Other soccer stories in brief
Cech checks out of hospital
Chelsea's Petr Cech yesterday left hospital and returned to his home, 10 days after fracturing his skull in a collision with Reading's Stephen Hunt.
Cech needed emergency surgery to insert two metal plates in his head after the clash that occurred in the first minute of Chelsea's Premiership game at the Madejski Stadium.
The 24-year-old Czech Republic international goalkeeper has been told it will be at least three months before he can expect to train normally.
Chelsea's second-choice goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, who was also knocked unconscious and taken to hospital after being involved in a collision in the at Reading, could be back in Jose Mourinho's side for this evening's League Cup tie at Blackburn.
Stephane Porato is on trial at Chelsea as Mourinho considers his options. The 33-year-old former Monaco and Marseille goalkeeper would be able to sign immediately because he is a free agent.
Most World Cup injuries feigned
Fifa have revealed that more than half of the players treated on the pitch during this summer's World Cup were not actually injured.
The world body's chief medical officer, Professor Jiri Dvorak, presented his findings to the Fifa referees committee yesterday and they showed a cheating culture at the highest level of the game.
According to Dvorak, there were too many players feigning injury in Germany, with tactical reasons presented as the most likely cause of their action.
Where injuries were confirmed, the number per match was down to 2.3 per match, from 2.7 at the 2002 World Cup. That amounted to a total of 145 injuries in 64 matches at the 2006 tournament.
Play-off to be used for ranking
The Eircom League yesterday confirmed there will be a two-leg play-off to decide the final rankings of the teams that finish 11th in the Premier Division and second in the First Division at the end of the current season, writes Emmet Malone.
The games will take place on Tuesday, November 21st, and either the following Friday or Saturday with the winners being ranked 11th behind the First Division champions for the purposes of assessing the various clubs' applications for membership of the new league.
It was also confirmed yesterday that the current Premier Division campaign will finish with a complete programme of games on Friday, November 17th, with the First Division season concluding 24 hours later.
In Brief . . .
Arsenal defender Kolo Toure (25) has signed a new four-year contract to stay at the Emirates Stadium
. . . Sheffield United defender Claude Davis missed last night's Carling Cup loss to Birmingham City after failing with an appeal to have a red card overturned by the English FA . . . Manchester United are reported to have brokered a deal that will bring Walsall's 15-year-old Portuguese prodigy Evandro Brandao to Old Trafford.
