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MILAN (AP)—Italy coach Cesare Prandelli believes the 2012 European Championship qualifier against Estonia on Friday is still important despite his team being five points clear of its nearest group rival.

Italy has won four of five qualifiers and drawn the other match to lead Group C. Slovenia and Serbia are joint second after having both played a game more.

“It is the most difficult match I have had since taking over,” Prandelli said Monday. “It is a decisive game against Estonia. I want a squad that will give their all because this game is fundamental (to qualifying), and traditionally we haven’t always played our best in June and September.”

Prandelli has selected a 25-man squad for fitness testing ahead of the match and the friendly on Tuesday against Ireland in Liege.

Mario Balotelli and Antonio Cassano return to the squad after ending the season on high notes. Balotelli won the FA Cup with Manchester City, while Cassano was part of the squad that won AC Milan’s first Serie A title since 2004.

“They haven’t played much, though oddly enough that means they are likely to do better in the physical tests than the others,” Prandelli said. “I said the same thing to Balotelli as I’ve just said to you. He seemed to understand and he isn’t happy with his season, despite finishing with a win in a final.

“Cassano must knuckle down to work in Milan and find his place in the team. Those who don’t play much, generally, lose their form.”

One player not back in the squad is Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi, who violated Prandelli’s code of conduct by ending the season serving a three-match ban for hitting an opponent.

He also missed the wins over Slovenia and Ukraine in March as he was banned by UEFA for three games for elbowing Shakhtar Donetsk captain Dario Srna in the face during a Champions League match.

When he replaced Marcello Lippi after Italy’s first-round elimination from the World Cup, Prandelli instituted new rules whereby national team players are expected to meet high behavioral standards even with their clubs.

“De Rossi isn’t out of the squad for technical reasons and I am very sorry about that,” Prandelli said. “He needs to find his form and consistency that he appears to have lost over the last few months.

“I haven’t closed the door on him, but certain things on the pitch aren’t acceptable and I have said that from the start.”

Italy’s next qualifier is at the Faeroe Islands on Sept. 2.

Labels: coach, Estonia, important, Italy, qualifier, still

By Simon Evans

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry says he cannot get the club out of his system and would relish a return to north London.

Henry, now playing in Major League Soccer (MLS) with the New York Red Bulls, is Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer with 226 goals but left the club for Barcelona in 2007 and moved to the U.S. after three seasons in Spain.

“I love the club. Unfortunately we know I had to leave the club, for reasons I have explained many times, but although I left Arsenal you never really leave Arsenal,” he told Reuters in an interview.

“Whenever I go back I feel like I have gone home, it’s a big family and I became a fan of the club.

“I knew what it was like to beat Manchester United, I knew what it meant to the fans when we were playing against Tottenham, I knew all that, you don’t get that from one or two years, you need to live and breathe Arsenal to understand that.”

Henry trained with Arsenal, who lost to Birmingham City in Sunday’s League Cup final, during the U.S. off-season in January and maintains a close friendship with manager Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal were expected to win a first trophy since 2005 on Sunday, only to stumble against Birmingham, but Henry says Wenger would be a tough act to follow when the Frenchman, the club’s manager since 1996, eventually moves on.

However, he would like his name to be in the frame.

“It goes without saying, I would love to go back there. I hope one day I can go back, I love that club and I just want to give as much as possible to this club, after what that club gave me,” Henry, who missed Arsenal’s FA Cup win over Manchester United six years ago because of injury, said.

“I know that the day Arsene leaves is going to be a difficult one, I don’t know who can replace him. That is going to be hard. Not only the winning part of it but what he was and what he is for the club and the way he transformed the club.

“Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira amd Tony Adams were all part of it and I am sure if you ask them if they would like to come back and do something with the club they would all tell you yes. But if one day, they want me, I have joked if I go back to be the kit man or the water boy, I don’t mind, I just want to be back one day. When I don’t know— I just want to be back.”

ATTACKING MENTALITY

While the silverware has dried up, Henry said Wenger’s legacy would be about stylish football as much as trophies.

“If you talk to any Arsenal fan, or even non-Arsenal fan, they will tell you they will watch Arsenal because they know they are going to see a football game,” he said. “No disrespect to other clubs but they will enjoy watching the game.

“That is what Johan Cruyff did for Barcelona too—he brought that attacking mentality, that Dutch way, playing with wingers, playing the ball on the ground and Arsene did the same.

“To do that you have also to give credit to the club because you need your manager to be there for a long time, you can’t have a manager for five years and expect him to put his identity on the club.

“Arsene did that, he won but the club was also intelligent enough to see what he was doing and give him time to build something and now everybody talks about the ‘Arsenal way’ of playing the game and that is really because of him.”

One player who has impressed Henry with his ability to play that way this season is 19-year-old midfielder Jack Wilshere.

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised because I knew the guy was very talented but I will say that he looks more mature than I thought he would look at this stage,” Henry said.

“He is good on the ball and he isn’t scared to put his foot in. He has great vision on the ball, he is an Arsenal player — that means, he wants to play with short passes, great vision. What a great thing for some of the guys in England that he is English—that is a great boost for them.”

(Editing by Martyn Herman; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Arsenal, Family, Henry, return, Reuters, still, yearns

The Perth side can realistically finish in the top six this season.

"We're on a budget similar to St Mirren and Hamilton," McInnes said. "Of course, we want top six, but there's got to be a realism.

"We're up against a lot of big clubs - Hibs, Dundee United, Motherwell, Aberdeen - to try and get into that next bracket."

With bottom club Hamilton 16 points behind St Johnstone, McInnes still believes his side need to consolidate their SPL status.

"The players will give everything they can to get as many points as we can to try and get there, but there's a few points to get, I feel, to make sure the SPL safety's there and I don't make any apologies for that.

"We need to work towards it - that's our first target."

Of the game against United, McInnes admitted the McDiarmid Park pitch made it difficult for either side to find fluency.

"It was a frustrating night for the players, both sets of players. It was difficult to get any pace or tempo on the surface," McInnes told BBC Scotland.

"There's no point in bleating and moaning about it.

"We're well aware of the difficulties of our pitch. We want nothing more to have a good surface."

McInnes says the Perth club aim to replace the pitch at the end of the season.

"The chairman's already indicated that, as soon as we can, towards the end of the season, the last game, we'll be ripping this pitch up and ready to start the work," McInnes said.

"We want to take pride in our surface. A lot of surfaces are suffering because the winter has run from the first real bad snap we had in the first week in November. We're now almost into March and we're still getting difficult conditions.

"The pitch has suffered and it's not got good enough drainage to try and cope with that and it's brought everything to a head.

McInnes was pleased with his side's defensive prowess against a United team he rates highly.

"The two teams showed each other a lot of respect," he said. "It's a good point. We wanted all three.

"The one area where we let ourselves down was that we had plenty of traffic in and around their box through set plays and the like and I don't think we took full advantage of it. Murray Davidson's had a good chance that's just gone by the post.

"I never felt we were going to lose a goal and that's a great feeling to have as a manager.

"The other side of it was, you want to make sure you try and carry more of a threat and I don't think either side showed enough quality in the last wee bit. But, as I say, I think there are factors in that."

Labels: Johnstone, Manager, McInnesaposs, priority, Sport, still, Survival

The 32-year-old has taken over the captaincy during Tests but has had to wait until his 67th cap to have the honour from the start.

Tindall had been vying with Harlequins No8 Nick Easter for the job after regular skipper Lewis Moody was ruled out of the first three matches of the championship with a knee injury.

Although Martin Johnson today gave Tindall the nod for the Millennium Stadium he expects Easter to marshal the pack and inexperienced scrum-half Ben Youngs.

"Nick will do a good job leading the forwards, he's closer in to the play there and will give us direction with Ben and Toby [Flood] at 10," said the team manager. "Mike's a good captain, very experienced, but if he's not there we've got Nick, Louis Deacon, who's had a real good week as well - it's good to have him back and in good form."

Leicester lock Deacon has come in for Courtney Lawes, who has a knee injury, and is one of three changes to the side defeated 21-11 by South Africa in November.

The others are at flanker with Moody's open-side slot going to Stade Francais' James Haskell. Hendre Fourie had been earmarked for the No7 role but the Leeds man has been troubled by a calf injury in recent weeks.

Tom Wood will win his first cap after being handed the No6 shirt ahead of the experienced Joe Worsley. The 24-year-old was not in the original 33-man squad but has been promoted from the Saxons straight into the XV because he offers a genuine line-out option, something England lack with the absence of Tom Croft, who broke his shoulder against the Springboks.

Wood is in his first year with Heineken Cup quarter-finalists Northampton after three seasons at Worcester.

Johnson said: "Would Tom have got there with all the guys fit? He probably wouldn't, but he's worth a look and worth his place. The way he's playing, most importantly, with his club, is pretty impressive.

"It's not great to have guys injured but great to get Tom on the field in a big-time Test match. He's 24, so he's not in his first year of it, he's got a bit of experience.

"Tom's good in the breakdown, even though he's an aerial player, Louis is also a good all-round player, very good at the breakdown and very good organisationally in the line-out, so I think we're fine. We've got good carrying ability in that back five as well with James coming in, all those back-row guys are slightly different and it is a good combination we've got."

In a move that highlights England's tactics, the bench includes Bath back Matt Banahan, who will cover centre, wing and full-back and will be expected to bring his highly muscular play to the part at some point in Cardiff.

Dylan Hartley is at hooker which puts him in the eye of a potential storm as he has been singled out for criticism by Wales coach Warren Gatland after incidents during Northampton's recent match with Cardiff Blues. Jonny Wilkinson, injured during the autumn Tests, is recalled to the bench where he joins Simon Shaw, Steve Thompson and Worsley, giving Johnson four World Cup winners to call upon.

Talk of this autumn's World Cup has featured prominently in the build-up to the game but Johnson is refusing to look too far ahead.

He said: "Regardless of what's happening later in the year - we all know about that - this is still a big game."

Gatland also announced his match-squad today and has gone for James Hook at full-back rather than fellow Lion Lee Byrne, who features among the replacements.

Gatland has paired Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies together in midfield, with Scarlets wing Morgan Stoddart wearing the No14 shirt that was destined for Leigh Halfpenny until he injured his ankle in training two days ago.

As expected, Ospreys props Paul James and Craig Mitchell fill the vacancies created by injured Lions Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones, while London Wasps' Andy Powell packs down at No8.

Labels: captaincy, Easter, fight, London, still, Tindall

Sebastian Vettel continued to occupy the position at the top of the times in Valencia as the second day of pre-season testing hit its half-way mark on Wednesday.

Renault’s Robert Kubica and Force India’s Paul di Resta had both had spells at the top of the times on an initially very chilly morning in eastern Spain, before Vettel – spending his second day in the new Red Bull RB7 – went fastest in the day’s second hour on his eighth hot lap.

His best time of 1m13.614s was already just over a tenth of a second faster than his benchmark time from the first day, and by 1pm the world champion had chalked up 40 laps to add to the 93 trouble-free ones he completed on Tuesday.

Fernando Alonso was up in second in the new Ferrari, five tenths of a second back after 38 laps, with di Resta third in the 2010 Force India and Kubica ending his first morning in the innovative Renault R31 fourth, with 40 laps.

Lewis Hamilton is making his sole appearance of the week on Wednesday to get his first taste of the Pirelli tyres to be used this year, after McLaren decided not to use its race drivers in the post-season Abu Dhabi tyre test last November.

After a lengthy gap after a early installation lap, the 2008 champion eased himself back into driving duties and by lunchtime had completed 26 laps and occupied fifth place.

Mercedes’s opening day programme for the W02 had been restricted by a hydraulics problem during Nico Rosberg’s morning run on Tuesday so the German team and driver would have been pleased to have racked up 34 laps by 1pm on day two.

The team was also trying out the German manufacturer's renowned KERS system for the first time, having not used it on the opening day while it carried out other checks.

Team Lotus, meanwhile, was debuting its new T128 and, while Heikki Kovalainen had failed to post a lap time by lunchtime, the team’s Twitter updates suggested early work was going well, the Finn having done five exploratory laps during a programme of system checks and car alterations.

There had been two red flags by 1pm, the first of which was caused after half an hour by Rubens Barrichello, whose new Williams FW33 stopped out on track with an electrical problem.

13.30 update: Alonso has since jumped ahead of Vettel at the head of the times, the Spaniard’s new benchmark standing at 1m13.469s.

Valencia test day two times @ 13.00 

* 2010 car

Labels: clear, ITVcom, Lunchtime, still, update, Vettel

Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik is not downtrodden by the 0-0 draw with Villarreal in the first-leg of their Europa League tie and believes qualification to the last 16 is still up for grabs.

The 23-year-old came on a substitute in the scoreless stalemate at the Stadio San Paolo on Thursday evening, as the Yellow Submarine took a fairly cautious approach.

"Villarreal defended very well, it was difficult to create chances," admitted the Slovakian international to CalcioNapoli24.it.

"I entered the match in progress, but there were no spaces to exploit. That tied us down a bit, but qualification [to the next round] is still open."

The second-leg takes place on February 24 at El Madrigal. Prior to that, Napoli will face Catania in Serie A action on Sunday night.

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Labels: clash, Europa, Goalcom, Hamsik, league, Marek, Napoli, Qualify, still, Villarreal

Fernando Torres says Liverpool caught Chelsea by surprise on his debut yesterday but remains confident that his new employers will have a say in the Premier League title race.

The £50m striker's much-hyped first appearance for Chelsea failed to live up to expectations at Stamford Bridge and he was replaced after 66 minutes as Liverpool went on to win 1-0 through a goal from Raul Meireles.

"It was very difficult, Liverpool played a good game, with three at the back. We were not expecting that and maybe they took advantage," Torres told Chelsea TV.

"I think the fair result was the draw, it was unfair to lose that game, but now we are looking forwards to the next game and will keep fighting until the end. There are a lot of points still to play [for]."

After yesterday's disappointment Torres preferred to look on the positive welcome he received from the Stamford Bridge faithful.

"Obviously everyone wants to win, especially if it is their first game at home, but I will still have very good memories about my reception here and want to thank all of the Chelsea fans for that nice reception," he said.

"The result was not the best, but we have to keep going and fighting until the end."

Labels: championship, Chelsea, Fernando, Guardian, hopeful, still, Torres

LONDON (AP)—Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp still wants to sign David Beckham and is prepared to wait until the former England captain’s contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy expires in November.

Redknapp’s attempt to sign Beckham on loan last month faltered and the midfielder only trained with the north London club. But Redknapp says he could try again, even though Beckham will be 36.

Redknapp says he loves the way Beckham plays.

Labels: Beckham, November, still, target, Tottenham

The Press

Paralympics: World ace Nathan Stephens still wants London gold WalesOnline NATHAN STEPHENS insists his Paralympic heartache won't be buried until he takes gold in London despite winning the IPC World Athletics Championship javelin title in New Zealand. The 22-year-old was the star of the ... McKillop on top of the worldBelfast Telegraph Athletics: McKillop breaks 800m world record to claim goldIrish Independent Jade Jones is happy to be back on trackChronicleLive Discountvouchers.co.uk -The Press all 11 news articles »

Labels: London, Nathan, Paralympics, Stephens, still, WalesOnline, wants, World