TEHRAN, Feb. 8--Former Spain coach Javier Clemente returned home without finalizing his deal with the Iranian Football Federation (IFF).
“The last round of negotiations between the Spaniard and IFF’s Board of Directors took place on Wednesday morning and Clemente left IFF after a two-hour meeting without signing the contract,“ Press TV wrote.
The veteran La Liga manager declined to give details of the meeting, stressing that he would leave Tehran on Thursday.
“I will return to Iran soon,“ the 58-year-old Spaniard further noted.
Clemente arrived in Tehran on Sunday morning, watched the national team’s training and goalless draw against Syria in the first World Cup qualification game of Asia Group 5 on Wednesday.

Mehrdad Oladi

Mehdi Rajab-Zadeh

Reza Enayati

DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 8--With the addition of recently signed Meidavoudi at Al Ahli, Iranians rank second among foreign players in UAE league, 1 short of the number of Brazilians.
Sharjah, Emirates and Hatta were the only clubs in the first division who kept their foreign players without changing them in the second registration period, which ended last Sunday, Gulf News reported.
The other nine clubs changed one or two players, while Al Wahda club changed all the three foreigners, following their weak form which resulted in poor scores.
However, the poor form or bad results were not the main reason for changing foreign players.
Emirates club, who are currently at the bottom of the table, continued with their three Iranians--Rasoul Khatibi, Reza Enayati, Mehdi Rajab-Zadeh--despite the bottom place they remained on for many weeks.
Al Nasr, second from bottom sacked two strikers from Brazil and Ivory Coast and replaced them with two Nigerians.
The Al Nasr supporters were not satisfied with the Nigerians’ standards, but it’s too late to change them again after the winter window was closed and they have to accept them (good or bad) until the end of the season.
Al Shabab, top of the table in the first division, signed Brazilian striker Fernando De Olivera last week to replace the injured Iranian Mehrdad Oladi.
However, they changed the Brazilian with Colombian player David Rocu on the last day of registration. The club officials claimed that the Brazilian lacked fitness and needed more time.
Nashat Akram, the Iraqi midfielder who signed for Al Ain at the beginning of the season, was dismissed following his departure for England to sign for Manchester City but failed to get a work permit.
He said after returning from England that he will look to play for another club in Europe. Al Ain replaced him with Brazilian Pedro de Olivera.
French striker Gregory Du Frenice was one of the best strikers in the UAE when he used to play for Dubai club. He however failed to perform well and couldn’t score goals when he played for Al Ahli after signing with them at the end of last season. They replaced him with Iranian striker Milad Meidavoudi.
The 36 players who play in the 12 first division clubs (three for each club), came from 14 countries--Brazil 11; Iran 10; two from Nigeria, Morocco, France; and one each from Spain, Mali, Ivory Coast, Holland, Gambia, Colombia, Ghana, Congo, Iraq.

PARIS, Feb. 8--Top seeds Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova and Marion Bartoli got off to winning starts by booking their spots in the quarterfinals of the WTA Paris Indoor Open here on Thursday.
According to AFP, recipients of first round byes, number one seed Chakvetadze needed just one hour to beat France’s Nathalie Dechy, 6-1, 6-3, while second seed Hantuchova claimed her seventh victory in as many meetings with Slovenia’s Katerina Srebotnik, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
They were joined by France’s Bartoli, the third seed, who got past Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-1, in 1hr 44min.
World number seven Chakvetadze dominated her 64th-ranked opponent from the outset of their second round tie, wrapping up the first set in 23 minutes.
She powered 3-0 ahead in the second, before a lapse in concentration allowed Dechy to convert the first of her four break chances and she fought back to level 3-3.
But four unforced errors, including a double fault, cost Dechy the seventh game, allowing the Russian take a firm grip on the tie, as she claimed her second win over the 28-year-old Frenchwoman in as many meetings.
She next plays either two-time champion Amelie Mauresmo, the sixth seed, who eliminated the Russian in the quarterfinals here last year, or Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou.
Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko later booked a quarterfinal showdown with fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva when she beat countrywoman Yuliana Fedak 6-0, 6-3.
Bondarenko, who eliminated defending champion Nadia Petrova in the previous round, won the first nine games of the tie to claim her fifth victory in as many meetings with Fedak.
Srebotnik, 26, was left wondering how she once again failed to get past 24-year-old Hantuchova.

PHOENIX, USA,
Feb. 8--Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal pledged Thursday to bring an NBA title to the Phoenix Suns much like he did in previous stints with both Los Angeles and Miami, AP said.
Speaking at a news conference, one day after being traded from the Heat to the Suns, 35-year-old O’Neal said he believes he can get Phoenix over that final playoff hurdle.
O’Neal, a 14-time all-star, played eight years in Los Angeles leading the Lakers to three consecutive titles. He was traded to Miami in 2004 and two years later led the Heat to a title.
O’Neal, one of the most prolific scorers of all-time, said he plans to use his size to create more space for Suns shooters like Raja Bell and Amare Stoudemire.
A two-time All-Star, Stoudemire is averaging 22.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and a career-high 2.4 blocks in his sixth season.
The Suns finished with a 61-21 record last year and are off to an equally impressive 34-18 start following Wednesday’s double overtime loss to New Orleans.
They joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1968 and have appeared in the finals several times but are still seeking their first title.
Phoenix looked poised to go all the way last year but lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the playoffs.
The Suns won game four to level the series at 2-2 but then lost game five after stars Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were handed controversial suspensions for coming off the bench to watch a shoving match between Nash and Spurs Robert Horry.
There has been some who questioned the Suns decision to give up all-star Shawn Marion and guard Marcus Banks for the veteran O’Neal.

Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba reacts after missing a goal during African Nations Cup semifinal soccer match against Egypt in Kumasi, Feb. 7.

KARLSTAD, Sweden, Feb. 8--Norway’s Petter Solberg, driving a Subaru Impreza, topped the time charts in the opening super-special stage of the Rally of Sweden on Thursday.
World champion Sebastien Loeb, who won the season-opener in Monte Carlo last month, was fourth fastest over the 1.9km course at the Karlstad racecourse in his Citroen.
According to AFP, the Frenchman, just 1.1sec behind 2003 world champion Solberg, has reached another milestone here as he and co-driver Daniel Elena are competing in their 100th rally together.
The Ford Focus duo of Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen were in second and third-place respectively on a treacherous super-special stage. Australia’s Chris Atkinson, who was third in Monte-Carlo, came off worst. His Subaru Impreza stalled on the start line and he lost precious seconds as a result. Atkinson finished 7.3secs behind his teammate. The first full day of the race is on Friday with seven stages.
Loeb’s Spanish teammate Dani Sordo faces a tough examination this weekend after being penalized five minutes for changing the engine in his Citroen after the race in Monte Carlo. Under FIA rules, an engine must last three races.

LONDON, Feb. 8--Cities like Hong Kong, Dubai, Johannesburg and New York could start hosting English Premier League matches during the 2010-11 season under groundbreaking proposals outlined here on Thursday.
According to AFP, chairman of the league’s 20 clubs agreed to explore a plan for an ’international round’ of matches under which each team would play an extra match every January at one of five overseas venues with the results counting towards the final league table.
The move would mean each club playing 39 matches over the season with a draw deciding which teams would face each other in the ten matches held outside England.
Richard Scudamore, the league’s chief executive, said, “We are proud the Premier League is viewed as the strongest domestic football competition in the world by fans at home and abroad, and we are committed to maintaining this tradition.“
The proposal will be controversial because of the risk of imbalances in the fixtures. For example, Manchester United could be drawn to face a struggling club like Derby while a title-chasing rival such as Arsenal could be given a much tougher assignment against, say, a club like Everton.
Seedings could be used however to ensure all the top clubs played clubs from the bottom half of the table.
The overseas matches would help consolidate the popularity of English football around the globe, and boost club revenues by increasing the value of broadcasting/new media rights and attracting new sponsors from the markets concerned.

PEBBLE BEACH, USA, Feb. 8--The celebrity watch at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am took place everywhere but the top of the leaderboard Thursday.
Kent Jones birdied the two most famous par 3s at Pebble Beach and kept bogeys off his card for a 6-under 66 and a one-shot lead, an encouraging start for someone who has played 270 tournaments on the PGA Tour without finishing in the top five.
Nationwide Tour grad Roland Thatcher was a shot back along with Q-school grad Brad Adamonis and John Mallinger, third at Pebble Beach last year as a rookie, reported AP.
The star gazing took place at Poppy Hills, and while it didn’t always produce great golf to match the spectacular sunshine on the Monterey Peninsula, it was entertaining.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson was on the verge of shooting himself out of the tournament until a birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie burst enabled him to recover with a 71.
Greg Norman, playing on the PGA Tour for the first time in 18 months, was holding steady until a four-putt on the 13th hole for a double bogey. He finished with a 76. His fiancŽe, tennis great Chris Evert, flew in from Florida and didn’t make it out to the golf course until Norman was on the 16th.
Evert has no plans to take up golf, saying it was too time-consuming with three boys and a tennis academy to run. These rounds take close to six hours with two pros and two amateurs in every group, and it was a slow, steady grind.
J.B. Holmes, coming off a playoff victory over Mickelson last week in Phoenix, had a 68 at Spyglass Hill to join a group of 10 players that included Todd Demsey, who recently recovered from having a tumor removed from his brain.

KUMASI, Ghana,
Feb. 8--Defending champions Egypt took aim at a sixth African Nations Cup title on Thursday when they defeated Ivory Coast 4-1 in the semifinals to set-up a final showdown on Sunday against Cameroon.
According to AFP, Cameroon, the four-time champions, earlier edged hosts Ghana 1-0 in the other semifinal in Accra.
Sunday’s final will be a rematch of the teams opening Group C clash here which the Pharaohs won 4-2.
Egypt opened the scoring after 12 minutes through Ahmed Fathy, whose shot took a deflection.
Amr Zaky extended the lead in the 62nd minute before Kader Keita reduced the tally for the Ivorians a minute later.
Zaky restored the two-goal cushion in the 67th minute before Mohamed Aboutrika completed the rout in stoppage time when he smashed the ball into the roof of the net from a pass by substitute Mohamed Zidan.
Ivory Coast coach Gerard Gili insisted the loss of first-choice goalkeeper Boubacar Barry through injury did not adversely affect the fortunes of his team.
This semifinal was the rematch of the final of the 2006 edition of the tournament and it lived up to its billing with five goals and end-to-end action.
Ivory Coast created the first surprise of the night when they started Arsenal center-half Kolo Toure, who suffered a groin injury against Benin in a group game and was understood to have played his last match of the competition.
Egypt, on the hand, chose not take such a gamble on injury-troubled Mohamed Zidan and dropped him to the bench.
However, Egypt took the lead through Fathy on 12 minutes when he rifled home a shot from the edge of the box which took a slight deflection off a defender to fly past a bewildered Barry.

LONDON, Feb. 8--Sunderland boss Roy Keane has become the highest-profile name to back English Premier League plans to stage some matches across the world.
It follows criticism by some managers and fans of proposals to extend the season by one game to 39 fixtures. There is also concern the extra game and travel may lead to player burn-out.
But Keane told the BBC: “It’s great. Change is good but that depends who you are playing in that extra game. If it’s one of the top four, I might argue.“
Keane added: “The Premier League has been brilliant and Richard Scudamore (Premier League chief executive) spoke brilliantly last night. They are looking at the proposals and do everything properly.