WREXHAM 1-1p BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION

Brighton will play host to Newcastle United in the 4th Round of the FA Cup, after scraping past 5th-tier side Wrexham on penalties.

After a 1-1 draw in the original fixture, it was the expatriate Welsh club (who are currently leading the Blue Square Conference Premier) who took the initiative in this replay, finding a majority of the chances, and taking one when player-manager Andy Morell curled in a well-placed shot from just outside the box (23′). However, the second half would see Brighton level fairly late on, when Ashley Barnes’ header found the back of the net (77′).

In extra-time, it was arguably Wrexham again who had the measure of the game, but could not take advantage of some good opportunities, and with the sides still unseparated, it went to a penalty shoot-out. Brighton keeper Peter Brezovan was the hero, saving Wrexham’s first kick (from Dean Keates), and with every other effort of the shoot-out converted, it was left to Craig Makail-Smith to blast in the winner for a 5-4 penalties win, although it could be considered quite lucky for Brighton considering they drew both the original game and the replay 1-1 to the underdogs.

Morrell said of Wrexham’s efforts: “The lads were absolutely fantastic today and they deserve all the credit that they get and on another day we might have nicked it as well. It wasn’t to be, but I am so proud. We had the better chances I think, but I am not going to sit here and complain.”

While Wrexham contemplate what might have been, Newcastle fans can now schedule a trip to Brighton for 9 day’s time. How many Geordies will make a near-complete North-South journey of England?

The All-Indian Football Federation (AIFF) have this week unveiled plans for a separate football league competition that will last for six weeks between February and April (probably at the same dates each year), drawing inspiration from the MLS (in USA) and cricket’s ‘Indian Premier League’.

The project, currently known as Premier League Soccer (PLS) under a 30-year arrangement between AIFF and organisers ‘Celebrity Management Group’ (CMG), is set to begin its first season with six clubs based in and around the city of Kolkata [/Calcutta], while there are plans to expand the league to other areas of the country in the coming years.

The life of the league will begin with the new teams meeting in Kolkata to ‘auction’ for a host of free agent players and coaches that have agreed to participate for one of the Indian clubs for the duration of the competition, with players from both India and abroad.

While there are rules in place against having too many foreigners in a squad, the auction will permit each club at least one of the 7 identified ‘icon’ players (similar to an MLS or A-League marquee signing). The icon group of players has already been confirmed, though, and features Fabio Cannavaro, Robert Pires, Robbie Fowler, Jay-Jay Okocha, Fernando Morientes, Maniche, and Hernan Crespo.

Coaches that have declared their interest for inclusion include Peter Reid, John Barnes, Colin Todd, Marco Etcheverry, Teitur Thodarson, Samson Siasia, Milos Rus, and Fernando Couto.

CMG executive director Bhaswar Goswami explained the auction process: “We have signed seven ‘icon’ players for the auction and each of the six teams will have one such player with a $600,000 salary cap. Every team will have $2.5 million to spend in the first year. They will have a maximum of four foreigners and a compulsory six under-21 Indian players in their squad. The format will ensure that our players get to interact with top players and coaches, which will help rejuvenate our own football.”

A further requirement for the teams is that they will enter appropriate youth teams to play in PSL age-group leagues (at under-19, under-16, and under-13 level). It is thought that the league could be the key to inciting greater interest in football in the densely-populated country, as well as promoting local football talent. The format of the competition itself is currently uncertain.

Pires said of the opportunity to play in India: “Since I had nothing in Europe, why not try something completely unknown? I’ve never been over there. I am proud to be the first Frenchman to go and play there. And eight weeks is nothing. If my (club) president likes me, it could be €790,000. It is a lot of money. I’m not going to complain about that am I? But I’m not going there as a tourist. It’s a new adventure.”

One thing that seems to be certain is that the competition will be stand-alone from India’s current league structure (led by the top-tier I-League, which will be in-season at the same time as the PLS), and is in place as a platform for an alternative contest for new clubs.

While the PLS may not be too similar to anything the football world has seen before, it will be an interesting (if slightly alternative) experiment, but will the format fare well?

Former Brazil international Rivaldo has delayed his planned retirement for yet another year at least, as he signs a deal to play for Kabuscorp SC, who play in Angola’s Girabola league.

1999 FIFA World Player of the Year Rivaldo, who’s international honours include winning the FIFA World Cup (2002), FIFA Confederations Cup (1997), and the Copa America (1999), has signed a one-year contract with Kabuscorp, who finished 2nd in the Girabola in the 2011 season, and coached by Russian Viktor Bondarenko.

The 39-year-old attacking midfielder, who was most recently at Brazilian club Sao Paulo, was announced to Angolan media sources at a press conference in Luanda (Angola) late last week.

Rivaldo said of his move: “This is going to be a new experience for me. I am happy to be there and as happens with all the clubs I join, I will try to honour the shirt of Kabuscorp and hope to meet expectations on the field.”

He claimed that the fact that the language of choice in Angola is Portugese (the same as Brazil) was a key factor in his decision to choose Kabuscorp over a number of rumoured offers in Europe, while the possible levels of money involved (Angola is one of the richest nations in Africa due to their oil reserves) could be assumed to be a potential decision-maker.

While the man himself is pleased at getting his signature on a contract, locals are not exactly throwing a parade for the former World Player of the Year. Jose Cunha, a sports commentator for the LAC (Luanda) radio station, gave an estimated public opinion, stating: “Rivaldo’s hiring by Kabuscorp – which is a very modest club in Angola – has not attracted as much enthusiasm as you might expect. People think he’s past his prime and wonder what contribution he can make, so everyone is very cautious.”

The move will mark Rivaldo’s 13th club (in 4 continents) in a professional career that has lasted since 1991, following stints at Santa Cruz, Mogi Mirim, Corinthians, Palmeiras, Deportivo La Coruna, Barcelona, AC Milan, Cruzeiro, Olympiacos, AEK Athens, Bunyodkor, and last season, Sao Paulo completing the list of club shirts he has pulled on over the years. While some people might take a while to settle into a new country and continent, will Rivaldo feel at home faster when he plays at the conveniently-named ‘Estadio Sao Paulo’?

STP 1-0 LES

Sao Tome

A week before the 2012 African Cup of Nations is due to begin in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the first playing steps on the road to the 2013 tournament have been made, with Sao Tome and Principe, an island nation that had been out of international football action for 8 years until last November , won the first leg of their Qualifying Tournament Preliminary Round tie with Lesotho in Sao Tome.

The match has been notable for several strange occurrences, in that the fixture was firstly moved back a week to allow the Lesotho team a plane ride to the host country of the first leg, while the match itself has not seen many details published (outside of Sao Tome and Principe) other than the result, with most of the (interested) fans and media in the world only knowing that the 1-0 scoreline was achieved by a penalty kick in the first half.

This tie, which will be completed on 22 February with the return leg in Maseru (Lesotho), is the only one being played in the Preliminary Round of Qualification, after Swaziland withdrew from the tournament for ‘financial reasons’, which permitted opponents Seychelles an automatic passage to face Congo DR in the First Round.

In other international football news, Gozo (an island next to Malta) have defeated micronation Raetia (a ‘rebirth’ of a historical province in Central Europe) by a staggering scoreline of 17-1 on Saturday in a friendly in Xewkija (Gozo), in what was only the latter’s second international match (in as many months, with the first being a game in Crawley (England) in December 2011, a 6-1 defeat to Chagos Islands).

However, this match too seems to be lacking in details, even from Gozo’s own local news sources, an oddity considering that the Gozo national team have a sparse history of participation as well. With international football widely considered the pinnacle of the game, how many more unfortunate delays of information will occur in the year ahead?

AC MILAN 0-1 INTER MILAN

Inter Milan have moved within 5 points of 2nd-placed champions and city rivals AC Milan in this season’s Serie A, with a 1-0 win in the Milan derby last night.

In a game with little clear-cut chances, it was Inter who took the only goal of the game when Diego Milito slipped the ball into the bottom corner of the goal (54′) to the despair of a majority of the 80,000-strong crowd, and while a fairly dominant AC Milan side would press hard for an equaliser, it did not come, with Claudio Ranieri’s side now pushed up to 5th place in the league as a result of their win.

Milito said of the result: “It was an important examination for us, in terms of the table and team morale. Winning the derby is the best thing possible especially for everyone who supported me when things got difficult.”

In other Serie A news, Juventus are now top of the table, despite Cagliari taking a surprise equaliser to draw with the Turin-based club, although the scoreline does preserve Juve’s unbeaten [competitive] record (having lost two games in pre-season) for the 2011-12 season.

Meanwhile, a notable game occurred on Saturday, with the Cantania-Roma fixture ‘suspended’ with 25 minutes remaining as a result of ‘heavy rain’. With the score at 1-1, the teams are set to play out the remainder of the game later in the season. What will be the next twist in this season’s installment of Italian domestic football?

Zurich

The second edition of the re-invented ‘FIFA Ballon d’Or‘ ceremony has seen a similar outcome to the one from last year, as FC Barcelona’s Argentinian international Lionel Messi took home the titular prize at the global football awards ceremony in Zurich (Switzerland) on Monday, with big names in football from both the past and present present for a gala celebration of football in 2011.

Messi, who beat 2nd-place Cristiano Ronaldo (POR & Real Madrid), and 3rd-place Xavi (ESP & FC Barcelona) with 47.88% of the total votes (for players on an original 23-man shortlist, and voted for by journalists and national team coaches & captains around the world). It is the second time that the relatively new award goes to Messi, with the prize becoming his third ‘FIFA World Player of the Year’ title in a row, after FIFA last gave the award (pre-merger with the Ballon d’Or) under that name in 2009.

Other awards saw his club coach Josep Guardiola claim ‘FIFA World Coach of the Year‘ ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, while Ferguson still left with something has he received the FIFA Presidential Award for ‘contributions to the game’.

The ‘FIFA Puskas Award‘ for best goal of the year went to Brazilian striker Neymar for his effort for Santos against Flamengo, while the ‘FIFA Fair Play Award‘ was issued to the Japanese FA for the manner in which the nation’s football community dealt with the unfortunate natural disasters that hit the north-eastern parts of the country last month.

Part of this positive attitude came in witnessing the women’s national team of Japan triumph in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with the achievement replicated in the ‘FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year‘ award, which went to captain Homare Sawa (who plays her club football for Japanese L.League club INAC Kobe Leonessa), while the ‘FIFA Coach of the Year for Women’s Football‘ was given to Norio Sasaki for his role in the Japanese women’s national team’s success.

For some of the male players shortlisted for awards, however, there was still an opportunity to walk away with something, as 11 players were part of the ‘FIFA/FIFPro World XI’ (voted for by over 50,000 professional players around the world), which can be seen below. With an exciting year of football set for 2012, who will be receiving the coveted prizes the next time the ceremony comes around?

2011 FIFA/FIFPro World XI Line-Up (4-3-3 formation):

GK – Iker Casillas (ESP)
RB – Dani Alves (BRA)
CB – Gerard Pique (ESP)
CB – Nemanja Vidic (SRB)
LB – Sergio Ramos (ESP)
CM – Xavi Alonso (ESP)
CM – Andres Iniesta (ESP)
CM – Xavi (ESP)
RF – Lionel Messi* (ARG)
CF – Wayne Rooney (ENG)
LF – Cristiano Ronaldo (POR)

ARSENAL 1-0 LEEDS UNITED

Arsenal progressing through the Third Round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Leeds appeared to be a sidenote to the way that they got there, as a returning modern legend for the club, Thierry Henry, came off the bench to promptly score the winning goal.

The former France international, who has signed on a two-month loan deal from New York Red Bulls, came onto the pitch in an otherwise drab game, and only needed 10 minutes to make his mark, finding space to run onto a through ball before slotting a shot into the net (78′).

The scenes caused wild celebration and emotion around the Emirates Stadium, in particular from Henry himself, and those feelings were found once more when the final whistle blew, sealing a Fourth Round home fixture against Aston Villa.

Reportedly leading the ESPN viewer’s vote for man-of-the-match even before he went onto the pitch, Henry (who is probably one of the first players ever to play a home game with a statue of himself outside the stadium) said of the experience of the evening: “It is kind of weird. Since I came back from holiday I did not think I would play for Arsenal again, now I score a winner. I love the club. I don’t know what I can say. I just wanted to help and hopefully I can do more. The feeling that I had when I scored was amazing. Scoring a goal when you support a team, now I know what it is like for the guys who played for Manchester United, Chelsea to score for the club you support. It is a wonderful opportunity. It is important because you do not know when you will get another one. It was important I took it.”

Leeds coach Simon Grayson claimed that the goal that beat his side was: “…written in the stars.”

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger added: “You could see Thierry brought his class but also how much it means to him to come on and make the difference. It was something you couldn’t even predict before the game. It’s great that he’s back here and got the goal that qualifies us. You see that when he gets in these kind of positions, we’ve seen it so many times, him finishing at the right moment. It looks easy but it’s not.”

EQG 0-0 RSA

The first international football fixture of 2012 ended with a stalemate for its first tournament host, as this warm-up match in Bata (Equatorial Guinea) for the 2012 African Cup of Nations co-hosts saw no goals in a clash with 2013 hosts South Africa , who finished the match with 10 men.

It can be considered a fairly encouraging result for new Equatorial Guinea coach Gilson Paulo, who only has two weeks to prepare for the tournament following his replacement of previous position-holder Henri Michel. The 62-year-old Brazilian now faces a very swift entry into the role, following Frenchman Michel’s unnerving decision to quit for a second time since October, in a row over naturalised players. It has been far from ideal preparation for their African Cup of Nations debut, but the squad seem to backing Paulo and ready to give a good showing.

The match also marked the opening of their new national stadium, with the 35,700-capacity Estadio de Bata deemed ready for action for the tournament, which begins in Bata on 21 January when Equatorial Guinea take on Libya in Group A .

Squad member Juvenal said of the venue: “In 2003, we had a very small pitch, with a very small capacity for people and tiny stands – and it was a bit dangerous for some spectators. But today, we have a major new stadium. The country has evolved greatly and we are developing more quickly than the rest of Africa. I can only approve of this because when you look at the past, we are proud to be able to enjoy today all that we have.”

Following that draw with South Africa (who were narrowly eliminated from the Qualification Tournament), Equatorial Guinea have no further fixtures scheduled before their big opening of the tournament (which they co-host with Gabon), but with neutrals unlikely to begrudge a victory to either side, how will Africa’s biggest tournament begin?

SAINT-COLOMBAN LOCMINE 1-2 PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

Carlo Ancelotti’s first competitive game in charge of PSG nearly ended in a shock result in the 9th round (Round of 64) of the Coupe de France, as only an injury-time winner from Diego Lugano prevented them from extra-time with 5th-tier club Saint-Colomban Locmine.

After a goal-less first half, the leaders of Ligue 1 went ahead through Javier Pastore (53′), although Abou Maiga equalised (72′p) for the amateur home team. Seemingly set for extra-time, Paris Saint-Germain were rescued from a surprise result when Lugano scored a winner late in the game (90+2′).

Ancelotti said of what he felt to be a below-par display from his new team: “We must play better. I was upset because Pastore had the opportunity to score a second goal. Same for Nene. When you have the opportunity to score, you must score. We have to work hard to improve. I don’t know how much time it will take.”

The surprise elimination of the round arguably came with Toulouse losing 1-0 away to 3rd-tier Gazelec Ajacco, while Brest lost to Camois Niortais. PSG, who were the beaten finalists in 2010-11, now join 31 other hopefuls in the 10th round, where they will be away to 4th-tier Sable-sur-Sarthe.

England will prepare for this summer’s UEFA Euro 2012 with two final friendly matches, as non-qualifiers Norway and Belgium are officially confirmed as pre-tournament opponents.

The fixture against Norway will be an away match in Oslo (at the Ullevaal Stadium) for Fabio Capello’s side on 26 May, before returning to Wembley Stadium in London for a home game against Belgium on 2 June. Following that, the England squad will depart for Krakow (Poland), where they will be based during the tournament.

Capello said of the fixtures lined up: “I’m very happy with these two games. Since the draw in December we have been able to work towards these matches and the appropriate opposition. In the draw we face one of the hosts, Ukraine, which will be a difficult atmosphere to replicate, but looking at the styles of France and Sweden I feel these games are a good preparation for us.”

Despite the close proximity of the two nations, England have only met Norway 10 times at senior international level (the most recent of which was in 1995), the most prominent of them being 4 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, although the most notable match between the two came in 1981 when a Norwegian side consisting of few full-time professionals won 2-1 in Oslo, prompting the famous “…your boys took a hell of a beating” line from commentator Bjorge Lillelien (see below). Matches against Belgium have also been fairly sporadic in recent times, with the last clash between the two coming in 1999.

With a friendly on 29 February also lined up (a rescheduled home match against Holland), will England manage to prepare for UEFA Euro 2012 with some morale-boosting victories?