Soccer shorts

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Drogba ready to face Wolves

DIDIER Drogba looks set to return to lead the Chelsea attack against struggling Wolves on Saturday, but Frank Lampard will have to wait a bit longer for his comeback – much to the frustration of the England midfielder.

Ivory Coast international Drogba has missed the Blues’ last two matches because of a virus but has now resumed full training ahead of the visit of Mick McCarthy’s side, third bottom of the Premier League.

Clark pledges international future to the Republic

ASTON Villa defender Ciarán Clark has pledged his international future to the Republic of Ireland – to repay his mother and father for the support they have shown in him.

Clark, who played 78 minutes of last Saturday’s goalless draw with Chelsea, was born in London and has captained England under-18s.

But he has decided to commit to playing at senior level for Giovanni Trapattoni’s side as an act of faith for the backing he received from his Irish-born mum and dad.

Clark said: “Why have I chosen to play for Ireland? For myself and my family. My family have done a lot for me over the years, since I was a little boy. I owe them a lot so I’ve made this decision for them.

“Richard Dunne (Villa and Ireland defender) mentioned it to Ireland and they looked into it and got in contact with me and the club. They gave me time to think about it and about my decision.

“If all the paperwork has gone through by the next game, I’ll be in contention so fingers crossed that happens.”

Cunningham joins Leicester on loan

REPUBLIC of Ireland international Greg Cunningham looks likely to finally get some consistent game-time at club level after joining Sven Goran Eriksson’s Leicester City on loan until January.

Cunningham, who won his first cap for his country against Algeria earlier this year, is behind Wayne Bridge and Aleksandar Kolarov in the pecking order for the left full-back slot at Manchester City.

He will go straight into Eriksson’s squad for the Championship game at Swansea on Saturday. The 19-year-old is the Swede’s fourth signing following the arrivals of Curtis Davies, Kyle Naughton and Darius Vassell, while the former City and England manager is also weighing up a move for West Brom striker Ishmael Miller.

Hagi returns to Galatasaray helm

GALATASARAY appointed Gheorghe Hagi yesterday as their new coach for a second spell at the Super Lig club.

The former Romania international, who played for the club for five years and coached them club between 2004 and 2005, replaces Frank Rijkaard, who left the club yesterday.

Hagi (45) is yet to reach the heights as a coach he hit as a player. Since leaving Gala, he has had short stints in charge of Timisoara and Steaua Bucharest.

Former Blackburn midfielder Tugay has been appointed as Hagi’s assistant.

Young ruled out for three weeks

ASTON Villa defender Luke Young is set to miss the next three matches with a torn hamstring.

Young missed last weekend’s goalless draw with Chelsea after suffering the setback in training the previous day.

But scans have revealed the injury is worse than first feared and Villa manager Gerard Houllier is resigned to being without the former England full-back for at least a fortnight.

That means Young is likely to miss tomorrow’s clash at Sunderland, the League Cup meeting with Burnley and the home derby with Birmingham.

RONALD Koeman has revealed he wants to manage in England – but he is not interested in the Middlesbrough job.

The former Holland sweeper, whose last coaching post was an ill-fated seven-month stint in charge of AZ Alkmaar which ended in December last year, claimed he could not see any potential at the Teesside club.

Koeman, who has also coached Valencia and PSV Eindhoven, told the NuSport newspaper: “I would love to work in England. But preferably at the highest level or at a club with potential. I do not see that at Middlesbrough.”

Fifa extend inquiry into collusion

SPAIN, Portugal and Qatar are being investigated in connection with alleged collusion over voting for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Spain and Portugal are making a joint 2018 bid, while Qatar is eyeing 2022. The probe is part of a wider inquiry by world governing body Fifa into alleged breaches of the bidding rules.

Fifa’s ethics committee is to report in November after launching separate inquiries into six Fifa officials and two of the bidding candidates.

Officials from neither the joint Iberian bid or Qatar’s were available for comment yesterday. Collusion between bidding countries is explicitly forbidden by the regulations, but Fifa chiefs have ruled out postponing the December 2nd vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts.

Meanwhile, Amos Adamu, the Nigerian official provisionally suspended by Fifa over bribery allegations, has denied any wrongdoing, despite beint the subject of a Sunday Timessting.

QPR deny any links with Lippi

QPR co-owner Flavio Briatore has revealed his “dream” to have former Italy coach Marcello Lippi in charge of the club if they reach the Premier League.

Rangers are currently top of the Championship under Neil Warnock, having employed a succession of managers while Briatore was chairman.

But, although he stood down from the position in February, it seems Briatore still wants a say in football matters at Loftus Road.

Briatore told Italian magazine Chi: “Bernie Ecclestone and I have a 70 per cent stake in QPR, and we are top of the table. If we go into the Premier League, I have a dream. That is to have Marcello Lippi as our coach.”

Rangers were quick to distance themselves from Briatore’s comments yesterday.

A club statement read: “Following speculation in today’s press, we would like to confirm that stories linking Marcello Lippi with Queens Park Rangers Football Club are completely unfounded.”