Japan warmed up for their World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan in Tashkent on June 6 with two crushing Kirin Cup victories to win the three-team tournament in front of their home fans. Japan thrashed Chile 4-0 on May 27 in front of 43,531 fans at a sold-out Nagai Stadium in Osaka, with Shimizu S-Pulse front man Shinji Okazaki helping himself to a brace. Takeshi Okada handed a debut off the bench to 18-year-old Urawa Reds midfielder Naoki Yamada, but it was Yamada's club-mate Yuki Abe who scored Japan's third, before Keisuke Honda added a fourth in stoppage-time to complete the rout for the Blue Samurai.

A parting salute to Paolo Maldini, who finally hung up his AC Milan boots today aged almost 41 after a quarter century at the top. The legendary left-back left the field to a standing ovation as his beloved Rossoneri topped Fiorentina 2-0 in Florence. A cornerstone of world football disappears after an astonishing story: He first played for Milan aged 16 in 1985 and went on to win five European Cups and seven Serie A titles as well as the appearance records for Serie A and Italy, for whom he made 126 appearances. Maldini wore the azzurro in four World Cup finals though was unlucky not to be picked for Italy's victorious campaign in 2006 -the following year he was voted the best defender in the UEFA Champions League.

Guus Hiddink is the man you call when you have a broken soccer team. A coaching mercenary if ever there was one, he has made a brilliant career...

The European club season is over. Gentlemen, start your transfers. Like clockwork, every summer brings a transfer saga, a great headline-generating will-he-won’t-he drama, with millions of dollars packing every...