Real Madrid’s Brazilian midfielder Kaka reacts during the Spanish league football match Real Madrid against Espayol on February 06. Real Madrid’s Brazilian superstar Kaka believes he is yet to show his best form since his 68.5-million-euro move from AC Milan after scoring for the first time in three months in his side’s 3-0 home win over Espanyol on Saturday.

Real Madrid’s Brazilian superstar Kaka believes he is yet to show his best form since his 68.5-million-euro move from AC Milan after scoring for the first time in three months in his side’s 3-0 home win over Espanyol on Saturday.

Kaka, 27, was a prolific scorer with AC Milan but has found goals hard to come by since joining Real in the summer with the goal against Espanyol only his fourth league strike of the season and his first since he netted in the 3-2 derby win over Atletico Madrid back on November 7.

Kaka had his season interrupted by five weeks out with a groin injury picked up before Christmas, but the Brazilian international believes he is starting to get match sharpness back.

“I am feeling better and better and you can see that on the pitch,” said Kaka. “First of all I had the groin injury that stopped me playing like I wanted to but now I am better and feeling good.

Real Madrid’s Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo completed his two-match suspension against Espanyol and Kaka said that while Ronaldo is an important part of the side, Madrid were far from a one-man team.

“It is always important to score and, besides helping the team, it gives you confidence.”

Kaka scored Real’s second goal on 29 minutes following up after Raul’s initial shot was saved and could have had another in the second half only to be denied by the post.

“After a month and a half out it is difficult to ask for more (from Kaka),” said Real coach Manuel Pellegrini. “He will get back to his top level soon and is a very important player for us.”

Cristiano Ronaldo completed his two-match suspension against Espanyol and Kaka said that while Ronaldo is an important part of the side, Madrid were far from a one-man team.

“Cristiano is a key player but the team can’t depend on one player,” added the Brazilian. “We are playing better with each game and we want to continue in this vain. Read the rest of this entry »

The Indianapolis Colt’s #29 Joseph Addai breaks through to the 23rd yard line during play at the Super Bowl XLIV. Just 4 1/2 years after their domed stadium became a house of horrors for those trapped by floodwaters and waiting in vain for help or rescue, the Saints touched off the biggest celebration of all in a city known for its party scene.

Inspired by a city still rebuilding from the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Saints captured their first Super Bowl crown on Sunday by rallying for a 31-17 triumph over Indianapolis.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees completed a Super Bowl record-tying 32 passes in 39 attempts for 288 yards and two touchdowns to claim Most Valuable Player honors in the National Football League’s championship spectacle.

“We just believed in ourselves,” Brees said. “We knew we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us. It was all meant to be. It was all destiny.”

It was Tracy Porter’s 74-yard interception return touchdown with 3:12 remaining that sealed the epic victory, one that had Saints fans in the stands chanting their cajun battle cry – “Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints?”Related Article: New Orleans explodes with joy

“We put this city on our back four years ago and now it’s all worth it,” Saints safety Roman Harper said.

Pierre Thomas #23 of the New Orleans Saints runs the ball against the Indianapolis Colts during Super Bowl XLIV. The Saints had been losers for most of their 43-year history and fell behind 10-0 to the Colts before bouncing back to deny Indianapolis a second title in four seasons.

Just 4 1/2 years after their domed stadium became a house of horrors for those trapped by floodwaters and waiting in vain for help or rescue, the Saints touched off the biggest celebration of all in a city known for its party scene.

“New Orleans is back and this showed the whole world,” said Saints owner Tom Benson.

The Saints, once laughing-stocks that Benson was looking to relocate, had been losers for most of their 43-year history and fell behind 10-0 to the Colts before bouncing back to deny Indianapolis a second title in four seasons.

“You can’t put it into words. The city and region have been through so much. They have been so supportive this whole time,” said Saints receiver Marques Colston, who caught seven passes for 83 yards.

“We knew this as going to be a hard Super Bowl but we believed in each other and we got it done. It’s incredible.” Read the rest of this entry »

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic during the Australian Open. Djokovic will strive to show that his recent case of indigestion at the Australian Open was just a case of bad luck, with the Serb world number two returning to action as top seed at the Rotterdam Open starting here on Monday.

Novak Djokovic will strive to show that his recent case of indigestion at the Australian Open was just a case of bad luck, with the Serb world number two returning to action as top seed at the Rotterdam Open starting here on Monday.

Djokovic, who moved up to second in the world behind Roger Federer after the Australian Open, had to quit with stomach problems in a quarter-final loss to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Djokovic last played at the Ahoy stadium in this Dutch port city in 2007, reaching the semi-finals at the ATP 500 series event with a loss to Mikhail Youzhny, the eventual champion. He opens in the first round against Ukrainian Sergei Stakhovsky, ranked 66th.

Djokovic takes top seeding after the injury withdrawal of Rafael Nadal, who is resting a fragile knee on doctor’s orders in Spain with hopes of returning in early March.

Nadal played the 2009 final, losing with a different knee injury to Andy Murray, who is not returning to defend his title.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has been forced to pull out of the Rotterdam Open due to a stomach muscle injury.

The event received another late blow from Australian Open semi-finalist Tsonga, forced to pull out due to a stomach muscle injury.

“It bothered me in the quarter-final against Novak Djokovic and in the semi-final against Roger Federer,” Tsonga revealed on his website.

“I hope I’ll be able to go back to training next week without serving.”

Australian Open surprise Nikolay Davydenko returns to Rotterdam for the seventh consecutive year, with semi-finals in 2006 and 2007 as his best efforts.

The sixth-ranked Russian turned into the comedy hit of the Open as his formerly quiet personality sudden took on new life in a series of entertaining media conferences.

The workaholic of the courts comes back to Rotterdam with recent success including the title at the year-end championships in London in November and victory in Doha in January.

His opening test will be against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who has beaten the Russian in four of five ATP meetings and is also in form having reached the final of the South African Open. Read the rest of this entry »

Finland has produced a long line of great Rally drivers but never one quite with the pedigree or potential of 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

The 30-year-old former McLaren and Ferrari driver, known as the ‘Iceman’, has opted to forego the massive wages on offer on the Formula One circuit to have a tilt at capturing the world rally title this season – the first leg gets under way in Sweden next Thursday.

It is a decision the impassive unemotional Finn – though his readiness for laughs extends to competing in a powerboat race dressed as a gorilla under the pseudonym James Hunt in honour of the late Formula One champion (gaining his team the award for best dressed group) – is not regretting making.

“This is a different challenge,” conceded Raikkonen, whose older brother Rami is a rally driver, when the pilots came together for a press conference in Paris earlier this week.

“To be frank I am more interested in this than Formula One. Even when I was testing my Formula One car I never paid any interest to the times of the other drivers,” added Raikkonen, who will be racing for the Citroen Junior team.

Raikkonen, who was released by Ferrari at the end of last season and replaced by Fernando Alonso despite a year remaining on his contract, said he preferred the atmosphere and camaraderie around the Rally paddock to Formula One.

“This is very nice and more open than in Formula One,” said Raikkonen, who had 18 wins in 156 starts in Grands Prix with his first coming in the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix.

“The teams are more friendly with each other. It’s great.

“It (the Rally stables) is very small. The people are closer in terms of personal relationships.

“Of course the challenge is different as in Formula One you are racing against each other, whereas in Rallying it is racing against the clock,” added Raikkonen, who has raced in one previous leg of the series, the 2009 Rally of Finland, which he failed to finish.

Raikkonen, who had an offer from McLaren which broke down over financial terms and didn’t fancy a move to Toyota, admitted he didn’t expect to make an immediate impact.

“Everything is new. I don’t know the places or the stages,” he confessed.

“It’s always exciting. You have to learn everything, gain experience and in all sorts of conditions. Also writing the notes on each stage and the direction to take is extremely important.

“I am learning from zero. With the notes, you have to write them so you can understand them. If they are not legible you make mistakes.”

Raikkonen, who when he first joined Ferrari replacing seven-times champion Michael Schumacher was on 51million dollars a year, also was at pains to downplay the rumours that this year was a means of breaking him in so he could step up and be six-time champion Sebastien Loeb’s team-mate.

“There are always stories like that. I just want to learn and we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Raikkonen also insisted that thoughts of him winning the title were overly ambitious.

“It would be great to win but let’s wait and see what happens,” he said.

“I don’t really know what to expect, I want to get into the points first and later in the season we can work on getting the car to go faster.”

Valencia’s midfielder David Albelda (R) figths for the ball with Valladolid’s forward Alberto Bueno during their league football match at Mestalla Stadium in Valencia. Valencia triumphed 2-0 at home over Valladolid on Saturday, moving them six points clear of fourth-placed Sevilla.

Valencia triumphed 2-0 at home over Valladolid on Saturday, moving them six points clear of fourth-placed Sevilla.

The win ends a miserable run for Valencia, who had picked up just one point from their six previous games before this match.

For Valladolid’s new coach Onesimo Sanchez, who replaced the sacked Jose Luis Mendilibar, it was a disappointing start in his first game in charge and the club now lie a point above the relegation zone without a win in 2010.

Valencia’s Argentine midfielder, Ever Banega, took advantage of a defensive mishap to thunder in an early opener after eight minutes.

Spanish international David Villa made it two for Unai Emery’s men by heading home on 29 minutes, notching up his 15th goal of the season and joining Barcelona’s Lionel Messi at the top of the goalscoring charts.

Minutes later Villa should have had another but the outstretched leg of goalkeeper Justo Villar denied him.

Valladolid responded positively after the break creating several half chances but couldn’t get the goal needed to get back into the match.

Valencia could have given the scoreline a more flattering look in the closing stages but were not clinical enough with Juan Mata the main culprit spurning two great chances.

Valencia’s forward David Villa (L) fights for the ball with Valladolid’s goalkeeper Justo Villar during their league football match at Mestalla Stadium in Valencia. Valencia triumphed 2-0 at home over Valladolid on Saturday, moving them six points clear of fourth-placed Sevilla.

League leaders Barcelona take to the field later on Saturday when they host Getafe at the Nou Camp.

Barcelona, five points clear of Real Madrid at the top, are unbeaten in the league so far but coach Pep Guardiola warned against complacency.

“Sooner or later we are going to slip-up,” said Guardiola. “One day we are going to lose and I have told the players not to get distracted because the league still has a long way to go and five points is nothing.”

Getafe are having a fine season lying five points off the top four and reaching the semi-final of the Kings Cup although they trail Sevilla 2-0 after the first leg. Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand (R) challenges Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez during the League Cup semi-final second leg at Old Trafford in Manchester, north-west England, on January 27. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has justified the club’s decision to appeal against Ferdinand’s four-match ban by highlighting what he believes to be inconsistency within the disciplinary system.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has justified the club’s decision to appeal against Rio Ferdinand’s four-match ban by highlighting what he believes to be inconsistency within the disciplinary system.

Ferdinand originally saw a three-match ban for lashing out at Hull City’s Craig Fagan extended to four games last week because he appealed the decision but was still found to be in the wrong.

FA bosses added another match to his suspension for the “frivolous nature” of his defence and United are now contesting that decision as well.

If Ferdinand loses, he will get yet another game added to his ban, meaning he would miss the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on February 28 but Ferguson has backed the appeal because he feels referees are too inconsistent.

He pointed to the incident during a Carling Cup tie last September when Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano appeared to elbow Leeds United’s Jermaine Beckford in the head as an example of the contradictory nature of decision making when it comes to disciplinary matters.

“We’ve appealed that and the word that concerns us is ‘frivolous’,” Ferguson said. “The reason for appealing was that in the case of Mascherano against Leeds United, when he punched a player in the back of the head (he did not get charged).

“We don’t think it’s frivolous and that’s why we have appealed.”

Ferguson also decided last week to remove Owen Hargreaves from his list of registered players for the Champions League as the midfielder’s future continues to look bleak.

He has not played for 16 months due to severe tendonitis in both knees, a condition that has required two operations in America over the last year.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson (pictured here on January 23) has justified the club’s decision to appeal against Rio Ferdinand’s four-match ban by highlighting what he believes to be inconsistency within the disciplinary system.

Questions will continue to be asked about whether Hargreaves will ever be able to regain full fitness but Ferguson is confident that that is the case, and argued that his decision to remove him from his list of 25 players eligible for the Champions League was merely a short-term goal rather than confirmation that his career is over. Read the rest of this entry »

Win or lose on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints will return from their first-ever Super Bowl to a hero’s welcome, complete with their own Carnival parade, from a long-suffering city still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina.

Win or lose on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints will return from their first-ever Super Bowl to a hero’s welcome, complete with their own Carnival parade, from a long-suffering city still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina.

Super Bowl fever has swamped the Big Easy, where everything from Mardi Gras parades to church services has been rescheduled to make sure fans can catch the kickoff of their team’s first-ever shot at the National Football League championship spectacle.

The Saints’ surprisingly successful season has been a powerful tonic for residents still recovering from the killer August 26, 2005 storm that flooded nearly 80 percent of the low-lying coastal city.

Hundreds of people died in their homes after the levees broke and water levels rose the rooftops. Even more died in the chaos that followed — including some of those stranded in the Superdome football stadium that served as a shelter.

Locals, who had angrily brooded over the sluggish pace of recovery, have for months now greeted each other on the street with the joyously ungrammatical Saints’ fan chant, “Who dat? Who dat! Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?”

The emotional boost came at a time when disaster-struck residents typically become disillusioned and fearful that their lives will never return to normal, said Charles Figley, an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Superdome football stadium — once a horrific symbol of the abject failure of government to help thousands of people displaced by the storm — is now an emblem of the city’s rebirth.

“It’s new life. It’s new hope. It’s promise,” said Figley, a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans.

“The Saints are in the Super Bowl — Anything is possible.”

Most cities only throw parades if their teams win the Super Bowl.

But fans here have been greeting their team at the airport after every game this season. And city officials say the floats will roll and the marching bands will play for the Saints on Tuesday whether they win or lose. Read the rest of this entry »

John Terry’s (pictured on February 2) future as England captain may be decided Friday after days of pressure over his alleged extra-marital affair with the former partner of a team-mate.

John Terry’s future as England captain may be decided Friday after days of pressure over his alleged extra-marital affair with the former partner of a team-mate.

Head coach Fabio Capello flew into England Thursday and will make a decision soon on whether to strip the defender of the captaincy just months before the World Cup in South Africa.

Reports the married 29-year-old had an affair with model Vanessa Perroncel, the former partner of international team-mate Wayne Bridge, have sharply divided opinion in football-mad England.

Capello returned to England after recuperating from a recent knee operation in Switzerland and was expected to decide on Terry’s future before Sunday’s draw for Euro 2012 qualifying in Warsaw.

But the Italian faces a tricky judgement over how to respond to a situation which has triggered heated debate — he will be severely criticised whatever course of action he takes.

A poll published Friday highlighted just how split the English public are over the fate of their football team’s captain.

While the majority — 46 percent of those quizzed — thought Terry should be made to stand down, this was not far off the number who favoured him keeping the job, which came in at 39 percent.

Reports the married 29-year-old John Terry had an affair with model Vanessa Perroncel (pictured in 2006), the former partner of international team-mate Wayne Bridge, have sharply divided opinion in football-mad England.

And just over half of respondents thought there was no need for the public to know about the affair, while 44 percent believed the interest legitimate, in the PoliticsHome poll that questioned more than 1,000 Britons.

Terry’s alleged affair has resulted in him being pilloried, in the words of one columnist, as a “five-star scumbag” while numerous football figures have accused him of breaking a dressing room taboo by getting involved with the former partner of Bridge.

As Dave Bassett, the former Wimbledon and Sheffield Utd manager, put it: “I’ve had players who have left their missus or had bits and pieces on the side but they’ve not gone off with a team-mate’s bird. That’s crossing a line and where it comes unstuck with Terry.” Read the rest of this entry »

League Cup finalists Aston Villa’s Togolese international midfielder Moustapha Salifou, pictured in 2006, admitted on Thursday he didn’t think any of the squad would survive the gun attack on their coach prior to the start of the Africa Cup of Nations last month.

League Cup finalists Aston Villa’s Togolese international midfielder Moustapha Salifou admitted on Thursday he didn’t think any of the squad would survive the gun attack on their coach prior to the start of the Africa Cup of Nations last month.

The 26-year-old was making his first public comments about the attack by a separatist group from the Angolan enclave of Cabinda which left two members of the Togolese backroom staff dead and also claimed the life of the bus driver.

“It was terrifying. The goalkeeper, (Obilade Kossi – who was seriously wounded) had been dancing and the press assistant was taking pictures of him. They were shot,” he told the Daily Mail online edition.

“I didn’t feel I would make it off the bus alive. I thought everyone was going to die.”

Salifou, who along with his team-mates were recalled by the Togolese government despite the majority of the players wanting to stay and compete, said that as a result he was barely able to sleep and even when he did manage to get some he has a recurring nightmare.

“Since I’ve been back, I’ve not slept for four days,” said Salifou, who signed for Villa from Swiss side FC Wil in 2007 but has found it hard to establish a first team place.

“When I do, I wake up at 3am or 4am and somebody is shooting at me. I’m trying to forget, but it’s difficult.”

Salifou, who has also played in France for Stade Brest 29 and in Germany for Oberhausen, went into graphic detail about the terrifying moment when they came under fire.

“We were travelling through a forest when people started to shoot at the coach,” said Salifou, who was a key figure when Togo qualified for their first ever World Cup finals in 2006.

“The attackers shot the driver. After two or three minutes we lay on the floor and everyone started crying. Read the rest of this entry »

AS Roma’s French defender Philippe Mexes (L) celebrates with teammate AS Roma’s midfielder Daniele De Rossi after scores during AS Roma vs Udinese first leg of Coppa Italia semifinal football match at Olympic stadium in Rome. AS Roma’s stunning recent run continued as they beat Udinese 2-0 in the capital to take a commanding lead in their Coppa Italia semi-final.

AS Roma’s stunning recent run continued as they beat Udinese 2-0 in the capital to take a commanding lead in their Coppa Italia semi-final.

Goals from Mirko Vucinic and Philippe Mexes settled the first-leg tie in Roma’s favour and took their recent run to 15 wins and three draws in their last 18 matches.

It is a run that has lifted them from just above the relegation zone in Serie A to joint second while they have also progressed in the Europa League and Italian Cup.

They did the damage in the first half with Montenegro forward Vucinic giving them the lead on 12 minutes when he ran onto Daniele De Rossi’s pass to find himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Samir Handanovic and he shot home in off the post.

Five minutes before the interval French defender Mexes doubled the advantage as he headed home a free-kick from David Pizarro.

Having dominated the first period, Roma controlled the second to ease to a comfortable victory.

On Wednesday Diego Milito gave Inter Milan a narrow 1-0 win over Fiorentina at the San Siro.

The second legs will be played on April 14.