Leeds United dropped out of the Championship playoff places after drawing 0-0 with Reading on Friday.Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy was the hero for the visitors, constantly thwarting the Leeds attack.

The closest the home side came was through a dazzling run from Bradley Johnson.

Johnson did all the hard work to break his way through the Reading defence early in the second half, but he struck the crossbar from just inside the area with McCarthy beaten.

Young substitute Sanchez Watt had a glorious chance in stoppage time after getting past McCarthy, but he poked his shot wide with his back to goal when he had more time than he thought.

While Reading remain fourth, the draw leaves Leeds in seventh place on goal difference after Nottingham Forest recorded a 3-2 win over local rivals Leicester City.

Forest twice gave away the lead but eventually secured all three points after Leicester goalkeeper Chris Weale allowed a late effort from Paul McKenna to squirm under his body and make it 3-2 at the final whistle.

The hosts led through a header from forward Marcus Tudgay 15 minutes into the match at the City Ground.

Visitors Leicester equalised five minutes later courtesy of midfielder Matt Oakley’s drive from outside the area.

Forest keeper Lee Camp got a hand to the shot and might have been expected to keep it out.

It took until the 73rd minute for Forest to restore their lead, with striker Robert Earnshaw netting from close range after Weale could only parry Lewis McGugan’s strike.

Again Leicester levelled quickly – this time in less than a minute – when substitute Darius Vassell pounced to make it 2-2 after Camp failed to hold fullback Kyle Naughton’s shot.

Leicester appeared set to take a point and put a serious dent in Forest’s playoff hopes, before the speculative effort from McKenna and Weale’s error six minutes from time combined to hand Billy Davies’ side victory.

In other matches, relegation-threatened Scunthorpe gained a point with a 1-1 draw away to Coventry City.

Ramon Nunez equalised for visitors Scunthorpe after Marlon King put Coventry ahead in the fifth minute at the Ricoh Arena.

A draw leaves Scunthorpe third from bottom, three points behind Crystal Palace, who occupy the safety of 21st place.

Palace also picked up a point in a 0-0 draw away to Doncaster Rovers, who are just two points and one position better off in 20th.

Former England captain David Beckham says he would love to be part of a Great Britain football team at the 2012 Olympics.No official announcement has been made about the inclusion of a British side in next summer’s London Games – but the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder would be happy to play any part.

“So far I’ve heard I’m going to be managing, coaching, playing, so we’ll see,” Beckham said.

“But I would like to be part of it in some way, I’d love to be a player in it of course, but to be just part of that team would be pretty incredible.”

“You know for a football team to go into the Olympics in England, you know it’s a huge thing, so yeah I would love to be part of it in some way and playing would be a bonus.”

Beckham is back in action for LA Galaxy against New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

Roberto Mancini insists he has no worries about Manchester City’s Champions League qualification as he prepares for Tottenham on Tuesday.Despite their 2-1 loss to Everton at the weekend City remain fourth, six points ahead of Tottenham who need a win on Tuesday to keep alive any remaining chance of securing consecutive Champions League appearances.

“I don’t think that we have a problem for the Champions League because we have three games and we are missing only three points for the Champions League,” Mancini said.

The Italian insists his main interest is the match at Eastlands but he is likely to have one eye on City’s visit to Wembley for Saturday’s FA Cup final as the club hopes to secure their first trophy for 35 years.

City are almost certainly going to have full focus on Tuesday’s meeting at Eastlands, when captain and top scorer Carlos Tevez will try to prove his fitness in time for the final against Stoke City.

Mancini remained coy on Tevez’s chances of facing Tottenham after admitting that if he didn’t feature on Tuesday he would not be risked at Wembley.

“He has only trained twice with the team and in the next days we will see if it is possible,” he said.

“If he comes off the bench, probably against Tottenham he will play only 20 minutes and we will know if he can play or not.”

“At the moment we should play with the all the team on Tuesday. It is important that we play a good game and win.

Tevez would be an added bonus for City who have failed to score in their last three games against Spurs.

As well as the Argentine, Gareth Barry was omitted at the weekend with a hamstring problem.

Pablo Zabaleta is set to recover from his ankle injury in time for Tuesday and Micah Richards is back from a hamstring injury.

Ian Holloway was proud but deflated after Blackpool went down fighting, losing 4-2 at Manchester United to drop out of the Premier League.Blackpool led 2-1 in the match at Old Trafford after goals from Charlie Adam and Gary Taylor-Fletcher cancelled out Park Ji-Sung’s opener.

But champions United equalised through Anderson, before an Ian Evatt own goal and Michael Owen’s strike secured victory for the home side.

Defeat means Blackpool will return to the Championship after one rollercoaster season in the top flight, with Holloway unable to hide his disappointment after coming close to an unlikely escape act.

“This is a special group down here and we’re very disappointed right now,” Holloway told Sky Sports.

“After taking the lead, we had started to believe we can do this. You saw the way we played, the chances we created; we’ve got to take those.”

“But United brought on Wayne Rooney, they’re used to winning and we lost out.”

“That aside, we’ve been absolutely outstanding and it’s hard to take.”

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson praised the efforts of Holloway and his valiant players.

“I think Blackpool have played their part,” Ferguson said.

“They play attractive and attacking football. They are a loss to the Premier League.”

United were presented with the Premier League trophy after the match, and Ferguson allowed his players the opportunity to celebrate before they begin preparations for the Champions League final against Barcelona next Saturday.

“This is a wonderful day,” Ferguson said.

“It’s when your season of hard work comes to fruition.”

“I think we deserved it, the team have worked so hard as a team. I think that’s what clinched it for us.”

“The team has had a great work ethic, they have worked their socks off.”

Ian Wright thinks it is time for England to make a stand against FIFA in order to save football. Ian Wright refers to the issues facing FIFA right now, which includes corruption, bribery, backhanders and now a presidential election where Sepp Blatter is the only choice. Wright goes on to compare the situation at FIFA at the moment to the Mafia.

Ian Wright’s suggestion is the FA leading national associations with a boycott of FIFA until this mess is sorted out a drastic step indeed – but a move the former Arsenal and England striker feels is necessary to force FIFA into change. Wright has concerns about the possibility of England pulling out of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup – but feels there are bigger issues at play here and safeguarding the way football is run being the most important thing.

The recent suspensions of Jack Warner and Mohamed Bin Hammam support the theory of corruption at FIFA. Wright feels that even if Blatter wasn’t involved in the corruption himself that doesn’t mean that he is innocent; surely Blatter must be questioned for failing to realise what was going on. As well as all of this is the continued questions on the Qatar World Cup bid and exactly what went on there. Of immediate concern is the fact that Blatter is the lone running for re-election.

We know that the FA had wanted the election to be postponed until someone to challenge Blatter can be found – but despite these calls it appears the election will still go ahead on Wednesday as planned. Wright suggested that Blatter has too much power for one man and treats world football like his own personal play thing. National associations must pull out of FIFA events and take the power of football back from one man and given back to the world.

It appears that Wright may have a point and pulling out of the FA may be the only way for FIFA to sit up and take notice. But surely it is only going to work if other Nations follow from the example in England. However, FIFA will want England at the World Cup and if other top Nations such as Spain, France, Germany…also pulled out then surely FIFA would have to act, wouldn’t they?

FIFA may also have other problems with the news that major sponsors Coca-Cola and Adidas are growing concerns – if either or both were to pull out it would be interesting to see what sort of impact that would have. But I think Ian Wright is right in order to reform FIFA someone needs to take drastic action, I have my doubts if that someone will be the English FA. But I would be reasonably confident that if someone else was to pull out – the FA would also do so.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Should the FA pull out of FIFA? Follow me on Twitter and debate this issue.

[ad_pod id=’unruly-2′ align=’right’]

Kashiwa Reysol are top of the J.League after a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Vegalta Sendai on Saturday.At the Kashiwa Hitachi Stadium, two of the competition’s top four sides clashed in one of the most exciting matches of the round.

But the contest failed to deliver goals, until the very last moment as Masakatsu Sawa hit a 94th minute winner for the leaders.

Yokohama F. Marinos remain a point behind Kashiwa in second after a 2-1 win at Jubilo Iwata.

Daisuke Nasu scored a 17th minute opener for the hosts, but they could not maintain that lead for long as Kazuma Watanabe struck with 10 minutes of the first half remaining to level proceedings.

Shunsuke Nakamura scored the winner six minutes into the second half from the penalty spot as Yokohama F. Marinos recorded their fourth win in a row.

In other matches, Kawasaki Frontale avoided a scare in their 3-2 home win over bottom-side Avispa Fukuoka.

Goals to Junichi Inamoto, Kengo Nakamura and Juninho looked to have given Kawasaki an easy victory but two goals in six minutes from Hideya Okamoto set up a nervous finale.

Genki Omae’s first-half injury time strike proved to be the winner in Shimizu S-Pulse’s 2-1 away win at Ventforet Kofu while Naoshi Nakamura scored with six minutes remaining to give Nagoya Grampus a 1-0 victory at Vissel Kobe.

Alexis Sanchez says he is at Barcelona to learn from the world’s best players after being unveiled by the Spanish and European champions.The 22-year-old Chile international has penned a five-year deal at Camp Nou after Barca agreed to pay Italian side Udinese a transfer fee that could total 37.5 million euros.

Barcelona have added a 100-million-euro release clause to the player’s contract and the former Udinese forward is eager to help the Catalan outfit win more trophies.

“I am very happy and I came to Barcelona to learn from the best in the world like Xavi and Lionel) Messi,” Sanchez said during a press conference on Monday.

“I want to leave an impression and I hope to help Barcelona win more titles. Barcelona are the best team in the world.”

Sanchez will get a taste of his first Clasico in August when Barcelona take on Real Madrid over two legs in the Spanish Supercopa.

Speaking of Real starlet Cristiano Ronaldo, Sanchez added: “I don’t like being compared with anyone, but Cristiano is a great player and I respect him.”

After an extended transfer saga that dragged out over the European summer, Sanchez claimed Barca manager Pep Guardiola was fundamental in his move to La Liga.

“He (Guardiola) called me and for me this was very important. It gave me confidence that he wanted me,” the player revealed.

Sanchez joins Barcelona after three years with Udinese, where his 12 goals in 31 games in Serie A helped the Italians secure a top-four finish last term.

West Brom boss Roy Hodgson has handed in his transfer wish list to the club’s hierarchy as he looks to build a competitive squad.The Baggies have made only two signings since the end of last season, bringing in Billy Jones and Gareth McAuley, and Hodgson is keen to make further additions before the start of the new Premier League season.

Hodgson guided West Brom to an 11th place finish after taking over at the Hawthorns in February, and he now wants to build a squad capable of pushing into the top 10.

“There are a couple of major targets that I have identified and would like to see the club sign,” Hodgson told The Express & Star.

“For me, it’s the sooner the better on them. I don’t think we need an awful lot.”

“We’ve got a big squad and decent squad, but there a couple of players I think could be really important for us and make a major difference.”

The loss of Scott Carson to Bursaspor leaves Hodgson without a genuine number one goalkeeper, one area he will surely be looking to address in the transfer market.

But Hodgson says he has made his wishes clear to chairman Jeremy Peace and sporting director Dan Ashworth, and hopes to be given the funds to pursue quality signings.

“The club know who they are – the chairman knows and Dan knows – and hopefully they will be working on that,” Hodgson said.

“I can’t say whether I’m confident because I don’t control the club and I don’t control the purse strings.”

“But I have made it very clear to the chairman and to Dan the ones I think would undoubtedly make us stronger.”

“Now it’s up to them to decide whether that is a possibility for the club or not.”

Roberto Mancini hailed the perfect opening to the Premier League season as City ran riot in the second half at the Etihad Stadium. New signing Sergio Aguero capped a super debut with two goals and assist, showing City fans there could be more than a future should Carlos Tevez choose to move on.

Elsewhere in the papers there have been a mixed bag of stories that include; Walcott critical of Capello’s preparation; Joey Barton in the clear, while Obi-Mikel pleads for his kidnapped father’s return.

*

Mancini hails ‘perfect night’ as Agüero shines on debut – Guardian

Walcott critical of Capello’s preparation – Guardian

Wenger defiant as heat rises on Arsenal – Guardian

Chelsea’s Mikel appeals over father’s kidnapping – Guardian

Don’t worry! De Gea will shine, claims former United legend Schmeichel – Daily Mail

Enrique says Carroll will terrorise defences after winning fitness battle – Daily Mail

Meireles is Chelsea’s latest target as Blues weigh up new Modric bid – Daily Mail

Spurs’ next signing must be a striker – Mirror

Barton in the clear over row – Sun

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Shay’s Given Villa an injury scare – Sun

Anelka wants to quit Chelsea – Mirror

[ad_pod id=’unruly-2′ align=’right’]

Two sides tipped for the drop already meet in an early relegation six pointer that could be seen as a defining game at the end of the season. The Swans started their Premier League life with a crushing defeat against mega bucks Manchester City and Sergio Agüero in particular. Wigan also suffered a disappointing draw against fellow promoted side Norwich City.

The Liberty Stadium will hold its first ever top-flight game and manager Brendan Rodgers will be looking for a positive response from his players after the hiding on Monday night in Manchester. Keeper Michael Vorm is sure to have an easier afternoon at the Liberty after the shift he put in on Monday.  Wigan boss Roberto Martinez will also be hoping his side can secure their first three points of the season although they looked bereft of any attacking threat on Saturday and were outplayed by Norwich in large parts of the game.  Captain Garry Monk is the only man who will be missing whilst their opponents have a clean bill of health.

Key Players

[player_profile slug=”scott-sinclair” align=”left”]

Scott Sinclair: The winger is Swansea’s main attacking threat and will be given more of a chance to impress against the Latics than he was on Monday night.

[divider]

[player_profile slug=”hugo-rodallega” align=”left”]

Hugo Rodallega: Wigan need goals and although the Colombian has performed well in the last few seasons his goals total needs to increase to compensate the loss of Charles N’Zogbia.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

[divider]

Verdict: 2-1