Iranian women's football team pose for a family photograph.

TEHRAN, Jan. 13--Iran Football Federation is seeking a coach to take charge of the women’s football team.
“Employing a first-class coach for the women’s football team is as difficult as getting a coach for the men’s team. This is while the second-best foreign coaches are not better than their domestic counterparts,“ IRNA quoted Farideh Shojaei, IFF’s vice president, as saying.
Stressing that the new federation intends to support the team, she expressed hope that an experienced coach would be employed as soon as possible to prepare the team for the Asian Nations Cup.
“We have short-term plans to prepare the team for the tourney,“ she said.
The official noted that she intends to promote football among Iranian young girls.
“Without a doubt, playing at a good level is an ideal goal, but we must first seek talented players from across the country, including townships and villages,“ she said.
Shojaei replaced Khadijeh Sepanji in the recent Iran Football Federation’s elections.

LONDON, Jan. 13--Manchester United thrashed Newcastle United 6-0 to regain the Premier League lead after Birmingham City held Arsenal 1-1.
According to Goal, the Red Devils dominated the game from the start to finish and they could have easily hit double digits, but the Geordies weathered the storm to go in level at the break.
Ronaldo opened the scoring four minutes into the second half and added two more (70’, 88’) to complete his first hat-trick with United, pushing his season total to 22 goals in all competitions.
Carlos Tevez struck twice (55’, 90’) and Rio Ferdinand also scored (85’) to put United’s overall score in the Premier league at 44.
Referee Rob Styles ruled out a Michael Owen goal for offside after denying 3 penalty appeals by Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo in the first half.
The ref pulled out the red card when Alan Smith challenged his decision for allowing Tevez’s last minute goal.
United and Arsenal both have collected 51 points, but United leads the table on goal difference, Chelsea is chasing the two with 47 points.

PARIS, Jan. 13--Zinedine Zidane says he is looking forward to a return to the world of football, but has not decided in what way he should do so.
“I have no goal but coming back into football, I would like that,“ he told L’Equipe Magazine weekly in a rare interview released on Saturday, but added, “Then, in which way, how, I don’t know.“
Zizou retired after the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin, where he was sent off for headbutting Italy’s Marco Materazzi.
“I would have liked to go out in a different way but it’s done, that’s the way it is,“ he said about his bitter experience in Berlin. “I’ll have to put up with it for all my life. Having to talk about it over and over again is irritating. That’s why I don’t like giving interviews,“ he added.
The 35-year-old son of Algerian immigrants won the 1998 World Cup with France on home soil.
“Talking about it 10 years later still gives me the shivers,“ he said, adding “I was 26 and we had the best team in the world - it was extraordinary. To share that with millions of people was magic.“ Zizou said after his retirement, he was involved in a project to create a sports complex for the children in Marseille, the city where he grew up.

DURBAN, South Africa, Jan. 13--South Africa bowled out West Indies for 317 as they won the third Test by an innings and 100 runs to clinch a 2-1 series victory in Durban.
Resuming 394 runs behind on 23-0, the tourists lost Brenton Parchment early on while Shaun Pollock struck in his first over on his final Test day, BBC wrote.
Shiv Chanderpaul was ill and unable to bat but Marlon Samuels (105) and Dwayne Bravo (75) shared 144 from 244 balls. However, both fell to the impressive Dale Steyn, who ended with 6-72.
Steyn caused problems immediately, producing some unplayable deliveries that zipped off the seam at pace. It was no surprise when he pinned opener Parchment on the crease in the fourth over of the morning, and no surprise when he soon collected his eighth five-wicket haul in only his 18th Test.
It was an unfortunate finish to the series for the West Indians, who looked to have turned the tide by winning the first match at Port Elizabeth, their first Test victory since May 2005.
Key players were missing for the third and final Test, acting skipper Chris Gayle joining regular captain Ramnaresh Sarwan on the sidelines, but coach John Dyson will need to get more from his players in the one-day series later this month.

San Diego Padres center fielder Mike Cameron dives during their National League game in San Diego, California, April 18, 2007.

NEW YORK, Jan. 13-- The Milwaukee Brewers have a tentative agreement on a one-year contract with free-agent outfielder Mike Cameron, pending a physical.
Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said the 35-year-old would start in center field for Milwaukee, prompting the team to move Bill Hall to third base and Ryan Braun to left field.
“We’ve talked to both of them and both are fine with it, and they recognize Mike is the type of player who can make us better,“ Melvin told mlb.com.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said the Brewers had agreed a $1.25 million signing bonus plus a $5 million salary in 2008 for Cameron, who will be suspended the first 25 games of the season for testing positive for a banned stimulant. He would not be paid for those games.
Cameron, who began his career in 1995 with the Chicago White Sox and has played for the Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets and San Diego Padres, has a career .251 average but hits for power and is a stellar defensive player.
He hit .242 with 21 homers and 78 RBIs in 151 games last season with the Padres.

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 13--Jamie Baker reached the main draw of the Australian Open after defeating Daniel Koellerer 6-4 6-4 in his final qualifying match in Melbourne.
The British number three kept cool despite some gamesmanship from the Austrian to book his Melbourne berth.
“I’m delighted - it is a huge step in my career to do that as I have beaten three really good players to qualify,“ the 21-year-old Scot told Reuters.
Baker faces big-serving Croatian 20th seed Ivo Karlovic in the first round. He showed his maturity as Koellerer tried to put him off his stride in their match.
Koellerer hit an under-arm serve in the fifth game of the first set, and took an injury time-out when Baker was one point away from a crucial break in the second.
But Baker knew what to expect having spoken to several players in the locker room about the Austrian’s tactics.
“It was difficult, but I was expecting it as the players told me in the locker room how he tries to bend the rules,“ he said. “The best way for me to go about it was not to give him any energy and focus on my game.“
Baker, who will be part of Great Britain’s Davis Cup team in Argentina next month, felt his attempts to qualify for the Heineken Open in New Zealand last week had helped him to progress in Melbourne.

Floyd Landis

NEW YORK, Jan. 13-- Floyd Landis’s appeal of a doping ban that cost him the 2006 Tour de France title is scheduled to be heard by a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel on March 19, the rider’s attorney told Reuters on Saturday.
“We are really looking forward to appealing the (US) decision and optimistic the CAS panel will view favorably for Floyd,“ Maurice Suh said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
The New York hearing is the American cyclist’s final attempt to overturn a two-year doping ban.
Last year, a US arbitration panel upheld findings by a French laboratory that Landis had used synthetic testosterone in winning the 2006 Tour.
“We will prove, once again, that the French laboratory’s work violated numerous rules and proper procedure, rendering its results meaningless and inaccurate,“ Suh said last year in announcing Landis would appeal the US panel’s decision to CAS.

LONDON, Jan. 13--A number of Premier League clubs are interested in signing Bayern Munich defender Daniel van Buyten, according to the player’s agent.
The Belgian international has struggled to hold down a regular place in the Bayern starting XI this season, and has been linked with a move to Celtic, Skysport wrote.
However, Van Buyten’s agent Christophe Henrotay has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Fulham, Sunderland and Wigan Athletic are also keen on the 29-year-old - who had a loan spell with Manchester City in 2004.
“Every English club outside the big four that needs a central defender has shown an interest in Daniel,“ Henrotay said in the Daily Star Sunday.
“Sunderland, Everton, Wigan, Tottenham and Fulham have all contacted me about him.“
Van Buyten added: “I am unhappy with my current situation.“

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Jan. 13-- Kenenisa Bekele notched a hat-trick of wins on the men’s 9.3km course at the BUPA Great Edinburgh Cross Country.
Ethiopia’s Olympic and world 10,000m champion hit the front in the last 600m and left Zersenay Tadesse and Eliud Kipchoge in his wake to coast home, BBC wrote.
He crossed the line in 27 minutes and 42 seconds for a third successive victory in a frosty Holyrood Park.
Eritrean Tadesse, who beat him to the 2007 world title, and Kenya’s 2005 winner Kipchoge both clocked 27:43.
Britain’s Andy Baddeley produced a late surge to snatch a thrilling win in the 4.4km race.
Last summer’s world 1500m finalist looked set for a shock defeat when Andy Vernon made a breakaway 800m from home.
But Baddeley kept his composure and powered ahead of his rival with a searing burst in the final straight.

FOXBOROUGH, USA, Jan. 13--Tom Brady was almost perfect. The Patriots still are.
Their poised and prolific quarterback knocked another mark out of the books in their record-breaking season, completing all but two of his 28 passes to lead New England to its second straight AFC championship game with a 31-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday night.
As reported by AP, the Patriots pulled away in the second half to improve to 17-0, matching the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team to go unbeaten from the first game of the season through the Super Bowl. Two more wins and the Patriots will join them--much to the chagrin of some of those Dolphins.
Just one more win next Sunday at Gillette Stadium will put the Patriots back in the Super Bowl for the first time in three years after three championships in the previous four years. They’ll face the winner of Sunday’s game between San Diego and Indianapolis, which beat New England in last year’s AFC title game.
Brady completed 92.9 percent of his passes, breaking Phil Simms record of 88 percent (22-of-25) set in the Super Bowl after the 1986 season in which he led the New York Giants to a 39-20 win over the Denver Broncos. And Brady did it mostly without Randy Moss, who had only one catch against double- and triple-coverage.
While Jacksonville’s defense struggled to stop Brady and crew, New England’s defense had no such problems against the Jaguars’ one-two rushing punch of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. The league’s second-most productive duo during the regular season combined for just 66 yards.
It was the Patriots who dominated on the ground as Laurence Maroney rushed for 122 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown. Add Brady’s on-target passing to these regular-season records--50 touchdown passes by Brady, 23 scoring catches by Moss and 589 points by the team--and Jacksonville (12-6) became just another team that couldn’t stop the Patriots.
And they’re not done yet.
Brady completed his first 16 passes before the next one went off the hands of Benjamin Watson, who caught two others for touchdowns. The next nine passes found their targets before one went right through Wes Welker’s hands with 6:46 left in the game.
One throw the Patriots didn’t make may have helped the Jaguars take a 7-0 lead. David Garrard completed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Matt Jones on their first possession. He threw as he was going down while in the grasp of Mike Vrabel, and his knee might have touched the turf before he released the pass.