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The Japanese national team will begin preparations for their 2010 World Cup with a friendly against Venezuela on February 2.

Venezuela haven’t qualified for the Cup, but Japan manager Takeshi Okada feels it would be a good test as “teams from South America always approach matches wanting to win”. and also added that the game “will help toughen Japan up”.

Japanese players celebrate their goal

Right now Japan have no more friendlies in store, however, they will face China, Hong Kong and South Korea at the East Asian Championships in February.

Japan’s Asian counterparts- South Korea have left an option open to include veteran striker Ahn Jung-Hwan in next year’s World Cup.

Coach Huh has also stated that another veteran from the 2002 World Cup, Lee Chun-Soo may also get a chance. Huh said:

“Ahn Jung-Hwan and Lee Chun-Soo will not be ignore. They have much experience between them. The players are special assets to Korean football. They’re players who can adjust and do their share of work even if they are called upon later. They are still on the reserve list.”

Ahn, is famous for scoring a golden goal against Italy at the 2002 World Cup. Lee, also a key part of that South Korean team, currently plays his club football at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

The much awaited African Football event is due to start next month in Angola, on the 10th. Here’s the full fixture list of the tournament:-

ANGOLA v MALI A 10/01/2010 20H:00 Luanda
MALAWI v ALGERIA A 11/01/2010 14H:45 Luanda
COTE D’IVOIRE v B. FASO B 11/01/2010 17H:00 Cabinda
GHANA v TOGO B 11/01/2010 19H:30 Cabinda
EGYPT v NIGERIA C 12/01/2010 17H:00 Benguela
MOZAMBIQUE v BENIN C 12/01/2010 19H:30 Benguela
CAMEROUN v GABON D 13/01/2010 17H:00 Lubango
ZAMBIA v TUNISIA D 13/01/2010 19H:30 Lubango
MALI v ALGERIA A 14/01/2010 17H:00 Luanda
ANGOLA v MALAWI A 14/01/2010 19H:30 Luanda
BURKINA FASO v TOGO B 15/01/2010 17H:00 Cabinda
COTE D’IVOIRE v GHANA B 15/01/2010 19H:30 Cabinda
NIGERIA v BENIN C 16/01/2010 17H:00 Benguela
EGYPT v MOZAMBIQUE C 16/01/2010 19H:30 Benguela
GABON v TUNISIA D 17/01/2010 17H:00 Lubango
CAMEROON v ZAMBIA D 17/01/2010 19H:30 Lubango
ANGOLA v ALGERIA A 18/01/2010 17H:00 Luanda
MALI v MALAWI A 18/01/2010 17H:00 Cabinda
BURKINA FASO v GHANA B 19/01/2010 17H:00 Luanda
COTE D’IVOIRE v TOGO B 19/01/2010 17H:00 Cabinda
EGYPT v BENIN C 20/01/2010 17H:00 Benguela
NIGERIA v MOZAMBIQUE C 20/01/2010 17H:00 Lubango
GABON v ZAMBIA D 21/01/2010 17H:00 Benguela
CAMEROON v TUNISIA D 21/01/2010 17H:00 Lubango

Quarter Finals
1st A v 2nd B 24/01/2010 17H:00 Luanda
1st B v 2nd A 24/01/2010 20H:30 Cabinda
1st C v 2nd D 25/01/2010 17H:00 Benguela
1st D v 2nd C 25/01/2010 20H:30 Lubango

Semi Finals
Winner 25 v Winner 28 28/01/2010 17H:00 Luanda
Winner 26 v Winner 27 28/01/2010 20H:30 Benguela

Third place match
Loser 29 v Loser 30 30/01/2010 17H:00 Benguela

Final
Winner 29 v Winner 30 31/01/2010 17H:00 Luanda

Argentine and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi had won the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Earlier, he won the European Player of the Year. He has helped his club secure an unprecendented six titles this season.

The 22-year-old has picked up the award for the first time, beating last year’s winner- Cristiano Ronaldo and fellow Bracelona team-mates Xavi and Iniesta.

Messi was quoted saying:

“I’m extremely happy. We’ve just ended a historic year, a perfect year in which we’ve won every competition we’ve played in. We just needed to take this last step and everything has worked out how we wanted. It’s amazing.”

Other awards and honours won at the gala event held in Zurich were as follows :-

The Team of the Year

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), John Terry (Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd), Patrice Evra (Man Utd), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Fernando Torres (Liverpool).

Puskas, Best Goal

Ronaldo won the trophy for the best goal of the 2008/09 season – his long-range thunderbolt for Manchester United against Porto in the Champions League in April.

Women Player of the Year

Brazilian player Marta took the honours for the fourth year in a row!

Fair Play

The late Sir Bobby Robson won this trophy for his outstanding commitment to the values of fair play throughout his career and was collected by his wife Elsie.

Manchester City’s coach Mark Hughes has been sacked and according to news coming in, Roberto Mancini’s appointment was agreed upon before hand.

City’s latest match ended in a 3-4 defeat to Sunderland. This was just their second defeat in the league and yet it was a surprising decision by the owner to sack Hughes. The objective for Man City this season was to end with 70 points, but Hughes ascertained that a sixth place finish was enough to secure his job. However, the owner- Khaldoon al-Mubarak is aiming for a fourth place, Champions League finish.

Mark Hughes is furious that he wasn’t made aware of the new season targets and said that he did not see his sacking coming.

According to a sting operation held by the News of the World(NOTW), England and Chelsea captain- John Terry sells £10K tickets for private access to himself and the club, through a fixer- Tony Bruce.

Terry reportedly took 200 50-pound notes from the NOTW investigators for a tour of the Premier League team’s five-star training facility. He said that the money would go to a childrens charity but added

“If the club finds out, it’s a little bit. . .”

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelloti has defended his player saying:

“It is not correct. This is not true. I think the club, me, the players, have a lot of confidence in John Terry. John Terry did nothing wrong. I am not upset and neither is JT. He was very calm before the game. No problem. He told me he has done nothing wrong and I accept that.”