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Sunday's defeat continued Esperance's downward slide after years in the elite of African clubs. They are without a win in four group matches and lost to a newly promoted team in the opening game of the new domestic championship season.
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Juanfran joins Ajax on loan from Besiktas
AMSTERDAM, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Spanish international Juanfran is joining Ajax Amsterdam on loan from Besiktas this season, the Dutch first division club said on Friday.
Ajax have an option to buy the 29-year-old defender at the end of the season. The club will kick of their 2005/06 campaign next weekend away to RBC Roosendaal.
Juan Francisco Garcia, known as Juanfran, played for Levante, Valencia and Celta Vigo in Spain before moving to the Istanbul club Besiktas in 2004.
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AC Milan sign Australian keeper Kalac
MILAN, Aug 12 (Reuters) - AC Milan have signed Australian goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac as understudy to their Brazilian international Dida.
Kalac was available on a free transfer after his Serie B club Perugia were refused a licence due to their financial troubles.
The 32-year-old, who made his name in Australia with Sydney United before moving to Dutch club Roda JC Kerkrade, had been with Perugia for the last three seasons.
Milan said Kalac, who is an Australian international, had signed a three-year deal with the club after passing a medical.
Kalac is the second keeper to join Milan in the off-season following the signing of Greek Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos from Messina.
Under Italian rules preserving a city's right to compete in the professional game a new Perugia club has been formed and will play in Serie C1 in the new season.
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Striker Dani joins Olympiakos Piraeus
By Barney Spender
ATHENS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Spanish striker Dani has joined Greek champions Olympiakos Piraeus on a free transfer from Spanish club Espanyol.
"I am here to score goals, that's my job and I am confident I will succeed," Dani was quoted as saying on the club's website on Friday.
The 30-year-old striker has signed a two-year contract with the option of a third.
Dani joined Espanyol in July 2004 after ending his contract with Barcelona following a brief loan spell at Real Zaragoza.
He scored five goals for Espanyol last season but faded out of the reckoning at the tail-end of the campaign and said he was affected by the negative atmosphere amongst the players at the club.
The striker, who began his career at Real Madrid, made his name when he scored 12 league goals for Real Mallorca in the 1998-99 season.
He won the first of five international caps in November 1998 and secured a $15.5 million move to Barcelona at the end of the season.
Despite scoring 11 goals in 27 games in his first season at the Nou Camp, he was then virtually ignored by successive coaches, playing just 23 league games from 2000-2001 before leaving the club by mutual consent after almost three years on the sidelines.
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Ilie poised to join Belgium's Beerschot
BUCHAREST, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Romanian forward Adrian Ilie is to sign a one-year contract with Belgian side Germinal Beerschot.
"I'm ready to sign with Beerschot, who have offered me a contract," Ilie told Reuters on Saturday. "The deal is subject to a medical examination."
Ilie, once nicknamed 'Cobra' for his deadly striking ability, left Swiss club FC Zurich in June after the expiry of his contract.
The 31-year-old has been without a club for two months after refusing several offers from Romanian first division clubs. As a result Romania coach Victor Piturca omitted Ilie from his squad for the World Cup qualifier against Andorra on August 17.
Germinal Beerschot won the Belgian Cup last season and are in this season's UEFA Cup.
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Belgium's Beerschot bag Romanian Ilie
BRUSSELS, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Belgium's Germinal Beerschot have snapped up Romanian forward Adrian Ilie on a free transfer.
The 31-year-old will sign a one-year contract pending a medical examination on Tuesday, the Antwerp club's website said.
Beerschot see the striker's experience as a key element in their UEFA Cup bid following their surprise Belgian Cup win last term.
Ilie, capped 55 times by his country, has been without a club since leaving Switzerland's FC Zurich where he scored seven goals in 23 matches last season.
Beerschot are still to register a point in the Belgian league this season having lost their first two matches.
Meanwhile, Ghent are considering a move for former Irish international Dominic Foley.
The 29-year-old striker is at the centre of a row over money with his current club Bohemians in Ireland and is refusing to turn out for the Dublin side.
Foley, capped six times by the Republic of Ireland, impressed Ghent boss Georges Leekens during last month's Intertoto Cup tie between the two teams.
"We are monitoring the situation, but are still very much interested," a club official said on Tuesday.
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Rapid Bucharest reinstate coach Lucescu
BUCHAREST, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Rapid Bucharest coach Razvan Lucescu has been reinstated as coach.
Lucescu was sacked just two games into the Romanian league season on Monday but was given a reprieve after support from players and supporters.
Rapid conceded a last-minute equaliser in a 1-1 home draw against Arges Pitesti on Sunday, prompting team owner George Copos to dismiss him and the club's executive president to resign in protest.
"Copos decided to reinstall Lucescu on the bench after the whole team asked the boss not to fire their coach," club spokesman Cristian Costache told Reuters.
Lucescu had received the full support of the club's executive president Gheorghe Dinu, who announced his resignation after saying the coach was good enough to build a strong side.
"Large groups of Rapid fans also supported Lucescu... they said they would strongly protest against any new coach replacing him," Costache said.
A group of around 100 supporters gathered at one of Rapid Bucharest headquarters to protest Lucescu's dismissal. They shouted slogans against Copos, urging the Romanian government's vice-prime minister to leave the club.
Former Rapid coach Mircea Rednic had been lined up to return to the club for the third time.
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Flamengo sack third coach this year
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Celso Roth has been fired by Flamengo, making him the third coach this year to be dismissed by Brazil's most popular club.
Flamengo football vice-president Gerson Biscotto confirmed the decision in a television interview on Tuesday morning after it had been announced by the media the previous evening.
"We intended to tell him later on Tuesday but the information leaked out," said Biscotto. "We didn't want him to find out through the media, unfortunately that's what happened."
Roth was visiting his family in Porto Alegre when he learned of his fate.
The decision came after Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Goias sent Flamengo back into the relegation zone of the Brazilian championship.
Flamengo are 19th in the 22-team table with 20 points from 20 games. The bottom four go down.
Flamengo, the club where Zico spent most of his career, were once regarded as Brazil's top club but recently have been routinely involved in the fight against relegation.
Julio Cesar Leal started the season in the hot seat but was fired after three games. He was replaced by Cuca, who was dismissed shortly before the start of the Brazilian championship in late April for publicly demanding new players.
The Brazilian championship, which has yet to reach the halfway mark, has already claimed 19 coaching victims.
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Hodgson frontrunner to coach Finnish national team
(repeats with correct slug)
HELSINKI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Former Blackburn Rovers and Inter Milan coach Roy Hodgson is the frontrunner to be the next coach of Finland's national soccer team, the head of the Finnish football association said in comments published on Tuesday.
"Talks with him have gone so well that choosing him is a likely solution," association president Pekka Hamalainen told Helsingin Sanomat daily.
Hodgson, 58, is currently in charge at Norway's Viking Stavanger and would take over from 59-year-old Finn Jyrki Heliskoski, who was appointed caretaker coach for the rest of Finland's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.
"We have agreed with Viking on his transfer to Finland. So we have agreed on compensation. But talks with Hodgson have not been finalised," Hamalainen told Finnish news agency STT.
The association president was not immediately reachable for comment.
Viking had hoped to hang on to Hodgson until 2008, but had now given Finland permission to start talks with him, club Chairman Ole Rugland said in statement on Viking's Web site.
Hodgson achieved near-hero status in Switzerland after taking the national team to the World Cup finals in 1994.
"I have missed being a trainer of a national team," he said in a statement. "That has tempted me for a long time since the period with Switzerland."
Antti Muurinen, who had been in charge of the Finnish national team since 2000, was sacked in June after his team's hopes of reaching the World Cup finals were virtually ended in a 4-0 home defeat by the Netherlands.
Finland play their next qualifier against Macedonia on Wednesday. They are fourth in Group One, 13 points behind the Netherlands and 12 adrift of the Czech Republic.
(Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo)
Spurs striker Kanoute joins Sevilla
(Adds quotes from Sevilla sporting director)
MADRID, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Sevilla have signed Mali striker Frederic Kanoute on a four-year contract from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of 6.5 million euros ($8 million), the Primera Liga club said on Wednesday.
Spurs said on their website the 27-year-old had agreed personal terms with Sevilla and would sign for the Spaniards subject to a successful medical.
Sevilla said they would present the player to the media at their Sanchez Pizjuan stadium at 0800 GMT on Thursday.
Kanoute, who joined Spurs in August 2003 from West Ham United, will compete with Argentine striker Javier Saviola and Brazilian forward Luis Fabiano for a place in the Sevilla attack.