Frey seals move to Genoa

Former France goalkeeper Sebastien Frey has completed his switch to Genoa from Fiorentina. Fiorentina revealed the finishing touches on a five-year contract have been completed, after the deal had been revealed last week. “ACF Fiorentina announces that it has sold, on a permanent basis, Sebastien Frey to Genoa CFC,” a statement on the club’s official website read. “The company thanks him for the seasons spent together and wish him the best achievements of success for the rest of his career.” Frey spent six seasons with La Viola but had fallen down the pecking order at the club after a knee injury ruled him out for most of last season. The 31-year-old, who made the last of his two France caps in 2008, is looking forward to resuming his career with Genoa. “I can’t wait to get started,” he told Genoa’s official website. “On Tuesday, I’ll start house-hunting. I have already spoken to Dario (Dainelli, Genoa defender) and he’s told me the club is like a big family.” Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

Bragantino 3-0 Duque de Caxias (Serie B)

Levante 0-2 Penarol

Colombia 2-0 Mali (World Cup U-20)

France 3-1 South Korea (World Cup U-20)

Baines understands Jagielka interest

Everton left-back Leighton Baines is not surprised by Arsenal’s interest in centre-back Phil Jagielka. Arsenal are in the market to bolster their backline this summer and it was recently reported they had an offer in the region of £12 million turned down by Everton for Jagielka. The Gunners are expected to make a second approach, but Baines insists Everton’s squad is unfazed by the rumours surrounding Jagielka’s future at Goodison Park. He told the Liverpool Echo : “It’s not unsettling, really. In some respects, we are a club that doesn’t get a lot of speculation. I’m sure there are other clubs that have a lot more going on in the rumour mill. “Personally I don’t really follow it. But it’s not a surprise to me that a top club would want somebody like Phil. He is fantastic and one of the top three of four defenders the country has got. “We as players would like to hold on to him if we can. We just have to pay not too much attention to it and not get involved with it, we just have to keep on doing our jobs.” Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

Sergio replaces Jefferies at Hearts

Hearts have appointed former Sporting Lisbon coach Paulo Sergio as their new manager. Jim Jefferies was sacked on Monday with reports quickly emerging that Sergio was being lined up to take over at Tynecastle. And the 43-year-old Portuguese who managed Sporting for six months last season, was duly appointed on Tuesday morning with the club confirming Jefferies has rejected an offer to become director of football. Jefferies told the club’s official website: “Even though I’m disappointed at leaving the club and everyone knows my strong connection to Hearts, I’d like to thank the club for the opportunity myself and Billy have had in the last 18 months. “I also appreciate the offer to develop in a new role at Hearts, however it has perhaps come too soon and it might be something that I would consider at a later date. “I want to wish the players and staff all the best for the forthcoming season and I’ll certainly be hoping the boys can do the business on Thursday night.” The Hearts players were reportedly told by much-maligned owner Vladimir Romanov on Monday that a manager “with European experience” was needed at the club and they were due to report to Tynecastle on Tuesday to meet their new boss – whose Sporting side were knocked out of the Europa League in the last 32 by Rangers in February. Romanov, whose seven-year tenure at Tynecastle is littered with managerial casualties including John Robertson, George Burley, Graham Rix, Valdas Ivanauskas and Anatoliy Korobochka, was at Tynecastle on Sunday to see Hearts lose 1-0 to Dundee United in the Scottish Premier League. The Jambos are without a win since the 3-2 defeat of St Mirren on March 19 – a run of form which is reported to have influenced Romanov’s decision. However, Hearts started the season with a 1-1 draw against Rangers at Ibrox in the SPL and followed it up with a 1-1 draw against Paks in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier in Hungary. Director Sergejus Fedotovas said: “We would like to thank Jim for his service to the club. He has supported us in our efforts to develop the team and the wider squad and we have enjoyed a good working relationship. “The club did offer Jim another senior position but we understand his reasons for not accepting this and we wish him well for his future career beyond Hearts.” Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

Argentina confirm Sabella appointment

Alejandro Sabella will take over as Argentina coach until after the 2014 World Cup finals, Argentine Football Association (AFA) president Julio Grondona has confirmed. AFA general secretary Jose Luis Meiszner last week revealed former Estudiantes boss Sabella was the organisation’s first choice to succeed Sergio Batista, who was sacked after the team’s dismal Copa America showing last month. Grondona has validated his colleague’s comments, but said there would no formal unveiling, with Sabella’s appointment now common knowledge. Grondona told Fox Sports: “The details are being finalised but Sabella has already been presented (in the media) and will be coach from now until the World Cup in Brazil, contingent on Argentina qualifying for the tournament.” Sabella, 56, had been expected to take over United Arab Emirates team Al-Jazira, having signed an agreement to coach the UAE Pro-League club on June 11. But he failed to arrive in the country on schedule, opting instead to take up vthe opportunity to lead his national team. After a playing career that included spells at River Plate, Sheffield United, Leeds and Estudiantes, Sabella served regularly as an assistant coach to Daniel Passarella, who was head coach of Argentina between 1994 and 1998. Passarella and Sabella also worked together with Uruguay, Italian side Parma, Corinthians of Brazil and Mexican team Monterrey. Sabella then led Estudiantes to Copa Libertadores glory in 2009 and the Argentinian Apertura title a year later, before resigning in February 2011. He made four appearances as a player for the Argentina national team. Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

Sporting close in on Barca’s Jeffren

Barcelona winger Jeffren Suarez is edging closer to a move to Sporting, according to his father. Jeffren, 23, has been linked with a transfer away from Camp Nou for some time after struggling to establish himself as a first-team regular under Pep Guardiola. Liverpool and Bolton had been among those clubs linked with a swoop for the Spain Under-21 international, who recently tasted glory at the European Championship, but it is Portuguese side Sporting who look set to complete his signing. The player’s father Efren Suarez, who is also the winger’s agent, confirmed that a €5 million move is close. “Things are going in a really nice direction; there are only a few details about the deal left,” Suarez told Portugese newspaper A Bola . Jeffren made his debut for Barca in the 2006-07 season but with Guardiola consistently preferring Pedro as a starter, the Bolivian-born winger’s chances have been limited and he has now decided it is time to leave the club after seven years. Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

Kings of the draw and the ex-factor

Norman Hubbard is ESPNsoccernet’s resident anorak. If you have any questions on football facts, statistics or trivia, please send them to asknorman@hotmail.com and he’ll try to answer as many as possible. Paraguay made it to the final of the Copa America without winning a single match in standard time. They drew all three group matches and won their quarter and semi-final matches on penalties. Do you know if this has ever happened in any major competition before? Alan Goldhammer asked Much to the disappointment of statisticians, if not Uruguayans, Paraguay couldn’t quite manage to become the first team to win a major international tournament without actually winning a game. However, Gerardo Martinez’s draw specialists – who held Ecuador 0-0, Brazil 2-2, Venezuela 3-3, Brazil (again) 0-0 and then Venezuela (for a second time) 0-0 – are indeed unique in one respect: they got to the Copa America final when five successive games finished level after 90 – and, in two cases, 120 – minutes. That surpassed the record of Argentina, who reached the 1993 Copa America final after four draws in a row, though they had won their first group game. Technically, however, Paraguay have company, though in each case the circumstances are very different. Eventual winners Italy got to the final of Euro 1968 without winning a game – they beat the Soviet Union on a coin toss after a 0-0 draw. However, whereas 16 nations are in the modern European Championships, then the tournament itself only included four teams and Italy won five games in qualifying, plus one leg of their quarter-final, before reaching the competition proper. For many years, meanwhile, the Copa America did not have a final as such. It was played in a league format and Brazil triumphed in 1922 despite not winning until their last group game. They did emerge victorious twice, however, against Argentina and then in the subsequent play-off with Paraguay. Perhaps strangest of all, Ethiopia actually reached the final of the first African Nations Cup in 1957 without winning. They also got there without drawing or losing: only four teams were invited and one of them, South Africa, were disqualified due to apartheid. They were due to be Ethiopia’s semi-final opponents, so the Ethiopians got a bye to the final where they duly lost 4-0 to Egypt. That means, among other things, that they were also runners-up in the tournament without scoring a single goal. However, in the history of the World Cup, Confederations Cup, European Championships, Copa America, African Nations Cup, Gold Cup and Asian Cup, in no tournament with eight or more teams had a side got to the final without winning until Paraguay this year. Was this the first time that neither Brazil nor Argentina qualified for a Copa America semi-final? If it’s happened before, how many times in the past has that happened? Hamza Olaitan asked Perhaps surprisingly, it’s not the first time. Indeed, it is only ten years since the last Copa America semi-finals didn’t include either of the South American superpowers. Brazil were beaten 2-0 by Honduras in the quarter-finals while Argentina didn’t take part after their players received death threats from terrorist groups. The four teams who did reach the semi-finals, by the way, were Colombia (the eventual winners), Honduras, Uruguay and Mexico, the runners-up. Before then, however, you have to go back to 1939 for a South American Championships – as the Copa America was then known – for a last four that did not include either Brazil or Argentina and for a very simple reason: neither participated. There weren’t semi-finals as the five teams met home and away in a league format, with Peru (winners), Uruguay (second), Paraguay and Chile finishing as the top four. That is the only other time neither Brazil nor Argentina have been in the last four, so the 2011 tournament is the first to contain both Brazil and Argentina without either reaching the semi-finals, or ending up among the top four. Of all the teams in the Premier League last season, which team had the highest number of ex-players playing for other teams in the division. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is Newcastle with the likes of Shay Given, Andy Carroll, Damien Duff, Michael Owen and many more, Philip Owen asked Newcastle do have a sizeable continent of former players, also including Habib Beye, Obafemi Martins, James Milner, Stephen Carr, Lee Bowyer, Kieron Dyer, Scott Parker, Andy O’Brien, Aaron Hughes, Abdoulaye Faye, Titus Bramble, Jermaine Jenas, Jonathan Woodgate and Charles N’Zogbia. Which, by my reckoning, makes 18, and makes you correct. I came across 15 former Tottenham players and 14 Manchester United old boys (mainly graduates of their youth system), but the high turnover at St James’ Park means that Newcastle do, indeed, have the ex-factor. Just to clarify, I am excluding players loaned out, so Danny Welbeck does not count as a former Manchester United player, and only counting players with at least one senior appearance for their former club and their top-flight employer last season. Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

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