Hodgson will name England squad next Wednesday

SOCCER SHORTS:New England manager Roy Hodgson will name his Euro 2012 squad at 1pm next Wednesday before facing the media at Wembley to explain his selections.

Hodgson could have delayed naming the squad until the Uefa deadline of May 29th, but has opted to choose it ahead of a training camp in Spain and friendlies against Norway in Oslo and Belgium at Wembley.

Hodgson still has matters to address, including the form of former skipper John Terry. He has yet to meet the Chelsea captain and Rio Ferdinand to determine whether they will feel comfortable being in the same squad. Terry is accused of racially abusing Ferdinand’s brother Anton, a charge which he denies.

Several positions also have question marks hanging over them with Micah Richards, Glen Johnson, Kyle Walker, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling all right-back contenders.

Hodgson also has to solve the conundrum of who will play up front, with Wayne Rooneys suspended for the first two games of the tournament and Darren Bent unlikely to be fit.

Cardiff’s Bluebird may take flight and return as dragon

Supporters of Welsh club Cardiff City are up in arms at proposals by their Malaysian owners to break with 100 years of tradition and change their kit from blue to red and replace their Bluebird badge with a dragon.

Their Malaysian backers want to invest heavily in “The Bluebirds”, build a new training ground and increase their stadium capacity, but, according to the Cardiff City Supporters Trust, it comes on condition they implement the changes.

“We were told in no uncertain terms that this was a fait accompli,” trust chairman Tim Hartley told BBC Wales. “This investment is going to come into the club. We were shown a design of the logo, Cardiff City will be playing in red, they will be wearing a dragon on their chests.”

Hunt sacked over dismissal calls

Blackburn’s deputy chief executive Paul Hunt has been sacked after calling for Steve Kean’s dismissal as manager.

According to a leaked letter seen by the Sporting Intelligence website, Hunt told the club’s owners in December that it was time for 44-year-old Kean to leave Ewood Park.

However, Sporting Intelligence editor Nick Harris told the BBC the leak did not come from Hunt.

Rovers are yet to comment but Kean says he is at the club “for the long term”.

Kean also told a news conference yesterday that he still has control of the dressingroom, and that owners Venky’s are “100 per cent” right for the club. He refused to comment on Hunt.

In the leaked letter, Hunt expressed the view that Kean’s tenure “isn’t working” and “is ready to go”. His departure comes days after the club were relegated from the Premier League following a 1-0 home defeat by Wigan. Harris said Hunt was not responsible for his website obtaining the letter. “If they sack him for leaking that letter to me, they have got the wrong man.”

Blackpool hold on to secure final date with West Ham

Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2(Blackpool win 3-2 on aggregate)

Championship play-off semi-final, second leg:Blackpool survived a late onslaught to reach the final of the Championship play-off at St Andrew's last night.

Blackpool took the lead on the stroke of half-time when the Blues failed to clear a corner and an unmarked Stephen Dobbie hooked home from just outside the six-yard box.

The second goal arrived with almost the opening salvo of the second half when a long-punt forward was collected by Matt Phillips who beat the offside trap to score.

But back came the hosts through Nikola Zigic, the Serbian clinically dispatching the ball past Matt Gilks from 12 yards on 64 minutes. Then Curtis Davies headed home Jordan Mutch’s 73rd-minute corner to reduce Blackpool’s aggregate lead to a single goal.

Although Chris Hughton’s men battled hard to take the game into extra-time, the Tangerines held on to set-up a Wembley date with West Ham in the play-off on Saturday, May 19th.

Drenthe says Messi called him ‘negro’  

Everton winger Royston Drenthe has hit out at Lionel Messi, claiming the Barcelona ace called him ‘negro’ on more than one occasion. The Dutchman locked horns with the Argentina international a number of times during his spells at Real Madrid and Hercules, and admitted that he would always have problems with Messi in off-the-ball incidents.

“We played against each other a lot, and we always had problems. You know what really bothers me? That tone with which he always called me ‘negro, negro’,” Drenthe said in an interview with Dutch magazine Helden.

Drenthe went on to explain that although he realises the use of the term is quite common in South America, he finds it hard to deal with, and explained that his former team-mate Mahamadou Diarra had similar problems. “I understand that it is very common in South America, but we cannot stand it. Mahamadou Diarra, my team-mate at Real, would become furious when Gabriel Heinze and Gonzalo Higuain initially called him ‘negro’. But they soon stopped,” he said.