India goalkeeper Subrata Paul has three weeks to present his case before an anti-doping panel after his 'A' sample tested positive for a banned substance, the chief of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) said on Wednesday.
High on confidence after a successful Copa America campaign, Venezuela coach Cecar Farias is determined to break his side's jinx of being the only Latin American nation yet to qualify for the football World Cup by making the cut for the 2014 edition in neighbouring Brazil.
Indian football icon Bhaichung Bhutia said the national team should be given enough time in order to make an impact on the international arena.
A header from striker Harry Kewell three minutes from the end of extra-time gave Australia a 1-0 victory over holders Iraq in their Asian Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
National coach Stephen Constantine announced a list of 28 probables on Thursday for India's forthcoming 2018 World Cup preliminary joint qualification match against Iran.
To compete with the best in the business, Indian football needs a good club structure, which it does not have at the moment, feels national team skipper Bhaichung Bhutia.
All it takes is a measuring tape to explain why India is a dwarf among giants dominating international soccer, critics of the national team say.
Stephen Constantine is returning to coach India. The country's football federation confirmed on Friday that the Englishman has agreed to a second stint with the national team.
India were handed the worst possible draw for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals in Doha, Qatar, as they were clubbed with Australia, South Korea and Bahrain in Group C. India got a tough group featuring Australia and South Korea -- two sides have qualified for 2010 World Cup from Asia -- and Bahrain, who just missed out on the showpiece event in South Africa via a play-off against New Zealand.
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Title contenders Syria lived up to expectations, blanking Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in the second match of the Nehru Cup international football tournament in Delhi on Thursday. Syria, at No 95 the highest FIFA-ranked side in the five-nation tournament, dominated for most of the match and could have won by a bigger margin had not they missed some clear chances at the floodlit Ambedkar stadium.
Substitute Michael Owen scored the winner on his Manchester United debut as the English champions opened their pre-season tour of Asia with a 3-2 victory over a plucky Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. A day after United were forced to cancel the Indonesia leg of the four-country tour following the hotel bombings in Jakarta, coach Alex Ferguson's men were given a stern test by a side ranked 157th in the FIFA rankings.
A tired and weakened Germany got their Asian Tour got off to a lacklustre start when they were held to a 1-1 draw by a young China team in an international friendly on Friday. Showing the clear effects of a gruelling season, Germany needed an equaliser from Lukas Podolski to cancel out Hao Junmin's opener and avoid an embarrassing defeat to the Chinese, who are 95 places below them in the FIFA rankings.
Winger Albert Riera struck a stoppage-time winner for European champions Spain who came from behind to win 2-1 in Turkey and maintain their 100 percent record in 2010 World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday.
Switzerland will be among the eight seeded teams at the World Cup draw in December after they leapt to seventh in the latest FIFA rankings announced on Thursday, while Italy were edged out.
Lack of international matches took a toll on India's progress up the ladder as they moved just one rung to finish the year in 143rd place in the FIFA rankings issued on Wednesday.
Argentina remain top of FIFA's world soccer rankings in an unchanged top 10 following the publication of the latest standings on Wednesday. With none of the leading countries in action, the only change in the top 20 was Cameroon's climb of one place to 16th at the expense of Mexico, despite the Central Americans' 1-0 friendly win over China. Argentina lead the rankings by two points ahead of Brazil, with world champions Italy in the third. India are ranked 151.
India were clubbed in a tough group, along with higher-ranked Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates, in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup final qualifying round draw, held at the Aspire dome in Doha. Malaysia is the fourth team in the group.
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Grenada smashed US Virgin Islands 10-0 while Suriname trounced Montserrat 7-1 in the CONCACAF preliminary round football World Cup qualifiers. Elsewhere, Antigua beat Aruba 1-0 despite having three players sent off and missing a penalty while Belize held out for a 1-1 draw away to St Kitts & Nevis to earn a prestigious tie against Mexico.
Congratulate the Indian football team on winning the Nehru Cup football tournament.
Stephen Constantine has first hand knowledge of how difficult it is to wake up India from its soccer slumber but the Englishman insists he can make a difference at his second attempt or he would not have accepted the offer.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Tshering Dorji scored the only goal of the match in the 84th minute for the small Himalayan nation, ranked last of the 209 teams in FIFA's rankings, against Sri Lanka.
France believe the seeding system is unfair for the World Cup playoffs in November and plan to ask football's ruling body FIFA to review it ahead of next week's draw.
A win against Syria in the final of the Nehru Cup will certainly pave the way for bigger and better things in the future.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Images from the World Cup qualifying matches played on Wednesday night.
Hosts Australia have been named top seeds for the 2015 Asian Cup ahead of next week's draw and will avoid being drawn in the same group as defending champions Japan.
A revived Japan go into Thursday's decisive Group H match against an already-eliminated Poland knowing a draw would be sufficient to advance to the knockout rounds after they beat Colombia and drew with Senegal in their opening fixtures.
Russia is the lowest FIFA ranked side at the event, but two games in they are top of their group with six points and are poised to qualify for the next stage.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that football will be "totally different" when it re-starts after the coronavirus. He has talked of smaller, but more meaningful, competitions, more balance and football being "more attentive to true values."
It was the first meeting between the countries in more than two decades and has been dubbed 'The Earth Derby' as it features nations that are home to a third of the world's population.
The Indian footballace also urged promising youngsters to venture abroad to fine-tune their skills.
While that may not differ too much from the scenario in many group stage matches pairing the big beasts of the game against those nations who occupy lower rungs of the FIFA rankings, the X-factor in Kazan could be Carlos Queiroz.
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