Angola-Mali open Nations Cup

Angola  v  Mali

Stadium: Estadio dos Coqueiros

Match Time: January 10, 2010, 19:00 UK

Angola coach Manuel Jose and his Mali counterpart Stephen Keshi will be keen to shift focus back to the football itself when they kick-off the African Nations Cup in Luanda.

The tournament opener in the Angolan capital has been overshadowed by events in the past 24 hours which saw the Togo team bus come under machine gun attack having just crossed the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the province of Cabinda.

The driver of the bus was killed, while two players, the assistant coach and a press officer were amongst the injured in the attack.

While calls have been growing for the competition to be called off, the two teams involved in the first game will be anxious to get things under way on the pitch.

It has been a memorable five-year period for Angola, who followed up their surprise qualification for the 2006 World Cup in Germany by reaching the quarter-final in the African Nations Cup two years ago in Ghana.

But their failure to progress to the final round of qualifying for the global showpiece in South Africa, led to the departure of former coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves and the appointment of Jose last year.

The Portuguese boss, one of the greatest ever coaches in African football following his exploits with Egyptian giants Al-Ahly, is confident Angola can blossom in the continental showpiece.

"We have a solid and united team which is growing game by game,'' he said. "The team has improved so much since June.

"It's a completely different team.''

Jose may well be missing two key players for the opening match at the Estadio 11 de Novembro - striker Flavio Amado and Stelvio Rosa da Cruz, who are both injured.

Jose added: "It is my big concern that Flavio recovers and is available to play against Mali. He, together with Stelvio, are important to our starting line-up because we don't have any stars in our team and need everyone to be fit.''

The Malians, dumped out in the first round two years ago, will be eager to make amends and their coach Keshi believes they can go all the way.

He said: "We are going to Angola to prove our mettle and all things being equal we shall go far.

"My only fear now is injury worries, otherwise we are set. I can beat my chest and say we can play in the final.''

The Eagles, whose squad includes several high profile players like Fredi Kanoute, Seydou Keita, Mahamadou Diarra, have just one injury concern.

It is over the fitness of Keita - the Barcelona forward has a thigh problem - but the rest of the squad are all available.

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Serie A : Juventus v AC Milan: Preview

Juventus goalkeeper Alex Manninger insists there is still time for the Bianconeri to catch Inter Milan in the Serie A title race.

Ciro Ferrara's side welcome AC Milan to the Stadio Olimpico tomorrow lying one point behind their opponents and nine adrift of the league leaders.

Their 2-1 win at Parma in midweek eased the pressure on the coach after Juve ended 2009 with successive defeats to Bari and Catania, but Manninger, who has been deputising for Gianluigi Buffon while the Italy international is out with a knee injury, knows they cannot afford any more slip-ups if they are to challenge Inter.

"There are 20 possibilities (to catch Inter) because that is the number of matches left,'' he said on the Juventus Channel.

"We will try to win them all, knowing that we cannot afford more bad moves. In every match we will need maximum concentration to get the right result.''

The Austrian added: "We needed a different start (to 2010) because at Juventus one cannot accept three consecutive defeats.

"Not even we knew why everything was going so wrong. In Bari we played well and yet we lost. Against Catania we did quite well with a number of attempts on goal but three minutes from full-time they scored to make it 1-2.

"Anyway we needed the victory (over Parma) for the morale.''

Manninger is happy to get the chance to impress in the absence of Buffon.

"Substituting Gigi is my job and I am happy to be able to contribute when he isn't available. Last year I played quite a few matches and I was happy, because it was not part of my plans to join Juventus to be a spectator,'' he added.

"This year I had to wait a bit longer to play and now I am happy to do so.''

Milan returned after the winter break with a thumping 5-2 win over Genoa at the San Siro, which could have been even greater had Ronaldinho scored both, rather than just one, of his penalties.

Current form suggests they, and not Juve, look the likely challengers to Inter.

But Manninger said: "Milan are doing well, but in the last few weeks we have found our determination again and I think this could be seen in Parma.''

Milan captain Massimo Ambrosini has urged his team-mates to keep up the good work following their convincing triumph on Wednesday.

"The win against Genoa was very important considering that Inter and Juve won their respective games,'' said Ambrosini, who won two penalties in the victory.

"But there is still a long way to go, and we need to continue like this.

"On Sunday we face a big game and we must be fully focused in order to come away with three points.''

Juventus will be without David Trezeguet, who has an ankle injury, and defender Martin Caceres, who is suspended following his sending off against Parma.

Fabio Cannavaro, though, who missed that game with a ban, will return.

Milan are set to be without injured trio Clarence Seedorf, Gianluca Zambrotta and Alexandre Pato but David Beckham is available.
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Premier league: Birmingham 1 - 1 Manchester United (video)

Birmingham 1 - 1 Manchester United

Blues run continues

Manchester United needed a controversial own goal from Birmingham defender Scott Dann to salvage a point at St. Andrews as they missed out on the chance to replace Chelsea as Premier League leaders.
Blues were incensed referee Mark Clattenburg allowed the equaliser to stand after 63 minutes, cancelling out Cameron Jerome's first-half opener, and he consulted with one of his assistants before awarding the goal.

The Red Devils ended with 10 men after midfielder Darren Fletcher was sent off in the closing stages for a second bookable offence.

The draw enabled Blues to make club history in achieving their longest ever unbeaten top flight run of 12 games - a run stretching back to October.

Sir Alex Ferguson had demanded a response after the FA Cup reversal against Leeds and made seven changes to his starting line-up.

He could not have complained about the commitment and determination of his players and they completely dominated the opening 45 minutes and yet trailed to Birmingham's only shot on goal from Jerome.

But Birmingham showed the tenacity and fighting spirit which has been their trademark during an 11-game unbeaten run leading into this fixture.

And in the second half they posed more of a threat via the pacey Christian Benitez and United's Tomasz Kuszczak was the busier of the two keepers.

United dominated possession from the first whistle and City midfielder Barry Ferguson blocked a shot from Fletcher at the expense of a corner.

Birmingham were closing down in typical fashion but they were guilty of some poor distribution in the early stages.

Fletcher teed up Paul Scholes in space 20 yards out and it needed James McFadden to get in an important block at the expense of a corner.

Wayne Rooney got the better of Birmingham skipper Stephen Carr, who misjudged a pass down the line from Patrice Evra, and it needed McFadden to get in a vital block at the far post to keep out Luis Antonio Valencia's shot.

City keeper Joe Hart was tested for the first time after 24 minutes when he reacted quickly to block a shot from Rooney who had been found in space by Valencia.

It was one-way traffic towards the home goal and Rooney headed wide from a Fletcher centre.

McFadden brought down Scholes 25 yards out but Valencia's free-kick was charged down by Lee Bowyer.

Park Ji-Sung had an opportunity when running onto a Fletcher through-ball but he lost his balance when under pressure from Carr.

United appealed in vain for a penalty after claiming Carr had handled a pile-driver from Michael Carrick.

It was non-stop attacking from United and Dann threw his body in the way of another shot from Carrick.

But after 39 minutes Birmingham stunned United by taking the lead in their first worthwhile attack from Jerome.

The former Cardiff player forced a corner when his shot was blocked by Scholes.

United failed to deal with McFadden's centre, Bowyer headed the ball back across goal and it bounced off Johnny Evans to Jerome, who applied the finishing touch for his fifth goal of the campaign.

Birmingham then squandered a great chance to double their lead.

They found themselves in a two against one situation on the counter-attack but Benitez lost control and allowed Carrick to make a vital tackle when Jerome would have had a clear run on goal.

Fletcher became the first player to be yellow-carded after 44 minutes for a crude challenge on Bowyer.

Benitez found himself in a promising position in the United box at the start of the second half but was dispossessed by Wes Brown.

But the Ecuador international forced a low save out of Kuszczak after United had failed to fully clear a Sebastian Larsson corner.

United finally drew level after 63 minutes through an own goal from Dann.

The central defender was under pressure from Park when he turned a low centre from Evra past Hart.

Park was immediately substituted and replaced by Ryan Giggs.

Birmingham tried to retaliate and Benitez turned away from Evans and had a fierce shot beaten out by Kuszczak.

Carr, who has just returned from suspension, collected his sixth booking of the season for bringing down Evra but Rooney's free-kick was deflected wide.

Larsson was booked for dissent after feeling he should have been awarded a free-kick following a challenge by Evra.

Hart held onto a low Valencia drive and Scholes fired over the bar as United searched for the winner.

But their hopes were ended when Fletcher was sent off for a second bookable offence after 84 minutes for a foul on Jerome.

Premier league: Arsenal 2 - 2 Everton (video)

Rosicky rescues Gunners

Substitute Tomas Rosicky snatched a crucial point for Premier League title chasers Arsenal as they drew 2-2 against a battling Everton side at a snowy Emirates Stadium.

Leon Osman headed the visitors into a deserved lead after 12 minutes. However, the midfielder then deflected Denilson's shot past Tim Howard as the Gunners levelled before the break.

Steven Pienaar's breakaway goal looked to have won it with eight minutes to go, only for Rosicky to grab a crucial strike in added time as Arsenal cut the deficit on leaders Chelsea down to three points.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had called on his team to maintain the momentum which has dragged them right back into the title rave with five wins from six but it was Everton who made the better start.

Louis Saha had got ahead of the defence on the right but blasted over.

It was no surprise when the visitors took the lead as Osman headed in a corner from Landon Donovan, the United States international making his debut after a loan move from Los Angeles Galaxy.

Wenger's youngsters faced another test of character and looked for an immediate response. However, Everton dropped men back to crowd midfield.

Arsenal were, though, level after 28 minutes. Denilson charged down a clearance and the ball fell to Andrey Arshavin on the edge of the penalty area.

The Russian fed Eduardo, who touched a pass back to the Brazilian, and his low strike took a wicked deflection off Osman to wrong-foot Howard.

Despite getting themselves back into the match, Arsenal looked anything but comfortable when defending around their own penalty area.

Manuel Almunia failed to collect a deep cross, which Tim Cahill almost headed in.

Everton captain Phil Neville then chipped his angled effort onto the roof of the net.

The conditions worsened as the second half started.

Donovan weaved his way into the Arsenal penalty area and was unfortunate to see a curling shot drift wide.

As the hour mark approached, the weather - which caused the postponement of the midweek match here against Bolton - showed no signs of improvement.

Arshavin cut into the right side of the Everton box and drew Howard, but the Everton keeper did well to recover to claw the ball away.

Saha latched onto a stray pass and charged goalwards, before his 20-yard shot was deflected behind.

Bacary Sagna's deep cross from the right was just too far ahead of both Rosicky - on for Aaron Ramsey - and Arshavin, arriving at the far post.

Armand Traore flashed a left-wing cross through the six-yard box, before Denilson struck a 20-yard effort over.

Both teams made further changes with 15 minutes left as Eduardo was replaced by Carlos Vela and Everton sent James Vaughan on for Saha.

Abou Diaby hacked clear after Cahill broke into the left side of the Arsenal box before Arshavin did the same at the other end, with his shot blocked at the near post.

Everton, though, snatched what looked to be a late winner when Pienaar raced onto a pass from Cahill to chip Almunia with eight minutes left.

Vaughan could have made the game safe when clean through, but this time Almunia saved.

Denilson, just returned from a back problem, had to be taken off on a stretcher after collapsing in the build up to the Everton attack. Fran Merida came on.

Arsenal threw plenty forward during the closing stages and were rewarded in stoppage time when Rosicky smashed home a close-range shot which deflected off Lucas Neill.

Live football : Internazionale v Siena live

Internazionale  v  Siena

Stadium: Giuseppe Meazza

Match Time: January 9, 2010, 19:45 UK