Johannesburg  - Football fans applied for over 1.6 million tickets for the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa in the first phase of ticket sales that ended Tuesday night, world football body FIFA announced Wednesday.

The biggest chunk of the 1,635,136 applications - 30 per cent - came from the host nation, followed by the US, the UK, Germany, Italy and Australia, FIFA said in a statement. Some 740,000 tickets were up for grabs.

Cardiff, Wales - Marcell Jansen was sidelined with a flu for Germany's World Cup qualifier with Wales set for later Wednesday, with SV Hamburg team-mate Piotr Trochowski expected to take his place in midfield.

Jansen returned to Germany after team doctors determined that he was unable to play. Jansen played and scored in Germany's 4-0 against Liechtenstein on Saturday, a match that Trochowski missed due to injury.

Rome - Veteran striker Christian Vieri has left Italian club Atalanta, putting an early end to a season marred by injuries and a bad relationship with fans.

The La Gazzetta dello Sport daily reported on Wednesday that Vieri gathered all his belongings before the start of Tuesday's training session at the Serie A side.

His farewell apparently stems from the jeers he received from home fans during a weekend friendly against Swiss side Bellinzona.

The 35-year-old former international last summer rejoined the Bergamo side after previous one-year contracts there in 1995 and 2006.

Hamburg - Australia moved top of Asian World Cup qualifying Group 1 courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan in Sydney Wednesday to all but book their place at the 2010 finals in South Africa.

Substitute Joshua Kennedy put the home side in front on 66 minutes and a Harry Kewell penalty seven minutes later made the game safe after Richard Garcia was fouled in the area by Ansur Ismailov.

Stuttgart - VfB Stuttgart midfielder Yildiray Basturk suffered the latest setback in an injury-ridden career in the form of a ruptured ankle ligament, his German Bundesliga club announced on Wednesday.

Stuttgart said on their website that the former Turkey international Basturk will be sidelined for up to four weeks after sustaining the injury during training on Tuesday.

London - Scotland captain Barry Ferguson and goalkeeper Allan McGregor have both been dropped for Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Iceland Wednesday for disciplinary reasons.

"Due to a breach of team discipline, they will not play," a Scottish Football Association spokesman told the BBC.

"However, they could still join the squad at Hampden for the match."