Spain to reign at Euro 2012

With huge apologies to my wife, I have to confess I've never been that great at recognising beauty. Be it the Arts, a scenic view or even house decor, I just don't have the eye for it. But it is a different matter when I get to see football played as it was by Spain at times during their final Euro 2012 qualifier against Scotland. I say "at times" because, despite the 3-1 defeat, the Scots had a couple of spells of pressure when there might just have been evidence of slight vulnerability in the world champions, but more on that later. Co-commentator Mark Lawrenson and I went to Alicante in the hope of describing a story of Scotland upsetting the odds to reach the qualifying play-offs but we always knew that the more likely task would be assessing Spain's progress since their 2010 World Cup win. The conclusion we came to was that they have got even better - and must be favourites to go all the way in Poland and Ukraine next summer to become the first team to retain the European Championship. They have qualified with a 100% record and have equalled a sequence set by great France and Netherlands teams of the past by winning their last 14 competitive internationals. I could quote a number of other statistics that tell you just how nigh-on unbeatable they seem at the moment but only by watching them live do you really see how good a squad of footballers Spain currently possess. Against Scotland the team was supposedly "under strength". Iker Casillas, Raul Albiol, Xabi Alonso, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres were among those who did not get a game, either through injury or because coach Vicente Del Bosque chose to leave them out. No matter; the passing was as metronomic and mesmerising as ever, and all who played impressed. At left-back, Valencia's Jordi Alba had an excellent debut. Assured in defence and quick to join in every attack, he looks a much better bet than either World Cup-winner Joan Capdevila or Real Madrid's Alvaro Arbeloa, who would much prefer to play on the right. Liverpool's in-form Jose Enrique can't even get a look in. In midfield, Sergio Busquets was missing Alonso, his regular holding partner, but found Santi Cazorla to be equally adept alongside him. The versatile midfielder, who has just joined wealthy Malaga, also offers a bigger goal threat than Alonso when he gets the chance to push forward, which against Scotland happened regularly. Pedro was lively down both flanks, David Villa waited patiently for his inevitable goal, Xavi was just Xavi and played wherever he wanted, and the overall star of the show was a player who did not even get on in the World Cup final - David Silva. Superb for Manchester City last season, Silva has gone up a level to be the golden boy for club and country since the summer. His two goals were brilliantly worked, with the first finishing off a sequence of 41 Spanish passes. The fact that he played as the main forward with the country's record goalscorer Villa on the left shows just how fluid the team system is. When a recognised striker is needed through the middle, Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente has got the fans' vote ahead of Chelsea's Torres to be first off the bench. So on to that slight vulnerability. When I asked Lawro during the game who could beat Spain next summer he replied, "maybe only themselves". When a team is that good there is bound to be a confidence that borders on arrogance and just occasionally they can overdo it. No two in the squad strut more than defenders Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique and, once or twice, they had to rely on their speed of recovery to prevent chances for Steven Naismith and Craig Mackail-Smith. If Rangers's Naismith can cut in from the left on Ramos's blind side and Brighton's finest forward can badger Pique into looking ruffled, then maybe there is something for Europe's leading strikers to clutch at? The next assessment comes against England on 12 November. The three games Spain have lost since being crowned the best team in the world have all been away friendlies (in Argentina, Portugal and Italy) but, on the evidence of what I saw at the Jose Rico Perez Stadium, I won't be putting any money on them losing at Wembley. Would I bet on any team beating them next summer? Well, I've still got a strong feeling for Germany - but then I've never been that great at recognising beauty.

CAIRO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Top-ranked African side Ivory Coast and World Cup finalists Ghana were named top seeds for this month’s African Nations Cup draw, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said on Friday. They will head either Group B or D at the tournament where co-hosts Equatorial Guinea will be in Group A and Gabon in Group C. Angola, Guinea, Zambia and Tunisia are ranked second seeds while Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco and Senegal will be drawn from the third tier. The lowest tier of teams is made up of newcomers Botswana and Niger plus Libya and Sudan, who qualified at the weekend in the best runners-up slots. The seedings were determined on previous Nations Cup tournament results. The draw is in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on Oct. 29.

Crowd Abuse, Uganda on the Up and Fifa Under Pressure

Kodjovi Obilale, the goalkeeper who was shot twice during last year's ambush on the Togo team bus, tells us how upset he was by the abuse given to his former intertnational team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor. He accuses Arsenal fans of "condoning terrorism". We'll also be finding out Uganda's secret to success - with the country's national team on the verge of qualifying for its first major tournament since 1978. And Fifa is accused of failing to take corruption seriously and putting the game at risk.

Nelson Mandela Foundation receives 2010 World Cup final match ball

The official match ball used in the final of the 2010 Fifa World Cup has found a home – it is now in the possession of one of the world's biggest icons, Nelson Mandela. The Jo'bulani ball used in the match between World Cup champions Spain and Holland will no longer be kicked around; it has found a special place in the Centre for Memory at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Officials say they made changes to the gold on the ball, making it look like Egoli (Johannesburg) to express the city of gold. The ball has been named Jo'bulani (the original 2010 balls were named Jabulani), in honour of the city of Johannesburg. Former marathon world record holder and two times Olympic 10,000 metres gold medallist Haile Gebrselasssie of Ethiopia handed over Jo'bulani to the Foundation. Madiba could not receive the ball in person. Gebrselassie was declared an international ambassador for Mandela’s humanitarian and charitable project and was given a silver 46664 bracelet.

WADA drops doping case vs Mexico soccer players

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Five Mexican soccer players who tested positive for clenbuterol before the Gold Cup will not face sanctions after FIFA determined the tests were caused by contaminated meat. The World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday it had dropped its appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where it planned to challenge a Mexico Football Federation decision clearing the players of doping. WADA said it accepted FIFA's "compelling evidence" from the recent Under-17 World Cup in Mexico that the country has a "serious health problem" with meat contaminated with clenbuterol. "WADA applauds FIFA for the further research it has initiated," the anti-doping watchdog said in a statement. FIFA gathered the evidence while working with the government of Mexico. "The studies conducted by FIFA showed the correctness of the footballers' claim that the positive samples were the result of meat they had ingested at a training camp ahead of the tournament," the governing body of international soccer said. Mexico won the Gold Cup in June despite the absence of goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Edgar Duenas and Francisco Rodriguez, and midfielders Antonio Naelson and Christian Bermudez. It beat the United States 4-2 in the final. WADA said Mexico's government has agreed to address the issue of farmers giving steroids to livestock, which is illegal. "Already several arrests have been made pursuant to these laws and large amounts of clenbuterol seized. Investigations are to continue," WADA said. WADA issued a warning to athletes traveling to Mexico to compete at the two-week Pan American Games, which open Friday in Guadalajara. "If possible, they should eat in cafeterias designated as safe by event organizers and also try to eat in large numbers," WADA advised. "The state government in Guadalajara has taken steps to ensure the meat available to athletes at the Pan American Games will not be contaminated." The Mexican case is the second time this year that WADA has dropped an appeal after an athlete used a defense of contaminated meat to explain consuming clenbuterol. German table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov tested positive after competing in China, which also has long-standing issues with illegally feeding steroids to livestock. Three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will use the same argument as part of his defense at CAS next month. WADA and the International Cycling Union appealed to the sports court after a Spanish cycling federation tribunal accepted Contador's explanation that he inadvertently ate a contaminated steak during his 2010 Tour victory. Contador's four-day hearing is scheduled to begin Nov. 21.

UEFA's Platini lauds Poland over Euro 2012

UEFA president Michel Platini on Wednesday lauded Poland's preparations for Euro 2012, and said concerns over fellow-host Ukraine's ability to get ready had largely subsided. "I am a very happy president, because we have wonderful stadiums, and infrastructure which is ready pretty much everywhere," Platini said in the new national stadium in the Polish capital Warsaw, where the European Championships kick off on June 8, 2012. Platini, who visited Ukraine last month, was this week on his latest inspection tour of Poland's four host cities: Warsaw, plus Wroclaw in the southwest, Poznan in the west, and the Baltic port of Gdansk. "I can say that, after having seen the four cities, the four stadiums, the four airports and all the roads, that preparations for Euro 2012 are going very, very well," the former France international told reporters. In 2007, UEFA caught pundits napping by picking Poland and Ukraine over favourites Italy and joint bidders Hungary and Croatia to host the quadrennial, 16-team championships. It marks UEFA's first serious foray behind the former Iron Curtain. Euro 2008 took place in Austria and Switzerland, and France will host Euro 2016. The communist era may lie two decades in the past, but Poland -- and to a greater extent Ukraine, which is locked in an economic crisis -- have faced infrastructure challenges beyond anything in western host nations and have been bedevilled by doubters. "We've had highs and lows, but never in Poland," said Platini -- although a 2008 UEFA readiness report did in fact give the Poles a yellow card and they have had to work to repair their image. "We've had problems with Ukraine. At one point, we didn't even know if we were going to hold the European Championships in Ukraine. And then we wondered whether it would be in two stadiums or four. But they've done a great job over recent years and we can now say there are no major problems," he said. Two weeks ago Platini had delivered a similar message in the Ukrainian capital Kiev -- one of the country's four host cities along with Kharkiv and Donetsk and Lviv -- saying he felt "completely reassured" despite "small problems". Unlike Poland and Ukraine, who have qualified automatically as hosts, the 14 other teams who have made the cut will have to wait until a December 2 draw in Kiev to know in which of the two countries they will be playing. Several have already jumped the gun, however, opting to set up their tournament bases in Poland not Ukraine. Germany announced last month that they would be based in Gdansk. England followed suit on Tuesday, saying they had also picked Poland, but kept the location under wraps as they were finalising the contract. The fact that two high-profile nations have picked Poland without waiting to know where they will actually play has been seen as casting doubt on the quality of accommodation in Ukraine. But Platini played down the issue. "We've proposed a number of sites that teams can come to. And teams are free to go where they want, provided they're actually based in the countries which host Euro 2012," he said. Sports Minister Adam Giersz said Poland was prepared for as many teams as required. "We're ready to host all the teams in Poland. We have 21 base camps. We are well prepared," he said.

Warner caught on tape

Video evidence of ex-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner urging Caribbean officials to accept cash gifts from Mohamed Bin Hammam has emerged. The recording of a speech made by Warner to members of the Caribbean Football Association (CFU) on May 11 is being used as evidence in FIFA ethics committee hearings into charges against 15 of those officials this week. The video, which has been posted on www.telegraph.co.uk, shows Warner telling members they are not obliged to vote for Bin Hammam in the FIFA presidential election but that he had told the Qatari to bring cash. Bin Hammam was banned for life in July by FIFA's ethics committee but is appealing. The speech took place in Trinidad a day after cash gifts of 40,000 US dollars (£25,000) each were handed out to the leaders of Caribbean associations. Warner says on the video: 'When Mohamed Bin Hammam asked to come to the Caribbean he wanted to bring some silver plaques and wooden trophies and bunting and so on, and told me to bring for 30 people would be too much luggage. 'I told him he did not need to bring anything but if he wanted to bring anything to bring something equivalent to the value of the gift that he brought. 'I said to him if you bring cash, I don't want you to give cash to anybody, but when you do you can give it to the CFU and the CFU will give it to his members. Because I don't want (it) to even remotely appear that anyone has any obligation to vote for you because of what gifts you have given them, and he fully accepted that.' Warner also says he will return any money if the officials choose not to keep it. He adds: 'I know there are some people here who believe they are more pious than thou. If you are pious go to a church friends, but the fact is that our business is our business. 'If there is anybody here who has a conscience and wishes to send back the money I am willing to take the money and give it back to him at any moment.' There is also an astonishing barrage aimed at UEFA president Michel Platini, saying a victory for Sepp Blatter over Bin Hammam would lead to the Frenchman taking over. Warner says: 'We have to ensure Platini is not some automatic inheritor of FIFA. Because I tell you if that happens FIFA will become a French province. Forever. 'The fact is that Platini is being groomed to succeed Mr Blatter and we don't know if it is in our best interests to have a French president, a French general secretary...but in any event I don't think it's in our best interests to do that. 'I have told him (Blatter) that we who have supported him faithfully have not benefited from that support. We stood up and backed him and then he went to embrace his enemies and not his friends.' Warner was charged with bribery by FIFA but the investigation was dropped after he resigned from all football activities in June. He continues to be a senior government minister in Trinidad and Tobago, and last month accused FIFA of 'devastating lives' and damaging football in the Caribbean in an attempt to clean up their image. FIFA's ethics committee are expected to deliver their judgments on the 15 Caribbean officials on Friday.