City in line to bring Bridge to Manchester
UEFA Cup Round of 32 contenders Manchester City FC have agreed a fee for Chelsea FC left-back Wayne Bridge with manager Mark Hughes explaining: "We need to speak to the boy and try to agree personal terms."
Stern competition
A league title winner with Chelsea in 2004/05, the 28-year-old Bridge made four UEFA Champions League group stage appearances this season but has found regular first-team football hard to come by at Stamford Bridge since the arrival of Ashley Cole from Arsenal FC in 2006. Signed from Southampton FC in 2003, he has been capped 32 times by England, and scored once in 87 league games for Chelsea. He was loaned to Fulham FC during the 2005/06 campaign as Chelsea won a second succesive title.
Negotiations ongoing
"We need to speak to the boy and try to agree personal terms," said Hughes, whose side meet FC Kobenhavn in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. "If we can do that hopefully Wayne will be a Manchester City player, that's the aim. Wayne will probably travel to Manchester this evening and hopefully negotiations will go well and he can have a medical tomorrow. Hopefully if the deal can be concluded I'll be absolutely delighted to welcome him to Manchester City."
Sahar loaned
Meanwhile, Chelsea have loaned 19-year-old Israel forward Ben Sahar to Dutch side De Graafschap for the remainder of the season. The former Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC player joined Chelsea as a 16-year-old in 2006, and has since spent time on loan with Queens Park Rangers FC, Sheffield Wednesday FC and Portsmouth FC. His new side are second from bottom of the 18-team Dutch table.
(c) uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.
Portsmouth half-term report
Paul Higham assesses Portsmouth's first half of the season and fears fans will head into the New Year in pessimistic mood.
Portsmouth fans will be one of the more pessimistic in the Premier League at the turn of the year, after starting the season with such high hopes for the FA Cup winners, a turbulent time following Harry Redknapp's departure has them rocking.
2008 was already marked as a vintage year for Pompey after they lifted the FA Cup at Wembley, but the shock departure of their leading man Redknapp in October has shaken the very foundations at Fratton Park.
Starting the season as Cup winners, European contenders for the first time, and also strong candidates for a top-six finish, Portsmouth end the year just three points outside the relegation zone, and with uncertainty ringing around the South Coast.
Uncertainty over new manager Tony Adams after his poor start in the hot seat, uncertainty over the futures of stars like Jermain Defoe, and even uncertainty in the board room, with owner Alexandre Gaydamak looking to sell-up, will all be weighing heavily on supporters' minds.
With so much at stake these days in the Premier League, Adams may well be running out of games already with nervy clubs normally opting for a change sooner rather than later if they slip into relegation trouble.
And Adams' record does not make for good reading - with only two Premier League wins out of 11 games since he officially took over from Redknapp and seven defeats, and with his recent selection decisions angering some players - mainly Defoe.
Record
Redknapp started the season decently, with four wins and a draw out of eight games in the league, with two of those losses coming against Manchester United and Chelsea, and when they sneaked beyond Vitoria Guimaraes to make the Uefa Cup group stages there was plenty of optimism around Fratton Park.
However, a return to Portugal for the opening group game against Braga proved to be the last in charge for Pompey messiah Redknapp - who found the lure of Tottenham too much to turn down as he headed off to the bright lights of London to succeed Juande Ramos at White Hart Lane.
The sudden nature of the departure left Portsmouth stunned, but the players managed to keep it together to get a 1-1 draw against Fulham in the following game with Joe Jordan and Adams in temporary charge.
Adams was then handed the reins and made a promising start at Anfield, when only a late Steven Gerrard penalty prevented Pompey coming away with a draw.
A defeat by Wigan was followed by Adams' first win in charge, with a 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland looking to be a sign of good things to come - being followed by a solid draw at West Ham.
Some entertaining but disappointing results followed - including giving away two late goals to draw with both Hull City and AC Milan at Fratton Park, but a late winner in a 3-2 victory against Blackburn restored the Pompey smiles.
European exit
That was to be a last win of 2008 for Portsmouth though, and immediately after a damaging 3-2 defeat in Wolfsburg, including a shocking mistake from David James, ultimately saw the club crash out of Europe.
A draw at West Brom, followed by four straight defeats to end the year have the vultures out above Adams with the relegation zone looming and the threat of a mass player exodus in January.
The manner of defeats has not helped either, with 3-0 and 4-1 reverses at the hands of opposition such as Newcastle and West Ham making it a decidingly uneasy Christmas.
Following the departure of Lassina Diarra for Real Madrid, Defoe will be the main worry player-wise for Adams in January, with former boss Redknapp interested in bringing him back to Spurs.
Overall, for Adams and his players they would have the words 'must do better' on any report card - but teams in such a slump often find it hard to turn things around - especially if some of their top stars jump ship in January.
Early '09 tests come in the shape of the visit of Man City and a trip to see former boss Redknapp at White Hart Lane, and Pompey will be desperate for points from those two with Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea coming up in the space of four games soon after.
Games against Blackburn and Sunderland in their last three fixtures could well be relegation deciders if matters continue as they are - all of which is a far cry from the hope and optimism of August.
(c) 2008 BSkyB.
O'Neill has no truck with critics of 'inconsistent' Arsenal
ARSENAL'S inconsistent season cuts little mustard with Martin O'Neill, who believes they are paying the price for their exceptional form in the first half of last season.
The Gunners have experienced a roller-coaster of Alton Towers proportions having beaten Chelsea and Manchester United and drawn with Liverpool despite having 10 men.
But at the other end of the scale they have been beaten by five teams already this season: Villa, Hull City, Fulham, Stoke and Manchester City.
That compares to their record at the same stage last season when they had been beaten just once in their opening 18 matches to sit top of the tree with 43 points, one clear of Manchester United, and 12 points more than they have today.
"They are in the last 16 of the Champions League and got there without a great deal of fuss," said O'Neill.
"You won't get me knocking them. I think they are a quality side.
"People are looking at it because they were top having perhaps lost only one game last season but things like that can happen. Because of their recent history that is not unusual."
Villa are chasing a first league double over the Gunners since the inaugural season of the Premier League when Ron Atkinson's side put George Graham's men to the sword.
Carlos Cuellar will be fit to partner Curtis Davies in defence with Martin Laursen's knee injury leading to his trip to a London specialist yesterday.
John Carew (back) faces at least another month out having seen a specialist on Monday evening.
O'Neill added: "It's a slow process, slower than we thought. It's just part of the game, you just have to get on with it.
"If you had said to me six or seven weeks ago that we would be without John for this amount of time then I would have thought that we were looking at a much poorer picture."
Nigel Reo-Coker is set to start at right-back. O'Neill added: "At West Ham the crowd were baying for him, as he expected, but he did really well."
Arsenal will be without Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor but O'Neill is expecting a tough afternoon.
"They were terrific against Liverpool with 10 men. They took the game to them," he said.
"I have got loads of respect for Arsenal anyway because they have been doing it for some time.
"We played particularly well at the Emirates but the last time they came here in the first half they said themselves it was the best they had played all season."
(c) Birmingham Mail.
Everton reports record turnover, slight profit
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) --- Everton announced a record turnover Wednesday with the near-50 percent increase reflecting the Premier League club's sustained success on the field.
David Moyes led the Liverpool club to fifth in the standings last season and the latter stages of the League Cup and UEFA Cup.
Revenues for the financial year ending May 31 topped 75.7 million pounds ($117 million; euro82 million), and a pretax profit of 30,000 pounds was reported compared to a 9.4 million pound loss in the previous 12-month period.
But before player trading was taken into account, the Toffees made a profit of almost 7 million pounds.
"Our determination to ensure that our first-team squad is constantly upgraded has had an effect on the club's balance sheet," Everton chairman Bill Kenwright said in the annual report. "But, as ever, we have benefited from what I would call sensible and careful fiscal management during a period which was, in pure financial terms, hugely challenging,"
(c) 2008 USA TODAY.
Adelaide needs a strong start in Japan, Manchester United lay in wait
TOKYO --- Adelaide could face one of the richest and most famous clubs in the world at the Club World Cup, with Manchester United lurking on its half of the draw.
For now, though, Adelaide is more concerned about semi-professional Waitakere United, the Oceania confederation's representative from neighbouring New Zealand, in Thursday's opening match.
European champion Manchester United and South American champion Liga de Quito received byes to the semifinals stage and are heavily favoured to meet in the final at Yokohama International Stadium.
Adelaide is on Manchester United's side of the draw for the Dec. 11-21 tournament, but coach Aurelio Vidmar said he wasn't looking past his team's opening match.
"Every team in our situation could dream about playing Manchester United," Vidmar said Monday. "You have to play one match at a time. I know that's a boring cliche but it's true in a tournament like this where anything can happen."
Adelaide qualified for the Club World Cup - which features the club champions from football's six continental confederations - despite losing the Asian Champions League final to Japan's Gamba Osaka.
The first Australian club to reach the Asian club championship final, Adelaide qualified because host Japan was already guaranteed of having a team in the competition. Gamba earned the spot as Asian champion.
The Australians arrive in Japan buoyed by a 6-1 win over Wellington in the Australian A-League on Friday.
"We're coming off a good win in the domestic competition so we have a lot of confidence," midfielder Travis Dodd said.
Waitakere qualified for its second straight appearance by retaining its Oceania title, beating Kossa of the Solomon Islands 6-3 on aggregate in April and May.
Australian club Sydney FC represented Oceania at the previous edition, but when Australia switched to join the Asian confederation after the 2006 World Cup, it left New Zealand clubs competing against mainly Pacific island teams for the Oceania spot at the lucrative annual inter-continental Club World Cup.
Brazilian midfielder Adriano Pimenta said his Waitakere teammates know they will have a tough match on Thursday.
"Everybody at the club knows we will face a very hard game," Pimenta said. "But we have to be positive. In football you can get one chance, one goal, and then you can achieve a result."
Manchester United will aim to add to its impressive list of achievements this year with another victory.
Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to bring a full-strength squad to Japan, including European Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo, as the English giants look to add to their Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles.
Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov are all expected to take the field for the Red Devils, who qualified in May after beating fellow English club Chelsea in a penalty shootout at Moscow.
Liga de Quito's squad has undergone several changes since it won the Copa Libertadores in July, but star quintet Jose Cevallos, Patricio Urrutia, Luis Bolanos, Claudio Bieler and Agustin Delgado are all scheduled to make the trip.
Japan's Gamba Osaka booked its place after a commanding 5-0 aggregate win over Adelaide in the two-leg final of the Asian Champions League after ousting 2007 champion Urawa Red Diamonds in the semifinals. Gamba will face the winner of Thursday's match between Adelaide and Waitakere with a chance to move on against Manchester United.
Mexico's Pachuca was the first club to qualify for the tournament when it defeated Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica for the CONCACAF title in April.
Egypt's Al Ahly represents Africa for the third time in four years and will take on Pachuca at Tokyo on Saturday, with the winner advancing to face Liga de Quito in the semifinals.
(c) 2008 The Canadian Press.
AC Milan needed almost every second to salvage a draw at Portsmouth in the UEFA Cup yesterday as the Italians missed an chance to join Manchester City, CSKA Moscow and St. Etienne in qualifying for the knockout phase.
Filippo Inzaghi scored the equalizer in the second minute of injury time after Ronaldinho fired in a 30-yard free kick as the seven-time European champs AC Milan climbed back from two goals down to deny the Premier League side a historic victory.
Ronaldinho, who came on with his team losing 2-0 and was awarded a free kick after being fouled by Glen Johnson, left a sour taste for some.
"It was never a foul," Johnson said. "Ronaldinho can cause havoc when he's on those free kicks, as he showed."
CSKA -- the UEFA Cup winners in 2005 -- beat Lech Poznan 2-1, while St. Etienne advanced to the last 32 with a 1-1 draw at Club Brugge.
Manchester City won 2-0 at Schalke, while Tottenham defeated NEC Nijmegen 1-0 and also appear to be on track for qualification for the knockout phase.
Feyenoord, which won the competition in 2002, saw its campaign end with a 3-0 loss at Deportivo La Coruna, while Standard Liege dumped Partizan Belgrade with 1-0 win.
(c) 2008, Canoe Inc.
UEFA Cup Spot Is Not Our Goal - Damia
Real Betis might have improved from their poor early season form, but midfielder Damia has said today that they are still not targeting a UEFA Cup spot.
It looked as though it was going to be another tough season for Real Betis following a poor start to the campaign, but in recent weeks their squad seems to be gelling and form has improved.
Los Verdiblancos were without a victory for six games, but finally found some form to win four out of the next five, most recently beating Racing Santander 3-1. Speaking about this to Marca today though, midfielder Damia doesn't believe their goal is European qualification.
"The UEFA Cup is not the objective that we are aiming at today," he declared.
"If things are done well, maybe that will be the prize and the people are very excited compared to last season."
Indeed, Betis do look a much stronger side than the year previous, when they flirted with relegation at stages. A few key signings over the summer and Damia thinks that this time around won't be quite as nervy for the fans.
"Unfortunately we have had many days looking down, but now I hope we can look up," he mused.
"I believe that the team are playing very well and it should be a calm year, away from agitation and fighting in the lower positions of the table."
(c) Goal 2008.
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