Football news

Charlie Adam scored what proved to be a consolation as Liverpool lost 2-1 to Roma in a pre-season friendly at Fenway Park in Boston.

US international Michael Bradley drove past half-time substitute Brad Jones from a tight angle to open the scoring after 63 minutes. Alessandro Florenzi doubled Roma’s lead with 20 minutes remaining.

Adam drove low into the bottom corner of the goal from the edge of the area with 10 minutes to go but Liverpool were unable to find an equaliser.

More foreigners than Belgians

The Belgian championships will have more foreign players than Belgians for the first time in their history when they kick off tomorrow, the daily Het Nieuwsblad reported.

The newspaper said 217 foreigners and 216 Belgians will be playing for the Pro League’s 16 teams this season as Anderlecht seek to defend the title they won for a 31st time last season.

The number of foreign players is up 4.5 per cent from last season despite the league’s efforts to keep more Belgian nationals on the rosters. The league requires that eight of every 25 players on contract be homegrown.

MLS all-stars stun Chelsea

European Champions League winners Chelsea suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to a Major League Soccer all-star team in an exhibition game on Wednesday, thanks to a late goal from Eddie Johnson.

Johnson was the hero with the winning strike in the 91st minute with Chris Wondolowski and Chris Pontius also scoring for the all-stars, and John Terry and Frank Lampard scoring for Chelsea.

Chelsea are in the midst of a four-game USA tour that featured the first soccer match at the new Yankee Stadium against Paris SG and also a final exhibition against Milan in Miami as a warm-up for the forthcoming season.

Cris wants to stay with Lyon

Lyon defender Cris is keen to stay with the club despite president Jean-Michel Aulas’ attempts to move him on.

Aulas told Le Progres earlier this month that he wants to rid OL’s changing room of “pharaohs and dinosaurs”, with veteran defender Cris one of the players he singled out.

But the 35-year-old told L’Equipe: “The president wanted to say certain things, and he said them. You cannot fight against the president.

“He knows very well what I have done for the club since I arrived. I know what he has said, but I have decided to forget about it and put it behind me so I can move forward.”

Capello signs Russia deal

Former England boss Fabio Capello (picture) signed a contract yesterday as manager of the Russian national football squad with a mission to qualify the team for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Reports had said Capello, 66, was negotiating a two-year deal with the possibility of an extension.

Capello hinted at a new approach involving international recruits to the national squad who could assume Russian citizenship in a bid to help rejuvenate the veteran side.

“One should not forget that teams like Germany and Italy have players with dual nationalities,” Capello said.

“Spain has those players as well – and they are champions.”

France’s bad boys in FFF hearing

France international footballers Samir Nasri, Yann Mvila, Hatem Ben Arfa and Jeremy Menez have been called to appear before a disciplinary commission of the French Football Federation (FFF) this morning to answer for their behaviour during Euro 2012.

The four risk being suspended for bringing French football into disrepute just two years after the fiasco of France’s 2010 World Cup campaign during which another four players Nicolas Anelka, Patrice Evra, Franck Ribery and Jeremy Toulalan received varying suspensions for their behaviour.

FFF president Noel Le Graet has, however, deemed the Euro 2012 behaviour as less serious than the player revolt in South Africa.

Henry explains Dalglish dismissal

Lifting the FA Cup would not have spared Kenny Dalglish the sack, according to Liverpool owner John W. Henry.

Dalglish, who led the Reds to victory in the League Cup last season, was dismissed four days after Liverpool finished the Premier League season in eighth place, their worst finish for 18 years.

“The FA Cup would not have made any difference had he won it,” Henry said.

“For us we were 17th over the second half of the season and Liverpool should not be in that position.

“I don’t place the blame on Kenny and assistant Steve Clarke but I think it was obvious to every fan that something was wrong and something needed to be done.”