strength Argentina side 1-0 Friday in a historic friendly win that crowned the coaching debut of former AC Milan boss Alberto Zaccheroni. Shimizu S-Pulse striker Shinji Okazaki scored the winner in the 19th minute while the Blue Samurai stopped several scoring attempts by Barcelona star Lionel Messi. Messi's 25-meter free kick in stoppage time banged off a Japanese wall and a sold-out crowd of more than 60,000 at the Saitama Stadium roared in joy at the final whistle. It was the first win for the Blue Samurai in seven international matches against Argentina. Hammam against bidding process A senior member of FIFA's executive committee has criticized the decision to vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts at the same time in December. Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam, who is one of the 24 FIFA voters, believes it was a commercial decision to guarantee the revenue coming into the organization for a significant period. “To decide something for 2022 is quite a long time (away). You don't know what will happen in these 12 years,” Bin Hammam told the Leaders in Football conference in London Thursday. “Secondly I was of the opinion that 2022 should be decided in 2016 ... at that time there could be a different executive committee in place and we have taken away the right of some people who should be in the decision making seats then.” ‘FIFA owes SA money' South Africa's World Cup host cities say FIFA still owes them money, with one city manager threatening Friday to “go to the next step” if the world football governing body does not pay up. Michael Sutcliffe, city manager for east coast host city Durban, said Friday that FIFA still owes the city a promised 10 percent share of ticket revenues and reimbursement for work the World Cup organizer requested. EPL approves Reds takeover The English Premier League confirmed Friday it has approved the bitterly contested takeover of Liverpool by US-based New England Sports Ventures. A statement from the EPL said it had given the go-ahead to the deal, meaning only a pending legal challenge to the takeover by owners stands in the way of the sale.
