Special guests: Fifteen of Team GB’s medallists at the London 2012 Games will be guests of the FA at England’s home World Cup qualifier with Ukraine at Wembley tomorrow. The FA have made tickets available for the Ukraine game at a reduced price of £20.12 to the volunteers who helped make the Games such a success.
Krul: Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul has been ruled out of the Netherlands’ World Cup qualifier against Hungary tomorrow with an elbow injury. Krul left the Dutch training camp yesterday, two days after he played his first competitive match for the Netherlands in Friday’s 2-0 win over Turkey.
Barry: Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry is making good progress in his recovery from a hernia operation. “I’ve had two outings with the Elite Development Squad now so things are progressing nicely,” Barry said. “I had a double hernia operation which meant an initial four weeks out, but then I tore a muscle in rehab which set me back a little bit, but I don’t think I’m too far off now.”
Africa Cup: Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou were among the goal scorers as Ivory Coast twice came from behind to beat Senegal 4-2 in an Africa Cup qualifier in Abidjan last weekend. Gervinho and Max Gradel scored the other goals to give the Ivorians a two-goal advantage ahead of next month’s return leg in the final round of preliminaries for the 2013 finals in South Africa.
Ferguson: Northern Ireland have been boosted by the return of Newcastle’s Shane Ferguson ahead of tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg. Ferguson, who can play at left-back or in midfield, missed Friday’s trip to Russia with a groin problem but has been passed fit to rejoin the squad in Belfast and took part in training yesterday.
Pompey win: Portsmouth claimed their first win of the League One season with a 3-0 success over nine-man Crawley at Broadfield Stadium yesterday. Josh Simpson and Hope Akpan both saw red after picking up two yellow cards, before teenager Ashley Harris put the visitors in front in the 71st minute. Late goals from Luke Rodgers and Izale McLeod sealed the win.
Petrov: Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov has spoken publicly for the first time since it was confirmed his acute leukaemia was in re-mission. Petrov's comments came on the day Villa masseurs, Alex Butler and Andy Smith, completed their 400-mile 'Pedal for Petrov' cycle ride in a fund-raising effort for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Re-search. “I’m fine but it’s been hard and tough so far but, thankfully, everything is going in the right direction,” Petrov said.