Football news

The English FA reported a full house at Wembley for the national team's next World Cup qualifier today week against Kazakhstan.

Six weeks ago, Fabio Capello's team were booed off following a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic.

However, Theo Walcott's hat-trick in the 4-1 win away in Croatia has seen the fans falling back in love with the team.

In fact, 90,000 will watch England's final home game of the year as Capello's men look to continue their winning start to Group Six.

With away games in Belarus on October 15 and a friendly in Germany a month later, there will be no further opportunities to see England in action on home soil this year.

Court action

Bolton are mulling court action against West Ham in the Carlos Tevez affair as they reckon a defeat to the Hammers towards the end of the 2006/07 season affected their final standing and the amount of prize-money they received.

Sheffield United are embroiled in a lengthy battle against West Ham in the wake of their relegation from the Premier League in 2007, when Tevez played a key role in the Upton Park club's survival.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside said: "We lost 3-1 to West Ham, Tevez scored two and it cost us £700,000 because that was one place in the league."

Bolton finished the 2006/07 season in seventh place.

Spurs' Hughes link

Troubled London club Tottenham Hotspur denied reports that they want Mark Hughes, the manager at Manchester City, to take over at White Hart Lane.

Juande Ramos, the Spurs boss, has been under pressure after Tottenham made a poor start to the season and media reports claim that Spurs had contacted Hughes' agents to offer the former Wales striker Ramos's job.

A Tottenham statement read: "This story is completely untrue and without foundation and the matter is being discussed with the publication."

Legrottaglie extends contract

Nicola Legrottaglie will play for another year with Juventus after reaching an agreement with the Turin club to extend his contract by another 12 months.

The 31-year-old defender, who signed for Juve in 2003 from Chievo, said he is settled in Turin after a difficult start as he has revitalised his career in the Juve shirt since returning from a loan spell elsewhere in 2006.

Legrottaglie has even received an Italy call-up from Marcello Lippi and he has sufficiently impressed Juve to earn a new deal that expires in 2011.

"It gives me immense joy that I can continue to wear this shirt," Legrottaglie said.

Sheva hopeful

Andriy Shevchenko promised not to rest on his laurels after netting his first goal on Thursday since returning to Milan from two disappointing seasons at Chelsea.

"It's important for a striker to score although I'm aware that I still have to work a lot but I promise more goals," the Ukrainian told reporters.

"I want to thank the fans for supporting me, even when I made a mistake at the beginning of the match today."

Shevchenko squandered a glorious chance after just a few seconds but his hard work did eventually pay off. His goal completed a 4-1 aggregate win to take the seven-times European champions to the UEFA Cup group stage. It also gave them their fifth consecutive victory.

Van der Sar makes Dutch comeback

Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is making a brief Dutch comeback for this month's World Cup qualifiers to help out in an injury crisis.

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk included Van der Sar, who retired from international football after Euro 2008, in his 22-man squad yesterday for the Group Nine games against Iceland in Rotterdam on Oct. 11 and away to Norway four days later.

Goalkeepers Maarten Stekelenburg, of Ajax, and Feyenoord's Henk Timmer, who is in the squad, are both nursing injuries.

Van der Sar, capped 128 times, was approached by Van Marwijk and his assistant Frank de Boer for help and decided to make a temporary comeback.

Rosicky expected back by Christmas

Tomas Rosicky is making steady progress in his rehabilitation from injury and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expects him to be back by Christmas.

The Czech winger has been hit by a series of injuries since his move from Borussia Dortmund in May 2006. The 28-year-old, who cost Arsenal £7 million, limped out of the league match with Newcastle in January and has not featured since because of the hamstring-related problems.

Wenger said: "I monitor Rosicky's progress very closely, but at the moment it is very difficult to put a date on his comeback.

"If he comes back before Christmas we have done very well but I think we can achieve that, so in December he can play again."