Former Scottish Premier League Celtic Head Coach GORDON STRACHAN has little hope for the club when it goes up against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions league group stage. Strachan said, "How to beat Barcelona? Well, you visit a church or chapel, whatever your preference is, and just pray" (AS, 9/12). ... Japan national women's football team player NORIO SASAKI, who guided Japan to victory at the 2011 Women's World Cup final and the Silver Medal at the London Games, could be staying on as Nadeshiko coach. Japan Football Association Chief of Women's Football EIJI UEDA revealed that "the charismatic 54-year-old is the only candidate" with whom the association is currently negotiating (KYODO, 9/13). ... China's double Olympic Gold Medalist SUN YANG "is proving so popular that swimming organizers have been forced to enforce tough media restrictions" at the National University Games in Tianjin (CHINA DAILY, 9/13). ... The International Cricket Council announced two new inductees to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame: West Indies batsman BRIAN LARA and England's ENID BAKEWELL. Bakewell is the third women to be inducted (ICC). ... Great Britain's "most successful Olympian" CHRIS HOY, has been announced as the first official ambassador of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The cyclist's new role will see him appear in "high-profile promotional campaigns and lend his support to the organizing committee." Hoy said, "Following an incredible Olympics in London, I'm proud to lend my support to the next great sporting event on home soil" (Scotland DAILY RECORD, 9/13). ... The British Boxing Board of Control confirmed RICKY HATTON will be granted a new boxing license "providing he successfully completes all parts of a medical." The former two-weight world champion, who turns 34 next month, retired three years ago but is set to "relaunch his career at a press conference in Manchester on Friday" (London DAILY MAIL, 9/13).
THE MAN ABOVE ALL MEN: ManU has "applied for planning permission" to put a statue of ALEX FERGUSON and revealed where it will stand at Old Trafford. The three-meter tall bronze statue "will go on a canopy to be built outside the North Stand – now the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand." Last year, the club revealed that they had commissioned PHILIP JACKSON, "an award-winning fellow Scot," to make the tribute (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 9/13). ... Liverpool handed a contract to 16-year-old Turkish midfielder EMIN ALTUNAY. Altunay won Futbol Prensi, a TV reality show in his home country for "youngsters between the ages of 14 and 16 to demonstrate their talent." The youngster who played against a selected squad of Liverpool youth players during the show, "is now being given his chance with the Merseyside giants" (DAILY MAIL, 9/13).
