Giggs signs up for another season

Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs has signed a one-year contract extension, the club have confirmed.

The deal means the 38-year-old is set to play in a 22nd season for the Old Trafford club, for whom he made his debut in March 1991.

In that time he has made a club record 898 appearances, scoring 162 goals, and won 12 Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, two Champions Leagues, one Super Cup, an Intercontinental Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup.

United boss Alex Ferguson said: "Ryan is a marvellous player. In many ways, he epitomises all my teams here at United; he has constantly re-invented himself, adapted to the changing nature of the game and retained that desire and hunger for success.

"In every training session and match, he is the example for others to follow.

"The young players in the dressing room have a great chance to learn from a player who will continue to break records that anyone in the game will find hard to beat."

Former Wales international Giggs said: "When I signed my first contract, I never thought I'd be able to play at United for 22 years but I feel good and I know I can still contribute to keeping the team pushing for honours.

"Winning the Club's 19th title was a great feeling but this club is all about what we do next and I'm really pleased I can be part of that."

Gombak United vs Harimau Muda

Shaqiri to join Bayern from next season

Bayern Munich have completed the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri from Basel with the Swiss midfielder to join the club from the start of next season.

The 20-year-old passed a medical in Munich earlier this week and the Bavarian club have now announced that a formal agreement has been reached with Basel and the player, who has signed a four-year contract.

"We are delighted that we have been able to sign Xherdan Shaqiri, one of the most coveted young talents in European football," said Bayern's director of sport Christian Nerlinger.

Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes is looking forward to working with the Switzerland international next season too.

"Xherdan will strengthen our team next season with his intelligence and his dribbling skills," he said.

"I have been watching him for a while now and am convinced that he can become an important player for FC Bayern."

Shaqiri will get a close look of his future employers in just under a fortnight when Basel host Bayern in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The size of the transfer fee has not been disclosed, but the player is believed to have a market value of around 10 million euros.

He had been linked with a move to Manchester United among others.

Roy's blast for Rooney as players tweet Fabio

FORMER Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane has blasted Wayne Rooney for his former team-mate's almost immediate Twitter reaction to Fabio Capello's resignation as England manager.Keane, while working as a pundit during UTV's coverage of last night's FA Cup clash between Middlesbrough and Sunderland said Rooney didn't raise his game sufficiently on the pitch for Capello while he was in charge."Wayne should keep his nose out of it. He didn't do enough on the pitch when Capello was manager.

Wayne should concentrate on being a player and not on who he wants as England manager," he said.Below is a selection of Twitter messages, sent by past and present England players in the aftermath of Capello's decision.

WAYNE ROONEY"Gutted capello has quit. Good guy and top coach. Got to be english to replace him. Harry redknapp for me.

"RIO FERDINAND"So Capello resigns....what now....

"JOEY BARTON"No captain and no manager. 4 months from a major championship. What's going on.......

"GARY LINEKER"HR the man if he wants it. He can do both jobs til May.

"MICHAEL OWEN"Don't know if was just me but it never felt right in the first place knowing the England Manager was heading off after the Euros regardless.

"PAUL GASCOIGNE"I've had to turn the job down myself because I've got a busy schedule at the moment."

Zambia emerge from under radar to reach final

Zambia, a team currently without a national stadium, have emerged from the shadows at the Africa Cup of Nations to grab an unexpected place in this Sunday's final against the Ivory Coast.

"We have been under the radar, away from the pressure and maybe not taken seriously by many," said their 43-year-old coach Herve Renard, who is back at the helm after former Italy international Dario Bonetti was sacked in October.

Although Bonetti guided Zambia to top place in their qualifying group, his tactics were seen as negative in a country with a long tradition of quick-paced play and attacking flair.

Renard's return has delivered the traditional style, culminating with a surprise 1-0 win over Ghana in Wednesday's semi-final in Bata.

"When I go on the internet, I don't see anything about our team," Renard moaned after the weekend's quarter-final win over Sudan in Bata, an efficient 3-0 victory which emphasised Zambia's quality.

"It's because they don't know our team in this tournament. Zambia did not rate in any of the predictions."

However, Renard conceded Zambia's anonymity had suited his plans. He had a good counter-attack strategy in place for their opening match against Senegal where Zambia humbled one of the pre-tournament favourites to set the tone for a successful run at a place in the final

"We are under-rated because when people look at our squad and see we have only foreign-based players they write us off," Zambia Football Association General Secretary George Kasengele told Reuters.

"But we've had the same side for a long time and the players are experienced. Some of them are playing in a fourth Nations Cup, there are very few who are new to the team."

Zambia, whose main stadium in Lusaka was condemned for safety reasons and who have been forced to play in rickety venues on the country's copper belt for the past five years, have qualified for 10 of the last 11 Nations Cup finals.

"We have picked up a lot of experience along the way. We were unlucky to lose in the quarter-final in 2010," said Renard, who took Zambia to the last eight in 2010 but then left for a more lucrative job in Angola only to be tempted back.

"The side have been together for a long time but without any big stars like many of the other teams. The star is the team."

Pearce takes charge of England

Fabio Capello resigned as England manager on Wednesday following the decision by the FA to strip John Terry of the captaincy because of his pending racism trial in July. Terry denies a charge of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in October.

Harry Redknapp has become the overwhelming favourite to succeed Capello in the long term.

But Pearce, who served as Capello's assistant, is the England Under-21 boss and will take charge of the Great Britain men's Olympic team this summer, will look after senior national team affairs in the short term at least. He had been due to be in charge of the under-21s against Belgium in Middlesbrough on February 29.

Bernstein told a press conference at Wembley: "I can announce that Stuart Pearce will manage the England team against Holland.

"He has huge experience outside and inside the organisation. He has been working with the under-21 team and has been working with Fabio for some time. I have got great confidence in Stuart, we will be in good hands.

"Our priority then will be to appoint a new England manager."

Bernstein revealed that the decision to strip Terry of the captaincy had been a unanimous one.

"We all believed that the John Terry case would be dealt with in March or April," Bernstein said.

"When it was postponed we were taken by surprise like everybody else was taken by surprise.

"The board made a very quick and unanimous decision regarding the captaincy. I informed Fabio on Thursday evening as soon as the decision had been made. Fabio wasn't happy but he accepted the board's authority in the matter.

"On Sunday Fabio conducted an interview with an Italian broadcaster. That caused conjecture and huge public debate and frankly it was an unsatisfactory situation."

Bernstein insisted Capello had "behaved with dignity and honour" during the meetings with the FA yesterday.

"Yesterday was not an easy day but we concluded matters with a handshake. Any reports of storming out and are a complete misrepresentation of the facts," he added.

"(FA general secretary) Alex Horne and I met with Fabio yesterday and had a meeting lasting just over an hour. It was a very detailed meeting with a lot of detailed questions asked by us. We then adjourned the meeting and I then engaged myself with Fabio in his office, and it was at that time that he offered his resignation and I, on behalf of the board, agreed that this was the right decision by the FA.

"I will emphasise that the meetings were professional and amicable."

He continued at the Wembley press conference: "Of course it's regrettable when a manager leaves like this. Fabio has had a great record, but it's happened now.

"Could it have been avoided? We had a very frank meeting with Fabio. It was very civilised and at the end of it he decided he felt he had to go. I can't really add to that."

Pushed as to why he accepted Capello's resignation, he replied: "I accepted it really for the reasons that were covered in the statement we put out yesterday.

"The matter arising from the English team captaincy issue and from Fabio's statement on Sunday and the consequential issues meant that I felt when Fabio offered the resignation it was in the interests of the FA and English football the right thing to do."

On the prospect of sacking the Italian, he said: "That just didn't arise. We had a full and frank discussion with him and he came to that conclusion himself."

Man United squad hit by 'voodoo' - Evra

Patrice Evra believes Manchester United have been cursed with injury problems this season, but has praised the side's character for battling on regardless.

United have seen their talismanic captain Nemanja Vidic ruled out for the season with knee ligament damage, while the likes of Anders Lindegaard, Darren Fletcher, Tom Cleverley and Michael Owen are all currently unavailable.

Despite their injury woes, which Evra has dubbed a "voodoo", the Premier League champions are within touching distance of table-toppers Manchester City, and the France left-back feels their position is testament to their spirit.

Evra said in the Daily Mirror: "I don't know what is happening. I think someone is doing some voodoo on us! It's amazing how many injuries we've had. I see many teams complaining about the injuries they have but, for us, it has been amazing.

"To lose a player like Nemanja Vidic for the season ... yet we've coped with that. I think to get so close to Manchester City, given the injuries we have had, shows we have really good spirit in the team.

"That's the most important thing and that's the culture of the club - no matter what happens, we don't like to have excuses. I just say 'Well done' to every player but the job is not finished. The most important part is still to come."