Premier League: Arsenal's Theo Walcott begins recuperation after shoulder surgery (Guardian Unlimited - today, 13:14)

Murray warns Reid over comments (BBC - today, 13:14)

Keane denies improper conduct charge (Soccerway - today, 13:14)

England vs Germany: Scott Carson and David James can't spoil Fabio Capello's night (telegraph.co.uk - today, 12:43)

England's Fabio Capello welcomes selection headache after win over Germany in Berlin (telegraph.co.uk - today, 12:43)

Hughes starts search for Hart replacement (Soccerway - today, 12:43)

England recall for Michael Owen not far away says Newcastle interim manager Joe Kinnear (telegraph.co.uk - today, 12:14)

Martin Skrtel targets Liverpool return by Christmas (telegraph.co.uk - today, 11:43)

Brazil end drought in style and Fernando Torres and Robin Van Persie hit friendly fire (telegraph.co.uk - today, 11:14)

Stephen Ireland: Mark Hughes is the best manager I've worked under at Man City (telegraph.co.uk - today, 11:14)

Germany coach Joachim Loew faces further scrutiny after being outplayed by England (telegraph.co.uk - today, 11:14)

Classic YouTube: Maradona's revenge, sandal surfing and how not to enter a boxing ring (Guardian Unlimited - today, 11:14)

Gradi not long-term answer - Cox (BBC - today, 11:14)

Mourinho and Ranieri finally clash on the field (The Independent - today, 11:14)

Wenger confirms Walcott to be out for three months (Soccerway - today, 11:14)

Chelsea expect Ballack to stay (Soccerway - today, 11:14)

Ghana pursue Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck for international honours (telegraph.co.uk - today, 10:43)

Arsenal target MLS for new chief executive (telegraph.co.uk - today, 10:43)

Freestyle footballers show off their balljuggling tricks in world championships (telegraph.co.uk - today, 10:43)

Swindon draw up manager shortlist (BBC - today, 10:43)

Trapattoni's unbeaten run with Ireland is ended by the Poles (The Independent - today, 10:43)

Nigeria fall to Colombia in friendly (Soccerway - today, 10:43)

VfL Wolfsburg make offer for Japanese striker Okubo (Soccerway - today, 10:43)

Scott Carson's blunder against Germany joins list of England goalkeeping howlers (telegraph.co.uk - today, 10:16)

England captain John Terry takes blame for Germany goal to the relief of Scott Carson (telegraph.co.uk - today, 10:16)

So now we know. Ashley Cole wasn't thinking of his own selfish needs when he swerved violently across the North Circular in January 2005, raging at Arsenal's decision to offer him just £55,000 a week when he had specifically told them no less than £60,000 would do the job. No, our Ashley was thinking of the big picture – or more specifically the big-screen picture he is now set to part-fund with Rio Ferdinand.

Dead Man Running, a "British gangland thriller" which is set to feature both 50 Cent and pwopa nawty East Lahn geeza Danny Dyer, tells the heart-warming tale of an ex-con trying to go straight (aren't they all?), but who first needs to pay off a £150,000 loan. The Mill can only hope that this represents a first step towards the production of epic biopics for both Cole and Ferdinand.

The film of Freddy Shepherd's life, of course, would take the form of a series of silent black & white shorts, in which our hero stumbles from one footballing calamity to another - with hilarious consequences. The most recent sees Freddy getting bonked on the head and waking up in Mallorca, where he promptly tries to buy the local football team. Problem is, the asking price is £25m and he's only got £13m to spend. What japes!

Arsène Wenger's story, on the other hand, would inevitably take the form of a foreign-language art-house piece with subtitles. Budgetary constraints mean that leading midfield roles would have to be filled by lesser-known youngsters - like Standard Liege starlet Steven Defour – or veterans on the downside of their careers – like Bayern Munich defender Daniel van Buyten. Martin O'Neill would play the role of the villain, trying to steal both players and fourth place from under Arsenal's noses.

Elsewhere, in news that the Mill has neither the time nor the creativity to crowbar into this tired riff, Yossi Benayoun is plotting to leave Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham are sniffing around Lassana Diarra, and Samuel Eto'o wants to play for Marseille. Probably.

Bafana winning streak continues (BBC - today, 10:16)

Gulls squad shocked at Todd news (BBC - today, 10:16)

Le Tissier voices Saints concern (BBC - today, 09:43)

Cardiff linked to Routledge loan (BBC - today, 09:43)

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni's run ended by Poland (telegraph.co.uk - today, 09:14)

Football - Jonathan Wilson: Serbia's patron saint of lost causes is now their exalted saviour (Guardian Unlimited - today, 09:14)

England manager Fabio Capello faces selection problems after Germany victory (telegraph.co.uk - today, 09:14)

Dimitar Berbatov injury worry for Manchester United as striker ponders quitting Bulgaria (telegraph.co.uk - today, 09:14)

Warnock hands Demontagnac trial (BBC - today, 09:14)

England captain John Terry heads winner against Germany in friendly in Berlin (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:43)

Arsenal's Theo Walcott faces shoulder surgery after injury on England duty (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Fabio Capello puts pride back into England (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Jose Mourinho's Chelsea Premier League winner's medal sold at auction for £21600 (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Respect campaign undermined by managers' silence over own players' indiscretions (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Diego Maradona's thoughts with his unwell pregnant daughter as Argentina beat Scotland (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Scotland captain Barry Ferguson left chasing shadows against Argentina (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Gabriel Agbonlahor quick to make his impression in England's defeat of Germany (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Impossible to be better than this says England's Fabio Capello (telegraph.co.uk - today, 08:14)

Honduras, Mexico through, Jamaica ousted in FIFA World Cup qualifying (Soccerway - today, 08:14)

Should Liverpool and Everton groundshare? (telegraph.co.uk - today, 07:43)

Argentina deserved win - Maradona (BBC - today, 06:43)

Internacional advance to Copa Sudamericana final (Soccerway - today, 03:43)

Strong Brazil beat Portugal 6-2 (Soccerway - today, 03:14)

Fabio Capello admitted last night that it would have been "impossible" for his first year in charge of England to have gone any better. England will not play again until a friendly against Spain in February, leaving Capello to reflect upon 10 games played in 2008 and only one defeat, to France in Paris. The Italian has a perfect record in competitive qualifiers, including victory in Croatia, and now the scalp of Germany.

The set-up is unrecognisable from that which subsided so meekly in the last few days of Steve McClaren's reign almost exactly 12 months ago.

Asked whether he could have hoped for a better first year in charge, Capello said: "No. I think it would have been impossible to be better than this. We've played 10 games and after every game I've seen the players taking another step forward. This evening I saw us take another step forward because a lot of players played very, very well. Like a team.

"When I started my job, I had to recover the confidence. I think all the players in this team understand and have experienced this. You can see that the confidence is coming back, during training and during games. This is very important."

Capello will have been particularly heartened by the performances of his younger and fringe players, thrust into the fray after eight experienced players withdrew through injury. Gabriel Agbonlahor caught the eye on debut, while Michael Carrick - making his first appearance since the home defeat to Germany in August 2007 - impressed in central midfield. Stewart Downing and Glen Johnson, both considered squad players in the recent past, were just as impressive.

"I saw some players who have not played a lot of games under me," added Capello. "Agbonlahor played well but the team's movement with the ball into space and as a defensive unit was very impressive. There was good balance for the team when we went forward and when we had to defend. The performance was very, very important for us.

"We played well, with confidence, and with good technique. I'm happy to have selection problems after these players did so well. I needed to know these players better, and now I do."

Capello delighted as England take confident step forward (Soccerway - today, 02:14)

France striker Savidan a high point, says Henry (Soccerway - today, 02:14)

"Thank you for inventing the beautiful game," said a large and almost unnervingly courteous banner strung out between the two vast tiers of seats and facing the dug-outs in Berlin's showpiece stadium. The visitors, to whom it was so politely addressed, certainly started against the old enemy by playing the more progressive and entertaining football, even if accuracy was sometimes lacking in the early stages from a team containing, as a result of all those high-profile withdrawals, an unusually high number of players with reputations to make.

None of them began the match accompanied by a greater sense of anticipation than Gabriel Agbonlahor, 22 years old, a Premier League debutant only two and a half years ago and an integral part of Martin O'Neill's new Aston Villa for the past couple of seasons. Called into Fabio Capello's first squad last February, but forced to stand down with a last-minute hamstring injury, he was an unused substitute in the summer tour games against the United States and Trindad & Tobago. Now, thanks to Theo Walcott's misfortune, his chance had come.

The circumstances could hardly have been more helpful: a great stadium, almost full for the latest episode of this ancient rivalry, but in competitive terms a fairly relaxed occasion. And, in opposition, a Germany with plenty of problems of their own in terms of injuries and the sort of internal squabbles that plagued them in the early part of the decade, particularly under the ill-starred Erich Ribbeck.

The match was not 80 seconds old when Agbonlahor appeared to have created the perfect opening for Jermain Defoe. Taking a position to the left of his striking partner, he played a neat through pass that put the Portsmouth player in on Rene Adler. The lack of conviction in the finish was only partially obscured by a marginal offside decision against Defoe. Immediate ammunition there for fans of Michael Owen, the most accomplished English player since Jimmy Greaves at the art of timing a run off the last defender's shoulder. And encouragement for those who see in Agbonlahor a combination of pace, awareness and confidence that could turn out to be just the ticket at international level. A minute later the Villa forward was leaping to meet a clearance, his accurate header redirecting the ball to Defoe.

For others, notably the wingers Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stewart Downing, this match represented an opportunity to resurrect international careers that have spluttered but consistently refused to catch fire. Downing, so abject against Albania in September, was a little more enterprising in last night's opening stages, making the most of an early rebound off Arne Friedrich to loop a dangerous ball across the German penalty area and then chipping a fine reverse pass for Agbonlahor to chase, a pursuit that ended when the referee, Massimo Busacca of Switzerland, blew for a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge with the home goalkeeper that would surely have gone unnoticed had it not been committed on a member of a protected species.

Wright-Phillips was yet again suffering from the inaccuracy that has plagued his England performances, as well suggesting that it may the result of a form of stage fright. He was easily dispossessed, his two inswinging left-wing corners travelled no further than the first defender, and his shooting was woeful.

But there was enough before half-time to please Capello, even if it came against a horribly disjointed Germany who at times ground to a halt and went in at half-time to whistles and jeers as bad as anything England have endured in recent years. The goal itself was not a thing of beauty, Adler flapping uselessly at Downing's right-wing corner and the ball rebounding off Agbonlahor before Matthew Upson prodded it home, but at least the England players were in the right positions and reacted before their adversaries.

While not producing the sort of fireworks nowadays expected from Walcott, Agbonlahor, the latest graduate from what is looking like an unusually promising under-21 generation, did nothing that betrayed a sense of unease. His positioning off the main striker - Defoe in the first half, Darren Bent in the second - was sensible and his interventions always constructive.

Capello's reversion to a prosaic 4-4-2 did not particularly help his cause. Germany's back line defended deep whenever danger threatened, and England lacked the kind of passing from midfield to embarrass the white-shirted centre backs. Despite the lack of opportunities to make use of his lacerating speed by running into the spaces behind the defence, Agbonlahor was at least using the opportunity to make himself look like a natural competitor at this level, and better should have come from the cute glancing header across the area with which he met Wayne Bridge's low centre.

The same could not be said for poor Scott Carson, a half-time substitute for David James, who revived memories of his disastrous experience against Croatia last year when he and John Terry combined in a calamitous misunderstanding to set up the chance from which Patrick Helmes, another half-time substitute, gratefully snaffled the equaliser. It could be called undeserved, except that no side that presents the opposition with such a ludicrous goal could justifiably make such a claim.

Capello must have been rendered incandescent by a moment of lunacy that cost the team their hard-earned advantage, but will have been mollified when the captain's header with six minutes to go won the match for England.

It is all very well creating a circus but what of the act? The hype and hysteria surrounding Diego Maradona's arrival in Scotland was stripped away last night and the immense challenge of leading Argentina into another golden era laid bare. It was a tentative first step for a team with designs on a third World Cup in 2010, a giant leap for a manager who has a legion of admirers but is confronting a world full of doubters, too.

Maradona had arrived at Hampden Park as only he could, standing beside a drummer at the front of the Argentina team coach, banging the beat on the windows as he conducted his players in song. It was how he conducted them as a team that mattered, of course, and the clenched-fist salute that greeted the final whistle signalled a personal battle won. Argentina will rest a little easier today knowing there may be substance in their icon's surprise appointment after all.

"I have dedicated myself 100% this week to lifting the morale of the players," said Maradona. "We needed to get out of a bad run. We reached a low point with the defeat against Chile but it wasn't a case of blaming other people but working out why. The national association didn't sit back, they appointed a new coach and I have succeeded in removing the fear of defeat from the players. It has been a long time since we won and expressed ourselves on the pitch like that. Tonight we played for the blue and white and for the people of Argentina."

Before last night Maradona had presided over only three wins in a 23-game managerial career but Hampden has always been an inviting arena for England's nemesis. "Thank you for 1986" proclaimed one banner in the Tartan Army section and, while there was no handshake with Terry Butcher - "Who is Butcher?" he asked, mischievously - victory gave Maradona sufficient ammunition against his detractors - for now. This was never an occasion for the 48-year-old to offer a conclusive answer in the debate over whether great players make great managers.

As always in a legendary career, and sadly in this instance, drama remained a close companion. Argentina's head coach had given serious consideration to walking away from his first game in international management, at the scene of his first international goal in 1979, due to complications with his daughter's pregnancy. Sergio Agüero, Argentina's brilliant young striker and the partner of Giannina, returned home late on Tuesday night and only the instruction of his 18-year-old daughter prevented Maradona accompanying the Atlético Madrid star to the Spanish capital.

"Tonight I was thinking of my daughter Giannina and her baby," he said, prior to making that journey to a Madrid hospital late last night. "The lads have been a great support at a very difficult time for me. They wore the shirt with great pride. My daughter was happy for me to be the head of the Argentina national team and that is why I am here."

Maradona had promised "a feast of football" for the Scottish crowd by way of a thank-you for the undying affection he won in these parts by punching England out of the 1986 World Cup. He did not promise, however, to be a manager obsessed with recreating past attacking glories at the expense of his defence. Without a Maradona on the field, and with Argentina having won only one of their last eight games, he cannot afford to be.

The performance of the Argentina defence here highlighted an obvious flaw and improvement will be required if Maradona's men are to withstand more serious threats en route to South Africa. Fortunately the head coach has enviable talent elsewhere. Javier Mascherano, the reluctant new captain in place of Javier Zanetti, underpinned an otherwise encouraging display.

Maradona began with a traditional 4-4-2 in name but with Newcastle's Jonás Gutiérrez and Maxi Rodríguez of Atlético Madrid given the freedom to support their forwards from the flanks, Argentina resembled a 4-2-4 during an opening when George Burley's team rarely saw the ball.

"For the first 25 minutes we were excellent but unfortunately after scoring our first goal we couldn't capitalise on any more chances," Maradona said. "But we were always in control of the ball and it was a deserved victory."

The first goal of his reign was true to the architect's grand design, an immaculate one-touch move involving Zanetti, Carlos Tevez, Rodríguez, Tevez again, Gutiérrez and finally Rodríguez again bringing the visiting bench to its feet. Only Maradona stayed sitting. The man who as a spectator cheered his way through the 2006 World Cup in Germany sat with his arms folded before rising to nod his approval. The journey has begun.

England's captain, John Terry, has attempted to deflect criticism from Scott Carson by taking the blame for the embarrassing mix-up which handed Patrick Helmes an equaliser midway through the second half.

Confusion reigned as Terry attempted to shield the ball from Helmes and shepherd it back to Carson only for the goalkeeper to hesitate as he approached the edge of his area. The centre-half might normally have hammered the ball clear but, unfamiliar perhaps with the West Bromwich Albion player's style, he dawdled momentarily before Carson could gather, with the German substitute slipping in to poke the ball through the goalkeeper's legs and knock the ball into an empty net.

"I should have done better and cleared it," admitted Terry, who made amends with a fine header six minutes from time to secure England's latest impressive victory under Fabio Capello. "I didn't deal with it early enough and we conceded the goal, but I hold my hands up to it. I'm disappointed with what happened - it wasn't Scotty's fault at all. I should just have cleared it. It was a good performance from the lads and it would have been a shame if we'd only drawn the game."

Even so, Carson looked culpable for reacting slowly as the ball appeared to hold up in the wind while Terry was closed down by the German. This was no way for the goalkeeper to reappear on the international scene, with the year's anniversary of the costly error on debut that helped Croatia win 3-2 at Wembley to come tomorrow. "The wind stopped the ball and it was a case of, 'You kick it, I'll kick it, you'll kick it, I'll kick it, oh the German has kicked it,'" said Capello with a smile.

Carson did at least spring to push away Marko Marin's shot from distance shortly afterwards to improve his general mood, if only slightly, with Terry going one better at the other end with the winner. "Thankfully we had one more chance," the captain added. "I said to Stewart Downing to put the ball on my head at the free-kick and I'd get on to it. His delivery was outstanding.

"This was a good performance from the lads. Obviously we had a weakened side and a young squad, but they've given the manager a selection problem there with a lot of good performances.

"They've proved a lot. The pitch was really difficult so we didn't want to play too much, too deep, but they had confidence on the ball and were always a threat. These guys are fearless, so it's very exciting to play with them. This meant a lot to the team."

Maradona revels in being centre of attention (The Independent - today, 01:14)

'It could not be going better,' says satisfied Capello (The Independent - today, 01:14)

James Lawton: Display of mettle that was again made in Italy (The Independent - today, 01:14)

Bellamy breaks deadlock to lift Welsh ambition (The Independent - today, 01:14)

Worthington not at home (The Independent - today, 01:14)

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