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Soccer Shorts

■ FRANCE

Lens bounce back to win

Relegation-threatened Lens showed their weekend win over champions Lyon was no flash in the pan on Wednesday as they came from behind to triumph 2-1 at Valenciennes. Jean-Pierre Papin's side claimed the victory thanks to goals from Brazilian Vitorino Hilton da Silva and teenager Kevin Monnet-Paquet either side of half time after Steve Savidan had put Valenciennes into a 34th-minute lead. Valenciennes had Guillaume Rippert sent off on the hour for fouling Monnet-Paquet and with 10 men the hosts failed to threaten an equalizer.



■ England

US star heading to London

Fulham's fight for Premier League survival will be bolstered by the arrival of US international forward Eddie Johnson. The 23-year-old is to leave the Kansas City Wizards for a three-and-a-half-year deal with the London club after receiving confirmation on Wednesday that he had succeeded with an application for a UK work permit. He is the third signing made by Fulham manager Roy Hodgson in the current transfer window, along with Danish midfielder Leon Andreasen and Norwegian defender Brede Hangeland.



■ England

Black Cats bolster attack

Sunderland have signed Sweden striker Rade Prica from Danish club Aalborg for £2 million (US$4 million), the struggling English Premiership club announced on Wednesday. Prica, 27, has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract after leaving Aalborg, where he was top scorer in Denmark's Super League last season. He is Black Cats boss Roy Keane's fourth signing of this month's transfer window, following loan signing Jonny Evans and defenders Jean-Yves Mvoto and Phil Bardsley to the Stadium of Light. "Rade is an experienced striker with a good goalscoring record," Keane said. "He is hungry to play in the Premier League and will give us attacking options."



■ Scotland

Burley named Scotland boss

George Burley was confirmed on Wednesday as the new manager of Scotland's national team, subject to the successful conclusion of negotiations on personal terms. The appointment of Burley, currently in charge of Southampton, was approved by the board of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and SFA officials were able to quickly agree a compensation deal with the English Championship club. Burley's first match in charge will be a friendly against Croatia on March 26 with his first competitive fixture a trip to Macedonia in September. Burley began his coaching career as a player-manager with Ayr in 1991, moving on to Colchester in 1994 before managing Ipswich, Derby, Hearts and Southampton.



■ England

Pandev talk of Toon?

Lazio's Macedonia forward Goran Pandev claimed in an interview published on Wednesday that Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan is trying to bring him to St James' Park. Pandev has scored 13 goals in 24 matches for Lazio this season. And despite recently committing his future to the Roman club, Pandev admitted he could be tempted away from the Stadio Olimpico. "Some managers from my current team have let me know that Newcastle are interested in signing me," Italian news agency Ansa quoted Pandev as saying in an interview with newspaper Makedonski Sport. "From what I know, Keegan wants to sign me as soon as possible, but it's not up to me to decide. Lazio recently decided to hold onto me until the end of June. But in football, nothing is impossible.
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