Jose gives England a chance

Mourinho believes England's rich vein of defenders will give them every chance of lifting the World Cup next summer.

"I think they can win it," he said. "They have the best group of central defenders in the world - John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Ledley King - I think as a group of four or five they are the best.

"Frank Lampard and Steve Gerrard are a twin in midfield. They are fantastic mentally and technically.

"After that they have very good players but of course South America are strong and there are still other teams in Europe that are strong."

Sven: Owen's England spot is safe

Sven-Goran Eriksson has reassured Michael Owen that his England place is safe - even if he becomes a bit-part player at Real Madrid ahead of the World Cup finals.

Eriksson revealed that Jermain Defoe would be given the chance to play alongside Wayne Rooney in next week's friendly in Denmark as Owen is suspended for the next World Cup qualifier against Wales in September.

However, Owen will still be involved and appears almost certain to regain his spot against Northern Ireland four days after the Wales game and start the World Cup finals - if England qualify - as the team's attacking spearhead.

That is even though he could find himself fifth-choice striker at Real this season following the signings of Robinho and Julio Baptista, with only Newcastle seemingly interested in bringing him back to the Premiership.

Eriksson is nevertheless unruffled by doubts over how many games Owen will start this season and he has given the Real striker, who is now ranked fourth in the list of all-time England goalscorers, his unequivocal backing.

Indeed, he even claimed that England could benefit from Owen spending half of the season on the sidelines - as then he would be fresher for the tournament.

Eriksson declared: "I want to qualify for the World Cup and then I want to have Michael Owen with me, that's for sure. He's always shown that he's very important for England.

"Whatever happens, you have to see the positive side and, if he's fit, then - whatever happens - Michael will be an important man during September, October and hopefully next June.

"Obviously if he never plays a game, that's different, but he played 19 or so league games for Real last season and that's okay.

"I'm sure that he will play for Real, even if he stays there. Maybe not every game, but every second or third game, and he will come on as a substitute in many games, I'm sure of that.

"I shouldn't complain that much if he doesn't play all the games anyway. I know he wants to play more than he did last season, but he was always fresh when he came to the national team and was hungry to play. That's very good for us."

While Owen, Defoe and Rooney are effectively assured of their places in Eriksson's World Cup squad - if England qualify - then there is still one spot up for grabs.

With the likes of Emile Heskey and James Beattie having fallen by the wayside, the England coach is looking for a physical alternative to Rooney.

And while he will continue to monitor the form of Andy Johnson despite Crystal Palace's relegation, Peter Crouch is the leading candidate after impressing on the summer tour of the United States.

Crouch is currently injured, ruling him out of the Denmark friendly, but he is clearly at the forefront of Eriksson's thoughts, especially after his move to Liverpool.

"Obviously, if we have Defoe, Rooney and Owen, then he can complement those three very well," said the Swede.

"If he's good enough, he's very interesting because of his height and he wins everything up there, but he also has good feet. It will be very interesting to see what he does this season at Liverpool. That was a big step for him."

Owen and Rooney nevertheless remain his first-choice pairing - and it will take a seismic shift in his thinking for that to change now.

Jose: "I have a Heart"

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho admits he will feel guilty if some of his players fail to make next summer's World Cup finals in Germany.

Mourinho called for calm among his players if some of them find themselves sitting on the sidelines in the early part of the new Barclays Premiership campaign.

Mourinho fears that they will panic over their chances of reaching the finals if they are out of favour.

The Chelsea coach said: "I think all of them have the ambition to go and I told them that, if some don't go, I will feel a little guilty.

"I will feel part of it, part of the success and part of the disappointment, so I want to help them all to go.

"The motivation is high but they have to control their emotions. I can look ahead and guess that in two or three weeks time players will be very worried because they are not playing and cannot be out of the side before the World Cup next summer.

"But choices will be made between January and April and in that time, everyone will be playing.

The Portuguese continued: "Joe Cole, Robert Huth, Tiago, Ricardo Carvalho will be worried but they have to control their emotion and know that, first of all, their national coach trusts them.

"All of them will play matches. I remember Mateja Kezman saying at the end of last season that he did not have any chances for Chelsea, he was never the first choice and so on.

"He played 37 matches so you can imagine."

Cole Appeals Fine

Ashley Cole will take his battle against the Premier League's guilty verdict over the tapping-up affair with Chelsea to the highest authority in sport.

The Arsenal defender had his initial £100,000 fine reduced to £75,000 by an Premier League appeals committee yesterday but is determined to carry on the fight against the verdict on a point of principle.

A statement from the player's solicitor, Graham Shear of Teacher, Stern and Selby, said: "We have considered the appeal committee's comments overnight and discussed the same with Ashley Cole.

"Ashley is absolutely adamant that he will be proceeding to an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as he remains entirely dissatisfied with the result.

"It is interesting to note that Mr Mourinho and Chelsea seem happy with their fines and punishments, however my client feels that he has done little if anything wrong and therefore is not satisfied."

If you ask me it's interesting that the parties that instigated the meeting are appealing, while those who just "went along for the ride" are satisfied.

Cole knew what the rules of the Premier League were, if he had a problem with them, then they should have been challenged in court before, not post hoc after he's already broken them! Here's to hoping that they increase/maintain the fine (as unlikely as that is).

Man Bucks desperate for fans

Man Scum have taken the unprecedented step of appealing for fans to attend tonight's Champions League qualifier against Hungarian club Debrecen at Old Trafford.

For the first time in recent memory, United will throw open the turnstiles until kick-off in an effort to boost the attendance in a stadium whose 67,500 capacity has already been reduced by the decision not to open the top tier of Old Trafford's massive North Stand.

Three new Manshester Buchaneer fans who might see their first game at Old Trafford are the Glazer brothers Avi, Bryan and Joel, who are rumoured to be making the trip - to boost the attendance by at least three!

Perhaps they should have asked UEFA if they could have switched venues for the tie and played the game somewhere in the vacinity of Brighton.

Arsene Attacks

Arsene Wenger declared that Arsenal would attempt to attack their way to the title as he vowed not to compromise his expansive style to keep pace with Chelsea.

Chelsea have strengthened their squad since winning the title by a 12-point margin last season, with Asier del Horno and Shaun Wright-Phillips both signed, while Michael Essien is still being targeted.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have added another attacking alternative in Alexander Hleb, but lost defensive midfielder Patrick Vieira and thereby reduced both their physical strength and height in central areas.

Wenger will remain true to his attacking instincts, having seen his side outscore Chelsea by 87 goals to 72 in last season's title race.

"We play our style, the football we love, and try to be faithful to that," he declared.

"When you get a guy who comes into Highbury and pays £50 to watch a game, he knows that he will see goals.

"You can't expect me to say to him 'sorry my friend, you will still spend £50 but you will not see goals any more. You will watch my team play 11 at the back'. He will stay at home as he is used to seeing goals."

Wenger is nevertheless still expecting more from his defence, even though Sol Campbell is ruled out of Sunday's Community Shield against Chelsea through injury.

Wenger added: "Our target is to defend better than we did last year, but we need to do that without losing what makes us Arsenal.

"Basically, if you analyse the numbers, we finished with the best attack in the league last year and only had an average defence. Our target is to finish with the best attack and a better defence."

Liverpool FC Beef Up Security

All bags will be searched at Liverpool's home matches next season as part of the club's increased security in light of the recent disgraceful terrorist attacks on London.

Although the European champions believe the systems already in place at Anfield are well-tuned and effective, stadium manager Ged Poynton feels that in the current climate, extra precautions are necessary.

He said: "Stadiums are soft options and vulnerable, and it is an impossible task to be 100% safe unless you introduce airport style security.

"Bags have been randomly searched in the past, but from now on every bag will be searched. People have the right to refuse but we also have the right to refuse entrance."

As part of the club's arrangements in existence prior to July's attacks, the stadium is searched before each game and Poynton revealed that other, more extreme measures can be taken in worst-case scenarios.

"We are able to shut the stadium down or close off sections," he said, "and we do practise such eventualities."

Liverpool's poor-neighbours Everton have also moved to reassure fans that their Goodison Park ground is well-protected by security arrangements already in place.

"We have lived through this for years," said Norman Whibley, the stadium's security officer.

"Liverpool FC has in years gone by been considered a potential target so we have tried and tested plans."

The club have reviewed these plans after the events in London, and Whibley also revealed that Goodison Park security staff will meet with Special Branch officers for advice on further action that can be taken to stave off the threat of terrorism.

Whether Everton will follow Liverpool's lead and introduce searches is uncertain, though it is thought that the Premier League will recommend similar measures for all clubs in anti-terrorism guidelines to be revealed later this week.

Last week, Darlington became the first English club to announce comprehensive and compulsory searches of all bags at their ground after a bomb scare forced the cancellation of a pre-season friendly with Middlesbrough.

Pardew: 'My squad as good as big three'

Loopy West Ham boss Alan Pardew has made the extraordinary claim that his squad is a match for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Pardew's team is one of the favourites for relegation from the Premiership and boasts such stars as Tomas Repka and Bobby Zamora, but in his head they are on a par with the three favourites for the title.

Pardew said: "I have to focus on the players we have here now who I rate as good a squad as even Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in most respects.

"We are back in the top division and all the players have their tails up. We don't want anything at the moment to take the edge off that.''

It is interesting to note that that Pardew left Liverpool out of the group he compares his squad too. Of course even he isn't so loopy to think his team were on par with the Champions of Europe. Now if only Arsene, Jose and Ferg can get the message!

If Up, Then Out

Paul Ince could battle on beyond the end of the season if Wolves fail to secure promotion to the Barclays Premiership.

The former England international, who will turn 38 in October, plans to retire on a high by driving the Molineux club back to the top of the English game.

But he does not intend to hang up his boots if Wolves fail to live up to their reputation as favourites for one of the three promotion spots.

"I did say that I'd retire if we get promoted because I couldn't play in the Premiership again but I didn't say what would happen if that doesn't come off," he said.

Wolves open their campaign with a tough fixture - a trip to Southampton, one of three teams who have dropped into the Football League - but Ince is relishing the start of his 20th season as a professional.

After a career which pre-dates the huge influx of money into football following the inception of the Premiership, he admits it is not the same game as the one he started in at West Ham in 1986.

But the former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Liverpool midfielder has no plans to leave football behind.

"I've been playing the game for over 20 years and things have changed a lot in that time," he said.

"One of the biggest things is the respect for the senior players isn't there so much now.

"But it's the game that I love and I don't want to be away from that. I'd certainly like to give management a try but who knows what will happen."

After the three relegated teams, Wolves are rated as the club most likely to succeed in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Wenger's love for Owen not enough

Arsene Wenger has insisted that he will not make a bid for Michael Owen because he doesn't believe the England striker would dovetail with Thierry Henry.

Owen is believed to be searching for a return to the Premiership after being reduced to fifth-choice striker at Real Madrid.

However, despite being in 'love' with the player, Wenger has ruled out making a bid for Owen.

"I have nothing against Michael Owen. I love him," the Arsenal boss declared.

The stumbling block, though, is the perceived incompatibility of the Owen-Henry partnership.

"We have Thierry Henry who scores 25 goals a season and can they live together? I don't know. Thierry is not yet the age to play a little bit deeper. I like Owen but I look more for a deeper kind of striker. I have Dennis Bergkamp but he is getting older."

Without the guarantee of first-team football, Wenger claimed it would 'dishonest' to bring Owen to Highbury.

"It would be dishonest to take an international player like him and put him in the same situation he has at Real Madrid," said the Frenchman.

Wenger also denied making a bid for Newcastle's unsettled midfielder Jermaine Jenas, but did concede, "I am a fan of Jenas." A bid for the England midfielder could be imminent.

Nevertheless, Wenger says he is not looking for a replacement for Patrick Vieira, describing the former Arsenal skipper as 'irreplaceable'.

"We will miss Patrick in our team when we have the ball because he was always there to take the ball," he said. "When he had three players on his right shoulder and two on his left, he wasn't scared. But if Juventus came and bought Patrick Vieira at 29 years of age, and they have scouts everywhere in the world like we have, that shows you can't get another Patrick Vieira."

Another Viera, Uruguay goalkeeper Sebastian, is expected to join Arsenal, though. Personal terms are said to have been finalised on Thursday and the player could be unveiled as early as Friday afternoon.

Neville joins Toffees for £3.5m

The 28-year-old defender is now set to face Manchester United on the opening day of the Premiership season after completing his move to Everton for a fee believed to be around £3.5million.

Neville has signed a five-year deal after spending 18 years with United, "This has been the most difficult decision I have ever had to make," he told www.manscum.com.

"But I am excited about joining Everton and relishing my next challenge in football.

"This was a mutual decision between myself and the manager (Red Faced Ferguson).

"I've spent 18 years of my life at the club and I would like to thank daft Scot, all the cheating players and the fly-by-night fans.

"I am now going to give the same commitment to warming the bench at Everton. I can't wait for the new season to get started."

Meanwhile, it is believed that this latest signing has suddenly put Monaco at the top of the list to sign Liverpool's out-of-favour forward, Milan Baros. The feeling that no matter how many goals Baros could score and weak defence would make 3pts hard to come by. Additionally he is holding out the hope that Monaco will draw the toffees (should they fluke a victory at Villa Real) in the group stages and give him a shot at the Golden Boot.

Universally, managers around the country are surprised that the Blue Noses' boss has spent 30 times more than the most expensive ground's man at any other club. Ferg was subsequently seen laying down £3m at the horse track, after seeing the record of Van Nistleroy, it was suprising to see the red faced man gambling at the tracks again.

Click here to see Manchester Buccaneers take on this story.

Fergie Mad!...with Boo Boys.

Fergie is angry with Manchester Scum fans for booing Rio Ferdinand over his ongoing contract saga.

The fourth choice England centre half is stalling over a new £100,000-a-week contract at Old Trafford, and Scum fans have vented their frustration in recent pre-season friendlies.

CEO David Gill has already urged fans to show patience to the former West Ham United (bet they hate reminding of that) and Leeds United (them too) man, and Fergal has echoed his sentiments.

The red-faced Scot says that he is not happy with the treatment Ferdi has been getting from the Scum fans, saying it is not sending out a good image of the club.

"I'm not entirely happy with the reaction of the fans," Fergal told Scum TV.

Big Bother is Watching Diouf

Jay-Jay Okocha has taken African 'brother' El-Hadji Diouf under his wing in an effort to keep the Senegalese forward out of trouble.

Undoubtedly talented, Diouf's career has been littered with controversy.

The worst examples have been the spitting incidents which occurred at Celtic during his Liverpool days and just weeks after his arrival at Bolton last season when Portsmouth skipper Arjen de Zeeuw was his victim.

The 24-year-old may not be a stranger to trouble, but Bolton boss Sam Allardyce is standing by his man.

So too is Okocha, who feels a heavy sense of duty towards his fellow African.

As a high-profile member of the Premiership elite and arguably the best player ever to come out of Nigeria, Okocha knows how difficult it is to live life under the spotlight.

And the 31-year-old has decided to offer Diouf the benefit of his experience to try and ensure the striker hits the headlines only for the right reasons in future.

"El-Hadji is a marked man now," said Okocha.

"It is always easy to be critical of someone in that position.

"We all know he has a lot to learn but I believe he is doing well.

"I truly believe I have a big part to play in him becoming a better person and a better player.

"We are good friends and we talk a lot, to the extent I look upon him as my brother."

During a summer of struggle in the transfer market for Allardyce, Diouf has been his most notable signing.

Allardyce is now hoping Diouf can maintain the form which played such a pivotal role in Bolton securing a top-six spot and UEFA Cup football for the first time in their history last season.

Tight Pearce Strings

Stuart Pearce insists he will not pay over the odds for new players despite the sale of Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Chelsea paid Manchester City £21 million for their star winger, but not all of the cash will be going into signing new players.

City are deep in debt and Pearce is aware that he will not be given the full amount to spend on new players.

Pearce has already brought in Andy Cole on a free transfer, and that is a sign that he will be searching the transfer market for bargain signings.

"I will not pay over the odds for new players," said Pearce.

"I did have two lists of potential targets, including one if we didn't have any money.

"That situation has changed a little bit now, but I am still in the hunt for bargains.

"Shaun's departure has left a gap on the right-hand side and we also need a couple more up front.

"But, as it will always be with me, I will only bring players in if they are the right ones at the right price."

Wigan Look at Henchoz

Swiss defender Stephane Henchoz has joined up with Wigan on their pre-season camp and is hoping to earn a contract with the Premiership new boys.

The 31-year-old has jetted out to Denmark and will train with The Latics for the next week.

Henchoz is a free agent having departed Celtic at the end of last season.

He managed only two starts at Parkhead having joined on a short-term deal from Liverpool.

Wigan boss Paul Jewell believes Henchoz could prove a valuable addition to his squad and will move provided the stopper can prove his fitness.

"He doesn't have to prove anything in terms of quality; all he has to prove is his fitness.

"He's been training on his own all summer, but from what I've seen so far he's kept himself in pretty good shape."

Moyes: 'No excuses for defeat'

Everton manager David Moyes has admitted there were no excuses for his side's embarrassing FA Premier League Asia Trophy defeat to Thailand.

The Champions League challengers were expected to sweep the hosts' national Under-23 outfit aside and grab a place in Saturday's final. But, after being outplayed for much of the contest, the Toffeemen were eventually beaten in a penalty shoot-out.

In sweltering conditions, Joseph Yobo was the guilty man, rolling one of the poorest penalties he can ever have taken straight at keeper Kosin Hathairattanakool, to ensure the Thais claimed victory by maintaining a 100% record with their five spot-kicks.

"There are no excuses and I have told my team that,'' said Moyes.

"Other than a general improvement in the players' fitness, there are no positives to take from the performance.

"The conditions were not to blame either, we simply did not play anything like we should have done.''

Champions League - 1st Qualifying Round - 2nd Leg

Tuesday	19	July
Dinamo Tbilisi	2	FC Levadia Tallinn	0
Melkadze 44 Orbeladze 49
		Half-time: 1-0
Dinamo Tbilisi won 2-1 on aggregate
FBK Kaunas	4	HB Torshavn	0
Velicka 44 Rimkevicius 64 , 81 Zelmikas 90
		Half-time: 1-0
FBK Kaunas won 8-2 on aggregate
T.N.S.	0	Liverpool	3
		Cisse 26 Gerrard 85 , 86
Attend: 8,009		Half-time: 0-1
Liverpool won 6-0 on aggregate

UK Olympic Team Gets Scudamore's Backing

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has backed the idea of a Great Britain football team entering the 2012 Olympics and hinted the organisation would be prepared to delay the start of the season to avoid a clash with the London Games.

The Premier League ran a positive advertising campaign throughout the successful bid process and chairman Dave Richards actively lobbied on behalf of Sebastian Coe and his bid team.

Now the Games have been secured, arguments are raging over whether Britain should enter a soccer side, something they have not done in recent times because it may compromise the individual status of the home nations within FIFA.

Although the Welsh, Northern Irish and English Football Associations have signalled their willingness to join forces, the Scots remain against the plan.

However, Scudamore, whose organisation would supply most of the players for the Under-23 competition, claimed a British team should be entered.

"I would like to see a British team," he said. "Ultimately, it is not my decision but the idea of the Olympic Games being held in the UK, with soccer being played in it, and no British team in it would seem very odd."

Blue before Red, White & Blue

Idiot Chelski Manager Jose Mourinho has ordered Shaun Wright-Phillips and the rest of his squad to forget about the 2006 World Cup or risk losing their place in the team.

One of the main questions surrounding Wright-Phillips' £21million move to Stamford Bridge has been what effect it will have on his England prospects, should he struggle to get much playing time with his new club.

The former Manchester City player is adamant he will "let his football do the talking" in the intense competition for places at Stamford Bridge, and Mourinho has reminded his whole squad in no uncertain terms that Chelsea and not international considerations should be uppermost in their minds.

"I told the players on the first day that all through the season they will have a lot of questions about the World Cup, and I told them if they think too much about the World Cup they are in danger because they don't play for Chelsea," the Portugeezer said.

Lies, Damn Lies and FIFA World Rankings!

In what seems to be more farcical as the months and years go by, FIFA's excellent statistical anylsis of the various international teams has really stepped up a notch this month.

Some how, some one, some where never thought about adding some common sense to this automatically generated "Points" system. Looking at their rankings, we are to believe that Mexico are better than both England AND France! Even more extrodinary the USA are meant to be better than the two European sides too (we are talking football, right? not some sport like basketball or baseball where it is pretty much the only played/watched in the one country.) As it is they were put inextricably further up the list than the likes of Turkey, Germany, Spain, what more France, England and Italy!

FIFA have pretty much got it right in the sense of who is in the top 20, but are totally out of whack as to where each country's position logically lies. For example I wouldn't expect Sweden, Ireland, Uruguay or even Greece to be sweating bullets at the thought of meeting Iran or Japan (who are both ranked higher - the latter is ranked even higher that Italy!) Okay so Italy maybe in a slump right now, but they're not in a grave!

A more logical order is listed below (followed by FIFA's bizzare results):

Some common sense:

Rank	Country	±FIFA	Rank	Country	±FIFA
1	Brazil	0	11	Italy	+3
2=	Argentina	0	12	Turkey	0
2=	Czech Rep	+1	13	Ireland	+2
2=	Holland	+1	14	Sweden	+3
5=	England	+3	15	USA	- 9
5=	France	+2	16	Uruguay	+2
7	Spain	+1	17	Greece	+2
8	Portugal	+2	17	Japan	- 4
9	Germany	+2	19	Denmark	0
10	Mexico	- 5	20	Iran	- 5

FIFA's Insanity:

Rank	Team	+/-Rank Jun 05	Pts: Jul 05	+/-Pts: Jun 05
1	Brazil	0	846	17
2	Argentina	1	787	2
3	Netherlands	1	781	-2
4	Czech Republic	-2	778	-12
5	Mexico	1	768	9
6	USA	4	765	21
7	France	-2	749	-16
8	England	-1	744	-13
8	Spain	1	744	-3
10	Portugal	-2	739	-16
11	Germany	10	723	28
12	Turkey	2	716	-3
13	Japan	5	715	5
14	Italy	-3	713	-12
15	Iran	2	711	0
15	Republic of Ireland	0	711	-3
17	Sweden	-5	710	-12
18	Uruguay	0	703	-7
19	Denmark	-3	698	-15
19	Greece	-6	698	-22