Soccer Digest:Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Mark Kinsella is to quit his player-coach role at Walsall so he can join the backroom team at Premiership strugglers Charlton.
The 34-year-old has scored two goals in 45 appearances for the Saddlers, who currently top the League Two table. But, in addition to his playing duties, Kinsella has spent the last 18 months as reserve-team manager and first-team coach at the Bescot.
His professional career began at Colchester in 1989 before a transfer to Charlton, with whom he made 226 appearances, ahead of moves to Aston Villa, West Brom and Walsall. He is poised to join Addicks head coach Les Reed and number two Mark Robson from Monday.
Clubs face FA charge
Tottenham and Middlesbrough have both been charged by the English Football Association following the ugly brawl which scarred Tuesday night's Premiership encounter at White Hart Lane. Scuffles between the sides broke out four minutes from the end of Spurs' 2-1 win.
The fracas was triggered by a tackle from Middlesbrough midfielder George Boateng on Aaron Lennon and involved almost a dozen players at one stage.
The respective clubs have until December 21st to respond and face a large fine if found guilty.
Both Boateng and Tottenham's Didier Zokora were red-carded by referee Mark Halsey. Middlesbrough have appealed Boateng's dismissal.
World Cup dates set
Fifa has announced that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will take place between June 11th and July 11th.
It also confirmed that the allocation of World Cup places would remain the same as for the 2006 World Cup with 13 places available for European nations and five to African countries. However, Africa will receive an additional sixth place with South Africa receiving an automatic spot as hosts. Asia and Oceania will again share five qualifying slots while the two American confederations will receive a total of eight places.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said he was confident that South Africa would be ready to stage the finals despite concerns over delays in building the new stadiums.
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