James McClean's Ireland international career has been given the green light by FIFA.
The move clears the way for the Derryman to be included in the Ireland squad to be announced by Giovanni Trapattoni tomorrow for the upcoming friendly against the Czech Republic In Lansdowne Road on February 29th.

Fabio Capello showing what he thinks of the FA's decision to nix Terry's captaincy

The FA and Fabio Capello are increasingly at odds with each other over John Terry's captaincy. The Italian was vocal in his support of the Chelsea defender using the cover of the deferred legal case as a presumption of innocence till proven guilty.

The Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs is close to recovering from his latest injury problem, and he is hoping to back in the squad in just ten days time, which would be just in time for the crucial game against Man United. He feels that he is fully recovered but is now just waiting for some [...]

Ireland international Simon Cox fired West Brom into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a hat-trick against Cardiff this afternoon.
Cox headed his first home from eight yards after a cross from Baggies captain Nicky Shorey. He doubled his tally in the 61st minute with a scorcher from 25 yards that gave Heaton no chance as it crossed the line after rattling off his post, and he sealed his hat-trick with an easy tap in from an Odemwingie pass.

Former Derry City winger James McClean made an impressive debut last weekend after new Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill gave the 22 year rold his chance to shine at the stadium of light, and the Irish international hopeful duly obliged by delighting the Wearside faithful with a stunning impact performance after entering as a second-half substitute.

It only seems like yesterday since that fateful day back in June of last year when England's World Cup journey came to a shuddering halt against a young, fast-paced, powerful German team that showed English fans everything that our team wasn't. Well, here we are only 16 months or so later, with the first stages of Euro2012 already under our belt following the draw in Poland for the Group matches, and frankly, nothing much has changed.

Lebanon achieve the impossible Lebanon Daily Star.

As a sidebar to all of the hype surrounding the Euro2012 play off qualifiers this past week, I noticed a great story emerging out of the Middle East which deserves more than a mention. Asian power South Korea were beaten 2-1 in Beirut by Lebanon who rank 112 places below them in the FIFA rankings which in any region is a huge accomplishment.

Liverpool confirm new injury lay-off for Steve Gerrard

• Midfielder undergoes treatment for ankle infection • Definitely out of the matches with Spain and Sweden Liverpool have confirmed that Steve Gerrard will miss the club's Premier League encounter with Swansea on Saturday, as well as England's upcoming friendly matches against Spain and Sweden, after undergoing treatment for the ankle infection he suffered over the weekend.

Another interlull upon us no club matches, as the top players are jetting around to join their national sides. There's a full and relatively interesting slate of Euro2012 qualifiers, given the that qualifying group stage finally wraps up on Tuesday: 20 fixtures today, out of which we've picked 5 to keep an eye on, and then 22 more on Tuesday.

Kenny Dalglish has expressed his satisfaction with Fabio Capello's decision not to pick Steven Gerrard for his latest England squad.
The midfielder made only his third appearance in six months for Liverpool when he came on as a substitute in last Saturday's Merseyside derby at Goodison Park– which the visitors won 2-0 – have undergone a groin operation.

Kenny Dalglish backs England's decision not to call on Steven Gerrard

• Liverpool midfielder just returned from long injury lay-off • Fabio Capello considered picking him for Montenegro qualifier Kenny Dalglish has expressed his satisfaction with Fabio Capello's decision not to pick Steven Gerrard for his latest England squad.

This match will always be remembered for Robert Earnshaw's point blank miss and a blinding fingertip save from Joe Hart that kept Chris Gunter out. As it stands Ashley Young's goal sweeping Stuart Downing's cross past Wayne Hennessey made the difference and kept England rolling towards Euro 2012 qualification.

Joahim Low did not have to dig his nose to strike gold. Mario Gotze serves notice that he might be the next best thing to Mesut Oezil who is already the best thing since Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Then there is the small matter of Thomas Muller and Andre Schurrle.

Wayne Rooney scores a brace and Gary Cahill opens his national account. The Bulgarian defense was shambolic although they did better in the ball possession department without really mounting a threat.

England are sitting pretty in Group G against some real wallflowers. Montenegro is second but the big story is Switzerland so bright in its U21 appearances with just five points after 5 appearances.

At the same time I was contemplating the lack of a Brazilian super-duper-star at the peak of his powers, another thought related to a national team occurred to me. It felt like I'd been hearing about a lot of Belgians either being very good players or being seriously high-end prospects. For a country of just over 10 million people that is currently ranked 57th in the FIFA rankings you are left