Persepolis Has Interim Coach

Sports Desk

The technical committee of Persepolis selected Yahya Golmohammadi as the team’s interim coach.
According to Mehr News Agency, the committee, which is comprised of the team’s general manager Mohammad Rouyanian, Mahmoud Khordbin, Ali Parvin, Ibrahim Ashtiani, Reza Vatankhah, Hamid Estili and Afshin Peyrovani, decided to terminate the team’s Portuguese coach Manuel Jose’s contract. They have also decided that the 41-year-old interim coach, will work under the guidelines of the Club’s legend Ali Parvin.
Under Jose, the popular club have gained lots of poor results in the first half-season of Iran’s Premier League.
The capital-based club collected 21 points to stand 11th in the 18-team league table. In the IPL standings, title defender Sepahan is leading with 31 points and is followed by Persepolis archrival, Esteqlal and Fouald, respectively.
Meanwhile, Rouyanian said on Sunday that Mustafa Denizli will not return to Iran to take charge of the team.
Denizli parted company with Persepolis at the end of the last season citing some personal problems.
The 62-year-old Turk was appointed as head coach of the Iranian giant team in December 2011 on an 18-month contract but announced his resignation in late June.
The Iranian media have reported that Denizli will return to Persepolis but Rouyanian denied the reports saying the prominent coach is not going to return to Persepolis since his father-in-law is unwell.

Iran Ties With S. Arabia

Iran’s soccer team was held to a goalless draw against Saudi Arabia in its first match in the 2012 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship in Kuwait.
According to Mehr News Agency, Iran created good scoring chances but the efforts were in vain as the two sides tied at Kuwait City’s Ali Sabah Al-Salem Stadium on Sunday.
Iran is in Group B of the prestigious competition along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen. Carlos Queiroz’s men will play Bahrain on Wednesday.
Omid Namazi, who guided Iran in the match, told ISNA that his boys are not fully adopted with the atmosphere of the tournament.
He vowed that in the next match the players will be able to show a better performance.
“Our objective is to introduce a new generation of the Iranian football. Iran football needs fresh blood and we can find new faces and we will use the competition to prepare the team for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers,” Queiroz said before the competition started.
Host of the tournament, Kuwait is in group A along with Lebanon, Palestine, and Oman while Iraq, Jordan and Syria are in group C.
The 2012 WAFF is the 7th West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship which is an international tournament for selected West Asian countries. The competition takes places in Kuwait from December 8 to 20.
A total of 11 teams divided into two groups of four teams and one group of 3.

Ferdinand Injured By Thrown Coin

Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand was left with a head wound after apparently being struck by a coin during his team’s match at Manchester City.
Ferdinand received a cut above his left eye after it hit him as he celebrated Robin van Persie’s winning goal, BBC wrote.
The Football Association said it had opened an investigation into the incident, while City condemned it and apologized to the player.
Ferdinand tweeted that he was hit by a 2p coin. United won the game 3-2.
He tweeted, “Whoever threw that coin, what a shot! Can’t believe it was a copper 2p... could have at least been a £1 coin!”
Ferdinand was left with blood running down his face after the incident, and he appeared to pick up an object which he later showed to referee Martin Atkinson as he left the pitch.
While trying to recover, a Manchester City fan ran on to the field towards him, but was stopped by Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart before he could reach the defender.
In another tweet, referring to Hart stepping in to the fray, Ferdinand added, “Respect to Joe Hart for protecting that idiot who ran on!! Love the banter between fans but there is a point when it goes too far...calm it!”
The man was then taken away by police officers.
An FA spokesman said it would liaise with Greater Manchester Police and await reports from its crowd control adviser and the match referee.
He added, “It is disappointing that after a great game and advert for the Premier League that we are discussing this issue.
“We will work with the clubs and authorities to identify those responsible and support the strongest sanctions available including life bans.
“We condemn any such acts and it is simply unacceptable that any player is exposed to injury in this way. To witness Rio Ferdinand leaving the field with a cut above his eye to receive treatment is appalling.
“Football in this country has made great progress over recent decades. However, we must maintain the safety and security inside of our stadia and to do this we need to isolate and identify any individuals guilty of offences with strong penalties to act as a deterrent to others.”
A spokesman for Manchester City said CCTV footage of the incident at the Etihad Stadium was being reviewed.
He said, “We apologies to Rio. We condemn the actions of the individual concerned. We will support the police with any investigation and hopefully identify the person as soon as possible.”

John ‘Would Fight Marquez At Any Weight’

Unbeaten Indonesian featherweight Chris John already has one win over Juan Manuel Marquez and after seeing the Mexican knock out Manny Pacquiao on Saturday he is keen to move up in weight and face him again.
Marquez’s stunning sixth round knockout of Pacquiao, considered one of the all-time greats of the sport, in Las Vegas on Saturday has made the Mexican welterweight (55-6-1 40 knockouts) a hot commodity, Reuters reported.
The 39-year-old has not ruled out a fifth bout against Pacquiao, with undefeated American light-welterweight Brandon Rios also a possibility, but John believes he should be next in line for a shot at the Mexican, possibly at lightweight.
“I will fight Marquez at any weight because it is big money,” the 33-year-old was quoted as saying in Monday’s Straits Times. “I am a much better boxer than him and I have more speed and skill.”
The duo met in Indonesia in 2006 with John claiming a unanimous points decision victory to defend his WBA featherweight title, though Marquez was unhappy at being docked points in the late rounds for low blows.
John’s Australian promoter, Angelo Hyder, told the newspaper the fight could happen in a neutral venue.
“Marquez and his team have always disputed the decision, even though all three judges gave it to Chris, and so boxing in a neutral place like Singapore could make the fight happen,” he was quoted as saying.
“We will approach them and try and get the fight because this is unfinished business.”
While John has long fought at featherweight (126 pounds), Marquez has been boxing in the welterweight and light welterweight divisions over the last couple of years.
The Mexican last boxed as low as lightweight (136 pounds) in a 2010 world title victory over Australian Michael Katsidis.
Marquez, who contemplated retirement before beating Pacquiao, looked extremely comfortable at 147 on Saturday.
“He is a massive puncher and knocked Manny Pacquiao clean out with one punch and it is my job to make sure I do not get hit with the same punch,” John said.
“I want the fight and will win again.”
John (48-0-2 22 knockouts) was named the WBA’s fighter of the decade earlier this year but has long been criticized for not fighting more in the United States, the traditional home base of the sport where the likes of Marquez and Pacquiao have regularly fought.
The Indonesian’s last two bouts have taken place at the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore, part of a five-fight series before retirement, John said previously.

Benitez Brushes Off Chelsea Pressure

Chelsea interim coach Rafael Benitez feels no pressure to win the Club World Cup in Japan despite his team crashing out of the Champions League in midweek, the Spaniard said on Monday.
Benitez, runner-up as Liverpool manager at the 2005 Club World Cup in Japan, brushed off fears that a slip-up this time might cost him his job, Reuters reported.
“With the economic crisis around the world everybody is under pressure,” he told reporters after Chelsea’s arrival in the Far East.
“I don’t have a problem with pressure. The future is the next game and the one after that.”
Chelsea face Mexico’s Monterrey in Yokohama on Thursday, and will hope to meet either South American champions Corinthians or Egypt’s Al-Ahly in the final on Dec. 16.
“It’s a massive competition,” Benitez said. “Everybody here has the same idea as me - to win every trophy.
“It doesn’t matter if we are in the Champions League or not,” added Benitez, who won the Club World Cup with Inter Milan in 2010 in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s a great opportunity and we’re here to win. We won our last two games and we’re playing well.”
With striker Fernando Torres rediscovering his scoring touch with four goals in two games, including two in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Sunderland, Benitez backed his players to continue their recent improvement.

Messi Out to Extend Record

Lionel Messi carved another piece of history in his remarkable career on Sunday night by surpassing Gerd Mueller’s record of 85 goals in a calendar year.
The Barcelona star scored both of his side’s goals in a 2-1 win at Real Betis to beat the 40-year-old record, PA Sport wrote.
“The record is great for what it means, but the most important thing is that the team won and that we maintained the distance with the teams behind us,” Messi told the club’s website. “When the year starts the objective is to win it all with the team, personal records are secondary.”
But he added: “I’ll try to score more goals to make it more difficult for the next player that tries to break it.”
The 25-year-old drew level with Mueller’s mark after 16 minutes with a trademark diagonal run and left-foot finish. It took him just nine more minutes to take the record as his own. This time he profited from one of his chief assist-makers, Andres Iniesta, whose clever back heel found Messi in the merest of space only he needs to find the net with his left foot.
Barca coach Tito Vilanova said on his team’s website: “We’re pleased that Messi helped us out with his two goals and that he broke Mueller’s record.
“He still has three matches left this year, let’s see if he can extend his record. We hope that he still has a lot left to give because he’s still very young. He’s a world-renowned star that has a series of attributes that make him nearly unrepeatable.”
But the coach would not get drawn into speculating how many goals he might go on to score.
“We shouldn’t heap more pressure on him,” said Vilanova. “His record this year is absolutely brutal. Let’s enjoy the moment and not focus on how many goals he might score in the future.”

No Surprises With 2013 Red Bull

Adrian Newey says there will be “no surprises” with the 2013 Red Bull as the team look to continue their dominance of the sport.
The maturity of the regulations, which were introduced in 2009, and the lack of rules tweaks for next season mean that teams are chasing ever-shrinking improvements with their cars, AutoSport reported.
The Red Bull has been the dominant force under this rules set, winning the drivers’ and constructors’ championship double three times in four years, and Newey says that next year’s Red Bull RB9 will be an evolutionary step from this year’s machine.
“There will be no surprises, next year’s car will be very much an evolution of this year’s,” said Newey.
“The great thing about motorsport and F1 in particular is that we know what we are intending to achieve over the winter but we have no idea of what everyone else will manage.”
“It is increasingly difficult because there are no real regulations changes compared to this year and it will be the fifth season since the 2009 rule changes,” he added.
“The field is converging and you can see how competitive it is in the fact that we had eight different winners this year.”
Newey believes that the number of winners in 2012, which is the largest since 2003 when eight drivers also tasted victory, shows how tiny the margins are in F1 currently.
Five different teams won races, with Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams all tasting success.
“It is a demonstration of how critical it is now,” said Newey. “Each race, you have so many variables that can cause swings between the cars.
“The tyres have been talked about a lot and they are important and each car will work its tyres slightly differently compared to its competitors.

Exhibition Match

Manchester United will play an exhibition match in Australia during their pre-season tour next year against a team made up of domestic league players, Football Federation Australia (FFA) said on Monday.