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Other soccer stories in brief

 English seven get early holiday

SEVEN players involved in last week's Champions League final have been excused from England's trip to Trinidad and Tobago for the friendly international match on Sunday.

Coach Fabio Capello confirmed that of the men involved in Moscow last week, only Rio Ferdinand, who has links with the Caribbean, and Chelsea full back Wayne Bridge, who did not get on to the pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium, will be part of his 20-man squad for the final game of the season.

Chelsea's John Terry, who opened the scoring in Wednesday night's 2-0 win over the USA at Wembley, is one of those given an early holiday along with Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves, Wes Brown, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.

Nasri signing 'premature'

ARSENAL insist reports they have signed Marseille's attacking midfielder Samir Nasri for £12.5 million (€15.9m) are premature.

But the French international's arrival is likely to take place in the next couple of days - and could hurry the departure of Alexander Hleb, with Spanish giants Barcelona said to be preparing a bid. It is believed Arsenal will make no formal announcement of Nasri's capture until all documents, including international clearance, are completed.

However, manager Arsene Wenger, who maintains Belarus star Hleb will not be allowed to buy out the remaining two years of his contract, wants to recruit the Frenchman before the start of the Euro 2008 finals next weekend. Nasri (20) can operate on the left of midfield, where Hleb has been playing.

'Holy Trinity' statue unveiled

A STATUE of Manchester United's "Holy Trinity" of Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law has been unveiled at Old Trafford. The ceremony took place 40 years to the day since the club lifted the European Cup for the first time.

United won their third title against Chelsea last week in Moscow.

The statue is the work of sculptor Philip Jackson and will stand opposite the one of Matt Busby at the front of the stadium.

Charlton, Best and Law scored 665 goals between them for United, and, between 1964 and 1968, all won the European Footballer of the Year award.

Fifa lift suspension on Iraq

ASIAN champions Iraq will be able to continue their bid to reach the World Cup finals after Fifa lifted their suspension on a provisional basis yesterday. The Iraqi Football Association (IFA) were threatened with a one-year ban, if, by midnight Sydney time yesterday, Fifa (who are in the city for their annual congress) had not received official confirmation that the Iraq government had overturned an earlier decree.

The IFA, along with the country's Olympic committee and all other sporting bodies, was dissolved by the Iraqi government last week prompting Fifa's ruling.

However, on Tuesday, Fifa received a letter from the General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Iraq, confirming that the IFA had been "excluded" from the decree, a situation described by Fifa as "a positive step".

Real move to appease United

REAL Madrid president Ramon Calderon has attempted to soothe relations with Manchester United over their pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo, insisting: "we are not going to start a conflict".

Earlier this week, United threatened to report Madrid to Fifa over persistent comments emerging from the Spanish capital about their interest in the Portuguese talisman.

However Calderon - to whom quotes about Ronaldo have been attributed regularly over the last two years - has moved to calm United's anger.

"You can't buy what the owner doesn't want to sell," he said.

He is also quoted as saying: "We have not interfered with Manchester United's contract agreement with Cristiano Ronaldo.

"I want to clear this up with him and assure him we are not going to influence any player to break a contractual relationship. We are not going to start a conflict."

Kewell move

HARRY Kewell's representative has refused to comment on claims that the Australia winger is set to sign for Celtic. Reports yesterday claimed the Scottish champions were prepared to offer the former Leeds player £40,000 a week to join the club.

Bernie Mandic, Kewell's personal manager, declined to comment on the player's future. Kewell will be released by Liverpool this summer after a five-year spell at Anfield.