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The Republic of Ireland team to face Argentina at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday has been named.

Manchester City shot-stopper Shay Given will start in goal, with a back four of Paul McShane, Richard Dunne, John O’Shea and Kevin Kilbane. Across the middle will be Liam Lawrence, Keith Andrews, Paul Green and Damien Duff, whilst Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle are in attack.

Dunne and Doyle are doubts, however, with knee and calf injuries respectively, so Darren O’Dea and Cillian Sheridan are on standby. Also manager Trapatoni has been hospitalised with food poisoning, but it is hoped he can recover in time for the match. Marco Tardelli, his assistant took team training today.

Here are the draws for the final qualifying round of the Champions League and the Europa League.

First the Champions League, the first leg of the two-legged ties will take place on either the 17th or 18th August and the second legs will be played on the 24th or 25th August:

• Young Boys (SUI) v Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
• Sporting Braga (POR) v Sevilla (ESP)
• Werder Bremen (GER) v Sampdoria (ITA)
• Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) v Auxerre (FRA)
• Dynamo Kiev (UKR) v Ajax (NED)
• Salzburg (AUT) v Hapoel Tel-Aviv (ISR)
• Rosenborg (NOR) v Copenhagen (DEN)
• Basel (SUI) v FC Sheriff (MDA)
• Sparta Prague (CZE) v MSK Zilina (SVK)
• Partizan Belgrade (SRB) v Anderlecht (BEL)

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Chris Kamara misses the sending off at Fratton Park:

Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Armenia v Republic of Ireland

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Republic of Ireland v Andorra

Friday, October 8th, 2010
Republic of Ireland v Russia

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
Slovakia v Republic of Ireland

Saturday, March 26th, 2011
Republic of Ireland v Macedonia

Saturday, June 4th, 2011
Macedonia v Republic of Ireland

Friday, September 2nd, 2011
Republic of Ireland v Slovakia

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Russia v Republic of Ireland

Friday, October 7th, 2011
Andorra v Republic of Ireland

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Republic of Ireland v Armenia

Liverpool 2 – Blackburn 1 (Premier League, February 28, 2009)

Liverpool broke the deadlock with Blackburn after 19 minutes, Gerrard spread the play to Yossi Benayoun out wide left and, after the Israeli had maneuvered into the box, Steven Gerrard was back on the scene to slip in the opener. A cheeky handball from Jamie Carragher while grounded in the Reds’ box was seen by the officials, allowing Keith Andrews to bring Rovers level from the spot. But then Anfield saw the sight they’ve been missing for much of the season as Fernando Torres was able to restored Liverpool’s lead from a neat Maxi pass.

via 101 Great Goals

Here are the highlights of Saturdays game:

Relief broke out at Anfield 10 minutes from the break as Liverpool took the lead against Bolton when Dirk Kuyt slid home after Insua crossed from the left and Aquilani did well to head the ball back across goal for the Dutchman. The Merseysiders made sure of the points midway through the second half when an Insua shot took a wicked deflection off Kevin Davies for 2-nil.

Here is the draw for the first knock-out round of this season’s Champions League:

The most intriguing ties involve the two Milan teams playing Man Utd and Chelsea

First legs to be played on 16/17 and 23/24 February with the second legs scheduled for 9/10 and 16/17 March.

Bad news, we are still third seeds. Uefa have changed how they calculate the ranking coefficient. They now include matches played in the finals of the World Cup and European Championships.

Here is the list of seedings, arranged into their respective pots. The qualifying competition will comprise six groups of six teams (groups A-F) and three groups of five teams (groups G-I). Sides in each group will play one another on a home and away basis, with qualifying matches scheduled according to the international match calendar between September 2010 and November 2011. The nine winners and the best runner-up qualify directly for the final tournament. The eight remaining runners-up contest play-off matches.. Note for Pot 3 Poland and Ukraine are not included in the qualifying as they qualify automatically as joint hosts. And by the way, the draw doesnt take place until February 7th 2010 in Warsaw. Meanwhile the draw for the finals of the World Cup in South Africa in the summer takes place next Friday.

Ranking to be used for the UEFA EURO 2012
Qualifying Draw National Team Coefficients Overview
WC 2006: 20% (Q/F)
EURO 2008: 40% (Q/F)
WC 2010: 40% (Q/–)

Pot 1 – Top Seeds

1 ) Spain 39,964
2 ) Germany 38,294
3 ) Netherlands 37,821
4 ) Italy 35,838
5 ) England 34,819
6 ) Croatia 33,677
7 ) Portugal 33,226
8 ) France 32,551
9 ) Russia 32,477
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Proposals to accept Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers into an expanded Premier League will be put forward for consideration this week. Bolton chairman Phil Gartside will pitch plans for a two-tier league of between 36 and 40 teams on Thursday.

It is understood there would be a top tier of 18 clubs, with promotion and relegation to and from the league. Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill and Spurs boss Harry Redknapp have backed the inclusion of the Scottish clubs.

The proposals are a revival of Gartside’s ideas which received a hostile reception from the Premier League’s 20 chairmen six months ago.

However, Gartside, the driving force behind the revamp, has tweaked the original plans to include promotion and relegation to and from the dual-tier league, while the two Scottish clubs would initially be invited to join the lower tier.

The Bolton chairman is also believed to be open to inviting an Irish franchise into the league in the future.