Portugal suffered a major scare yesterday after Cristiano Ronaldo was forced to cut short a training session.

Jens Lehmann might face a stint on the sidelines after picking up a painful ankle injury in Germany´s 4-2 victory over Costa Rica.

Roy Keane is set to miss Ireland's crucial World Cup qualifier against Switzerland next month after he broke a bone in his foot yesterday.

Scotland forward James McFadden has declared their European Championships qualifying campaign starts now and urged veterans David Weir and Jackie McNamara to stay and fight on.

Brian Kerr admitted his Republic of Ireland players struggled to match France physically during the 1-0 defeat in Dublin.

The United States will be without captain Claudio Reyna for the World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador and Panama.

The Ireland U21 team and management have regretfully announced that Fiach O’Loughlin of Shannon and Peter O’Brien of UCC have been withdrawn from the U21 World Cup as a result of injury.

French coach Roger Lemerre has picked Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Sylvain Wiltord and Youri Djorkaeff in a formidable looking starting line-up for the opening match in Group A at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Victoria Beckham will not be flying out to the Far East to watch England play in the World Cup.

Sol Campbell believes that "living on the edge" will bring the best out of him and the rest of the England team in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

A case listed for trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court had to be adjourned as a key prosecution witness is working with the Irish soccer team at the World Cup.

Ulster prop Robbie Kempson is being courted by SA Rugby officials in a bid to bolster South Africa's recent tight five woes ahead of the Tri-Nations and World Cup, which are to be held later this year.

England have lost their appeal against an International Cricket Council ruling that their controversial World Cup match against Zimbabwe must go ahead in Harare next week.

Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy and his World Cup squad have touched down at Dublin Airport, ahead of a welcome party at the Phoenix Park later this evening.

Ireland must face the wooden spoon match against Russia at the women's World Cup in Perth, Australia, tomorrow after losing 4-3 to Ukraine.

Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy claims he will not let the pressure of competing in the World Cup spoil his enjoyment of the tournament.

The Republic of Ireland could face Argentina on April 17 in a friendly after talks between the FAI and their South American counterparts recommenced.

Iranian manager Miroslav Blazevic, who said he would hang himself if his team failed to beat the United Arab Emirates in the Asian play-off, has said the threat still stands for the World Cup play-off against Ireland this month.

The 67,000-seater Stade Velodrome will also host the Challenge Cup decider on the same weekend.