Republic of Ireland defender Stephen Kelly was handed a first competitive start under Giovanni Trapattoni in tonight’s World Cup qualifier against Georgia.

THE scandal threatening to bring Italian football to its knees is now starting to affect the national team’s World Cup preparations, according to the Italian press.

Buckingham Palace is becoming familiar territory for Jonny Wilkinson with two visits in the last month now to be followed by a third trip to pick up an OBE.

Brazil, who beat Turkey 2-1 in their opening Group C game, made just one change with Gremio defender Anderson Polga replacing Edmilson.

Leigh Halfpenny – and not James Hook or Lee Byrne – will be the Wales full-back in Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Ireland.

IT WAS no surprise when last night Roy Keane announced - for the second time - his retirement from international football in the wake of the Republic of Ireland’s failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Germany.

Northern Ireland’s largest manufacturer has banned England wallcharts during the World Cup.

Italian official Pierluigi Collina has refused to rule out coming to referee in the Premiership in the 2005-6 season after he has passed the retirement age of 45 for Italy’s Serie A.

South Korea 2 Turkey 3

South Korea's idol Ahn Jung-hwan scored the golden goal which defeated Italy and sent the co-hosts through to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

Germany defender Jerome Boateng has labelled the team’s World Cup as a “disaster” after their worst performance in 80 years.

South Africa captain John Smit stopped short of claiming the underdog tag ahead of Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final but acknowledged Australia have had the upper hand over them in the past two years.

Australia coach Pim Verbeek is happy to concede he is taking a calculated risk on Harry Kewell's fitness ahead of the World Cup finals, but believes the striker's qualities ensure it is worth it.

Giuseppe Rossi is confident Italy will rediscover their goalscoring touch in tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier in Georgia.

Life is good for both Ireland’s senior teams as they begin the final preparation phase for their Olympic qualification campaigns.

Wales coach Warren Gatland could field a team containing just eight survivors from the World Cup quarter-final win against Ireland in Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations opener.

AC Milan have confirmed David Beckham will be returning to the Italian club.

Before the final of last week's World Match Play Championship, Paul Casey was asked whether he would prefer to win at Wentworth or lift the Ryder Cup. Now he has one, he would love the other.