Clan-Members » also be without the coach.---MAINZ 2, D

MANCHESTER, England -- After the acrimonious departure of Sam Allardyce, Englands national soccer team is temporarily in the hands of a man who said just three weeks ago that he wasnt ready for such a high pressure job.Yet interim coach Gareth Southgate may end up keeping it given the paucity of top-class English managers around.The English Football Associations preference is that an Englishman coaches the national team, but theres hardly a queue of top-quality candidates.Alan Pardew, Eddie Howe and Steve Bruce are high on the list of bookmakers favorites to be the next England coach, yet none of them have managed a so-called big club in the Premier League or coached a team in the Champions League. Pardew and Howe are in charge of unfashionable Premier League clubs (Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, respectively) and Bruce recently quit as manager of Hull.Glenn Hoddle, England coach from 1996-99, is also on the bookies list and a popular call with ex-professionals even though he hasnt coached in a decade.So Southgate, who has been given the reins for Englands next four matches against Malta, Slovenia, Scotland and Spain, can stake a claim for the role on a full-time basis should he impress as a caretaker coach.Except this was the same man who said as recently as Sept. 5 that he needed more experience to be England manager, having coached only one club (Middlesbrough, from 2006-09) and been in charge of the England under-21 side since 2013. Southgate pulled out of the race to succeed Roy Hodgson after the European Championship for this very reason, with the job going to Allardyce.Im pretty clear on what Im comfortable with, Southgate said then, but also I know to take that role wasnt something I think Ive got the experience for.I think its one of the ultimate jobs and you want every skill set possible when you go into it. I think with England, there are one or two other things that I would want to have had experience of before I took that role, to be going into it from a real position of strength. Maybe that happens in the future, maybe it doesnt?Less than a month later, hes been thrust into what some term The Impossible Job.To manage England will be a huge responsibility and a huge honor for me, Southgate said Wednesday.With my experience with the under-21s in international football, and having worked with so many of the players who have moved up to the seniors as well, I think we are in a good position to prepare for these games. Its obviously been a difficult situation for the FA but it was important that there was some stability and continuity for everybody.Clean-cut, well-spoken and with no baggage, the 46-year-old Southgate fits the bill for the FA in terms of image. He would be the last person likely to get caught up in the kind of newspaper sting that led to Allardyce losing his job on Tuesday. He also knows the FA and what the national body wants and expects, having been an employee for three years.Gareth Southgate will do a good job, FA chairman Greg Clarke said. He knows the people, he knows the team, he knows the setup at St. Georges Park. Hell take over pretty seamlessly.Best known for missing a crucial penalty in Englands shootout loss to Germany in the Euro 1996 semifinals, Southgate was fired after three years at Middlesbrough following its relegation from the Premier League. He has repaired his coaching reputation with Englands under-21s and led the team to a first title in 22 years at the Toulon tournament this year.Bruce is the second-favorite with bookmakers, behind Southgate, and has to be a big contender considering he was interviewed by the FA for the job eventually given to Allardyce. The 38-year-old Howe, who guided unfancied Bournemouth into the Premier League and kept it there, is widely regarded as a future England coach but now may be too soon for him.The problem for English coaches is they are rarely given the chance to prove themselves at the leading Premier League clubs, who prefer foreign managers. The FA has tried to address the lack of top English coaches by building the sprawling National Football Centre in central England in 2012 and using that as a base from where talented young coaches can be brought through. That will take time, though.For now, the FA has given itself some breathing space and will look to have a new man in place by Englands World Cup qualifier against Lithuania in March.It wasnt the plan we had, Clarke said, but weve now got to make the new plan work. Discount Air Jordan Shoes . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Wholesale Air Jordan Shoes . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.cheapairjordanretro.com/ . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. Authentic Air Jordan Retro . The Canadian squad, skipped by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, got on the board first with two in the second end, and followed that with two more apiece in the fourth and sixth ends. Air Jordan Retro Shoes Outlet . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. BERLIN -- Missed penalties set a Bundesliga record on Sunday as promoted Leipzig continued its remarkable start to the season with a 1-0 win at Wolfsburg to go third.Emil Forsberg fired the unbeaten side to its fourth win from seven games, putting it level on points with another surprise team, Cologne, and just two points behind leader Bayern Munich.The Swedish midfielder missed the chance to score from the penalty spot in the first half, sending his effort to the left of Koen Casteels goal after the Wolfsburg goalkeeper had brought down Timo Werner.It was the fifth missed penalty of the weekend, a record for a single round of games in the Bundesliga.Antonio-Mirko Colak had earlier missed a penalty for Darmstadt in his sides 2-1 loss at local rival Mainz; Borussia Moenchengladbachs Andre Hahn and Lars Stindl both squandered penalty chances in their sides 0-0 draw with Hamburger SV on Saturday; and Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had his spot kick saved by Hertha Berlins Rune Jarstein in the 1-1 draw on Friday.Ten penalties were awarded across the nine games, the most in a Bundesliga round since the 1986-87 season.Forsberg made up for his penalty miss with a brilliant strike from outside the penalty area to the top right corner with 20 minutes remaining. It was the Swedes third league goal of the season, catapulting Leipzig above Hertha in fourth place and Dortmund in fifth. Four points separate the top six.Wolfsburg coach Dieter Heckings position is in question after his side slipped to 14th, following its sixth consecutive game without a win.ddddddddddddere going to have to talk within the club, what were going to do in future, where we see the possibilities of playing better football again, Wolfsburg general manager Klaus Allofs said. That can be with the coach, it can also be without the coach.---MAINZ 2, DARMSTADT 1In a game with three penalties, Mainz claimed its third win to move seventh.Pablo De Blasis fired the home side into a fifth-minute lead, converting from close range after Daniel Brosinski played the ball over the defense for Gaetan Bussmann to cross.Laszlo Kleinheisler almost equalized when he crashed a volley off the crossbar, before Jhon Cordoba missed a good chance on a counter-attack at the other end. The Colombian later struck the crossbar.Colak should have made it 1-1 before the break when the first penalty was awarded but Mainz `keeper Jonas Loessl saved his spot kick.Yunus Malli made no mistake with another penalty early in the second half, giving Mainz its two-goal cushion.Colak missed another chance to pull one back with the goal at his mercy in the 68th, before Jerome Gondorf claimed the visitors consolation from the third penalty in injury time.Darmstadt dropped to 15th, one point above Schalke in the relegation zone. ' ' '