Luka Bonacic, Sepahan's head coach (r), and Moharram Navidkia, captain of the team, attend the press conference ahead of the match against New Zealand's Waitakere United on Wednesday in Tokyo.

TOKYO, Dec. 5--You can still see the disappointment etched on the faces of the Sepahan players. Two and a half weeks ago, the Iranians suffered a narrow defeat to Japanese side Urawa Reds in the AFC Champions League final, missing out on what would have been the greatest triumph in the club’s history.
According to FIFA, despite that defeat, Sepahan still qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007, and while they say that revenge is a dish best served cold, it will be piping hot if they make it through to the quarterfinals and set up a repeat of the Champions League decider.
“We’re not here in Japan for a holiday,“ said Sepahan’s Croatian coach Luka Bonacic. “It’s a great honor for us to be taking part in the Club World Cup. We’ll give it everything we’ve got to get some good results. I hope we’ll get to play Urawa Reds again.“
Before they can think about a rematch, however, they will have to beat New Zealand outfit Waitakere United on Friday. The Iranians are very much the favorites to get through against the OFC O-League winners, but Bonacic does not want his troops looking past their current opponents and concentrating on a potential revenge match with Urawa.
“We need to be fully focused on Waitakere and take it one match at a time. Not all of their players are professionals, but they can all certainly play good football.“
Uncertainty surrounds the availability of two of Sepahan’s key players, captain Moharram Navidkia and striker Mahmoud Karimi who face late fitness tests ahead of Friday’s match. “I hope I’ll be ready in time,“ said a determined Navidkia. “Every man has a dream, and mine is to play in the Club World Cup.“
The midfielder played for German outfit Bochum for a while and was part of the Iran team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. He has high hopes for his club here in Japan and hopes a good performance will be the springboard for a recall to the national team, in which he has only featured briefly since last year’s FIFA World Cup. “It’s really important for Sepahan to play well at the Club World Cup, since I want to get back into the national team.“
Sepahan’s foreign imports are also hoping to use the tournament as a platform for their careers. “It’s an opportunity to show what we’re capable of. We are going to play to our strengths and that will hopefully help us win some matches,“ said halfback Hossein Kazemi at the team’s opening press conference in Japan.
“We’ll give it our best shot and hopefully that will bring us some success. We’ve prepared really well for the tournament,“ added fellow defender Jaba Mujiri from Georgia.

TEHRAN, Dec. 5--Mohsen Farahvashi was officially appointed as coach of Iran’s youth freestyle wrestling on Wednesday.
Farahvashi was coach of Iran’s National Wrestling Team in the 2003 New York World Cup.
Aliakbar Dodangeh will be Farahvashi’s assistant, Mehr News Agency reported.
Farahvashi and Dodangeh were proposed by Mohammad Ali Sanatkaran, Iran’s Wrestling Federation’s technical manager for their positions to the head of Iran’s Wrestling Federation, Yazdani Khorram.

KANDY, Sri Lanka. Dec. 5--Sri Lanka paceman Chaminda Vaas struck two early blows as England limped to 125 for five at lunch on the fifth day of the first test on Wednesday; leaving the hosts just five wickets away from victory.
According to Reuters, the 33-year-old left-armer followed his early dismissal of opener Alastair Cook the previous evening with the wickets of skipper Michael Vaughan (5) and night-watchman James Anderson (11) to put the tourists under early pressure.
Set a victory target of 350 after Sri Lanka had piled up 442-8 declared on Tuesday, England were reeling at the interval, needing to score a further 225 runs for an unlikely victory or see out two sessions on a deteriorating pitch to earn a draw.
At lunch, Ian Bell was on 25 not out with Ravi Bopara on the same score.
Vaas found the outside edge of Vaughan’s bat with a trademark off-cutter angled across the right-hander and then sent an outswinger past the defensive bat of Anderson.
Pace bowler Dilhara Fernando deepened England’s woes with a devilish delivery to Kevin Pietersen (18) that crept along the ground and was chopped onto the stumps.
He followed up with the key scalp of Paul Collingwood (16) who edged to Kumar Sangakkara at slip.
Fernando went to the interval with figures of 2-30 from nine overs, Vaas claimed 3-29 from his nine overs.

PARIS, Dec. 5--Former world number one Mats Wilander has been appointed coach of Paul-Henri Mathieu, the Frenchman’s management team said in a statement on Tuesday.
Swede Wilander and Frenchman Patrice Hagelauer will jointly coach Mathieu during the 2008 season. French number two Mathieu, 25, finished 2007 at world number 25, wrote Reuters.
Wilander, 43, won all the grand slam tournaments except Wimbledon and peaked at number one in 1988. He won the French Open three times and lost to Frenchman Yannick Noah in the 1983 final in Paris.
“I’m very excited to work with Paul-Henri who is one of the most gifted players of his generation and I hope to help him continue his progression towards the top of the rankings,“ Wilander said in a statement.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Dec. 5--Marco van Basten will resign as coach of the Dutch national football team after the 2008 European championships, Dutch media reported Tuesday.
According to Xinhua, Van Basten and assistant coach John van’t Schip will leave the team after the tournament next June in Austria and Switzerland, the Dutch football association KNVB said in a statement Tuesday.
The national team won most of the matches it played and yet there was much criticism. Van Basten, the former European footballer of the year and world footballer of the year, was accused of lacking insight and tactical skills.
In the coming months, the 43-year-old coach will focus exclusively on the European Championships, Radio Netherlands reported.
“By the end of Euro 2008 I will have been national coach for four years, which has given me a lot of pleasure,“ van Basten told Dutch news agency ANP.
“John and myself have no idea what our future holds,“ he said.

AC Milan's forward Filippo Inzaghi jumps for the ball during the Champions League match against Celtic at San Siro Stadium in Milan on Tuesday.

MILAN, Italy, Dec. 5-- Filippo Inzaghi broke the European goal-scoring record as AC Milan defeated Celtic 1-0 though defeat was sweetened for the Scottish side as they qualified for the Champions League knock-out stages in any case here on Tuesday.
According to AFP, it was the perfect scenario for all involved as Milan won, topped the group, Inzaghi made history in beating Gerd Muller’s mark with his 63rd strike, and Celtic played gamely while sneaking through to the second round for the second year in a row.
That was thanks to Shakhtar Donetsk’s 2-1 home defeat to Benfica in the other group D match.
At times the match resembled a training ground run-out but it finally sparked into life in the second period, culminating with Inzaghi’s winning strike 20 minutes from time.
And it was a flowing move that set it up, Kaka breaking down the right and feeding the overlapping Cafu who crossed for Inzaghi to score a tap-in from inside the six-yard box. Even so, there were six World Cup winners in his starting 11, but that didn’t stop the first half resembling a local Sunday pub league kick-around.
Given that a draw suited both sides, neither team seemed too keen to commit men forward, particularly Celtic. At one point right-back Gary Caldwell moved over the half-way line with the ball and acres of space in front of him, only to panic, turn around and start heading back towards his own goal in search of a team-mate.

NEW YORK, Dec. 5--Wladimir Klitschko hopes his heavyweight title fight against Sultan Ibragimov will be a signature moment in boxing--and one that could raise over $2 million for charity.
According to Reuters, IBF and IBO champion Klitschko of Ukraine and Russian WBO titlist Ibragimov are doing their part to add some clarity to boxing’s glamour division by putting up their crowns as a step towards establishing an undisputed champion.
“This is a historic fight,“ Klitschko told reporters about the February 23 matchup....“This sport deserves one heavyweight champion. I believe this puts us on the road to unification.
“I’m thrilled. I’m so happy. This is a dream and a dream for Ibragimov, too. Now the fight is on.
“This is a risk for both sides, but this is to build up the image of the sport. We have to get it back. We have to get unification.
“We have to get one heavyweight champion, the 31-year-old added of a division that includes WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan, while Oleg Maskaev of Russia will fight Nigeria’s interim champion Samuel Peter for the WBC title in February.
Klitschko’s brother Vitali is hoping for a crack at the winner of that fight.
Klitschko, the 1996 Olympic champion who has a 49-3 professional record, added the fight would also be an opportunity to raise money for a Bronx community center that is being funded by the US Laureus Foundation.

aLONDON, Dec. 5--World 400m silver medalist Nicola Sanders has capped a brilliant year by being named as the British Olympic Association’s Athlete of the Year.
The 25-year-old, who also won the European Indoor 400m title, finished second to Christine Ohuruogu at the World Championships in Osaka in August, wrote BBC.
She also ran the fastest leg as Britain took bronze in the 4x400m relay.
Sanders received the accolade from former Olympic gold medalist David Hemery at a ceremony in Birmingham.

DETROIT, USA, Dec. 5--The Detroit Tigers acquired pitcher Dontrelle Willis and third baseman Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins on Tuesday in a blockbuster deal that sent shockwaves through Major League Baseball.
The deal, which MLB.com reported was close to being finalized pending a review of medical records, will see the Tigers ship six players to the Marlins for the two All Stars, according to Reuters.
Going to Florida are outfielder Cameron Maybin, lefthanded starter Andrew Miller and four prospects reported to be catcher Mike Rabello, and pitchers Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz and Burke Badenhop.
“Like I said the whole time, it’s all a business,“ Willis told MLB.com. “I have been on the trading block for kind of a world record for the last three years.
“They found a deal suitable for both sides, so I’m happy to go over there and try to do my thing.“
Cabrera and Willis were the last two remaining members of the Florida team that won the 2003 World Series and will join former-Marlins manager Jim Leyland, who led the Marlins to their first World Series title in 1997.