05192012Headline:

Blackpool 2-1 Wolves

Luke Varney and Marlon Harewood piled on the pressure for Wolves by firing Blackpool to a 2-1 victory. Varney set up a thrilling Barclays Premier League contest with a stunning volley after just three minutes at Bloomfield Road and Harewood added a second just before the interval.Kevin Doyle set up [...]

Birmingham 1-0 Chelsea

Birmingham keeper Ben Foster produced a superb performance help his side beat Chelsea 1-0. Lee Bowyer’s opening-half goal – his first for nearly 12 months – earned Alex McLeish’s side a shock victory.But their hero was Foster who bounced back from his error on England duty in [...]

Bolton 5-1 Newcastle

Newcastle’s Kevin Nolan’s big return to Bolton turned sour in spectacular fashion as he gave away an early penalty to lost 5-1. Kevin Davies hit a brace from the spot and in-form Johan Elmander also scored two as Owen Coyle’s men brushed aside the beleaguered Magpies, who finished [...]

West Brom 0-3 Stoke

Stoke netted three times in the second half at West Brom to grab a 3-0 win in the Barclays Premier League. Matthew Etherington’s penalty put the visitors 1-0 up in the 55th minute after referee Chris Foy adjudged Scott Carson to have fouled Kenwyne Jones.Substitute Jon Walters converted another [...]

Liverpool 3-0 West Ham

It was hardly a proper test of being able to cope without Steven Gerrard but Liverpool did more than enough to beat West Ham 3-0. With the captain out for a month with a hamstring tear manager Roy Hodgson called for his players to step up to fill the void and the Barclays Premier League’s bottom [...]

United prep for Fergie’s long goodbye

The next manager of Manchester United looks increasingly likely to be someone with a track record of success and experience at a big club. While no date has been set for the impending retirement of manager Sir Alex Ferguson, the club remain acutely aware of the mammoth task that lies ahead in replacing [...]

International Friendlies Review

A Lionel Messi wonder goal saw Argentina narrowly edge out Brazil 1-0 in Wednesday’s friendly international in Doha. Messi settled an even contest in the final minute, the Barcelona star picking up Ezequiel Lavezzi’s pass before slaloming past four defenders and stroking the ball home into [...]

Sweden 0-0 Germany

Sweden and Germany ground out a yawn-inducing draw in Wednesday’s friendly in Gothenburg. Star names were missing from both sides, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic absent for the hosts and Mesut Ozil, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski all out for their opponents.The game missed their quality, with neither [...]

Portugal 4-0 Spain

Portugal inflicted a heavy 4-0 defeat on their Iberian neighbours Spain in an international friendly in Lisbon. Goals from Jorge Carlos Martins, visiting defender Sergio Ramos, who put into his own net, Helder Postiga and Hugo Almeida sealed a deserved win for the Portuguese, who were knocked out at [...]

Romania 1-1 Italy

An own goal from Ciprian Marica handed Italy a deserved 1-1 draw in a friendly against Romania in Austria. Marica nodded the ball into his own net in the 83rd minute after substitute Fabio Quagliarella had managed to get a touch to Andrea Pirlo’s corner.Marica had earlier been poised to emerge [...]

Holland 1-0 Turkey

Klaas Jan Huntelaar scored the only goal as Holland defeated Turkey 1-0 in a friendly international in Amsterdam. Huntelaar struck after 52 minutes when he found the net from the edge of the area.Turkey threatened first when Hamit Altintop’s free-kick was cleared and then Burak Yilmaz saw his [...]

Argentina 1-0 Brazil

Messi struck a superb stoppage-time winner to give Argentina their first victory over Brazil since June 2005. Brazil, looking to build on promising early results under their new coach Mano Menezes, were the strongest side for most of the match which was staged in Qatar, but they could not stop Barcelona [...]

England 1-2 France

Fabio Capello’s youthful England team were jeered off after a 2-1 defeat to France at Wembley. Aside from Andy Carroll, who did as well as he could with such little service, and the ever-dependable Steven Gerrard, there were few straws for England to grasp until substitute Peter Crouch did what [...]

Carroll set for England debut

Newcastle striker Andy Carroll will make his England debut against France tomorrow, Fabio Capello confirmed today. The 21-year-old trained today after sitting out yesterday’s session with a slight injury and will start alongside Sunderland’s Jordan Henderson, who also wins his first cap, [...]

Glazers to pay off £220 million debt

The Glazer family, who own Manchester United, are set to pay off £220million of their high-interest PIK loans. The Glazers’ holding company Red Football Joint Venture will pay off the entire payment-in-kind debt next week, according to a voluntary free-payment notice seen by Bloomberg.The American [...]

Rooney to return against Wigan?

Wayne Rooney could make his Manchester United return against Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford, according to Sir Alex Ferguson. The striker has just returned to United’s Carrington training base after spending a week doing conditioning work in Portland, USA, and Ferguson believes the England star [...]

Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United

Manchester United launched a comeback to rescue 2-2 draw with Aston Villa through goals by Federico Macheda and Nemanja Vidic. Villa, lacking nine players through injury or illness, stunned United as Ashley Young and Marc Albrighton put them in command with only 15 minutes remaining.But United rallied [...]