Now, Italians point finger at Man U over ‘poaching’ players

September 29th, 2009 LONDON - Fiorentina football star Adrian Mutu says beating Liverpool in the Stadio Artemio Franchi tonight will be no big deal. The Fiorentina ace says he can fire the Italians to victory.

September 23rd, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - India's middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy with a finger injury and will be replaced by Virat Kohli. Yuvraj injured the little finger of his right hand during a practice session Wednesday and will be out for six weeks.

September 17th, 2009 LONDON - In an interview with the Italian edition of Marie Claire, Capello has revealed his loves and fears, and admitted that if he had not been involved in football he would have liked to be an airline pilot "flying Boeings". He revealed: "My greatest fear is ending up paralysed in a wheelchair.

September 12th, 2009 LONDON - Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that he is a huge Beatles fan, and wants his squad to come together. The Blues are still trying to come to terms from the FIFA transfer ban after they were found guilty of poaching French kid Gael Kakuta.

September 8th, 2009 LONDON - England and Chelsea mid-fielder Frank Lampard has claimed that the transfer ban on his club can make it stronger. The Blues cannot sign any new players until January 2011, after being punished by UEFA for the illegal poaching of youngster Gael Kakuta.

September 7th, 2009 LONDON - Manchester United has been accused of giving cash to French youngster Paul Pogba's parents to lure him to Old Trafford from his French club, Le Harve. Man United reportedly gave 180,000 pounds and bought a house for the Pogba family, and even promised a startling salary of 16,500 pounds a month, when he signs his first professional deal next season.

September 4th, 2009 LONDON - In an historic ruling, FIFA has accused Chelsea FC of poaching players from other clubs during a 16-month transfer ban. The Blues were found guilty of inducing French wonder kid Gael Kakuta to quit his contract with Lens.

August 9th, 2009 LONDON - In an amazing document detailing the thoughts of Somerset captain and former Australia opener Justin Langer, English cricketers are witheringly described as "lazy", "shallow" and "flat", and as players who "love being comfortable". Fast bowler James Anderson can be "a bit of a pussy" if things do not go his way and skipper Andrew Strauss can be too "conservative".

July 31st, 2009 LONDON - England skipper Andrew Strauss's sporting gesture to allow Australia replace its injured wicket-keeper Brad Haddin, moments before the start of the long-delayed third Test at Edgbaston, has drawn praised by all and sundry including Australian coach Tim Nielsen. Strauss gave Australia permission to select reserve wicket-keeper Graham Manou for an extra-ordinary last minute Test debut after the team management discovered the seriousness of a finger injury to Haddin suffered during warm-ups and sent him to hospital for x-rays.

July 31st, 2009 WARWICKSHIRE - Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin is likely to miss the rest of the Ashes series after he broke his finger just before the third Test got underway here on Thursday. In dramatic scenes after the toss, England captain Andrew Strauss had to grant permission for Graham Manou to play when Haddin broke his finger at the last minute during the Edgbaston warm-ups.

July 31st, 2009 LONDON - Injured Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin faces the danger of missing the rest of the ongoing Ashes series due to a fractured finger. Haddin was injured moments before the start of third Test at Edgbaston Thursday and in almost the same spot where Glenn McGrath fatefully sprained his ankle by tripping on a cricket ball during the warm-up for the corresponding game four years ago.

July 25th, 2009 LONDON - American soccer bosses have fined David Beckham for his outburst at abusive fans during a friendly match between LA Galaxy and AC Milan. The Sun quoted MLS commissioner Don Garber, as saying: "Our players should never engage in conduct that can be interpreted as encouraging fans to come on to the field." But the 600-pounds punishment from Major League Soccer is equivalent to just 13 minutes' work for 25 million pounds-a-year, which Beckham earns.

July 7th, 2009 Kournikova trades tennis racket for diamond ringKING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — Anna Kournikova was sparkling brighter than usual.

June 18th, 2009 LONDON - Between six and 12 players, who are due to compete in the men's singles at Wimbledon are on a "watch list" of individuals under scrutiny by the game's authorities because of past involvement in match-fixing. The revelation comes from an investigation by The Independent into corruption in tennis, and into the methods that the authorities, including the world men's governing body, the ATP, are using to stamp it out.

June 4th, 2009 US plays at France in 2010 Fed CupPARIS — The United States will play at France in the first round of next year's Fed Cup, and Italy will visit Ukraine. The Americans and Italians, who play at Italy in November in this year's final, were among the eight teams Wednesday in the draw for the 2010 tournament.