Football news

Striker Patrick Helmes is hoping to win a place in Germany coach Joachim Loew’s starting line-up for next month Euro 2012 qualifiers after putting his injury nightmares behind him with a hat-trick.

Leverkusen’s Helmes, 26, scored a hat-trick against Rosenberg in his side’s 4-0 win on Thursday in the Europa League. After a cruciate knee ligament injury cost him a World Cup place, he is hoping to feature in next month’s Euro 2012 qualifiers.

“Now it seems that my tough year is behind me and the sun can shine on me again,” Helmes told Bild after his hat-trick.

“The national team is a topic for me, but in the meantime, I want to score a few more goals for Leverkusen in the next few weeks.”

Moore faces trial for ‘drunken brawl’

Craig Moore, former captain of the Australian national team, is to go on trial in Dubai today over an alleged drunken brawl with police, the Gulf News reported.

Moore, 34, was arrested on Wednesday for “an alleged drunken altercation with police”, the newspaper said yesterday, without giving a source.

He was released on bail on Friday and ordered to appear in court, it added, without providing further details.

The Australian foreign ministry was quoted as saying consular officials had spoken to Moore on Thursday and that he was well.

Henry apologises for injuring goalie

Thierry Henry has apologised for an incident during a play stoppage in a Major League Soccer game that injured the goalkeeper of FC Dallas.

New York Red Bulls striker Henry apologised for injuring Kevin Hartman’s knee by kicking the ball in the Dallas’ box during the Red Bulls 2-2 tie on Thursday.

Hartman suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament and is expected to miss at least the next Dallas game.

“I went to apologise because I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Henry said. “A pure accident. I told him I was sorry. He accepted it. It was one of those stupid things.”

Henry was not penalised by the referee who had already given him one yellow card earlier in the game.

Hughes keen to keep Schwarzer

Fulham manager Mark Hughes is convinced a new deal will help persuade Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to stay at Craven Cottage.

Schwarzer was linked with a four-million pound move to Arsenal in the summer and Hughes knows that once the transfer window reopens in January, the 38-year-old World Cup keeper will once again be a target.

“If we could tie Mark down to a longer contract that would be the ideal for me,” said Hughes.

“It might not be an option open to us as he is well within his rights to look at his options in January.

“I want him to stay and would be more comfortable and think that I have a chance of winning if Mark was playing.”

New Blues deal for McLeish

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has signed a new three-year contract which ties him to St Andrew’s until 2013.

McLeish joined Birmingham in November, 2007, and guided the club to ninth at the end of last season – their highest finish in 51 years.

A statement on the club website said: “Club president Carson Yeung has rewarded that success with a new improved deal for McLeish, after giving the green light for him to bring in (players) Ben Foster, Nikola Zigic, Enric Valles, Matt Derbyshire, Alexander Hleb, Martin Jiranek and Jean Beausejour in the summer transfer window.

“That followed the acquisitions of Craig Gardner and Michel in January.”

Barry hits out at Silva critics

Gareth Barry believes the sniping at David Silva has been very unfair.

Silva joined Manchester City with a big reputation from his time at Valencia that was only enhanced by Spain’s World Cup triumph in South Africa this summer.

Yet success with the national team came at a price, extending his summer break to the beginning of August, then necessitating draining trips to both Mexico and Argentina.

Little wonder the 24-year-old had been unable to show his true form until Thursday night’s 2-0 Europa League triumph over Salzburg.

“Any criticism of David is unfair because we all know the quality he has,” said Barry. “He was always going to take time to settle.

“Against Salzburg he only showed small glimpses of what he can do. We know he will get better.”

Desailly hoping to land Ghana job

Former France captain Marcel Desailly appears confident he will be appointed Ghana coach but has stressed no deal has yet been done.

Milovan Rajevac stepped down from the role earlier this month after leading the Black Stars to the quarter-finals of the World Cup .

“Nothing is done. All parties seem okay on my project, from the minister to the president of the federation, but we must wait,” Desailly, who was born in the Ghanaian capital Accra but opted to play international football for Les Bleus, told L’Equipe.

“I’m surrounded by a team that includes English speakers, because I do not want to make some errors from the past.

“The Ghana team has a very good structure. I’m available. We must now talk about money and how exactly it would work.”