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Jose Mourinho insists that second place in La Liga will be good enough for Real Madrid, but only if the team refuse to give up.

Mourinho’s side won 4-1 at home to Real Sociedad on Sunday but are already seven points adrift of league leaders Barcelona.

With the defending champion in ominous form, Mourinho could be set to lead a team to second place for the first time since 2007 and only the second time in eight full seasons as a manager.

“I’m here to try to win the title, but nothing will be the matter if I end up in second place,” Mourinho said.

“What’s important to me is that we don’t give away the championship. If we do our job well and finish second we will be able to hold our heads high at the start of the holidays. Mathematics still say it is possible for us to win.”

The Santiago Bernabeu breathed a collective sigh of relief when star man Cristiano Ronaldo broke his four-game scoring drought with a brace in the win over Sociedad.

But with 24 league goals to his name already this season, Mourinho insists the Portugal captain has far exceeded expectations.

“Ronaldo’s run in La Liga will be fantastic even if he doesn’t score another goal in the remainder of the season,” he said.

“He always plays to the limit of his capabilities and ambitions. He gives his all for this team. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t score.”

Mourinho also praised his new strike force of Manchester City loanee Emmanuel Adebayor and France international Karim Benzema.

“Adebayor played very well and proved why he’s here. We have two strikers in optimum form right now who have different characteristics. Karim played 85 minutes against Sevilla and will most surely face Brazil with France next week. That’s why I played Adebayor. We are happy with both players. This situation is perfect,” he said.

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But the highest marks were reserved for German Mesut Oezil, who filled in for Argentina’s Angel di Maria with great success.

“Oezil has a lot of responsibility with us and with Germany, who are an important national team. He responds well to this,” Mourinho said.

“He played in Di Maria’s position today and the way he covered open spaces made it look like it was his natural position. He will be a fantastic player for Real Madrid for ten years. He has won us all over, fans and team alike.”

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has stated that he has signed a new six-year contract to win six more Premier League titles.

The Belgian defender led the Etihad Stadium outfit to their first top-flight crown in 44 years last term, and has recently extended his stay with Roberto Mancini’s men.

However, Kompany’s ambition has not yet relinquished, as he looks for a period of success for Manchester City.

“I have signed a six-year deal, so there are six titles possible within those years, so you know what? I want to get them all,” he told reporters, published in The Daily Mail.

“It probably won’t happen, but we will see in six years’ time. I will try everything for that.

“We have a competition on our hands, it’s clear. You can clearly see all the other teams have reacted to what happened last season and come out stronger.

“But I think we’ll come out stronger too because we’re one season further down the line in terms of playing together. That lack of familiarity was always our problem.

“I have heard comments from other people but what did our manager say for the last six games of last season? That we’d lost the title.

“Mind games, mind games. It’s like I said last year: If you win you’re right, if you lose you’re always wrong, so I can’t focus on that at the moment.

“All I can focus on is really what’s important now is getting our team to full-strength, like we were last season. And, regardless of the opposition, we need to better ourselves.

“For me, I would find it a shame next season if we didn’t manage to improve again.

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“For the four seasons I’ve been at this club we’ve finished 10th, fifth, third and now first,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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A last gasp Mikel Arteta penalty secured Everton’s first win of the season at Ewood Park and heaped more misery on Blackburn, who missed two penalties of their own and have now lost all three games this season.

David Hoilett and Mauro Formica squandered a penalty each in the second half leaving Steve Kean cursing his sides luck and shoddy finishing before Arteta showed them how it should be done from 12-yards to claim victory.

The Spaniard struck from the spot in the 92nd minute after Christopher Samba was harshly judged to have climbed all over Marouane Fellaini in the penalty area with referee Lee Mason showing no hesitation to award a penalty.

Kean will be seething with Hoilett and Formica after they both failed to score from the spot in the second half . The 21-year-old Canadian shot tamely at Tim Howard in the visitors goal after young Ross Barkley had fouled striker Formica in the Everton penalty area.

Mason then pointed to the spot again in the 82nd minute after Formica was fouled by Phil Jagielka only for the Argentine striker to smash is penalty off the post before Samba upended Fellaini at the death allowing Arteta to step up and win the game.

He duly obliged cooly converting the penalty to hand the Toffees their first three points of the new campaign. As for Blackburn things lurch from bad to worse for Kean who finds his side rock bottom of the Premier League.

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Check the winning the numbers from this week’s Goaldash here

Celtic scored their third win in 11 days over struggling Aberdeen with a comfortable 3-0 triumph at Pittodrie on Tuesday.

A 1-0 Scottish Premier League win at Celtic Park on January 22 was followed by a 4-1 thumping in the semi-final of the CIS Cup at Hampden on Saturday.

On Tuesday, it was back to league duty and striker Anthony Stokes – who scored in both previous wins – continued to be a thorn in Aberdeen’s side.

It was a nightmare start to the game for Aberdeen, who conceded a penalty and had defender Andrew Considine sent off after only two minutes, but goalkeeper Jamie Langfield did well to save Stokes’ spot kick.

Celtic did not have to wait long to take the lead, however, and Gary Hooper scored 10 minutes later although Aberdeen defended doggedly from that point on.

Mark Wilson eventually doubled Celtic’s advantage with 15 minutes to go, and Stokes bobbed up three minutes later to complete the rout.

The win sees Celtic increase their lead at the top of the league to eight points over arch-rivals Rangers, who have three games in hand.

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Elsewhere on Tuesday, St Johnstone leapfrogged Motherwell into seventh place with a 2-0 win over bottom side Hamilton.

Midfielder Steve May scored four minutes into the match, then again just a minute after the interval to give St Johnstone all three points.

Sitting in the opulent green countryside of East Staffordshire, unused and unspoilt, is St. George’s Park, the nucleus of the future of English Football. With an interminable list of state-of-the-art facilities available, the centre of excellence is set to provide a springboard to take the state of the nation’s most popular sport and launch it into eventual triumph. David Sheepshanks, joint acting Chairman of the FA has described the Centre as the “Mecca” of English Football; certainly an assured statement from the man who gave the green light for FA funding. However, after yet another mediocre performance from the national team this summer and with the rapid decline of national talent plying its trade in the Premier League, this may be the perfect time to have invested £105 million into renovating Football in this country.

“The backcloth to the quest for sporting excellence” as is so astutely phrased in the official website of St George’s Park, is certainly a valid description of the Centre. 11 outdoor pitchers along with 1 indoor pitch that is an exact replica of the dimensions of Wembley, an indoor running track as well as a sports hall for Futsal, Hydrotherapy suites, Seminar rooms, Strength and Conditioning gyms, Biomechanics and screening areas, individual Goalkeeping Areas along with many other facilities make the Burton Centre for excellence not only a revolutionary residence but a reference point for other nations to admire.

Sheepshanks adhered to the fact that recent English campaigns have been incredibly average and that we need to begin chasing the likes of Spain and Germany who, for the first time, are in a whole different class to England. To achieve a level playing field with the world’s greatest, a technical director is set to be appointed, who will oversee the activities at the Centre of Excellence from grass roots to senior national team. When asked about this forthcoming appointment, Sheepshanks stated,

“The appointment is almost as important (as building St George’s Park) when you consider the job of the future development of the game,”

He continued, “I think it will be someone who is very forward-thinking and committed to the long-term success of English football. Trevor Brooking has said we need to develop more technically-adept players but also more responsible, thinking players who are decision-makers.”

“He is absolutely right and the ethos of St George’s Park will be to focus on those skills, but also to encourage a sense of personal ownership and responsibility for career development.”

The factors for building the centre have a somewhat substantial emphasis on allowing players the capability to path their own futures rather than be spoon-fed. Taking personal ownership of a career would allow a player to flourish in his desired method, whilst also finding their own identities on the pitch that they are personally satisfied with. Too long have coaches in this country attempted to feed the long ball system to young talent, who adhere to the tactic for a number of years because they have not learnt otherwise. The centre is planning to eradicate these methods through player personal ownership, giving a somewhat free reign on how footballers play.

The centre will also be an arena where new English coaches will be trained, with Sheepshanks admitting that through the centre’s prominence, there need never be a foreign manager coaching the national team again. The reason for Roy Hodgson’s projected 4-year tenure may be to allow the team to gain experience with an English coach; step one in the building blocks of future English national team managers, who will have all proceeded through St George’s Park.

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It has to be considered an exciting taste of the future when the Centre of Football opens its gates to respective parties. However, this is a long term venture and the felt effects of the St George’s may not be realised for a number of years yet. However, it is a real step forward in the future of the land where the beautiful game was created and just as its namesake did, St George’s Park will go down in English history with legendary status.

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Colorado Rapids inflicted 10-man Philadelphia Union’s first loss of the season, winning 2-1 at PPL Park in Friday’s Major League Soccer.First-half goals from Pablo Mastroeni and Sanna Nyassi proved enough for the visitors to take all three points, leaving Sporting Kansas City and LA Galaxy as the only teams yet to be beaten at home this season.

It was veteran midfielder Mastroeni who opened the scoring 35 minutes in, collecting Brian Mullan’s throw-in and beating Carlos Valdes, before finding the top-left corner for his first goal of the season.

And Nyassi doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time, receiving a through ball from Omar Cummings to round off a sharp counterattacking move with Colorado’s second.

Keon Daniel and Danny Mwanga enjoyed the Union’s only real chances of the first half, but the introduction of Roger Torres and Michael Farfan saw an improvement from the hosts after the break.

Valdes came close twice, first from a header and then following a quick exchange with Sebastien Le Toux.

But Philadelphia’s task became considerably harder when they lost Sheanon Williams, who was shown two yellow cards in quick succession for dissent toward the referee.

Williams’ departure left the home side a man light with 27 minutes still to play.

They did eventually get one back, with substitute Torres netting in stoppage time to halve the Rapids’ lead.

And Valdes almost equalised with just seconds remaining, but saw his header cleared off the line by Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens, who frustrated the hosts throughout the match.

The hard-earned win sees the Rapids climb to fourth in the Western Conference, eight points behind leaders Galaxy.

The Union remain top of the Eastern Conference, level on points with Columbus Crew.

Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed Bin Hammam dismissed suggestions Qatar would share the hosting of the 2022 World Cup.

UEFA chief Michel Platini had requested the event be jointly staged between Qatar and other Gulf nations, but Bin Hammam was adamant the tournament would be hosted solely by the tiny Arab nation.

“Qatar submitted a bid to organise the World Cup and it’s fair for Qatar to organise all the matches,” Bin Hammam said.

“It’s never actually been discussed inside the executive committee or outside the executive committee that some of the matches are going to be played outside the host nation.”

“I always believed Qatar can host a very good World Cup. It is an opportunity for those who had less confidence in Qatar’s capability to organize a World Cup to see with their own eyes, what can be done and what cannot be done.”

“We are proud of our infrastructure, our football infrastructure, and we can keep the promises we made in our bid.”

Bin Hammam said the experience of hosting the 2011 Asian Cup would be a valuable experience for the Qatari organising committee.

“Of course some lessons have been learnt (from hosting the AFC Asian Cup). Qatar has been excellent in organisation but this will add to their experience,” Bin Hammam said.

“Qatar has been organising tournaments for a long time. What is good is they don’t hesitate to engage any professional who can get the job done. They can do a lot from what they have learnt.”

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“We told the people of the world to come and feel how comfortable a World Cup organised in a small country can be.”

“We were organising two matches a day, and we have seen how comfortable watching two matches in a day in the same city, the same hotel, driving in the same car.”

The Premier League has proposed a rule, which has been agreed to by clubs, which will have the effect of freezing out hostile shareholders like Arsenal’s Alisher Usmanov, reports The Telegraph.

Coupled with his business partner Farhad Moshiri the duo own a combined stake of 29.72 per cent in the club through their investment vehicle,  ‘Red and White Securities’.

This puts them close to the 30% threshold that under current Premier League regulations would grant them the rights and responsibilities of club directors, allowing Usmaov access to all ‘material transactions’ such as records of transfer dealings as well as wage and agent expenses.

The Russian’s lawyers were set to argue that their client needed to view these records in order to maintain achieve satisfaction over their correctness. However, Arsenal can now deny Usmanov access to their data following the rule change that has been voted in by Premier League clubs.

A source with an understanding of the situation told The Telegraph: “The rule left clubs open to the possibility of a hostile shareholder who is not on the board getting access to the books.

“Now if you are not on the board but have between 30 and 50 per cent of a club you don’t need to sign off on material-transaction reports.”

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Red and White Securities refused to comment but it remains to be seen whether the new regulation will effect Usmanov’s investment strategy within the club. If he chooses to withdraw then it is likely that share price will fall, enabling supporters of the club and the Arsenal Supporters Trust to purchase shares at a more reasonable price.

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Tottenham are lining up a sensational deal to bring Bobby Zamora back to White Hart Lane with the Metro reporting that Peter Crouch could be used in a swap.

Harry Redknapp is in the hunt for a new striker is a known admirer of the Fulham hitman.

It is thought Martin Jol would be reluctant to sell his top marksman without having a replacement lined up and Redknapp thinks throwing Crouch into the mix could make the deal a possibility.

Both players are 30-years-old and members of the England squad although Crouch has significantly more caps and experience than Zamora.

However Spurs boss Redknapp see’s the Fulham hitman as a more potent goal scoring threat than Crouch who, despite scoring crucial Champions League goals, managed only four strikes in the league last year.

If the move were to go through it would cap a remarkable turnaround for Zamora who has revitalised his career at Craven Cottage.

He originally signed for Spurs at the start of the 2003/04 season but failed to score in his 16 games before being sold to West Ham and then to Fulham.

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His performances for the Cottagers catapulted him into the England squad last year and now Redknapp is prepared to bring him back to Tottenham.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has hit out at Gerard Houllier in relation to Aston Villa’s signing of Darren Bent.

The Black Cats will face Blackpool at Bloomfield Road this weekend without the club’s former record signing, who joined Houllier’s Aston Villa this week in a 24-million-pound deal.

Bruce admitted to being devastated to lose his leading goalscorer so abruptly, and was furious about the way the deal was done.

“I would have liked even a phone call from Mr Houllier, for whom I did have the utmost respect for what he’s done,” Bruce said.

“I would have thought that, out of respect, maybe he would have picked up the telephone to say, ‘We are interested in buying your striker’.”

“That at least would have given me an opportunity to try to do something about it.”

Nevertheless, Bruce believes even without Bent and the injured Danny Welbeck, Sunderland can gain revenge over Blackpool for their fortuitous victory at the Stadium of Light last month.

“Losing Darren this week is a massive blow for us, of course it is, but how much it is going to affect us this weekend is difficult to tell – hopefully not at all,” said Bruce.

“When we played Blackpool last month with three strikers in the line-up, we didn’t score at all.”

“So maybe there’s something to be said about the balance of the team and if we play with only one striker this weekend in Asamoah Gyan, there’s every chance it will work for us.”

Bruce is still working hard in the transfer market to strengthen his attacking options, with Stoke City’s Ricardo Fuller the most likely signing as things stand.

But for the moment Bruce is focusing on Blackpool and a mission to avenge a result which stands out as something of a statistical fluke.

“We lost 2-0 to Blackpool last month – our only league defeat at the Stadium of Light so far this season.”

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“But how we lost it I’ll never know.”

“We had more than 30 shots at goal in that game and I think there’s only once in a Premier League game – a game that Arsenal were involved in – where a team has had that many shots and not scored.

“I’ll settle for half as many chances this weekend because it’s something of a fluke not to score from that many opportunities.”

“The players have been disappointed by Darren’s departure but footballers are a thick-skinned lot and they move on quickly.”