*Shinji Kagawa hit a brace and Keisuke Honda added another as Japan downed South Korea 3-0 in Sapporo. Players wore black armbands in honour of former Japanese international Naoki Matsuda, who died a week ago, and observed a minute’s silence.
*Tottenham’s home match with Everton on Saturday has been postponed as the clean-up continues following the riots in London. The north satta king London area was the epicentre of the violence which spread to other English cities and forced an emergency debate today in the House of Commons.
*Cesc Fabregas’ move to Barcelona looks set to be finalised by the weekend. Arsenal are also negotiating to transfer Samir Nasri to Manchester City, leaving the Gunners three weeks to replace their best two players before the transfer deadline.
*Jack Warner ally Lisle Austin has been banned from football for a year by FIFA. The CONCACAF official was involved in the crazy in-fighting in May after Chuck Blazer shopped Warner and Mohamed Bin-Hammam for bribery. Austin ‘fired’ Blazer without authority, leaving CONCACAF to issue a press statement contradicting its acting president, who was subsequently dismissed. When Austin went to the Bahamian court to get his job back, FIFA isolated him.
*The FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia has reached the quarter-final stage. Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia and South Korea fell by the wayside in the second round.
QF lineup: Brazil v Spain, Mexico v Colombia, France v Nigeria, Portugal v Argentina
*Jurgen Klinsmann’s first game in charge of the USA ended in a 1-1 draw with Mexico in front of 30,000 in Philadelphia, World Champions Spain lost 2-1 to Italy in Bari and Germany beat Brazil 3-2 in Stuttgart.
Football falls victim to London riots
The violence which has traumatised London for the past four days has led to the cancellation of several games, including the England v Netherlands international friendly.
With Britain in a daze from the unexpected rioting and looting which has now spread to several cities, the Football Association had no choice but to cancel Wednesday’s Wembley match, with all available police urgently needed to regain control of the streets.
The Dutch squad, due to fly out from Amsterdam on Tuesday, were informed the police could not guarantee their or their fans’ safety. The KNVB may seek compensation.
A friendly between Ghana and Nigeria in Watford was also axed, along with League Cup ties at Bristol City, Charlton, Crystal Palace and West Ham. Tottenham Hotspur saw its ticket office put out of action following the first outbreak of trouble on Saturday night following the fatal shooting of a man in the neighbourhood by the Metropolitan Police.
Fulham, QPR, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Watford, Leyton Orient, Dagenham & Redbridge and Barnet are all due to play at home in the London area this weekend but those games must be in doubt if the violence flares up again.
With 16,000 police on the streets, the capital city was quiet tonight but there was serious trouble in Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham and above all in Manchester and Salford.
Update Thurs 11th Sep – Tottenham v Everton on Saturday has been postponed as Tottenham High Road is still a crime scene and the police cannot spare resources to cover the match.
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