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The Brazil born Deco has decided to retire from international football after the World Cup this summer.

“I will close my cycle after the World Cup. Because of my age and because it is tiring, I will say goodbye to the national team after the World Cup.”

Deco has played 71 matches for Portugal. The star has also represented Porto and Barcelona. He currently plays in the Premier League with Chelsea. Portugal have seen recent success by entering the Euro 2004 final and the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup.

English Football captain- John Terry might resign as captain. He has come to this decision after the details of his affair with ex-Chelsea and England team-mate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend came to light.

John was earlier involved in scam where he apparently accepted money in return for a tour of Chelsea’s club facilities. Read here.

The Chelsea defender will speak with England coach Fabio Capello and FA officials to discover their thoughts on the latest off-field problem to engulf him.

Terry is close to giving up the job he treasures the most in order to save squad’s morale ahead of the World Cup this summer. Terry values being captain of his country more than anything else, but he recognises that his actions could have potentially damaged the unity within the national squad.

Terry has the Blues

Terry’s Chelsea team-mates showed their support for him after he scored the winner against Burnley on Saturday, there are players at other clubs who do not share the same feeling. Wayne Bridge’s current team-mates at Manchester City have shown support for the left-back by wearing ‘Team Bridge’ T-shirts under their kits in the match against Portsmouth. Other players in the England squad have also contacted former Blues left-back Bridge to offer their support and voice disgust at Terry’s behaviour. Players from other Premier League club’s have admitted they have lost respect for a natural born leader.

Wayne Bridge, the player on the otherside of the controversy has voiced out that as long as Terry remains in the England set-up, he doesn’t want to be considered for the squad even with a World Cup coming up. England Coach, Capello, wants a united squad when he travels to South Africa and remains with a tough decision to make. Terry seems to be close to ease his manager’s troubles by informing the FA that he can no longer remain in the role as England Captain.

Egypt scored the only goal of the match with 5 minutes remaining, against a resilient Ghana team. The Pharaohs have successfully defended their title and have managed a third consecutive trophy in Angola.

The Al Ittihad striker- Mohamed Gedo scored the winner for his team just before the match could move into extra time. Egypt didn’t create too many chances in the game. Ghana looked more creative than their counterparts and had quite a few chances to take the lead.

Egypt defend their African Cup of Nations Title

Earlier, the Egyptians trashed their archrivals Algeria 4-0 to enter the finals.

Egypt have stretched their record-breaking unbeaten run at the Nations Cup to 19 games after their victory over U-20 Champions, Ghana.

In other African Cup of Nations news, Nigeria downed Algeria 1-0 to secure a 3rd place in the tournament. Victor Obinna scored the only goal early in the second half.

Ivory Coast

Côte d’Ivoire have become the first team to reach the quarter finals in the Africa Cup of Nations. They defeated Ghana 3-1 on Friday.

The Elephants were reduced to 10-men after defender Emmanuel Eboue was red-carded for a tackle from behind on Opoku Agyemang. The other two teams in the Group B – Burkina Faso and Ghana will clash Tuesday to decide the second qualifier from the Group. Togo, the 4th country from the group, withdrew from the tournament after their bus was attacked by terrorists.

Kouassi Yao put the Ivorians ahead midway through the first half.  He scored from a direct free-kick. Ghana pulled one back during stoppage-time through an Asamoah Gyan penalty.

Ivory Coast Captain – Drogba commented:

“We’re all relieved. We were consistent from the start. Even if we had difficulties we succeeded in remaining solid and performing the counter attacks.”

Ghana started with a second rate team with almost eight of the first-choice players missing. Defenders John Pantsil and John Mensah, midfielders Anthony Annan, Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, Laryea Kingson and Sulley Muntari and striker Asamoah Gyan.