Former Leeds Star admits he changed his date of birth

Former Leeds United and Eintracht Frankfurt striker Tony Yeboah has admitted he used a fake passport to change his date of birth. The Ghanaian was a star for the English and German clubs in the 1990s and forged a reputation for spectacular goals. There has, though, been some uncertainty over the real age of Yeboah after his date of birth changed from 1964 to 1966. He has therefore explained the circumstances, telling Kicker magazine: “Of course, this is a fishy subject. “When I first came to Germany, I owned a passport with a birth year of 1964. “The truth is that I would not have been able to play senior football in Ghana aged 17, so my birth year was then changed to 1964. “Afterwards, when I was in the German Bundesliga, I was to have my right birthdate in my passport. I was born in 1966.”

Leeds United's Mccartney retired from international football

Northern Ireland's troubles increased ahead of Wednesday's Carling Nations Cup match against Scotland after George McCartney announced his international retirement.
Jonny Evans and Warren Feeney also joined Northern Ireland's long absentee list on Tuesday before news of McCartney's international retirement came through.

"I was informed on Sunday that George was retiring from international football," said boss Nigel Worthington.

The defender, 29, previously quit Northern Ireland duty during Lawrie Sanchez's reign but was coaxed back by Worthington.

McCartney opted out in 2005 after having a disagreement with Sanchez but was convinced to return to the Northern Ireland fold after Worthington's appointment in the summer of 2007.

Worthington said today that he had to "respect" McCartney's latest decision.

Feeney and Evans both have pulled out of the squad for Nations Cup game at Dublin's Aviva Stadium after suffering ankle injuries in training.

Arsenal midfielder Denilson: Cesc Fabregas is not a leader

Arsenal midfielder Denilson has rocked the club ahead of the FA Cup replay against Leeds United on Wednesday, by revealing that Cesc Fabregas is not a good captain.

The Brazilian star says that although everyone is talking on the pitch, the team are lacking leadership.

"Fabregas is the captain but he is not a leader," Denilson told The Sun.

"It's a personality thing and a leader can be young. It's something they are born with.

"We are lacking leadership and we need leadership to go forward. There isn't a leader. I don't see one player as a leader.

"At Arsenal it's more of a collective team at the moment, everyone is talking - but a leader is always important for a team."

Young goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is set to keep his place ahead of the injured Lukasz Fabianski when the Gunners visit Elland Road, and Denilson says that neither of the Pole's are the club’s No.1.

"The best keeper at Arsenal is Manuel Almunia," he said.

However, the midfielder went on to give his full backing to manager Arsene Wenger, revealing that he admires the Frenchman.

"His work is amazing and I admire all he has done giving opportunities to young players," he added.

Simon Grayson "Theo should be banned"

Cup is not distraction for Leeds United, insists O'Brien

VICTORY over Arsenal tomorrow night would not deflect Leeds United from pursuing their main aim of promotion.

That is the confident assertion of central defender Andy O'Brien, who pointed to Saturday's 4-0 Championship win over Scunthorpe United as evidence.

Harrogate-born O'Brien signed a two-and-a-half year deal from Bolton Wanderers ahead of the FA Cup third round 1-1 draw at The Emirates and does not accept that Leeds have missed their best chance of knocking out the Gunners, who were rescued by a late penalty.

Leeds could easily have been distracted by the impending replay but, following a fully focussed win over The Iron which put them two points behind second-placed Swansea City, Bradford City product O'Brien said: "Scunthorpe was a very big game for us but we've ticked that box and now we have to go on to the next one.

"I don't think we have missed our chance. To a certain extent, the Cup games take care of themselves. We were the underdogs but now we are playing at home with a massive support behind us."

The winners tomorrow will be at home to Huddersfield Town in the fourth round, and O'Brien, who went out at the fourth round stage last season as Spurs beat Bolton, continued: "I don't think an FA Cup run is a hindrance. As a professional footballer, you want to stay in as many competitions as possible for as long as possible and if we've got a lot of games it means we are doing something right.

"We have got a group of lads who are honest and hard-working and we have put ourselves into a very strong position in the league now and we need to keep it going to the finish."

Manager Simon Grayson was delighted by his side's display on Saturday, stating: "We have given ourselves an opportunity to focus on the Arsenal game after a good clinical performance. The players could have taken their eye off the ball on Saturday and thought about Arsenal but they didn't and fair play to them.

"It will be the same message on Wednesday. We are underdogs but we have earned the right to bring them back here with a fantastic performance and our fans have deserved that because they have had a lot of bad times over the last few years.

"We have got to be underdogs because Arsenal have some fantastic players. We will look to try and get through and we will go out with the attitude that we can win it and give them a tough night, but we have to be aware of what Arsenal can do because they are a fantastic team."

ARE LEEDS READY FOR THE PREIMERSHIP?

F.A.CUP ARSENAL'S LUCKY ESCAPE

Arsene Wenger admitted it would have been a real ``shocker'' had Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup as a last-minute penalty from captain Cesc Fabregas denied Championship side Leeds a famous victory at Emirates Stadium.

It had looked as if the Gunners were set for a third-round exit for the first time since 1996 after Robert Snodgrass' penalty early in the second half.

However, with just moments remaining, substitute Theo Walcott was tugged back by Ben Parker, and Fabregas stepped up to blast the spot-kick past Kasper Schmeichel, who had been in superb form.

``I must say at first that it was a very difficult game because it was a real cup game and Leeds were up for it, they played well,'' said Wenger. ``It was the kind of game where you felt that it was important not to go 1-0 down. When we were 1-0 down I felt that Wojciech [Szczesny] kept us in the game with a good save from [Luciano] Becchio's header.

``We looked like we would come back, but we were short of time and it was important to keep the momentum and not to go out because that would have been a shocker.''

Wenger continued: ``Even when we equalised we still had three chances at 1-1, but we couldn't take them. At least we are still in the Cup and hopefully we can do it at Leeds.''