FIFA Updates

* Hughes on two-year contract

* Has tough act to follow

(adds quotes, details)

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) – Fulham have appointed Mark
Hughes as manager on a two-year contract, the west London
Premier League club said on Thursday.

Last season’s Europa League finalists have turned to former
Wales and Manchester City boss Hughes to replace Roy Hodgson who
left to join Liverpool at the start of July.

“I am happy to have joined Fulham following much speculation
regarding the appointment of a new manager,” Hughes told the
Fulham website (www.fulhamfc.com).

Hughes has a tough act to follow at Fulham where Hodgson
made the most of the club’s resources and took them to their
first European final which they lost to Atletico Madrid.

“I’m joining on the back of two of the most successful
seasons in the club’s history and that in itself brings with it
the challenges of expectation and ambition,” added Hughes.

“I’m confident that with some additions to the squad, hard
work and commitment, we can move this club forward in the right
direction,” added the former Manchester United striker.

Chairman Mohamed Al Fayed was convinced Hughes could build
on the club’s success after Hodgson took them on an unexpectedly
rewarding European adventure in which they beat Juventus.

“I am confident that with his Premier League and national
team successes, Mark will be a great guy for the job,” he said.
“I know that he understands my vision for the club, and believes
in what we want achieve.”

Hughes will take charge of the team for the first time in
the friendly with Werder Bremen on Aug. 7 after being officially
unveiled at a news conference next Tuesday.

(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Dave Thompson; To query
or comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

JOHANNESBURG (AP)—The World Cup could surpass the 3 million mark in paid
attendance, the chief executive of the local organizing committee said Thursday.

Danny Jordaan said the paid attendance is already at 2.69 million people
with eight games still to be played.

“The signs are there,” Jordaan said of surpassing the 3 million mark.
“The South African fans have been superb. The spirit inside the country has
been one of the outstanding features of this World Cup.”

Official FIFA figures show a total of just under 3.4 million fans attended
games at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but FIFA could not say how many of those
were paying fans and how many tickets were complimentary.

At the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, 2.7 million attended
matches. There were nearly 2.8 million at the 1998 event in France and more than
3.5 million at the 1994 edition in the United States—which FIFA says is the
highest World Cup attendance.

But FIFA also said Thursday it still has 1,000 unsold premier seats for the
Argentina-Germany quarterfinal match in Cape Town on Saturday—a game featuring
two of the world’s biggest teams.

There are also 700 premier and 200 Category 1 tickets remaining for Friday’s
match between Uruguay and Ghana at Soccer City. Hugely disappointing
international hospitality sales has also meant more than half of suites have
been left empty at many matches.

Organizers have also struggled to ensure all ticket buyers actually attend
games and fill their seats at the stadium.

Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium had at least 4,000 empty seats
for each of its first six games at the World Cup—including 12,000 for the
round of 16 match between Uruguay and South Korea.

Bloemfontein’s Free State Stadium had similar problems and only boasted a
capacity crowd for two of its six games. It had rows of empty seats at the other
four.

Organizers had to give away tickets to Confederations Cup matches in South
Africa last year and promised then that there would be no empty seats at World
Cup. But they have yet to solve the problem, despite bulk sales to offload
tickets to South African companies and various government departments.

Jordaan also said that South Africa had attracted 364,000 tourists for the
first two weeks of the World Cup.

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said that nearly 1 million
foreigners—mostly from neighboring countries—have entered South Africa in
June.

Nearly 45,000 Americans, and about the same number of Britons, lead the way
from western countries during that time, Gigaba said. About 220 people were
denied entry, he said.

In 2004, organizers said they expected between 450,000 and 500,000 visitors
for the tournament before the global economic crisis led them to revise that
figure to less than 300,000.

“We are delighted to have attracted so many soccer tourists for the first
two weeks of the World Cup,” Jordaan said, although it is still unclear if
South Africa will reach its initial estimates, which would provide the country
with part of the much-needed economic boost that tournament organizers have
banked on.

Still, Jordaan gave an upbeat assessment of Africa’s first World Cup, and
said it would be “the cherry on the top for Africa” if Ghana beats Uruguay in
Johannesburg on Friday to become the first African team to reach the World Cup
semifinals.

Jordaan said South Africa’s World Cup had been an “extraordinary success”
and had proved the country’s doubters—and particularly the foreign media—
wrong.

“Now, to their credit, those people have said sorry and complimented the
way we have run the tournament and the huge success of the first World Cup in
Africa,” Jordaan said. “There is a positive energy in our country we need to
harness and maintain after the World Cup ends.

“For a while we will be depressed (after it ends),” he added, “but we can
hold our heads high knowing we have surpassed all expectations.”

Associated Press reporter Lesego Motshegwa in Pretoria, South Africa,
contributed to this report.

MADRID (AP)—At an age when many strikers begin to lose their pace, Diego
Milito is just getting started. In his first season at the very top level of
football, the 30-year-old has scored the biggest goals for Inter Milan all
season.

His two biggest strikes came Saturday to lead Inter past Bayern Munich 2-0
for the Italian club’s first European Cup title in 45 years.

Milito may have been a little nervous at the start and slipped the first
time he received the ball in Bayern’s area but he made no mistake with his next
chance in the 35th minute.

Following a long kick through midfield from Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar,
Milito headed the ball to teammate Wesley Sneijder, who in turn gave it back to
Milito with a defender trailing and Milito’s shot was beyond the range of
goalkeeper Joerg Butt.

Then in the 70th, Milito took a pass from Samuel Eto’o, dribbled around
Daniel Van Buyten as if the Belgian were an amateur and landed another accurate
shot in the net just below the end where Inter’s fans were sitting at the
Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

They were Milito’s 29th and 30th goals in 52 games for Inter this season:
six in the Champions League, 22 in Serie A and two in the Italian Cup. Perhaps
more important than the numbers is when Milito scores.

He scored once and set up two other goals in Inter’s 3-1 win over Barcelona
in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals; the only goal in Inter’s
1-0 win over AS Roma in the Italian Cup final—when he carried the ball past
three defenders; then less than a week ago he scored in Inter’s 1-0 win over
Siena to seal the Serie A title on the final day of the season.

Milito notched his first career Champions League goal in the group phase at
Dynamo Kiev, equalizing in the 86th minute and spurring Inter on to a 2-1 away
win. He also opened the scoring in the first knockout round against Chelsea and
his was the only goal in a 1-0 win over CSKA Moscow in the opening leg of the
quarterfinals.

Even Inter president Massimo Moratti couldn’t have imagined he would get so
much in return when he paid ?18 million ($22.5 million) to Genoa in the
offseason for Milito’s services—with a few other players thrown in for good
measure.

As evidenced with his performance against Barcelona, Milito is just as adept
at setting up goals as scoring himself. Twice Saturday, he put the ball in
perfect position for teammates, but Sneijder shot right at the goalkeeper from
point-blank range in the 43rd and Goran Pandev put a shot over the bar in the
47th.

Milito exited to a standing ovation when he was replaced by Marco Materazzi
in the 90th and was named the Man of the Match.

It’s also been a special season for Milito off the field, with his wife
Sofia giving birth to a girl, Agustina, in March—the couple’s second child—
and the year could even get better with Milito named to Argentina’s World Cup
squad.

His performances at Inter could even convince Argentina coach Diego Maradona
to make him a starter at the tournament in South Africa.

Nicknamed “il principe”—the prince—Milito has left a scoring trail
wherever he’s gone.

He began his professional career at home in Argentina, scoring 34 goals over
four seasons with Racing Avellaneda, the moved to Italy and scored 33 over a
season and a half with Genoa in Serie B before transferring to Real Zaragoza in
Spain and notching 53 over three seasons in the Spanish league.

On one night with Zaragoza—where Milito teamed with his younger brother
Gabriel, a defender—he scored four against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.

Milito rejoined Genoa for last season and produced his biggest single-season
output with 24 goals—one below Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Serie A-best 25. Milito,
of course, was brought in by Inter to replace Ibrahimovic, a player many
considered irreplaceable.

Ibrahimovic is just a memory now, though, and Milito has made himself a big
part of Inter’s history.