Falcao blasts refereeing ´disgrace´ in Coupe de la Ligue final loss

Japan s Yasuhito Endo was voted Asian player of the year, while South Korean club Pohang Steelers and the country s national team both picked up prizes at a colourful ceremony here on Tuesday.

The Asian stars were honoured at the annual Asian Football Confederation awards amidst a glittering showpiece of traditional dance and acrobatic performances.

South Korea dominated the award ceremony, winning national team of the year, coach of the year for the country s Huh Jung Moo and club of the year for the Ponhang Steelers.

The country s Ki Sung Yueng bagged the men s young player of the year award while Japan s Mana Iwabuchi was named women s young player.

Japan won the fair play award while Syria s General Farouk Bouzo was given the lifetime achievement aw…

Landon Donovan has issued the Los Angeles Galaxy an ultimatum compel English superstar David Beckham to clean up his act or risk alienating Donovan, the club s all-time top active scorer.

Let s say he does stay here for three more years, Donovan said in passages from a upcoming book on Sports Illustrated s website. I m not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is (expletive) miserable. I don t want to have soccer be this way.

US national team captain Donovan blasted Beckham in the book, The Beckham Experiment , questioning the former England captain s work ethic, leadership and teammate skills on the Major League Soccer squad.

Maybe he s not a leader. Maybe he s not a captain, author Grant Wahl quotes Donovan as saying in the …

Zlatko Dalic said he could coach Brazil or Barcelona but Croatia will always remain his favourite job after the country s run to the World Cup final.    

Croatia made history under head coach Dalic following their first World Cup final appearance in Russia, where they lost 4-2 to France in the decider.    

Dalic and Croatia earned admirers for their football throughout the tournament, while the Balkan nation were greeted by an estimated half-a-million fans on the streets of Zagreb having returned home to a remarkable reception despite defeat.   

Reflecting on Croatia s World Cup exploits, Dalic said in an emotional speech:  I can be coach of Brazil or Barcelona but this will always be the favorite job, to lead Croatian national team.  …

Beleaguered, bedraggled and very possibly bankrupt by the end of next week: things could hardly get worse for Portsmouth at the moment.

This weekend however brings the chance of relief in the form of an FA Cup last-16 meeting with arch rivals Southampton that is arguably the pick of the fifth round ties.

Nothing cheers a Pompey fan up more than beating the Scummers and, despite being rock bottom of the Premier League, the Fratton Park faithful will make the 17-mile trip along England s south coast in confident mood ahead of Saturday s lunchtime tie.

Southampton, themselves a top flight club as recently as 2005, are currently to be found residing in the middle of League One, the third tier of English football, although they would be close to the promotion play-of…

Gareth Southgate s four-match spell as England interim manager came to a dramatic conclusion as Spain scored twice in the dying minutes to snatch a 2-2 draw at Wembley.

It looked as though Southgate s hopes of landing the job on a full-time basis would be given a major boost as the hosts led 2-0 with a minute of normal time remaining in Tuesday s friendly.

But Spain debutant Iago Aspas bent in a superb goal off the inside of the left-hand post and, in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Isco squeezed a shot through the legs of substitute goalkeeper Tom Heaton at his near post.

It was a disappointing end to what amounted to a four-game audition for Southgate, which also featured comfortable World Cup qualifying wins over Malta and Scotland either side of a frustr…

Pep Guardiola hailed match-winner Bernardo Silva after Manchester City made it three wins on the bounce on Saturday.

Silva was the standout performer as City beat Leicester City 1-0 at the King Power Stadium to sit one point behind Premier League pacesetters Manchester United.

The Portugal playmaker scored the decisive goal in the 62nd minute, had two other attempts on target and created three chances, behind only Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish (both four).

Silva had been expected to leave City in the recent transfer window, with Guardiola confirming in August that the 27-year-old was hoping to find a new club.

Yet with no suitors coming in, Silva has nevertheless kept up his level over the early part of the season, filling in for the injured Kevin De…

Paris Saint-Germain have signed Yohan Cabaye from Newcastle United on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

The 28-year-old France international moves to the Ligue 1 champions for a fee believed to be in the region of £20million.

Cabaye, who joined Newcastle from Lille in June 2011, has been heavily linked with a switch away from St James Park throughout the January transfer window, with Manchester United also thought to be interested in his services.

The midfielder reportedly wanted to sign for Arsenal ahead of the 2013-14 season, and did not feature in Newcastle s first two Premier League fixtures of the campaign against Manchester City and West Ham after the Emirates Stadium outfit had a bid rejected.

However, he went on to make 19 top-flight appearances for Alan…

Prediction: Liverpool win and both teams to score

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The UEFA Champions League roars back into action on Tuesday night as Liverpool host Paris Saint Germain at Anfield.

The two sides have enjoyed perfect starts to their domestic campaigns, so one of those runs will surely come to an end as the two teams face off.

Liverpool

As has been well reported throughout the week, Liverpool have had an almost flawless start to the 2018/19 season. The Reds have managed to rack up five consecutive victories and sit joint top of the Premier League with Chelsea. Their most recent victory came in the form of a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Jurgen Klopp s troops will be hopeful that they will be able to c…

Market: Both teams to score

Odds: 7/10 @

In what could prove to be a lively affair from St. Mary’s on Tuesday night, Southampton will hope to find a route back into the automatic promotion places when they host Hull.

Starting with the hosts, making an immediate return to winning ways over the weekend, Southampton are in the midst of what has become a real fairytale run of form. Eventually claiming an eye-catching 2-0 victory away at West From, Russell Martin’s men have their sights firmly set on securing an immediate Premier League return. While the Saints might have suffered a shock 3-1 defeat at the hands of Bristol City earlier in the month, that is the only defeat that Southampton have suffered from any of their previous 27 straight appearances across al…

Juventus are stepping up their interest in Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho, .

The 21-year-old has exploded onto the biggest stage this season and has in turn caught the eye of quite a few top European clubs.

According to O Jogo, Italian giants Juventus were the first club to have made an official approach, which has seen them become favourites for the player s signature.

William Carvalho arrived at Estadio Jose Alvalade as a youngster back in 2005 and he first broke into the first team set-up during the 2010/2011 season.

After spending next two years on loan spells with Fatima and Cercle Brugge, the midfielder was finally given a real chance to shine this term and has immediately nailed down a regular starting berth.

Carvalho started …