Mexico City  - The Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson was sacked Thursda

London  - Alan Shearer was unveiled as Newcastle United manager until the end of the season on Thursday, saying England striker Michael Owen can help the team to avoid relegation from the English Premier League.

Shearer reiterated that he would be at the club for eight games only and admitted that he was taking on a tough job.

Newcastle are third from bottom in the league and play third- placed Chelsea on Saturday in Shearer's first game.

Buenos Aires  - Diego Maradona is an expert in extremes, and he got another dose of them as Argentina coach in recent days, with glory in Saturday's thrashing over Venezuela and disaster in Wednesday's historic and humiliating 6-1 loss to Bolivia.

The current situation raised uncomfortable questions as to national football legend Maradona's ability to lead Argentina in the South American qualifiers towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Madrid  - Veteran striker Frederic Kanoute told the Spanish media on Thursday afternoon how "delighted" he was to have extended his contract with Sevilla until 2012.

"Both parties wanted to reach an agreement as soon as possible," he said, "and that is why everything has been agreed so quickly. I am delighted to stay here. This demonstrates my commitment to Sevilla."

The new deal, agreed earlier on Thursday, means that Kanoute will be a Sevilla player until the age of 34, although he insisted that "I am not sure about retiring at that age."

Berlin - Bundesliga leaders Hertha Berlin hope Andrey Voronin will be in the team to face Borussia Dortmund on Saturday despite the striker being diagnosed with a broken nose.

Hertha general manager Dieter Hoeness said Thursday Voronin broke his nose in Ukraine's 2-1 defeat to England in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday evening.

Voronin, who is on loan from Liverpool, suffered the injury when he was accidently struck by England captain John Terry's arm.

Wolfsburg, Germany - Bu