Having guided Pachuca to their first Mexican title, Javier Aguirre is affecting the world of politics as well. Simeon Tegel reports
In a sport where most professionals have no interest in politics or come from the Alf Garnett school of social justice, Javier Aguirre stands out. After coaching Mexico’s oldest club, Pachuca, to its first league title in December, the former international lost no time in reminding the country of his leftwing views.
Between acting, punditry and chat shows, does Ally McCoist have the time to score goals for Kilmarnock? Graeme Jamieson reports
Is the fairytale over? Breaking his leg against Rangers in October may have been Ally McCoist’s last act in football. Those cheery souls in the Scottish press suggested that the Kilmarnock striker, who will retire at the end of the season, would never play again. The official line is that he’ll be back after the winter break. The question is, should he bother?
While seen as a grudge match in England, Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger reports on the Germans' relaxed attitude towards their supposed rivals
As usual, the best lines all came from the English. After the draw put England in the same group as Germany for the second time in five days (first the World Cup qualifiers, then the Euro 2000 finals), Kevin Keegan approached the German manager Erich Ribbeck and quipped: “Looks like we’ll be growing old together.” And the Sun came up with: “If we get the Germans a third time, can we keep them?” (Considering their track record, I’m not quite sure how they meant this, but it sounds good.)
Have Man Utd and its staff become more important than the actual Championship itself?
Manchester United’s participation in the “world club championship” in Brazil this month might have been designed to make a point about the unhealthy imbalance between the English champions and every other club in the land.
Wednesday 1 Holders Spurs slink out of the Worthington Cup at Fulham, their 3-1 defeat described by George Graham as "by far our worst performance since I became manager". A crowd of 17,000 sees Aston Villa trounce Southampton 4-0. "The crowds have been crap because we've played crap until tonight," says the forthright John Gregory. In the Scottish equivalent Rangers' mini-crisis continues with an extra-time defeat at Aberdeen (yes, Aberdeen). Huddersfield threaten legal action against the Football League for referee Jeff Winter's failure to award a penalty during their Worthington match against Wimbledon. That'll work. Darlington are the lucky losers drawn to play at Villa in the third round of the FA Cup. "I have a direct line to the big man upstairs," says their safe-cracking chairman. The government rejects plans for the new Wembley, on the grounds that it would not be able to stage major athletics tournaments as well as football matches.