Football: Foe's World Cup dream ends with broken leg

THE Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe, a target for Manchester United, is out of the World Cup after breaking his left leg in training in Norcia, Italy.

United's manager, Alex Ferguson, had offered pounds 5m to Foe's French club, Lens, in the hope that the highly rated defensive midfielder would team up with his new signing from PSV Eindhoven, Jaap Stam.

Foe, 23, was injured on Saturday at Cameroon's training camp. Squad officials said he broke his fibula following a routine tackle with a team-mate, David Embe. Foe flew to Paris to undergo medical treatment.

Enrico Chiesa, the possible replacement for the ailing Alessandro del Piero, joined Italy's World Cup squad yesterday saying he was "mentally ready either to play or to return home."

"I wish Del Piero to recover quickly. I don't like the idea to take advantage of misfortunes of a team-mate," Chiesa said.

The 27-year-old Parma striker was put on alert and invited to the training camp at Coverciano as Del Piero is nursing a right thigh strain and is in doubt for France 98.

Del Piero, who collected his injury playing for Juventus in last week's European Cup final, was given six days of complete rest by national team doctors and will rejoin the team on Wednesday.

The Czech Republic, who did not qualify for the World Cup finals, captured the Kirin Cup in Yokohama, Japan, yesterday against two teams that did.

The Czechs drew 0-0 with Japan as the fanatical home fans gave their World-Cup-bound side a rousing send-off. The Euro 96 runners-up also beat Paraguay 1-0 in the three-nation tournament, while Japan drew 1-1 with Paraguay.

The event was a disappointment for Paraguay as they failed to show any sort of form, while the Japanese coach, Takeshi Okada, said the tournament helped his side prepare for European and Latin American teams. "This was a good learning experience for us," he said.

The new Iran coach, Jalal Talebi, watched his team bounce back from a 7-1 midweek thrashing by Roma - which cost his predecessor, Tomislav Ivic, his job - to beat a below-strength Internazionale side 4-1 in a World Cup warm-up match in Como, Italy, on Saturday.