South Africa 2-1 Sudan:Goals from Thulani Serero and Tokelo Rantie sealed victory and ensured Eprahim Mashaba's men will feature in the tournament in January

South Africa booked their place in the African Cup of Nations
finals with a 2-1 win over Sudan on Saturday.
South Africa coach Eprahim Mashaba had urged his team to
secure the three points they needed on Saturday to ensure they
would feature in next year's tournament in memory of
murdered captain Senzo Meyiwa.
Goalkeeper Meyiwa was tragically shot dead last month in an
altercation involving two attackers on the outskirts of
Johannesburg last month.
There was a minute's silence before kick-off at Moses Mabhida
Stadium in the first game Bafana Bafana have played since
Meyiwa's passing and goals from Serero and Tokelo Rantie
ensured Mashaba's side will feature in the showpiece which will
now be held in Equatorial Guinea next year.
Salah Ibrahim pulled a goal back for Sudan to set up a tense
final, but South Africa, who were captained by Dean
Furman, held on to stay top of Group A with one game against
Nigeria remaining and are guaranteed a top-two finish.
Sudan, on the other hand, have no chance of qualifying for the
tournament having secured only three points from their five
matches but will feel they should have been awarded a penalty
in time added on.
Backed by a partisan crowd in a game which was moved from
Nelspruit to Meyiwa's home city at the request of Mashaba, the
hosts showed positive intent in the opening stages but were
indebted to a superb last-ditch challenge from Sibusiso Khumal
to thwart Mudather El Tahir as he raced clear.
Ajax midfielder Serero eased the tension seven minutes before
the break, putting the hosts in front with a right-footed finish to
round off a lovely passing move.
Sudan striker Bakri Al Madina was fortunate to get away with
catching South Africa goalkeeper Darren Keet with a late high
boot, then Bongani Ndulula was guilty of a glaring miss for the
hosts with the goal gaping.
Visiting keeper Moez Mahjoub was quickly off his line to make a
brave save to deny Rantie just after the break as Mashaba's men
attempted to give themselves some breathing space.
Rantie was not to be denied after 53 minutes, though, as he
picked up a pass and skipped pass two players before applying a
clinical right-footed finish.
Ibrahim sent home nerves jangling when he volleyed home
from inside the penalty area, and Sudan were denied a late
penalty as Khumalo felled his man inside the area but South
Africa held on to spark celebrations on and off the pitch.
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Manchester united set to release anderson

Manchester United are ready to take a hit on Anderson and let
the midfielder leave the club on a free transfer in January,
according to the Daily Star.
Both Gremio, where he began his professional career and
Flamengo in the 26 year old's native Brazil have registered an
interest in the former Porto man, who has played just twenty
minutes of league football so far this season.
His only start since Louis van Gaal took charge came in the
shock Capital One Cup defeat to League One side MK Dons, and
he spent the second half of last season on loan at Serie A side
Fiorentina.
Anderson moved to Old Trafford in July 2007 and has racked up
one hundred and eighty-one appearances for the club and
scored nine goals, as well as winning four league titles, two
league cups.
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Manchester united target fabio coentrao in january transfer

Louis Van Gaal's spending spree at Manchester
United may be set to continue in January, with
reports suggesting that the Dutchman is eyeing a
deal for Real Madrid's Fabio Coentrao.
French magazine Le 10 Sport have stated that the
Portuguese left-back is frustrated at the Santiago
Bernabeu at the lack of first-team football and could
be looking at a possible departure when the transfer
window opens in two months.
Coentrao, who arrived at Madrid in 2011 has played
only 47 times in the league in just over three years.
He has made only one La Liga appearance this
season, and is firmly behind Marcelo in the pecking
order. Touted as one of the brightest prospects in his
Benfica days, the 26 year-old has become something
of a forgotten man in the last couple of years.
United are said to be facing fierce competition from
French champions Paris Saint-Germain to secure
Coentrao's signature. Both clubs believe that the full-
back will be tempted with the offer of regular first-
team football and leave the Spanish capital in
January.
Van Gaal signed a left-back in the summer – Luke
Shaw from Southampton for a hefty amount of £30
million. Despite playing regularly of late, there were
reports earlier on in the season that the manager
wasn't too pleased with the Englishman's
performances and fitness levels.
Along with United and PSG, Italian sides Juventus
and AC Milan also said to have Coentrao on their radar.
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Liverpool keen on xherdan shaqiri

Xherdan Shaqiri's time at Bayern Munich has been
nothing short of a struggle. The Swiss star who
moved to the Bavarian giants in 2012 from FC Basel
has hardly got the game time he expected at the
Allianz Arena. Shaqiri however dazzled at the World
Cup in Brazil but in reality, he was always going to
have a bit part role at Bayern.
The dazzling 23 year old was linked with a move
away from his present club in the summer with
Liverpool as well as Italian side Roma interested in
acquiring his services. However, none of the deals
failed to materialize and the player stayed put at the
Munich based side.
Shaqiri Juventus transfer
However, Italian Media outlet Tuttosport have been
reporting over the past few days that reigning Serie A
Champions Juventus are keen on signing the winger
in the upcoming January transfer window. They have
also dedicated a full front page report this morning
that the Bianconeri are just a step away from signing
the player in the winter.
Shaqiri has just featured in 13 appearances for
Bayern this season and has scored a couple of goals.
We had earlier reported that Juventus were
interested in the Swiss star while there were claims
that Russian side Spartak Moscow had made an offer
close to €20m for the player.
Liverpool though would be disappointed to miss out
on Shaqrir as it now appears that he will move to
Turin in January. The left footed winger would have
seamlessly fitted in Brendan Rodgers' starting eleven
thanks to his immense versatility. Moreover Shaqiri
is tactically very flexible and would have suited the
Reds' style of play. Liverpool had also made also
made contacts with Shaqiri's brother who is also his
agent in the summer but the deal somehow fell
through.
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Roberto Mancini returns to Inter Milan as manager

In a surprising turn of events, Inter Milan have
reportedly appointed former manager Roberto
Mancini as their manager, who will replace the
former Napoli manager, Walter Mazzarri.
Inter have released an official statement:
"FC Internazionale would like to announce that
Walter Mazzarri has been relieved of his
position of first team coach MILAN – FC
Internazionale would like to announce that
Walter Mazzarri has been relieved of his duties
as first team coach.
The club would like to thank Mazzarri for the
commitment, dedication and professionalism
he showed over his 17 months in charge.
Today's training session will be taken by Giuseppe Baresi."
Mancini had a successful spell with the Italian giants
winning three league titles and two Italian cups in
four years. Mancini had resigned from his
managerial role at Galatasaray earlier this year,
stating that the club and his ambitions were not at a
same wavelength.
Reputed Italian journalist, Gianluca Di Marzio
reports that Inter President Erick Thohir has decided
to replace Mazzarri with Mancini, following a poor
start to the season.
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Arsenal and manchester united battle for maribor defender petar stojanovic

Premier League giants Manchester United and Arsenal are both
keeping close tabs on Maribor defender Petar Stojanovic,
Slovenian newspaper Ekipa has suggested.
The Gunners were the first high-profile side to express their
interest in the talented footballer, with the 19-year-old having
impressed playing for Maribor in the Champions League.
However, the latest reports have suggested Manchester United
have joined the race, seeing as how the Red Devils have watched
the youngster in action as his side faced Chelsea last week.
Stojanovic has established himself as one of the best right-backs
in Slovenia of late, even though he can also operate further up
the pitch.
The highly rated full-back spent every minute on the pitch in
each of club's nine Champions League fixtures this term while
also making nine appearances in the league.
Manchester United and Arsenal are in dire need
of defenders in the upcoming January transfer
window.both United and Arsenal had sent scouts in
the past midweek to watch Maribor defender Petar
Stojanovic.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had earlier hinted
that he needs to buy a defender in January while the
same also goes for United. The Old Trafford side are
yet to replace Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and
Patrice Evra, all of the three who left in the summer
to leave a huge gap in the back four.
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Suso set to sign a new deal at anfield.

Liverpool midfielder Suso is on the verge of signing a new
contract with the Merseyside club,
The Spain U21 international, who is in the final year of his
current contract, had recently been linked with a move to AC
Milan though those reports were dismissed out of hand by the
players agent.
Having spent last season on loan with La Liga side Almeria, Suso
returned to Anfield in the summer and has made just one
appearance so far this season, as a substitute in last month's
penalty shoot-out victory over Middlesbrough in the third round
of the Capital One Cup where he scored minutes after coming
on to give his side the lead in extra time.
Aside from that outing, the 20 year old made twenty appearance
in all competitions in his debut season in English football while
internationally, he was part of the Spain squad that won the uefa u19 championships in 2012
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Napoil set €30 million bid for Erik lamela.

Napoli are set to rekindle their interest in Tottenham Hotspur
midfielder Erik Lamela,
The Azzurri are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements
after Lorenzo Insigne has been ruled out for the season and
Rafael Benitez aims to sign a high-profile replacement in
January.
Tottenham's Erik Lamela remains the number one target even if
Spurs value the player at more than €30 million, and Napoli
might try and test their resolve with a January bid.
The Argentine has finally started showing his potential in English
Premiership, although he has suffered a dip in form of late.
In case Lamela proves unrealistic target, Napoli will turn their
attention to Carlos Vela and Ivan Perisic.
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Netherlands 2-3 Mexico: Carlos Vela shines in return as Mexico exact revenge on the Netherlands.

Carlos Vela ended his three-year international absence in style
by scoring twice as Mexico got some revenge on Netherlands fo
their World Cup elimination with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday.
Vela was making his first appearance for the national side for
three and a half years at the Amsterdam ArenA after refusing
several call-ups, with his unwillingness to play for his country
seeing him miss the 2014 World Cup.
However, the Real Sociedad striker accepted the latest olive
branch from Herrera and wasted no time in illustrating his
worth with a well-taken double.
Vela's two goals were separated by a powerful volley from
Wesley Sneijder on a night that saw the Galatasaray star become
the third-most capped Netherlands player with 110
international appearances.
But Javier Hernandez added a third to render that moment of
magic irrelevant in spite of Daley Blind's deflected 74th-minute
strike.
Mexico stood firm to gain a measure of revenge for their 2-1
loss to Netherlands in the last 16 of the World Cup and place
further pressure on Dutch head coach Guus Hiddink, who
revealed that he would resign if his side lose to Latvia in Euro
2016 qualifying on Sunday.
Sneijder was presented with a pre-match award for reaching
100 caps, but it was Vela who stole the spotlight just eight
minutes after kick-off as he marked his comeback with a
magnificent goal.
Vela curled a superb 20-yard effort beyond a helpless Tim Krul
and into the top corner, silencing the crowd at the Amsterdam
Arena with his first goal since a 2-1 win over Italy in June 2010.
Hiddink was made to reshuffle in the 24th minute when centre-
back Ron Vlaar was forced off through injury and replaced by
Stefan de Vrij.
Despite that setback Netherlands began to take control of the
game, Depay casually firing over from a clever lofted pass from
the ever-threatening Robben, who worked Mexico goalkeeper
Guillermo Ochoa with a powerful low drive from distance.
But the chance of the half fell to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the Schalk
striker somehow firing wide at the far post with the goal at his
mercy after De Vrij had nodded a Robben corner into his path.
However, only four minutes into the second half Sneijder
levelled in spectacular fashion. The 30-year-old controlled a
Mexico clearance brilliantly before unleashing an unstoppable
dipping volley that left Ochoa groping at thin air.
Krul produced a fine point-blank save from Hernandez but the
Newcastle United keeper turned from hero to villain in the 62nd
minute, as he allowed Vela's half volley to sneak underneath
him after his defence had been undone by substitute Jesus
Corona clever pass.
And the visitors ultimately put the result beyond doubt seven
minutes later when Hernandez latched onto a throughball fro
Andres Guardado, rounded Krul and tucked into an empty net.
Yet a touch of fortune gave the hosts a route back into the
contest, Blind's long-range strike taking a wicked deflection tha
wrongfooted Ochoa to halve the deficit.
A night of frustration for Netherlands was encapsulated in the
85th minute when Ochoa dived to his left to keep out a header
from substitute Georginio Wijnaldum, sealing a result that
ramps up the strain on the shoulders of Hiddink ahead a
qualifier that could see his second spell in charge of his country
come to an early end.
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Argentina 2-1 Croatia: Messi scored the winning goal that seal agentina's victory over croatia

The Barcelona forward scored from the penalty spot
to seal the affair at Upton Park, England, adding to
Cristian Ansaldi's heavily deflected effort and
nullifying Anas Sharbini'...
Lionel Messi bagged the winner for Argentina as they defeated a
second-string Croatia side 2-1 on Wednesday.
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Carrick out of England squad

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has withdrawn
from the England squad after suffering a groin injury.
Carrick sustained the problem – described as "minor" in a
Football Association (FA) statement – in training on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old has returned to United and will miss England's
Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia on Saturday and next
week's friendly with Scotland.
The FA also announced that no-one will be called up to replace
Carrick "at this time".
Carrick only returned to action for his club earlier in November
after missing the first few months of the season following ankle
surgery.
The former Tottenham man has not played for England since
their 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Poland at Wembley
last October.
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Turkey 0 Brazil 4: Neymar scored twice to give brazil a convincing win

Neymar scored twice as Brazil continued their winning run
under Dunga with a 4-0 victory over Turkey on Wednesday.
Brazil's performances have been steadily improving since Dunga
took up the reins from Luiz Felipe Scolari after their ill-fated
World Cup campaign, and the win in Istanbul saw them repeat
of their 4-0 drubbing of Japan last month.
Neymar's first came after 20 minutes, as he poked the ball past
Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, before Semih Kaya put the
ball in his own net to double their advantage.
Willian – excellent throughout – extended the lead just before
the break by sidefooting home in plenty of space, before the
Chelsea man then provided the assist for Neymar to slot home
the fourth on the hour.
The victory is Brazil's fifth in as many matches in Dunga's second
stint in charge, while Turkey have not won in four.
With the Brazilian domestic season in its final stages, Dunga
named a squad comprising only players who ply their trade
abroad, and it was the visitors who applied the early pressure.
Despite dominating the opening period, Brazil had to wait until
the ninth minute to produce their first real shot at goal – Oscar
drilling an effort straight at Demirel from 25 yards.
Neymar almost rounded Demirel soon afterwards, before
curling over a free-kick after Willian had been felled by Bekir
Irtegun just outside the penalty area.
However, the Brazil captain soon had the ball in the back of the
net. Running on to a superb Fernandinho ball from deep in the
20th minute, Neymar overcame a poor touch to prod a shot
past Demirel and into the bottom left-hand corner.
Turkey have never beaten Brazil, and they certainly did not look
likely to break that duck when Kaya diverted the ball into his
own net from a Danilo cross five minutes later.
The hosts had struggled to pose any threat to the opposition
goal, but finally Arda Turan forced Diego Alves to tip the ball
over with a curling effort on the half-hour mark, before Umut
Bulut nodded narrowly wide from Hamit Altintop's cross.
It was Brazil who ended the half in the ascendancy, and having
already chipped over crossbar with Demirel stranded, an
unmarked Willian sidefooted home the third following good
work by Neymar.
Demirel was put out of his misery at half-time, with Volkan
Babacan coming on as one of four changes for the home side,
and the replacement shot-stopper made an almost instant
impact by getting down brilliantly to his right to keep out David
Luiz's header.
The Paris Saint-Germain defender was quick to congratulate
Babacan on a superb save, but the 26-year-old – making just his
second international appearance – was soon having to pick the
ball out of his net.
Neymar exchanged passes with Willian before easing through
the Turkish defence to slip the ball beyond Babacan.
Bulut was kept out by Alves after being sent through by Turan 20
minutes from time, but the clash lost momentum thereafter as
both coaches made a series of substitutions – to no avail in
Turkey's case.
Shakhtar Donetsk duo Douglas Costa and Fred came off the
bench to make their Brazil debuts, joining club-mate Luiz
Adriano – also making his first international appearance having
played from the start.
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West Bromwich Albion 0 Newcastle United 2:Alan Pardew's side climb into the top eight after an impressive victory at the Hawthorns

Ayoze Perez and Fabricio Coloccini were on target for Alan
Pardew's side, who now sit seventh in the Premier League, just
two-points behind fourth-placed West Ham.
It was the Magpies' new star striker Perez who produced a
moment of magic to put the visitors in front.
A team who between late March and mid-October earned just
one league success in 14 games have now won four in a row in
the Premier League and after a victory secured by goals from
Ayoze Perez and Fabricio Coloccini, Pardew expressed his
gratitude to Ashley for the patience shown to him. "Everyone
was pulling at him when we weren't winning any games and
he stuck with me and was very supportive," he said.
"Our performance level has gone up with the confidence," he
added. "It is difficult to be manager of Newcastle when you are
losing [because] excuses don't really wash with our fans but
we weren't far away in those games at the start of season.
"Newcastle fans are an extreme. They are emotional – when
they win they go mad, when they lose they go mad and we
weren't winning."
The travelling supporters in the Smethwick End were going
mad for the right reasons after a Newcastle performance which
highlighted the canny business done in the summer when they
picked up Spanish forward Perez for £1.6m from Tenerife and
Daryl Janmaat, the Netherlands' World Cup right-back, for
£5m from Feyenoord.
Perez's opening goal on the stroke of half-time was a splash of
colour on a grey first half, and underlined the potential of the
Spain Under-21 striker. Remy Cabella picked out the
overlapping Janmaat and theright-back delivered a low ball
across to Perez, who diverted it into the far corner with a
delicious flick of his heel. His two previous appearances had
brought winning goals against Tottenham and Liverpool and
it is not hard to see why the slight 21-year-old, voted
'revelation of the season' in the Spanish second division last
term, was also pursued by FC Porto last summer.
Pardew said: "We thought his physicality could be an issue
but he had such technical quality, you are hoping that's going
to see him through and it has. That goal was worthy of
winning any game."
During a misleadingly bright start, Newcastle had gone close
to an early breakthough when Sammy Ameobi sent a looping
25-yard shot on to the top of Ben Foster's crossbar,
goal was their first shot on target. Once in front, they never
looked like surrendering their advantage to a subdued Albion
side and added a second goal following a half-cleared corner
in the 62nd minute. Janmaat was involved again, recycling the
danger with a brilliant cross to the far post, where Coloccini
arrived behind Craig Dawson to bury a header for his first
league goal since January 2011.
Ayoze Perez celebrates his goal against West Brom
Pardew, noting Janmaat's involvement in both goals, said:
"He is an attacking full-back and we have had to curtail that a
bit, as in the Dutch league you don't get exploited as much as
in the Premier League but he has learned quickly."
For Albion, by contrast, this was a disappointing afternoon
summed up by an awful miss by Andre Wisdom, who failed
even to test Tim Krul, the Newcastle goalkeeper, from the edge
of the six-yard box in the second half.
There was an underwhelming display too from Saido
Berahino, their seven-goal leading scorer who received his
first England call-up on Thursday. He had only one chance of
note, a rising shot that Krul swatted over after Victor
Anichebe's lay-off. Alan Irvine, the Albion manager, said: "He
probably had his poorest game. Everybody will probably ask
'is it a result of what's just happened to him?', but you can
have a poor game at any time."
Fabricio Coloccini celebrates his goal
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