Aguero Linked With Juventus Move; Milito On His Way to Manchester City

Italian sports paper Tuttosport believes that Juventus are interested in making a move for Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero.

El Kun scooped up the best player and top goalscorer awards at this summer's World Under-20 Championship and has continued that form into the start of the Spanish season, scoring thirteen goals in all competitions so far this term. He has drawn comparisons with Romario for his short frame and lethal finishing ability.

Elsewhere, Tuttosport also believe that Manchester City could be set to make a move for Zaragoza's Argentine striker Diego Milito.

Milito, 28, scored twenty-five goals for Zaragoza last season, although he has struggled to replicate similar form in the current campaign. Sven Goran Erikkson is desperate to add a top quality striker to his squad and has earmarked Milito as one of his targets come January.

Boca Book Their Place in World Club Championship Final

Boca Juniors secured their place in the final of the World Cup Championship by defeating Etoile of Tunisia 1-0 in a closely fought game in Tokyo.

Neri Cardozo proved to be the difference between the teams, dispatching from close range from Rodrigo Palacio's pass in the 37th minute.

Both sides had plenty of chances throughout, with Palacio himself going close for Boca and Etoile forcing a few good saves from Mauricio Caranta. Gilson Silva struck the post for Etoile in the final minute of the game.

Boca midfielder Fabian Vargas will miss the final on Sunday after he was sent off in the second half for two bookable offences.

AC Milan and Urawa Red Diamonds face off in today's other semi-final, with the winners to face Boca in Sunday's final.

Newcastle Will Wait Until The Summer for Edmilson

Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce has confirmed that he is content to wait until the end of the season to sign Barcelona defender/midfielder Edmilson.

The Premiership side had been expected to make a move for Edmilson in January, but concerns over his fitness have necessitated the wait until the end of the season.

Allardyce explained:

"I am afraid he is now not an option for us in January. He has not played at all this season and it would be too much of a risk to bring him here next month."

Edmilson, 31, will be available on a free transfer in the summer when his Barcelona contract expires and Newcastle are likely to face competition from a number of sides for his signature at that time.

Breno in Germany For Bayern Medical

Sao Paulo's young defender Breno is on his way to Germany in order to undergo a medical with Bayern Munich and agree personal terms with the Bundesliga club.

It is thought that Bayern have not yet come to an agreement with Sao Paulo over the transfer fee, but the Brazilian club are resigned to seeing their young star leave in January and are likely to accept the $18million offer than is on the table within the next couple of weeks.

Breno, 18, was named in Placar's team of Brazilian League 07/08 and has also attracted the interest of Fiorentina and Real Madrid in the last year.

Argentine Media Goes Japan Crazy as Boca Face Etoile In World Club Cup

Argentine sports paper Ole are turning Japanese today to mark Boca Juniors' World Club Championship semi-final against Etoile of Tunisia in Tokyo, by writing all of their main headlines in Japanese (see picture).

The expectation in the worldwide media is that a Boca versus AC Milan final is a certainty, but Boca will have to be wary of their Tunisian opponents today. Etoile performed impressively against Pachuca, soaking up a lot of pressure before scoring on the counter attack five minutes from time and should not be discounted.

Juan Riquelme has been training with the Boca squad in Tokyo, but is ineligible to play during the competition and is only there to lend his moral support to the cause. Ever Banega is expected to take up his playmaker role today.

The full expected lineups are as follows:

Boca: Caranta; Ibarra, Maidana, Paletta, Morel Rodríguez; Battaglia, Vargas, Banega, Cardozo; Palacio and Palermo.

Etoile: Balbouli; Frej, Ghezal, Falhi, Bejaoui; Ogunbiyi, Narry, Ali Nafkha, Gharbi; Chermiti and Dhifallah.

The game kicks off at 7:30pm local time, which is 10:30am in the UK; 5:30am US Eastern; and 2:30am US Western.

Corinthians Try To Hold Onto Felipe

Having suffered the first relegation in the history of the club, Corinthians are now facing the possibility of losing their star player, goalkeeper Felipe.

Felipe, 23, put together a string of impressive performances during the campaign and it thought to have attracted the interest of clubs in Spain as well as in his homeland. However, he seems content to stay at Corinthians as long as they can match his increased wage demands.

Corinthians have offered him a rise of 80%, but it seems that this will not be enough to appease Felipe and his advisers, who are looking for an even larger increase.

Despite the current difference in opinion, Felipe's advisor believes that a deal can be reached:

"What the club offered is some distance from what we require, but we do not want to attack the club. He [Felipe] is calmer to negotiate based on the most recent offer rather than the original one. It is better now to talk with the staff, who are intelligent. I am confident in arriving at a common denominator."

Pellegrini Signs New Villarreal Contract

Manuel Pellegrini has extended his contract with Villarreal until 2010, following the side's impressive start to their La Liga campaign.

Pellegrini's contract was due to expire at the end of this current season and the Chilean coach had been previously linked with the positions at Chelsea and Valencia before extending his deal.

Villarreal currently lie fourth in the Primera Division after fifteen games, five points behind league leaders Real Madrid.

Ardiles Resigns as Huracan Coach

Ossie Ardiles has resigned as coach of Huracan just three months after taking charge, citing disagreements with chairman Carlos Babington as the reason for his swift departure.

Speaking after Huracan's 2-1 victory against Velez Sarsfield on the final day of the Apertura, Ardiles said:

"Ever since I stepped on Argentine earth, Babington did not fulfill any of its promises...

"For that reason, I resign."

Reports in the Argentine media suggest that Ardiles and Babington have been on bad terms for the last month or so and that their parting of ways was inevitable. Despite this, Babington himself seemed surprised when told that Ardiles had resigned, saying:

"It is lamentable, but it is his decision."

Ardiles will now return to his residence in England, whilst Huracan will begin their search for a new coach. Early contenders for the position are thought to be Daniel Passarella, Pedro Monzon and Carlos Ischia.

River Plate to Make Simeone Move Today

River Plate will open negotiations with Diego Simeone for their vacant managerial position today after Simeone resigned from Estudiantes at the weekend.

The Buenos Aires giants had previously given up on Simeone due to the excessive compensation that Estudiantes were seeking for his services, but with the former Argentine international now openly available, River's board are confident they can persuade him to sign on before next year's Clausura.

Pachuca Lose in Club World Cup

CF Pachuca of Mexico fell at the first hurdle in Japan, going down 1-0 to Tunisian side Etoile Sportive Du Sahel in the quarter final of the Club World Cup 2007.

Pachuca dominated for large periods of the game in Tokyo, but were unable to capitalize on their advantage with efforts from Damian Alvarez, Juan Carlos Cacho and Gabriel Cabellero all going close in the first-half and a goal disallowed early in the second half.

The Mexicans were made to pay for not hammering home their advantage five minutes from time when Moussa Narry's deflected 35 yard strike slipped past Miguel Calero in the Pachuca goal. Etoile held on for the remaining five minutes to book their place in the semi-final.

Etoile's next opponents will now be Copa Libertadores winners Boca Juniors on the 12th December.

Manchester City to Move for Adriano in January

In an interview with the Hong Kong media, Manchester City chairman Thaksin Shinawatra has confirmed that the club are considering making a move for Inter Milan striker Adriano in the January transfer window.

Shinawatra said:

"We're looking to see whether we'll do a swap deal or not.

"Adriano was a top player, but he lost form when his father died, and he put on weight. Now he's returning to form."

Adriano, 25, was recently back in his homeland of Brazil receiving treatment and it is thought that Inter are looking to offload him for good in January.

Romario Named Vasco Player/Manager

Despite being embroiled in an alleged doping case that could see him suspended from playing for anything up to a year, Romario has been named as Vasco da Gama's new player/manager ahead of the Rio State Championship 2008.

Romario, 41, had already had a small taste of management when he took temporary charge for Vasco's Copa Sudamericana tie against America in November, but will now coach the side full time.

Bebeto, Romario's strike partner at the 1994 World Cup, has been suggested as an early favourite to be his assistant once he takes over in January.

El Portero Esta Loco

Goalkeepers are a strange bunch. Growing up playing park football, those who would willingly spend some time between the sticks were either maniacs, overweight kids who could not play outfield, or unpopular kids, desperate to play some sort of part in the game. The one thing that all of these children had in common was a general lack of technical skill with a ball at their feet.

In Latin America, things are done slightly differently. This year’s Guinness Book of Records included, for the first time, a section for the highest scoring goalkeeper of all time. The record is held by the Brazilian goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni, whose tally of sixty-six goals between 1997 and 2006 has displaced the previous record holder, Jose Chilavert of Paraguay, who finished his career on sixty-two goals.

Jorge Campos, the former Mexican national goalkeeper, also figures highly on the list, having made a career out of his ability to play both as a keeper and as a striker should his team need him. It was as a striker that he first got a regular starting berth with Pumas, scoring fourteen goals in the 1989/1990 season, before being made first-choice goalkeeper for the following year’s championship victory. He finished his playing days on thirty-five goals.

A lot of the Latin American dominance of goalkeeper scoring has to do with their more open, technical approach to football, which lends itself to keepers getting involved with the taking of attacking set-plays. In addition, flamboyance is pretty much a pre-requisite for any Latin American goalkeeper. Despite this, Rogerio Ceni has admitted that he received some funny looks when he first raised the idea of taking free-kicks at Sao Paulo. He told their then goalkeeper Zetti that he would be the first keeper to score a free-kick for Sao Paulo and duly obliged on the 15^th February 1997, scoring against Uniao Sao Joao, having struck the crossbar the previous week against Flamengo.

It was the excellent free-kick work of Ceni and Jose Chilavert that gave more acceptance to the idea that goalkeepers could play a vital role at the other end of the pitch. Chilavert became the first goalkeeper to take a direct free-kick in a World Cup game, for Paraguay against Bulgaria at the 1998 World Cup. He was also the first goalkeeper to ever score a hat-trick, when he scored three penalties in Velez Sarsfield’s victory over Ferro Carril Oeste in 1999.

In European football there is much less openness to the idea of goalkeepers taking set plays, such as free-kicks or penalties, because the risks if they miss are too high. It is only when you look much further down the list that European goalkeepers start to appear and even then, it is only really Peter Schmeichel that is of any particular note, having scored eleven goals. The solitary situation where goalkeepers usually get a chance to score in Europe is in the dying moments of a game, when their manager may allow them to come up for a corner or free-kick to try and cause confusion in the opposition penalty area.

The fact that European clubs only tend to use goalkeepers as a last desperate attempt to get a much-needed goal usually dictates that when they do score, it is of massive importance to their side. The most famous example is probably Jimmy Glass, whose goal ten seconds from time in the last game of the 1998/99 season saw Carlisle avoid relegation and the likely financial uncertainty that would have followed their demotion to non-professional football.

Also worthy of mention is Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop, whose headed goal in injury-time took their UEFA cup game against Shakhtar Donetsk into extra time. Sevilla won the game in the extra period on the road to lifting the 2007 trophy.

These occasions are more than rare, especially in the top European leagues such as England, Italy or Spain. In England, there have only ever been three goals scored by goalkeepers in the Premiership, the most recent of these being Paul Robinson’s goal for Tottenham against Watford last season.

With the increasing globalisation of football, it would be a shame to see Ceni as the last of a generation of Latin American goalkeepers who have proved to be just as proficient with the ball at their feet as they have with it in their hands. Although it is unlikely that the practice of goalkeepers taking attacking set-plays will ever take on in Europe, one would hope that in Latin America the tradition will continue, as it is certainly one of the more interesting unique asides offered by football in the region.

Arsenal Win Copa Sudamericana

Arsenal de Sarandi claimed their first Copa Sudamericana title, defeating America of Mexico on away goals after a 2-1 loss last night in Buenos Aires.

In an ill-tempered match, which yielded seven yellow cards and two red, America took the lead mid-way through the first half: Christian Diaz putting through his own net.

America then took the aggregate lead after sixty-three minutes, Juan Carlos Silva firing an unstoppable shot past Mario Cuenca in the Arsenal goal.

Guillermo Ochoa pulled off a string of saves to keep America in front, but not even he could stop Martin Andrizzi's well placed shot in the eighty-fourth minute, which sent the home crowd into raptures, as Arsenal took the lead via the away goals rule.

America had run out of the steam and were unable to mount a serious attack in the remaining minutes. Their frustration boiled over, with both Duilio Davino and Lucas Castroman sent off with one minute remaining for serious foul play.

The dramatic nature of Andrizzi's strike summed up a tournament that has certainly seen its fair share of late drama and is hopefully just a precursor of the sort of quality that will be on show at the Copa Libertadores next year.

Manchester City Lining Up Move For Mascherano

Manchester City are thought to be interested in taking Javier Mascherano to the Eastlands stadium if Liverpool do not tie up a permanent deal to keep the Argentine international.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is currently embroiled in an argument with the club's owners over stumping up the £17million required to sign Mascherano, who is on loan at Anfield until the end of the current season.

City are keen to take advantage of this and have already held talks with the consortium headed by Kia Joorabchian that owns the rights to Mascherano.

Radamel Falcao Tempted by Fluminense Offer

River Plate striker Radamel Falcao Garcia has confirmed that he is tempted by the offer that Brazilian side Fluminense have made to him to join the club in January.

Speaking to Ole, Falcao said that "the supply of Flu is very tempting," but admitted that the decision may not be down to him as "it is the leaders that must agree the terms between the clubs."

Fluminense are looking to strengthen their squad ahead of their Copa Libertadores campaign next year and are thought to have offered 5 million Euros for 50% ownership of Falcao. River have rejected that initial approach, but Fluminense are expected to come back with an offer of 8 million Euros, which may be too good to turn down for River.

Hector Veira The Latest Manager Linked With River Plate

Hector Veira is the latest manager to be linked with the vacant position at River Plate and appears to have jumped to the top of their shortlist.

El Bambino has been out of work since leaving San Lorenzo in 2004 and is happy to have been linked with the River post:

"I like that the partners of River remember me because I was always wanted and respected by people there."

Veira, 61, had a previous spell in charge of River during the eighties, winning Primera Division, Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup trophies in his two year reign.

River have turned to Veira after effectively giving up on luring Diego Simeone to El Monumental. River president, Jose Maria Aguilar, confirmed as such, saying that Simeone "today is not on the list from which River can choose."

Hector Cuper has emerged as another possible candidate after being sacked by Real Betis at the weekend, but it seems that Veira is currently in pole position to make a return as River Plate manager.

Romario to Face Suspension for Drug Taking

Romario may face a one year suspension from football after testing positive for a banned substance after Vasco da Gama's game with Palmeiras on the 28th October.

The substance in question was part of a hair-loss prevention drug that Romario was taking in order to try and halt his balding and it is therefore thought that the ban is likely to be closer to four months, rather than a year.

Internacional player Marcao was banned for 120 days for using the same product, but had this reduced to 60 under appeal, so there is a chance that Romario could be back in action within a couple of months.

He has been registered to compete in the 2008 Rio de Janeiro State Championship and fully expects to return to the side, even if he should serve a four month ban.

Despite the bad news, Romario was still on good form in the press conference, rounding up proceedings by saying:

"I do not know if Marcao has hair or no. It helped me very much and I would have less hair but for that remedy."