Call of Duty 4 patch

The next time you connect to Xbox Live and pop in Call of Duty 4 you'll be treated to an auto-update with the new patch. This patch, which has been a long time coming, makes several significant additions and modifications that will be quickly noticed when playing online.

Most important is the addition of host migration. When playing a game, if the host quits, the game pauses, a new host is assigned and the game resumes. This is a vast improvement over the original system, which simply kicked everyone out into individual lobbies.

Kill cams have been added to pretty much every tool of death. This includes air strikes and grenades. Now you can watch the bomb drop from a plane and land on your head.

An upgraded spectator cam allows you to switch between third- and first-person views. You can also rotate the camera in third-person view.

The most significant gameplay change affects those who like killing from long range. Infinity Ward had heard complaints that sniper shots were inaccurate. After doing some research, IW discovered that, indeed, sniper shots were not as precise as they should be. Expects snipers to be more deadly online. ACOG scopes also got a tweak.

A complete list of patch fixes is forthcoming. We'll update this story when it becomes available.

source : www.ign.com

God of War 3

Retail copies of God of War: Chains of Olympus on the PSP popped up in the office this morning and brought with them the promise of blood on the PlayStation 3.

God of War III is coming soon.

Just like the Chains of Olympus ad that was on the back of the God of War II instruction manual, the back of the Chains booklet shows the traditional Omega symbol with PS3 written inside of it. The three is quite large, and below it, the ad says "Coming Soon" and "PlayStation 3."

Now, we did some research, and it turns out the Webster's New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition defines "soon" as "in a short time (after a time specified or understood); shortly; before long."

source : www.ign.com

New FPS game from Timegate Studios

Details are so far sketchy on this title, but we know that Developer TimeGate Studios is busy working on a "new and innovative" futuristic FPS that features a growing insurrection amongst various colonies. Somehow Earth is involved and responds by sending in its heavily armored and equipped 8th Armored Infantry, an elite fighting division, referred to as "Section 8." Section 8 is supposedly composed of crazy volunteers, who are the only ones brave enough to deploy from the skies into the battlefield.

The game is said to feature heavy tactical game play as well as many strategic mechanics that allow you to modify the battlefield on the fly. TimeGate Studios is interested in making a universe that you will love, and its goals are to make it so immersive that you won't want to leave.

source : www.ign.com

Microsoft cuts windows vista price

Despite Microsoft's repeated insistence that Vista is exceeding sales expectations (mostly via new PC sales where XP isn't an option), the technology press and hardcore gamers remain generally nonplussed with the new operating system. To lubricate the upgrade process Microsoft is making an unexpected and non-traditional move, significantly cutting the price of the Home Premium and Ultimate flavors of Vista relatively early in the OS's lifetime.

In the American market, Microsoft will drop the price of full-install Vista Ultimate from $399 to $319, and the upgrade version (for switching up to Vista from XP) from $299 to $219. Home Premium full-install will drop to $129 from its original price of $159. Considering that the Vista Ultimate extra features are still pretty lacking, we recommend Home Premium for those considering upgrading.

source : www.ign.com

MGS4 Bundle

For months, Metal Gear Solid fans have eagerly been looking forward to a release date of the upcoming title from Kojima Productions, Metal Gear Solid 4. Since its delay last fall, the only thing fans have known is that the game is expected to be released later this year. Earlier today at Destination PlayStation, a retailers only conference for Sony products, Sony announced that a Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle pack will be released in Q2 2008.

The bundle will include MGS4, an 80GB PS3 and a Dual Shock 3 included for an MSRP of $499.99. It will also include an Metal Gear Online "Starter Pack. For players that pre-order Metal Gear Solid 4, there's an added bonus: they'll be guaranteed access in the multiplayer beta of Metal Gear Online in late April.

"Working closely with our retail and publishing partners and sharing our hardware and software roadmaps at Destination PlayStation gives us a great opportunity to outline some key milestones for the year. In response to incredible demand, we will be manufacturing more 80GB PS3s for North America and the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 80GB PS3 bundle is an ideal way to offer that continued value to our consumers," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of SCEA. "With Blu-ray having won the format war, our stellar software line-up and a broad product portfolio, we will continue to drive the incredible momentum we've been generating since last fall."

source : www.ign.com

360 death rate study

Independent warranty company SquareTrade says the 16 percent Xbox 360 failure rate it reported earlier this month is just a starting point and that the actual figure could be higher.

SquareTrade warranty company announced the results of a report indicating that the Xbox 360 has a failure rate of 16.4 percent. Today, in a post on its buyer's blog, the company released more information about the study, including dates, sample sizes and failure patterns.

SquareTrade said it received 171 claims on a sample group of 1040 Xbox 360 warranties purchased between April 1 and July 31 2007. The company said all the claims were made by non-commercial users (read: not companies like IGN, whose editors are known to take their 360s into the bathtub with them) and did not include accidental damage.

Because of the date range studied, SquareTrade said it was unlikely that any modified 360s -- announced by MS in July to combat overheating problems -- were included in the sample.

Also, because the report only tracked the sample for between six and 10 months after warranty purchase, SquareTrade said the failure rate may be low. If tracking would have continued for 24 to 36 months, the company said "the fail rate is certain to go up."

"Our data shows that failures spike in the third month after warranty purchase but remain fairly steady after that, with only incremental drop-off until the eight month," the SquareTrade Analytics Team wrote on the blog. "This pattern is fairly consistent with all electronics failures."

SquareTrade also said its numbers don't take into account those Xbox 360 owners who bypass it altogether and take their claims directly to Microsoft, which could mean the failure rate is even higher still.

For its study, SquareTrade tracked 27 Xbox 360 Elites, 57 Cores and 956 Premiums. Out of the 171 claims reported (60 percent), 102 were general hardware failures (Red Ring of Death). Of the other 69 claims:

- 18% were disc read errors.
- 13% were video card failures.
- 13% were hard drive freezes.
- 10% were power issues.
- 7% were disc tray malfunctions.

SquareTrade said that, because the above issues are not covered under the extended Microsoft warranty, which only covers RROD, they are the more reliable figures.

source : www.ign.com

God of WarComes to PSP

When IGN's God of War: Chains of Olympus review went live last week, a lot of readers commented around the Internet that this might be the game that makes them buy a PSP.

It would appear Sony heard them.

Fans will be able to pick up a red PSP and Chains of Olympus in one bundle this June. The system will feature Kratos branded on the back, and the pack will also include a UMD version of Superbad along with a voucher for Syphon Filter: Combat Ops.

SCEA Vice President of Product Marketing Scott Steinberg described the move as a response to consumer demand and as a way to display the many uses of the PSP.

"God of War is one of the biggest PlayStation franchises, and with its portable premiere on PSP just around the corner, we wanted to offer something special that would appeal to both loyal God of War fans and non-owners who want to enjoy PSP's multi-functionality," Steinberg said in a release. "This bundle delivers great value, starting with the 'Deep Red' PSP -- one of the most highly sought-after colors based on our consumer research -- and the Kratos silkscreen."

source : www.ign.com

Eduardo out for 11 months

Arsenal FC striker Eduardo da Silva is recovering from surgery in a London hospital after suffering a severe break to his left leg and ankle during Saturday's Premier League draw at Birmingham City FC which will keep him out for the rest of the season and Croatia's UEFA EURO 2008™ challenge.

'Horrendous'
The match was stopped for nearly ten minutes as the Brazilian-born Eduardo was treated on the field before being carried off on a stretcher. Birmingham defender Martin Taylor was given a straight red card for his third-minute challenge on the forward. "The tackle was horrendous," said Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger. "I've seen some bad ones before but you are not always punished with a broken leg. The minimum is that the season is over and we're scared it is much longer."

'Fantastic guy'
Eduardo was taken to hospital in Birmingham where he was diagnosed with compound fractures of the tibia and fibula, and medical staff at the ground were also reported to be shocked at the seriousness of the injury. "He is a fantastic guy and to see him in such pain and the shape of his leg was very difficult to take for our players," added Wenger, who said Eduardo had broken his leg and ankle.

Qualifying feat
Born in Rio de Janeiro on 25 February 1983, Eduardo moved to Croatia aged 15 to join NK Dinamo Zagreb as an apprentice. After obtaining Croatian citizenship, he made his international debut against the Republic of Ireland in 2004 and is one of a number of Brazilians playing for other national sides. Eduardo, who joined Arsenal last July, was looking forward to playing for Croatia at this summer's UEFA European Championship. With ten goals overall, he was the second top scorer in qualifying for the finals in Austria and Switzerland.

source : www.uefa.com

Roma closing the gap at the top of four

FC Internazionale Milano's lead in Serie A was reduced to nine points on Sunday when the champions drew 1-1 at UC Sampdoria and second-placed AS Roma beat ACF Fiorentina 1-0.

Impressive Cassano
Hernán Crespo's 76th-minute diving header from Dejan Stanković's cross prevented a depleted Inter from suffering their first league defeat of the campaign after Antonio Cassano had enhanced his claims for an Italy recall by putting in-form Sampdoria ahead. Cassano was allowed to burst into the Inter box unchallenged before firing into the top corner on 65 minutes. Fresh from their midweek UEFA Champions League victory over Real Madrid CF – when Inter were losing at Liverpool FC – Roma triumphed again at the Olimpico against Fiorentina. The match was decided by a 54th-minute strike from Cicinho, who was sent off in added time.

European exertions
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said: "It was a good game as both teams tried to attack and show their qualities. We could have scored a second goal at the end, but I have to admit that they could just as easily have equalised. I think the fans enjoyed the match and we're getting good results, but unfortunately for us Inter are almost flawless." Juventus are not, however, and sit four points behind Roma in third position after succumbing to a stoppage-time Nicola Amoruso penalty at second-from-bottom Reggina Calcio on Saturday.

source : www.uefa.com

Take two rejects EA's offer

February 24, 2008 - Only hours after Electronic Arts proposed a $26/ share (approximately $2 billion in total) offer to acquire Take-Two Interactive, Take-Two officials have responded with an absolute "No."

According to Reuters, Take Two has said that the offer was at a significant discount to its peers and that it came at "absolutely the wrong time."

Additionally, Take-Two called the bid "highly opportunistic" on the heels of the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV on April 29.

Take-Two has offered to enter discussions with EA the day after GTA IV's release, on April 30.

source : www.ign.com

Microsoft to stops HD DVD Add-On

February 24, 2008 - With the battlefield of the Format Wars still smoldering in the distance, Microsoft has announced that it will officially discontinue production of their Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on. No word yet on whether the company will ramp up production of an additional Blu-ray drive, though the possibility, given the company's stance on consumer flexibility, seems increasingly likely.

Microsoft's official statement reads:

"As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD. Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market. As we stated earlier, we do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own."

source : www.ign.com

Green Lantern is Back !

You never know what might happen at a DC panel when Dan DiDio is moderating.

For those of you who have never been to a comic book publisher panel, it works something like this - typically an editor will take the podium, walking audience members through various slides of projects, and this is typically where they make their big announcements. A lengthy Q&A session follows where fans are able to check up on various projects. Many interesting bits of information come up here, but it's often release dates for various collections or confirmation of creative teams on smaller titles.

Typically these formats don't reveal a new James Robinson title. (To be clear, we didn't get precise confirmation of Robinson's second title, but we were nearly there.)

Rather than start with a typical presentation, Dan DiDio chose to keep the DC Nation panel focused on the fans and what they were enjoying about the direction of the DC Universe. With Robinson on stage with other editors and writers, inevitably his upcoming Superman work was brought up. It was then that DiDio mentioned that Robinson had a second project in the works that could not be revealed at this time.

DiDio is known for slipping bits of information to the audience, though we're never quite sure how intentional it is. Throughout the next hour, two characters were mentioned in association with this project: Green Arrow and Green Lantern.

VP of Sales Bob Wayne also tossed in an aside that "it sounds like [DC] should get Neal Adams to draw [the project]." Green Lantern. Green Arrow. Neal Adams. In our minds that instantly refers back to the classic road trip stories in Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O'Neill and Adams.

Is this Robinson's secret project? It's hard to say. The make or break is how serious Wayne was being - and that can be hard to gauge with such a light-hearted panel and atmosphere.

The pieces seem to add up though. Green Lantern is more popular than ever and Green Arrow could use the exposure since he is currently without a solo series.

We'll pass on any information that we can gather! In the meantime, is that the conclusion you would draw? Is that a series you'd like to see return to the center stage?

source : www.ign.com

Final Fantasy XIII Updates

Taku Murata, General Manager of Square Enix's Research & Development division, just gave a presentation at this year's GDC titled "The Technology of Final Fantasy." Most of the information given at the conference was more on the technical side of things, dealing with the company's various engines and experiences with actual development. However, towards the end of the show, we were treated to a few bits of information that should be interesting to Final Fantasy fans.

First, Square Enix's "White Engine," the companywide technology platform, has been renamed Crystal Tools (and is designed for use with the PS3, 360 and PC). Also, Murata mentioned that a scaled down version of Crystal Tools will be implemented for the Wii. Intriguing indeed. This technology is being implemented in the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Soon after these details were given, an old trailer was promptly shown. It's been a while since we've seen a trailer from the upcoming Final Fantasy titles, but we'll break it down for you again.

The trailer was for Final Fantasy XIII, and began with the now recognizable shots of a cybernetic train snaking through highly science-fiction inspired environments. The following flashed quickly, but it looks like a monster, reminiscent of series favorite Ifrit, runs down a highway environment and attacks Lightning, the game's blonde-haired main character. Using a series of highly stylized acrobatics and martial arts techniques, Lightning dispatches the monster with her sword (that seems to double as a gun).

Another element that definitely intrigued us was a few scenes, both cinematically and in "real-time," that depict Lightning using some sort of time manipulation weapon. Casting her hand out to throw a grenade, a blue field exploded outwards and froze enemy soldiers in place, giving the agile warrior a few precise moments to take everyone down.

More scenes of the twin Shiva-looking creatures were shown, mixing an appearance of magic and technology in a very cool way. Also, there was a large ship swooping down from a clustered sky, releasing platoons of armored troops that jetted down to the ground below. They clearly outnumber Lightning, who eyes the group quietly with a look of satisfied aggression. Before the troops open fire, a blonde man with a bandana rides a motorcycle into the scene, screeches to a halt and looks over his shoulder calmly. End trailer.

After the old video, nothing overly important was noted, though we should mention that despite talk of cross-platform software, the trailer explicitly displays "For PlayStation 3" before cutting to black. This looks to continually insist the game's exclusivity for the Sony platform.

Lastly, Murata noted that Crystal Tools will be used in conjunction with the development of a new MMO that Square Enix is working on. Whether this is an entirely new project or the previously mentioned MMO is uncertain.

source : www.ign.com

Combat Mission Shock Force v1.07 Patch

Today, Battlefront announced the availability of the new Combat Mission: Shock Force v1.07 all inclusive game patch.

This All Inclusive (cumulative) game patch is available in 3 flavors; for the Battlefront.com, Gamersgate and Paradox Interactive versions of game. Links to each patch are listed below. Depending on the version, the patch is between 174 to 241 megs in size. While its only been two weeks since the last patch was released, we were able to pack in a bunch of improvements in this version not to mention the addition of 32 brand new Quick Battle Maps. Other important tweaks have been made to unit pathfinding, combat behavior, area fire as well as fixes to a couple of pesky bugs which popped up recently.

As these are All Inclusive patches, they will work regardless of if, or to what level, the game has already been patched in the past.

Download Patch:
http://www.battlefront-store.com:8080/downloads.html

source : www.ign.com

GDC 2008 : Racing Simulator

Though somewhat overshadowed during the console generation-shift, driving and flight sims have maintained a dedicated following that, on the high-end, is highly willing to invest serous money in apparatuses that heighten the experience. Such fans with an extra $15,000 to spend will be stoked to learn that VoodooPC / HP have partnered with D-Box to sell the Pro-200 RC racing chair.

Displayed prominently at this year's GDC, the Pro-200 RC racing chair is an impressive system that utilizes proprietary hydraulics technology and D-Box's Motion Code software to bring extremely tactile feedback to PC driving and flight-sim games. We got the chance to test it out, and were quite impressed with the ability of the system to heighten the pseudo-reality of intense racing games. While racing, accelerating hard shifted the chair hard to the rear. Turning hard and suddenly losing traction jolted the chair quite hard, and exactly in concert with the force-feedback racing wheel.

Though the Pro-200 RC racing chair carries serious sticker shock, dedicated racing fanatics should be pretty stocked to see such a product gaining higher profile distribution. D-Box products are now being sold via VoodooPC / HP. Somewhat lower-end options are also available.

source : www.ign.com

GDC 2008 : Let's Translate Games into Music

At the Game Developers Conference today celebrated composer Masafumi Takada spoke about writing the music for No More Heroes, Killer 7, God Hand, and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. He explained that his approach to writing music for games involves translating a game's visuals into the language of music. When composing a soundtrack he considers a game's colors, the speed of gameplay, and its context.

He was initially grabbed by videogame music when he heard the tunes of the arcade game Xevious. He now works at developer Grasshopper Manufacture, which created Killer 7 and No More Heroes.

When working on Umbrella Chronicles he was very aware of the legions of Resident Evil fans and didn't want to disappoint them. His job was to arrange existing RE music for the Wii shooter. But since Umbrella Chronicles has a different pacing and feel from previous RE games, Takada had to change things up a bit. He kept many recognizable tunes from the series but added more rhythmic instruments to give a feeling of motion and to help propel the game forward. And while electric guitar might not fit the usual RE premise of suspenseful exploration, he felt it would be very appropriate for Umbrella chronicles.

For God Hand, developer Shinji Mikami told Takada that it was a pretty hardcore game so he'd like the music to relax things a little bit. Takada also decided he wanted it to be catchy and nostalgic. If you've played God Hand you'll have noticed the music is very old-school videogame sounding. It's upbeat rock and techno with a lot of guitar solos. This could be the nostalgia Takada was aiming for.

He also used a lot of repetition of musical phrases and motifs. He says musical memory is much like smell memory in that a tune can trigger very intense memories for a person. In God Hand the bosses undergo transformations and appear more than once. Takada would repeat melodies for the boss fights but present them in different arrangements and orchestrations so the player will recall their last encounter.

His work on No More Heroes began when he was given one day to come up with some music for the game's E3 trailer. The audience was receptive to what he produced so it ended up being put in the final game.

Takada concluded his speech by declaring that writing music for games is his mission in life.

American game composer Tommy Tallarico (Earthworm Jim, Out of This World) was on hand to ask Takada a few questions. Tallarico said Western composers are frustrated with how sound is often the last thing considered in game development. Takada said he couldn't speak for other companies, but at Grasshopper the status of the sound department is held in high regard.

When asked if he prefers PCs or Macs, Takada said he is a bit of a Mac evangelist.

Finally, an audience member asked if Takada would be working with Suda 51 on the music for Fatal Frame 4, to which the composer politely replied, "No comment."

source : www.ign.com

Please welcome, Portal 2

Legions of Portal fans may well get their appetite for more mind-bending puzzle action satiated, with the game's lead designer Kim Swift suggesting another slice is currently in the mix.

Valve's superlative first-person puzzler scooped the top prize at this year's Game Developer's Choice Awards and, in a post-acceptance interview, Swift spoke briefly about a follow-up, saying, "I believe [Valve Community Manager] Doug Lombardi has announced a sequel". Lombardi has indeed spoken about a second Portal game, saying last January that "There'll be more Portal, for sure. But the details of that, to be honest, we're still working out."

With a strong and highly vocal fan-base already present just months after the game's release, a sequel would surely incite the fervered drools of many a gamer - although, given Valve's usual protracted development periods, don't expect it for a while yet.

www.ign.com

HD-DVD finally lost in Format Wars !

The rumors were true. Japanese news source NHK (english translation and Reuters validation) is reporting that Toshiba is planning to drop support of HD DVD, striking a final blow to the format and conceding victory to Blu-ray. The Sony-backed high-definition disc has been gaining strides for some time, most notably after Warner Bros switched to Blu-ray exclusively. Toshiba is expected to face hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

The so-called "format wars" seems to be at an end, and now we're left to ponder about the future, such as how big is the office party Sony is throwing in honor of its victory? More related to video games, might we see a future Blu-ray add-on (and subsequently rumors of a built-in drive) for the Xbox 360?

source : www.joystiq.com

Unreal Engine 3 Motion Capture by Mova

Mova Contour Reality Capture in Unreal Engine 3 from Joy Stiq on Vimeo.

Traditional, point-based motion capture (the kind brought to you by guys in black suits with reflective balls) has been great for developers that want to capture basic skeletal motion for their in-game characters. But for realistic facial work, even setups with hundreds of reflective dots leave developers with rough, blocky data that requires a lot of post-production work to even start approaching the uncanny valley.

Enter motion capture company Mova, whose Contour Reality Capture system uses an array of cameras to create 100,000 polygon facial models that are accurate to within a tenth of a millimeter -- no special reflective balls required. At this year's GDC, the company is trying to attract the game industry's attention by unveiling examples of their facial modeling running in real-time on the popular Unreal Engine 3. Continue reading for exclusive, real-time video of the technology and excerpts from an interview with the Mova founder Steve Perlman.

"This pushes Unreal Engine 3 to its very limit ... it's about as photo-real as you can get in real time."

So says Steve Perlman, the man behind Apple's Quicktime, Microsoft's WebTV and the Mova Contour Reality Capture system that created the above real-time video, shown running on a dual NVIDIA 8800 GTXs with SLI. Frankly, we find it pretty hard to disagree with his assessment. From the little twitches of the eyelids to the extreme curl of the mouth to the weathered wrinkles in in the face, you'd be hard pressed to find a more realistic facial image running on any real-time system. Perlman says the company has been working privately with developers for some time to adapt the system for video game use.

"People have never had this kind of data available before in a game context ... their heads are spinning," he said. "What you're seeing right there is the result of, having time to wrap our heads around this thing and see how we're going to use it, and yes, we can in fact get a face that looks almost photo-real -- you know, not quite, but almost photo-real -- running in a game engine today."

Believe it or not, though, the Contour system can create even more detailed animation when processing time isn't an issue. Check out the below video, which shows how Reality Capture data can look when pre-rendered for a movie or cut scene.

"You can see the difference then between what's achievable in cinema and what's achievable right now in video games," Perlman says. "But next generation game machines, they'll be able to essentially show in real time what we can do currently in non-real-time using renderers. ... Next generation, you're going to have interactive sequences where people think there's a live person in the game."

Perlman says the cost of a Contour motion-capture session isn't appreciably higher than that for a traditional marker-based capture session: anywhere from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars, depending on the length and complexity of the shoot. The real savings, he says come in the post-production. "Unlike marker-based capture, which has a big manual clean-up process before you see results, with contour it's purely computational," Perlman said. "We've talked to people, and one of the reasons when they announce delays for complex games is because they're fighting to try and make the faces look good. With Contour, you send the guy in, he does a shoot, and we send you a face that looks nearly perfect. It's no longer one of the risk issues for your schedule."

The Contour system generates so much data, Perlman says, that the full value of the rendering won't be apparent until hardware speeds improve. "With markers, you kind of get the resolution of what those markers are and that's it," Perlman says. "When a next-generation game system comes out, or they decide they want to do something for a feature film, you can't really use the data. With Contour, it's actually capturing the data at much higher resolutions than any system in the world, even for feature films, can currently use. What we do is we store that data away ... and when a next generation video game machine comes out and they want the data at higher resolution, they can."

Perlman couldn't reveal which companies are currently using this technology, but said he expects the first games with Contour captures could come out in 2008, depending on developer schedules. The system should be in "wide use" around the game industry by 2009, he said.

BENITEZ READY FOR INTER

Rafael Benitez has reaffirmed his commitment to Liverpool as the five-time European Cup winners bid to salvage their season against the best team in Italy.

The under-fire Anfield chief could hardly have a more difficult task following the wreckage of Saturday's FA Cup humiliation by Barnsley.

With their confidence and quality under the spotlight, Liverpool must confront Inter Milan in the Champions League last 16, a team who are unbeaten in their domestic league all season and 11 points clear at the top of Serie A.

Benitez must feel he has been battered black and blue these last few months as Liverpool have collapsed, and now he comes up against the Nerazzurri, Italy's own merciless black and blue giants.

Inter have lost just three of their last 45 away games in all competitions and are odds-on favourites to deepen the crisis that has enveloped Anfield this season.

But despite being told by critics that he must win the Champions League to save his job, Benitez still believes he will be Anfield manager for some time to come.

He said: "I do not see this as my most difficult time as a manager. I have worked for 21 years now in the job so I have good memories and bad moments.

"So I try to concentrate only on the next game. Obviously I was really disappointed at the weekend, but we must be positive and prepare for this game correctly.

"I feel the disappointment just like any fan. But I must underline that my commitment to this club is still 100%.

"I will try to change the situation. I will support the players and try to improve things."

He added: "The key is to analyse why some players are not performing at their best level, and to try to change that.

"If we want to win trophies, you must not say 'we cannot do this', we must fight to the end.

"As a manager you must support your players if they work really hard. If they do not do that you know what to do at the end of the season.

"But during the season you must support them, work hard with them, and they must compete for positions in the team."

Benitez has taken on board criticism of his squad from local hero Jamie Carragher after the disaster of being knocked out of the FA Cup by Barnsley on Saturday.

Carragher - who will play his 99th European game for the club against Inter - insisted the squad is not good enough, but Benitez revealed the defender was quick to explain his feelings face to face, and the damning headlines.

Benitez said: "I was surprised when Jamie came to me and asked if I had read the headlines in the papers. I hadn't, so he explained that he was trying to be positive. That is fine by me, I know his character and the team do likewise.

"I have talked to Jamie about what he said about us not being good enough, he came to me first thing this morning to explain what he had said and how it looked.

"All I said was that everyone knows we are disappointed, and that we must improve, and we certainly will do that."

And Benitez added: "We cannot change the situation in the other cup competitions, they are gone. But we still have the Champions League and a target of fourth in the Premier League, our aims are still clear and we will fight for them.

"We must think about winning the next game and not about other things around the club.

"Is this the most difficult period for me as a manager? I don't know, but if we win against Inter and move ahead this time will become the easiest.

"But we must win now, that is the only way we can change what is happening."

Benitez will have Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Jose Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa and Fabio Aurelio - all rested against Barnsley - back against the Italians.

"The atmosphere between the players is not as bad as people seem to think, they will try to win this game and I am sure they can do it. Then if we beat Middlesbrough next Saturday here, everything will look different."

Benitez also does not believe his future depends on winning the Champions League.

He said: "I do not know too many managers who are told they must win the Champions League. If you win it once it is normally good enough, nobody here is saying we must win the European trophy.

"We must be positive, improve and stop the mistakes. We know we are good team and if we win games the confidence will soar again.

"When I came here the club had gone 21 years since they won the European Cup.

"Everyone is disappointed by the cup result against Barnsley, the players, the staff, everyone in the club. But we cannot change anything now.

"We must keep going, thinking about the Champions League and fourth place in the league.

"We must progress as far as we can in Europe and make sure we are fourth, at least.

"We have more determination now to do well in what is left for us this season.

Source : www.sportinglife.com

TYKES TO FACE HOLDERS CHELSEA

Barnsley have been rewarded for their shock fifth-round victory over Liverpool with a home tie against Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

The Tykes beat Liverpool 2-1 in a surprise result at Anfield and now take on Chelsea at Oakwell after Avram Grant's side knocked out Huddersfield in the last 16.

Manchester United were drawn at home to fellow Premier League side Portsmouth, while at least one side from outside the top flight will be in the semi-finals after Bristol Rovers were drawn at home to West Brom having knocked out Southampton in the fifth round.

Sheffield United or Middlesbrough will host Cardiff in the remaining match.

The ties will be played on the weekend of March 8 and 9.

Barnsley will hope there is no repeat of the sides' last meeting in South Yorkshire, which Chelsea won 6-0 in August 1997. Former Blues boss Gianluca Vialli scored four goals that day.

The last FA Cup meeting between the sides, in 1989, was much better for the Tykes, who won 4-0 in a third-round clash.

West Brom booked their ticket to the last eight with a 5-0 victory over Coventry, and now face a difficult trip to the west country to take on Bristol Rovers.

The sides last met in a League Cup tie in 1993, with the Baggies winning the first leg 4-0 in Bristol.

Manchester United have already beaten Portsmouth at Old Trafford this season, with Cristiano Ronaldo's brace on January 30 enough for a routine victory.

Should Boro progress past Sheffield United in their fifth-round replay, they will hope to avoid a repeat of their last meeting with Cardiff, which ended in a 2-1 home defeat in a third-round replay in 1994.

Full Draw

Sheffield United or Middlesbrough v Cardiff

Manchester United v Portsmouth

Bristol Rovers v West Brom

Barnsley v Chelsea

Ties to be played March 8/9

NO FA ACTION AGAINST GALLAS

Arsenal captain William Gallas has escaped disciplinary action over his clash with Manchester United's Nani.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed the French defender should have been sent off at the weekend by referee Alan Wiley for kicking Nani from behind in response to the Portuguese midfielder indulging in some ball-juggling.

However the Football Association confirmed today that Wiley had looked at video footage of the incident.

An FA spokesman said: "Having viewed the footage, the referee was not satisfied that it showed evidence of violent conduct and therefore no further action will be taken."

For the FA to take action, Wiley would have had to have deemed the clash worthy of a red card for violent conduct.

The decision will be sure to infuriate Ferguson, who said after the 4-0 win by United: "I thought Gallas should have been sent off. The referee must have a look at that again.

"He kicked Nani from behind and the referee called both over because they sized each other up. He should have been red-carded."

Meanwhile, Gallas has warned his team-mates they will have to fight every inch of the way if they are to win the title or enjoy European glory.

Gallas says United will have taken huge confidence from their win over the Gunners in the FA Cup, and that Arsenal's players have to be ready for the conflict.

A visit by AC Milan on Wednesday night is the next challenge facing Arsenal, and Gallas said the team need to step up their approach for both that and the Premier League campaign.

He told Arsenal TV: "The title is a dream and to get that dream you have to fight.

"We have to take it game by game, and we have to be ready for the fight. We know it will not be easy for us, and Manchester United will have confidence and if we want that title we have to fight.

"The defeat was very tough for us. We did not play well. We know we were not good at all.

"Everyone was disappointed and now we have to work and work again to see what we can do in the Champions League and the Premier League.

"We have to put the game behind us. On Wednesday it will be different as we are at home and we can play our game, but away we have to fight and we didn't fight on Saturday."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

RONALDINHO WILL SNUB ITALIAN MOVE

Ronaldinho has told the Italian media that even if Italy's top clubs are interested in him, he has no interest in joining them.

For months there has been widespread speculation suggesting the Barcelona forward is set for a move away from the Nou Camp at the end of the season, following a year in which the former world player of the year has been dogged by poor form and below-par performances.

Italy - and Milan in particular - has long been touted as his most likely destination, but the Brazilian claims he only has an interest in playing for his current club.

"What would I say to any offer from Inter or AC Milan? No thanks," Ronalindho told Italian television show 'Studio Sport'.

"Knowing that a great club appreciates your work is highly motivating, but I'm trying to reach my best form to be able to give my best to Barcelona.

"It's normal that there is some criticism, if we were top of the league things would be different.

"When I go out into town [in Barcelona] I can feel the support of the people, and I hear them singing my name in the stadium so I know there is a lot of affection there."

On Saturday, Ronaldinho scored the winning goal in Barcelona's victory over Real Zaragoza, his first goal since December 12 for his club.

Source : www.sportinglife.com

TYKES STUN REDS AT ANFIELD

Barnsley captain Brian Howard scored a dramatic late winner to give his side a shock 2-1 win over Liverpool in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Anfield.

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt had put his side ahead after he smashed home Ryan Babel's cross in the 32nd minute before Steve Foster equalised with a header for the Coca-Cola Championship side in the 57th minute.

The home side dominated the remainder of the game and Tykes goalkeeper Luke Steele, who was signed on emergency loan from West Brom earlier in the week, produced a string of second-half saves.

The match seemed to be heading for a replay before Howard struck a spectacular winner from 25 yards in the third minute of added time out to put his side into the quarter-final draw.

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher scored twice to help his side complete a 4-0 rout of 10-man Arsenal in a surprisingly one-sided affair between the Premier League top two at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney put Sir Alex Ferguson's side in front in the 16th minute and Fletcher also headed home four minutes later to double the advantage.

Luis Nani (38) latched on to Michael Carrick's pass and drilled the ball past Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann to make it 3-0 before the break.

Arsene Wenger's side were reduced to 10 men four minutes after the interval when Emmanuel Eboue was shown a straight red card for a foul on Patrice Evra.

Fletcher then rounded off the scoring in the 74th minute with a close-range header after good work by Nani down the left flank.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scored twice to help give his side a 3-1 win over League One Huddersfield at Stamford Bridge.

Lampard opened the scoring with his 100th Blues goal in the 18th minute after he latched on to a Scott Sinclair cross before he calmly placed the ball into the bottom-left corner of the net.

Huddersfield, though, equalised on the stroke of half-time through midfielder Michael Collins.

James Berrett's pass picked out Collins who drilled the ball home.

Lampard restored the home side's advantage in the 60th minute with a close-range finish after Terriers goalkeeper Matt Glennon had parried his initial shot.

Salomon Kalou was sent clear by Lampard 10 minutes later and added a third after he rounded Glennon to calmly slot the ball home.

Roman Bednar scored twice to help book West Brom's place in the quarter-finals they thrashed 10-man Coventry 5-0 win at the Ricoh Arena.

Chris Brunt had given the Baggies a 12th-minute lead and the home side lost Michael Doyle after he was sent off for a foul on Zoltan Gera.

Bednar scored in the 59th minute after a mistake by Sky Blues goalkeeper Andy Marshall before he converted a penalty 10 minutes later.

Substitute Ishmael Miller added another in the 76th minute and Gera added a fifth two minutes later.

Cardiff midfielder Peter Whittingham scored one goal and created another for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to help give his side a 2-0 win over Wolves at Ninian Park.

Bristol Rovers also caused an upset after they claimed a 1-0 win over Southampton at the Memorial Stadium in the day's early kick-off.

Paul Trollope's Coca-Cola League One team were the better side throughout the match against their Championship counterparts and Rickie Lambert eventually scored the decisive goal in the 84th minute to take his side into the quarter-finals.

The Rovers striker drilled a low free-kick from 22 yards which took a deflection off Saints midfielder Jermaine Wright and sailed past goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.

Source : www.sportinglife.com

ROONEY : BRING ON THE BLUES

Wayne Rooney says he’ll be delighted if United draw Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter final.

The England international got the scoring underway at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon as the Reds romped to a 4-0 victory against top-of-the-league Arsenal.

Minnows Barnsley and Bristol City remain in the competition, but Rooney would prefer a tussle with Avram Grant’s Chelsea.

“I hope we get Chelsea,” Rooney told MUTV. “Personally, I’d like to play them at home and try to knock them out. After that we’ll be through to the semi final and I’m sure we can take things from there.”

Rooney has twice been on the losing side in an FA Cup final and is determined to add a winners medal to his collection this season.

“The FA Cup means a lot to me. I’ve been excited by the competition from a very young age and hopefully we can now go all the way.”

United swept Arsenal aside on Saturday afternoon even though the Reds began the match missing experienced players.

“Last season we had to play all the players in every game,” Rooney said. “Today we had Paul Scholes on the bench and Ryan Giggs got a rest all together. That keeps them fresh and could be key come the end of the season.

“We were very disappointed after last week’s performance against Manchester City. Training was difficult this week and we spent a lot of time talking about the tactics and how we were going to approach the game against Arsenal. I think we got it spon on.”

The FA Cup quarter final draw takes place on Monday 18 February at 13:30 GMT.



Source : www.manutd.com

FIFA BLASTS PREMIER LEAGUE PROPOSAL

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has condemned the Premier League's proposal to play matches overseas as "unacceptable" and an "abuse of football".

The Premier League clubs have agreed in principle to look at each playing an extra match every January in a foreign city.

Blatter though has vowed to do all he can to block the League's plans and warned that if they push ahead with the proposals it could torpedo England's bid for the 2018 World Cup.

The FIFA president's criticism follows strong opposition from UEFA counterpart Michel Platini and Asian federation chief Mohamed bin Hammam, and there is now a major doubt about whether the Premier League would even be able to find countries willing to hold the matches.

Blatter said: "To try to have additional exposure and revenue by expanding the league around the world, I think this is not acceptable.

"It will not be acceptable to the FIFA executive committee, I am sure. This will never happen - at least this will not happen as long as I am the president of FIFA.

"We have not been contacted before by the League to ask us what we think of this idea. You speak about rude but I think it is an anti-responsibility.

"If you are the most prosperous league in the world and if you accept that everyone in football has a responsibility to maintain it not only as a business, but as a game.

"Then, all of a sudden you come out with a project which only has business and money behind it."

Blatter said FIFA's statutes were clear that the matches would need the permission of the national associations of the countries where they would be staged - and that he would do all he could to block any attempt to grant that permission.

He added: "According to the statutes and regulations, it is said very clearly that if you want to play any match in a foreign territory outside the country where the teams are coming from you need the authorisation of that association.

"I will bring it to the attention of the executive committee but you can be sure that the executive committee will reject such an inapplication of the statutes.

"And I will ask the national associations in a decision taken by the executive committee not to accept such an initiative which is definitely an abuse of the game. This is definitely abuse of association football."

Blatter said he will take the controversy to FIFA's Congress if the Premier League insist on pushing ahead with their plans.

What will really worry the Football Association however Blatter's warning that the plans could affect England's bid for the 2018 World Cup.

Blatter added: "If you go against the authority of FIFA and the decision-making body which is the executive committee then you cannot expect them to be in your favour later on.

"England will not be the only World Cup bid. I cannot imagine that when you go against the deciding body for the decision on the World Cup in an initiative that will not be accepted by this body, that you will enhance your chances. It will not be diplomatic."

Blatter said he would give Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore the opportunity to state his case to FIFA but would state his views "perhaps even stronger".

He added: "Football cannot be like the Harlem globetrotters or a circus. You must keep the national identity of the clubs."

A Premier League spokesman said: "We look forward to the opportunity to meet with FIFA in order to discuss this matter in full.

"This was always the starting point in relation to this issue of sanction of our proposed international round and as such we will be making no further comment until after that time."

Meanwhile, former Football Association executive director David Davies blamed the Premier League for making their plans public before canvassing opinion throughout the game.

He said on BBC Radio Five Live: "These proposals, as they stand, are unlikely to be able to survive much more of a pounding, the sort of pounding they have had in recent days.

"The reason for that is that there wasn't a widespread consultation before these proposals came forward."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

BENITEZ EYES CUP CHANCE

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is intent on making up for his side's virtual elimination from the Barclays Premier League title race by taking a major step towards alternative silverware this week.

Benitez leads his side into Saturday's FA Cup fifth round clash with Barnsley before Inter Milan arrive at Anfield just three days later for a crucial Champions League showdown.

And while Benitez is expected to juggle his starting line-up in order to give himself the best chance of success on two fronts, he is not under-estimating the importance of the clash against the Tykes.

Benitez said: "Your aim is to win every trophy but sometimes you have to be realistic and sometimes you cannot. A lot of teams have the same problem. We have not won the league for 18 years and I have been here for three.

"We will try to win every game in the league to try to finish in the top four. But we know we also have a big chance in both of the cups and we will be taking them seriously."

Benitez was buoyed by last weekend's gutsy draw at Chelsea but will need to reshuffle his defence in search of another clean sheet as Martin Skrtel is ruled out with a calf injury.

Fernando Torres, Sami Hyypia, Fabio Aurelio and Alvaro Arbeloa are all available again but present varying degrees of risk and Benitez is likely to rest all four of them with an eye on the Inter clash.

"All of them will be fit, but the question for me is whether it is a risk I need to take, or do I have other players who can play in those positions?" added Benitez.

Source : www.sportinglife.com

NEVILLE: RONALDO IS ON ANOTHER PLANET

Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes Cristiano Ronaldo is the equal of any of the legends who have graced the club's history.

The Portuguese star has been in scintillating form this season, scoring 27 goals and creating countless more as the Red Devils have maintained their challenges in the Barclays Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

Despite failing to find the net in United's last two winless matches, Ronaldo is rapidly closing in on the 32-goal mark set by the late George Best in 1967-68.

Neville insists it would be fitting for the 23-year-old to beat Best's record given that he now believes Ronaldo deserves to take his place alongside the likes of the Northern Irishman, Sir Bobby Charlton, Duncan Edwards and Eric Cantona in the pantheon of Old Trafford greats.

"In terms of entertainment, performance and production, the player that we're watching now is every bit as good as anything I've ever seen," Neville told United Review.

"He's playing on another planet at the moment.

"His goals tally is exceptional, but the most impressive thing is the appreciation he has for playing in a team.

"His passing, dribbling and crossing are all carefully selected and completed at the right times."

United face Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday looking to strike an important psychological blow against their main title rivals.

Last Sunday's derby defeat at the hands of Manchester City, coupled with the Gunners' victory over Blackburn the following day, saw Sir Alex Ferguson's team slip five points behind the north Londoners in the race for the title.

Although there are no points available at Old Trafford this weekend, United could put a big dent in Arsenal's increasing self-confidence and make a massive statement of intent by sending them crashing out of the cup.

Neville will again miss out as he continues his recovery from the series of injuries which have wrecked his season thus far.

Having spent so much time in the stands this term he has gained a good appreciation of the current squad, and despite their recent struggles he remains unwavering in his belief that they are up there with the best United sides he has played in.

"I said at the start of the campaign that United fans should be as excited as they've ever been and that's been proved," he said.

"We've had the odd blip, but you experience that every year. We're getting to the business part of the season now, there's everything to play for."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

RAMOS: CUP FINAL MUST WAIT

Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos insists there will be no talk of Wembley until their UEFA Cup tie with Slavia Prague is over next Thursday.

Spurs should have had one foot in the last 16 after taking a two-goal lead at the Strahov Stadium on Thursday, only for Radek Cerny's blunder against his former club leaving the tie poised at 2-1.

In sub-zero temperatures in the Czech Republic capital Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring and Robbie Keane doubled the lead, with Spurs sensing an easy second leg until Cerny dropped a hanging cross and David Strihavka prodded in.

Now all of Ramos' focus will be on the second leg next Thursday rather than the Carling Cup final the following Sunday.

"Before the cup final we have the second leg of this tie and all our efforts are now concentrated on this match, and before we finish it we won't be thinking about Wembley," said Ramos.

Keane added on five: "In the first half we played brilliantly, they didn't get a sniff.

"We came out in the second half and I don't know what happened, we knew they would come out and make it difficult for us. The second half performance was not good enough.

"We've won the game, that's the most important thing. But we wanted to get the job finished.

"There's still a bit left in this game, we'll get them back to White Hart Lane and there's no reason why we can't go through."

Ramos refused to single out Cerny for criticism despite his error.

"The mistakes can always happen, that is the world of football," said Ramos. "This time it was the turn of Cerny.

"It's quite possible that he seemed really nervous after the goal, more than normal.

"It must be very difficult for him to be at his home ground to play against his former club."

Keane added: "Things happen. He made a mistake but he's big enough to accept that."

Berbatov opened the scoring in the fourth minute when he steered in a volley after Jermaine Jenas' run was halted on the edge of the area.

Keane added his second on the half-hour mark when Jenas split the home defence.

"I think we really controlled the play in the first hour but we became quite nervous and could have achieved a better result," said Ramos.

"We allowed Slavia to react and find a way back and now we have a tough second leg to play.

"The match lasts 90 minutes and we have to take it like that.

We have to accept it. We could have achieved a better result, a more definite win but we cant change it."

Slavia coach Karel Jarolim felt his side relaxed after falling two goals behind.

"We knew there was nothing to lose," he said. "Radek Cerny helped us because he did not catch the ball but it was a good from our player."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

HAMANN EXTENDS CITY CONTRACT

Manchester City midfielder Dietmar Hamann has signed a new one-year deal with the Eastlands club.

The former Liverpool and Germany star joined City in the summer of 2006 but struggled with injuries during his first season.

However, the 34-year-old has been in impressive form under Sven-Goran Eriksson and was the man of the match in the derby win over Manchester United on Sunday.

Meanwhile, City boss Eriksson is hopeful midfielder Hamann's fellow midfielder Michael Johnson will be fit for their next match against Everton on February 25.

The 19-year-old played a major part in City's flying start to the season but has been out of action since December with a niggling abdominal injury.

Johnson played in a reserve-team match on Monday, and Eriksson told the club's official website: "Michael did very well for 45 minutes, and the positive is that he had no discomfort afterwards.

"I hope he has no setbacks, and if things go as I think he would be ready for Everton."

However, Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov is not expected to feature against the Toffees despite a goal-scoring return in the reserves' draw with Newcastle.

The 21-year-old injured knee ligaments on his first start for City in August and Eriksson does not want to rush him back.

"Bojinov is not ready for the first team yet," he said. "It's like having a new signing but I doubt very much that he would be ready for Everton. But he's got a big smile on his face now, he's very happy."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

ESSIEN TARGETS CLEAN SWEEP

Michael Essien believes Chelsea can still win the quadruple this season.

Avram Grant's side are currently eight points adrift of Arsenal in the title race, but have a Carling Cup final to look forward to along with competing for the Champions League and FA Cup.

Then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho targeted the quadruple last season and ended up with the FA Cup and Carling Cup, before surprisingly exiting Stamford Bridge earlier this season.

And Essien, who is back at Chelsea following the African Cup of Nations, believes the current squad has the character to go for glory on every front.

"We've got the character to win the quadruple," he told The Sun.

"This could still be a really big season for us. We're still in all four competitions and we will do everything to win as many of them as we can.

"Winning all four trophies is a possibility."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

ADEBAYOR HAILS 'AMAZING' RONALDO

Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has spoken of his admiration for Golden-Boot rival Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Saturday's FA Cup clash with Manchester United.

Adebayor and Ronaldo are neck-and-neck at the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts on 19 goals each, and the Gunners frontman admits it would be a great feat to eclipse the United sensation.

"He is a player I like to watch," Adebayor told the club's official website.

"He has a lot of quality and watching him is like watching something else, it is like playing on the PlayStation sometimes.

"He is an amazing footballer and I show him a lot of respect for what he has done this season. There are not a lot of players, especially midfielders who can achieve what he has achieved."

"The Golden Boot is something I want to do as a footballer but the most important thing is that I want to achieve something as a team.

"At the end of the day, if I win the Golden Boot and the team does not win anything, I cannot see me enjoying myself - it would be better to win the title."

The 23-year-old striker picked up the Arsenal fans' player of the month award for January, an accolade he was delighted with.

"The Arsenal fans voted me as player of the month and I'm very happy and pleased about that because it means a lot of people believe in you," he said.

"I'm pleased and I want to achieve a lot in my career. That is why I'm here and that is what I'm fighting for."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

CITY SEAL STUNNING DERBY DOUBLE

Manchester City completed a league double over Manchester United with a 2-1 win on the day the city remembered the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.

The last time City achieved such a feat was back in 1970 and the last time they won at Old Trafford was four years later.

Darius Vassell put City ahead in the 24th minute and Benjani Mwaruwari, on his debut following a protracted move from Portsmouth, headed the second. United replied with an injury-time goal from Michael Carrick but City held on.

However Chelsea failed to capitalise as they were held to a dour 0-0 draw by Liverpool.

The draw means Chelsea are three points behind the second-placed Red Devils.

Liverpool have never scored at Stamford Bridge under Rafael Benitez, and with no Fernando Torres in their line-up that was unlikely to change.

The visitors actually had the better of the first half, with Peter Crouch heading wide (14), shooting wide of the upright (17) and steering a header straight at Petr Cech from Steven Gerrard's right-wing cross on 19.

The second half was largely uneventful until the last 10 minutes, with Michael Ballack volleying wide of the upright from Ashley Cole's clever cross on 81.

Source : www.sportinglife.com

RAIKKONEN ROLLS ON IN BAHRAIN

Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in Bahrain testing while the luckless Felipe Massa's was hampered by technical problems.

The World Champion completed 66 laps and set a benchmark time of 1:30.914.

His team-mate Massa managed 13 fewer laps as a result of a hydraulic problem.

The Brazilian's best time was two tenths off the pace set by Raikkonen.

Toyota focused on optimising the TF108's cooling system as temperatures soared into the mid-30s.

Jarno Trulli set the best time for the Japanese constructor. The Italian rounded the Sakhir circuit in 1:32.382 - about half a second clear of team-mate Timo Glock.

Bahrain Test Times

1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:30.914 66
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:31.174 53
3. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:32.382 73
4. Glock Toyota (B) 1:32.762 75

Source : www.sportnglife.com

EGYPT RETAIN AFRICAN TITLE

Egypt retained the African Nations Cup on Sunday after Mohamed Aboutrika's goal secured a narrow final victory over Cameroon.

The Al-Ahly midfielder slotted home the winner 14 minutes from time after Mohamed Zidan capitalised on a Rigobert Song error to give the Pharaohs a record sixth continental title.

It is also a record third crown for captain Ahmed Hassan - the most by any player in the history of the competition.

The North Africans looked sharp from the outset, using their pace and skill to outwit Cameroon, who they beat 4-2 in the opening match of the tournament.

Geremi created the first opening for his side when the Newcastle midfielder played in Samuel Eto'o with a fine cross from the right that was headed over by the Barcelona forward.

Egypt hit back when Hosny Abd Rabou curled a 25-yard free-kick over the wall, but Carlos Kameni was on hand to save low to his left, before Sayed Moawad drew a similar save with his shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Geremi's cross again caused confusion in the Egyptian penalty area after 10 minutes, but goalkeeper Essam El Hadary managed to punch the ball away.

Aboutrika then forced Kameni to dive low and parry away his fizzing 20-yard shot for a corner as the Pharaohs looked sharp on the break.

Otto Pfister's side were dealt a major blow after 15 minutes, when Arsenal's Alexandre Song, who came into the game with an injury, had to be replaced by Gilles Binya.

But the change did not immediately seem to affect them as Geremi's 30-yard free-kick drew a sprawling save from El Hadary to his left.

Another good chance came for Egypt after 19 minutes when Amr Zaky played in Emad Moteab inside the area, but Kameni made another excellent block. The parry fell into the path of Aboutrika, but he blazed over.

The Al-Ahly midfielder again fired over midway through the half after Hany Said's commanding run and cross into the left side of the penalty area.

At the other end, Eto'o controlled the ball 20 yards out and turned well towards the right by-line, before firing across the face of goal.

But Egypt looked threatening on the break and Moteab had a fantastic chance to give them the lead in the 36th minute after being put through by Aboutrika, only for Kameni to pull off another stunning stop from the striker's close-range volley.

Zaky then fired narrowly over from a 30-yard free-kick on the left on the stroke of half-time.

After the restart, Kameni denied Zaky with an excellent save from an acute angle on the left, before somehow managing to keep out Hosny's shot from the edge of the penalty area as Hassan Shehata's team piled on the pressure.

Hosny came closest to breaking the deadlock shortly after the hour mark, when he headed against the upright after a brilliant floated cross from Aboutrika on the right.

After several half-chances and a little bit of play-acting from the Egyptians, they eventually managed to forge ahead after 76 minutes - making the most of Song's error.

Instead of clearing to safety, the Galatasary defender held on and was robbed of possession by Zidan, who slid the ball across to an unmarked Aboutrika to steer the ball home.

Cameroon upped the tempo, but struggled to create any openings until five minutes from time when a cross from the right took a nasty bounce forcing El Hadary to tip over, before Stephane Mbia drew a fine stop from the Egyptian custodian with his close-range shot from the right side of the box.

Song then missed a good chance late on when he headed Geremi's pin-point cross over as the North Africans claimed a hard-fought win.

Source : www.sportinglife.com

BENITEZ HOPES TO GET THE BLUES

Rafael Benitez accepts Liverpool's hopes of catching Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League hinge on Sunday's trip to Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool are 11 points behind their third-placed opponents with a game in hand, but the Reds boss will not concede just yet that his injury-hit side cannot overhaul them.

He said: "This game will be the key to whether we can catch Chelsea. We will see afterwards. For us it is the test."

Benitez concedes the build-up for Sunday's clash is much more low-key than his previous sparring sessions with Chelsea's former boss Jose Mourinho.

He said: "Everyone does things differently, but the game will be no less difficult because they still have fine players."

This will be the 18th time Liverpool have met Chelsea in Benitez's three years at Anfield, and he said of the new regime at Stamford Bridge: "I am not surprised that Avram Grant has done well.

"Chelsea were a good team and they are still a good team that has spent a lot of money in the transfer window.

"If you do that, it is normal that you stay at the top of the table. The key always is the quality of players.

"I know we have not won at Stamford Bridge in recent seasons, but nobody is winning there so it is not just for us that it is difficult, it is difficult for everyone who goes there,"

He added: "When you play a team like Chelsea a lot of times like this, it means that you are playing for big trophies, for us two Champions League semi-finals, a Carling Cup final.

"So I am very pleased we have met them so many times, it shows we are playing for the best trophies and in the biggest games.

"This game will be different to the two we have already played against them this season.

"But we definitely deserved more from the league draw at Anfield and in the Carling Cup we had (Peter) Crouch sent off and it meant a different type of game, which we ultimately lost."

Liverpool will be without six key players on Sunday, with the loss of striker Fernando Torres the biggest blow.

The Spaniard has a hamstring injury and will be out for 10 days, also putting him out of the FA Cup fifth round home tie with Barnsley next weekend.

Andriy Voronin, Fabio Aurelio, Alvaro Arbeloa and Daniel Agger are all long-term injury victims, while Xabi Alonso is suspended. Ryan Babel picked up an ankle injury playing for Holland on Wednesday.

Source : www.sportinglife.com

SMITH WANTS FERGUSON AROUND

Rangers manager Walter Smith has welcomed the idea of Barry Ferguson pledging the rest of his career to the Ibrox club.

Ferguson celebrated his 30th birthday last weekend and claimed he had at least another five years to offer at the highest level before hanging up his football boots.

Reports this week suggesting the skipper was already in talks with Rangers chiefs regarding a contract extension appear to be wide of the mark.

But Smith believes no-one at Ibrox would have a problem with Ferguson putting pen to paper on a new deal that would see him end his career with his boyhood heroes.

"I don't think Rangers have been approached by Barry's agents so far," said Smith.

"As far as I'm aware, he is contracted until around 2010.

"Maybe something will take place if Rangers are approached or Rangers will approach his agents.

"Since I have been here, we have been delighted with the way he has been playing and I don't see any reason why, if he wants to stay at Rangers for whatever length of time, that he can't do so.

"I don't think there is any problem with that club-wise. If it does happen shortly that's fine, if it's a bit later that's equally fine."

Ferguson's future at Rangers was thrown into doubt 12 months ago when he was stripped of the captaincy and dropped from the team after a falling out with then boss Paul Le Guen.

The Frenchman departed the club instead and Ferguson has blossomed since Smith was installed as Le Guen's successor.

The Rangers boss added: "He has played exceptionally well for us, not just this year, but in the period since we have come back.

"He has hit an exceptional level of form and he has hit that level consistently which has been a big thing for us overall."

Another player who has no plans to quit the game any time soon is Christian Dailly.

The 34-year-old quit West Ham to sign a four-month deal with Rangers last month and is determined to delay his retirement for as long as possible.

"I like playing, I like being involved," he said. "If you talk to any player they will tell you to go on as long as you can.

"After all, it's a game of football. If I'm physically capable of playing, then why not carry on.

"There are guys who play Sunday, pub or amateur football just for the fun of it. When it's your job, that's even better.

"I'm only 34. Because I was in the first-team at Dundee United when I was just 16, people think I'm older.

"I have always been an athlete. I was the fittest player at West Ham before I left. I'm proud of that.

"We worked that out with the fitness stats as regards running, matches, everything."

Meanwhile, Smith has dedicated his Clydesdale Bank Premier League manager of the month award for January to his players.

He said: "It's always nice to get an award. But, as a manager, it's always a reflection on how your team is doing.

"You don't get these awards if your team aren't doing very well. We have played to a good level recently.

"I said to everyone after the first quarter of the season that we had to show a bit of improvement in the second quarter. We have managed to do that results-wise; performance-wise we have had one or two hiccups but have managed to win the games.

"It has been a good effort by everyone to try to reach that level of consistency and it will need an increased level if we are going to continue that."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

FRIEDEL UP WITH THE GREATS - HUGHES

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes believes goalkeeper Brad Friedel deserves to be ranked among the greats to have played top-flight football in England.

The 36-year-old American this week signed an extension to his contract which will take his stay at Ewood Park up until 2010.

And Hughes said that was just reward for a sustained spell of excellence with Rovers.

"I had the pleasure of playing alongside him and I know the qualities that he has," said the former Wales boss.

"I'm delighted that I am able to call on him as a manager of Blackburn Rovers because over the years in my playing career I've had the fortune to play alongside the likes of Peter Schmeichel, Neville Southall and I very much view Brad in that same company.

"We are delighted (he has signed a new contract). He is a credit to himself and his profession in fairness.

"He has a great work ethic, is a great athlete and there is no reason why he can't keep on going."

Hughes had every confidence the former Liverpool and Columbus Crew keeper could stay at the top of his game until the end of his new contract - when he would be 39.

"I wouldn't bet against it. He's a fit young man - and I say that as somebody who is senior to him," he said.

"He works extremely hard every day he comes to training, he does extra work to enable him to maintain the level that he hits consistently season on season."

The former USA international has been at Ewood Park since moving from Anfield on a free transfer in November 2000.

And having become settled in the north-west there was no hesitation from him in signing a new deal.

"At this stage in my career, signing was a very easy decision to make," he said.

"It's been an enjoyable time in my life and in my career. I like working with the staff we have here and we've got a good group of players assembled.

"I just try to work hard and keep my mind and body as fit as possible so that I'm available for selection every week.

"As a professional, that should be what you aim to do and the best thing is to be playing in the game.

"I consider myself very fortunate. We've got good competition at the club and it keeps me focused."

Friedel, who will be looking to maintain his good form against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Monday, believes Rovers have the potential to become regulars in the Barclays Premier League's top six.

"Hopefully the club will give Mark some money to spend in the summer and we can keep pushing onwards," he told the Lancashire Telegraph.

"I think we're in with an excellent chance (of qualifying for Europe). We've just got to keep our heads down and try to keep our unbeaten run going."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

TEVES TARGETS REVENGE

Carlos Tevez admits he is out for revenge in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Manchester United meet rivals Manchester City on Sunday, in a game which can be seen live on Sky Sports 1, hoping to avenge their 1-0 away defeat to the Blues earlier in the season.

United striker Tevez has confessed he was 'hurt' by the defeat at the City of Manchester Stadium in August.

And the Argentinean insists the Red Devils cannot afford anymore slip ups, after scoring United's last-gasp equaliser against Tottenham last weekend, as they bid to retain their Premier League crown.

"I'm really excited about the derby," Tevez said in the Daily Star. "The defeat there hurt me and now is the moment for revenge.

"After the draw against Spurs we cannot fail again if we want to win the title. At Old Trafford it is obligatory to win every match.

"Arsenal are the leaders for now but I am convinced we will triumph."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

HAMILTON SADDENED BY RACIST ABUSE

Lewis Hamilton insists racist taunts have not altered his opinion of Spain despite the abuse leaving him "sad".

The McLaren star was jeered and insulted when he moved between the McLaren motorhome and the team's garage at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Montmelo, near Barcelona, during pre-season tests on Saturday.

Pictures taken at the circuit show some spectators aiming abusive gestures and a group wearing wigs, dark make-up and t-shirts with the slogan 'Hamilton's Family' on the front.

The 23-year-old was targeted by some local fans following his public falling-out with former team-mate Fernando Alonso last season.

"The truth is that I feel somewhat sad, I am in love with this country, and especially the city of Barcelona and this circuit, which is one of my three favourites," said Hamilton, speaking to sportlifepress.com.

"The people in Spain have always been very warm with me, and even though I imagined what might happen it has not been pleasant.

"But maybe these types of things make you learn to appreciate more the warmth of the public, who although you always try to be there for them, you never know how important they are to you until these types of things happen."

Alonso has since joined Renault for the new season after a difficult 2007 partnering rookie Hamilton.

"I would like them (the Spanish fans) to understand my position," Hamilton said.

"The only thing that I have done is to try to give the best of myself and try to win the championship, at no point have I tried to deliberately prejudice Fernando, but the fight has been very tough and my image in Spain has been severely damaged."

McLaren have attempted to play down the problems but the sport's governing body, the FIA, have pledged to take a hard line on any future incidents.

A team statement read: "Vodafone McLaren Mercedes have raced and tested on Spanish circuits for many years, and everyone connected with the team regards Spain and the Spanish people with great affection, Lewis included."

The FIA, however, have warned that Spain could even be stripped of its grands prix as a result of such incidents. The country is due to host two races this year, at Barcelona and Valencia.

A spokesman said: "FIA are surprised and disappointed at the abuse directed at Lewis Hamilton.

"An act of this kind is a clear breach of the principles enshrined in the FIA statutes, and any repetition will result in sanctions."

The management at the circuit have also warned spectators about their behaviour.

Circuit director Ramon Pradera said: "We would like to make a plea to the fans to behave correctly. No type of offensive behaviour can be tolerated."

Hamilton fought hard with Alonso for the world title last year, with their rivalry growing more intense as the season wore on.

Ultimately, both drivers were to miss out as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen nipped in to take the crown at the final race.

Former Sports Minister Richard Caborn has spoken of his disgust at the incidents in Spain.

Caborn said: "This is totally unacceptable. I spoke to the Spanish sports minister when England players were abused a few years ago.

"It is disgusting behaviour and has no place in sport."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

DROGBA UNHAPPY AT AWARD SNUB

Chelsea's Ivorian striker Didier Drogba has asked not to be considered for the African Player of the Year award in future years after claiming he was beaten to the 2007 trophy because he was unable to attend the ceremony.

Striker Drogba, who won the title in 2006, insists he was in line to retain the award until he made it clear he would not be leaving Ghana - where he is spearheading the Ivory Coast's bid to win the African Nations Cup - to collect the prize in Lome, Togo.

Mali's former West Ham and Tottenham forward Frederic Kanoute was eventually handed the accolade, but Drogba is unhappy about what he claims is a flawed process.

"I was told if I didn't appear the rules would change and the prize would go to the runner-up," he told BBC Sport.

"If I refused to go to Lome it was first for my team-mates, as you don't organise such an event just two days before a quarter-final (against Guinea).

"This attitude doesn't honour Africa so I've pulled out of future elections.

"We're all working for the African continent, there's a huge media presence in Ghana for a competition that was heavily criticised 10 years ago.

"So there comes a time when we all have to pull together."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

BECKS 'HALF EXPECTED' OMISSION

David Beckham has admitted it would have been "unfair" of Fabio Capello to select him in his first England squad.

The 32-year-old was not picked by the Italian in his party for Wednesday's friendly with Switzerland at Wembley, having not played for his club the Los Angeles Galaxy since the end of last year.

It is the second time the midfielder has been dropped by Capello after he was also sidelined during their time together at Real Madrid.

And Beckham has admitted he "half expected" to suffer the same fate he experienced at the Bernabeu a year ago.

"It's always disappointing when you're not included in an England squad," he said on Sky Sports News.

"The thing is I half expected it because I know what Fabio Capello is like as a manager and if he thinks you're not fit and ready to play then you won't be in the team.

"I totally respect that and totally understand that. There are a lot of Premiership players who have played 15 games in the last two months and I haven't played a game since December - so to be called into the squad was probably unfair."

Beckham has been criticised for interrupting his recent spell of training with Arsenal to jet off on personal trips to Africa and South America.

But the former Manchester United player denies that those were a mistake.

"I'd done everything I could to make myself available, I worked hard for a month with Arsenal," Beckham insisted.

"I did go to Sierra Leone and Brazil, but those trips were only four days long and for the rest of the month I was training very hard.

"It's simply down to not playing any games, the manager explained that, and I wish him and the rest of the players good luck for the first game.

"I think he's a great appointment and he's going to be good for the English game."

Source : www.sportinglife.com