Football news

Switzerland have been boosted by the sight of skipper Alexander Frei running as he attempts to shake off an ankle injury.

The 30-year-old Basel striker is undergoing intensive treatment and has now been able to do some light jogging and cycling.

Whether or not Frei is able to make Wednesday's Group H opener against Spain in Durban remains to be seen, but team doctor Cuno Wetzel is optimistic.

"Alex is doing well. The swelling has decreased," Dr Wetzel said.

"The ankle is very blue, of course, that's normal for a bruise. Everything is going as expected."

FIFA shed light on laser incident

A laser pen was shone towards the pitch during Saturday's match between Argentina and Nigeria.

The perpetrator was thought to have been ejected, but FIFA have now clarified that no-one was thrown out of the stadium but that the incident was an isolated one and the matter was discussed at the post-match debrief meeting.

A statement from FIFA read: "We noticed this incident once and immediately asked the stadium security to look into the matter.

"According to the information that we have at this time, the incident only occurred once. Also at the time of writing, we have not received any comment from any of the teams."

Quaresma signs for Besiktas

Inter's Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma will play for Besiktas next season, the Turkish club announced yesterday.

The Istanbul team, who finished fourth in the Turkish league and qualified for the Europa League, did not disclose details of the deal.

The 26-year-old started his career at Sporting Lisbon, and also played for Barcelona and Porto before joining Inter in 2008.

He was loaned to Chelsea last February but was used mainly as a substitute at the English Premier League club.

Fabregas exit inevitable - Keown

Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown believes Cesc Fabregas "will certainly leave" the Gunners for Barcelona and that it is only a matter of time before the Spaniard secures his dream move.

Barca saw a €35 million offer for Fabregas rejected recently but the Catalan giants are likely to up their efforts to bring him back to the Nou Camp. And Keown, who is part of the coaching staff at Arsenal, believes the Gunners will have no choice but to let their captain go.

"Fabregas will certainly leave," Keown said. "What we are seeing at the moment are long, protracted, drawn-out negotiations between Arsenal and Barca.

"If Fabregas' body language is wrong, he's such an important figure, then he has to go. We trust in Wenger to make the right decision for the football club."

Needle does Howard a favour

US goalkeeper Tim Howard needed pain-killing injections to get him through Saturday's 1-1 draw with England.

The Everton no.1 revealed the full extent of the injury he suffered in a nasty-looking first-half collision with Emile Heskey.

"Emile caught me right in the ribs," said Howard. "I honestly didn't know whether it was broken or not. I was going to give myself five or 10 minutes because I knew once the adrenalin kicked back in I was going to be all right until half-time.

"Thankfully I managed to make it through and eventually had a pain-killing injection and some medicine."

Race to get Henry's boots to pitch

South African traffic officers whisked Thierry Henry's customs-detained boots into French hands an hour before the team's first World Cup match against Uruguay (0-0), a Sunday newspaper reported.

"It was a weird request. We've never done something like this before," provincial traffic spokeswoman Merle Lourens told the Sunday Times.

"Under the circumstances, we needed to get the game going. The guys can't play without their boots."

The traffic department was asked to fetch the French striker's boots from the Cape Town airport three hours before match start on Friday, after a courier company had been enlisted to get them to the city the previous day.

O'Neill dismisses Celtic rumours

Former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has dismissed speculation that he was in the running for a return to Parkhead.

"No, not at all, there was never any suggestion of anything like that," he told the Evening Times when asked if there had ever been any likelihood of him returning to Parkhead.

"I loved my time at Celtic, I really did. It is a special club with special supporters and I have a lot of very fond memories of the years I spent there.

"I continue to hold the club in the highest regard, but this is now all about Neil (Lennon). It is his time and he deserves to be in the position he is in."