Bilic under pressure to resign as Croatia coach

October 11th, 2009 MOSCOW - The head of Germany's football federation would like coach Joachim Loew to stay in charge of the national team after next year's World Cup in South Africa. After Germany clinched qualification for the tournament with a 1-0 win over Russia in Moscow Saturday, German federation DFB president Theo Zwanziger said he would like to extend Loew's contract.

October 8th, 2009 JoePa tiptoes around question on Bowden's futureSTATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State coach Joe Paterno said Florida State's Bobby Bowden should "decide what he wants to do now" but otherwise refrained from commenting about the future of the Seminoles' coach.

October 7th, 2009 LONDON - Football legend Diego Maradona has revealed that he may resign as the Argentina coach next week unless certain conditions are met. Argentina will play their final two World Cup qualifiers next week against Peru and Uruguay.

October 7th, 2009 BUENOS AIRES - With Argentina's participation in the World Cup at risk, coach Diego Armando Maradona was openly weighing his resignation as national coach. At issue was not only open criticism of his coaching abilities but also the injury of Pablo Zabaleta, who annoyed Maradona with his insistence on continuing to play for his club, Manchester city, at a crucial time.

October 4th, 2009 LONDON - Barcelona winger Lionel Messi believes that he and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney have one thing in common, both of them are passionate about the game. Messi admires this quality in Rooney, and said: "You can see the love and passion for the game in Rooney's face and I have a feeling he is one of those players who would play for 100 pound a week because football is in his blood.

September 17th, 2009 MADRID - The last thing that troubled Atletico Madrid need now is a game away to European champions Barcelona, but that is what awaits them Saturday. Atletico will make the trip in the worst possible circumstances, with an institutional crisis growing and with Abel Resino's ill-balanced side low on confidence.

September 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A day after suffering a humiliating defeat by newcomers Lajong in the Durand Cup football, an influential East Bengal club official found fault with coach Subhash Bhowmick's team selection and his strategy in their surender to the newly-promoted I-League team. Bhowmick agreed with the official as far as the team selection is concerned, but attributed the loss to the entire team.

September 9th, 2009 LONDON - England football coach Fabio Capello has offered Croatian counterpart Slaven Bilic a vote of thanks - for doing his team talk for him ahead of tonight's World Cup qualifier at the Wembley. Bilic told Sun Sport that captain John Terry should look at his own club, Chelsea, before accusing Croatia and Arsenal striker Eduardo of being a diver.

September 8th, 2009 LONDON - Croatian football chiefs are using a sick fascist hatemonger to whip up a vile racist frenzy among fans ahead of the national team's match against England at the Wembley stadium on Wednesday. A Sun investigation today reveals the Croatian FA is behind a cynical campaign encouraging thugs - who will be at Wembley for tomorrow's match against England - to worship the right-wing nut spreading hatred and Sieg Heil chants on the terraces.

September 4th, 2009 LONDON - Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has expressed confidence about handling the intense pressure at Manchester United as well as handling responsibilities of the national squad. At the club level, after Cristiano Ronaldo's exit, his responsibility at Old Trafford has doubled, while hopes and aspirations of the nation are on him to lead England to World Cup success.

September 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Arsenal will fight to clear Eduardo's name after UEFA branded him a cheat. Europe's football governing body banned the striker for two games after finding him guilty of "deceiving the referee" by diving to win a penalty during last week's Champions League qualifier against Celtic.

August 31st, 2009 LAHORE - : Newly appointed Pakistan vice captain Shahid Afridi has said that being the ICC Twenty20 World Cup champions, Pakistan will be under tremendous pressure in the Champions Trophy. Expressing full confidence in his team, Afridi said the T20 World Cup triumph proves that Pakistan has the ability to win mega tournaments.

August 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Chief football coach Bob Houghton said Friday that the defending champions India will be the team to beat, but last edition runners-up Syria are the favourites in the Nehru Cup starting here Aug 19. Houghton said there won't be any added pressure on the hosts and the players are ready to defend the title.

August 13th, 2009 LAHORE - Accepting responsibility for humiliating defeats both in the Test and One-Day series in Sri Lanka, Pakistan captain Younis Khan has said he would not succumb to pressure to resign. "I accept the responsibility of defeat, but will not apologise to anyone nor will I resign as captain because it's part of the game to lose and win," Khan said.

July 8th, 2009 US unbeaten at world junior basketball champs AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The United States and Australia stretched their unbeaten records to six games at the FIBA under-19 world basketball championships Wednesday, heading their pools and emerging as top qualifiers for the quarterfinals. The United States shrugged off Lithuania 76-69 while Australia topped its six-team pool with a 79-74 win over previously unbeaten Croatia.