Football news

Blackburn manager Steve Kean believes his team are capable of mounting a successful League Cup run after they downed Newcastle to reach the quarter-finals.

The Rovers boss, who has faced mounting calls to resign this season with Blackburn rooted to the bottom of the Premier League standings, insists his team are capable of going all the way to Wembley.

“Why not – and I said that to the players before the game,” Kean said after watching his side beat Newcastle 4-3 in extra-time.

“There’s teams that have fancied it in the competition in years gone by and prospered and we fancy it. It also creates competition for places in the team in the league and we will give it a good go.”

Henry vs Beckham in play-offs

Joel Lindpere scored in the 61st minute and Thierry Henry added a stoppage-time goal to give the New York Red Bulls a 2-0 victory over Dallas on Wednesday to open the Major League Soccer play-offs.

The victory puts New York into a Western Conference semi-final against regular-season champions Los Angeles, matching the league’s best-known players in Galaxy’s English midfielder David Beckham and Frenchman Henry.

New York will play host to the Galaxy on Sunday with the second leg of the series at Los Angeles on November 3.

Swans’ Richards earns new contract

Highly-rated Swansea defender Jazz Richards has signed a new 18-month contract at the Liberty Stadium.

The Wales Under-21 inter-national recently made his Premier League debut as a substitute in the 3-1 defeat at Norwich, having impressed when called upon during last season’s promotion campaign.

The 20-year-old told the club website: “I am delighted to have agreed a new contract. I’ve really enjoyed being part of the squad and I feel I am developing all the time.

“It was always my dream to play for my home town club, so you can imagine what playing for the club in the Premier League means.”

Villa leap to Hutton’s defence

Aston Villa have defended full-back Alan Hutton after the strong criticism of him by West Brom boss Roy Hodgson.

Hodgson was incensed by Hutton’s challenge on Baggies striker Shane Long, who will be sidelined for six weeks with a knee injury, during the game at Villa Park at the weekend.

But Villa assistant manager Peter Grant insists Hutton is not a dirty player.

Grant said: “I know what Alan has been painted as but he’s not that type of player. That’s been proven over the years.

“People haven’t said in the past that Alan is aggressive, goes over the ball and is a dirty full-back.”

Dalglish full of praise for Suarez

Luis Suarez again left manager Kenny Dalglish speechless as he fired Liverpool into the quarter-finals of the League Cup with a 2-1 victory at Stoke.

With the Reds trailing to a Kenwyne Jones header just before half-time, Suarez nutmegged Ryan Shotton and then curled a beauty into the corner in the 54th minute before heading the winner five minutes from time.

And Dalglish said of Suarez: “I ran out of words to describe him after a week when he came to our place. It was a fantastic goal but I don’t think anyone would have expected him to score with a tap-in.

“He had that many chances and if he’d taken one before it might have been a wee bit more comfortable for us but it was worth waiting for.”

Racism victims urged to speak out

Lord Ouseley, chairman of the anti-racism group Kick it Out, has told any player, including Anton Ferdinand, to speak out if they feel they have been racially abused.

QPR defender Ferdinand has been in the news over Chelsea captain John Terry’s alleged racial slur against him on Sunday, and the Football Association, for whom Lord Ouseley serves as a council member, are investigating.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Ouseley said: “I have heard nothing from Anton Ferdinand.

“I hope players when they make complaints (and then keep quiet) can see they are actually letting down all the people who made sacrifices in the past to get us to the position we have got to now.”

Putin opposed Neuer sale

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted to block Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s switch from Schalke 04 to Bavarian giants Bayern Munich, according to Royal Blues chairman Clemens Toennies.

Neuer, 25, joined Bayern from Schalke in July for a reported fee of €22 million. The deal was agreed by the two clubs in April, but Putin, who is heavily linked to Schalke’s main sponsor, Russian gas company Gazprom, appr-oached Schalke about doing everything possible to make Neuer stay.

“He (Putin) was absolutely besotted with Manuel and is a huge fan of his,” Schalke’s Toennies told German magazine Sport-Bild.

“He asked me to do everything we could to keep Manuel.”