Germany midfielder Thomas Mueller is the favourite to be voted the best young player at South Africa 2010 but has admitted winning the World Cup would have been a better prize.

The 20-year-old has been short-listed by a FIFA committee for the award won by team-mate Lukas Podolski four years ago along with Mexico s Giovani Dos Santos and Ghana s Andre Ayew.

After Germany were beaten 1-0 by Spain in Wednesday s semi-final, Mueller says his side must now win Saturday s third place play-off against Uruguay in Port Elizabeth to finish their World Cup on a high.

I am delighted to be on that list, but winning the World Cup would have been a nicer reward, said the Bayern Munich midfielder.

I think we need a win to leave South Africa on a high.

Having …

Milan striker Mario Balotelli has rubbished suggestions he made a joke at Real Madrid s expense by suggesting the club are inferior to Spanish rivals Barcelona.

The Italy international, who arrived back at San Siro on a season-long loan from Milan in August, is reported to have made a dig in Real s direction by suggesting Barca used the Santiago Bernabeu for training. 

Barcelona is the only club to have two stadiums, Camp Nou for matches and Bernabeu for training, he is reported to have said.

However, Balotelli, so often outspoken during spells with Inter, Manchester City and Liverpool, took to Twitter to deny the joke, accusing people of making it up.

Just to let you people know.., he posted.  Stop putting stupid words in my mouth! I never mad…

Crystal Palace F.C. winger Yannick Bolasie has committed his future to the club by signing a new long-term deal at Selhurst Park.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo international, who joined the Eagles from Bristol City for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2012, has scored seven goals in 119 appearances in all competitions for the club.

Bolasie, 26, was heavily linked with a exit from Selhurst Park this summer, with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur among the reported suitors.

However, Palace manager Alan Pardew has insisted that no bid came in for the 26-year-old during the summer transfer window.

This is a good news story for the club, to secure this guy, Pardew told the club s official website. Not only is he an exciting player who ou…

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Arsenal host Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening in what looks the standout game of this weekend s Premier League fixtures.

Arsenal

Starting with the host, after Arsene Wenger saw his 22-year reign in North London come to an end last summer, the Gunners have done an impressive job of adjusting to life under Unai Emery. Despite losing their opening two Premier League games to Manchester City and Chelsea, the Gunners are now enjoying a 13 match unbeaten run across all competitions. Scoring 24 goals already this season, only the defending champions have a better attacking record in the Premier League. While the hosts have now not dropped a point since August 18th, t…

Adelaide United confirmed Guillermo Amor will not continue as coach in 2017-18, with the former Barcelona midfielder having informed the A-League club of his decision to leave on Wednesday.

Amor leaves Adelaide after three years, with the Spaniard having started at the club as a technical director before taking over as coach from compatriot Josep Gombau before the 2015-16 A-League campaign.

Adelaide was Amor s first job as a head coach.

The Reds won their inaugural A-League championship under Amor last season, while also claiming the Premier s Plate, but Adelaide s defence of those two titles never truly got going in 2016-17.

Amor struggled to improve Adelaide s form as they failed to win in their first eight matches and eventually finished ninth, while t…

Real Madrid are open to offers for the services of Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale, according to .

The 13-time European giants haven t given up on their interest in signing Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund and Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain, and the money potentially received for Hazard and Bale would go towards securing the funds for the two rising stars.

It has now been two full seasons since Hazard arrived to Madrid for Chelsea for a fee believed to have been in the region of €120 million, and he has so far scored mere five goals and produced 8 assists in all competitions for Real, during what has been a spell heavily hit with injuries.

There has been a lot of talk about Bale in recent years. His relationship with head coach Zinedine Zidane and the…

Sevilla topping LaLiga ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid has come as a surprise to defender Simon Kjaer, who warned there is a lot more to come from the Spanish leaders this season.

There is a shock pacesetter in LaLiga, where Sevilla are a point clear of defending champions Barca heading into matchday nine following the international break.

After opening the season with a 4-1 rout of Rayo Vallecano, Sevilla went three league games without a win – drawing at home to Villarreal before losing the Seville derby to Real Betis and going down to Getafe.

Sevilla, however, have won four successive LaLiga games since, including a 6-2 demolition of Levante and a 3-0 masterclass against European champions Real Madrid last month to top the table.

Tres puntos segui…

Bayern Munich said Wednesday they have started legal action against a senior member of European football s governing body UEFA over unsubstantiated allegations of corruption made in German magazine Stern.

The complaint, filed in the Munich offices of the state prosecutor, is against UEFA s head of their disciplinary service Peter Limacher and his colleague Robin Boksic.

According to Bayern, the pair made comments that were totally untrue and slandererous in an article to appear in Stern on Thursday.

In the edition of Stern magazine, to be published on Thursday, we read that these two people have discredited the club and individuals in professional football, read a statement issued by Bayern.

Bayern Munich will do everything in its power to see that the…

Germany defender Jerome Boateng is suffering from a bout of flu and will miss Tuesday s Euro 2012 qualifier against Kazakhstan in Astana, team officials said Monday.

Boateng s place as left back is set to be filled by Heiko Westermann, who played in Friday s 3-0 win over Turkey.

In other team news Germany manager Joachim Loew is waiting on playmaker Mesut Ozil, who injured his left ankle against Turkey, to pass a fitness test later Monday.

Loew s team, runners-up at Euro 2008 and third in the World Cup, head Group A on nine points with pointless Kazakhstan footing the table after notching up their third straight loss, to Belgium, in their latest qualifier last week.

…

Kevin-Prince Boateng has labelled the Ghana Football Association amateurish following his indefinite suspension from the national team.

Boateng and team-mate Sulley Muntari were banished from the Ghana squad on the eve of their final Group G fixture against Portugal at the FIFA World Cup last week for alleged indiscipline.

Schalke midfielder Boateng, who retired from international football in 2011 only to return two years later, was sent home for vulgar verbal insults targeted at coach Kwesi Appiah during a training session.

While Muntari was banned after an unprovoked attack on an executive committee member of the GFA and a management member of the Black Stars .

Boateng has since lifted the lid on Ghana s torrid World Cup campaign that saw the country ex…