Cameroon coach summoned by Presidency

Cameroon coach Volker Finke has been summoned to attend an important meeting at the country’s Presidency later this week in the wake of frictions within the national team.

The German manager received the invitation from Ferdinand Ngo Ngo, the secretary general of the Presidency. He was also the personality sent by the country’s Head of State Paul Biya to talk Samuel Eto’o into returning to the outfit for the match against Tunisia in the World Cup playoff.

Sports minister Adoum Garoua will be accompanying Finke to the conclave in which a number of issues relating to the Indomitable Lions will be discussed.

Supersport.com understands that ahead of the game against Tunisia, Eto’o complained to the Presidency about the problems facing the national team.

Preparations for the return leg against Tunisia will also be discussed, according to sources.

The Lions held the North Africans to a goalless draw in the first leg but the return leg remains open for grabs to both sides.

Drogba to play for four more years

Galatasaray forward Didier Drogba says he wants to stay in the game for four more years and probably equal the record of Cameroon great Roger Milla who retired from football at the age of 39.

The Ivory Coast captain, who will be 36 by next March, was awarded the prestigious Golden Foot prize last week in Monaco – an accolade given to football players aged 29 and above who are still active and contribute to the development of the sport.

“I hope God will grant me the required health and conditions to be able to play four more years,” he said.

Drogba earlier announced he would retire from international football after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

His national side Ivory Coast will be facing Senegal in Casablanca next month in the return leg of the World Cup playoff after a 3-1 outcome in favour of the Elephants in the reverse fixture played in Abidjan.

Moyes expects no Rooney fall-out

Manchester United manager David Moyes has no concerns about the impact revelations contained in Alex Ferguson's autobiography could have on Wayne Rooney and the rest of the club, he said on Tuesday.

Ferguson, whose retirement as United manager at the end of last season following a trophy-laden career at Old Trafford, launched his long-awaited book on Tuesday.

In it he revisits his fall-out with Rooney last season when he claimed the England forward requested to leave the club in a private meeting.

The cooling of relations between the two men led to a pre-season of transfer speculation surrounding the striker before the deadline passed.

Rooney, 27, has since gone on to impress this term but fears circulated in recent weeks that Ferguson's book could anger the player again and give Moyes further headaches about his future.

But Moyes said he welcomed anything his illustrious predecessor had to say.

And when asked if he had concerns about any Rooney-related headlines, he replied: "None."

The former Everton manager, who gave Rooney his start in professional football when both men were at the Merseyside club, added: "Wayne is completely focused on his football.

"I've got no problems with anything. Wayne is looking after himself and playing well.

"Alex Ferguson can do what he wishes – he is his own man. We would love to hear what he has got to say and I'm sure the supporters will want to hear," Moyes said of his fellow Scot.

"He has a lot of great knowledge and I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy reading the book."

Moyes's men face Real Sociedad in the Champions League on Wednesday and the manager said he still faced injury problems, with central defenders Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, as well as Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley, all missing training on Tuesday.

Vidic, Ferdinand and Cleverley all missed last weekend's disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Southampton.

"We have got one or two knocks or niggles," said Moyes. "Vidic and Rio are making good progress.

"Danny Welbeck had a little bit of an injury from the game against Southampton so we will have to check.

"Tom Cleverley is not as bad as we thought so those two could play."

On Monday, reports emerged from France that Patrice Evra may not sign a new contract at United because of "personal reasons", with his current deal set to expire at the end of the season.

However, Moyes said of Evra's remarks: "I think they have been misinterpreted.

"I have not spoken to Pat about it. I have just seen that today (Tuesday). I don't know how you in France think about Pat but I know in Manchester we think very highly about him.

"He is an excellent player, fantastic in the dressing room and I can only say good things about him."

Javier Hernandez has struggled to get first-team action so far this season but Moyes also denied he too would leave the English champions during the January transfer window.

"It is not a question for now. He will play a lot of games before the end of the season," said Moyes.

United have endured their worst start to a Premier League season and sit eight points off leaders Arsenal.

And United defender Jonny Evans said they needed to improve on their performance against Southampton come the Sociedad match.

"I think we are disappointed, we have watched parts of the game against Southampton back and our performance level wasn't up to scratch," the Northern Irishman said.

"Especially in possession we are giving the ball away quite sloppily. We want to control games. We allowed Southampton to control the game a bit better than we did.

"I think the onus is on the players to step up. We have to look at ourselves and raise our performances," Evans added.

Mourinho hit with FA charge

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been charged with improper conduct for his behaviour during a Premier League game against Cardiff City, the FA said on Monday.

Mourinho was ordered to the stands by referee Anthony Taylor 20 minutes from the end of Saturday's 4-1 win for protesting to the match official after becoming increasingly frustrated at what he perceived to be Cardiff's time-wasting tactics.

Mourinho, who has until 1700 GMT on Thursday to respond to the charge, refused to change his stance on Monday when speaking ahead of his side's Champions League match against Schalke.

"If I was at that game and I was paying my ticket, I would be worried with the fact that every time the ball was out or stopped and our opponent had to put the ball back in the game, it took a minimum of 21.5 seconds," Mourinho said.

"That is a waste of money. You pay your ticket and every time the game stops you have to wait about half a minute? When you multiply that by the number of times the game was stopped ... you pay for 90 minutes but you see 55 or 60."

Mourinho, who faces a fine, spent the final 20 minutes of Saturday's match sitting with the crowd after losing his patience.

"I don't want to say what did or did not happen.

"I just want to know the reason why the referee stopped me doing my work. To be with the fans was not funny. It was not funny. It's frustrating.

Kasami-inspired Fulham rout Palace

Pajtim Kasami scored a contender for goal of the season as Fulham swept to a 4-1 victory over fellow strugglers Crystal Palace on Monday.

Martin Jol's side had suffered an early setback at Selhurst Park when Adrian Mariappa headed Palace into the lead.

But Switzerland midfielder Kasami, born in Macedonia to an Albanian family, illuminated a dank evening in south-east London with a majestic volleyed equaliser from an acute angle that conjured up memories of Marco van Basten's famous strike for Holland against the USSR in the final of the 1988 European Championships.

Palace never recovered from Kasami's first half wonder-goal and Steve Sidwell produced a fine goal of his own to put Fulham ahead before the interval.

Dimitar Berbatov and Philippe Senderos piled on the misery for Palace with second half goals as Fulham secured only their third Premier League win of the season.

It was the first time Fulham had scored four goals in an away Premier League fixture since a 4-1 win at Newcastle in November 2004.

"To be honest I have never scored a better goal," Kasami said. "I ran into the space and the pass was perfect.

"It was an unbelievable goal and I am very pleased."

The victory lifted the Cottagers to 14th place and, given the broad smile worn by Fulham's owner Shahid Khan as he looked on from the directors' box, it may also have eased the pressure on under-fire boss Jol.

"The goal we conceded was sickening but we responded well and it was a fantastic Pajtim Kasami goal with his wrong foot," Jol said.

"It was better than people think because he had to control the ball on his chest and then put it in the other corner.

"Marco van Basten's goal was totally different and you can't compare the two, but this one was better!

"It is one of the goals of the season."

Second bottom Palace have now lost seven of their eight league matches on their return to the Premier League after an eight-year absence and the happy memories of last season's promotion from the Championship must feel increasingly distant to boss Ian Holloway and his beleaguered players.

It could have been so different for Palace if they had built on their dream start.

With just seven minutes played, Jason Puncheon crossed from the left and centre-back Mariappa climbed above Brede Hangeland to head in from six yards.

But Fulham were level 12 minutes later thanks to Kasami's stunning intervention.

There seemed little danger when the 21-year-old former Palermo star ran onto Sascha Riether's long ball down the right side of the Palace area, but he showed brilliant technique to control the pass on his chest before unleashing a dipping volley that flashed into the top corner of Julian Speroni's goal.

Speroni had no chance of reaching that strike and he was left grasping at thin air again when Sidwell put Fulham ahead in the 45th minute.

Bryan Ruiz hit a free-kick into the Palace wall and Sidwell was first to the rebound, blasting a superb first-time shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Speroni was beaten in more prosaic manner in the 50th minute when former Manchester United striker Berbatov glanced a header from Ruiz's corner into the far corner for his first league goal of the season.

Berbatov had been given too much time to meet the delivery and Palace compounded the error by leaving the far post unguarded.

There was worse to come for shell-shocked Palace five minutes later when Speroni failed to keep out Senderos's close-range volley, allowing the former Arsenal defender to notch his first goal since April 2012 after being left unmarked at the far post from another Ruiz corner.

Norwich threaten life ban over racism

Norwich City on Monday threatened a life ban for any fan found guilty of racism after the Premier League club's manager Chris Hughton was the target of online abuse for the second time this month.

Police launched an investigation on Saturday after a number of supporters reported an offensive comment on an unofficial Facebook page.

Norwich were beaten 4-1 at Arsenal on Saturday and sit third bottom of the table with only two wins in eight matches.

It follows a similar incident earlier this month in which police said they were investigating a comment left on a social networking forum as a "hate crime".

The club said in a statement: "We can confirm that Norfolk police made us aware on Saturday of a new and separate incident of potential racist abuse aimed at Chris Hughton on an unofficial fans' Facebook page.

"As in the first and ongoing incident, we will co-operate fully with the police in their enquiries and we take it very seriously indeed, and if anyone is convicted of an offence in relation to these incidents, not only will they face whatever punishment is handed out by the courts, but they will also potentially face a life ban from Carrow Road from us.

Nigeria draw; Argentina, Mexico win

Two of the favourites for the Fifa U17 World Cup crown, Mexico and Argentina, gave clear statements of their intent in recording their first victories in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

Defending champions Mexico made amends for their heavy opening defeat against Nigeria, while Argentina moved top of their group following a draw on opening day.

The Nigerians, tipped by many to go all the way, may not have been as ruthless as they were previously, but they still showed their considerable firepower in a frenetic encounter with Sweden. The Europeans were twice in front during the match, but they had to settle for a point come the final whistle.

Shaqran, the tournament mascot, was not the only one to have an aerial view of proceedings in Al Ain during Mexico’s victory over Iraq. Somewhat surprisingly, a solitary man appeared at the summit of a mountain behind one of the stands in the first half at the Khalifa Bin Zayed stadium, enjoying a unique view of the match and witnessing from afar as Alejandro Diaz, Jose Almanza and Ulises Rivas fired Mexico to victory. Despite his vantage point, he was no doubt still unable to rival the famous Hawkeye technology used in various sports.

Canada went into their match with Iran in search of a win that would bring an end to a pair of unfavourable records. However, as against Austria in their opening fixture, the Canucks were held to a draw, their fourth consecutive stalemate at a U-17 World Cup - a run never before witnessed in the tournament’s history. It also extended the side’s win-less streak at the competition to 17 games, something only equalled in Fifa tournaments by Bulgaria (at Fifa World Cups™) and England (at Fifa U-20 World Cups).

For a side to make a substitution within the first half hour or so of a match is rare enough, but for both teams to do so is almost unheard of. Yet that is precisely what happened in Al Ain in the fixture between Sweden and Nigeria. With just 15 minutes on the clock, Sweden’s Isak Ssewankambo was forced off with injury. It was a bitter blow for the central midfielder with African roots, as he was playing his first match at the tournament.

His replacement, Mirza Halvadzic, was rather more fortunate and went on to notch his side’s third goal. Meanwhile, in the 32nd minute, Nigeria striker Success Isaac, one of the early stars of the competition, also left the pitch with injury ten minutes after scoring one of the best goals so far.

European goalkeepers were not at their best this particular matchday. Sweden’s Sixten Mohlin failed in his attempt to block a shot from Musa Yahaya, allowing the ball through his legs to let Nigeria level the scores at 2-2 in the 48th minute. At almost exactly the same time in the game between Argentina and Austria in Dubai, Alexander Schlager conceded in similar fashion to hand the South Americans a 2-1 lead.

Wednesday Fixtures

Group A
Slovakia v United Arab Emirates
Honduras v Brazil

Group B
New Zealand v Ivory Coast
Italy v Uruguay