Drogba regrets comments
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba said he regretted telling France Football magazine this week that he wanted to quit the Premier League team. "On reflection, I regret making the comments I made in a recent interview," the Ivory Coast international told the club's Web site on Friday. "I am a Chelsea player and will be 100 percent committed and supportive to my manager, my team mates and the club. I will not be discussing my future any further until I meet privately with the club at the end of the season."
■ SOCCER
Duisburg end winless streak
MSV Duisburg ended a five-game winless streak with a 2-1 win against Energie Cottbus. Boern Schlicke's free kick in the seventh minute was deflected in while captain Ivica Grlic bent his attempt over the wall for the winner in the 74th. Eight minutes earlier, Timo Rost had equalized for Cottbus. The victory left Duisburg in 16th place. Cottbus remained last. Duisburg were without six injured regulars and had to play regional league defender Georges Ndoum.
■ RUGBY UNION
Counselor helps All Blacks
Dejected All Blacks were reported yesterday to be undergoing grief counseling to help them come to grips with their shock loss in the rugby World Cup quarter-finals. New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Jock Hobbs said it was imperative steps were taken to ensure the players were able to move on mentally as soon as possible, the Yahoo!Xtra Web site reported. The All Blacks "mental skills coach," sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka, has been in contact with the squad members after the loss to France which resulted in New Zealand's worst-ever World Cup finish. "Yes. We are making sure no-one is isolated or left alone," Hobbs told Yahoo!Xtra. He described the loss to France as "very, very gut-wrenching."
■ SOCCER
Maradona criticizes wins
Diego Maradona criticized Argentina's style of play on Friday, saying there were too many backward passes. Argentina have adopted a patient passing game under coach Alfio Basile, centred on playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, but Maradona said that too often the ball went backwards. Basile's team have won their first two matches in the 2010 World Cup qualifying competition, 2-0 at home to Chile last Saturday and 2-0 in Venezuela on Tuesday, but the 100 percent start was not enough for Maradona. "The team has not left me satisfied," he said in a television interview. "I'm tired and bored of watching them pass the ball backwards." "They gave it to Riquelme, he played it backwards, they gave it to [Javier] Mascherano, he played it backwards, it's no good at all," he said. "If you're beating Germany or Brazil 2-0 in a final, then that's fine, but not here."
■ SOCCER
Livorno directors charged
Two Livorno directors were charged by the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) on Friday for "using non institutional channels" to discover in advance the match officials for the Serie A game at Napoli on Sept. 26. Italian referees' chief Pierluigi Collina changed the officials assigned to the match after the name of the original referee was posted on Livorno's Web site before it had been announced. The FIGC said on its Web site that it had charged Carlo Truccolo and Carlo Vivaldi with "violation of the obligation to loyalty, correctness and probity." It also charged the club, bottom of Serie A, with involvement in the affair.
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