near the opposing goal as the US easily defended their advantage.

In the 90th minute, a well-performed US attack allowed Kenny Cooper to make it 2-0. A back-heel from Brian Ching found Holden whose following pass had Cooper only needing to push it in from close range.

In Sunday s final, the US team face either Mexico or Costa Rica, who play in Thursday s second semi final game.

Courtois surprised by Chelsea´s success

Thibaut Courtois says Chelsea are doing better than expected this term after an underwhelming 2015-16 campaign and is confident they can keep up their good run of form.

The Stamford Bridge side had to settle for 10th spot in the table last year after parting ways with Jose Mourinho in December 2015.

They appointed Antonio Conte ahead of this season and the former Italy boss has made a major impact, leading Chelsea to top spot in the Premier League table following a 13-game winning streak.

With the current run of wins, we can say we are doing better than expected after a bad season last year, Courtois told The Times of India.

We are top of the league with far more points than we had at this time last year, or even two years ago when we were champions in …

Rumour Has It: Barcelona have Neymar plan as star seeks €35m per season

Barcelona have a plan to land Neymar and the star forward s demands now appear to be known.

The Neymar saga is not yet over and it remains to be seen if the Brazil international will leave Paris Saint-Germain before the transfer window closes on September 2.

But Barcelona have a new plan to bring Neymar – who they sold to PSG for €222million two years ago – back to Camp Nou.

 

TOP STORY – BARCELONA HAVE NEYMAR PLAN AS STAR DEMANDS €35M PER SEASON

Barcelona have worked out a new formula to convince PSG to sell Neymar to them, according to Spanish newspaper Sport.

The LaLiga champions will offer cash and a player to the Ligue 1 giants this year and PSG can choose between either another player or more money in 2020, the report says…

Portsmouth close in on Tosic deal

(GSM) Serbian full-back Dusko Tosic is waiting for his work permit before moving to Portsmouth. Tosic had his contract cancelled by Werder Bremen after pulling out of a loan move to Duisburg.

He has agreed an 18-month deal to join Pompey and is waiting for the work permit to be finalized in order to sign for the Premier League s bottom club.

I have signed a deal for 18 months with Portsmouth FC, pending just the work permit, Tosic told Kicker-Sportmagazin.

But there is a 99 per cent chance I will get permission for this.

Tosic explained why he changed his mind about the Duisburg switch and gave the nod to a move to Pompey.

He added, It is true that I said I would join MSV Duisburg, but that was just in case I could not pick up an interest from…

Chelsea’s transfer ban suspended by CAS

The Court of Arbitration has heeded to Chelsea s request and has suspended their transfer ban pending a final decision.

Fifa banned the Premier League club from signing players in the next two transfer windows after they were found guilty of inducing Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with Lens two years ago

The club had asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to suspend the punishment until the outcome of their appeal against it is decided. Kakuta, who was banned from playing for four months, had also appealed against Fifa s ruling.

A statement on the website of the Court of Arbitration for Sport reads as follows:

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has granted the request for a stay filed by Chelsea Football Club Ltd and Mr Gaël Kakut…

´If you are not a journalist or a referee he can be a nice guy´ – Klopp defends Mourinho

Jurgen Klopp has defended under-fire Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho ahead of Liverpool s visit to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Mourinho has come under significant pressure following a dismal start to the season by the defending Premier League champions, who are 15th in the table with just 11 points from 10 games.

The Portuguese manager has courted controversy by clashing with staff and match officials throughout the campaign and was charged with misconduct by the Football Association in relation to his language and behaviour towards the match officials following Chelsea s 2-1 loss to West Ham last weekend.

Defeat at Upton Park was followed by elimination from the League Cup at the hands of Stoke City on penalties on Tuesday.

But Klopp, who is seeking his f…

Chelsea slump not just Mourinho´s fault, insists Courtois

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois insists that Jose Mourinho was not solely to blame for Chelsea s dismal form last season.

Mourinho, who guided Chelsea to the Premier League title and the EFL Cup in 2014-15, departed in December after they won just four of their opening 16 games in the top flight.

Guus Hiddink took temporary charge but was unable to reverse their fortunes, with the London club ultimately finishing 10th in the table, with no trophies to their name.

Under Antonio Conte, however, Chelsea have re-emerged as title contenders, winning five league games in a row without conceding a goal.

But Courtois maintains the players were as culpable as Mourinho for last season s slump, even though a change in manager has ultimately galvanised their fortunes…

Guardiola confused by Brazil´s ´crazy´ suspension request for Man City stars

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hit out at the crazy decision from the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) to invoke a FIFA suspension for Ederson and Gabriel Jesus.

City duo Ederson and Jesus were – among the majority of other South American players in the Premier League – not released by their clubs for the recent round of World Cup qualifiers on the continent.

Premier League clubs unanimously agreed last month they would refuse to release players called up by nations that are on the British government s travel red list amid the coronavirus pandemic.

All of South America is on this list, and players would have had to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days upon their arrival back in the United Kingdom, leaving them unavailable for at least two league g…