Sporting briefs

Zoff: Former Italy boss Dino Zoff has called Marcello Lippi "arrogant" for blasting the sections of the Parma crowd that gave his side flak during Wednesday's 3-2 win over Cyprus in their last World Cup qualifier. "You cannot allow yourself to be so arrogant," Zoff said. "The crowd has the right to chant for who they want. Lippi can disagree with them, but he should do so with a degree of politeness."

Shoe shine: Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor has offered to clean the players' shoes if the national team qualify for the World Cup finals via next month's play-offs. "We have a second chance and we will use it... and I will clean shoes," Pahor said.

Eboue: Atletico Madrid, who have suffered a disastrous start to the Spanish league season, want to sign Arsenal's Ivory Coast defender Emmanuel Eboue. Also on the club's wish list is Lyon's French midfielder Jeremy Toulalan. Eboue, 26, was signed by Arsenal from Belgium club KSK Beveren in 2004.

Fellaini: Marouane Fellaini will be available to play for Everton against Wolves this weekend despite the Belgian football association's appeal to FIFA, the Merseyside club have been assured. The Belgian authorities had sought to invoke the 'five-day' ruling after Fellaini missed Tuesday's World Cup qualifier in Estonia following an operation to have a wisdom tooth removed.

Berbatov: Dimitar Berbatov's partner Elena gave birth to their first child in Sofia yesterday, just hours after the Manchester United striker scored a hat-trick in Bulgaria's 6-2 win over Georgia in a World Cup qualifier. The baby girl has been named Dea.

Boas: Andre Villas Boas has left Jose Mourinho's backroom staff at Inter to take over as coach of struggling Portuguese top-flight club Academica de Coimbra. Villas Boas, who was also among Mourinho's assistants at Chelsea and Porto, takes charge of a side who are propping up the standings with three points from seven games.

Formula One: Next year's Monaco GP is likely to be brought forward a week to May 16 after teams expressed concern about the draft calendar. A version published last month had Monaco on May 23, the weekend before Turkey, which would have presented teams with a logistical headache and added expense in having to fly the cars to Istanbul rather than sending transporters by sea. The date change will mean Monaco now follow on the weekend after the Spanish GP on May 9.

Basketball, NBA: Cleveland is taking no chances in its locker room, making sure superstar LeBron James and two other players get tested for H1N1 virus after the trio complained of having flu symptoms. James missed the midweek pre-season 109-104 loss to the Washington Wizards after being told to stay home and rest. Darnell Jackson and Coby Karl are also being kept away from the other players.

Tennis: Serena Williams, Gael Monfils and Lleyton Hewitt have been confirmed to play in the WTA/ATP Sydney International in January. Williams will be joined by defending Sydney champion Elena Dementieva and Victoria Azarenka. Ranked 14, Monfils reached a career-high ranking of nine last March and claimed his second career ATP World Tour title in Metz last month. Two-time major winner Hewitt, ranked 23, is chasing a fifth Sydney title in the January 10-16 tournament.

Baseball: Japanese schoolboy Yusei Kikuchi will hold 'speed interviews' with Major League Baseball clubs as the race to sign the explosive left-hander heats up. The 18-year-old pitcher is poised to meet representatives from eight MLB clubs including the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and LA Dodgers, beginning today. Kikuchi's fastball has been clocked at 155kph.