Spain go into their semi-final meeting with the USA at the Confederations Cup in South Africa just 90 minutes away from putting their name into the history books.

Saturday’s victory over South Africa gave the European champions an unprecedented 15th successive win. If they avoid defeat to the USA they will set a new world record of 36 matches without defeat, beating the 35 games of Brazil between 1993 and 1996.

Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque has won all 13 of his matches in charge. He is the first ever national team coach to start with at least 10 successive wins.

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Estonia midfielder Martin Reim has hung up his boots having made a European record 157th appearance for his country in Saturday’s 3-0 friendly win against Equatorial Guinea in Tallinn.

Now 38, Reim earned his first official cap in a friendly game against Slovenia on 3 June 1992.

Latvia’s Vitālijs Astafjevs, also 38 and still playing, is second in the list of the most capped Europeans with 153, while Lothar Matthaus retired with 150 for West Germany and Germany.

Former Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Deayea holds the world record with 181 caps.

Infamous for beautiful skills, astonishing speed and ball control, Pele was yesterday hailed as the greatest footballer ever, ahead of the announcement of the new football fixtures on 17 June.

With 92 international caps and 77 international goals, Pele beat George Best to claim the title.

Pele was a veteran of four World Cups and scorer of 1,283 first-class goals - 12 of them in World Cup final tournaments.

The late George Best claimed second place, closely followed by a name, which has become an iconic household brand, David Beckham.

Fourth place went to West Ham man, Bobby Moore, followed by Argentina’s 1986 World Cup winning ?hand of God? captain Maradona.

Nick McBoyle, managing director of www.sportingfix.com the online fixtures service, which polled 3,000 football fans said: ”All of the top 10 are deserving names but it was a surprise to see Beckham rated above the likes of Maradona, Moore and Charlton?

The same names topped the polls of the greatest goals of all time with Beckham?s superb effort during England v Greece in 2001 shooting to the top.

Second place again went to George Best for his 1971 goal during Manchester United v Tottenham.

Michael Owen also claimed three top spots in the survey of greatest goals, despite ranking only 18 in the greatest footballers of all time.

McBoyle added: ”It?s amazing to see Michael Owen appearing three times in the poll of top goals yet so low down in the list of greatest footballers. I wonder whether we will see any more from him in an England shirt??

www.sportingfix.com, is a unique web based service enabling true sports fans to create a customised fixtures list for up to 15 of their favourite teams.? Fixtures can be viewed, exported, printed or automatically linked directly to their electronic calendar in seconds.? Add on the alerts that are sent whenever a new fixture is announced or a change made and the sports fan will never miss a game again.

Top twenty footballers of all time

1.??? Pele
2.??? George Best
3.??? David Beckham
4.??? Bobby Moore
5.??? Maradona
6.??? Christiano Ronaldo
7.??? Zinedine Zidane
8.??? Bobby Charlton
9.??? Ronaldo (Brazil)
10.??? Wayne Rooney
11.??? Johan Cruyff
12.??? Paul Gascoigne
13.??? Alan Shearer
14.??? Ronaldinho
15.??? Kenny Dalglish
16.??? Gary Lineker
17.??? Kaka
18.??? Michael Owen
19.??? Ryan Giggs
20.??? Alfredo di Stefano

Top ten greatest goals of all time

1.??? David Beckham ? England v Greece, 2001
2.??? George Best ? Manchester United v Tottenham, 1971
3.??? Michael Owen ? England v Argentina, 1998
4.??? Pele ? Brazil v Sweden, 1958
5.??? Bobby Charlton ? England v Mexico, 1966
6.??? Diego Maradona ? Argentina v England, 1986
7.??? Zinedine Zidane ? Real Madrid v Bayer Leverkusen, 2002
8.??? Michael Owen ? Argentina v England, 1998
9.??? Michael Owen ? England v Germany, 1998
10.??? Paul Gascoigne ? England v Scotland, 1986

Manchester United have accepted a world record offer of ?80m from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo.

“United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player,” said a statement from the club.

It added that the decision came at Ronaldo’s request after he “again expressed his desire to leave”.

United described the offer for the 24-year-old forward as unconditional and added that they expected the matter to be concluded by 30 June.

In exactly a year’s time, the opening match of the 2010 World Cup will be played at the 94,000 Soccer City stadium on the outskirts of Soweto in Johannesburg.

South Africa will have 10 stadiums for the tournament, five will be brand new - Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was opened earlier this week, the venues in Durban, Polkwane and Nelspruit are expected to be completed by October and the fifth, Green Point in Cape Town, is set to open in February next year.

If fans do have concerns about security, it hasn’t stopped them buying tickets for the World Cup, with more than 630,000 already sold to fans in 188 countries. There have been 228,000 requests from England alone

Organisers estimate that 430,000 fans will descend on South Africa next June

So far 1841 goals have been scored in qualifying, Nilmar scoring the latest in a 2-1 win over Paraguay.

Real Madrid have completed the signing of Brazilian playmaker Kaka from AC Milan on a six-year deal.

The fee is reported to be about 56m, which would be a new world record in pounds sterling, surpassing the 45.6m Real paid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

Kaka had been at Milan since moving from Brazilian side Sao Paolo in 2003 for 8.5m euros.

Zidane joined Real from Juventus for a fee reported to be 73m euros in 2001, but Kaka’s is thought to be about 65m euros but with the fluctuation in exchange rates his fee represents the most paid in British terms.

Fastest Premier League goals in 2008/2009 season
Time - Player - Match
34 secs Steven Sidwell - Everton - Aston Villa (07 Dec 2008)
48 secs Matthew Taylor - Bolton Wanderers ? Portsmouth (20 Dec 2008)
51 secs Wayne Rooney - Manchester United ? Wigan Athletic (14 Jan 2009)
52 secs Nicolas Anelka - Chelsea ? Fulham (02 May 2009)

Youngest players in Premier League 2008/2009
16-191 Jose Baxter - Everton - Blackburn Rovers (16 Aug 2008)
16-256 Jack Wilshere - Blackburn Rovers - Arsenal (13 Sep 2008)
17-125 Chris Wood - Portsmouth - West Bromwich Albion (11 Apr 2009)

Youngest goalscorers in Premier League 2008/2009
17-226 Federico Macheda - Manchester United - Aston Villa (05 Apr 2009)
17-355 Danny Welbeck - Manchester United - Stoke City (15 Nov 2008)
18-122 Rafael - Arsenal - Manchester United (08 Nov 2008)

Oldest players in Premier League 2008/2009
39-269 Dean Windass - Manchester City - Hull City (26 Dec 2008)
38-281 David James - Blackburn Rovers - Portsmouth (09 May 2009)
38-273 Tugay Kerimoglu - Blackburn Rovers - West Bromwich Albion (24 May 2009)

Oldest goalscorers in Premier League 2008/2009
39-235 Dean Windass - Portsmouth - Hull City (22 Nov 2008)
38-098 Tugay Kerimoglu - Portsmouth - Blackburn Rovers
35-154 Ryan Giggs - Middlesbrough - Manchester United (02 May 2009)

Average attendances per club

75,304 - Manchester United
60,040 - Arsenal
48,750 - Newcastle United
43,611 - Liverpool
42,900 - Manchester City
41,588 - Chelsea
40,168 - Sunderland
39,812 - Aston Villa
35,929 - Tottenham Hotspur
35,667 - Everton
33,700 - West Ham United
28,429 - Middlesbrough
26,821 - Stoke City
25,828 - West Bromwich Albion
24,816 - Hull City
24,344 - Fulham
23,479 - Blackburn Rovers
22,486 - Bolton Wanderers
19,830 - Portsmouth
18,350 - Wigan Athletic

35,593 - Average

Most yellow cards

13 Wilson Palacios Wigan Athletic / Tottenham Hotspur
12 Lee Cattermole Wigan Athletic
12 Marouane Fellaini Everton

Most red cards

2 each

John Terry Chelsea
Richard Dunne Manchester City
Nemanja Vidic Manchester United
Sebastien Bassong Newcastle United
Benoit Assou-Ekotto Tottenham Hotspur
Carlton Cole West Ham United
Lee Cattermole Wigan Athletic

Most Yellow Cards - Team
79 Blackburn Rovers
75 Stoke City
73 Hull City
Fewest
42 Fulham

Red cards per team
8 Newcastle United
5 Manchester United
5 Portsmouth
5 Stoke City
5 Tottenham Hotspur
Fewest
0 Liverpool

The following players played in every minute of their clubs league games in 2008/2009; (3,420 minutes in total)

Sylvain Distin, Portsmouth
Robert Green, West Ham United
Tim Howard, Everton
Jussi Jaskeleinen, Bolton Wanderers
Pepe?Reina, Liverpool
Mark Schwarzer, Fulham
Michael Turner, Hull City

These players also played in every game for their clubs but didn’t appear for the full 90 minutes of each game.

Jamie Carragher, Liverpool
Brad Friedel, Aston Villa
Aaron Hughes, Fulham
Gareth Barry, Aston Villa
Kevin Davies, Bolton Wanderers
Peter Crouch, Portsmouth
Maynor Figueroa, Wigan Athletic
Danny Murphy, Fulham
Jlloyd Samuel, Bolton Wanderers
Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool
James Milner, Newcastle United / Aston Villa
Fabrice Muamba, Bolton Wanderers