Yakubu Targets Top Four

Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni is still coming to terms with Everton’s midweek Uefa Cup exit after losing a penalty shoot-out to Serie A outfit Fiorentina.The man they call ‘The Yak’ isn’t likely to internalise his frustrations, though, not with a visit to leaky Fulham in store on Sunday.


Only Thierry Henry has scored more Premiership goals than Yakubu since the 2003/04 season. Indeed, Yakubu is looking to add to his 12 Prem strikes as the season enters its crucial phase.


Yakubu insists the Toffees are ready to put their Euro heartache behind them and have fourth-placed Merseyside rivals Liverpool firmly in their sights.


"Going out of Europe will only make us more determined to finish in the top four this season," warned Yakubu. "I have a good feeling about the Fulham game because I scored a hat-trick against them at Goodison. I can feel there are more goals in me.


"They say it was the perfect hat-trick because I scored with my left foot, my right foot and a header - but for every goal I've scored at Everton, I owe the credit to my team-mates and the manager.


"Since I came here I am fitter, faster and better.


"It is a great compliment to the people around me that I have scored more goals in the Premier League than any striker apart from Thierry Henry over the past few years. Players like Henry only come round once in a lifetime and I look up to him, but the comparison will mean nothing if we do not have anything to show for all our hard work at the end of the season.


"Liverpool are favourites to finish fourth, but Everton beat them to it three years ago and we are capable of doing it again. It would be a fantastic achievement, but I believe in my team-mates and I think they believe in me to score the goals which will take us where we want to go.


"We will keep fighting together and, don't forget, we still have to go to Anfield. We were unlucky not to get at least a point against Liverpool at our place and that will be a massive game for both clubs."


Bridge Boy



Despite recent disappointment, Yakubu is relishing his Premier League career, which has flourished at Middlesbrough and now Everton. The footballing high-life is a far cry, he admits, from his days in native Nigeria with the Bridge Boys of Julius Berger.


"I have come a long way since I left Africa and I feel blessed that my career has brought me to such a good club as Everton," he said.


"My first club was called Julius Berger, which is a big Nigerian construction company with its own team.


"They had a grass pitch - not everybody in Africa is able to play on grass - and I remember thinking I was rich when I collected my first wages, which were small.


"After only four months I was spotted by Maccabi Haifa and I went to play for them in Israel. We won the title and [current Chelsea boss] Avram Grant was my coach there.


"I have been on a long journey since those days, and to play in the Champions League next season would be a proud moment."


Reds fans will be hoping that’s a Bridge too far for the Yak.

UEFA To Aid Cardiff's Euro hopes

UEFA will intervene if Cardiff win the FA Cup but are prevented from competing in the UEFA Cup, president Michel Platini has revealed.
Cardiff reached the semi-finals with a 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Sunday and have been drawn against Barnsley in the last four.

But if they win the April 6 clash then beat either West Brom or Portsmouth in the final the Football Association insist they will not be put forward as one of England's representatives for the UEFA Cup because they come under the jurisdiction of the FA of Wales.

The Welsh governing body reserve their places for winners of their domestic competitions, leaving Cardiff potentially in limbo.

Chairman Peter Ridsdale hinted after the draw the club would challenge the FA's decision - and he would have an ally in Platini.

The former France midfielder told BBC Radio Five Live: 'It's not normal that they participate in one competition and if they win they are out. That is not good.

'If England don't do something we will do something because we always respect the result.'

Wales' sports minister also revealed today he will ask football bosses to stage FA Cup semi-finals at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

The final had a temporary home in Cardiff while the new Wembley Stadium was being built but returned to London last year.

In the week Cardiff City progressed to the semi-finals, heritage minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas told Welsh Assembly Members he would write to the competition's organisers about bringing top domestic football back to the Welsh capital.
'I am sure that the fans throughout the UK would welcome the opportunity to return to Cardiff,' he said.

'I am certainly happy to write to the FA and to suggest to them that semi-finals in future should be held in Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium.'

It comes as the Football Association today confirmed the schedule for this season's FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley.

The first semi-final will pit West Brom against Portsmouth - the only remaining top-flight team left in the competition - at 12.15pm on Saturday, April 5.

That will be followed the next day by the all Coca-Cola Championship clash between Barnsley and Cardiff, with a kick-off time of 4pm.

BBC1 will broadcast the West Brom v Portsmouth game, while Sky Sports will show Barnsley v Cardiff.

Meanwhile, a make-or-break threat to the financial future of Cardiff City kicked off at the High Court today.

Swiss investment bank Langston is suing the club over £24million in loan notes and is seeking summary judgment for immediate repayment of the debt.

The Coca-Cola Championship club, still savouring Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final victory against Middlesbrough, want repayment deferred and the case to go to full trial.

The Bluebirds faces possible administration if Langston succeeds at the two-day hearing in London before Mr Justice Briggs.

Langston's counsel, Michael Driscoll QC, told the court it was common ground that Langston was a substantial creditor of the club and that the debt owed to it was in excess of £15million.
It was also common ground that Langston loaned £24million to the club in 2004, and it had yet to be repaid anything.

It was the club's case that nothing was payable at the moment.

Mr Driscoll said the question for the court was whether there was enough in what the club said to justify the case going to trial and not being dealt with summarily.

It was Langston's case that there was not, and that it was an appropriate case for summary judgment which was 'clearly desirable' as it would avoid a great deal of cost and time spent in litigation and uncertainty.

Spanish Debate: Sevilla's Improving Stars

As recently as this decade, Sevilla were considered the poor relations of Andalucia's biggest city. Until 2003, Real Betis had a larger average attendance than the rojiblancos, and in 2005 the verdiblancos finished two places above their city rivals in fourth.

Since then, though, Sevilla have eclipsed not only the Beticos, but even the likes of Valencia. By finishing above Los Che last season and reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League, they've certainly begun to look the part.

But we've seen short bursts of success before. Deportivo La Coruna, for example, were league champions in 2000, top-three finishers for the next four seasons, and regular knockout stage contenders in the Champions League. Now, they're flirting with relegation.

On the other hand, we've seen relatively unfashionable clubs establish themselves, if not as genuine challengers, then certainly top half fixtures. Villarreal, who are by most estimates a smaller club than Sevilla, have shown what prudent organisation and ambition can create as they rose from obscurity to Europe.

So which of these two paths are Sevilla more likely to take?

There is cause for thinking that it is the former. One glance at the Liga table suggests that all is not well. Eight defeats and 23 goals conceded in 18 games is hardly an enviable total for a side that lost only nine in total last season; at this stage in the 2006-07 campaign, indeed, Sevilla were top with two points to spare.

Now, they're mid-table, 18 points clear of the summit. The tragic death of Antonio Puerta, injury troubles and a managerial change - Manolo Jimenez in for Spurs-bound Juande Ramos - of course contributed to this total, but nonetheless it remains a disappointment.

Indeed, for all Sevilla's fine performances in Europe so far this season, they will do well to reach the Champions League spots, of which they are currently eight points short, before the season's end.

As such, there are worries about Nervion at the moment. However, there are, in my view, more reasons to be optimistic than there are problems.

For starters, things are actually getting better in the Liga. Sevilla have now gone five games unbeaten and have netted seven goals in their last two games, signalling a renaissance of sorts. A return from injury for most of the defensive line has helped in that regard, but so too, surely, did the confidence boost afforded by recent European successes.

The rojiblancos finished top of their Champions League group after defeating Arsenal, and now much be considered as not just UEFA Cup material but worthy guests at Europe's top table. A glance at the squad list would have suggested that anyway, but the proof is in the pudding, and Sevilla's players - after a 3-0 thrashing in their opening game - have shown their worth. Indeed, so much have they impressed that the IFFHS have once again - dubiously, say some - named Sevilla as Club of the Year for 2007.

Taking a longer view of the squad's prospects, it seems as if Sevilla have the kind of youth coming through that will help them adjust not only this season, but in years to come. The likes of Crespo and Fazio are just now breaking through to join the last big hit from the cantera, Jesus Navas, in the first eleven. These youngsters, combined with big-name veterans, are beginning to impress already, and as such there is a modest production line that will keep the side in talented players even if Sevilla can be outmatched in the transfer market by larger clubs.

On the subject of the transfer market, Sevilla actually have it quite good. Not all of the summer signings have worked out - Khalid Boulahrouz has been poor, Arouna Kone isn't quite operating at full potential and Tom De Mul has found little action - but there remain positive aspects to Sevilla's transfer activity.

Strangely, it relates to what they didn't do, rather than what they did. To wit, they refused to capitulate and sell star asset Daniel Alves.



Chelsea wanted Alves, and Alves wanted Chelsea, but despite a big-money bid from the Londoners, Sevilla told the player in no uncertain terms that he was going nowhere. Had a larger offer come in, he would probably have gone, but none was forthcoming, and the rojiblancos held their nerve.

Alves was visibly angry, and this showed in a series of less-than-perfect early season performances - and perhaps even in his deteriorating disciplinary record - but the old professional in him has resurfaced, culminating in a tremendous showing alongside Jesus Navas on the right flank against Betis in the Seville derby. He may have had his problems, but on his day he's one of the top right-sided players in the world, and this was abundantly clear on Sunday night.

Sevilla, for their part, can be proud at having managed to hold onto him. Combine his presence with that of the likes of Kanoute, and it's clear that the nucleus of an excellent side remains at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. They came through the summer relatively unscathed in that regard, with Ivica Dragutinovic turning down a lucrative move to Newcastle - "some things are more important than money" - and for this reason they must be taken seriously as a footballing force, rather than a selling club.

But as the cliche goes - well, almost - spend now, repent at leisure. Assembling such a side cannot have been cheap, and while Sevilla doubtless do not spend as much as Real Madrid, Barcelona, or perhaps even Atletico Madrid, their income is not as high, either. Deportivo are learning to their cost what even a few years of fiscal mismanagement can do to a club - bring it to the brink of relegation and ignominy - and the more pessimistic Sevillista may think that the same could happen to them.

In simple terms of fanbase, too, Sevilla have an advantage. Even during their Segunda seasons, they were frequently drawing 30,000 - more than title-winning Depor, and the likes of Real Zaragoza and Real Sociedad - and now average well over 40,000. Should they keep this level of support going, and work on their worldwide appeal, they can count on some loyal income in coming years.

The omens, then, are mostly good. Are they really the world's best team of 2007? Hardly. But they're certainly one of the better ones, and that doesn't look like changing anytime soon.