TEHRAN, Jan. 20--Iran’s National Football Team is set to play against the league’s best foreigners.
Following the federation head’s suggestion, two teams will take part on February 2 at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium, Mehr News Agency reported.
Samuel Darabinian, Peykan’s Armenian head coach, will lead the league’s foreigners in the match. Iran will face Costa Rica three days ahead of the match.
After the Iran-Mali game cancellation, the federation intends to hold these warm-up games to prepare the national team against Syria on February 6 in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
Iran has drawn with Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 20--Iranian striker of Al Sha’b, Ali Samereh, lost his memory for hours after clashing with Al Jazireh’s goalie on Friday.
According to Al Khaleej newspaper, Samereh could not remember the game’s events after his goal in the second half. Al Sha’b won 2-1 over Al Jazireh in the ninth week of the Emirates Football League.
Ali Samereh and Mehrzad Ma’danchi, Iranian strikers, scored twice for Al Sha’b against Al Jazireh.
Samereh, who was carried to an Iranian hospital after the game, was discharged on Saturday.

ROME, Jan. 20--Former Empoli boss Gigi Cagni said he had turned down an offer to coach the Iran’s National Football Team.
“I received an offer to train Iran last week, but I don’t intend to lead a national team for the moment,“ the Italian told the ANSA news agency.
Cagni led the small Tuscan side to seventh in Serie A last term and their first-ever UEFA Cup place but he was sacked and replaced by Alberto Malesani in November after they made a poor start to the season.

DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 20--Dubai International Capital - the investment arm of the Dubai Government - is ready to table a new £350m bid to buy Liverpool Football Club.
BBC Sport understands DIC has drawn up plans to take control from American duo George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
But the deal is subject to conditions which Gillett and Hicks are currently unwilling to meet.
DIC was originally thought to be ready to make an offer for Hicks’ 50% share, but now favors a total buy-out.
DIC was close to buying the club in January 2007, but pulled out when Liverpool refused to agree to a deadline on the deal and moved into advanced negotiations with Hicks and Gillett.
The interest has now been seriously revived, but DIC is insistent it will not pay over the odds to buy the club, and until Gillett and Hicks agree to certain terms contained within the deal, an impasse has been reached.
Joe McLean, who is a football finance expert with accountants Grant Thornton, told BBC Radio Five Live: “The talk at the moment is that there will be some hard bargaining going on and it may take a few weeks before it is resolved.“
DIC has put together a package of around £350m to put to Gillett and Hicks, which also includes taking on the debts incurred by the pair when they took control in March last year.

SYDNEY, Australia, Jan. 20--India denied Australia a record 17th straight victory by dismissing them for 340 to win the third Test by 72 runs, Reuters wrote.
Resuming on 65-2, chasing 413, the hosts did well to only lose Ricky Ponting (45) on the fourth morning. But Mike Hussey (46), Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee fell to make it 243-7 at tea, while Anil Kumble had Michael Clarke (81) stumped.
Mitchell Johnson (50no) shared 73 with Stuart Clark (32) but India persevered to cut their series deficit to 2-1. It ended the home side’s hopes of surpassing the 16 consecutive victories achieved by Steve Waugh’s Aussies between 1999-2001.
The defeat was their first since the thriller at Trent Bridge against England in 2005, and their first on home soil since India beat them in Adelaide in 2003.

COLOGNE, Germany, Jan. 20--The coach of second division Bundesliga club FC Cologne, Christoph Daum has received an offer to train Iran’s National Football Team.
FC Cologne Manager Michael Meier confirmed to the online site of the Koelner Express newspaper that an Iranian who spoke German contacted him by phone.
“We were prepared to receive a phone call from Iran,“ he said, alluding to ongoing rumors about an Iranian offer for the 54-year-old Daum.
Meier added that he did not think Daum, whose contract with FC Cologne runs through 2010, would agree to the Iranian deal.
This is the second time after 2000 that Daum has received a bid to coach Iran.
A frontrunner for the coaching job of the German national football squad eight years ago, Daum was forced to abandon his dream after failing a drug test.
Daum, whose coaching stints also included VfB Stuttgart, Besiktas Istanbul, Bayer Leverkusen, Austria Vienna and Fenerbahce Istanbul, announced earlier that he had rejected coaching offers from the national teams of the US, Serbia, Poland and South Africa.
According to earlier reports, another German coach, Peter Neururer had also been on the shortlist of the Iranian federation.

Combination of four pictures shows Scott Macartney of the United States crashing in the men's World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel on Saturday.

KITZBUEHEL, Austria, Jan. 20--American skier Scott Macartney, injured in a spectacular crash in Kitzbuehel’s World Cup downhill on Saturday, has regained consciousness and is recovering well.
“According to the US ski team coaches, Scott Macartney is awake and feeling good,“ organizers said on Sunday.
The 30-year-old from Crystal Mountain crashed at full speed in the final jump of the downhill, fell on his back and lost his helmet, Reuters wrote.
Taken to hospital in Innsbruck, Macartney regained consciousness overnight and his coaches said he was making jokes again. He has apparently suffered no fractures.
Organizers added Macartney would stay under observation in hospital for a few days but a full recovery was expected.

Roy Jones Jr

PENSACOLA, USA, Jan. 20--Roy Jones Jr is confident of taking on world super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe sooner rather than later.
The American, 39, knocked down Felix Trinidad twice in a unanimous points victory in New York on Saturday, BBC said.
Calzaghe is hoping to face Bernard Hopkins in April and Jones is keen to do battle with the Welshman after that.
“We’re going to Wales in the morning,“ his promoter Don King claimed, while Jones said: “I’m definitely looking to make that fight and I’m going there.“
Jones added: “I’ll fight anybody, anywhere, any time and if Hopkins-Calzaghe finishes how I think it will, I’ll even go to Wales and fight. I don’t care.“
Five-time world champion Jones proved too strong in his non-title fight with fellow great Trinidad.
He began to take control from the third round and knocked the 35-year-old Puerto Rican down in the seventh.
A straight right sent Trinidad over again in the 10th and over the final couple of rounds, a relaxed and smiling Jones was able to pick off Trinidad at will.
The win improved his record to 52-4 with 38 knockouts, and he said it had proved wrong critics who claimed he was past his best.
“All my fans around the world said I was done,“ said Jones, who won the fight 117-109, 116-110, 116-110 on the judges’ scorecards.
“But you never know when you’re going to be here, or when you’re going to go, so you can never know when it’s your time.

DUSSELDORF, Germany, Jan. 20--Defending champion Ruslan Chagaev retained his WBA world heavyweight title on Saturday with a unanimous points decision over Britain’s Matt Skelton.
According to AFP, the 40-year-old Briton, who only converted to the sport six years ago from kick-boxing, showed plenty of heart over the 12 rounds but the Uzbeki, 11 years his junior, finished the stronger. Chagaev, nicknamed the ’White Tyson’, won 117-110, 117-111 and 117-111 to retain the title he took from Russia’s Nikolay Valuev.
He is now unbeaten in 24 fights with 17 knockouts while Skelton suffered his second defeat having also lost to fellow Briton Danny Williams. Despite the defeat, Skelton vowed to keep boxing.

LONDON, Jan. 20--The Trio, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea heat up the Premier League title race after defeating their opponents in away matches, reported AFP.
Chelsea went to St. Andrews to face Birmingham, which had stopped Arsenal last week. In a game in which the London Blues were only the second best, they managed to squeeze the three points thanks to Claudio Pizarro’s 80-minute strike.
In London, two headers from Emmanuel Adebayor (19’, 38’) and a single strike form Tomas Rosicky gave the Gunners a 3-0 victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
A superb finish to Carlos Tevez’s cross by Wayne Rooney gave the Red Devils a late lead at Madejski Stadium against Reading, who had held United 0-0 in the season opening.
One minute into the injury time Rooney assisted Cristiano Ronaldo’s 23rd goal of the season to keep United at the top of the table.
Manchester United and Arsenal both have collected 54 points with United having a better goal difference. Chelsea follows the two clubs with 50 points while fourth-place Liverpool only has 39.

Justine Henin

MELBOURNE, Australia,
Jan. 20--Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova set up a quarterfinal showdown at the Australian Open, making quick work of overmatched opponents Sunday in sharp contrast to the long overnight session at Melbourne Park.
According to AP, the top-ranked Henin beat Hsieh Su-wei, the first Taiwanese player through to the fourth round of a Grand Slam event, 6-2, 6-2 in 74 minutes Sunday to extend her winning streak to 32 matches.
Sharapova routed No. 11 Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes. The fifth-ranked Sharapova was expected to have a tough time against Dementieva, but broke her fellow Russian’s serve six of seven
times, including at love to finish off.
Defending champion Serena Williams, who went through periods of inconsistency in her first three matches, was sharper and more consistent in a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 12 Nicole Vaidisova.
Williams faltered only while serving up a break at 4-3, with Vaidisova breaking to even the set. But Williams broke right back. Vaidosova smashed her racket in anger, then netted a forehand on match point as Williams held at love to finish off the match.
To go along with nine aces, Williams had 23 winners and only 11 unforced errors as she seems to be improving in every match. The women’s fast work followed the drama Saturday that started with a rare five-setter for Roger Federer and carried on until Lleyton Hewitt finished off Marcos Baghdatis not long before dawn Sunday.
Day 6 at the Australian Open was a long, long journey. About one-third of the 15,000 people with tickets for the Saturday night session didn’t leave until Hewitt smacked a forehand past Baghdatis on Sunday.
Federer needed 4 hours, 27 minutes to beat 49th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 in an extended afternoon match that pushed back the night session at least two hours.
Federer had won 30 straight sets at Melbourne Park since dropping the first in the 2006 final against Baghdatis. The Swiss star had lost only six games in his first two matches this year.
David Nalbandian and Juan Carlos Ferrero stepped back on the same court to begin the Sunday schedule little more than 6 hours after Hewitt and Baghdatis walked off.
Former No. 1 Ferrero beat 10th-seeded Nalbandian 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in a third-round match postponed by rain Saturday. In another third-rounder, No. 5 David Ferrer beat American Vincent Spadea 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

MOSCOW, Jan. 20--Russian sports minister Vyacheslav Fetisov confirmed on Friday that a new Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) will begin its work next month.
“It will be an independent agency and will start its work in February,“ Fetisov told AFP.
“RUSADA will be in complete command of doping control and anti-doping propaganda in the country.
“We have top-class specialists and classy up to date equipment for precise and complete dope testing. The Russian laboratory has an international accreditation and is considered to be one of the best in the world.“