Middlesbrough again fail to land South Africa's McCarthy

* Middlesbrough have abandoned their latest attempt to sign the South African striker Benni McCarthy. The Teessiders have pulled out of a £6m deal which would have seen McCarthy's move from Spanish side Celta Vigo go through 10 months after they first attempted to sign him on loan. That deal was scuppered when McCarthy was refused a work permit, and the latest breakdown comes after claims from the player's agent that the transfer had all but gone through. There was no indication from Middlesbrough as to why they have had second thoughts. Meanwhile, McCarthy laughed off rumours that his team were using voodoo to bring them good luck in their World Cup campaign. "Don't worry, South Africa doesn't want anything to do with that voodoo stuff," he said, laughing at being asked by a Spanish journalist if it was true that their trainer rubbed animal blood and feathers on the players' legs. "We're for fair play," he said. "We do the same with our legs as any European team. We don't do no voodoo stuff."

* In a surprise move, Brazil's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has put striker Edilson in the starting line-up for Thursday's match against Costa Rica. Scolari had planned to rest midfielder Ronaldinho, and Ricardinho had trained in his place among the starters. Yet to counter the Costa Ricans' offside trap, it is thought the pacy Edilson will join Ronaldo in attack, while Rivaldo will move back to midfield alongside Juninho. Also sitting out the game is likely to be Roberto Carlos, who has complained of muscle pains in his calves.

* The Croatian defensive midfielder Zvonimir Soldo, suffering from a foot injury, has been ruled out of Croatia's key game against Ecuador on Thursday. Coach Mirko Jozic has several options; the Internazionale defender Dario Simic may play at the back with the versatile Stjepan Tomas moving forward into Soldo's position, or Jozic could bring in the youngster Jurica Vranjes as a direct replacement.