Football news

Argentina must not play a planned World Cup warm-up at home against Canada to rest the players before they head to the finals, coach Diego Maradona said.

Maradona is against the May 24 friendly at the River Plate stadium, arranged for fans to send the team off to the World Cup, because his squad will have only just assembled at the end of a taxing season.

He said he would prefer his team to prepare for the June 11-July 11 finals in Frankfurt and play a friendly in Europe later in May before settling into their World Cup base in Pretoria.

Local media reported the AFA had already signed a deal for the Canada friendly.

Venables: Bridge decision 'premature'

Former England manager Terry Venables believes Wayne Bridge could live to regret his decision to retire from international football.

The 29-year-old has claimed his position in the England squad is "untenable" - a decision related to the alleged affair between his former Chelsea team-mate John Terry and Vanessa Perroncel, the mother of his young son.

Venables said: "I would have understood completely had he told Fabio Capello he did not want to play against Egypt.

"But for Bridge to write himself out of what could be an historic summer for England does seem to be a little premature."

Hoddle, Eriksson on Nigeria list

Former England managers Sven-Goran Eriksson and Glenn Hoddle are on a five-man short list to be the new coach of Nigeria, a spokesman for the national federation has confirmed.

Hoddle managed England at the 1998 World Cup, where they reached the last 16 before being knocked out on penalties by Argentina, who are Nigeria's first opponents at the 2010 World Cup.

Eriksson led England at the 2002 and 2006 finals, and was most recently employed as director of football at Notts County.

A Nigeria FA spokesman said: "We have five candidates and Hoddle is one of them."

Gers aim to kill off Celtic hopes

Champions Rangers will seek to put an end to Celtic's faltering title challenge when the Glasgow rivals meet in the third Old Firm derby of the season at Ibrox tomorrow.

Walter Smith's side have a seven-point lead over the Hoops and a game in hand over their long-time adversaries.

"If we can win this game it would put a serious dent in their championship hopes," said Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist.

"We certainly wouldn't win anything at this stage but you'd have to say it would put a real dampener on things for them."

The Gers beat Tony Mowbray's men 2-1 in the season's first Old Firm game in October, which was followed by a 1-1 draw at Parkhead.

Tevez heads back to England

Carlos Tevez flew out of Argentina late on Thursday to return to Manchester City after visiting his wife following the premature birth of his second daughter.

The Argentina striker had been away from England for 10 days since coach Roberto Mancini gave him compassionate leave and the Italian had said earlier this week he was uncertain when Tevez would return.

"When there is a family issue, football takes a back seat," Tevez was quoted as saying.

"I went to the hospital five times (a day) to feed the little girl, I'd come and go, I couldn't watch any football," added Tevez, whose daughter is recovering from a difficult birth.

Adebayor gets four-match ban

Manchester City forward Emmanuel Adebayor was banned for four matches yesterday following a Football Association review of the red card he received in Tuesday's FA Cup defeat at Stoke.

Adebayor was dismissed for catching Stoke's Ryan Shawcross with his arm and has decided not to appeal against the straight red card he received.

As it was the second time this season that the Togo striker had been found guilty of violent conduct, the usual three-game suspension was increased by one game.

Adebayor joins team-mate Patrick Vieira on the sidelines. Vieira is serving a three-match ban for violent conduct following his kick on Glenn Whelan in last week's meeting with Stoke.

Samp wants keeper Storari to stay

Sampdoria will start talks over the permanent transfer of goalkeeper Marco Storari from Serie A rivals Milan next month.

Storari joined Sampdoria on loan in January as cover for Luca Castellazzi and left a good impression when the latter was out injured.

Beppe Marotta, the Samp director general, is looking to get negotiations going with his counterpart Adriano Galliani with immediate effect.

With Castellazzi likely to seek pastures new in summer, Samp want Storari to become their regular keeper.

Media reports linked Castellazzi, 34, with a move to champions Inter at the end of the season.