Sports

Barcelona have announced Deco as their new sporting director on a three-year contract.The appointment of the former Barca and Portugal playmaker comes after director of football Mateu Alemany agreed to be released from his role once the summer transfer window closes on September 2.

Alemany’s scheduled departure from Barcelona was announced in May and he will now work alongside Deco until early next month.

Deco, new FC Barcelona sporting director

The first team player between 2004 and 2008 signs a contract as sporting director at the Club for the next three seasons

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Deco, who played for the Catalan club between 2004 and 2008, will work closely with the coaches in heading the footballing department at the Nou Camp…

England have responded to criticism of their bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals by announcing a reduced management team.

Bid chiefs held a crisis meeting Thursday and announced a new executive board which included Geoff Thompson, a vice-president of world football governing body FIFA, who was omitted from the original line-up.

After starting the bidding process as favourites ahead of Russia, Australia and the joint-venture by Spain and Portugal, England s 2018 campaign has come under fire in recent weeks.

The bid has been severely criticised by Jack Warner, one of FIFA s executive committee members, and Football Association chairman Lord David Triesman, also England s 2018 chairman, has come under pressure over his inability to devote more than two days a wee…

The teams that have qualified for the upcoming European Championship this summer are already in the process of preparing for the tournament.

England have a rising star in their ranks in Real Madrid sensation Jude Bellingham, and the 20-year-old midfielder says he s benefited a lot from the experience of former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, now wearing the armband at Ajax.

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I am not one of those delusional England fans that think the Three Lions are an outstanding side in world football.

England a decent team who should really do better in major tournaments. We do have some good players and a few world-class players in the squad.

Qualification

Although England aren’t the greatest team in the world we should qualify for the European Championships in Ukraine and Poland next year. Fabio Capello’s team had a relatively straight forward group to qualify from.

The likes of Montenegro and Switzerland shouldn’t have caused England problems but both came to Wembley and claimed a point. The Swiss even held at two goal lead at the English national stadium. However if England gain a point against Montenegro in Podgorica on Friday…

Real Salt Lake head coach Pablo Mastroeni is looking forward to seeing how his new players settle in, with Houston Dynamo next up in MLS.

RSL brought in five new faces in the transfer window, with some of those introduced during their 2-0 win over New England Revolution last time out.

They currently sit third in the Western Conference, five points behind leaders LA Galaxy, and with teams below them starting to close in.

And with only seven games left of the regular season, Mastroeni is eager to get the new players integrated as soon as possible.

A lot of problems to solve, but it allows us to collaborate as a team and figure out on the fly quickly how these new players can bring their skill sets to make our team better, he told KSL Sports Zone.

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Fabio Capello has confirmed that Euro 2012 will be his last competition as England manager.

While Giovanni Trapattoni has extended his contract with the Republic of Ireland by a further two years at the age of 72, Capello has maintained that he will not be in charge of England beyond the summer.

Football Association director of football Sir Trevor Brooking suggested during the week that 65-year-old Capello could stay on as England boss after his six-million-pound-a-year deal runs out.

But Capello, who is in Kiev for Friday night s Euro 2012 draw, said: As an England manager, this is it for me.

But I think we can prepare something different.

Brooking had earlier said: Fabio s contract ends in the (European) summer and the mindset is for change …

Khadija Shaw s second-half double propelled Manchester City to a 2-1 win over Liverpool as they capped off a fine week in style.

Olivia Smith s stinging 41st-minute strike put the Reds ahead at Anfield on Sunday, but last season s leading Women s Super League scorer Shaw inspired the City comeback.

The Jamaican headed in from Lauren Hemp s pinpoint delivery in the 58th minute, before taking centre stage late on.

In the second minute of stoppage time, Shaw shrugged off the challenge of Niamh Fahey and lashed home a venomous effort into the top-right corner to secure the points for Gareth Taylor s team.

The victory ends a fantastic week for City, who beat Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday and moved top of the WSL with 10 points from their four …

Lionel Messi has warned Argentina s Copa America final opponents Colombia the injury worries that hampered him earlier in the tournament are now firmly behind him.

Messi is looking to lead La Albiceleste to a third major tournament win in as many years on Sunday, as the 2021 Copa America and 2022 World Cup winners face Colombia at Miami s Hard Rock Stadium.

He has endured a mixed tournament, needing four games – and 12 shots – to score his first goal as he finally got off the mark against Canada in the semi-finals.

A muscle injury forced Messi to sit out Argentina s third group-stage match against Peru, but he says he is fully fit and raring to go ahead of Sunday s showpiece game.

Speaking to Dsports, the eight-time Ballon d Or winner said: With Canad…

Raheem Sterling is delighted to be playing a major part for England after he bookended a difficult time with Manchester City by scoring the winner against Croatia.

England started their Euro 2020 Group D campaign with a 1-0 victory at Wembley, Sterling netting in the 57th minute.

It was the 26-year-old s 19th direct goal involvement (13 goals, six assists) in his last 17 appearances for England, while it was his first strike in a major tournament.

Sterling endured a difficult end to the season at City, and regularly found himself out of Pep Guardiola s first XI, though he did start in the Champions League final.

Yet the former Liverpool man, who has been rumoured to be unhappy with his playing time at City, is thrilled to be in the England camp.

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Marcelo Bielsa said Uruguay have no plan B in their attempts to stop Colombia s attacking talents ahead of their Copa America semi-final on Wednesday.

Uruguay come into the contest at Bank of America Stadium off the back of a penalty shootout over nine-time champions Brazil, but face a stern test against La Tricolor.

Colombia s 5-0 triumph over Panama in the quarter-finals extended their unbeaten run to 27 matches, equalling their longest unbeaten streak in all competitions.

James Rodriguez starred for Nestor Lorenzo s side, notching a goal and two assists, taking their team s total to 11 goals for the tournament so far.

Bielsa praised Colombia s array of attacking talent and said his side would need to defend well to reach a first Copa America final s…