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General Sports News

Shock defeat hurts England

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 06/06/2009

Captain Paul Collingwood admitted he has been left hurt by England's shock opening ICC World Twenty20 defeat to Netherlands.

England - whose online betting odds were slashed on the back on strong warm-up results - lost by four wickets at Lord's after Netherlands, who were chasing 162-5, scored the two runs necessary for victory off the final ball of their innings.

Collingwood's side must now defeat Pakistan on Sunday to stand any chance of staying in the tournament.

"It hurts, I expect it to hurt, we have been beaten fair and square by a team better than us on the night," said Collingwood.

"We believe we can beat Pakistan and we are going to have to show that.

"We have got a major thing bouncing back on Sunday - and we have got to do that, we are still in the competition."

In rugby union, head coach Ian McGeechan insists selection for the British & Irish Lions Test side remains completely up for grabs.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's third warm-up game against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, McGeechan claims there is plenty to play for before the two Tests against South Africa begin on June 20.

Football head coach Fabio Capello believes England are now much better equipped to take on the world's best sides as they prepare to face Kazakhstan on Saturday.

England are looking to make it six wins out of six World Cup qualifiers in Almaty and Capello believes the style of football they play is now much more effective than what he first encountered when he took the job in February 2007.

Victory over Kazakhstan and then Andorra at Wembley next week would leave England on the cusp of qualification for South Africa 2010.

Elsewhere, West Bromwich Albion have denied receiving an approach from Celtic for manager Tony Mowbray.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez claims he will not jeopardise his relationship with Manchester United to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.

Perez, who returned to office at the Spanish club for a second time last month, has suggested he would like to sign the Portugal winger.

However, he is determined not to earn the wrath of United following his club's public pursuit of Ronaldo under then president Ramon Calderon 12 months ago.

Perez has suggested his relationship with the Old Trafford club is more important that signing any player - including Ronaldo.

The Real president has already made the acquisition of AC Milan's Brazil star Kaka his main priority this summer.

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