Hamburg - Germany coach Joachim Loew has admitted to dissenting voices in the national team squad but still feels the Euro 2008 finalists can look back "positively overall" on the year.
Apart from the run to the final in the summer, where they lost 1-0 to Spain, Loew also pointed to his side's confident start to the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, where Germany top Group 4 with 10 points from four games.
London - Newcastle United climbed out of the relegation zone on Sunday, as goals from Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Danny Guthrie gave them a 3-0 win over Portsmouth.
The victory, Newcastle's first away from home since March, brings to an end a run of four successive draws and means they have now won three of 11 league games since Joe Kinnear replaced Kevin Keegan as manager.
It was Portsmouth's first defeat in six games, but they remain eighth.
Portsmouth will probably feel they had the better of the first half, and they had a good shout for a penalty turned down when Jermain Defoe was blocked by Fabricio Coloccini.
London, Dec. 14 : Manchester United star Wayne Rooney says that he wants to play football all the time, and wants his club to be the best in the world.
The England striker has World Cup glory in his sights in South Africa in two years, but his immediate target is this week's FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, which Rooney sees as a potential delight rather than a distraction in United's demanding season.
Hamburg - Sami Khedira's late equalizer on Saturday highlighted the fact that Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich were not always glorious in the first half of the season.
Munich had be content with a 2-2 draw at VfB Stuttgart, a result that gave them the league lead for the first time but also allowed surprise team TSG Hoffenheim to hibernate atop the standings with a draw against Schalke 04 later Sunday.
Munich were the centre of a massive hype when former Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann took over as new helmsman in summer, changing training methods and the daily life of his players whom he liked to gather in a new training centre featuring Buddha statues.
Madrid - Barcelona scored an important 2-0 home win Saturday over historic rivals Real Madrid, with late goals from star strikers Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi.
The win leaves Barca way out atop La Liga, eight points above second-place Valencia, who came from behind earlier Saturday to beat Espanyol 2-1.
Villarreal, who play Sunday at fourth-placed Sevilla, are nine points behind Barca.
Real, who have lost four of their last six games, are now fifth, no less than 12 points behind Barca - and practically out of the title race.
"We are now a considerable distance from them," said Real captain Raul. "But we shouldn't throw in the towel. We must keep on fighting."
Madrid - A 2-1 defeat of 10-man Espanyol on Saturday keeps Valencia in second place in the Spanish Liga - and leaves Espanyol third from bottom.
Valencia needed a goal eight minutes from time from supersub Vicente to break the resistance of an Espanyol side that had played with one man less for most of the game, due to the sending-off of veteran Francisco Rufete.
The late win leaves Unai Emery's team with 30 points from 15 games, five points less than leaders Barcelona, who are at home later Saturday to historic rivals Real Madrid.
Valencia are now one point ahead of third-placed Villarreal, who are at fourth-placed Sevilla on Sunday.
Hamburg - Germany coach Joachim Loew has admitted to dissenting voices in the national team squad but still feels the Euro 2008 finalists can look back "positively overall" on the year.
