Australia's Mark Viduka Set To Retire - Report

It appears to be the end of the road for the V-Bomber after a decorated career...

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The long-running transfer saga involving Mark Viduka could be permanently over, with reports now claiming the 33-year-old has decided quit football altogether.

Sportal claims that sources close to the player have said he is set to retire and look for “a new start in life”.

His decision to bring to an end a 17-year career should not come as a surprise, given his conspicuous reluctance to sign with an English Premier League club during the off-season despite interest in his services.

It was then that the Newcastle United striker – who would go on to fight a losing battle against relegation with his club – rejected the Dutchman’s overtures to join his Socceroos camp for the first time.

Viduka has been in the international wilderness since captaining Australia during their ill-fated 2007 Asian Cup campaign, with injury problems having hampered his club career over the past two years.

Having never regained the sort of fitness levels that he attained during Guus Hiddink’s reign as manager of the Socceroos – when he produced his finest ever form on the international stage – he now appears set to spend time with his wife Ivana and their three children, current sailing in his yacht off the Croatian coast.

Despite his indecision and failure to commit himself to the cause of his national team less than 12 months out from the 2010 World Cup, Verbeek has always stressed that he will leave the door open for Viduka to return to the fold if he finds a club, form and fitness.

Verbeek will continue to groom the likes of Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald in his absence, though that will be nothing out of the ordinary for the former South Korea boss – he has never had the opportunity to use Viduka at any point during his tenure as Socceroos boss.

India Fans React To Lebanon Loss

Goal.com has compiled a number of the most interesting reader comments left after the Men In Blue lost 1-0 to Lebanon on Wednesday...

India coach Bob Houghton's strategy: "i was there in ambedkar and saw the match live. Yes grass was an issue BUT for both the teams. Lebanon played a beautiful one touch passing game for most of the time game whereas indias strategy was and always has been long ball game. bhutia and chetri are really good but even they cannot out jump 6`6 tall defenders. they were outnumbered and overpowered by the Lebanese defenders as the Indian midfield was nowhere to be seen. all in all it was a good performance but we need to improve! a lot."

Murali from London, UK echoes those thoughts: "This is not what we wanted... This is not Bob asked for... I know we played well from somewhere around the mid-first half mark and the whole of the second and you could also see Lebanon tiring at the end... and a couple of wrong decisions gone against us but there should be no excuses... its going to be very tough... gotta mountain to climb now... looks like Syr vs Leb Final."

EPL,Team of the week

I've noticed no-one on B/R does a team of the week, so being the humble man that I am, I decided only I was great and intelligent enough be able to fill this gaping void, apparently using the same technology as Garth Crooks does on the BBC.
It's a co-incidence, I swear.
Anyway, the opening weekend was one for the strikers, with no game ending in a draw for the first time in 29 years and 24 goals scored across 10 games. With Arsenal contributing a quarter of those in their 6-1 routing of Everton at Goodison Park.

Goalkeeper: Shay Given (Man City)
Manchester City was a team with absolute confidence on the ball when going forward on Saturday. They were quick, technical and always had purpose in their play.
It's a pity their defence seemed to miss that particular team talk. Shay Given earns a nomination for keeping Blackburn goalless.

World Cup 2010,Fears of World Cup power cuts - South Africa

The risk of power cuts during the 2010 soccer World Cup has been averted because the global economic crisis has cut South African domestic consumption, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has claimed The country has been rationing power since January last year when the national grid almost collapsed, forcing economically important mines and smelters to shut for days A programme to increase capacity will take years to complete and there had been fears the energy shortage would affect the World Cup in June and July 2010, when 450,000 fans and tourists are expected.