Bolton after Kelly

World Cup in brief

* The Bolton manager Sam Allardyce is in the queue to sign the Republic of Ireland World Cup player Gary Kelly after the finals. Allardyce is keen on Kelly and will push his interest if the price comes down within his spending range. Kelly is quoted at £4m by Leeds, a valuation that has put off others who like the long-serving defender. The Bolton manager is also interested in Kelly's team-mate in the Leeds defence, Michael Duberry.

* Diego Maradona has sent an open letter to the Argentina team, professing his faith in their ability to recover from defeat to England. Part of the letter reads: "Dear boys: Why would I deny it? The defeat against England hit me as much as any of you. I was sad and cried. I tell you that I cried a lot, as surely you did it too. But it's over. Crying is useful for nothing. It's the time for giving the heart and move on."

* Miroslav Klose will be fit to play for Germany in tomorrow's Group E decider against Cameroon. The tournament's leading scorer with four goals has recovered from the knee injury he picked up in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Ireland.

* The Cameroon coach Winfried Schäfer has won a small battle against Germany after accusing Fifa of "failing to respect African teams". Germany had asked Fifa if they could train until 7.30pm local time on Monday at the Shizuoka stadium, where the match is being played, but Schäfer refused to delay his team's session scheduled for 7.0pm, saying Cameroon were the "home" side and had the right to choose their training time.

* The Germany players, Marco Bode and Thomas Linke, said yesterday that they will retire from the international game after the World Cup.

* Russia's teenage striker Dimitri Sychev, who at 18 years and 222 days became the youngest Russian to play in the finals after playing for 35 minutes as substitute in the 2-0 win over Tunisia, is to get a new Porsche 911. Sychev was voted the man of the match in a poll of the country's fans and an oil company has pledged a new Porsche to the best Russian player every time they win a game at the tournament.