A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Bowyer loses appeal
Newcastle midfielder Lee Bowyer has lost his appeal against his sending-off at Liverpool on St Stephen's Day and will now serve a three-match ban
The 28-year-old received a straight red card from referee Mark Halsey for serious foul play for a challenge on Xabi Alonso, and although he launched an appeal which would have made him available for Wednesday's postponed Premiership clash with former club Charlton, his case was rejected yesterday.
"Lee Bowyer's claim for wrongful dismissal was rejected at a disciplinary commission hearing on Thursday," said an FA statement.
"He will therefore serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect."
Bowyer will miss the trip to Tottenham tomorrow, Middlesbrough two days later and the FA Cup third-round tie against Mansfield.
LuaLua charged
Portsmouth striker Lomana LuaLua has been charged with improper conduct for comments he made about referee Uriah Rennie after their defeat by Tottenham on December 12th.
The Congo international laid into Rennie after the official awarded a controversial penalty with five minutes to go at White Hart Lane with the score at 1-1 in Harry Redknapp's first match back as manager.
Mido scored from the spot after Rennie adjudged Gary O'Neil, who was standing in the defensive wall for Andy Reid's free-kick, had deliberately handled the ball. Jermain Defoe then scored a late third.
"It does not help when the referee is playing for the other team," said LuaLua afterwards.
"It should never have been a penalty and if it was not for that decision I think we would have got something from the game."
Essien deal
Chelsea are close to reaching a compromise with Ghana over the availability of midfielder Michael Essien next month.
The Premiership leaders are set to be without Essien and Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba for an unspecified time as the pair represent their countries in the African Nations Cup.
Blues boss Jose Mourinho has spoken to Essien's national team boss Ratomir Dujkovic and Ghana's sports minister Osei Bonsu Amoah and the latter has recommended that the Ghanaian football association should accept a deal whereby Essien would play in his country's first two group games.
"It is a decision that has to be taken by the coaching staff and it may not be as easy as it seems," said Amoah.
"But I will suggest that the Ghana FA take the decision since it would be appropriate."
Under the deal Essien would miss Chelsea's FA Cup third-round tie against Huddersfield and the Premiership games against Sunderland and Charlton.
He would be available for the Black Stars' games against Nigeria and Senegal and would miss the final group clash with Zimbabwe. It is unclear whether he would return should Ghana reach the knockout stages of the event in Egypt.
The Premiership champions had requested that Essien commute to and from host country Egypt in a private jet so he would not miss any Premiership games for the club.
But that suggestion was quickly rejected by Ghana who were concerned about the effects such a gruelling schedule would have on Essien's fitness.
Reyna sidelined
Manchester City midfielder Claudio Reyna will be sidelined for up to eight weeks after fracturing his right ankle.
The 32-year-old, who helped the United States to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, missed Wednesday's 1-0 home defeat by Chelsea after a scan revealed a small fracture.
"It's been really sore and didn't feel right, I couldn't train through the week and I was just trying to get through the games," Reyna said yesterday.
He will have surgery in the Netherlands today.
Jeffers sent back
Francis Jeffers will return to Charlton after failing to win a permanent move to Rangers.
The striker, 24, was a deadline day loan signing for the Scottish champions in August but proved to be a flop during his time at Ibrox.
He failed to score a single goal in 14 appearances and will become the next player to head for the Rangers exit door, after fellow forward Federico Nieto left the club yesterday.
Jeffers's agent Struan Marshall said yesterday: "Franny will be returning to Charlton on January 1st. We have spoken to Rangers and they have decided not to follow up their interest in Franny.
"They feel he just hasn't done it for them. Franny is disappointed because he didn't have the best of luck with injuries in Scotland but we just have to accept Rangers decision and look to try to make an impact at Charlton."
Germans optimistic
Germans are becoming steadily more optimistic about their national side's chances at the World Cup with 39 per cent now believing Germany can take the title, according to a survey released yesterday.
But 58 per cent of Germans still think coach Juergen Klinsmann's team will not win the trophy, Bildwoche TV listings magazine found in the poll conducted by Emnid on December 16th and 17th.
However, optimism is far greater than in previous polls. Only 18 per cent of Germans thought the national side would be crowned world champions according to a poll conducted immediately after the World Cup draw on December 9th.
Germany will host the month-long tournament from June 9th and are in a manageable opening group with Poland, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
According to online betting operator BetandWin, Brazil are favourites to retain the title they won by beating Germany in the 2002 final, followed by England, Germany and Argentina. Trinidad and Tobago are rank outsiders at 1,000-1.
