Malaysia call on Rush to solve striking woes

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Malaysian soccer chiefs are hoping to inject some Anfield magic into their forward line after recruiting Liverpool great Ian Rush to help solve the country's goalscoring problems.

The country's soccer federation is planning an upheaval of its national team after their embarrassing performance as co-hosts of last year's Asian Cup. Malaysia suffered humiliating defeats in all three of their group matches and scored only one goal. As part of the revamp, national team coach B. Sathianathan will spend three weeks with English Premier League champions Manchester United, working alongside former Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz, Alex Ferguson's number two. Khairy Jamaluddin, deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia, told local media that Malaysia were struggling because of their poor quality strikers. 'Rush will be here in March... we know that our strikers are not doing very well so they should learn from him,' Khairy said. 'It is important that our coaches get experience with an international team. Sathianathan will be shadowing Carlos Queiroz for the three weeks.' Sathianathan, who replaced Norizan Bakar last August, told Tuesday's Star Newspaper: 'This a great chance for me to learn from the best. 'The national team will not be in training during that period and I can spend time learning and looking at ways to further improve our team. Malaysia were eliminated in the first round of qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in November and have never gone beyond the group stages of the Asian Cup.

Football Around The World

Kl World 5's
Australia	7 - 0	Malaysia
Holland	1 - 3	Iran
Indonesia	0 - 6	Argentina
Thailand	0 - 6	Brazil
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa	1 - 1	Blackburn
Arsenal	3 - 0	Newcastle
Bolton	0 - 0	Fulham
Middlesbrough	1 - 0	Wigan
Sunderland	2 - 0	Birmingham
Chelsea	1 - 0	Reading
Derby Country	1 - 1	Man City
West Ham Utd	1 - 0	Liverpool
Everton	0 - 0	Tottenham
Man United	2 - 0	Portsmouth
Spanish Primera Liga
Sevilla	2 - 1	Osasuna
Deportivo La Coruña	3 - 1	Valladolid
Espanyol	1 - 2	Real Betis
Murcia	2 - 3	Levante
Racing Santander	2 - 2	Real Zaragoza
Recreativo Huelva	1 - 3	Getafe
Valencia	0 - 1	Almeria
Athletic Bilbao	1 - 1	Barcelona
Mallorca	1 - 0	Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid	3 - 2	Villarreal
Italian Serie A
Atalanta	2 - 2	Reggina
Cagliari	2 - 1	Napoli
Catania Calcio	0 - 0	Parma
Empoli	0 - 2	Fiorentina
Torino	0 - 0	Lazio
Udinese	0 - 0	Inter Milan
Livorno	1 - 3	Juventus
Reggina	0 - 1	AC Milan

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Frederic Kanoute

MADRID - Malian Muslim footballer Frederic Kanoute, the striker of Spain's Seville FC, has saved the only mosque in the southern Spanish city of Seville from closure. Kanoute has paid 510,860 euros (some $700,000) so that fellow Muslims in Seville would not find themselves without a mosque, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). The privately owned mosque was due to be sold after a contract to use the premises by the local Muslim population had expired. But Kanoute stepped in to purchase the building. The 30-year-old striker has not made any comment on the matter. But city authorities have confirmed that the property has been registered in Kanoute's name, according to the BBC Sport. It is estimated that Kanoute has spent almost a year's salary to buy the mosque. Kanoute, one of the finalists for the 2007 BBC African Footballer of the Year award, moved in 2005 from French champions Lyon to Seville FC, the 2006-07 Spanish league's third and the holder of last season's cup championship.
Grateful Spanish Muslims said they really appreciate Kanoute's moving gesture. "If it had not been for Kanoute then we would not have had a mosque on Fridays, which is the most holy day of the week for Muslims," a spokesman for the Islamic Community of Spain was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. Kanoute, who has also created a foundation in his motherland Mali to help orphans, reverted to Islam 10 years ago. Last Ramadan, he impressed Spanish football fans by his unique performance though he was fasting. Kanoute was crowned last year the league's top scorer with 20 goals, out performing football legends such as Brazilian Ronaldinho. Kanoute, a practicing Muslim who regularly performs his prayers even in the locker room, refused last season to wear a jersey advertising for an inter gambling site, because gambling is forbidden in Islam. His team had to give him a brand-free jersey until he accepted wearing the sponsored jersey in return for money to an Islamic charity.

Source: IslamOnline