Sunderland striker Michael Chopra publicly expressed his gratitude to manager Roy Keane for giving himself time to sort out his life away from football.

Premier League tailenders Tottenham host Polish unknowns Wisla Krakow in the UEFA Cup on Thursday, with under-fire boss Juande Ramos knowing only a convincing win will appease weary fans.

A string of good performances on his first Bundesliga season and three goals in four games has brought Borussia Dortmund teenager Neven Subotic to the attention of Germany coach Joachim Loew.

Footbo , a social community network for football fans from all around the world has grown from strength to strength since it was launched in June 2008. And things are about to get even better! Since its launch coinciding with Euro 2008, Footbo has stamped itself on the online map for football fans. The niche platform boasts an international network entirely dedicated to football and football-specific features ensuring that the football experience is unparalleled and was designed to enable world-wide interaction between football fans wherever they are and whoever they support. Users have their own personal profile page where they identify their favourite teams and players, as well as choosing who would be their first-choice starting line-up, if they could pick any player. Combined with the latest news and content, updates on fixtures and results, and of course Footbo's flag-ship Prediction League and post-match Player Grading, the set-up is indeed close to being perfect. Footbo has really come into its own by creating a platform where arm-chair fans have been able to interact with famous football analysts such as Guillem Balague, Raphael Honigstein and Gabriele Marcotti. Add to that the ability for fans to communicate with professional players, as was recently the case with Arsenal and Cameroon star Alexandre Song (who created a profile on the site and wrote blogs from the Olympics where he represented his national team) and Footbo is heading in a direction which will surely raise some eyebrows. If that's not the kicker, here it comes - very soon, Footbo users will have a whole new world opened up to them. The social network will combine the professional world of football with the amateur one. What does that mean though? Footbo's Amateur Section will provide amateur players of all kind with a platform to show-case their talents and communicate with one another in an authentic environment. And the last sentence doesn't even do it justice. What more can a football fan or football player ask for? The answer is nothing.

When the draw for this season’s Champions League group phase took place, I was on an adventure holiday, somewhere in wilderness that is Canada’s Yukon Territory. In a province that is home to more bears than people (a claim my visit served to substantiate), communication with the outside world, particularly that separated by oceanic waters, is often problematic. Consequently, I had to wait until the road I was travelling on brought me to Fairbanks, and the relative centre of civilisation that is Alaska, before I could get an internet connection and discover who Liverpool had been drawn against. By that time however, most flights connecting anywhere near Liverpool with anywhere near any of the clubs we had been drawn against, on any date near the respective match days, were either full or stupidly overpriced. To further complicate matters, there was no way of getting in touch with any of the old folks back home, to inquire of itineraries selected by my fellow Liverpool fans. With time at a premium, I made the decision on that ridiculously bright Alaskan night, to book a flight and a hired car, and travel alone to this season’s first competitive European away fixture. This year’s continental campaign was to begin at Marseille, a team Liverpool are starting to get to know well. This would be my third trip to watch the Reds play at the Stad Velodrome in six seasons. I opted to fly to Barcelona on the morning of the game, and after a quick scan at the other passengers, it appeared I was the only Liverpool fan on board. So I buried my head in Jamie Carragher’s autobiography , and hardly looked up from take off to landing. I was half was through the third chapter when we landed, and was in the middle of a story about Jan Molby running rings around Everton centre halves, when I looked to my left and realised I had been sitting next to the great Dane himself. I was almost disappointed, as I had missed the opportunity to quiz the best passer of a ball I have ever seen about his career. I’m sure Jan was quite relieved. He signed my book and posed for a photograph, after which I inquired as to whether he needed a lift to Marseille. But of course, he was being met and was to be escorted on the 300-mile trip up the Mediterranean coast. It would have been a little far fetched to do a European away trip with one of your boyhood heroes anyway. For now at least, it appeared I was destined for solitude. I arrived in the French port six hours later, by which time I should have been painfully aware that after a energy-sapping night watching Liverpool beat Marseille once again, I was faced with the same journey home, followed immediately by a full day at the office back in Liverpool. But as my old mate little Danny always said, ‘sleeping’s cheating’. It had been six months since my last European adventure, and the pain of losing to Chelsea in last season’s Champions League semi-final was now consigned to history. Buoyed by our victory over Man United over the weekend, I was looking forward to seeing another Liverpool triumph. The remaining details of the itinerary were from that moment discarded, particularly after I had met up with the few reds who had bothered to make the rip. The match in Marseille proved remarkably similar to our outing the previous weekend, particularly the opening exchanges. We faced a bright and adventurous Marseille team, who looked destined to threaten the Liverpool defence. That threat was realised on twenty-three minutes, when Cana put the home side ahead and sent the home fans into fits of hysteria. The French side remain one of the best supported in world football, and they must have thought their chances of securing a second victory over Liverpool in two seasons was on the cards. Thankfully, Liverpool’s increasingly resilient side had other plans. Captain marvel Steven Gerrard in particular, was in no mood to open the European campaign with a defeat. He scored twice in quick succession to give Liverpool an ultimately decisive lead. His first was a brilliantly taken goal three minutes after the opening strike. His second came from the penalty spot five minutes later, and sent a message to Europe that Liverpool will no longer be reduced to salvaging qualification in the latter phases of the group stage. It might be early days, but Rafa Benitez’s side look set to have qualification for the Super Sixteen round of the competition sewn up before travelling to Eindhoven for our final group game. PSV are unlikely to halt Liverpool’s progress in either meeting between the two clubs. New boys Atletico Madrid, who won 4-0 in Holland on match day one, are likely to represent our most serious threat to winning the group. Our next away fixture in the competition is against the Spanish club in five weeks time, a meeting that could decide the order of the top two in Group D. After that, all roads lead to Rome.

Hertha Berlin are considering quitting the German capital´s Olympic Stadium - built by Hitler´s architect Albert Speer - and moving to a new arena of their own, said a report here on Thursday.

South African tourism bodies on Thursday said the 2010 World Cup host will have enough beds for visitors after FIFA boss Sepp Blatter said demand could out-strip availability.

Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - but not England - announced Thursday that their national sides would take part in a new ´Four Associations´ tournament in 2011.

Cash-rich Manchester City needed a brace from Brazilian striker Jo to overcome Cypriot minnows Omonia Nicosia 2-1 in this UEFA Cup first round, first leg tie here on Thursday.

Real Madrid manager Bernd Schuster will have to do without Argentinian Fernando Gago for at least four weeks.

Norwegian side Brann Bergen are close to reaching the next round in the UEFA Cup after a somewhat surprising 2-0 win over Deportivo la Coruña.

Portsmouth have one leg in the next round of the UEFA Cup following a 2-0 home win over Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes.

A late goal from Lincoln earned Galatasaray a tremendously hard fought win at Swiss side AC Bellinzona.

Struggling AC Milan earned their first victory of the season in a 3-1 success over FC Zurich in the UEFA Cup first round, first leg at the San Siro on Thursday.

Tottenham secured a 2-1 win over Polish side Wisla Krakow in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday.

Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky said Thursday he was still some way off full fitness after suffering renewed problems to the thigh injury that has kept him sidelined since January.

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to be thrust back into Manchester United´s starting eleven at Chelsea on Sunday after pleading with Alex Ferguson to be handed the chance to tackle Luiz Felipe Scolari´s table toppers.