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Beckham picks up back injury

La  Galaxy midfielder David Beckham missed training due to a back injury which makes him a doubt for the weekends match against Barcelona. Beckham suffered the injury earlier in the week but had been confident of recovering in time for the training.

“It’s not a problem,” Beckham said. “I’ve had something like this in the past. It comes up every now and then. I just did my work in the gym and got some treatment.”

Barcelona comes off an unprecedented treble, having won the European Champions League, Spain’s first division title and the Spanish Copa del Rey crown this season.

Beckham plans to play against the European side before the Galaxy return to the hunt for a Major League Soccer playoff berth.

“I hope so, unless I have a bad reaction from the last couple of days,” said Beckham. “But I think it will be fine. It’s feeling a lot better that it was so, fingers crossed, it will be good.”

Arena was confident that Beckham will be available, saying, “We expect him to be ready on Saturday” and that the England stalwart was “just nursing something.”

After two lackluster seasons serving as an attendance and television viewership lure, Beckham finds himself the target of jeers. He challenged Galaxy fans who yelled at him during a home exhibition against AC Milan to meet him on the field and was fined 1,000 dollars for the move.

Beckham said the secret to handling fan abuse was “just ignoring it as much as you can.”

Eduardo to be Fit for Belarus Match

After suffering an injury that kept him out for over a year, Eduardo Da Silva is now ready to make his return to the Croatia squad ahead of their World Cup Qualifier against Belarus in Minsk on the 12th of August.

Eduardo played his first match of pre-season with the Arsenal squad in which they won 5-0 over Szombathelyi Haladas. Eduardo scored two of Gunners’ 5 goals in the first half. Arsene Wenger and Slaven Bilić both had praise for Dudu as he looked in excellent form to be back. Slaven Bilić said to the media after the match, “How could I not be satisfied with Eduardo’s game? He is again excellent despite all his injuries. He is in great shape.”

Eduardo expressed his happiness to be back on the pitch. He said, “I believe I will be in top form for the game with Belarus. I am feeling very good, almost as good as before I was injured.” His return will certainly boost the confidence of his nation as they close their WC qualifying campaign within the next couple of months.

Bilić later announced his squad lineup for the qualifier. The lineup is as follows:

Stipe Pletikosa, Vedran Runje, Vedran Ćorluka, Dejan Lovren, Josip Šimunić, Ivica Križanac, Danijel Pranjić, Hrvoje Čale, Ivan Jurić, Ognjen vukojević, Nikola Pokrivač, Jerko Leko, Luka Modrić, Darijo Srna, Niko Kranjčar, Ivan Rakitić, Ivica Olić, Mladen Petrić, Mario Mandžukić, Eduardo Da Silva

Jill Guthrie

Hargreaves suffers injury setback

Manchester United and England midfielder Owen Hargreaves has again suffered a setback in his attempt to return from injury. The 28-year-old has had operations on both knees in the past year in a bid to cure tendinitis and there were hopes he would be back at the end of September.

“We had hoped he would be joining us but he is still in rehabilitation,” said United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

“He has had major operations on both knees and we are not rushing that.”

Hargreaves is currently in the United States being treated by renowned knee surgeon Dr Richard Steadman.

Hargreaves has not played since September 2008 and had hoped to be back for the start of the season but this setback will only add to concerns that the player may have to retire if his knees do not sufficiently recover.

His condition, patellar tendinitis, can be described as inflammation of the tendon that attaches the quadriceps (thigh muscle) to the tibia (shin bone).

Hargreaves may not have joined the United squad in Germany but centre-half Nemanja Vidic and summer signing Antonio Valencia have travelled to Munich.

Vidic appears to have recovered from an ankle injury he picked up playing for Serbia in June, while winger Valencia - seen as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, who has joined Real Madrid - needed to go back to Ecuador to gain a UK visa following his move from Wigan.

Ferguson also revealed that new signing defender Gabriel Obertan would miss the first three months of the season with an injury that was already known about when he signed from Bordeaux.

Thomson could help Scotland cause

Rangers midfielder has largely been over looked at international level even though he was arguably Rangers best player last season before getting injured. The former Hibs layer took a while to settle at Ibrox but once he did he soon put his stamp on the team and is hotly tipped to be the next Rangers captain.

Thomson made his return to action against FC Nuremburg at the weekend and after teh game the midfielder spoke getting back playing.

I knew I was going to get on but waiting for it lasted for ages,” Thomson told the Rangers website.

“It was nice to get on for the last half hour. My performance wasn’t great but it was great to be back out there.”

Thomson injured his knee in an accidental collision with Kilmarnock striker David Fernandez in November last year.

Now that he is once more kicking a ball in anger, the 24-year-old is keen to feature in manager Walter Smith’s team.

“I hope that can be the launch pad for a good pre-season,” said Thomson.

“I hope to be involved again when we play SC Wiedenbruck on Tuesday. The trip has been a bit stop-start and my knee has been a wee bit puffy as a result.

“But we’ll keep icing my knee up, take every precaution possible and hopefully I’ll be able to get some more minutes under my belt.”

Although the talk of a Scotland call u may be premature for a player only starting his return from injury, Scotland may need his qualities especially with former Scotland captain Barry Ferguson no longer an option for George Burley to pick. If Thomson can get back to the form that he showed last season then there is nothing to stop him getting a call up to the Scotland first team.

Relief for Gerrard as jury find him not guilty

England star Steven Gerrard has been cleared of affray after an incident in a Merseyside bar. 

Gerrard had admitted punching 34 year old Marcus McGee but denied affray, claiming he was acting in self defence. 

The incident happened on December 29^th of last year, when the Liverpool player went out drinking with friends following a 5-1 victory over Newcastle. Trouble flared up at around 2am after Mr McGee refused to change the music on the CD player. Gerrard then hit McGee after he “very quickly” got off his bar stool. 

Friends proceeded to pull Gerrard away but the victim lost a tooth and suffered cuts to his face in the ensuing violence. 

A jury took just over 70 minutes to find the England international not guilty and Judge Henry Globe told him: “The verdict is a credible verdict on the full facts of this case, and you walk away from this court with your reputation intact.” 

“At all times you insisted that you only ever acted in what you believed was reasonable self-defence to what you understandably, albeit you accept mistakenly, believed was an attempted attack upon you by Marcus McGee. 

Gerrard was quick to express his pleasure at the verdict, saying: “I’d like to put this case behind me. I’m really looking forward to the season ahead and concentrating on football, 

“I’d like to say a big thank you to my legal team, my friends and family and to everyone at Liverpool Football Club for supporting me.” 

The verdict will also please England boss Fabio Capello who may have been put under pressure to drop Gerrard, had he been found guilty. Former Leeds defender Jonathan Woodgate was left out of the 2002 World Cup squad after being found guilty of affray and had the same thing happened to Gerrard, it would have severely damaged England’s 2010 prospects.

Hutton hopes for Scotland re-call

Alan Hutton has suffered a tough time over the last few months struggling with injury just as the former Rangers player was looking at coming into his best form, but the defender played against Barcelona in the Wembley cup at the weekend and hopes to mark his return with a recall to the Scotland squad to face Norway on the 12th of August.

“That’s another incentive for myself to keep pushing and working hard because it’s such a big game for us,” Hutton told BBC Scotland.

Hutton’s last appearance in a Scotland shirt came in the World Cup qualifying win over Iceland at Hampden in April.

He had battled back from an injury suffered at the start of the season, but after the international he missed another four months of the season.

And he revealed that battling his way back to full fitness had proved difficult.

“Last year was a bit of a write-off for seven months and it was quite a bad injury I had,” he said.

“That’s all behind me now and I’m training well and looking to the future.”

“These things happen in football and you just have to pick yourself up,” he said.

“I came back a bit too early last time and did myself a bit of harm, but I’ve learned from my mistakes and I’m fit and ready.”

The defender still retains hopes that Scotland will qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa.

“We just have to put in another few performances and hopefully we can get there,” he added.

Hutton said Spurs manager Harry Redknapp had told him to knuckle down and work his way back into his first-team at White Hart Lane.

Competition at full-back has intensified with Kyle Naughton’s arrival, after he signed along with Kyle Walker from Sheffield United in a combined £10m deal.

Becks keen to take part in friendly

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham has admitted that he is ready to feature for England in their friendly against Holland in August.

Becks has just returned to the MLS club, after spending several months on loan at Italian giants AC Milan.

He said: “Everyone knows that I’ve always been available for my country whether it be a friendly or a qualifying game so I’m always available.

“I’ve spoken to (Galaxy coach) Bruce (Arena) and he’s more than happy that if I get called up for my country he and the club totally support that, so it’s not a problem.”

FIFA fine Ivory Coast

World football’s governing body FIFA on Wednesday fined Ivory Coast’s football federation and imposed crowd restrictions following a deadly stampede at Abidjan’s main stadium last March.

FIFA have fined the Ivorian Football federation $4,7000 but has also donated $96,000 to a fund set-up for the victims’ families.

The safety measures will be in place for the Elephants’ next round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in September.

The capacity for the match against Burkina Faso on 5 September will be set at 20,000, with a control cordon to be set up at least one kilometre from the stadium.

A separate spectator control cordon around 200 metres away will prevent non-ticket holders getting through.

“The total capacity of the stadium (34,600) will only be allowed in subsequent matches if the above-mentioned measures are applied for each match,” Fifa said in a statement.

Fifa investigators spoke with Ivorian police, football and government officials but the disciplinary ruling did not blame anyone.

More than 130 people were injured as Ivory Coast beat Malawi 5-0, with a reported 36,000 trying to cram into a stadium which has a capacity of 34,600.

The crush occurred when thousands of fans massed outside the Felix Boigny stadium before the World Cup qualifier.

Eriksson takes Notts County job

In what can only be described as a shock move, Sven-Goran Eriksson has taken the role of director of football at Notts County. He will be joined by his assistant Tord Grip.

Eriksson spent 5 years with England before a short time in charge of Manchester City and with the Mexican national team before getting sacked earlier this year. Eriksson had been hotly tipped for a return to the Premiership with Portsmouth one of the teams most hotly tipped.

Eriksson said: “I am particularly attracted to this role and the unique opportunity to help build a club over the longer term.”

The Magpies were taken over by a Middle-Eastern consortium a week ago.

Eriksson will start his role with immediate effect, will also be a shareholder and his remuneration will be determined by the success of the team.

The Swede will be responsible for transfer negotiations and scouting, health, fitness and development of players, training facilities, the youth academy and establishing community and overseas links.

Eriksson started his managerial career in lower-league football with Degerfors in his homeland and won promotion at the first time of asking.

“I can think of no better challenge than to attempt to do that again but this time with the world’s oldest football club, where we can add to a proud tradition and hopefully bring some richly deserved success,” he stated.

The consortium Munto Finance is believed to have wiped out County’s debts of about £1m when taking over from a supporters’ trust earlier this month and has pledged to finance a sustained bid for Championship football over the next five years

Notts County chairman Peter Trembling said: “Sven and his team join us with an unrivalled football pedigree.

“Their knowledge of the game and contacts throughout the football world will significantly enhance Notts County’s prospects.

“Sven shares our vision and to attract someone of his calibre is testament to the ambition that we all share for Notts County. This is a great day for everyone associated with the club.”

Iwelumo to miss start of season

Chris Iwelumo was hoping to make his comeback from injury in time to take his spot in the Wolves team for the start of the season and to take part in Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers but the striker looks like missing the first two months of the season as a result of his metatarsal operation.

“They’re saying it’s about three months, so we’ll just get on with it and see how it goes,” he said.

Iwelumo limped off during the 1-0 victory over Perth Glory following a tangle of legs with former Leeds player Jacob Burns and X-rays later revealed a break.

The 30-year-old had initially retained some hope of facing Norway in Oslo on 12 August and promoted Wolves’ return to England’s top-flight against West Ham three days later.

“The operation went well and I’m now just getting ready for rehab,” he told Wolves’ website.

“I’ve had the injury before, so I know what’s required.

“Maybe it’s a slight consolation that, by the time the season starts, I’ll be a good few weeks into recovery, but obviously I was hoping to be involved.”

Iwelumo had just fought back from injury when he received his latest knock so it is a blow for the striker to spend even more time on the sidelines.

“Obviously I was devastated, having been back for a few weeks of pre-season,” he said.

“You work so hard to get yourself right and everyone had come back in fantastic shape and I got injured in the first few minutes of the first game.

“It’s difficult to take, but it’s part and parcel of football and I’ll just have to get on with it.”

Scotland are still hoping to earn a play-off position in Group nine as one of the best runners up but Iwelumo is just the latest in a line of injury doubt for the next match including Craig Gordon, Stephen McManus, Scott Brown, Barry Robson, James Morrison and Kirk Broadfoot.

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