Vincent Kompany

The Belgium international defender chose to play down the prospect of Rooney making the short move across Manchester from United to City, although he did admit that he would relish the prospect of playing alongside such a quality player.

Instead Kompany chose to look at more imminent tasks as opposed to the possibility of City swooping to take Rooney, who cited a lack of ambition and assurances about United’s plans for the future as his reasons for snubbing a new deal offer and wanting to quit Old Trafford.

The City ace was more interested in looking ahead to the side’s mission to secure some silverware this season.

He said: “It is not for me to say. Obviously the focus is on what we are doing right now.

“I am sure in January there will a lot of discussion about players but now it does not seem to be a priority.

“He (Rooney) is a great player but am I saying anything surprising? I love playing against him as I love playing against great players.

“He gives you a difficult game but he makes you play better as well when you defend against him.”

Kompany feels Lech Poznan could pose a real threat to City and he urged his team-mates not to be complacent given that not won anything yet for the club.

He added: “This one is very important. The FA Cup (City 13/2 Outright) will be very important to us just as much as the league.

“Any trophy would be very welcome. The level in the Europa League (City 5/1 Outright) is very high. Any games in Europe gives you experience.”

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Giovanni Trapattoni

The Irish found themselves 3-0 behind after just 50 minutes but threatened to take a point with a second-half comeback.

Goals from Robbie Keane and Shane Long reduced the deficit and put the visitors on the back front in the close stages at the Aviva Stadium.

But Dick Advocaat’s men held on for the points and the result now leaves Republic third in Group B (Ireland 10/3 Group Winner), with six points from three games.

Despite slipping behind Russia and Slovakia (18/5 to win Group B) in the standings, Trapattoni remains upbeat about his side?s chances of making to Poland and Ukraine.

The Italian stated: “At the moment we have three teams the same and we start again the qualification. It is important now we think about our quality and our possibilities.

“Russia lost against Slovakia, now Slovakia have lost against Armenia. The qualification is not easy and there’s a long way to go. I’m sure we have the same chance.”

Ireland now face what looks like an important trip to Slovakia on Tuesday, where a positive result would leave them in a strong position in the group.

Trapattoni added: “Slovakia are a good team with good players. But we can win on Tuesday. We just need to understand immediately what happened (against Russia) and why one or two situations occurred.”

Meanwhile, the coach has indicated that he will stick with the Kevin Doyle/Robbie Keane striker pairing, despite withdrawing Wolves’ striker in the second half.

Trapattoni says he had Tuesday’s match in the back of his mind when making the change and feels Doyle and Keane “complement each other” and claims Republic “cannot do without one of them”.

Russia (20/1 Outright Winners) face a trip Macedonia on Tuesday and Advocaat believes his side need another three points to keep them in the hunt for top spot in Group B.

The former Rangers boss said: “We’re back in the group but we still have to do well on Tuesday because if we don’t do that it’s still not good.”

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Argentina

The 1986 world champions qualified from a group which featured the likes of Nigeria, South Korea and Greece with the Argentines beating them all with relative ease.

However, Maradona does not want his squad to get carried away and believe the hype that currently surrounds them.

He said: “Now the road gets more difficult.

“You always hear about Germany, Italy, Brazil playing poorly, but they’re always in the second round, quarters, semi-finals and the final,? he added.

Argentina (Argentina 1/2, draw 3/1, Mexico 5/1) have played some of the best football of the tournament so far and will be confident as they go into their first knockout match against Group A runners-up Mexico.

In Argentina’s last group game against Greece, a match in which they cruised to 2-0 victory, Lionel Messi (18/1 to be top goalscorer at the World Cup) became the youngest player to captain his country at a World Cup.

The 22-year-old Barcelona superstar has revealed that the opportunity to skipper Argentina was “very special” to him.

Maradona rested a number of players including Javier Mascherano and Gonzalo Higuain but decided to play Messi who is considered the best player in the world at the moment.

“We want to be world champions with Messi,” Maradona said.

“We had the opportunity to leave him out but we wanted to play him. A lot of people come to see him play. To leave him out would be a sin,” he added.

Mexico will be looking to cause an upset against Argentina on June 26.

The two sides faced each other at the same stage of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Argentina were victorious that day, winning 2-1 after extra time in Leipzig but this time round Javier Aguirre wants to come to out on top.

He said: “This could be a nice opportunity to take revenge for what happened four years ago.”

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