'Dirty terrorist': Italy defender Marco Materazzi yesterday denied a report that he had called Zinedine Zidane a "dirty terrorist" seconds before the French captain head-butted him in Sunday's World Cup final. "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," Materazzi said. "The whole world saw what happened live on TV," he added. The Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism had earlier quoted well informed sources as saying Materazzi had apparently used the phrase.
Van Nistelrooy: Bayern Munich are ready to speak to Manchester United about signing Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. "The player wants to come to us. We know that," club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a newspaper interview yesterday. Van Nistelrooy stormed out of the club after being omitted from United's final Premier League game last season having spent most of the latter part of the campaign on the bench.
Ricksen: Rangers have banned Dutch defender Fernando Ricksen from their tour of South Africa following an incident on the flight out. The club's official web site revealed Ricksen had been censured by new French manager Paul Le Guen but it gave no reasons. The former Dutch international was sent home by the Glasgow club.
Klinsmann car: The bidding price for a 39-year-old Volkswagen Beetle that once belonged to Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann has plunged after the seller introduced strict controls to exclude non-genuine bids. The top bidding price for the 1967 VW convertible fell from a quoted 300,050 euros on Saturday to 5,605 euros yesterday ahead of today's close of bidding after interested parties were required to register and prove they were serious.
Ghana: World Cup finalists Ghana will play West African rivals Nigeria in a friendly in London on August 15, the Ghana FA said. The match will be the first for Ghana after their second round elimination by Brazil in the World Cup finals last month. Nigeria have not played since the African Nations Cup finals in Egypt, where they finished third.
Real Madrid: Real Madrid have cancelled a pre-season exhibition match in Chile after new coach Fabio Capello opposed the plan. Real were scheduled to play matches in both Chile and the US in August as part of their preparations for next season. "When Capello heard about the tour, he thought it was madness to travel from the US to Chile so we have called it off. Instead we will play two games in America," president Ramon Calderon said.