Here amid the palatial surroundings of the Palace of Culture and Science, a Stalinist skyscraper which towers over the Polish capital, UEFA President Michel Platini has just met the press ahead of tomorrow's UEFA 2012 Qualifying Draw . Platini's welcome to the tournament however w as slightly stained by repetitive questions from English journalists about the John Terry affair. Four separate reporters from football's homeland saw fit to probe him for his views on the matter, causing the UEFA President to eventually spout out, "Je m'en fous completement" - 'I really don't care!' The subtext to these interrogations was a similar case involving Platini in 1982. For the World Cup in Spain, midfielder Jean-Francois Larios had been picked for the French squad alongside his St Etienne teammate. Larios started France's opening 1-3 defeat to England, playing 73 minutes before being replaced by Jean Tigana, but was then promptly dropped by coach Michel Hidalgo after reports surfaced about an affair with Platini's wife. The resemblances to Terry's travails were too juicy a cherry for England's ta bloidy media to miss. But to tell the truth I felt embarrassed to be from the same country as them after they kept poking a man who was plainly was not going to take the bait. Expect Fabio Capello to be grilled on Terrygate rather than th e draw tomorrow. When the English tabloids choose to follow a story, they pursue it come what may. I can't stand Premier League press conferences where the clique of established hack s force their agenda through at the expense of a wider set of question s. Non Fleet Street reporters like me are frozen out with no time to ask what we want to: This is journalism rather than reporting. Today was supposed to be about Poland and the Ukraine's first chance to host a football tournament and the English hacks tried to make it about sex. I am on Platini's side: The football is just more interesting and i mpo rtant than the tittle-tattle. And I began to wonder whether this sort of dis-repecting the game contributes to England's wider lack of clout in global football politics. We are trying to p ersuade the world, or more specifically the 24 members of FIFA's Executive Committee , including a certain M.Platini, to back us for the 2018 World Cup, but our journalists are showing no respect to the FOOTBALL above all. "It's your problem in England," Platini finally said, half-exasperated. " I thought I had come here to talk about the Euros, not the problems of each country's media." Hear, hear. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

WARSAW, EURO 2012 Qualifying Draw As if worrying about Ukraine's hotels, roads and airports was not enough, UEFA President Michel Platini had other questions to answer in his press conference on the eve of the European Championship qualifying draw. Depressingly, four separate English journalists asked him the same question in different wording about John Terry's sex scandal, speciously implying a parallel with the one in 1982 when France sent Jean-Francois Larios home from the World Cup after he had been seeing Platini's wife. Thankfully the French legend was made of stronger stuff than to lower himself to those hacks' baiting, but seemed to lose patience eventually by replying 'I really don't care', which was met by applause by some non-Anglo writers. Platini did deflect a question about misbehaving rich stars by alluding to his plan to ban insolvent clubs from UEFA competitions. "What annoys me are the clubs who pay these high salaries when they don’t have the money," he made a point of telling the hall. Platini had started the press conference by referring to the continued uncertainly over the host nations' suitability in many eyes. "We are working on it...these things will develop," he semi-reassured the gathered media, whose experience of snowbound Warsaw has probably been a shock after the effortless charm of Vienna in the summer of 2008. After many deadlines, the eight venues are now at last "final" according to Platini, but o ne journalist still asked if Krakow, with its tourist infrastructure, might not yet replace one of the Ukrainian venues: The UEFA President said that was a matter for the national associations. The spread of stadia still looks daunting. In the media guide, train journey times are listed with the transfer between Gdansk and Donetsk taking a whopping 30hours at best... Then came the question of extra referees, with Platini defending his preference for more referees over more use of cameras. "I'm really a fan of the human method (of refereeing) rather than the technological method," he explained, adding he didn't want to let cameras run the officiating and noting that basketball had added extra officials over time. This led inevitably to Thierry Henry and Platini was quick to defend the referee in question from opprobrium: " The ref could not see a hand," he said. "It was a problem of refereeing rather than the referee – he is not to blame, though you could all see it on television." A rematch between the French and Irish in the qualifiers is one he would welcome, however. "Yes, I would love that," Platini smiled. In reality that would not produce anything like the sort of tension which led UEFA to extraordinarily add two political caveats to tomorrow's draw: Old enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot meet each other and neither can Georgia and Russia, following their military fracas two years ago. The introduction of what he called "geopolitics" into football was interesting. Russia's looming presence as former guardian of Ukraine and the controller of Europe's gas supplies has allegedly been the reason Ukraine kept its hosting prize when it looks in no shape to be ready in time. "To avoid political problems, we don't want to mix sport up with politics," explained Platini, in self-conscious equivocation. What was that draw caveat if not political then? Platini has a lot on his plate all right, but seems well able to manage. Shortly having taken over the job from Lennart Johansson, Platini confessed, "I quickly realised I was dealing with different mindsets and different philosophies, from Siberia all the way to Portugal." 53 nations' coaches will assemble tomorrow in the Palace of Culture and Science, although Italy's Marcello Lippi will apparently not be there because he wants to watch Serie A games. Unusually, some qualifiers will be played on Fri/Tues instead of Sat/Weds for 2012, but otherwise the format is familiar with six graded pots of teams to select six groups of six and three of five. The nine group winners and best runners-up qualify automatically and the remaining eight runners-up have playoffs to decide four teams to go through. Poland and Ukraine qualify automatically as hosts. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

Ozren Podnar reports The only 1930 WC survivor celebrates 100th birthday The former Argentinian player Francisco Varallo, the only survivor from the first World Cup finals in 1930, turned 100 last Friday. Varallo was the youngest member of Argentina's squad that got beaten 4-2 by Uruguay in the decisive match at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo. Varallo, called "Canoncito" (Little Cannon) was born on February 5th of 1910 in La Plata, 50 km south of Buenos Aires, and until recently held the scoring record for Boca Juniors with 194 goals, until overtaken by Martin Palermo last year. With Boca, Varallo played for nine seasons winning three championships and five top-scoring titles. "I remember that final match quite well. It was a tough game in which the Uruguayans overwhelmed us. We went 2-1 up, but ended up losing 2-4. We had a great team but some of the players lost stamina in the second half. I believe I should not have played that match because I was too young and inexperienced and also could not run due to a knee injury," Varallo told the media, while Argentina celebrates the jubilee of one of the countries heroes. The plaudits include the creation of the award labelled "For career and chivalry", which will be presented to the veteran next Friday. John Terry stripped of captaincy over sex scandal England manager Fabio Capello punished John Terry for his umpteenth sex romp by removing him as captain. The Chelsea defender came under the scrutiny of the British tabloids over his affair with Vanessa Perroncel, who is the former companion of England teammate Wayne Bridge. Their relationship was crowned with Vanessa's pregnancy, which was terminated in agreement with Terry. Terry's role as the captain was first questioned by sport minister Gerry Sutcliffe, who observed that "a captain's responsibilities reach beyond the field of play." The defender's fate was sealed when Capello travelled to London to visit him and resolve the captaincy issue in direct talks. Terry was promoted to team leader by Steve McClaren in 2006, and was confirmed in the role by Capello when the Italian took over in early 2008. His successor is Rio Ferdinand, until now Terry's deputy as appointed by Capello. In the meantime the press has compiled an enviable list of Terry's erotic conquests, which has singled out the Chelsea man as one of the top Casanovas in the country. Jose Mourinho not taking over at Real The media have again placed Jose Mourinho in the context of coaching Real Madrid since their president Florentino Perez is not satisfied with Manuel Pellegrini's work. The allegations meant that Mouringo's agent Jorge Mendes had an exhausting Friday having to deny his client's intentions of leaving the Italian champions Inter's bench. "I have heard Mourinho say on several occasions that he would respect his contract. Real rumours? They are not surprising, because most journalists tend to publish some kind of fantasy all the time," said Mendes. "It is obvious that Mourinho is doing fine at Inter, where he has a great team. Therefore I'm asking you why he would leave?" Inter have yet again built a solid lead on top of the Serie A table and are likely to wrap up their fifth consecutive Italian title, which would equal Juventus' and Torino's "ancient" records. Salvador Cabanas' condition improving The Paraguayan international Salvador Cabanas has surprisingly improved twelve days after being shot in the head in a Mexico City bar. Still with the bullet lodged in his skull in an apparently harmless position, Cabanas is capable of sitting up, taking his own food and exchanging a few words. Among those is his desire to improve in order to take part at the World Cup in South Africa. That may be slightly too optimistic, as the doctors are very happy that the Paraguayan has come this far in view of the severity of his wound. "He speaks, obeys orders and moves his extremities without a major problem," said the surgeon Enrique Martinez, who performed the operation on the player's head. There is no infection usually associated with bullet wounds, but there is still some presence of blood in the ventricular cavity, which required the doctors to set up a draining system "for the sake of safety," added the doctor. The Mexican authorities have attempted to interview Cabanas over the incident, but the doctors have estimated he is still uncapable of making a full statement regarding the circumstances of the shooting. Zlatko Kranjcar named Montenegro coach Former Croatia national team manager Zlatko Kranjcar has taken over Montenegro on Friday after accepting FA chairman Dejan Savicevic's offer. Tottenham's Niko Kranjcar's father said he welcomed the new opportunity with enthusiasm, hoping to take Montenegro to Euro 2012 just as he did Croatia to the 2006 World Cup. "Our common goal is to make a step further in comparison to what Montenegro did so far. I am well acquainted with the team's qualities and we'll try to achieve the best possible result", said Kranjcar, whose achievements include two League and Cup doubles with Dinamo Zagreb and one League with NK Zagreb, probably the biggest upset in the history of Croatian club competition. "We managed to hire a coach with great experience at all levels," said Savicevic. "I am convinced we made a great choice and that our national team will be a tough competitor in the second qualifying cycle in our history." Tags Soccer News football

UEFA EURO 2012 Qualifying Draw (top seeds in bold) Group A: Germany , Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Group B: Russia , Slovakia, Eire, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra Group C: Italy , Serbia, N.Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands Group D: France , Romania, Bosnia-Hrzg., Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg Group E: Netherlands , Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, S an M arino Group F: Croatia , Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta Group G: England , Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro Group H: Portugal , Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland Group I: Spain , Czech Rep., Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein The nine group winners and best runner-up qualify automatically . The eight remaining second-place teams play-off to decide the final four qualifiers. Ties take place between September 2010 and November 2011. PALACE OF CULTURE & SCIENCE, WARSAW - Like Georgia & Russia, Armenia & Azerbaijan could not be drawn against each other for political reasons, so it was a humorous moment when Polish soccer legend Zbigniew Boniek kick-started the afternoon by drawing the Caucasian neighbours against each other. Boniek picked the teams along with compatriot Andrzek Szarmach and Ukrainian legends Oleg Blokhin and Andriy Shevchenko. Little stirred amongst the watching press pack and UEFA blazers until the final pot containing Europe's big guns was opened. Germany will renew acquaintances with two familiar countries it knocked out of Euro 2008 - Austria and Turke y. The clash with Turkey is sure to be hot one given the huge Anatolian expat presence in Germany; Belgium will hope to sneak in behind these neighbourly disputes as it seeks to become one of the major Euro pean footballing nations again, as it was in the 1980s. Group B's drawing provided the biggest sighs in the hall as all neutrals were p raying for a repeat of France against the Republic of Ireland. Russia were drawn instead and wil l be eager to bounce back after missing the boat for South Africa; Slovakia, the only World Cup qualifier among them, provide the m ain opposition to those two. Italy's Marcello Lippi chose to stay at h ome, leaving Angelo Petruzzi to answer questions, and Lippi will be pleasantly surprised, although World Cup qualifiers Serbia and Slovenia will provide real tests for the Azzurri awa y from home. France in reality got lucky with a kind draw: Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina are far from the worst teams they could have faced. Group E should be no trouble for the Netherlands, while Sweden and Hungary renew acquaintances after their mutually unsuccessful World Cup qualifying attempts. Sweden also have a Scandinavian border derby wi th Finland to look forward to. Euro 2004 winners Greece have an even chance of r eturning to the finals having been drawn into a balanced-looking group containing Croatia, Israel, Latvia and Georgia, while England will be confident of topping Group G ahead of Switzerland. Fabio Capello's men also have a mini return to the days of the Home Championship with Wales to play twice. Winning Group H looks tough for Portugal, who struggled in the World Cup qualifiers; Carlos Queiroz is surely hoping the local derbies between Denmark and Norway end in two ties. Finally, reigning champions Spain should have safe passage from Group I where the Czechs and the Scots will battle it out for second place. Europe's middle-ranking nations still provide the occasional shock such as Ukraine's quarter-final finish in the 2006 World Cup or Turkey's semi-final run at Euro 2008, but there do not seem to be enough sleeping giants to call any of the groups a group of death. As of now, the lineup for 2012 right now looks like being the cast of usual suspects. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

The draw for Euro 2012 qualifying was announced today in Warsaw. The full draw is below and all seem pretty tough showing the strength of European soccer. Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Ireland, FYR Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia and Faroe Islands Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania and Luxembourg Group E: Holland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova and San Marino Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia and Malta Group G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus and Iceland Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein Tags Euro 2012 football