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FIFA are set to approve a Great Britain football team for the London 2012 Olympics.

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FIFA are set to approve a Great Britain football team for the 2012 Olympics despite opposition from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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Steven Wells: The Anderson Monarchs come from crime-ridden, poverty-stricken Philadelphia - and they might be the most important sports team in the United States
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Original post by Steven Wells

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/65384?ns=guardianpageName=Sport%3A+MacLeod+may+sue+UK+Sport+over+drugs+debaclech=Sportc3=The+Guardianc4=Sport%2CRugby+union%2CScotland+rugby+union+team%2CHorse+racing%2CEngland+football+team%2CWorld+Cup+2018+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2COlympic+games+2012+%28News%29%2CUK+news%2CBBC%2CITV%2CChannel+4%2CMediac5=Football+World+Cup%2CRugby+Union%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CMedia+Weekly%2CHorse+Racing%2CTelevision+Media%2COlympic+Gamesc6=Matt+Scottc7=2008_12_03c8=1127847c9=articlec10=GUc11=Sportc12=Rugby+unionc13=c14=h2=GU%2FSport%2FRugby+union” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpWhile UK Sport considers how to apportion its funding for the Olympics in 2012, there could be a new threat to its budget. Advisers for Scott MacLeod, the Scotland rugby union lock, are considering whether to push for legal action against UK Sport if its liability can be established in a drugs-testing fiasco./ppMacLeod was unavailable for the autumn Tests and suspended from playing for his club after tests found he had high levels of testosterone in his system. The results were made public, and MacLeod was out of the game for several weeks. He was, however, entirely innocent of the charges./ppThe test results had been warped by high levels of alcohol in his bloodstream after a night out celebrating his wife’s pregnancy. Despite precedents suggesting that alcohol could have an effect on the outcome of tests, it was not until the second “B” sample was analysed that UK Sport investigated the possible alcohol link. It says it was following the World Anti-Doping Agency’s procedures. But MacLeod’s advisers are seeking counsel as to whether UK Sport can be pursued for damages after his loss of earnings and reputation. UK Sport has insurance against litigation, but without details of any claim is unable to gauge if it would be covered against action from MacLeod./ppSmall wonder, with a new anti-doping code being introduced by Wada next year, that the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne expects more than this year’s record of nearly 300 cases./ph2Jockeying for position/h2pWith both the BBC and ITV seeking heads of sport in the new year it will be musical chairs in the television sports industry at exactly the time the squeeze begins to be applied to sports-rights budgets. The word is that Channel 4 is set to end its coverage of racing after the current contract ends in 2010, effectively closing down its sports department. That has made its head, Andrew Thompson, a prime candidate to take over at the BBC. Setanta’s director of sport, Trevor East, and Geoff Hill, a former ITN News at Ten editor who set up the Setanta Sports News channel, are both in the frame for the ITV role. /ph2Irate of the Caribbean/h2pSimon Johnson, the acting chief operating officer of England’s bid company for the 2018 football World Cup, appears certain to get the job full-time. Johnson was a central figure in the chaos in the Caribbean earlier this year that overshadowed preparations for the 2018 bid. The Jamaica Football Federation understood that Johnson had pledged pound;135,000 of Football Association funds towards a youth-training facility, something the FA later furiously denied. The ensuing transatlantic row required all the diplomacy of the FA chairman, David Triesman, to smooth over yet Johnson has since become a trusted lieutenant in the bid team. Although he has yet to be confirmed in the operating-officer role, Johnson has been part of the four-person panel interviewing candidates for jobs this week./ppstrongWho is the Stig?/strong/ppIn a shameless attempt to boost sales among petrol-heads, the front page of yesterday’s Daily Telegraph used the banner “Boris Johnson: My Top Gear Revelation” with a picture of the London mayor shaking hands with Top Gear’s Stig. Inevitably, Johnson declined to out the Stig, describing him merely as “a mysterious white-uniformed driver whose visor is never lifted”. So, like the Tel, this column will also exploit the Stig’s mystique in a cynical attempt to gain readers. It is widely known that Top Gear parted company with Perry McCarthy, a former minor formula one driver, after he exposed himself, although not in the John Barrowman sense. Ben Collins, a former NASCAR driver, was later revealed by the Health and Safety Executive as Top Gear’s “high-performance driver” in a report into the Richard Hammond crash of 2006. Now Digger has been reliably informed by F1 sources that Heikki Kovalainen, left, took up the role during a Top Gear testing at Renault’s base. Cynical, yes, but it had you reading My Top Gear Revelation./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion”Rugby union/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/scotlandrugbyunionteam”Scotland rugby union team/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/horseracing”Horse racing/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/worldcup2018″World Cup 2018/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/olympics2012″Olympic games 2012/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/bbc”BBC/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/ITV”ITV/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/channel4″Channel 4/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Matt Scott

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/78214?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Shy+pioneer+plays+down+his+place+in+historych=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Football%2CEngland+football+team%2CSport%2CSport+interviewsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Daniel+Taylorc7=2008_11_28c8=1125444c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Englandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FEngland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpYellow, purple or black - if they’re good enough, I’ll pick them,” Ron Greenwood declared in the build-up to England’s match against Czechoslovakia on November 29 1978, and in the absence of any yellow and purple players in the Football League the meaning was fairly clear. That night, 11 men wearing England shirts lined up on the Wembley turf, 10 of them white and one of them black. It was, as Greenwood put it, “a little bit of history”./ppEngland won 1-0 but in the grand scheme of things the game will be remembered for only one thing: the presence of a 22-year-old Nottingham Forest footballer named Viv Anderson. Anderson, or “Spider” as he was known to team-mates because of his long legs, duly became the first black footballer to play for England and that is why his name will be remembered long after other internationals from that era have been forgotten./ppTomorrow marks the 30th anniversary and Anderson, now based in Cheshire where he runs an events company, still looks the same as in his playing days with Forest, Arsenal and Manchester United. He has always been a little embarrassed to be described as a history-maker, but, as an active ambassador for Kick It Out, football’s anti-racism campaign, he is also aware of the significance of the occasion./pp”It was a really big thing at the time,” he says. “There were no black faces on the football field. OK, there was Brendon Batson and Clyde Best and a few others. But to be the first black player to pull on an England shirt in a full international - I can see why people made a bit of a fuss.”/ppKick It Out did not exist in those days and Anderson routinely played at grounds where the National Front would be handing out leaflets. In one game at Carlisle United, a rival player started whispering racist insults in his ear. Brian Clough was quickly out of his dug-out, telling him to kick his opponent and “call him a white bastard”./ppThings have moved on. Yet Anderson fondly remembers the 92,000 fans at Wembley giving him an appreciative round of applause. “I had a hand in the goal and we won 1-0,” he says. “I remember Bob Latchford telling me I’d remember it forever and he was right. It was a very positive reaction from the terraces. To them, it was all about the football.”/ppThree decades later it is a measure of the changing times that England had seven black players making an appearance in their last game against Germany. /pp”Many of today’s younger England fans will take for granted the black faces in Fabio Capello’s team,” says Piara Powar, the Kick it Out director. /pp”But in 1978 it was a rarity to see a young black man achieving so highly, both on the football pitch and society in general. This is a milestone for Viv, and gives the rest of us an opportunity to take stock of a significant turning point for sport in this country.”/ppAnderson, however, is a modest hero. “I never had it that bad,” he says. “It was a lot easier for me than, say Laurie Cunningham or Cyrille Regis. They were flamboyant forwards so they were identified much more. Cyrille got a bullet through the post with the message: ‘This one’s for you if you play for England’. I never got anything like that because I was just a defender who used to boot people.”/ppModest and affable, Anderson now features on the 100 Great Black Britons website. He was awarded an MBE in 2000 and was inducted into the National Football Museum’s hall of fame in 2004. He has also taken part in football workshops in Soweto as a goodwill ambassador for the Football Association and, going back to 1978, still has the telegrams he received “from everyone from Laurie Cunningham’s mum to Elton John and the Queen”. It is, he says, a proud moment. “I played in an age where it wasn’t the norm for a black man to represent his country so to do it not just once, but 30 times, is more than I could’ve ever asked for.”/ph2Black milestones/h2pstrongArthur Wharton, Preston North End /strong/ppThe world’s first professional black player. Born in the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1865, played for Darlington as a keeper in 1885-86 and joined North End the following season, reaching an FA Cup semi-final. Also played on the wing/ppstrongAndrew Watson, Queen’s Park /strong/ppBorn 1857 in British Guiana, played 36 games for the Spiders, winning the Cup in 1881. Three Scotland caps, captaining them against England/ppstrongAlbert Johanneson, Leeds United/strong/ppSouth Africa-born, followed his countryman Gerry Francis over to Leeds and signed in 1961. In 1965 became first black FA Cup finalist/ppstrongLaurie Cunningham, WBA/strong/ppBecame first black player to play for England at any level when he turned out for the U21s v Scotland in April 1977. Scored and won six full caps/ppstrongGarth Crooks, Tottenham H/strong/ppFirst to score in an FA Cup final, in 1981, and in 1988 became first black chairman of the PFA/ppstrongPaul Ince, Man United/strong/ppEngland’s first black captain, in June 1993, when David Platt was injured. Lost 2-0 to the US but captained side on six more occasions/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/sportinterviews”Sport interviews/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Daniel Taylor

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/43810?ns=guardianpageName=From+the+Guardian%3A+%27There+is+no+chance+that+he+will+ever+be+distracted+from+the+gift+he+has+been+given.+He+knows+he+is+a+lucky+guy%27ch=From+the+Guardianc3=The+Guardianc4=Arsenal+FC+%28Football%29%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CEngland+football+team%2CFootballc5=Premier+Leaguec6=David+Hytnerc7=2008_11_21c8=1121520c9=articlec10=GUc11=From+the+Guardianc12=Arsenalc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFrom+the+Guardian%2FArsenal” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpIf one recent episode served to illustrate the composure and down-to-earth charm of Theo Walcott, it came at the end of last week when he visited patients at the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at University College hospital in London./ppEnglish football’s poster boy was aware that some of the youngsters that he chatted to might not make it. As ever, though, his handling of the situation was exemplary. It was extraordinary to consider, remarked several onlookers, that Walcott himself is still a teenager./ppTalk to anyone about the 19-year-old, either at his club, Arsenal, or within the England national team set-up, and the themes recur. His politeness, his courtesy, his downright niceness are constantly extolled. /ppFor one so prominent, and especially for a modern footballer, he lacks ego. He appears a long way from the stereotypical modern player. /pp”Theo is just an exceptional young guy,” said Bob Wilson, the former Arsenal goalkeeper and coach, whose charity, the Willow Foundation, Walcott serves as an ambassador./pp”He is so grounded it’s unbelievable. I texted him when I heard the news and I just said that sometimes things like this can make you more determined than ever.”/ppThe news was that Walcott, having dislocated his shoulder at an England training session on Tuesday, had been forced to undergo surgery which will sideline him for at least three months. Injury layoffs often provoke reflection in players, and Walcott is not short of material./ppHe burst on to the scene at Southampton and, after only 23 appearances for them, Arsenal agreed a pound;9.1m deal in January 2006 to make him the most expensive 16-year-old in British football history./ppThen came his surprise inclusion in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England squad for the World Cup finals in Germany that summer - he did not play in the doomed campaign - and a long battle to establish himself in the Arsenal team. Injuries, particularly to his other shoulder, held him back but he also tantalised with flashes of his class./ppHis breakthrough for both club and country has come this season. The hat-trick that he scored for England in the 4-1 World Cup qualifying win against Croatia in September was his defining moment and it unleashed Theo-mania, although he has long been a target for paparazzi lenses. That will now be tempered for a period./pp”Theo copes quite well with setbacks - I’m amazed at how he deals with them,” said Arsegrave;ne Wenger, his manager at Arsenal. “This time, it’s a bit of a blow because he’s just taking off, but it’s all part of a career.”/ppWalcott will rely on his family and his girlfriend, Mel Slade, to help him through the frustration. He has always shared the good and the bad with them. Walcott, who has a brother, Ashley, and a sister, Hollie, lives with his parents, Don and Lynn, in a five-bedroom villa in the Hertfordshire countryside, close to the Arsenal training ground./ppHis father, once a fine sprinter, worked as an RAF administrator before joining a services company working for British Gas and now helps to handle some of Walcott’s affairs. His mother, a midwife, is involved in charity fundraising. If Walcott gets his boundless energy from his father, he takes his calmness from his mother./pp”That’s definitely the case,” said Don Walcott. “It’s incredible the way he detaches things like the media questioning him and never gets stressed or worried.”/ppWalcott does not drink and does not go to nightclubs. He recognises that his is a short career and is determined to wring every last drop from his talent. He would love to have gone to university, most likely to study art, his favourite subject at school - he would like to open a gallery one day - and he admits to envying Mel, who has started a physiotherapy course at St George’s, University of London./ppIf she is a long way from being a Wag, then there is a refreshing wholesomeness to Walcott, right down to the car that he drives: a VW Golf. There is no dirt on him and nor is there likely to be. It is also difficult to remember him losing his temper. When the Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, said that he had “no right” to be in the World Cup squad, “none at all”, Walcott, the quiet boy from the village of Compton near Newbury, simply shrugged. On the flight back from Croatia, he just played his PlayStation./pp”For someone of his age, he is incredibly mature and articulate,” said Amanda Docherty, Arsenal’s head of communications. “He has dealt with the media glare amazingly. There are players much older than him who don’t handle the situation as well.”/pp”There is absolutely no chance that Theo Walcott will ever be distracted from the gift he has been given,” added Wilson. “He knows he is a lucky guy and he will make the most of what he has.”/ph2CV/h2pstrongBorn/strong March 16 1989, Stanmore, Middlesex, but grew up in Compton, near Newbury/ppstrongEducation/strong Downs School in Compton/ppstrongPersonal life/strong Lives with parents Don and Lynn. Girlfriend Melanie Slade/ppstrongCareer/strong Clubs: Southampton 2004-06, Arsenal 2006-. England: one cap, debut v Hungary 2006 (youngest player to represent England), World Cup squad 2006. Became England’s youngest international hat-trick scorer against Croatia, September 2008. Ambassador for the Willow Foundation charity/ppstrongQuote/strong “My career is short … You don’t want to waste it; you want to reach your top level. I don’t go to nightclubs … It doesn’t interest me whatsoever”/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/arsenal”Arsenal/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague”Premier League/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227230587842112101230752433″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227230587842112101230752433″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by David Hytner

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/95480?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Thursday%27s+football+transfer+rumours+-+Arsenal+after+Steven+Defour%3Fch=Footballc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Football%2CSport%2CArsenal+FC+%28Football%29c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Paolo+Bandinic7=2008_11_20c8=1120914c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Arsenalc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FArsenal” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpSo now we know. Ashley Cole wasn’t thinking of his own selfish needs when he swerved violently across the North Circular in January 2005, raging at Arsenal’s decision to offer him just £55,000 a week when he had specifically told them no less than £60,000 would do the job. No, our Ashley was thinking of the big picture – or more specifically the strongbig-screen picture he is now set to part-fund with Rio Ferdinand/strong./ppDead Man Running, a “British gangland thriller” which is set to feature both 50 Cent and pwopa nawty East Lahn geeza Danny Dyer, tells the heart-warming tale of an ex-con trying to go straight (aren’t they all?), but who first needs to pay off a £150,000 loan. The Mill can only hope that this represents a first step towards the production of epic biopics for both Cole and Ferdinand./ppThe film of strongFreddy Shepherd/strong’s life, of course, would take the form of a series of silent black white shorts, in which our hero stumbles from one footballing calamity to another - with hilarious consequences. The most recent sees Freddy getting bonked on the head and waking up in strongMallorca/strong, where he promptly tries to buy the local football team. Problem is, the asking price is £25m and he’s only got £13m to spend. What japes!/ppstrongArsène Wenger/strong’s story, on the other hand, would inevitably take the form of a foreign-language art-house piece with subtitles. Budgetary constraints mean that leading midfield roles would have to be filled by lesser-known youngsters - like Standard Liege starlet strongSteven Defour/strong – or veterans on the downside of their careers – like Bayern Munich defender strongDaniel van Buyten/strong. strongMartin O’Neill/strong would play the role of the villain, trying to steal both players and fourth place from under Arsenal’s noses./ppElsewhere, in news that the Mill has neither the time nor the creativity to crowbar into this tired riff, strongYossi Benayoun/strong is plotting to leave Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham are sniffing around strongLassana Diarra/strong, and Samuel Eto’o wants to play for Marseille. Probably./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/arsenal”Arsenal/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227177300125112010362037836″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227177300125112010362037836″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Paolo Bandini

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/27461?ns=guardianpageName=Sport%3A+Agbonlahor+gives+Capello+extra+forward+dimensionch=Sportc3=The+Guardianc4=Football%2CEngland+football+team%2CGermany+%28Football+team%29%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Richard+Williamsc7=2008_11_20c8=1120869c9=articlec10=GUc11=Sportc12=blogc13=c14=Sportblogh2=GU%2FSport%2Fblog%2FSportblog” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divp”Thank you for inventing the beautiful game,” said a large and almost unnervingly courteous banner strung out between the two vast tiers of seats and facing the dug-outs in Berlin’s showpiece stadium. The visitors, to whom it was so politely addressed, certainly started against the old enemy by playing the more progressive and entertaining football, even if accuracy was sometimes lacking in the early stages from a team containing, as a result of all those high-profile withdrawals, an unusually high number of players with reputations to make./ppNone of them began the match accompanied by a greater sense of anticipation than Gabriel Agbonlahor, 22 years old, a Premier League debutant only two and a half years ago and an integral part of Martin O’Neill’s new Aston Villa for the past couple of seasons. Called into Fabio Capello’s first squad last February, but forced to stand down with a last-minute hamstring injury, he was an unused substitute in the summer tour games against the United States and Trindad Tobago. Now, thanks to Theo Walcott’s misfortune, his chance had come./ppThe circumstances could hardly have been more helpful: a great stadium, almost full for the latest episode of this ancient rivalry, but in competitive terms a fairly relaxed occasion. And, in opposition, a Germany with plenty of problems of their own in terms of injuries and the sort of internal squabbles that plagued them in the early part of the decade, particularly under the ill-starred Erich Ribbeck./ppThe match was not 80 seconds old when Agbonlahor appeared to have created the perfect opening for Jermain Defoe. Taking a position to the left of his striking partner, he played a neat through pass that put the Portsmouth player in on Rene Adler. The lack of conviction in the finish was only partially obscured by a marginal offside decision against Defoe. Immediate ammunition there for fans of Michael Owen, the most accomplished English player since Jimmy Greaves at the art of timing a run off the last defender’s shoulder. And encouragement for those who see in Agbonlahor a combination of pace, awareness and confidence that could turn out to be just the ticket at international level. A minute later the Villa forward was leaping to meet a clearance, his accurate header redirecting the ball to Defoe./ppFor others, notably the wingers Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stewart Downing, this match represented an opportunity to resurrect international careers that have spluttered but consistently refused to catch fire. Downing, so abject against Albania in September, was a little more enterprising in last night’s opening stages, making the most of an early rebound off Arne Friedrich to loop a dangerous ball across the German penalty area and then chipping a fine reverse pass for Agbonlahor to chase, a pursuit that ended when the referee, Massimo Busacca of Switzerland, blew for a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge with the home goalkeeper that would surely have gone unnoticed had it not been committed on a member of a protected species./ppWright-Phillips was yet again suffering from the inaccuracy that has plagued his England performances, as well suggesting that it may the result of a form of stage fright. He was easily dispossessed, his two inswinging left-wing corners travelled no further than the first defender, and his shooting was woeful./ppBut there was enough before half-time to please Capello, even if it came against a horribly disjointed Germany who at times ground to a halt and went in at half-time to whistles and jeers as bad as anything England have endured in recent years. The goal itself was not a thing of beauty, Adler flapping uselessly at Downing’s right-wing corner and the ball rebounding off Agbonlahor before Matthew Upson prodded it home, but at least the England players were in the right positions and reacted before their adversaries./ppWhile not producing the sort of fireworks nowadays expected from Walcott, Agbonlahor, the latest graduate from what is looking like an unusually promising under-21 generation, did nothing that betrayed a sense of unease. His positioning off the main striker - Defoe in the first half, Darren Bent in the second - was sensible and his interventions always constructive./ppCapello’s reversion to a prosaic 4-4-2 did not particularly help his cause. Germany’s back line defended deep whenever danger threatened, and England lacked the kind of passing from midfield to embarrass the white-shirted centre backs. Despite the lack of opportunities to make use of his lacerating speed by running into the spaces behind the defence, Agbonlahor was at least using the opportunity to make himself look like a natural competitor at this level, and better should have come from the cute glancing header across the area with which he met Wayne Bridge’s low centre./ppThe same could not be said for poor Scott Carson, a half-time substitute for David James, who revived memories of his disastrous experience against Croatia last year when he and John Terry combined in a calamitous misunderstanding to set up the chance from which Patrick Helmes, another half-time substitute, gratefully snaffled the equaliser. It could be called undeserved, except that no side that presents the opposition with such a ludicrous goal could justifiably make such a claim./ppCapello must have been rendered incandescent by a moment of lunacy that cost the team their hard-earned advantage, but will have been mollified when the captain’s header with six minutes to go won the match for England./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/germany”Germany/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227143638817112001163356847″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227143638817112001163356847″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Richard Williams

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/33209?ns=guardianpageName=Sport%3A+Maradona+sets+the+rhythm+for+first+tango+in+Glasgowch=Sportc3=The+Guardianc4=Diego+Maradona%2CArgentina+football+team%2CScotland+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Andy+Hunterc7=2008_11_20c8=1120873c9=articlec10=GUc11=Sportc12=blogc13=c14=Sportblogh2=GU%2FSport%2Fblog%2FSportblog” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpIt is all very well creating a circus but what of the act? The hype and hysteria surrounding Diego Maradona’s arrival in Scotland was stripped away last night and the immense challenge of leading Argentina into another golden era laid bare. It was a tentative first step for a team with designs on a third World Cup in 2010, a giant leap for a manager who has a legion of admirers but is confronting a world full of doubters, too./ppMaradona had arrived at Hampden Park as only he could, standing beside a drummer at the front of the Argentina team coach, banging the beat on the windows as he conducted his players in song. It was how he conducted them as a team that mattered, of course, and the clenched-fist salute that greeted the final whistle signalled a personal battle won. Argentina will rest a little easier today knowing there may be substance in their icon’s surprise appointment after all./pp”I have dedicated myself 100% this week to lifting the morale of the players,” said Maradona. “We needed to get out of a bad run. We reached a low point with the defeat against Chile but it wasn’t a case of blaming other people but working out why. The national association didn’t sit back, they appointed a new coach and I have succeeded in removing the fear of defeat from the players. It has been a long time since we won and expressed ourselves on the pitch like that. Tonight we played for the blue and white and for the people of Argentina.”/ppBefore last night Maradona had presided over only three wins in a 23-game managerial career but Hampden has always been an inviting arena for England’s nemesis. “Thank you for 1986″ proclaimed one banner in the Tartan Army section and, while there was no handshake with Terry Butcher - “Who is Butcher?” he asked, mischievously - victory gave Maradona sufficient ammunition against his detractors - for now. This was never an occasion for the 48-year-old to offer a conclusive answer in the debate over whether great players make great managers./ppAs always in a legendary career, and sadly in this instance, drama remained a close companion. Argentina’s head coach had given serious consideration to walking away from his first game in international management, at the scene of his first international goal in 1979, due to complications with his daughter’s pregnancy. Sergio Agüero, Argentina’s brilliant young striker and the partner of Giannina, returned home late on Tuesday night and only the instruction of his 18-year-old daughter prevented Maradona accompanying the Atlético Madrid star to the Spanish capital./pp”Tonight I was thinking of my daughter Giannina and her baby,” he said, prior to making that journey to a Madrid hospital late last night. “The lads have been a great support at a very difficult time for me. They wore the shirt with great pride. My daughter was happy for me to be the head of the Argentina national team and that is why I am here.”/ppMaradona had promised “a feast of football” for the Scottish crowd by way of a thank-you for the undying affection he won in these parts by punching England out of the 1986 World Cup. He did not promise, however, to be a manager obsessed with recreating past attacking glories at the expense of his defence. Without a Maradona on the field, and with Argentina having won only one of their last eight games, he cannot afford to be./ppThe performance of the Argentina defence here highlighted an obvious flaw and improvement will be required if Maradona’s men are to withstand more serious threats en route to South Africa. Fortunately the head coach has enviable talent elsewhere. Javier Mascherano, the reluctant new captain in place of Javier Zanetti, underpinned an otherwise encouraging display./ppMaradona began with a traditional 4-4-2 in name but with Newcastle’s Jonás Gutiérrez and Maxi Rodríguez of Atlético Madrid given the freedom to support their forwards from the flanks, Argentina resembled a 4-2-4 during an opening when George Burley’s team rarely saw the ball./pp”For the first 25 minutes we were excellent but unfortunately after scoring our first goal we couldn’t capitalise on any more chances,” Maradona said. “But we were always in control of the ball and it was a deserved victory.”/ppThe first goal of his reign was true to the architect’s grand design, an immaculate one-touch move involving Zanetti, Carlos Tevez, Rodríguez, Tevez again, Gutiérrez and finally Rodríguez again bringing the visiting bench to its feet. Only Maradona stayed sitting. The man who as a spectator cheered his way through the 2006 World Cup in Germany sat with his arms folded before rising to nod his approval. The journey has begun./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/diego-maradona”Diego Maradona/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/argentina”Argentina/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227143638807112001163356847″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227143638807112001163356847″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Andy Hunter

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/76810?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Late+flurry+fails+to+mask+first+defeat+for+Trapattoni%27s+Irelandch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Football%2CRepublic+of+Ireland+football+team%2CPoland+football+team%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=David+Hytnerc7=2008_11_19c8=1120866c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Republic+of+Irelandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FRepublic+of+Ireland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpGiovanni Trapattoni experienced defeat for the first time as the Republic of Ireland’s manager as his team were second best in too many departments to an attractive Poland./ppThe Italian tried to extract positives such as the lively full debut of the Hull City striker Caleb Folan but the result was written long before the full-time whistle. Ireland conceded early in both halves and they lacked the guile to outmanoeuvre their visitors for whom, on this evidence, positive times lie ahead./ppTrapattoni has made strides since his appointment earlier in the year, instilling resolve and organisation but the quality to affect games at the highest level was missing. The momentum that had been built ahead of crucial World Cup qualifying ties early next year was punctured slightly. /ppTrapattoni does not do friendlies. His only interest is the bottom line of results, and his starting line-up here featured no unenforced changes and as such was the strongest that he could have selected. There had been pleas beforehand for experimentation, the blooding of a few youngsters, yet Trapattoni’s vision is short-term and tunnelled. South Africa in 18 months’ time is his responsibility; the longer-term development of Irish players is further down on his list of priorities. /ppIreland have been criticised for their cagey approach under Trapattoni but the onus was on them to break down Leo Beenhakker’s physical and technically adept Poland team almost from the outset, after they gave away a goal that would give nightmares to any Italian coach. /ppFollowing the concession of a soft free-kick, Caleb Folan failed to stay with Marcin Lewandowski, John O’Shea reacted too slowly and the imposing midfielder rose to glance Lukasz Gargula’s delivery into the corner of the net. Croke Park erupted; the presence of so many of Ireland’s Polish community made this feel almost like a home game for their team. /ppIreland had their chances in the first half, the best ones falling to Damien Duff. Unfortunately, two of them demanded to be hit with his weaker right foot and his hesitancy was apparent, and on the third his composure deserted him after he had jinked inside onto his left foot. /ppThere was a patent lack of creativity in Ireland’s central midfield, which gave further ammunition to those who insist that Andy Reid ought to be in the team, or at the very least on the bench. Further forward, though, Folan was a central figure, catching the eye with his mobility, neat passing and turn of pace while Kevin Doyle, as ever, carried the fight. /ppPoland, for whom Jakub Blaszczykowski dazzled on the right wing, might have added to their lead before the interval but Lewandowski was wide with a free header from a corner and Pawel Brozek was denied by a saving tackle by Dunne, after the Manchester City defender had squandered possession in the first place./ppIt was Beenhakker and not Trapattoni who made changes at half-time and one of them had an immediate impact. Roger Guerreiro took a flick from Gargula seconds before his team-mate was cleaned out by Dunne. He sensed a chance and, from 20 yards, he buried his low drive. /ppPoland had been advertised by Trapattoni as “one of the stronger teams in Europe” and their ability on the ball coupled with their easy movement marked them out. Their other half-time substitute Robert Lewandowski should have made it 3-0 following a slick one-touch move./ppIt was difficult to envisage Poland throwing away the result that they had in their grasp and the match threatened to peter out as Trapattoni made sweeping changes. Ireland went close through two of their substitutes Alex Bruce and Shane Long while Folan continued to threaten. Hunt converted a soft penalty after Tomasz Jodlowiec was adjudged to have fouled Long and after Robert Lewandowski had made it 3-1, Keith Andrews reduced the arrears again for a pulsataing finale. Ultimately, though, Ireland came up short./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/republicofireland”Republic of Ireland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/poland”Poland/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227136186826111923103134088″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227136186826111923103134088″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by David Hytner