Soccer - New Straits Times

CONFEDERATIONS CUP: Italy grab vital victory

PERFECT STAGE: Majestic Pirlo marks 100th cap with goal as Balotelli adds a second

CONFEDERATIONS CUP: Prandelli blasts 'silly' Mario

RIO DE JANEIRO: Italy coach Cesare Prandelli tore a strip off tearaway striker Mario Balotelli despite the controversial star grabbing the winner in the 2-1 Confederations Cup victory over Mexico at the Maracana on Sunday.

CONFEDERATIONS CUP: Coach urges Spain to be more ruthless

RECIFE (Brazil): Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque criticised his players for not scoring more goals during a sublime first half against Uruguay and said that profligacy caused some heart flutters at the end of their 2-1 Confederations Cup victory on Sunday.

Verbal volleys spice up Korea-Iran clash

SEOUL: A war of words between the coaches of Iran and South Korea has spiced things up between the Group A rivals as they bid to secure automatic qualifying spots for the 2014 World Cup.

Win the FA Cup, Hodak

LAST CHANCE: Failing to do so could see Croatian coach part ways with Kelantan

Clubs refuse to release players

ONLY three out of the eight non-Young Tigers 'A' players will report to national Under-23 coach Ong Kim Swee in Vienna, Austria ahead of the World University Games on July 6-17 in Kazan, Russia.

Protesters fail to distract Brazil

22 ARRESTED: Neymar gets hosts off to flying start as police use rubber bullets to disperse angry crowd

Nazmi has bright future

NAZMI Faiz Mansor angered officials when he quit Portuguese side Beira-Mar to join Super League club PKNS in March.

Beaten Japan refuse to blame travel sickness

BRASILIA: Japan were despondent after losing Saturday's Confederations Cup opener 3-0 to Brazil, the result barely an improvement on a 4-0 friendly thumping last October.

Tahiti plot ambush of jet-lagged Nigeria

BELO HORIZONTE: Nigeria's status as resounding favourites to beat minnows Tahiti in their Confederations Cup opener today (tomorrow in Malaysia) has been compromised by a delayed arrival that leaves them just 36 hours to prepare for the game.

Perak lead the way

AS the M-League heads towards privatisation in 2015 or 2016, the Perak FA is the first affiliate to announce its plans to register 'Perak FC'.

Mourinho confidential!

JOSE Mourinho has claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson confided in him "months ago" over his plan to retire as manager of Manchester United. And he insists that in the same conversation he told Ferguson the job he wanted more than any other was back at Chelsea.