PARIS (AFP) – Toulouse are in the driving seat in the French league after notching up their third win in three games Saturday, seeing off promoted Arles 2-1, while champions Marseille got off the mark with a 2-0 home success over Lorient.

Whereas Marseille have stumbled into the new season, losing their opening two encounters after ending an 18-year wait for the title, Toulouse have been going great guns and Norwegian star Daniel Braaten s third goal of the campaign set them on their way on 36 minutes.

The one-way traffic continued in searing heat as Etienne Didot made it two on the hour but an Arles side containing Greek new arrivals Angelos Basinas and Angelos Charisteas dug in gamely and pulled one back two minutes later as Franck Dja Djedje capitalised on a defens…

CHICAGO (AFP) – The United States will play host to Poland on October 9 at Chicago in an international football friendly as the European side prepares for its co-hosting of the 2012 European Championships.

The Americans are 7-7 with two drawn against Poland in a rivalry dating back to 1924, with their last clash a 3-0 triumph in 2008 at Krakow. The Poles, 4-2 with a draw on US soil, drew 1-1 in their last US match in 2004.

Poland, who are co-hosting Euro 2012 with Ukraine, figures to draw strong support from a large Polish community in the Windy City of the American Midwest.

These fixture dates are a fantastic opportunity to have the group together for an extended period and then put the work to the test with a difficult match, US coach Bob Bradley said.

…

Barca ponder shock swoop for Kuyt

Champions League holders Barcelona are considering a shock move for Feyenoord captain Dirk Kuyt, .

The Catalans aim to sign a forward in the January transfer window who would act as back-up for the starting trio, and they do not plan to spend a lot of money on the new recruit.

And while coach Luis Enrique insists on luring Nolito back to Camp Nou, the club management would prefer to see an experienced centre forward join the ranks instead.

As a result, Barcelona are seriously thinking about former Liverpool star Dirk Kuyt, who is enjoying a very successful spell with Feyenoord.

The 35-year-old has scored amazing 10 goals in as many Eredivisie appearances this term and the Catalans want to make him the next Larsso…

Mario Mandzukic inspired Bayern Munich to victory at Nuremberg, while Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt enjoyed big wins.

Defending champions Bayern restored their 13-point lead at the Bundesliga summit thanks to a 2-0 derby success over to make it 12 successive league victory.

Toni Kroos, who recently rejected a contract extension, was left out by coach Pep Guardiola and Josip Drmic almost gave Nuremberg the lead early on, but Mandzukic opened the scoring on 18 minutes with an improvised finish. It was the 27-year-old striker s 12th league goal of the season.

Mandzukic then set up the second for Philipp Lahm, whose shot went through the grasp of Raphael Schafer for his first Bundesliga goal since 2010.

Dortmund moved four points behind second-placed Baye…

Serginho scored a dramatic late goal to send Kashima Antlers into the AFC Champions League final for the first time following a 3-3 semi-final second-leg draw and 6-5 aggregate victory over Suwon Bluewings.

Kashima went into the game hoping for a repeat of their group-stage win in Suwon after coming from two goals down to win the first leg 3-2.

The 2017 J1 League runners-up looked to have one foot in the final when Shuto Yamamoto put them ahead on the night after 25 minutes, but Suwon staged a dramatic second-half fightback.

Three goals in eight minutes from Im Sang-hyeob, Jo Sung-jin and Dejan Damjanovic gave Suwon the advantage before Serginho teed up Daigo Nishi to level the tie after 64 minutes.

With extra-time beckoning, the Antlers poured forwards a…

According to Corriere dello Sport, Napoli aren’t just going to be focused on keeping hold of their star players in the January transfer window – because they’re also going to be aiming to bring in some new faces.

The Italian side are preparing to make bids for several high profile stars, with Federico Chiesa being one of them, and Benjamin Pavard being another.

Pavard, 22, played an integral role in helping Les Bleus to win the World Cup this summer and is considered to be an extremely hot commodity in the realms of European football. The defender is currently with Bundesliga side Stuttgart, after moving there from Lille back in 2016.

Napoli are desperately attempting to keep the pace with Juventus at the top of the Serie A table, and it appears as if they…

Lautaro Martinez believes Sunday s 2-0 win over Salernitana proved Inter have matured as a result of honest conversations that occurred in the changing room during their difficult run.

Their win at San Siro made it four games unbeaten across all competitions for the Nerazzurri, though that run followed a sequence of five defeats in 10 at the start of the season.

Before Sunday s game, Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni told Sky Italia their recent improvement came after purposeful talks among the players behind the scenes.

Bastoni indicated Inter came to understand there were too many players complaining about others, with this realisation helping force a change in attitude.

While Martinez – scorer of the first goal on Sunday – did not want to elaborate…

Antonio Conte allayed fears of Richarlison missing the World Cup, but confirmed he will not be available for Tottenham s game with Manchester United on Wednesday.

Richarlison suffered a calf injury in Spurs 2-0 victory over his former team Everton and was taken off in the 52nd minute before later being seen on crutches, causing concern he could face a race against time to be fit for Brazil s World Cup opener against Serbia on November 24.

In a tearful interview after the game, Richarlison told ESPN Brazil: It s kind of hard to say because it s close to the realisation of my dream.

But when questioned over Richarlison potentially missing the World Cup, Conte had an optimistic message.

The injury of Richarlison, he s [having] a scan and then we will see h…

Benfica vice-president Silvio Cervan has suggested UEFA would rather Juventus made the Europa League final rather than his side.

The final of this season s competition is in Turin and Cervan believes European football s governing body would rather have Juve in next month s showpiece in their own stadium over Benfica.

No Italian side has won a European title since 2010 when Inter won the Champions League, while you have to go back to Parma s 1999 victory for success in the UEFA Cup or Europa League.

Cervan believes this lack of success is something UEFA would like to see change, but he hopes his side can progress.

It s a long time since an Italian team last won in Europe, Cervan is quoted by Italian media. I have no doubts that, particularly for commercial interes…

Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara will miss the FIFA World Cup with a recurrence of a knee injury, his club Bayern Munich have announced.

Reports emerged on Wednesday that Thiago had suffered another knee problem and Bayern have now confirmed the 23-year-old will miss the upcoming tournament in Brazil.

A Bayern statement revealed Thiago – training ahead of Saturday s DFB-Pokal final against Borussia Dortmund – tore inner ligaments in his right knee on Monday.

The former Barcelona man sustained a knee injury against Hoffenheim at the end of March and had not played since, but was an unused substitute in Bayern s 1-0 win against Stuttgart last weekend.

Thiago had been selected in Spain s provisional World Cup squad earlier this week and having missed out on the…