Brazil will meet South American rivals Chile in April in a warm-up friendly for the Confederations Cup to be staged by the 2014 World Cup hosts in June.
The April 24 friendly will be played at the newly-refurbished Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, one of six venues for the June 15-30 tournament that acts as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup finals a year later.
The Chile match will be Brazil’s fourth in 2013 after their 2-1 defeat by England at Wembley earlier this month when Luiz Felipe Scolari began his second spell as national coach. They will also play Italy in Geneva on March 21 and Russia in London four days later.
Alves’s plea
Barcelona defender Dani Alves has told Brazil team-mate Neymar to join him at the Nou Camp.
The 21-year-old Neymar has been strongly linked with Barca as Europe’s leading clubs continue to track the Santos forward.
Some reports even suggest the deal is done, but that has been denied and so Alves has continued his lobbying campaign.
“I’ve been at it for ages,” he said.
“When the rumours of him making a move to Europe started I told him he should come to Barcelona. It’s more than a club... it’s got values that virtually no other club has.”
Terry wants new Lampard deal
Chelsea captain John Terry has waded into the debate over Frank Lampard’s future, revealing the squad are desperate for the England midfielder to remain at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea fans appear united in their desire to see Lampard remain on the club’s books after his existing deal expires and Terry was unambiguous about his own views as club captain.
“Frank has so much more to give and an inspiration to everyone at the club,” Terry said.
“He has got years ahead of him and we all hope they will be spent at Chelsea. We all hope he stays, but if not he has certainly got years ahead of him. I am not even going to entertain the idea of him playing for another club.”
Harris fails in fresh Pompey bid
Football financier Keith Harris’s latest attempt to take over Ports-mouth ended in failure after the Football League dismissed his revised offer for the stricken League One club.
Harris’s new bid involved a plan to give fans a free 15 per cent stake in the club. The League rejected that offer and reiterated its position that Pompey will be expelled from the competition if the bid by the Pompey Supporters’ Trust – administrator PKF’s preferred bidder – is not successful.
The Trust expect to move a step closer to acquiring the club tomorrow when a court hearing will set a final date for the valuation of Fratton Park to be heard.
Rossi extends Sampdoria deal
The spate of positive performances by Sampdoria since Delio Rossi took over from Ciro Ferrara, have convinced the club bosses to extend the new coach’s contract beyond next June and until 2015.
Rossi was engaged by Sampdoria in December and since then the Blucerchiati managed 12 points from eight games, in-cluding wins over Juventus and Roma, to move away from the Serie A drop zone.
Reports yesterday said Rossi has already agreed the terms of his new contract which is likely to be signed later on this week.
Heynckes coy about his future
Jupp Heynckes has hinted he may not retire at the end of the season amid interest from Schalke.
The Bayern Munich coach will walk away in the summer with former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola to take over at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern and Heynckes denied he was being replaced when Guardiola’s deal was announced, on January 16, instead claiming the 67-year-old was ready to call time on his career.
But Heynckes said: “I do realise there is some rumour about that. I can’t do anything about the rumours. I am a big-name manager and my name will come up.
“I will see about it at the end of the season.”
Iachini revels in Siena’s shock win
Siena coach Giuseppe Iachini had nothing but praise for his players after they stunned high-flying Lazio 3-0 late Monday.
The Tuscan club had started the day at the foot of the Serie A table, but Innocent Emeghara’s brace and a further strike from Alessandro Rosina capped a superb performance against a Lazio team challenging for a Champions League place.
The win saw Siena move to within four points of safety.
“The guys gave a great performance, you have to play well to beat Lazio,” Iachini said.
“We played the game in the right way and are reaping the rewards of the great work.”